Huckabee Is No Ronald Reagan; There Is No Reagan in the Race

Conversation transcript between Ruch Limbaugh and a Mike Huckabee supporter.

RUSH: Let's go to the phones, people patiently waiting, we start in Peoria today with Andrew. I'm glad you called, sir.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. How are you?

RUSH: Fine. Very well.

CALLER: Well, I've been listening, I'm a 24/7 subscriber and everything, but I'm also a big Huckabee fan. I think you've been unfair, and I think Club for Growth has been unfair. Ronald Reagan had the same problems as what Huckabee had in his -- went up double, taxes went up. And it's because of the format of -- it's the format of the government, you know, you have to have a balanced budget as governor.

RUSH: Let me understand this, because we had a call yesterday that tried to make the same point. You are equating Mike Huckabee with Ronald Reagan, and you are saying that Mike Huckabee is Reaganesque and we can expect Reagan II with Huckabee simply because you can cite similar records with both the governors in terms of raising taxes?

CALLER: No, that's not the only thing.

RUSH: You mean there are other comparisons of Huckabee to Reagan?

CALLER: One of them is that he's not the establishment candidate. That was something in the '75-'76 when he ran, and he almost got the nomination there because of the support of evangelicals in the South.

RUSH: Can you tell me -- I mean, I understand the technique here, because this is the second or third attempt on the part of Huckabee supporters, who, by the way, you know, I think he's a fine man. He's just not a conservative. And this is what, to be quite honest with you, offends me greatly with this attempt to compare him to Ronald Reagan. You have to go back and cite their records as governors, some sort of a non-establishment candidate and so forth. Could you tell me something about Huckabee rather than trying to compare him to Ronald Reagan, a comparison of which I will blow out of the water in mere moments? [more here]