Huckabee's Foreign Policy

You can read about it here in Foreign Affairs. As Ilan Goldberg says it tends to prompt a sensation of whiplash, "One second he is totally reasonable. The next second I think he's completely clueless."

The sad truth is that this is better than most of what you get on this topic from the other Republicans. Rudy Giuliani's comparable essay, for example, was completely free of "totally reasonable" moments. That said, as soon as Mitt Romney attacked Huckabee for criticizing Bush's "arrogant bunker mentality" Huckabee decided to back down. Nobody in the Republican field is ready to explicitly argue for a break with Bushism except Ron Paul.

Comments

Right a couple of days ago Steve Benen noted that Huckabee's foreign-policy naivete was being slammed even by The Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes. But when Hayes calls Huckabee "confused and naive", he means this:

The Bush administration is guilty of a "bunker mentality," said Huckabee. The war in Iraq has "distracted" the administration from pursuing al Qaeda. Although Iran wanted better relations with the United States, he averred, "when President Bush included Iran in the axis of evil, everything went downhill pretty fast." And according to Huckabee, it was not Saddam Hussein but "the U.S. occupation" that "destroyed Iraq politically, economically, and socially." ...He favors a comprehensive ban on the use of harsh interrogation techniques to extract information from terrorists, and he has urged the Bush administration to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay. And as the writers at the Powerline blog have pointed out, Huckabee seems to believe the best foreign policy is one guided by the Golden Rule--"you treat others the way you'd like to be treated"--and mutual respect, "showing the kind of respect that other nations would want and deserve."

Huckabee is a genial dumbass, and the prospect of a Huckabee presidency -- if it weren't so laughable -- would be scary. But it's not scary for the reasons Republicans are saying it's scary.

Posted by brooksfoe | December 17, 2007 10:44 AM

I haven't heard anyone talking about whether the Democratic primary votes will be tabulated by those infamous computer voting machines, the ones manufactured by Republican allied companies?

Posted by slamuel | December 17, 2007 10:48 AM

I really hope this inability on the part of Republicans to see W as the GOP-destroyer he is results from the general bunker mentality of an unpopular party. I'd imagine that post-hoc GWB fetishism would be even more unappealing and bizarre than Reagan worship.

Posted by RJ | December 17, 2007 10:50 AM

Huckabee's foreign policy is essentially a game of magnetic poetry -- he puts random words one after the other in a more-or-less grammatically correct fashion, without any consideration of what those words actually mean.

It's not an encouraging approach, but it does leave open the possibility that we'll get lucky and he'll draw "DON'T," "NUKE," and "ANKARA" from the hat in sequence. Whereas Giuliani, say, has an actual foreign policy strategy; it's just one drafted by and for crazy people. Huckabee doesn't know where Ankara is, so he'll defer to the hat on whether or not to nuke it; Giuliani knows where Ankara is ("somewhere with Muslims") and is already planning the first strike.

Posted by cminus | December 17, 2007 11:44 AM

Yep, "cminus" nailed it!

Which is why I really, really, *really* prefer Huckabee...

Posted by RKU | December 17, 2007 12:25 PM

The essential foreign challenge today lies with fundamental Islamic terrorism and a lopsided int'l economy that favors hostile oil producers and deceptive trading "partners" (i.e., China). Meanwhile, the U.S. has lost some international credibility. Huckabee is both smart and savvy. He espouses a policy that disarms our critics, while committing to an assertive stand against Islamic terrorism and hostile governments. Or, would we rather have it the other way around?

Posted by RWK | December 17, 2007 3:36 PM

Would any responsable person deny that GW Bush's response to 911....From poor border protection to incompetent execution of the war in Iraq is the reason Republicans are in danger of losing the White House and the reason DEMS rolled over Repubs in the last election cycle? Mr Huckabee only said what needed to be said...maintain peace thru strength (like Reagan) and fight to win (like Reagan)...Mike Huckabee is right on target and isn't afraid to buck the arrogant Repub establishment that have gotten us to this point.

Posted by MARC | December 17, 2007 4:06 PM

Nobody in the Republican field is ready to explicitly argue for a break with Bushism except Ron Paul.

Huckabee is an extension of 'Bushism,' not a break.

Posted by Shinyk | December 17, 2007 4:52 PM

The only thing Huckabee wants you to think is that he is some how qualified to be president because he used to be a baptist minister and a so called true "Christian Leader". Answer me this;

*Would a true christian leader grant 1,033 pardons and commutations, including 12 convicted murderers?

*Would a true christian steal over $70,000 worth of furniture from the Arkansas governers mansion?

NO! Huckabee is a fraud that advertises his religion because where it matters, his record, he''s got nothing! Huckabee is a wolf in sheep's clothing!

*Would a true conservative support higher education benefits for children of illegal immigrants?

*Would a true conservative oppose a federal roundup of illegals from his own state?

*Would a true conservative oppose a bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote in his own state?

*Would a true conservative and his administration push for legislation to grant driver''s licenses to illegal immigrants?

Mike Huckabee is not a true christian leader and he is not a true republican conservative. Huckabee is a fake, phoney special interest fraud that uses his positions of authority to promote whatever benefits him!

Posted by Steve | December 17, 2007 6:41 PM

This foreign policy of Huckabee's is a joke. This man even lies on stage at the debates claiming the he is the only one with a degree in theology, He has a BS in communications and dropped out of the theological university he was attending. So that is a lie. I would fear Baptist ministers as well for they are ruthless and unforgiving as they use their faith as a crutch for every single thing they do. Beware of anything in access, including religion. I have a ex wife who became "born again" and she destroyed the marriage ( what a nutcase she became! Ron Paul is the ONLY honest, straight talking candidate and one who cares more about this country and freedom than he does about himself. There is virtue in that alone. HE has dedicated his life to trying to adhere to constitutional limits put on government power while being overidden by the rest of the sell outs in congress and the Senate. This is this generations hope to get some of those lost liberties back, to stop being policeman of the world and to bring our service men and women home to protect our nation. Funny how no one in the MSM ever mentions how Huckabee has no chance to win the nomination, for that matter only Ron Paul is labeled that way. Well lets show the statist MSM that we the PEOPLE will not stand for this BS any longer and take this nation back.

Posted by Ray | December 17, 2007 10:10 PM

"Huckabee's foreign policy is essentially a game of magnetic poetry -- he puts random words one after the other in a more-or-less grammatically correct fashion, without any consideration of what those words actually mean."

Maybe, but remember, Bush does the same thing but without even being grammatically correct.

So if Huckabee gets the nomination, the grammar Nazis here will be happy - but Matt won't because he has zero grammar and punctuation ability.

By the way, speaking of Ron Paul and Matt's desire to diss him at every turn, it must be infuriating to Matt that Paul raised $6 million in 24 hours just now:

Breaking News: Ron Paul campaign donors set a record
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2007/12/rp.html

"As of shortly after midnight Sunday Pacific time, the Paul website was reporting more than $6 million raised on Sunday from more than 30,000 donors and an amazing fourth-quarter fundraising total surpassing $18.1 million. The little-known pro-life Texan, who favors abolishing much of the federal government and the Federal Reserve, could raise the most money of any Republican candidate this quarter. A spokesman said the average donation was $50.

If the reported number holds up when officially reported to the Federal Election Commission in early January, Paul will not only be the only Republican candidate to oppose the Iraq war, he'll be the only GOP candidate to increase fundraising totals each quarter this year -- from $640,000 to $2.4 million to $5.1 million to whatever this quarter's final total becomes above $18 million with two weeks to go."

Be interesting to find out just who is pouring that kind of dough into Paul's campaign. You KNOW it's not rich Jews or rich oil guys or rich bankers or rich movie guys or any of the usual rich suspects (except maybe some rich Libertarian Silicon Valley types.) And with an average donation of $50, it sure doesn't sound like a bunch of single issue rich guys.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | December 18, 2007 1:38 AM