So, Iafsmuch, I’d like him to say exactly what you wrote.  

Do I care if Huckabee supported the surge before Romney?  Not really. 

John McCain was the only person on the stage last night who deserves any points for supporting the troop surge and he could have hammered that point home but did not.

Unfortunately there was no mention whatever about what the war is doing to our troops and their families.  In many respects it doesn’t matter – they have a job to do and must get it done, regardless of the cost, and they know that. 

Yet that cost cannot be ignored either.  Sooner or later something has to give.

Sounds to me that Huckabee approved of the Iraq initiative, but counted the cost to the Reserves.  He didn’t say he was against the surge as much as he was concerned that the surge put an even greater strain on the Reserves.

Huckabee: “Well, I’m not sure that I support the troops surge if that surge has to come from our guard and reserve troops.”

What is the problem with this statement? As a former governor, he is right to bring up the emphasis on Arkansas’ National Guard and Reserves. If we want to win a GWOT, then a larger national military should fight this, not weekend soldiers from Arkansas or Arizona. So maybe this is a matter of context, and not an outright lie. Speaking of lies, how does those Massachusett’s politicians go bird hunting without messing up their manicures and coiffed hair?

Similarly, Romney could have accurately defended the discrepency but he didn’t- instead, by the criteria you’re applying to Huckabee, he was "lying through his teeth" when he said that he never supported timed withdrawal. He too could have simply told the truth about what he did say, but he distorted it by saying he’d never supported that at all.

As he once said himself: if a person is dishonest going in, he’ll be dishonest on the job.

You know who rise in my opinion:
- Romney, because he didn’t lose his cool too much
- Thompson because he didn’t join the fun and decided to simply explain why he should be nominated
- Bloggers who call Huckabee and McCain out

Huckabee tries to present himself as the honest Christian leader. Good. Don’t lie then. O, and also don’t accuse someone else of flip-flopping when there’s proof that you’re quite a flip-flopper yourself.

Lastly, this thread isn’t about Romney, it’s about Huckabee. Nice try changing the subject though. That’s what Huckabee’s campaign constantly does, isn’t it?

Anyway, Christine: if you listen at what he says he says that he believes that there should be milestones. But not publicly announced withdrawal dates, indeed. And it’s clear that he doesn’t talk so much about “withdraw then and then” but about “set clear goals, try to achieve them, then pull out” (I remember this from last year – it’s wise to have a good memory before people post a 15 second video and cut out all the rest).

Should he have worded it differently during the debate? Yes, he should’ve. Was he dishonest? No. Was Huckabee dishonest? Hell yes.

O, and before this thread devolves into Romney-bashing – which is what Huckabee’s campaign constantly tries to do, McCain and his supporters the same thing by the way – if people try to hijack this thread, comments will be deleted. If you want us to spend attention to what Romney may have said back when, e-mail me or any of the other co-bloggers. If you’re not willing to do that, fine, but don’t hijack comment sections.

Defend your man, but don’t try to change the topic.