ATLANTA — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee spoke first among the presidential candidates appearing at the RedState Gathering of conservative activists on Saturday and focused much of his remarks on topics he knew the Georgian crowd would love.
Huckabee praised Sen. Chuck Schumer’s, D-N.Y., opposition to the Obama administration’s deal with Iran and made a hard push for the FairTax, a consumption tax plan that would replace federal income tax.
“Thank God for Chuck Schumer who has come out and said he would oppose the Iranian deal,” Huckabee told the crowd. “There is a time for partisanship in this country and there is a time for statesmanship … And that is the last night thing I am going to say about Chuck Schumer because I’m afraid he’s going to say well I’m going to change my vote if Huckabee likes it.”
Huckabee emphasized his support for a FairTax plan, a national sales tax, and called the IRS a “criminal enterprise.” But he avoided making any statement on Donald Trump’s recent comments about Fox News personality Megyn Kelly. Trump’s remarks caused Erick Erickson, host of the RedState Gathering, to boot the reality television star from Saturday’s keynote event in downtown Atlanta.
Erickson took the stage on Saturday before Huckabee to play a clip of Trump’s comments and explain his decision to disinvite the Republican front-runner. Trump told CNN Friday that he had no respect for Kelly and took issue with the questions she lobbed his way during Thursday’s GOP presidential debate.
“You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever,” Trump said on Friday.
In remarks to reporters following his speech on Saturday morning, Huckabee chose to heap praise on Kelly rather than criticize Trump’s pejorative comments.
“She’s a tough heads-on journalist,” he said. “There’s not a more professional, a more savvy, a more brilliant person in television today than Megyn Kelly.”
Huckabee brushed off questions about whether Trump should be forced to apologize and seemed visibly angry when asked about how Trump’s comments play into the notion that a “war on women” exists.
The governor also outlined his path to the nomination and declared that he needed to win one of the early nominating states to remain competitive.
“Our strategy is we feel like we’ve got to do well in Iowa, South Carolina, and the SEC primary because those are the early states,” Huckabee said. “You don’t get to be the nominee if you don’t win the early contests. And if you think you do, ask President Giuliani how his eight years as president went.”
