Compassionate Conservatism: Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee shows his compassionate conservative side coming out against health care coverage for people with preexisting conditions.

"It sounds so good, and it's such a warm message to say we're not gonna deny anyone from a preexisting condition," Huckabee explained at a Values Voters Summit today. "Look, I think that sounds terrific, but I want to ask you something from a common sense perspective. Suppose we applied that principle [to] our property insurance. And you can call your insurance agent and say, 'I'd like to buy property insurance for my house.' He'd say, 'Tell me about your house." 'Well sir, it burned born yesterday, but I like to insure it today.' And he'll say 'I'm sorry, but we can't insure it after it's already burned.' Well, no preexisting conditions."

Is Huckabee aware of some wave of people whose homes burned down whom are trying to add to their debt by paying property insurance for a home they no longer have. I remember having to fight my All State agaent for three months to stop sending me the PIP insurance bill to a car I sold. If someone is going to burn their house down wouldn't they want to insure it before it burned down? Huckabee's bizarre scenario makes no sense.

Huckabee doesn't even seem to understand the health care bill. The mandate to buy private health insurance was party designed to prevent people from buying coverage after they have a preexisting condition. Huckabee's "no preexisting conditions" stance isn't fiscally consevative. This would force more patients to go on Medicaid or have emergency room visits. Hospitals and local, state and the federal government would eat up the cost.

Huckabee's most infamous health care proposal was to quarantine people with the AIDS virus.

"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 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."

It is difficult to understand how Huckabee can call himself a Christian and be so heartless towards the sick and needy. Isolating people who are HIV positive would be the legal equivalent of jailing people without due process. The USSR jailed people who had alcohol addiction. Imprisoning people because of their illnesses doesn't square with Huckabee's self-professed love of the Constitution. Huckabee is like many other Christian conservatives who pay lip service to compassion and the rule of law. What Huckabee was really saying is the profits of the health insurance industry are more important than giving health care to the nation's most sick people. The only God Huckabee is worshipping at the Values Voter Summit is money.