Some Quality Late Night Time With Movie Maker...

Produced this! Et voici!



Feel free to share.

Also, a little bit of MS Paint (yes, yes, I don't want to steal Photoshop, so I use lowly MS Paint) got me this with an assist from MagMyPic...



In Huckiness,
Zac

Mike Huckabee and the 1997 Pittsburgh Pirates.

It was just a few weeks ago that I was arguing with my friends that Governor Huckabee belonged in the First-and-One-Half Tier of Republican candidates.

So much is changing, so fast.

This summer, there was no Huckabee campaign, as we knew it. Everyone was waiting on Fred Thompson, everyone was still waiting for the 80 percent of GOP voters who thought Giuliani was pro-life to come around, and John McCain was still the most viable candidate.

The most common remark I heard when pressing the case for Huckabee in Orange County was that "He'd make a great Vice President." Folks would accept that, yes, Huckabee was the most likable of the bunch, he was the most solidly conservative when he came to pivotal social issues like abortion, and that they would love to support him...if only he had more money.

It was a vicious Catch-22. Where would Huckabee get this money...if not from these admirers?

Now, GOP voters are in the sweltering winter of the religious right's discontent. (Yes, yes, a blatant MLK rip-off...) Simply put, Huckabee's budget is less of a problem now that there's nobody left. And besides, a victory in Iowa is worth millions and millions in free advertising and as the media has dutifully reported...more than half of the President's 2004 donor base has not given a dime.

I have a friend who supports Huckabee and believes that he is the "lesser of eight evils". With no George Allen, no Jeb Bush, and no Reaganesque bits coming via Freddie Dalton, many Christian voters have decided to voice their choice...not accept the condescending attitudes of Rudy ("I'm not with you on abortion, but vote for me and you just might get Justice Number Five") or Romney, who seems to think that as long as he apes all the right words, then conservatives will flock to him no matter what his record says.

Today, Mike Huckabee surpassed Mayor Rudy Giuliani in Rasmussen's deadly accurate polling for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination.

Mike Huckabee's campaign reminds me of the 1997 Pittsburgh Pirates...they had less of a payroll than Albert Belle made that season ($10 million), and they were expected to lose at least 100 games. But they stayed in the race for the NL Central all season long.

This time around though, I think the '97 Pirates just might win it all.

Vote Your Values!

The ever talented Chris Brooks of the George Washington University College Republicans passed this gem over to me.

A simple, short, effective way to illustrate how the compassionate wing of the Republican Party feels this way around. Click on the screenshot to play (YouTube embedding is causing a problem somehow).


In Huckiness,
Zac

Wherein Zac Goes Slightly Insane...

For a touch of the absurd, I give thee:

The 2008 Presidential Candidate's Theme Songs
(Note: Please take with a glass of humor.)

Mike Huckabee: "Hip to Be Square" by Huey Lewis and the News.

I like my bands in business suits,
I watch them on TV,
I'm working out most everyday,
And watching what I eat.

Joe Biden: "Ramblin' Man" by the Allman Brothers

Lord, I was born a ramblin' man,
Tryin' to make a livin' and doin' the best I can.
And when its time for leavin',
I hope you'll understand,
That I was born a ramblin man.

Rudy Giuliani: "Have You Forgotten?" by Daryl Worley

Have you forgotten, how it felt that day,
To see your homeland under fire,
And her people blown away,
Have you forgotten?

John McCain: "Bomb Iran" by Vince Vance and the Vandals

Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Bomb Iran. Let's take a stand, bomb Iran.
Our country's got a feelin'
Really hit the ceiling,
Bomb Iran.

John Edwards: "It Ain't Right" by John Fogerty

There go your big black limousine,
Shakin' your booty for the magazine,
Pickin' and posing like a wannabe
It ain't right, It ain't right.

Ron Paul: "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Deep Blue Something

You'll say, we've got nothing in common,
No common ground to start from,
And we're falling apart,
You'll say, the world has come between us,
Our lives have come between us,
Still I know you just don't care.

Dennis Kucinich: "Unwell" by Matchbox 20

All day,
Staring at the ceiling,
Making friends with shadows on my wall.
All night,
Hearing voices tellin' me,
That I should get some sleep,
Because tomorrow might be good for something.

Chris Dodd: "Swagger" by Flogging Molly

Don't know where I'm goin',

Don't know where I'm goin'.

Why Not Huck?

While floating on my raft through the Beltway these past few weeks, I've noticed a rather odd trend of ostensibly Christian conservative groups siding with Republican candidates who do not--to put it mildly--stand for the compassionate Christian political agenda.

From Pat Robertson's handshake with the pro-abortion Rudy Giuliani, to the California Republican Assembly's surprisingly strong endorsement of Mitt Romney, to the leaked announcement that Fred Thompson will be endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee...it seems that social conservatives are stumbling all over themselves to back the so-called front runners in the Republican field.

The absurdity of the Reverend Robertson's endorsement of Giuliani (which Rudy apologists defend on the merits that President Giuliani will appease pro-lifers by appointing justices who disagree with Rudy's reading of the Constitution) has been discussed to no end in the blogosphere, the MSM, the water cooler at my office and discussions with my roommate (GWU's Student for Chris Dodd).

But what about the pro-life movement's decision to embrace Federalist Fred?

Now, I'm not one of those who will go out on a limb and argue that Freddie Dalton is pro-abortion himself, but Thompson's past statements, in 1994, 1996 and the times he's been sighted on the campaign trail in '08, all line up to show that the good Senator is not amenable to federal laws banning abortion and he knocked the pro-life movement by accusing us of wanting to criminalize young girls as murderers and her doctor and parents as aiders and abettors.

No doubt, from a pro-life perspective, Senator Thompson's record is preferable to Rudy's or Romney's, but why is the Huckster being frozen out by the NRLC?

Even Huckabee foes will admit that the Governor's anti-abortion stance is firm and clear. This week, Thompson and the Club for Growth's Pat Toomey took shots at the Guv by calling him a "pro-life liberal". Mike Huckabee has a long, strong record on the life issue, and certainly deserves the official nod of the head by the anti-abortion lobby--at least more than a man who would be okay with fifty different standards for when abortion is illegal or not.

Why I Like Mike

Over the summer, I served the Mike Huckabee for President campaign as the Orange County chairman. During this period I was honored to represent the Huckabee camp to the Republican Central Committee, the Irvine Republican Council, and the South Coast Republican Forum and other GOP gatherings.

Now, thanks to the fact that I heard the siren song of the George Washington University hippo, I am ensconced in the Beltway, spouting off my Huckaspiels to my roommate and our occasional listener on The Political Pulse at WRGW. And now, to release more of Huckabee upon the world, I have launched this blog.

But enough about me, here's why I like Mike:

Governor Mike Huckabee understands that we are always standing in the textbooks of the children of tomorrow. If we want future generations to flip through those history books and read of an America triumphant over adversity, victorious over our enemies, and successful in the face of global challenge, we must strike a new and confident course.

America must build a public education system that fosters creativity in our children. In an age where rising powers in Asia threaten America's position as the economic and intellectual capital of the planet, we cannot afford to discourage or discard educational tools that equip our children to, in the words of Governor Huckabee, "not just think outside the box, but outside the cardboard factory." We want the next generation to walk into their first day of work equipped not just to do their job, but to improve their job.

Although it may sound simple, arts and music education can help unlock doors that current school curricula cannot even knock on. In Arkansas, Governor Huckabee signed legislation to ensure that all Arkansas children from grades one through six received music and arts lessons, not just the fundamentals of math and science. It has been shown that students in arts and music programs are much more likely to read for pleasure, engage in community service, and less likely to become juvenile delinquents. Not only that, children who study music have higher math scores, score 20 points higher on the SAT, and can grasp abstract thought and spatial reasoning easier than those who do not.

America must construct a tax code that fosters economic growth. In our rapidly flattening and shrinking world, we cannot afford to remain mired with a crazy-quilt income tax that not just aids and abets in the shipping of jobs overseas, but costs American citizens billions of dollars and millions of man-hours just to pay their share of the tax burden. The FairTax, a tax based on consumption with a prebate system that insures that no American pays taxes on all goods purchased up to the poverty line, is a 21st century tax system that will reignite the U.S economy.

All taxes, payroll taxes, gift taxes, personal income taxes, corporate income taxes, the alternative minimum tax, the death tax, are swept away into the FairTax, a revenue-neutral, yet revolutionary tax system. There's a reason why we have a Daimler Chrysler and not a Chrysler Daimler, and that's because when the analysts looked at the numbers, corporate tax rates in Germany were far less punishing than the corporate tax rates here in America. By eliminating our punitive corporate tax rates, the FairTax will provide the incentive to make America the best place in the world to do business. For more information on the FairTax, visit www.fairtax.org.

America must defeat the Islamic fascists who have waged war against us. As President, Mike Huckabee will not hesitate to strike at terrorists where they live and plot. He understands that this war is not simply a local conflict or a regional brushfire, but a world war, deserving of American attention on all fronts. Mike Huckabee will keep us on the offensive, not allow America to slip into a defensive posture against those who seek to destroy our way of life.

Our fight is against Islamic extremism in all its forms--Sunni and Shiite--and Governor Huckabee will use America's power and prestige to support moderate, modern Muslim leaders, because bringing moderation and modernity to the Arab and Muslim world are the long-term keys to victory against the terrorists. And should he be required to undertake a large-scale military intervention to secure our nation, a President Huckabee will use overwhelming force, not attempt the contradictory "occupation with a light footprint."

As President, Mike Huckabee will fight to secure America's future. Our success in the 21st century is contingent upon insuring that Americans are prepared not simply to participate in globalization, but to win at globalization. Our success in the 21st century is contingent upon unshackling the entrepreneur from a tax code initially devised in 1913 and propped up by 35,000 lobbyists fighting for loopholes for special clients. Our success in the 21st century is contingent upon staying on the offensive against radical Islam and defeating this onerous threat to our liberty.

And that's why this man deserves to be our President.

In Huckabee,

Zac