Huckabee Talks Jobs and Taxes

By: Joy Lin
Topics: Mike Huckabee

(CBS)

From CBS News' Joy Lin:

LANSING, MICH. -- Rough hands, scuffed boots, grime smudged clothes, ear plugs, eye masks, work jeans, backwards baseball caps and knit hats. These were the distinguishing characteristics of the crowd of over 300 workers who paused what they were doing to listen to Mike Huckabee stump in their manufacturing facility.

Mixing together patriotism and economic populism, Huckabee's message about Michigan as a former "arsenal of democracy" seemed to have contemporary significance at this plant, the headquarters of Demmer Corporation, which makes the parts used to armor military vehicles. Huckabee thanked the employees for their hard work, which he said helped save the lives of military soldiers everyday.

"As you work on this factory floor... the day we depend on some foreign government to produce our airplanes our tanks, our armored vehicles, our bullets, our bombs, that's the day were really not free. We are just as free as that country is willing for us to be. A lot of people talk about the loss of manufacturing jobs and some say those jobs are gone they're never coming back -- well they better come back. And here's why they better come back. Because the day we can't build our own weapons of self defense is the day that we aren't free anymore, we haven't just outsourced jobs...we have outsourced our freedom."

Huckabee also took the occasion to criticize the current tax system: "Tell me if that makes any sense: work real hard, government wants more. Don't work at all, government will give you a check. Is it any small wonder we've got some insanity in our tax laws?"

Shawn Ricks, a welder, has worked at this facility for nine months -- seven hours a week, twelve hours a day -- has never heard of the "Fair Tax" before but liked Huckabee's idea to abolish the income tax in favor of a national sales tax.

Ricks said he works a lot of overtime hours, but "Its a big issue when you work every day of the week, and you don't have anything to take home to your family," he said.

"The government gets a third of your pay, pretty much."

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by giantrobot2 January 15, 2008 9:48 AM EST: $100,000 = $26,000 yr = $500 wk
$75,000 = $19,500 yr = $375 wk
$50,000 = $13,000 yr = $250 wk
$25,000 = $6,500 yr = $125 wk

Yr Salary = Yr Tax = Wkly Tax

This is how much money you get to KEEP if you Vote for Huckabee!

Huckabee is the ONLY one who will implement the Fair Tax law to abolish income tax & change to sales tax when he becomes president.

Just think of how many things you can do with this extra money every week (after week, .....)!

You choose how to spend this extra money (charities, house payments, food, furniture, trips, activities, etc). Bottom line, you get to choose how to spend that money.

If you want to become poorer then vote for McCain, Romney, Thompson, Guiliani, Paul, Clinton, Obama, Edwards.

But if you want to become Richer then vote for Huckabee!; Reply to this comment


by allenfuller-2009 January 15, 2008 3:23 AM EST: jbrewster7 has been going around spamming every single comment field he can find with anti-Huck "facts".

These are nothing but one-dimensional, out-of-context attacks. Yes, I said ATTACKS. An objective person would look at Huckabee''s entire record, not cherry-pick inconvenient parts of it and use them to make Huck look bad.

Here''s an example. The Club for Growth says Huckabee raised spending 50%. The number is actually 47%. That''s supposed to SHOCK us and make us horrified at how Huck is a tax-and-spender.

But that does not take into account population growth (15%) or income growth (50% per capita) during that time period.

Also, by comparison, spending in all the 50 states went up by 98% over the SAME 11-year period.

When you put the facts into context, you find the OPPOSITE of what the panicked anti-Huckabee forces want you to believe.

Do your own research, people! Don''t rely on the pundits. They don''t always have your best interests in mind, and many have lost touch with real people.; Reply to this comment


by nrobyar January 15, 2008 2:37 AM EST: Dont use this site to write derogatory comments about Mike Huckabee. Everyone here is a staunch Huck supporter and NOTHING you say can change our minds. Dont waste your time here!!; Reply to this comment


by ih2005 January 15, 2008 1:59 AM EST: Huckabee''s what Leadership looks like ( http://snipr.com/leaderlook ). He''s an adroit public speaker who awakens his listeners to their own empowerment; he summons them to action in order that "Main Street," and not "Wall Street," prevails in guarding the founding values and beliefs of the Republic.

Most importantly, Huckabee backs the FairTax ( http://snipr.com/nextrung ). Romney''s recent WEAK response to FairTax on %u201CThis Week with Geo. Stephanopoulos ( http://snipurl.com/stephanopoulosdebate )%u201D drew a sharp contrast between Huckabee and other presidential front-runners who will not embrace it. Huck understands the Tax Code can''t be fixed with "a tap of the hammer, nor a twist of the screwdriver." Opponents clinging to the Code, and its power to grant tax favors at continued misery of working families, invigorates his campaign''s raison d''etre.

%u201CMain Street%u201D will have to demand ( http://snipr.com/scrapthecode ) their legislators deliver the bill to President Huckabee ( http://snipr.com/becomeamember ).; Reply to this comment


by jbrewster7 January 15, 2008 12:46 AM EST: Mike Huckabee is a hypocrite. He talks about being the true "Christian Leader" who is above the horizontal-finger pointing politics, above the left-right, right-left, democrat-republican, republican-democrat blame game.

The fact is, Mike Huckabee is on the defense and wants to take the attention off of his liberal record as the governor of Arkansas.; Reply to this comment


by jbrewster7 January 15, 2008 12:45 AM EST: FACT: Mike Huckabee joined Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in declaring his opposition to the interrogation procedure known as "waterboarding," and said he would support closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and moving the Guantanamo prisoners to the military''s only maximum-security prison, Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. This move would grant habeas corpus rights to %u201Cenemy combatants.%u201D (Source: Washington Post, Huckabee Chafes at ''Front-Runner'' Label, Perry Bacon Jr. 12/4/07); Reply to this comment


by jbrewster7 January 15, 2008 12:45 AM EST: FACT: The ethics commission fined Huckabee $1,000 for failing to report that he paid himself $14,000 from his 1992 U.S. Senate campaign and $43,000 from his 1994 lieutenant governor''s campaign. (Source: POLITICO, Huckabee rivals unearth ethics complaints Kenneth P. Vogel Nov 21, 2007); Reply to this comment


by jbrewster7 January 15, 2008 12:45 AM EST: FACT: Mike Huckabee granted 1,033 pardons and commutations, including 12 convicted murderers, one of which "Wayne DuMond" shortly after his release moved to Missouri where he raped and murdered Carol Sue Shields. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in Clay County, Mo., in 2003. He died in prison in 2005. (Source: The Leader, Arkansas clemencies outpace other states, Garrick Feldman, 2004); Reply to this comment


by jbrewster7 January 15, 2008 12:44 AM EST: FACT: Huckabee accepted more than 300 gifts worth at least $130,000, ranging from $3,700 cowboy boots to a $600 chainsaw. (Source: POLITICO, Huckabee rivals unearth ethics complaints Kenneth P. Vogel Nov 21, 2007); Reply to this comment


by jbrewster7 January 15, 2008 12:43 AM EST: FACT: Mike Huckabee raised more taxes in 10 years in office than Bill Clinton did in his 12 years. (Source: The Leader, 08/30/2006); Reply to this comment