Tonight, from Mike Huckabee (r), via Twitter:

Gov. Mike Huckabee ‏@GovMikeHuckabee
I trust @BernieSanders with my tax dollars like I trust a North Korean chef with my labrador! #DemDebate 8:58 PM – 13 Oct 2015

Wow.

The republican presidential field is just stellar, let me tell you, just stellar.

I wrote yesterday about the scrambled logic employed by former state Rep. Cynthia Davis to defend Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refuses to allow her office to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. I found it hard to believe that anyone could be as obtuse as Cynthia Davis seems to be. However, as Michael Bersin pointed out earlier, current State Rep. Vicky “Running God’s Way” Hartzler is also an admirer of the Kentucky county clerk.

Hartzler not only speaks up for Kentucky’s premier religious bigot, she is, as Steve Kraske of the Kansas City Star notes, the only one of Missouri’s congressional delegation to publicly defend Davis. I suspect that the only reason that she doesn’t go as far over the top as Missouri’s Cynthia Davis does is because her pronouncements so far have been brief (and if she decides to say more, she’ll have her staff to keep her coherent – something that Missouri Davis lacks). Hartzler nevertheless, misfires just as badly when she focuses on freedom of religion without acknowledging the civil rights of those in Davis’ religious cross-hairs, declaring that:

I stand with Kim Davis. It’s a sad day when we imprison someone in America because of their beliefs. Freedom of religion is our first right.

However, both Hartzler and Missouri Davis have even more distinguished company in their desire to defend Kentucky Davis: GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. And unlike Hartzler, Huckabee doesn’t hold back. He’s as over the top and poorly informed as Davis (although a bit more fluent in English). He attempts to draw parallels with the 19th century Dred Scott decision, claiming that it is still the law of the land – even after being informed that it was overturned by the 14th amendment:

“I’ve been just drilled by TV hosts over the past week, ‘How dare you say that, uh, it’s not the law of the land?'” Huckabee said. “Because that’s their phrase, ‘it’s the law of the land.’ Michael, the Dred Scott decision of 1857 still remains to this day the law of the land which says that black people aren’t fully human. Does anybody still follow the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision?”

After correcting Huckabee, Medved then asked the candidate if he would attempt to overturn the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling with a constitutional amendment.

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Huckabee replied. “Because, in the case of this decision, it goes back to what Jefferson said that if a decision is rendered that is not borne out by the will of the people either through their elected people and gone through the process, if you just say it’s the law of the land because the court decided, then Jefferson said, ‘You now have surrendered to judicial tyranny.'”

“The Supreme Court in the same-sex marriage decision made a law and they made it up out of thin air. Therefore, until Congress decides to codify that and give it a statute it’s really not an operative law and that’s why what Kim Davis did was operate under not only the Kentucky Constitution which was the law under which she was elected but she’s operating under the fact that there’s no statute in her state nor at the federal level that authorizes her,” Huckabee said before Medved cut him off for a break.

That, I believe, is similar to the wannabe constitutional argument that our own Cynthia Davis is trying in her labored fashion to promulgate. So what does this mean about Huckabee – and by extension folks like Hartzler and Davis? As Steve Benen remarks:

… I don’t expect Huckabee to be a legal scholar. He’s not an attorney; he has no background in legal scholarship; he’s never even been an elected lawmaker.

But Huckabee is falling short of a junior-high-school level of understanding of the American constitutional system – which is generally not an appealing trait for someone seeking the nation’s highest office.

[…]

Huckabee’s bizarre mistake would be easier to dismiss if similar mistakes weren’t so common. The former governor and Fox News host has somehow convinced himself, for example, that federal “enabling legislation” is necessary in response to court rulings, or they don’t count. He’s also endorsed pre-Civil War nullification schemes and suggested he might deploy federal troops on U.S. soil to prevent women from exercising their reproductive rights.

It’s one thing to have a right-wing governing agenda, but it’s something else when a candidate invents his own brand of crackpot civics and pretends it’s real.

Cynthia Davis is a small time political has-been who has to resort to her own Internet talk show to try to peddle her silliness and Vicky Hartzler is basically just another lack-luster GOP hack. But Mike Huckabee is running for president – president of all of us, not just evangelical Christian fanatics.

Of course, on the other hand, why am I surprised that a GOP presidential candidate sounds a lot like a dim-witted local ex-politician? These individuals are members of a party in which Donald Trump is a viable presidential candidate, and which tried to make Sarah Palin Vice-President. They’re members of a party that has turned its back on science, that denies the reality of climate change, that would subjugate foreign policy to partisan political considerations, that endorses discredited Voodoo economics, that would enable tax-cuts for the rich and impose greater tax-burdens on the poor, that is willing to suppress voting rights in the name of non-existent “voter fraud,” that denies that contraception is a health issue, that tries to rewrite history books to support present day ideological druthers, and that has no compunction about trying to impose a myriad fantastical theories and beliefs on the rest of us. Davis, Hartzler and Huckabee are maybe just a little less subtle than some of their other colleagues.

Yesterday Missouri’s Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill went after Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky who, on Sunday’s Meet the Press, voiced his opinion that Bill Clinton’s philandering with Monica Lewinsky, if not the equivalent to the GOP legislative “war” on women’s rights – which he states has been “concocted by Democrats” – is still just the way to silence Democrats who’ve noticed the Republican battle maneuvres in said war. McCaskill, to her lasting credit, took Paul down in short order:

“I think I can speak for most women to say what I found what he said infuriating,” McCaskill said “I think most women understand that they should not be held accountable for the behaviors of their husbands. And you know, frankly, it was a long time ago, and our country did very well under the leadership of Bill Clinton.”

[…]

“I think Rand Paul is grasping, trying to show he can be tough and win the presidential nomination,” McCaskill said. “It was a political posturing and, frankly, what Rand Paul doesn’t get is that women want birth control. What Rand Paul doesn’t get is that women don’t want to be marginalized in the workplace. … The more the Republicans keep talking about how somehow they’ve got it all figured out about women, the more trouble they get in.”

Indeed. For good measure, as TPM reports, McCaskill also got in a salvo at Mike Huckabee’s recent, über-creepy “Uncle Sugar” gaffe, in which he seemed to conflate mandatory contraception insurance coverage with imaginary government subsidies for uncontrollable female libido:

McCaskill also responded to Mike Huckabee’s recent comment on the female libido by reiterating that most women view access to birth control as a basic right. “I don’t understand why these guys don’t get that,” McCaskill told Mitchell.

I can tell McCaskill why most Republians don’t get it – they’re essentially confused about the terms of combat, to return to the war metaphor that functions so well to describe GOP anti-women fervor. They think it’s all about free sex and free-loading. Their world view just doesn’t accommodate the idea that the “war on women” doesn’t involve those concepts per se, any more than it involves the private, sexual behavior of Bill Clinton – or Louisiana GOP Senator David Vitter’s penchant for prostitutes, if it comes to that. That’s why they think they can mitigate the perception of their policies by putting a saccharine female face on them, the strategy adopted last night when Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA) gave a carefully scripted response to the SOTU that was heavy on sentimental cliches and light on policy specifics, a speech that, incidentally, often implicitly belied her own legislative actions and priorities, a fact that GOP leaders seem to think women are too dumb to figure out.

McCaskill did a good job with just the right sound bites, but it’s too bad that when Paul accused Democrats of concocting a war on women, the media constraints meant that no one would ask him specifically which party fillibustered the Paycheck Fairness Act and consistently  fought against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. In which party do the members preclude any discussion of female and family friendly policies such as paid parental leave, and paid personal and family sick leave? Which party has enacted or attempted to enact cuts to child-care subsidies for working women, head-start funding and numerous other programs that act as a safety net for women and their families?  Which party seeks to shut-off unemployment benefits, or chop food stamps, thereby hurting the families of so many poor working or unemployed mothers? The list of Republican policy positions that negatively impact the lives of women directly or indirectly is almost endless.

And yes, Senator McCaskill’s right, the Republican war on women involves restricting abortion rights and access to contraception.  According to the Guttemacher Institute, various states enacted 205 provisions restricting abortion and access to contraceptives over the past three years (2011-2013). The first order of business for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014 was to pass HR7, the “rape-audit” bill that would use the IRS to discriminate against women who have had an abortion. It was Missouri Republican Senator Blunt who, based on a contrived “religious liberty” argument, sponsored a bill that attempted to deny women right to have health care insurance that covered essential aspects of reproductive health. Just about every Republican in GOP-land has tried to restrict funding to Planned Parenthood – which would undercut support for routine medical procedures such as mammograms as well as the more obviously targeted abortion and contraceptive services. All of which suggests a Republican party that is obsessed with controlling female sexuality.

Nor does the Republican obsession with sexual behavior end with denying women the right to control their fertility. GOPers continue to try to redefine rape more narrowly and to make the victims of rape pay the price for what was done to them. A Republican even suggested that rape kits, used in emergency rooms to collect evidence, are used to give abortions!

Does any of this suggest a party that respects women? Or even a party that respects basic human rights and freedoms, much less even understands what those terms mean? We can at least be grateful that Senator McCaskill, Republican-lite on so many issues, well and truly “gets” the issues involved in the GOP war on women and is willing to stand up along with most of her Democratic colleagues and fight.

Grab the popcorn; we’ve got a couple months left until November and GOP court jester Todd Akin will evidently be around during the whole time so we can count on a few more big belly laughs between now and then. Akin discussed his decision go on with his campaign, despite his recent “legitimate rape” gaffe. with with fellow right-wing fantasist, Mike Huckabee on Huckabee’s radio program:

According to Talking Points Memo (TPM), Akin also made the following statement:

I also know that people do become pregnant from rape and I didn’t mean to imply that that wasn’t the case, […] It does happen.

So why did he say the opposite? Does he mean that he knows it now, but he didn’t yesterday? TPM also noted that Sunday Akin tried to excuse himself by saying that he meant “forcible” rape, and not “legitimate” rape, from which I suppose we should infer that his apologies are directed at the true believers and consist of no more than his mea culpas for failing to use the requisite code, and thereby embarrassing like-minded, but more discrete members of his party.

Want to talk about chutzpah though? TPM also reports that the supposedly contrite Akin finished his interview not only by invoking 9/11 (a lesson he must have learned during the Bush years), but he even asked GOPers calling on him to step down to donate money to his campaign. You see what I mean about two more months of unending – if mindless – entertainment?

UPDATE:  Hell hath no fury like the wrath of wingers exposed as charlatans. Which is to say, Akin’s SuperPAC support has already started drying up, and the chorus of GOP condemnation is growing steadily mightier. Just about the only person – apart from Dana Loesch – who thinks Akin should stay in the race is Claire McCaskill, who piously observes that national GOP has no right to dictate to Missourians who elected Akin fair and square. Charitable of her, isn’t it.

UPDATE 2: As per TPM, Todd Akin now “stands alone,” no GOP suppot, mega pressure being applied to get him out before tomorrow’s deadline. But would support re-materialize if he sticks in there? Otherwise, GOP loses Senate for sure. Stay tuned …

UPDATE 3: There are rumblings that Akin’s caving, getting ready to quit. Will he or won’t he? The suspense builds … . Possible replacements:

… include three former senators: John Ashcroft, Jim Talent, and Kit Bond. Other names being mentioned include former Ambassador Ann Wagner, who is running for Akin’s now-vacant seat; and Auditor Tom Schweich

Or – wait for it – maybe John Brunner.  Wasn’t he intended to be the anti-Akin in the first place – old,white, male and utterly, safely predictable? The only Republican left out of this list is Sarah Steelman. Wonder why?

Via Steve Benen at Washington Monthly:

May 15, 2011 8:00 AM

‘All the factors say go, but my heart says no’

Mike Huckabee, by some measures, would have been the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination had he decided to run. But on his Fox News program last night, after dropping conflicting hints, the former Arkansas governor announced he will not be a candidate.

At the very end of his Saturday night show, Huckabee initially touted what a great presidential contender he’d be. He noted the polls that showed him in the lead; he touted support in the Northeast that “shattered the notion that I was only a regional candidate”; and he pointed to the support of his family members, who would be subjected to “brutal and savage personal attacks” if he ran. (Note to Huckabee: you’ve already run once, and no one bothered your family.)

But after explaining that the final decision was “a spiritual one,” Huckabee bowed out….

The Missouri connection? Wayne DuMond:

A sitting governor intervenes in the parole process, setting up the release of an individual who then goes on to commit another horrible crime. Sound familiar? Well, our political media will only cover a story like that if that governor is running for president, right? Think again….

And, three years ago:

[T]he man is scary because he makes his conservatism sound so reasonable and moderate. In some ways, we may have dodged a bullet by getting McCain instead of Huckabee.

Mike Huckabee at Missouri Boys State: Q and A, part 1

Question:  …Besides deciding to run for president what has been your hardest decision to make as governor or lieutenant governor?

Mike Huckabee: Hardest decision I ever had to make was carrying out the death penalty. It’s an easy answer, it’s a hard thing. I’ll tell you why. Because every decision I ever made as a governor was a decision that somebody else could come back behind you and change. Except that one. That was the only decision I ever made that was absolutely, totally irrevocable. And so when I had to carry out the death sentence, which I had to do more than any other governor in the history of my state, I got to tell you it was not something I did lightly. I hear people sometimes say, “Oh I believe in the death penalty. Boy, I could sure do it.” And they talk with such a cavalier spirit, almost as if they would enjoy doing it…

… Let me tell you something, anybody who could carry out a death sentence and not feel deeply something within is a person I don’t want in any public office. Because I’ll tell you why it was hard – I knew when I put my signature on that piece of paper, that started that process in motion, that the net result of that was the end of the judicial process that involved all three branches of government, but that I as the chief executive of the state would have to carry it out. And it would mean that a human life would be taken. I’m gonna tell you something. It was not an easy decision. And I had to accept the fact that our legislature had passed laws to put this in effect, our courts had gone through a very thorough process of thoroughly adjudicating this individual, and it was a responsibility to do. I read every page of every file of every one of those cases down to looking at crime scene photos and reading the autopsy reports of victims. ‘Cause I wanted to see if there was anything in this entire case that warranted a different outcome than this. And that’s without a doubt the hardest decision. And I think anybody you elect to anything ought always to remember that it’s the life and death decisions that you hope they’re willing to make, capable of making, but God help us, if we ever elect people who make those decisions lightly, whether it’s going to war or signing the death warrant for somebody who has been convicted of a capital crime. [applause]

Question: …My question is regarding, “Why didn’t anyone do something?” It seems like in our government today there’s corruption or people who have different viewpoints. How as we as leaders of tomorrow make sure that we get the power to make sure things go the right direction, keeping people who already are in government who have the viewpoint of [garbled] self gain, make sure we keep it that right path instead of the wrong path which we’re going down right now?

Mike Huckabee: Well,…one of the things that has to happen is an informed voter. Voters who know what’s going on. They need to punch the people who mess up. That means throw ’em out of office. Corruption shouldn’t be tolerated of others. And when it is, then we deserve it. We deserve what we get when we allow people to do terrible things and we don’t seem to make ’em feel the consequences of it. One of the things that always amazes me is when we have an election about half the people who are eligible to vote don’t even register to vote. And of those who register to vote usually forty to sixty percent, depending on the intensity of issues, of the registered voters even go vote. So you have roughly twenty-five to thirty per cent of the eligible people who could vote who actually go out and do it. Which says to me that a lot of people just assume that it’s okay whatever the politicians gonna do is. And I think it’s a terrible thing. So one thing is, first of all, never ever ever miss an opportunity to exercise your constitutional right and responsibility to vote. Secondly, don’t just vote, but vote responsibly and with an informed mind. Don’t just believe something because it’s in a TV ad. It’s a terrible place to get information about a candidate. The great thing is the Internet. But be careful about the Internet. Remember that one of the things that used to happen is that newspaper and other forms of media had editors and they checked to see if the facts were right. Nobody edits the Internet, so you have to be your own editors. Somebody says, you know, Mike Huckabee bit the head off a live squirrel. [laughter] Just because somebody said that doesn’t mean it’s true. It was a rat, it wasn’t a squirrel. [laughter][crosstalk] Now the point I, just because somebody says they saw it on the Internet don’t take that at face value. Ask for what is the documentation. What is the source? How many reliable sources? And then, make your voice heard. Write letters, talk on the radio, talk to your friends. But, for heaven’s sake, vote. And that’s one thing you can do. And I’ll tell you if enough people did that we could, we really could change the nation. Okay? Here.

Question: …Many bands today which are more toward the liberal side of the spectrum, and vertical politics. Would you ever have like political conflicts with any of the bands you play with or cover for? And if you did, how would you overcome them? And how could we overcome them today?

Mike Huckabee: One of the things I love about music is it’s the great equalizer. I always say that there’s no crying in baseball, there’s no politics in music. And there is sometimes, but there shouldn’t be. And one of the reasons I enjoy music is because it gives me opportunity to build bridges with people who would otherwise never give me the time of day. And I’ve been able to make friendships and relationships with people who are my political opposites. But the foundation basis of our friendship or relationship wasn’t politics, it was music. It was the fact that we could respect and recognize each other as human beings that had something in common. You know if you ever can come to the fact, if you can have a sense of respect for another person then you can get past the things you disagree with. The main thing, it’s okay to disagree with people, but do it in a civil way. I don’t like to be surrounded only with the people who agree me one hundred per cent. I don’t learn much from folks like that. But don’t get me wrong, I like it when they applaud me and, you know, give me their kudos. But, the truth is, I like to have communications with people who are completely opposite, as long as it’s a conversation and not a screaming match. I don’t do that. Neither of us are gonna gain a thing. And when it comes to that you need to just walk away and say, “Hey. Enjoy it. Have a good day. Good bye.” But if you are willing to talk, for example, if somebody wants to challenge me [garbled] I’m pro life, hap, happy to have that discussion. If they want to talk to me about why I believe, for example in the complete overhaul of the tax system, happy to have that discussion. I’m not interested in screaming at people or having them scream at me. And yes, there have been a lot of times I’ve played with musicians and been on stage with people who certainly didn’t agree with me or I agree with them. But what I hope can be accomplished is that we accept that in this country there’s something bigger than our horizontal views. And that’s our idea that that America is a country we love. Let me give you one example, something that happened that was really a pretty amazing moment. I was invited to go to a big dinner in Washington called the Gridiron. And it’s a big black tie event in D.C. All the politicos and news people go to this thing. And I happened to be the guest of a news organization that’s really left of center. Very left of center. And so I’m sitting at this table with these people, I’m looking around, and basical
ly I’m the only conservative. All the others are harsh, hard core liberals. The Marine Corps band comes in to play the national anthem. Now we’ve had a very civil conversation prior to the dinner starting and it’s been adult and polite. But obviously sharp disagreements. The Marine Corps band is introduced, they come in and they play the national anthem. And it’s interesting to me, I took note of the fact that all of us stood, all of us put our hands over our hearts, and all of us sang the national anthem with great passion and zeal. And I was reminded in that moment that they, too, love their country. They may not love it in the same way I do, with the same beliefs that certain things would be better or worse for it. But I, I walk away saying, you know, it’s wrong for me as a conservative to assume that liberals hate America. It’s wrong for me as a conservative to say that liberals aren’t as American as me. I think they’ve got some really goofy ideas. [laughter] I’m going to do everything I can to overcome them and to limit. But to accuse them of lacking a love for their country I realize would be wrong because they were just as passionate about their hand over their heart and singing the national anthem as I was. So I guess what I’m saying all that, bring to close, have your convictions, stick by them, be able to defend them, but always have respect for the people on the other side and accept that they, too, may love the country. And the best way to get your point across is to show them the respect. But to keep giving them the intellectual capacity to your argument, not just what you believe, but why it is you believe it. I think that has more impact and power than just saying, “This is what I believe. And this, I’m believe more [garbled] than you believe yours.” This is what I believe. This is why I believe it. And let them take you on. You know I never felt as a conservative that I had to go around apologizing for my point of view. And I’ve never felt that I was somehow un, unable to defend myself because I lacked the intellectual capacity of argument to be able to defend myself against the other point of view. And I would say this. If you ever get to the place where you are afraid of somebody sort of taking your point of view apart [garbled] do some more research. All of us should. If we cannot defend our convictions, then maybe they’re not that strong. And true convictions are the ones we can and will defend. Anyway, thank you very much. [applause]

Question: …How did…your bob sled ride turn out?

Mike Huckabee: Oh. Bob sled ride. All those years of playing rock music affected my hearing. [laughetr] It really has. I came in second, behind Levit [sp]. He was the host governor and I think he cheated. [laughter] [crosstalk] Thank you.

Question: …If you were asked to run with John McCain and accept his offer what specific policy would you try to implement from your campaign into his?

Mike Huckabee: Well, I’m not sure how appropriate it is for a running mate to sort of push his own policies. I may have to make sure that the nominee, who gets to set the agenda, would be comfortable. Now, if I were told, “Pick anything you want.” One, it would be a human life amendment. Second would be a marriage amendment, and third would be, probably, the implementation of the fair tax which would eliminate all of the taxes on productivity. [applause] Those are the things that are very important to me. The first two because I think they set the moral framework for our civilization, who we are, how we live, and what kind of culture we’re really gonna have. And the fair tax because I think our economy is in serious trouble on a permanent basis. I don’t think it’s cyclical, I think it’s structural. I don’t think you can fix it by manipulating a few pieces of it. I believe [garbled] a total overhaul. And what we reward we get more of, what we penalize we get less of. When we look at our current tax system we penalize productivity and work and entrepreneurial risk. And we reward those who messed up. And whether it’s bailing out corporations, or bailing out individuals our country’s adopted the philosophy that we will bail you out if you fail. But if you succeed we’ll penalize you and make you wish you hadn’t. Now what you end up with when you push the top down and the bottom up you end up with across the board mediocrity, not the kind of productivity that we need. We should help people that can’t help themselves. We, we should always be merciful, kind, all, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying be harsh. But if you take a guy who’s working two shifts and you put him in a higher tax bracket and actually penalize him for the work he’s doing at second shift so he can get his daughter through college. But if he quits both jobs you’ll give his daughter a scholarship? You have rewarded his lack of work and penalized his work. That’s hardly the way to create a strong economy. So that’s, that’s what I’d do if given the opportunity. [applause] Thank you very much.

Former Arkansas Governor (and former presidential candidate) Mike Huckabee (r) was the featured speaker at the opening night assembly in Hendricks Hall for the American Legion Boys State of Missouri which is taking place on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg this week.

Huckabee spoke for over forty minutes and took questions for nearly another twenty. The entire lower portion of the hall was filled with Boys State participants, with their overflow and public seating in the balcony (it had been announced earlier that 981 individuals had registered and that there were 125 staff members).

Mike Huckabee is an engaging speaker, liberally lacing his narrative with humorous and sometimes self deprecating anecdotes. He spoke without notes or a prepared text and walked around the stage throughout his speech (he wore a remote microphone).

Huckabee does speak quickly – there are a lot of words to transcribe in his forty minute speech. Given the time constraints facing our transcription gnomes at the Show Me Progress corporate headquarters, we will present the question and answer portion of the evening here first, with the speech coming at a later date as time permits (Don’t worry, we’ll get to it). The young men attending Boys State have a reputation for asking good questions in these sessions:

Mike Huckabee: …Thank you very very much. We have microphones, I understand, on either side. We have folks designated. And so if you’ve got a question, I’ll be happy to take  a few of ’em. Where’s the first one?

Microphone bearer: Guys, If you want to line up behind the other gentleman and myself if you have questions.

Mike Huckabee: Oh my. [laughter] By the way, in politics we call this Q and A and everybody thinks it stands for questions and answers. If you ever run for office it means questions and avoidance. [laughter] You try not to say something that kills your career, on You Tube, so [laughter] let’s see how this works out tonight.

Question: …I wanted to know what do you think we as a generation can do to fight the growing problems such as the genocide in Darfur?

Mike Huckabee: I think the most important thing we can do is, is first of all, get our own house in order. I mean I do think that that’s important. It’s hard for us to tell other people how to live when we don’t know how to live. We’re killing people on our own streets and, you know we don’t seem to be able to handle a lot of our own problems. But I also think that we can’t turn our, our, our backs on genocide. I’ll be in Rawanda next month, for example, with the One Campaign. And one of the things I think each of us have a personal responsibility to do is not only to live our own lives with a senses of a code of honor and decency and morality, but to use what resources we have, whether it’s giving our money, giving our time. I think humanitarian aid is very important. I think we have to be careful when we get involved militarily in situations where we haven’t been invited. One of the problems we have faced in the past is when we inject ourselves into a conflict where we are neither welcome nor wanted. But certainly there’s always a role for us to play, both individually and as a nation, in terms of seek, seeking to alleviate human suffering, by our own contributions. And frankly I think it’s also important that we can’t claim that we’re really burdened about Darfur if we’re not burdened about homeless and hungry people here in our own country. I’m not saying that we should exclude one for the other. That’s not it at all. But I know some people for example, in church, and they’re really interested in missions as long as the missions are half way around the world. They don’t even see that on the way to church today they drove past somebody who’s really really hurtin’. Really really hungry. It’s hard for me to believe that, that we can’t somehow be concerned about the person we see every day, but we’re really burdened about the people who we’re never going to meet. So it’s not a matter of either or. It’s a matter of both and putting that into motion. Thank you. [applause]

Question: …If you’re nominated for vice president, what do you want to do?

Mike Huckabee: If I’m nominated for vice president what do I want to do?

Question: Yes.

Mike Huckabee:  [garbled] ..that really neat house over there, on Naval Observatory. [laughter] You know I have no idea whether I, I’ll have any likelihood of doing it. I really don’t. And, you know, if, if Senator McCain were to ask me my main goal would be to do what I could to be of help to him getting elected. And as I’ve said to many people, and it’s really the truth, if, if there’s somebody else who can better help him to become president that’s who I want him to pick. Because it’s more important that he’s president than me or somebody else is vice president, quite frankly. I do think that this is an important election. I have great respect for Senator Obama. And I’ve probably troubled Republicans because I, yesterday I was speaking at the state Republican convention in Texas and in my point was, look, let’s not demonize Barack Obama. He does represent a significant moment in American history that all of us can be proud of regardless of our political affiliation. The fact that in our life time we’ve seen a time coming from when I was a kid when African American citizens would have to go to a different entrance at restaurants, theaters, and sit in different areas and drink from different water fountains, and not be allowed into the places where the rest of us could go. From seeing that in my life time, to where it actually came to schools and we shared schools and we had never done that before. To go from that to a person being nominated for the presidency, it’s a pretty big jump. And we all can be proud of that. I don’t care where our politics lie. Take [applause][crosstalk] …Our country has a long way to go in race relations, but we have come a long way as I can attest from growing up in the deep South. My point is, with all that due admiration I do not think that his answers for America are the right ones. And that’s why I’m supporting Senator McCain. But it doesn’t mean that I have to hate Barack Obama, demonize him, go out and see if I can make him look horrible. I need to just say, look, here’s what his change means, here’s why I think that that may not be the best thing for the country and so let’s go a different direction. So that’s, that’s what I hope will happen. Whoever Senator McCain picks who can best help him layout that message, that’s who I hope he picks…

The audience exits Hendricks Hall after the speech.

Volunteer Matt Damron assists a Boys State participant with directions to the dorm.

The annual American Legion Boys State of Missouri started today on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg.

You may ask, why cover this here?:

…One idea paramount above any other at MBS: That the individual is the one with the power to change the world. Whether athlete or politician, journalist or scientist, each and every one of us has the power to make a difference in the world. We help them to do just that.

Using our democratic system as a basis, we equip the participants each year to construct their own state, utilizing the core values that hold true in our everyday lives. We teach them the need for competition, the value of public office, the strength of the individual voice and vote. By reinforcing these basic American ideals, we help them all to shape the future.

Uh, it’s about government and politics. We do that, too. That, and their list of prominent guest speakers – Mike Huckabee, Jay Nixon, Sarah Steelman, and Robin Carnahan. Missouri Boys State issued me media credentials – I’ll be covering those speeches and the well known Boys State question and answer sessions, too.  

The Boys State registration process – involving almost 1000 participants – is a model of efficiency

I spoke with Betty Rusher, Missouri Boys State Manager of Development and Administration. 1009 boys applied to attend. By this evening, with all registrations completed, there should be close to 1000 participants set to spend the week learning about and involving themselves in the processes of government. 34% of the participants are sponsored by American Legion posts. The remainder are sponsored by other civic organizations. All individuals who are accepted to attend Boys State are supported in this manner.

Here are some of the scheduled speakers:

2008 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MIKE HUCKABEE

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Following Opening Night Ceremonies of the 69th session of Missouri Boys State former Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee will accept the 20th Annual George W. Lehr Memorial Speakers Chair on Monday night at Hendricks Hall. Huckabee will discuss his experiences on the campaign trail during his bid for the White House earlier this year as well as his time serving the State of Arkansas as Governor. Following his prepared remarks, Governor Huckabee will hold a question and answer session.

MISSOURI ATTORNEY GENERAL JAY NIXON

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon will deliver the keynote address at a special assembly on Sunday evening in Hendricks Hall. Attorney General Nixon is an outstanding supporter of the Boys State program and is the likely Democratic Party Nominee for Governor in 2008. The attorney general will hold a question and answer session following his prepared remarks.

MISSOURI STATE TREASURER SARAH STEELMAN

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

State Treasurer Sarah Steelman will deliver the keynote address at the general assembly on Tuesday night in Hendricks Hall. Treasurer Steelman will also discuss her candidacy for Governor of Missouri in 2008. Her speech on Tuesday night marks her first ever visit to Missouri Boys State. Following her prepared remarks she will hold a question and answer session.

MISSOURI SECRETARY OF STATE ROBIN CARNAHAN

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Missouri Secretary of State will deliver the keynote address and swear-in the newly elected state officials at the Joint Session of the Boys State House and Senate on Thursday evening at Hendricks Hall. Following her prepared remarks, Secretary of State Carnahan will swear-in the new MBS Governor and all new MBS constitutional officers and Supreme Court justices.

These are the speakers I think I’ll be able to cover.

Just in case you might think that there’s a certain unanimous ideological bent to the volunteers and participants in Boys State I thought I’d include a few photos of bumper stickers in the parking lot:

A sampling of bumper stickers in the parking lot

Just in case you’re wondering, there are other bumper stickers, too.