Scientists & Engineers for America

Michael Huckabee (Former Presidential Candidate)


Michael Huckabee
R-AR


Biography

HUCKABEE, Michael, a Governor from Arkansas; born in Hope, Ark. On August 24, 1955; attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary 1976-1977; graduated from Ouchita Baptist University 1976; pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church 1980-1986; president/founder ACTS 24 Hour News Channel pastor of Beech Street First Baptist Church 1986-1992; president/founder of KBSC-UHF 24 Hour News Channel 1987-1992; president of communications firm 1992-1996; elected Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas 1993-1996; appointed Governor of Arkansas 1996-1998; elected Governor of Arkansas 1998-2002; reelected Governor of Arkansas 2002-2006; candidate for Republican nomination for President in 2008.

MICHAEL HUCKABEE'S RECORD ON SCIENCE

Contents

[edit] Energy

Former Governor Huckabee’s energy plan calls for America to be energy independent by the end of his second term through conservation and the exploration of all forms of alternative and renewable energy, including clean coal, biomass, wind, nuclear, hydrogen, and solar.

[edit] Evolution/Intelligent Design

During the first GOP debate in May 2007, Huckabee indicated that he did not believe in evolution. In the next Republican debate in June, he expanded upon those beliefs, saying “I believe there is a God who was active in the creation process. Now, how did he do it, and when did he do it, and how long did he take? I don’t honestly know, and I don’t think knowing that would make me a better or a worse president.”

He has also indicated, that he does not think the debate over evolution is relevant to the presidential election, stating: “I’m not planning on writing the curriculum for an eighth-grade science book. I’m asking for the opportunity to be president of the United States.”

On teaching creationism, Huckabee has said he would not be comfortable with schools “teaching creationism as if it's the only thing that they should teach.” In a recent New York Times article, Huckabee added to his thoughts on teaching creationism in schools: "That's an irrelevant question to ask me--I'm happy to answer what I believe, but what I believe is not what's going to be taught in 50 different states. Education is a state function. The more state it is, and the less federal it is, the better off we are."

[edit] Environment

[edit] Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Governor Huckabee supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to help promote energy independence. In an interview with Salon, he said "The key is to create the kind of unbridled marketplace that turns innovators loose to find the solutions. I don't think we're going to find one big answer. I think it's going to be a combination of many that will include hydrogen, solar, wind, nuclear, domestically produced fossil fuels -- at least for the short term. Our goal is to be nondependent upon fossil fuels, but there will be an interim period in which we'll need to utilize all the domestic oil that we can generate by ourselves, whether it's from ANWR or the continental shelf." [1]

[edit] Global Warming

In a debate in May 2007, Governor Huckabee did not clearly indicate whether or not he believed human actions were causing climate change, but he said that “it is all of our responsibility to leave this planet in better in shape for future generations than we found it.” In a July interview, he voiced support for raising the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to 35mpg by 2020 and increasing the number of cars that can run on a gasoline fuel mixture containing 85% ethanol (E85).

[edit] Healthcare

Huckabee's healthcare plan focuses on policies that work to encourage market-based solutions to decrease healthcare costs. Under the plan, health insurance will be made tax deductible for individuals and families and low income families will be given tax credits to help pay for their insurance. It also calls for America to move away from employer-based healthcare and towards a system that is portable.

As Governor of Arkansas, Huckabee passed ARKids First into law to provide healthcare for over 70,000 low-income Arkansas children. He also created the ARHealthNet program, which is designed to help small businesses provide health insurance to their uninsured employees.

[edit] HIV/AIDS

As a Senate candidate in 1992, Huckabee responded to a The Associated Press survey question by suggesting that people infected with AIDS should be quarantined from the rest of society. According to Time, he wrote, "If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague. It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents."[2]

In a December 2007 statement released on his campaign website, he addressed the comments, writing "We now know that the virus that causes AIDS is spread differently, with a lower level of contact than with TB. But looking back almost 20 years, my concern was the uncertain risk to the general population – if we got it wrong, many people would die needlessly. My concern was safety first, political correctness last."[3] In the same statement he supported the administration's $30 billion dollar proposal for five years of funding for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which goes towards HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention.

[edit] Stem Cell Research

Huckabee supports federal funding on existing embryonic stem cell lines but does not “believe in creating life for the sole purpose of destroying it.”





[edit] Speeches on Science and Health Policy Issues


[edit] SCIENCE IN THE DEBATES:

CNN/L.A. Times/Politico.com Republican Debate, January 30, 2008

Question: Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed that California be allowed to implement much tougher environmental regulations on emission requirements than apply to the rest of the country. This is an initiative that conservatives generally oppose, and the Bush administration rejected California's request. Do you side with the governor or with the Bush administration?...Governor Huckabee?

Huckabee: Well, I was a governor 10 1/2 years. I was chairman of the National Governors Association, which means that my fellow governors selected me to chair the organization of all 50 governors. Let me tell you why I believe that Governor Schwarzenegger ought to be able to carry out the plan, because, if he's right, every other state is going to copy him. And if he's wrong, every other state is going to recruit the jobs that he lost in California to their own states….

View Transcript

ABC News Republican Debate, January 5, 2008

Question: Nuclear is a very interesting issue here in the state of New Hampshire. Governor Huckabee?

Huckabee: Well, I think it's -- it is possible to get energy-independent, and do it within a decade. We're the same country that built the atomic --

Romney: In 10 years?

Huckabee: I believe we can, if we want to. If we un-tax the possibilities of the innovations and technologies. If we also look at the fact that if -- put an incentive out there that's just truly something dramatic -- a billion-dollar bonus for the first person who can produce a car that can get 100 miles per gallon. In addition to that, look at the alternative forms of energy that we can use....

View Transcript

CNN/Youtube Republican Debate, November 28, 2007

Question: …Is there a candidate amongst you willing to take a pledge on behalf of the Mars Society of sending an American to the surface of Mars by 2020? If not, what is your vision for human space exploration?

Huckabee: Whether we ought to go to Mars is not a decision that I would want to make, but I would certainly want to make sure that we expand the space program, because every one of us who are sitting here tonight have our lives dramatically improved because there was a space program -- whether it's these screens that we see or the incredible electronics that we use, including the GPS systems that got many of you to this arena tonight. Some of you were late because you didn't have one, by the way. Or whether it's the medical technologies that saved many of our lives or the lives or our families, it's the direct result of the space program, and we need to put more money into science and technology and exploration….

View Part One of Transcript

View Part Two of Transcript

MSNBC/CNBC Republican Debate, October 9, 2007

Question: Governor Huckabee, the federal government has spent years and billions of dollars promoting ethanol, but the result has been a glut of ethanol and gas prices that are still at record level. Wouldn't it be better to just let the free market determine whether ethanol makes economic sense or not?

Huckabee: I think ethanol and all biofuels are going to be an important part of the future energy needs of the country, but the accelerated pace at which we get there is critical for national security as well as for our own economic interest. The fact is, we keep talking about 15-, 20-, 30-year plans -- that's nonsense. If we don't start saying we'll do this within a decade, we're never going to -- ever going to get there, and we need to approach it the same way that a car does at the NASCAR pit stop: You rush in, you get it done because you have to. … We've got to come to the place where everything is on the table -- nuclear, biofuels, ethanol, wind, solar -- any and every thing this country can produce. We once had a president who said, "Let's go to the moon in 10 years," and we were there in eight. And we did that when we started with a technology of bottle rockets when we got the thing launched. And we all saw that we can do it.

View Transcript

MSNBC/Politico.com Republican Debate, May 3, 2007

Question: Governor Huckabee, this question comes from Curtis Waldman (ph) from Boca Raton, Florida. Thousands of reputable scientists have concluded with almost certainly that human activity is responsible for the warming of the Earth. Do you believe global warming exists?

Huckabee: The most important thing about global warming is this. Whether humans are responsible for the bulk of climate change is going to be left to the scientists, but it's all of our responsibility to leave this planet in better shape for the future generations than we found it. It's the old boy scout rule of the campsite: You leave the campsite in better shape than you found it. I believe that even our responsibility to God means that we have to be good stewards of this Earth, be good caretakers of the natural resources that don't belong to us, we just get to use them. We have no right to abuse them. …

Question: The same question, embryonic stem cell research with federal funds, sir.

Huckabee: I would concur. I don't think it's right to create a life to end a life. That's not a good health decision.

View Transcript

[edit] Endnotes

  1. ↑ Mike Huckabee, environment, energy, global warming, November 19, 2007. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/11/19/huckabee/
  2. ↑ Huckabee Wanted to Isolate AIDS Patients. Andrew Demillo. Time. December 8, 2007. http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1692878,00.html
  3. ↑ News Release: Presidential Candidate, Governor Mike Huckabee Statement on AIDS Funding. December 8, 2007. http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Newsroom.PressRelease&ID=413
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