Huckabee Rally Really Feels Like a Rally

By: Joy Lin
Topics: Mike Huckabee

(CBS)

From CBS News' Joy Lin:

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Ahhh...this is more like it. Advertised as a rally, this event at Furman University actually feels like one. The mostly young crowd lined up over an hour before the event. A teenage band helped pass the time, the room bursting with at least 1,500 people packed standing room only. Two walls had to be collapsed to withstand the flow of people and even that didn't seem to alleviate the pressure of people all around.

Press risers didn't arrive until about 20 min before the event, and they were too short. So the photographers hauled their equipment to the side of the room and scrambled to get a decent shot of the podium. A camerman shook his head at me with sweat on his face.

Huckabee opened by playing a personal favorite on the trail -- "Taking Care of Business." A scan of the crowd and all you could see emerging from the sea of heads were hands holding camera phones, jostling for a blurry image of Huckabee.

Huckabee joked that he thought maybe the crowd assumed Chuck Norris was showing up and continued on to deliver yet another speech he would have given in Iowa, a self-deprecating speech that addressed anti-abortion rights, the "fair" tax, immigration, and fully funding the military.

Midway through his speech, Huckabee improvised when the projector screen came down and the light dimmed. He didn't know what was going on, and as the screen rolled back up, he turned to it with with his hands upheld and said, "praise the lord." The crowd laughed.

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by think4aminut January 10, 2008 5:03 PM EST: Thank you for your work following the candidates on the road. It concerns me, however, that Ron Paul is not represented on this blog page. I expect censorship from FOX, but not CBS. I am certain that one of the many people following his campaign, would take on a blog responsibility for this site.; Reply to this comment


by ih2005 January 10, 2008 4:20 PM EST: One hopes that, absent a Huckabee campaign effort to defend itself, the media will counter Romney attacks by pointing out how, at Bain Capital, Mr. Romney used offshore corporations to avoid U.S. taxation, and he fee-milked acquired businesses before firing workers and taking them into bankruptcy ( http://snipr.com/romneyoffshore ), to amass his great $250,000,000 wealth.

So, when you compare how Mr. Huckabee''s visionary FairTax advocacy ( http://snipr.com/nextrung ) compares to Romney''s interest in the current tax system, it''s pretty easy to see who will lead us out of tax slavery ( http://snipr.com/taxburden ) - $265 billion annual tax code compliance costs representing 5 billion wasted hours, annually.; Reply to this comment


by allenfuller-2009 January 10, 2008 2:25 PM EST: allan_59 and a small number of other activists are going around spamming every comment field they can find against Mike Huckabee. I''ve seen the same thing almost verbatim on various news articles.

Instead of getting your information third-hand from those who obviously don''t like Huckabee, why don''t you find out about Huckabee for yourself? I''m not going to tell you where to look, what to think, or anything like that. All I ask is that you open your mind, and treat every piece of information you get as motivated by someone''s agenda.

You may find you like Mike, or at least, that he''s nowhere near the threatening, ominous, corrupt crazy hick that some have portrayed.; Reply to this comment


by ih2005 January 10, 2008 4:44 AM EST: http://snipr.com/reaganhuckabee Go Mike! Go FAIRTAX!; Reply to this comment


by allan_59 January 9, 2008 11:54 PM EST: Huckabee is gifted. How anyone can look the country in the eye and tell one lie after another is beyond me. There''s got to be something in the Arkansas water. Everyone knows he lies about the big things %u2013 immigration, taxes, being able to find Sudan on a map. But he lies about the little things. What is wrong with a cross in a Christmas message? He had to lie about it. Just like he lied about having a Theology degree. He ran negative ads against Mitt until he ran out of money, claimed he was not running it because it was wrong to go negative - then leaked the ad to the media so they would play it for free. When a scam is so obvious, even the press bust out laughing, it ought to be fairly obvious to everyone else.
I went to two of his speeches and heard him make personal attacks on Mitt''s character, claiming that the Romney COMPARATIVE ad was all lies. But he never addressed the claims. In the last debate, Mitt finally made him admit the 47% increase in taxes was factual. Huckabee is not who he claims to be, does not stand for what he claims to stand for, and can not be trusted any more than his brother in spirit, Bill Clinton.
And by the way, I am not a Mitt supporter, either. I have problems with his inconsistencies also. This year, I''m supporting the truthful candidate that does not claim to be something he is not %u2013 Fred Thompson. Let the chips fall where they may- I am voting my conscience.; Reply to this comment