HUCKABEE URGES GOP: MAKE THE DEAL…. If House Republicans are counting on widespread support from the right for their budget tactics, they won’t care for Mike Huckabee’s remarks on Fox Business Network* this afternoon:
“Don’t let the government shut down because the consequences of that are going to hurt the Republicans, not the Democrats, and the Republicans can’t win this battle when you get down to it.
“In other words, nobody’s more pro-life than me. Nobody. But as much as I want to see Planned Parenthood defunded, as much as I want to see NPR lose their funding, the reality is, the president and the Senate are never going to go along with that. So, win the deal you can win, live to fight another day, and fight the Paul Ryan battle because that’s the one that will change America for the future and the next generation.”
Huckabee isn’t exactly a moderate, especially when it comes to social issues. And even he thinks it’s a bad idea for his own party shut down the government over Planned Parenthood.
Also this afternoon, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a staunch opponent of abortion rights, said he’d like to see his Republican colleagues in the House drop the policy riders, and agrees that GOP leaders “probably should” accept the spending cuts being offered by Democrats.
Remember, Coburn and Huckabee aren’t moderates, but they want to see the House make the deal.
We’re not, in other words, looking at a united Republican front when it comes to GOP negotiating strategy.
* corrected
