Thursday, January 24, 2008

The Huckster's At It Again

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It will be a crying shame when the time comes for Mike Huckabee to hang it up and drop out of the race for the presidency. We'll miss his pious, folksy stand-up act while, at the same time, we, in Arkansas learn even more about his dark, smarmy, greedy side.

Now, we discover, thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, and the diligence of some people at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, that he had a secret slush fund, er, Special Events fund sustained by private donations to a private bank account set up by the governor's office and administered by his Chief of Staff while he was in office.

Apparently, the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration also got in on the act by helping to manage it.

Who knows how much money flowed through this "special events" fund or where it wound up, but I think we can guess. Huckabee only disclosed one gift "on behalf of the state". That was his official portrait, which he valued at between $40,000 to $50,000.

It's the tip of the iceberg, folks.

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It's almost time for the South Carolina primary. What a good idea, having it on Saturday, when most people are off work and have the whole day in which to vote.

Alas, I'm moving away from Hillary, even though I'd love to see a woman in the presidency. And, it's all that big ol' bull-in-a-china-shop Bill's fault! If he doesn't tone it down a bit, he's liable to alienate a lot of people. I know it's all political strategy, and heaven knows he's better at it than just about anybody, but I wonder if he realizes what a tightrope he's walking. And I wonder if they have actually written off South Carolina and he's just hanging around, sniping at Obama just for the fun of it.

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What a mess this campaign season has been! First the states battle it out to see which one will be the first to hold a primary, ending with the races starting 'way too early. Who ever heard of candidates running out of funds and having to drop out of the race before Super Tuesday? Good grief!

Dennis Kucinic called it a day, this morning. This leaves only three candidates.

Now, there's a rumor out there that John Edwards is just about ready to drop out, and that just makes me mad. Not because he is my candidate of choice; that would have been Bill Richardson. But, because that leaves us only two choices out of an original field of excellent choices, which is very disappointing. They should all have had more time.

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And, how will you spend your $600? Pay bills? Stash it in your savings account? Give a portion to charity? Of course not! I predict that there will be a steep spike in the sales of HD television sets.

Of course, being a "senior", I don't have to make a decision about that. People on Social Security don't merit a little bonus. In fact, this year, we received the lowest increase that we have had since I joined the ranks of the retired. Lucky me.

13 comments:

Kell said...

On the surface I understand the circular logic of this money to the people--the economy is in trouble because people aren't spending money on material things, so let's give them some money so they'll buy stuff. It makes my head hurt. And I keep asking "Where is that money coming from?" I'm sure it was explained in some press conference or some article, but my attention span is waning a lot lately.

BTW, we'll be putting our in the money market account and saving it. So there. pffft.

Betty said...

kell: Your tax dollars at work.

Proto said...

they shouldn't be taking so much in the first place. And Hillary is the wrong woman for the job. There are better out there that aren't running yet, but because of her, they may soon run.

Anonymous said...

I liked Richardson, too. He was a glimmer of "real" in an otherwise slick and polished race. I was sorry to see Kucinich call it a day, and I also agree about Edwards. Hillary will not get my vote, although that decision will probably already be made by the time Indiana gets to our primary. Clinton and Obama had the biggest war chests. All others have been dropping like flies. It's a shame.

Anonymous said...

Betty,

The people who are getting the money from the government are supposed to spend it to buck up the economy. Great idea! EXCEPT....
Whose economy will we be strenghtening?

Every damn thing we could possibly buy with the money will have MADE IN CHINA printed on it.

Maria said...

Nancy has made a good point about whose economy will we be strengthening.

Your Arkansas perspective on Huckabee was most interesting. My political philosphies simply would never line up with his anyway, but there was something in his easy, common man, Baptist preacher that left me wary.

Anonymous said...

I'm still with Hilary, but I do wish Bill would shut up.

Huckabee can't drop out of the race soon enough for me. I can't get past his psycho son. And I'm beyond tired of hearing about Huckabee's honesty and upstanding character.

It amazes me that Bush's answer to almost any major problem whether it's the economy, 9/11 or Iraq, is to spend money.

Galla Creek said...

Put my name on Hillary.

Galla Creek said...

I got no raise this year....not even 3 per cent.

Annie said...

Betty, I too have had it with Bill's political strategizing. It just gives me the shivers to think how unmanageable he'd be in the White House, even with Hillary at the helm. She's got a bit of an albatross around her neck, I think. He's smart and might tone it down as he's being advised but I'm not sure his ego will let him keep it toned down for very long.

Anonymous said...

'Tip of the iceberg' is also about right in the UK, Betty, with every day bringing another disclosure about our politicians with their 'snouts in the trough'. The latest being a Member of Parliament paying two of his sons around $100,000 of taxpayers' money to work as his 'assistants', when in fact they were both at university.

John http://oldgit/wordpress.com/

Anonymous said...

Betty,

Today is Florida Republican Primary Day. At Last!!! The political ads never cease down here.

They had a picture of the candidates in the paper yesterday and they were all in a line.

McCain,Huckabee,Guiliani, and Romney. They are all white and pasty looking.

They looked like the poor man's Mt.Rushmore......

Doc said...

I want a slush fund.