Huckabee's Tax Record under Fire

Republican candidate Mike Huckabee, who is running for president, is drawing wide spread condemnation on the issue of taxes. The anti-tax Club for Growth has put up an anti-Huckabee video on Youtube. The video clipping features a speech made by Huckabee during his tenure as governor of Arkansas, in which Huckabee condones the raising of certain taxes as justifiable.

However, Huckabee has responded by saying that his speech in the video was being quoted out of its real context. "I was basically giving a put up or shut up speech to the legislature who had been saying we have got a $200 million deficit, and we don't like any proposal the governor has to fix it," he said. "What I was saying to them was, if you don't like my proposals, give me yours, but let's fix this deficit. And we did."

But Huckabee is also drawing opposition from certain members of his party. For instance, fellow Republican Fred Thompson has criticized Huckabee for his dismal record on taxes during his tenure as governor of Arkansas. Thompson has gone to the extent of linking Huckabee to Bill Clinton, also a former Arkansas governor. Reportedly, a mailer sent to Republicans in Iowa by Thompson, says that Huckabee "wants to hide the fact that he and Bill Clinton share a 'D' lifetime rating for their tax and spend policies." The mailer refers to Huckabee's tax record as assessed by the libertarian Cato Institute's Scorecard of Governors.