Methinks the economic-conservative establishment may be getting jittery about Mike Huckabee's pluck. The WSJ's John Fund lets it rip today:
But I also know he is not the "consistent conservative" he now claims to be.Nor am I alone. Betsy Hagan, Arkansas director of the conservative Eagle Forum and a key backer of his early runs for office, was once "his No. 1 fan." She was bitterly disappointed with his record. "He was pro-life and pro-gun, but otherwise a liberal," she says. "Just like Bill Clinton he will charm you, but don't be surprised if he takes a completely different turn in office."
Phyllis Schlafly, president of the national Eagle Forum, is even more blunt. "He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, and left the Republican Party a shambles," she says. "Yet some of the same evangelicals who sold us on George W. Bush as a 'compassionate conservative' are now trying to sell us on Mike Huckabee."
If Huckabee continues to rise, we could be in for a fascinating test of the GOP's vital social conservative-economic conservative coalition. (Although I see that in a chat with Slate's John Dickerson Huckbee whacks Mitt Romney for having an "epiphany" on several conservative issues, including "the Bush tax cuts." Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.)
--Michael Crowley