You could almost feel sorry for Mike Huckabee. Many days, he sounds more like an Arkansas Democrat than a typical national Republican. But he made his bed. And today he got tucked into it completely.
Speaking at the Conservative PAC cattle show in Washington, he made the no-tax-increase pledge demanded by Grover Norquist. Earlier, he’d demurred, wanting to leave a llittle wiggle room for the unexpected — like a war, say. But because of criticism from the Club for Growth and others in the noisy base that dominates Republican primary politics, he was forced to cave.
He also went after Rudy Giuliani, currently running strong, on abortion. Giuliani gets lead attention on NY Times blog.
UPDATE: The Club for Growth praised Huckabee’s pledge. But President Pat Toomey sounded as if that didn’t necessarily square things. “We certainly appreciate Governor Huckabee’s conversion,” Mr. Toomey continued, “but we believe a candidate’s record in public office is often more indicative of his philosophy than his pledges on the campaign trail.”