Huckabee Described As 'Christian Socialist'

By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
January 04, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- who won the Republican caucuses in Iowa Thursday night, just as the polls indicated he would -- will be all over the air waves Friday morning, trying to translate his Iowa victory into momentum in New Hampshire.

Polls show that Republicans Mitt Romney and John McCain are running neck-and-neck in the Granite State.

"We've learned that people really are more important then the purse," Huckabee said Thursday night. He frequently mentions the fact that he was outspent 15 to 1 by Romney. Nevertheless, Huckabee beat Romney, 34-25 percent.

Huckabee's populist message and Christian roots resonated in Iowa. Nevertheless, some conservatives are dismayed with Huckabee's victory in Iowa.

Richard A. Viguerie, the author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause called Huckabee's win "bad news" for the Republican Party.

"Mike Huckabee is a Christian socialist. He is a good man, but with a Big Government heart," Viguerie said in a news release late Thursday night. "He is the most liberal of all the Republican presidential candidates on economic issues."

Viguerie said Huckabee is inclined to solve any problem by passing laws or launching another government program. "If like President George W. Bush, you'll love Mike Huckabee," Viguerie said. "Conservatives in New Hampshire and the other early primary states had better wake up, and make certain the Huckabee victory is confined to the subsidized ethanol fields of Iowa."

Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio host and opinion molder, also has criticized Huckabee: "Ladies and gentlemen, Gov. Huckabee, mighty fine man and is a great Christian, is not a conservative, he's just not," Limbaugh said this week.

"If you look at his record as governor, he's got some conservative tendencies on things, but he's certainly not the most conservative of the candidates running on the Republican side."

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