Dueling conservative endorsements

Posted: Monday, February 11, 2008 12:27 PM by Mark Murray

From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger and Adam Aigner-Treworgy
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Huckabee just said Paul Weyrich, a prominent conservative, called him and will endorse him.

This comes on the heels of McCain today picking up an endorsement from conservative Gary Bauer.

Huckabee told those attending a rally here that he spoke with the founder of the Heritage Foundation earlier in the day, and Weyrich said he would announce an endorsement.

"He called me first of all and initiated the conversation and indicated to me that he felt like I was the one guy that was left that was a true conservative that really believed things that mattered to a lot of conservatives and it involved everything from strong national defense to immigration to tax policy, the life question," Huckabee told reporters after the rally. "There were many different reasons, and, you know, so obviously, this is good news for me. I appreciate it."

Weyrich had endorsed Romney, who dropped out the race last week. Huckabee said he hoped the nod would be more beneficial to him.

"A lot of things didn't help Mitt Romney, like $120 million," Huckabee said. "His endorsement I think will help us, hopefully quite a bit. I'm certainly grateful for it. It helped me personally, whether it helps the campaign and the voters tomorrow, I hope it does.

"But it was an encouragement to me because again he's been one of my political heros and mentors and I have admired his tenacity as a conservative stalwart," he said. "And that's one of the reasons that, again, it's quite comforting to me to have his support."

Huckabee said the two men did not discuss McCain.

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Comments

didn't Gary Bauer endorse the shrub - how did that turn out.

justthinkinoutloud (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 12:37 PM)

Don't forget George W. Bush's endorsements of John McCain and Hillary Clinton.

adam/Brooklyn New York City (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 12:41 PM)

I see that Huckabee is complaining about the way the Republican party is handling the results in Washington State, says this isn't the Soviet Union...no, its the...Republican Party!! He's knows what dirty tricks they pull, he's just sour grapes that the tricks are for McCain & not him.

JohnnyU, WA State (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 12:46 PM)

Blah blah blah blah. These conservatives are nothing but roadblocks to American progress. "...Tending to preserve established institutions and traditions..." is how I see them as defined in a dictionary. Like the old way for women to be confined to the home, for blacks not to have their voting rights, no suffrage, etc. Established traditions. No change. Anti-change even though they readily adopted the latest technology (like opponents of globalization using the tools of globalization such as the Internet).
I love all my fellow Americans no matter what their ideologies, but I cannot stand some of them imposing their ideologies on others. A religion that forces others to covnert into it is not a religion. No insult to anyone, just my thoughts. I am freakin tired of conservativism. We all should and msut stand ready for change and for challenges. Life is an experience of change and challenges.

Richard Anderson (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 12:50 PM)

Huckabee needs to drop out.Everyday he stays in,Hurts the Repubs.Hucks a nice guy but,We need to go forward with McCain.Its impossable for him to win so,Drop out Huck...

JK,NV (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 12:59 PM)

Gary Bauer is backing McCain out of the fear of radical Islam extremist. He's got the 9/11 syndrome. There is no excuse for someone like Mr. Bauer that holds such biblically based principles as precious to vote in fear. I am just absolutely blown away by such ignorance. We're not voting for combat generals, we're voting for a leader. Gary Bauer is a knucklehead. And everyone's forgetting about McCain's prison record. I'm kidding, obviously, but if I were voting by "military might" I would want someone who was evasive to the enemy, not a P.O.W.
Weyrich, Dobson will shed some light on who the true, authentic conservative is and that's Huckabee. He's been beating the odds since 3/'07. Aren't the pundants tired of constantly missing the mark in their predictions. This isn't an ordinary election. There's a little Supernatural going on here.

Dan "Booneman" Ezell, Cleveland, Ohio (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 1:26 PM)

Gary Baur?????????when did he come out of mothballs?Pretty scary tv sunday---Tom Delayed and Man on dog sanitarium.Out there smirking and spinning like the rest of their treasonous party.

Sick of of obamanoids (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 1:32 PM)

ITS ABOUT TIME

S (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 1:37 PM)

Huckaberry should get out. He is embarassing the Republican Party and himself. He has no chance of winning enough delegates. More importantly he has no chance of winning the National election. He is unelectable. A 2008 Gomer Pyle.

Kris k Rancho Murieta, CA (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 1:39 PM)

Huckabee is NOT a conservative, except for such issues as abortion and the definition of marriage. His positions on taxes and immigration (until it was convenient to change them when he sought the presidency), are decidedly liberal. Evangelicals, who make up large part of Republican conservatives in the South and Midwest, will vote for him based on his social conservative credentials only. If evangelicals were so quick to dig up Mitt Romney's past positions and condemn McCain for his past and current positions, they should be willing to dig up Huckabee's past positions. They may be in for a conservative shock. There are NO conservatives running for the Republican nomination.

Keith, California (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 1:57 PM)

Huckabee is no leader for this world and the world to come. Get out of your political meddling. Go to Church!

CA (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 2:19 PM)

George W Bush, Dick Cheney and all their NEO-conservatives represent all thats WRONG with America. Their goal of imperialistic world domination is the number one reason the U.S. is now so poorly thought of around the world. The biggest single step we can take to end the terrorist threat is to show the world that we ARE a decent, moral people by convicting George Bush & his cronies of their crimes and putting them in prison.

JohnnyU, WA State (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 2:22 PM)

Huckabee is a baptist bigot hiding under the closet of being religious. Taking swipes of Gov. Romney's religion is a childish way to get what you want. Whine and babble with no backing but his religious background. Being a true Christian means you love everyone even the Mormons. Huckabee only love the illegals.

TruthForever (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 2:23 PM)

Based on the Baptists I have known, I feel they are the most judgemental group toward other Christians, especially Catholics. Mormons may not be Trinity-based, but I never found one to be judgemental.
President Shrub has become a tragicomical character, especially with his latest assessment of his amnesty pal McCain as a 'true conservative'..

LRR, CA (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 2:28 PM)

Huckabee is the only authentic conservative left in the race, and in my opinion was the only one ever in the race. His conservative economic record in arkansas has been twisted, but it is factually impeccable.
Acording to the Public Policy Institute; Arkansas ranked 47th in state and local taxes per capita in 1996 and 44th in 2007. It's not a huge change, but at least its in the right direction and hardly the record of a "liberal".
Link: http://www.ppinys.org/reports/jtf/taxburdens.html
Link: http://www.ppinys.org/jtf99/table15.htm

Eric Worthington, Las Vegas, NV (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 2:43 PM)

The DOGMATIC views of the so-called conservatives seems much more PHARISEE-like than CHRIST-like.

JohnnyU, WA State (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 2:48 PM)

Huckabee pull out now? Get real. This is way better than reality TV. I hope he wins! He can do it too, if everybody gets out and votes Huckabee.

TJM, Atlanta, GA (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 2:56 PM)

I don't know why anybody worries about "true conservatives."

Your party has trashed every single conservative value, except how GWB has steadfastly refused to allow science to advance and valiantly stood up to the "round-earthers." (They should have called themselves "V.C." He'd have run like hell with Cheney on his back.)

Lee in CA (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 3:25 PM)

Gary Bauer isn't he some kind of a right-wing nut? John McCain might just pick Ole Gary to run as vice President as an endorsement. Cannot get any better than that what a ticket it would make.

George Wall,Fort Wayne,Indiana (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 3:27 PM)

Weyrich has some backbone to endorse a consistant conservative. Bauer (the little wannabe prez from a few years ago) is a sellout...bought and paid for by the Establishment. What a loser! McCain is about as exciting as watching paint dry...Obama would wipe the floor with him in a debate. Huck is the only one who has the ability to go toe-to-toe with any Dem and defeat them. Go Huck!!

Marcy (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 3:42 PM)

Do either of these endorsements really make a difference? Will they tone down the negative talk from the conservative talking heads like Limbaugh and others? I doubt it. It seems that most of them just want to hear themselves speak. I hope that all this will create enough problems that the Reagan coalition that George W. Bush broke will never be brought back together.

S.B. Stein E.B. NJ (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 3:46 PM)

Richard Anderson...wah, wah, wah... When did you have your sex change?

And using your own weak logic against you, if a religion challenges you to change, how is that bad? Life is full of changes and challenges...

And nobody is imposing anything on you. You were born in a country that was established upon and derivative of biblical ways and laws. Math is math...1+1=2... Why do you find that offensive?

It is your choice, but even if you do find that offensive, it doesn't change anything...it's still math, and the rules still apply.

Do you have kids? Do you have rules for them? Are you imposing your ideologies on them? Or do you know certain things are good or not good, and you are instructing them because you LOVE them and want ONLY GOOD for them?

And if you really did love your fellow Americans, wouldn't it be WORTH it to offend them if you might save them FROM something horrible and INTO something fantastic? It's worth it to me to offend you, because God loves you whether you like it or not, and because He established the rules, whether you like it or not, and because He doesn't want you to go to hell. It's not about religion...a religion won't do anything for you. It's about a relationship with your heavenly Father, Who did make rules and did give you His ideologies. It's simple math...you can be wise and learn or you can be stubborn and suffer the consequences.

I hope you'll learn the math...

Jack Black (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 4:10 PM)

There's nothing like a little competition to keep everybody sharp! I'm just waiting for McCain to have a "Dean" moment.

Booneman, Cleveland, Ohio (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 4:17 PM)

Looks like Jeb Bush just endorsed McCain. Now that is a big endorsement. The establishment is starting to rally around McCain.

Huckabee can do well in caucuses and deep south. But when the rank and file republicans vote (ie virginia, maryland, texas and ohio), he is going to get crushed (15-20 points). His campaign basically ends tomorrow.

asher (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 4:23 PM)

As a Huckabee Ranger, I just completed my 25 call to Virginians. Mostly positive responses, some yes, some "I'm voting for Obama" but none even mentioning McCain. One lady stated that this is the 4th Huckabee for President call she's gotten. Looks like the guy knows how to organize and get results on a shoestring budget (along with massive prayer cover). I say Gary Bauer has lost touch with his base and Huckabee will make it to the Convention. What's the status in WA recount? With Romney out, ID will vote for Huckabee. I bet McCain gets less votes than Ron Paul out here. Paul for VP? "Everything that can be shaken will be shaken." Hope I can get my citizenship in time to vote!!

Brian Abbott, Meridian/Boise, ID (Sent Monday, February 11, 2008 8:06 PM)

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