Mike Huckabee picks an unnecessary fight with Glenn... loses badly

April 22, 2011

Writer

Earlier this week, Glenn said that he was not excited about the possibility of a Mike Huckabee presidency and said that he felt that politically, Huckabee was a progressive. Mike Huckabee did not take kindly to the comments, and responded to Glenn on Huckabee’s website. Glenn addressed those comments on radio this morning, and explained why he said what he said.

Glenn explained that during a discussion of Trump and possible GOP candidates, “I brought up Mike Huckabee, a guy I believe is probably going to be the early favorite for the Republican nominee.”

“I shared this because that's what I do. I share my thoughts on politics. That's kind of in my job description.”

“First of all, I said that I don't have a problem with Mike Huckabee as a person. I don't know him all that well personally. I have met him once or twice. We've had a couple of conversations, maybe one long conversation, and that one was on air. You witnessed it. I spent an hour with him. He seems like a decent guy, a sincere guy. I have many friends who have friends of his. He is a spiritual guy.”

“I also happen to think that he is a big government guy. He's a progressive. And I've been telling you for how long now, three years, there are progressives in both parties.”

“Well, Mike Huckabee obviously didn't take kindly to that critique, to say the least. He sent me late one night, I think it was maybe Tuesday night, a nasty e-mail saying in part that I should have come to him and not talked about these things publicly. The problem is I have a publicly broadcast national radio show and I don't really do a show for a private audience of one on a telephone.”

“But as I said, I don't have anything against Mike Huckabee. I just don't want him to be our next President, although I did point out on Tuesday, he is absolutely, positively no Barack Obama. Very few are.”

When Glenn went to respond to Huckabee’s email and invite him on the show to talk about the issues, he saw that Huckabee had posted comments to his website and broadcast his anger out to the AP and his nationally broadcast ABC radio show.

The comments are below:

This week Glenn Beck has taken to his radio show to attack me as a Progressive, which he has said is the same as a "cancer" and a "Nazi." What did I do that apparently caused him to link me to a fatal disease and a form of government that murdered millions of innocent Jews? I had the audacity--not of hope--but the audacity to give respect to the efforts of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign to address childhood obesity. I'm no fan of her husband's policies for sure, but I have appreciated her efforts that Beck misrepresented--either out of ignorance or out of a deliberate attempt to distort them to create yet another "boogey man" hiding in the closet that he and only he can see. The First Lady's approach is about personal responsibility--not the government literally taking candy from a baby's mouth. He seems to fancy himself a prophet of sorts for his linking so many people and events together to describe a massive global conspiracy for pretty much everything. Sadly, he seems equally inept at recognizing the obvious fact that children are increasingly obese and that we now see clinical evidence of diseases in children that as recent as 20 years ago were found only in adults, such as Type 2 diabetes. The costs to our nation are staggering in increase health care expenses, but it even effects national security with now 75% of young men between the ages of 17 and 24 are unfit for military service primarily due to obesity! His ridiculous claim that John McCain and I collaborated and conspired in the 2008 campaign is especially laughable. Is he not aware that McCain and I were competitors---not cohorts? Beck needs to stick to conspiracies that can't be so easily de-bunked by facts. Why Beck has decided to aim his overloaded guns on me is beyond me. But he ought to clean his gun and point it more carefully lest it blow up in his face like it did this time.

“First of all, Mr. Huckabee, I did not realize that I had called all progressives Nazis. That is weird. I have said Nazis have used progressive tactics. You should read Bernays. If you don't believe me, read Goebbels,” Glenn explained.

“The only place that I've ever heard that kind of a smear is on George Soros' website, Media Matters. Interesting how you would go to Media Matters' talking points when you feel like it would benefit you, Mr. Huckabee. I've never said progressive is the same as Nazi. So, let's not try to twist this into me accusing you of killing millions of Jews.”

“I compared Mike Huckabee progressivism to John McCain. Now, while I wasn't a huge fan of Mr. McCain, I wound up voting for the guy. So, I clearly don't consider progressives Nazis, unless you're taking the talking points from MSNBC, where anyone who has my point of view is a Nazi,” he continued.

“As for Mike Huckabee's support of the big government intrusion that Michelle Obama is spear heading, you can appreciate her efforts all you like, Mike. That's great. But it's not conservative. It's not a small government position if you do. It's not anything that a libertarian would understand. I have never misrepresented her effort. It is simply not the business of government to involve themselves in what my children or your children eat at home or at school. It is a parental responsibility.”

But Mike Huckabee’s support for the First Lady's program is not the only reason Glenn believes that Mike Huckabee’s politics are not in line with the philosophy of small government.

While governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee said:

Again let me state what I've said privately, as well as publically. I want to get it on the record again. There's a lot of support for a tax at the wholesale level for tobacco and that's fine with me. I will very happily sign that because it's a revenue stream that will meet the needs if enacted as a level that will help us to meet that 90 to $100 million target and that's what I would begin to focus your attention on is the target. Now, some of you have suggested the retail level of tobacco. If that ends up being your preference, I will accept that. Others have suggested a surcharge on the income tax. That's acceptable. I'm fine with that. Others have suggested, perhaps, a sales tax. That's fine. Yet, others have suggested a hybrid that would collect some monies from any one or combination of those various ideas and if that's the plan that the House and Senate agree on, then you will have nothing but my profound thanks.

“I've never heard a man who loves tax increases as much as Mike Huckabee,” Glenn said.

Glenn then played audio from FOX News where Huckabee said, “In a Huckabee campaign statement this afternoon, they acknowledged that the tax hikes were to cover a general revenue shortfall in the state budget.”

“During his tenure, state spending increased spending increased by 65.3%. The number of state workers in the government rose by 20%. The state's general obligation debt shot up almost by $1 billion. He wants a sales tax on Internet goods. This is big government progressivism. It's not Barack Obama, but it is progressivism, nonetheless,” Glenn explained.

“Huckabee has bragged many times that he has cut taxes 94 times while in office and that is absolutely true. And let me give you some of the cuts. They included exempting residential lawn care from the sales tax, reducing taxes on bets made at Southland Greyhound Park, and exempting Arkansas's symphony orchestra purchases from the sales tax.”

“The fact is during his time as governor, taxes increased 47% over all,” Glenn said.

“He has also supported scholarships for illegal alien children while attending college.”

“Then there's the issue of the 1058 pardons and commutations for criminals in the Arkansas prison system,” Glenn said. “I realize that he is a Christian man, he is a pastor, and he believes in second chances, as do I. If it wasn't for a second chance and if it wasn't for the saving grace of Jesus Christ, I wouldn't be here today, but we leave justice to the justice system, not to a governor.”

“One of those he commuted, Maurice Clemmons, went on several years after his commutation to kill four police officers in Washington State before he killed himself. Huckabee said in an interview with Bill O'Reilly that he wishes he would have known nine years earlier what this man was capable of. Yeah. That's why you don't pardon one criminal every four days while in office, because you just don't know. “

“I want to point out, as a guy who has been in this battle now, as well, and has had every gun turned on me from the right and the left, it only gets tougher from here. If, sir, you are this thin-skinned about your politics, it might be best for you to stay on the sidelines,” Glenn said.

“The last thing we need is someone challenging Barack Obama, not as President of the United States but challenging Barack Obama for his title as the most thin-skinned President in American history.”

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Biden backs yet another criminal justice policy with disastrous consequences

The number of people serving life sentences now exceeds the entire prison population in 1970, according to newly-released data from the Sentencing Project. The continued growth of life sentences is largely the result of "tough on crime" policies pushed by legislators in the 1990s, including presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Biden has since apologized for backing those types of policies, but it seems he has yet to learn his lesson. Indeed, Biden is backing yet another criminal justice policy with disastrous consequences—mandatory drug treatment for all drug offenders.

Proponents of this policy argue that forced drug treatment will reduce drug usage and recidivism and save lives. But the evidence simply isn't on their side. Mandatory treatment isn't just patently unethical, it's also ineffective—and dangerous.

Many well-meaning people view mandatory treatment as a positive alternative to incarceration. But there's a reason that mandatory treatment is also known as "compulsory confinement." As author Maya Schenwar asks in The Guardian, "If shepherding live human bodies off to prison to isolate and manipulate them without their permission isn't ethical, why is shipping those bodies off to compulsory rehab an acceptable alternative?" Compulsory treatment isn't an alternative to incarceration. It is incarceration.

Compulsory treatment is also arguably a breach of international human rights agreements and ethical standards. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have made it clear that the standards of ethical treatment also apply to the treatment of drug dependence—standards that include the right to autonomy and self-determination. Indeed, according to UNODC, "people who use or are dependent on drugs do not automatically lack the capacity to consent to treatment...consent of the patient should be obtained before any treatment intervention." Forced treatment violates a person's right to be free from non-consensual medical treatment.

It's a useless endeavor, anyway, because studies have shown that it doesn't improve outcomes in reducing drug use and criminal recidivism. A review of nine studies, published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, failed to find sufficient evidence that compulsory drug treatment approaches are effective. The results didn't suggest improved outcomes in reducing drug use among drug-dependent individuals enrolled in compulsory treatment. However, some studies did suggest potential harm.

According to one study, 33% of compulsorily-treated participants were reincarcerated, compared to a mere 5% of the non-treatment sample population. Moreover, rates of post-release illicit drug use were higher among those who received compulsory treatment. Even worse, a 2016 report from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health found that people who received involuntary treatment were more than twice as likely to die of an opioid-related overdose than those with a history of only voluntary treatment.

These findings echo studies published in medical journals like Addiction and BMJ. A study in Addiction found that involuntary drug treatment was a risk factor for a non-fatal drug overdose. Similarly, a study in BMJ found that patients who successfully completed inpatient detoxification were more likely than other patients to die within a year. The high rate of overdose deaths by people previously involuntarily treated is likely because most people who are taken involuntarily aren't ready to stop using drugs, authors of the Addiction study reported. That makes sense. People who aren't ready to get clean will likely use again when they are released. For them, the only post-treatment difference will be lower tolerance, thanks to forced detoxification and abstinence. Indeed, a loss of tolerance, combined with the lack of a desire to stop using drugs, likely puts compulsorily-treated patients at a higher risk of overdose.

The UNODC agrees. In their words, compulsory treatment is "expensive, not cost-effective, and neither benefits the individual nor the community." So, then, why would we even try?

Biden is right to look for ways to combat addiction and drug crime outside of the criminal justice system. But forced drug treatment for all drug offenders is a flawed, unethical policy, with deadly consequences. If the goal is to help people and reduce harm, then there are plenty of ways to get there. Mandatory treatment isn't one of them.

Lindsay Marie is a policy analyst for the Lone Star Policy Institute, an independent think tank that promotes freedom and prosperity for all Texans. You can follow her on Twitter @LindsayMarieLP.

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For most Americans, the 1980s was marked by big hair, epic lightsaber battles, and school-skipping Ferris Bueller dancing his way into the hearts of millions.

But for Bernie Sanders — who, by the way, was at that time the oldest-looking 40-year-old in human history — the 1980s was a period of important personal milestones.

Prior to his successful 1980 campaign to become mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Sanders was mostly known around the Green Mountain State as a crazy, wildly idealistic socialist. (Think Karl Marx meets Don Quixote.) But everything started to change for Sanders when he became famous—or, in the eyes of many, notorious—for being "America's socialist mayor."

As mayor, Sanders' radical ideas were finally given the attention he had always craved but couldn't manage to capture. This makes this period of his career particularly interesting to study. Unlike today, the Bernie Sanders of the 1980s wasn't concerned with winning over an entire nation — just the wave of far-left New York City exiles that flooded Vermont in the 1960s and 1970s — and he was much more willing to openly align himself with local and national socialist and communist parties.

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Over the past few weeks, I have been reading news reports of Sanders recorded in the 1980s — because, you know, that's how guys like me spend their Saturday nights — and what I've found is pretty remarkable.

For starters, Sanders had (during the height of the Soviet Union) a very cozy relationship with people who openly advocated for Marxism and communism. He was an elector for the Socialist Workers Party and promoted the party's presidential candidates in 1980 and 1984.

To say the Socialist Workers Party was radical would be a tremendous understatement. It was widely known SWP was a communist organization mostly dedicated to the teachings of Marx and Leon Trotsky, one of the leaders of the Russian Revolution.

Among other radical things I've discovered in interviews Sanders conducted with the SWP's newspaper — appropriately named The Militant (seriously, you can't make this stuff up) — is a statement by Sanders published in June 1981 suggesting that some police departments "are dominated by fascists and Nazis," a comment that is just now being rediscovered for the first time in decades.

In 1980, Sanders lauded the Socialist Workers Party's "continued defense of the Cuban revolution." And later in the 1980s, Sanders reportedly endorsed a collection of speeches by the socialist Sandinistas in Nicaragua, even though there had been widespread media reports of the Sandinistas' many human rights violations prior to Sanders' endorsement, including "restrictions on free movement; torture; denial of due process; lack of freedom of thought, conscience and religion; denial of the right of association and of free labor unions."

Sanders also traveled to Nicaragua and met with socialist President Daniel Ortega. He later called the trip a "profoundly emotional experience."

Comrade Bernie's disturbing Marxist past, which is far more extensive than what can be covered in this short article, shouldn't be treated as a mere historical footnote. It clearly illustrates that Sanders' brand of "democratic socialism" is much more than a $15 minimum wage and calls for single-payer health care. It's full of Marxist philosophy, radical revolutionary thinking, anti-police rhetoric, and even support for authoritarian governments.

Millions of Americans have been tricked into thinking Sanders isn't the radical communist the historical record — and even Sanders' own words — clearly show that he is. But the deeper I have dug into Comrade Bernie's past, the more evident it has become that his thinking is much darker and more dangerous and twisted than many of his followers ever imagined.

Tomorrow night, don't miss Glenn Beck's special exposing the radicals who are running Bernie Sanders' campaign. From top to bottom, his campaign is staffed with hard-left extremists who are eager to burn down the system. The threat to our constitution is very real from Bernie's team, and it's unlike anything we've ever seen before in a U.S. election. Join Glenn on Wednesday, at 9 PM Eastern on BlazeTV's YouTube page, and on BlazeTV.com. And just in case you miss it live, the only way to catch all of Glenn's specials on-demand is by subscribing to Blaze TV.

Justin Haskins (Jhaskins@heartland.org) is editorial director of The Heartland Institute and editor-in-chief of StoppingSocialism.com.

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