What does the Liberal Left and the Republican Establishment have in common? They FEAR Mike Huckabee!!

During an election year, a lifelong Republican candidate has the distinction of having more years of executive experience than any other candidate from either party. He has impeccable Christian Conservative credentials and has been married to the same woman for more than three decades with no David Vitter or Bill Clinton tendencies to speak of. He wants to eliminate both the Income Tax and the Corporate Income Tax and replace both with a consumption-side tax, a national sales tax. And to top it all off, even black voters like him - a chance to take away part of a voting block that the Democrats absolutely need to even think about winning nationally. Sounds great, right? He' got to be "the one." People are geeked about his campaign and a grass-roots movement is carrying him further with less than any other candidate.

But, no, say the Republican Power Brokers. They have decided that it shall not be so. They've issued directives through their puppet masters in the "conservative" news media that this guy doesn't fit the party mold. (Why? Because they say so. Isn't that good enough?) They argue that he raised taxes, ignoring completely the fact that he's the only candidate who wants to eliminate the income tax when elected. The argue that he pardoned too many people, including a man who ended up committing murder, while ignoring the facts that he also executed more than a dozen people and that other candidates who have governed have made mistakes that have led to loss of life (one candidate is blamed by many for a role in the deaths of hundreds of firemen - but that's not been mentioned by party insiders as a reason to not vote for him).

The real reasons for the GOP-oriented media backlash is that Governor Huckabee breaks from the molds in some ways that cause some discomfort. He does care that some people are poor in this country and publicly acknowledges that it's not all of their fault. He isn't willing to be status quo about the GOP and race relations - he even had the audacity to say that he was embarrassed by the party's history here. Also, because he has no money, that also testifies to the fact that nobody owns him yet. Not big oil. Not defense contractors. Not those who have pledged a lifelong adherence to the party line and who value spouting the company line over personal honesty and integrity.

The Democrats are actually afraid of Huckabee because they tremble at the reality that not only can he actually win, but that he actually wants to change things (the typical politician is relatively indifferent to the things that they advocate compared to their desire to win and keep power). He doesn't fit the mold of the hard-hearted, culturally clueless, stiff, boring person whom they characture as the typical Christian. He thinks on his feet and is even better at avoiding the usage of the same old cliches over and over again than Barack Obama. He's a pro-life, income tax-eliminating, pro second amendment version of Obama merged with a funnier, less pompous smidge of Joe Biden, and without any of the baggage of any other candidate running - and with considerable political experience. He represents the best that the opposition has to offer with the exact opposite views on many of the key issues. And he actually knows how to run a government. The Dems are thinking - "oh, crap! This guy could actually become President. He actually wants to end abortion. He actually wants to end the income tax. We can't attack him in the same way that we attack other candidates. We have to stop him. Wait! I know. Let's use reverse psychology and pretend that we want him to be the candidate."