Mike Huckabee and The Alamo

James Butler Bonham had a simple message when he left San Antonio de Béxar. He left the little mission on February 16, 1836 and headed 100 miles southeast for Goliad, seeking the reinforcements of Colonel James Fannin's 450 Texas men. Bonham had a simple message. Colonel William Travis and all the defenders of the Alamo were about to be overwhelmed.

History teaches us that Fannin didn’t arrive in time; that only a few other volunteers from the surrounding towns of Gonzalez and Victoria came to help; and that after a 12 day siege, General Antonio López de Santa Anna, after raising a blood-red flag signaling the message that no defenders would be taken alive, ordered 1,600 of his five thousand man Mexican army to attack. Within an hour, the Alamo was captured and 189 defenders were dead.

Tomorrow, Texas Republicans have a similar scenario. Few in the party will champion John McCain as a Reagan conservative. In fact, most Republicans would admit that Mike Huckabee is a much, much better choice at carrying forth the conservative banner. Unfortunately, so many for too long have swallowed the establishment tale that Mike Huckabee lacks "electability".

And so, like Santa Anna’s overwhelming force smashing the Alamo and its defenders, the McCain campaign, with help from the Republican establishment, the media elite and even unbelievably, key leaders from the Christian-Right, is set to annihilate the Huckabee campaign by capturing most of Texas’ 140 delegates.

It’s not like ample warning hasn’t been given. Like James Butler Bonham's desperate rides through the Texas countryside in 1836, voices have been calling out to Republican conservatives to come and help.

Much has been done to counter-act the "Huckabee can’t win” banter. Adam Graham, writing an article entitled “Mathematically Impossible” states:

"In the end, this election has been a lesson in how the media can manipulate elections and create news, with phrases repeated often and long enough. News anchors and stories chattering on about impossibilities and candidates having "no chance" as a matter of fact, not a matter of opinion or analysis, have created a perception that doesn't match fact. But the constant, incessant buzz is taking a toll and creating the reality it alleges."

The fact is that Republicans can keep John McCain from securing the nomination. Conservative Republicans can march into Minneapolis-St.Paul with an infamously brokered convention. Read my previous blog post here to find reasons why this would be a good thing. Bottom line—it keeps John McCain from becoming president.

Status quo Republicans may have forgotten some of what John McCain stands for, but I, along with hundreds of thousands of my fellow Republicans, haven’t.

John McCain is a Washington insider and is more a part of the problem than the solution. Consider one of McCain’s popular campaign tactics—criticizing government “pork barrel” spending. McCain ridiculed $1 million for a Woodstock museum, but when it was time to vote on an amendment he co-sponsored, he chose to stay on the campaign trail and skipped the vote. In another example, McCain cites $3 million to study bears in Montana. While he did offer three amendments to reduce funding, not one of them included removing appropriations for the grizzly bear project. Could it have been that the backer of the bear funding, then Senator Conrad Burns decided to endorse McCain?

John McCain supports embryonic stem cell research and forced government funding for this research. He voted in favor of H.R. 810, a bill to fund embryonic stem cell research and when asked at the GOP primary debate at the Reagan library if he would expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, McCain replied:

“I believe that we need to fund this. This is a tough issue for those of us in the pro-life community. I would remind you that these stem cells are either going to be discarded or perpetually frozen. We need to do what we can to relieve human suffering. It's a tough issue. I support federal funding.”

John McCain has swallowed the left’s view of the environment. He favored the Kyoto Treaty on reducing “greenhouse gases” and even called for a second treaty. He opposes exploratory drilling for oil in Alaska saying “As far as ANWR is concerned, I don’t want to drill in the Grand Canyon, and I don’t want to drill in the Everglades. This is one of the most pristine and beautiful parts of the world.” Yet this drilling would be helpful in reducing our dependence on foreign sources.

John McCain cheated on his wife Carol, divorcing her and marrying his former mistress--now wife--Cindy and has recently been involved in a relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman which was improper at best, immoral at worst.

John McCain is to be remembered for the legislation bearing his name—McCain/Feingold—which was a major suppression of free speech rights especially of pro-family groups. McCain even went so far as to file an amicus brief against Wisconsin Right to Life in enforcing this suppression of speech. And lest I let the obvious pass by, who would want their name forever attached to Russ Feingold?

The real story in the recent NY Times article which has been categorically lamblasted for its sneering inuendo of a McCain/Iseman relationship is McCain lies about his ties with lobbyists.

And ironically, the McCain/Feingold legislation prevents McCain from spending much more money on his political campaign. Instead of abiding by the legislation, McCain has decided to ignore it and has pulled so many unethical and illegal manuevers that the Democratic National Committee has filed an ethics complaint with the Federal Election Commission.

John McCain favored amnesty for illegal aliens. You can watch him here making the case for open borders and amnesty for illegals.

McCain has refused a pledge to oppose tax increases and actually opposed President Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, as well as opposing the attempt to eliminate the death tax in 2002. In a 2003 interview on the Today with Katie Couric, McCain’s class-warfare rhetoric was unrelenting:

HOST KATIE COURIC: “But, Sen. McCain, if you listen to Commerce Secretary Don Evans, and he just appeared on this program, working Americans, the middle-class Americans, under the Bush proposals will get a major break. A family of four making $39,000 a year, according to Mr. Evans, will get a $1,100 tax cut for several years, allowing them to plan their individual budgets. That sounds like something that won’t just simply benefit the wealthy.”

MCCAIN: “Well, I think it will. But when you look at the percentage of the tax cuts that—as the previous tax cuts—that go to the wealthiest Americans, you will find that the bulk of it, again, goes to wealthiest Americans. … A lot of Americans now are paying a very large a—low and middle-income Americans are paying a significantly larger amount of their income in taxes. I’d like to see them get the bulk of the relief.”—NBC’s “Today,” Jan. 7, 2003.

2004 Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry says McCain was interested in becoming his VP nominee. John McCain is opposed to a Federal Marriage Amendment protecting the country from homosexual unions. Time fails me to discuss other idiotic and conservative betraying issues from John McCain. Do terms like Keating 5 and Gang of 14 mean anything to any post-Reagan conservative?

Republicans have a choice tomorrow…and not just in Texas. In Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont those who hold to the 1980s Reagan Revival can elect his heir. President Bush has already weakened those convictions. John McCain will finish them off. Mike Huckabee stands in stark contrast to the insider, politics as usual, flip-flopping, moderate policies of John McCain.

Mike Huckabee plans to secure America and his first step is to build a fence. He won’t give amnesty to America’s 11 million illegal immigrants as would Bush and McCain and won’t sponsor a $20 million virtual fence. He’ll build a real one.

Mike Huckabee is opposed to embryonic stem cell research, research which destroys a human life. Unlike McCain who wants to force Americans to fund this immoral research, Mike Huckabee is opposed to tax funding for ESCR. Mike Huckabee favors a Human Life Amendment to the US Constitution.

Huckabee favors independence from Middle East oil. He is for the Fair Tax. And he’ll continue to aggressively fight the war on terror.

The choice for Republicans is clear. There is but one heir to the Reagan legacy and that is Mike Huckabee.

172 years ago, Texans were late. They finally caught up with Santa Anna at San Jacinto and crushed his army. But I think that where the analogy ends. If Mike Huckabee is soundly defeated in Texas tomorrow, I don’t think he or the Republican party will recover.

Contribute to Huckabee’s campaign. $5 or $500. They’ll go a long way.