MTP Transcript for Jan. 28, 2007

MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: Iraq. Will more U.S. troops stop the violence? Will the Iraqis ever be able to secure their own country? And what kind of country will the U.S. eventually leave behind?

With us, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York; Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana; former Bush speechwriter, now with the Council on Foreign Relations, Michael Gerson; and former Clinton foreign policy adviser, now with the Brookings Institution, Ken Pollack.

But first, the 2008 race for the White House has begun. Sixteen candidates have already formed presidential committees. And this morning, it’s decision time for our guest, the former Republican governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee.

Governor, welcome.

FMR. GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE (R-AR): Thank you very much, Tim.

MR. RUSSERT: Are you running for president of the United States?

GOV. HUCKABEE: Tim, tomorrow I’ll be filing papers to launch an exploratory committee, and yes, I’ll be out there.

MR. RUSSERT: Why?

GOV. HUCKABEE: I think America needs positive, optimistic leadership to kind of turn this country around, to see a revival of our national soul, and to reclaim a sense of, of the greatness of this country that we love, and also to help bring people together to find a practical solution to a lot of the issues that people really worry about when they sit around the dinner table and talk at night.

MR. RUSSERT: Let’s try to define who you are. The last time we talked it was on a—my CNBC show. I asked you about George W. Bush, and you said this, “I think the president has done a magnificent job. And generally, you know, I don’t find that many areas where I would disagree with him.” You still hold that view, Bush has done a magnificent job?

GOV. HUCKABEE: Well, I think he’s had a lot of struggles, particularly in managing the, the war in Iraq. We did a great job of going in and toppling Saddam Hussein. The tough part has been bringing some sense of stability there. And so it’s been a struggle for the president. I think the domestic agenda has also been something that’s almost been ignored and overlooked because we have spent so much of a time on Iraq.

MR. RUSSERT: If you were in the Senate or the House, would you vote to oppose the president sending more troops to Iraq?

GOV. HUCKABEE: I think that’s a dangerous position to take, to oppose a sitting commander in chief while we’ve got people being shot at on the ground. I think it’s one thing to have a debate and a discussion about this strategy, but to openly oppose, in essence, the strategy, I think that can be a very risky thing for our troops.

MR. RUSSERT: Is there one area you disagree with President Bush?

GOV. HUCKABEE: On Iraq or on...

MR. RUSSERT: On anything.

GOV. HUCKABEE: Well, I think we need to be very careful about the overuse of the Guard and the Reserve in our military. As a governor for 10 ½ years and commander in chief of our Guard, I’ve seen 80 percent of our Guard forces deployed to Iraq. Now we’re talking about sending them back yet again and again. These are citizen soldiers. They didn’t sign up to be gone all the time. They signed up to be soldiers called upon for extraordinary duty, and they’ll—they’ve done it. They’re willing to do their duty, but the toll that it’s taking on their families, their employers and their communities is—it’s beginning to really wear.

MR. RUSSERT: You were governor of Arkansas for 10 years plus. The Cato Institute, conservative think tank...

GOV. HUCKABEE: Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT: ...analyzed your performance, and this is what they said:

“Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, Republican, final term grade: F. Mike Huckabee ... receives an F for his current term and a D for his entire tenure. The main reason for the drop was his insistence on raising taxes at almost every turn throughout his final term.” And The Club for Growth, another conservative think tank, wrote this: “About Gov. Huckabee, the Club for Growth ... is adamant. ... They say he raised taxes five times—a gas tax increase in 1999, the cigarette tax hike, tax increases in 2004, a tax on beer and a tax on nursing homes.” That’s a tough record to sell to a Republican audience in primary states.

GOV. HUCKABEE: Well, it shouldn’t be if they look at the real record. I—I’ve said, and I think one of the reasons they’re mad at me is because I said I gave them an F on their grading capacity. I was the first governor in the history of my state to ever lower taxes, the first one in 160 years. We lowered a total of 94 different taxes and fees. We did things that streamlined and made government more efficient. But we were under a Supreme Court order to raise revenue for our schools. We did it, but with the insistence that we wouldn’t just raise money, we would raise standards and expectations, and we did. And Education Week now says that we have some of the most improved schools in the nation. That’s real progress, Tim, and I make no apology for wanting to improve education for the kids of our state. Did we raise taxes on fuel? Yes, but 80 percent of the people voted on it because it was on the ballot. So it wasn’t that I raised it. I joined with 80 percent of the people in my state to improve what was the worst road system in the country. Now we’re rated as having one of the best. Those are the kind of things that I’m being criticized for, but no one can question the conservative record over 10 ½ years when you look at what we’ve done in terms of not only restructuring but also in, in trying to bring some level of responsibility, except for those areas we couldn’t control: Medicaid, prisons and, and, and then education funding that was court ordered.

MR. RUSSERT: And if need be, because of the war in Iraq, because of the deficit, because of health care, because of infrastructure, would you keep raising federal taxes on the table?

GOV. HUCKABEE: I don’t think taxes is, is really where we need to go. It’s not that our taxes are too low, it’s that our spending is too high. Arthur Godfrey once said that “I’m proud to pay taxes in American, but I could be just as proud for about half the money.” I think that the real issue is getting our spending under control, making our priorities where they work for the American people.

MR. RUSSERT: So “read my lips, no new taxes”?

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