The following is a Huckabee round-up and response to various things out there in the media.

Nothing’s more boring than somebody who says the same thing over and over again, or a media that keeps asking. It’s funny because the media keeps asking the same thing about Huckabee being Vice-President and it’s been spun a hundred ways for six months. The more recent one include, “Huckabee would consider VP Offer.” A Reuters video headline a couple months ago, “Huckabee: VP Not Expected“ and you can find dozens of similar stories in the 5+ months since the Huckabee campaign, but they have the exact same content of Huck’s remarks, just different spin. Mark Levin alleges:

When Huckabee visited Israel, some speculated it was an attempt to improve his Veep chances. Stop, I don’t think Huckabee expects the VP and he certainly not campaigning for it. Huckabee has a TV show, a book, a political action committee, and a campaign dance card that’s as full as anyone’s in the country. Desperation for the VP race isn’t on his menu.

In fact, Huckabee may benefit by not getting the VP nod. For one thing, it’ll kill the notion that Huckabee stayed in the race to help McCain defeat Romney in order for Huckabee to get the VP spot. In addition, this election is probably going to be the nastiest race in recent memory. I’d venture to say this may turn out to be the most vicious Presidential race since 1884.

Now CBS Has Gone Evangelical?

America’s kings of conservative talk have been trash-talking Huckabee, over his remarks on Mitt Romney. Said El Rushbo, “Meanwhile  Mike Huckabee is out there trashing Mitt Romney to a number of evangelical groups. ”

The concerns have been raised in interviews with CBS and FOX, both times in response to questions.

Mark Levin has come after Huckabee stating:

And, by the way, I’m talking about Romney, not because I think he’ll win Michigan but because I thought, at least during the campaign, he was one of the more conservative candidates who was left standing, and if not for Huckaphony, uh, protecting his friend John McCain. By the way, Huckaphony attacked Fred Thompson, Huckaphony attacked, uh um, Romney, attacked two of the most conservative guys in the, uh, race. And now he’s getting to decide who’s acceptable and who’s not? Now, Tom Ridge is acceptable to Huckaphony! Tom Ridge, a liberal, who’s pro-choice, is acceptable to Huckaphony, but Romney and Thompson, no! Get out of here!”

We can debate Romney’s conservatism, but the fact of the matter is that Levin is guilty of gross misrepresentation. CBS summed up Huckabee’s statement was that he would support McCain, whoever the Veep is including Romney or Ridge. It’s part of having been a Republican candidate. His urge is for a trustworthy pro-life Veep. He doesn’t want Ridge.

Levin will neither return the e-mail nor allow a caller on the air to correct his errors. Come on, can’t broadcast professionals do better than this?

Laying the Jimmy Carter Meme to Rest

We’ve heard from many conservatives that Mike Huckabee has the foreign policy views of Jimmy Carter. Perhaps, these critics should should pay attention to Mike Huckabee in jerusalem:

From the Evening Bulletin:

During his three-day visit to Israel, Mr. Huckabee viewed the town’s police station, where he saw a display of missiles fired on the town from Gaza.

Visibly shaken, the governor stopped to speak to reporters. “There is nothing normal about waking up everyday and having to worry about your children getting hurt in a rocket attack,” he said. “No bandage or medicine can cure the suffering of the children of Sderot.”

Mr. Huckabee was then escorted to the home of the Tourgeman family that had been devastated by a missile attack, where he was shown pieces of an exploded missile and the large hole where the rocket had smashed into the house.

The Bulletin asked Mr. Huckabee, “How could you impress upon the American people the consequences of the Israeli withdrawals, when this is the result – terrorists using areas under their control to fire missiles?”

Mr. Huckabee’s response was that “not everyone can come here and see it for themselves. Americans don’t get it. They do not understand the close proximity. How would we feel if Canadians started launching missiles at Buffalo? Would they say that we should vacate Buffalo and then scoot back into New York?”

Mr. Huckabee then discussed how to make this point with Sen. McCain. When Mr. McCain emerged from a bombed-out home in Sderot back in March, The Bulletin asked him the same question, to which McCain responded that Israel should continue with the peace process negotiations, and he stated to speak about the “moderate” Palestinian leadership.

Mr. Huckabee’s response was that “I will have a talk with Sen. McCain about this. I can’t tell you that this is why but I believe that there is an unwillingness to upset the energy supply and the ripple effect of that which I said two years ago – for which I was laughed at – that America must become energy independent within 10 years – not only for economic reasons, but also for security reasons.

After lunch with Sderot residents at a Yeshiva seminary, the ex-governor climbed to the rooftop of the seminary and gazed for a moment at the areas from Gaza where more than 8,000 missiles have been from Gaza into the Jewish communities of the Western Negev region over the past seven years. His comment: “Both Christians and Jews share a culture of life. They share a culture of death and destruction.

“We don’t have a frame of reference for the spirit of radical Islam,” the visiting American politician said. “That’s why having tea with our enemies won’t work. The language doesn’t work. It’s like trying to hook a Mac up to a PC.”

From CBN:

“As an American, I do not feel that the Israelis are obligated or required to give up land in order to bring peace,” Huckabee told reporters.

“You do not achieve peace by creating a situation where you cannot defend your borders and therefore protect your citizens. Having a temporary cessation of hostility is not peace if while that cessation of hostility is going on, just across the border, arms are being built up for the purpose of eventually pushing that border down,” he said.

“The Jewish people have a right to a homeland,” he said, asking why a Palestinian state must be established atop a “tiny space of real estate” that has belonged to Jews for millennia.

Huckabee pointed out that a map of the Middle East shows that there’s plenty of real estate available.

“We are talking about a postage stamp where Israel is,” he said, and “we are talking about an extraordinary footprint for land controlled by the Arabs.

A future Palestinian state does not have to be built “on top of Israeli land,” he said.

“There are many, many places where a homeland for the Palestinians could, in fact, take place, which would be consistent with their roots,” he said.

“But there is only one place on earth where the Jewish people could have a homeland that is consistent with their roots,” Huckabee said.

And from CNS News:

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – The United States should respect Israel’s decision to base its capital in Jerusalem and should move its embassy there accordingly, former Arkansas Gov. and former Republican Party presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said.

“I think our government has been reluctant to act. I think we should recognize that this is the capital that the Israelis have chosen. If that’s their choice then it should be our respect of their government seat to have our embassy here,” Huckabee told journalists in Jerusalem on Monday.

“We would hardly tolerate [it] if the Israelis said, ‘We don’t recognize Washington, D.C., as the nation’s capital. We want to go to Denver.’ I think we’d have a problem with that. We’d say, ‘No our capital is in Washington. If you’re going to have an embassy, that’s where it’s going to be,’” said Huckabee who is here on a private two-day whirlwind tour.

Is any of this sounding like Jimmy Carter? Didn’t think so. Sounds like someone who understands the threat of Islamic terrorism, and the reality of the situation in the Middle East. If you can imagine Jimmy Carter saying this, good luck.

More importantly than that, I’d quote back to Keyes’ original piece where Keyes said, “Huckabee touted his true record  (emphasis mine) of support for moral conservative positions.” Note that Keyes didn’t argue Huckabee was pretending, that he wasn’t committed on these moral issues, in fact he said quite the opposite here. Perhaps, the supporter’s problem is not only with me, but with Dr. Keyes as well.