Take Back the Flag subscribes to Mike Huckabee’s “HuckPAC” emails so you don’t have to. In an email tonight to supporters with the subject “Final Push,” Huckabee urged supporters to vote tomorrow and ignore his perception of the media’s premature call for Obama. He then wrote,
“Tonight I am urging you to vote tomorrow if you haven’t already, help turn out the vote in your family and network of friends and send reminder emails and reach out to them by phone tomorrow. If you know an Obama supporter, tell them they can still vote on Wednesday!”
Huckabee’s false election information is illegal and humorless. Earlier today on the Political Ticker, CNN explalined:
“Communicating false information to voters is punishable as a class 1 misdemeanor under Virginia election law.”
CNN included this statement in their coverage of fake flyers in Virgina imparting the same false information as Huckabee. Other states likely have similar laws. If nothing else, Huckabee violated election law in Virginia with his email distribution of fabricated election information.
Sadly Huckbee’s actions fit in with the traditional Republican mold of lies and arrogance when it comes to elections. Republicans whine about voter registration fraud and easy ballot access while smearing Democratic candidates as unpatriotic and un-American. But when it comes down to it, they’re the only ones mocking the actual election and demolishing the fundamental element of our democracy. Sometimes Democrats go too far in their efforts to open the polls. We must in fact defend our right to vote by guarding against fraud in all forms. But we have to find a compromise in the middle, and so-called jokes like Huckbee’s are indicative of a appalling mindset destined to close the polls to the citizens.
This reprehensible behavior is especially disappointing to see from Governor Huckabee. All through the primary season, Take Back the Flag vehemently disagreed with a significant majority of his opinions and policy proposals, but greatly respected his honest and authentic demeanor. He didn’t talk down to the voters. He looked us all right in the eyes and told us what he believed. He had some scary ideas, but he was admirable among a slate of Republicans (and Democrats) pandering at every turn in the road.
Even in the general election, Governor Huckabee mostly maintained his honorable style. Sure, he campaigned for McCain and used some of those divisive social issues in his speeches, but he didn’t sink neck-deep in the mud like other Repubilcans, such as Rudy Guilianna and Mitt Romney. Both Guilliani and Romney seemed to be true moderate Republicans, but they slipped in the primaries and then came crashing down in the general election as surrogates for John McCain. Clearly, they took their cues from the strategists McCain stole from the smear-driven Bush campaign, not from the candidate himself.
It’s time to move behind this type of electioneering and look towards the future. Polls open in literally hours. Our opportunity is here.
Take Back the Flag 