GOV. HUCKABEE CAN'T KEEP UP WITH BOTH FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND BRITNEY SPEARS

Defends Ignorance Of NIE Report By Mocking President Bush
No Laughing Matter: A serious look at Gov. Mike Huckabee's record and policy beyond the one-liners.

Gov. Mike Huckabee: "And the ultimate thing is, I may not be the expert that some people are on foreign policy, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night." (WABC Radio's "Imus In The Morning," 12/4/07)

National Review: "The Holiday Inn Express Candidate." "In sum, conservatives should have worries about the depth and soundness of Mike Huckabee’s foreign-policy views. And staying at a Holiday Inn Express is not going to be enough to allay them." (Editorial, "The Holiday Inn Express Candidate," National Review, 12/10/07)

Gov. Huckabee Attacked Bush To Defend His Not Knowing About The NIE Report:
Gov. Huckabee Defended His Not Reading The NIE Report On Iran By Joking That President Bush Hadn't Read The Report In Four Years. "Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee defended his failure to read the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran in early December, joking in an interview Monday that President Bush didn't read intelligence reports for four years. … 'Maybe I should've said, "Have you read the report?" President Bush didn't read it for four years; I don't know why I should read it in four hours.' His comment about President Bush appears to be a reference to allegations made by Bush's critics that Bush didn't pay close enough attention to intelligence reports, particularly in the early years of his presidency." (Dan Gearino, "Huckabee Pokes Fun At Bush Over Reading Intelligence Reports," Quad City Times, 12/31/07)

Gov. Huckabee Echoed Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Who Accused President Bush Of Knowing Four Years Ago That Iran Had Stopped Its Nuclear Weapons Program. "President Bush's heated rhetoric on Iran - including comments about a potential World War III - is even more outrageous now that we know the intelligence community had informed him that it believes Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program four years ago. This is the latest in a long line of inaccurate and misleading comments that got us into the Iraq war to begin with. They further diminish the credibility of a President with a dangerous record of overstating threats." (Sen. Reid Press Release, US Fed News, 12/4/07)

Gov. Huckabee Claimed The Report Came Out Much Later Than It Actually Did:
Gov. Huckabee Claimed The NIE Report Came Out Just Hours Before He Was Asked About It. "'The whole perception was based on an ambush question on the NIE report,' Huckabee said in an interview Monday with the Quad-City Times. 'From there, it was like, 'Wow.' That was released at 10 o'clock in the morning. At 5:30 in the afternoon, somebody says, 'Have you read the report?'" (Dan Gearino, "Huckabee Pokes Fun At Bush Over Reading Intelligence Reports," Quad City Times, 12/31/07)

But The NIE Report Actually Came Out At Least 36 Hours Before Gov. Huckabee Was Asked About It. "That particular day [when the NIE came out], which I thought it was a little bit ridiculous to talk about, the report came out at 10 in the morning and it was like five in afternoon. [Editor's note: The National Intelligence Estimate report stating that Iran was not pursuing nuclear weapons came out Monday Dec. 3. Huckabee was first asked about it in the evening of Dec. 4]" (Michael Scherer, "Mike Huckabee-The Front Runner Q&A," Time, http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1699051,00.html, Posted 12/31/07)

Gov. Huckabee Compared Knowing About Foreign Policy To Keeping Up With Celebrity Gossip:
Gov. Huckabee Said That Keeping Up With Foreign Affairs Was As Tough As Keeping Up With Britney Spears Gossip. "When asked to clarify, Huckabee said this: 'The point I'm trying to make is that, on the campaign trail, nobody's going to be able, if they've been campaigning as hard as we have been, to keep up with every single thing, from what happened to Britney last night to who won "Dancing with the Stars."' He said the campaign learned from the criticism related to the Iran report and now he gets regular briefings about developments in foreign policy." (Dan Gearino, "Huckabee Pokes Fun At Bush Over Reading Intelligence Reports," Quad City Times, 12/31/07)

Gov. Huckabee Was Well Versed On The Jamie Lynn Spears' Pregnancy But Had Been "Caught Off-Guard By Breaking News Events." "Baptist minister and anti-abortion supporter Mike Huckabee was asked today about 16-year old celebrity Jamie Lynn Spears' decision to continue her unplanned pregnancy. While the candidate has been notably caught off-guard by breaking news events recently, today he passed a test of pop culture with flying colors." (Mary Hood, "Huckabee's Happy Spears Is Keeping Her Baby," CBS' From The Road Blog, www.cbsnews.com/, Posted 12/20/07)

BIDEN: MR. PRESIDENT, WHAT ABOUT THE TROOPS?

Sen. Joe Biden issued a statement following President Bush’s veto yesterday of the Defense Authorization Conference Report:

“It is shocking that this White House thinks it’s more important to shield the Iraqi Government from lawsuits than to meet the needs of our troops. President Bush has said for months that Congress must immediately support our troops and that any delay was unacceptable. Now he's vetoed legislation that provides a pay increase to our troops and reforms the health care system for our veterans in the wake of the Walter Reed scandal. Why? Because it doesn't do enough to protect the Iraqi government.

“This president’s priorities are exactly backwards. Our troops must come first. The men and women on our front lines and our wounded warriors back home will have a hard time understanding what the President has done. And they’re right – this is outrageous. The most important promise a president must keep is to our troops. This president has broken that promise."

Bush said Defense Authorization is “A Promise to Fund our Troops in Combat.” In a radio address, Bush said, “This week, Congress considered a defense authorization bill. An authorization bill is a pledge to spend money. Under such a bill, Congress will make a promise to fund our troops in combat.” [Bush Radio Address, 12/15/07]

Bush: Funding the Troops is the “First Priority.” In a radio address, Bush said, “Congress's first priority should be to provide the funds and flexibility to keep our troops safe and help them protect our Nation.” [Bush Radio Address, 12/1/07]