« Previous Entry | Main | Next Entry »

Posted: September 17, 2007 12:02 PM
Huckabee Tries to Find a Middle Ground
Email This

Republican presidential hopeful Mike Hucakbee continued to tout his brand of social conservatism last week, at times taking issue with both those on the left and the right.

On Wednesday, he seemed to both agree with and take exception to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s remark that the Republican Party was “dying at the box-office” because it had become too conservative to appeal to independent voters. In a telephone interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Huckabee said, “I do think we need to be broader, [but] that’s different than being moderate. … I think we should be who we are. We are for traditional marriage and the sanctity of human life and that’s what’s given us a lot of our appeal to many people in America.”

But he added, “It doesn’t mean that we’re closed-minded… that we’re narrow in focus. We ought to have the broadest possible agenda to improve the country for everybody, even if they disagree with us on some of these issues.”

And while supporting the message, he decried the tactics and tone used by some in his party. “I am a conservative … and I really do believe that in the past conservatives have come across as being caustic and strident. Right now people are looking for leadership that moves America upwards, not necessarily to the right or to the left.”

During a telephone press conference from Iowa on Friday, Huckabee said the U.S. had too much at stake to pull out of Iraq. “The worst thing we could do is pack up and leave,” he said. “That is not a message you can afford to send. I don’t think some people realize war is about the will to win.”

Huckabee defended President Bush’s statement Wednesday night that U.S. troops should remain in Iraq beyond the end of his presidency. “This decision has to be made beyond the latest poll numbers,” Huckabee said. “I understand the American people want out, but they don’t want to lose. War is about winning. If we give up we lose.”

He also called on Democrats to denounce an ad placed in The New York Times by MoveOn.org. It referred to General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, as General “Betray Us” and was released to coincide with Petraeus’s testimony before Congress.

The candidate will campaign in South Carolina in the coming week.