The most dangerous man in America?

Glenn Beck says that Cass Sunstein is the most dangerous man in America. It's a rare day when I disagree with Beck, but I continue to believe that the most dangerous man in America is Mike Huckabee. Let me explain why.

About a year ago, I wrote, "If Gov. Huckabee could find a way to put together a coalition of evangelicals and disenfranchised liberal Democrats, he could conceivably slip in without the support of the conservative Republican base – and use the same strategy to win the presidency."

About six months later, I wrote an article about Huckabee titled "Huckabee drops out of the running." This article was prompted by his shameful interview of Michelle Obama wherein he went along with the razzle dazzle (as Laura Ingraham refers to it in her hilarious but all-too-true book "The Obama Diaries") that she was passionate about fighting childhood obesity. It was truly nauseating to watch.

The point of my article was to express my revised belief that even if Huckabee managed to put together the aforementioned coalition, it wouldn't be enough for him to win the Republican nomination, because he had blown his credibility with his interview of Barack Obama's "bitter half" (credit to Michelle Malkin).

During his farcical Michelle Obama interview, I said to my wife that Huckabee was going to receive thousands of e-mails from irate viewers. Sure enough, within a week of that fateful night on "Huckabee," the governor did an about face and began an all-out assault on Barack Obama and his policies – and he's been at it ever since. I am convinced that his sudden anti-Obama aggressiveness was a result of viewers sending him a loud and clear message of their disapproval.

So, why is Mike Huckabee so dangerous? Because he has a trip-hammer mind and incredible verbal skills – not to mention a willingness to do whatever it takes to get elected. He has been so convincing in attacking Obama that I believe he has already succeeded in getting most of his fans to forget that the Michelle Obama interview ever occurred.

Which brings me to Ann Coulter's most recent appearance on "Huckabee." As you will recall, the governor ambushed Coulter on an earlier show because she had been writing about his liberal beliefs. In that interview, she was totally unprepared for his blistering attack, which he unleashed with a not so subtle mean streak.

In her second appearance on his show, Huckabee again displayed his normally well-concealed nasty side by once again ambushing Coulter. He strongly objected to her recent portrayal of him as a "Christian liberal," this time because of his saying that anchor babies should be given more opportunity to succeed in America. After Huckabee drew first blood, Coulter went on the attack and said, "There's only one true Christian liberal in the country, and that's Mike Huckabee." I thought for a second he was going to tase her.

Trying hard to keep his composure, Huckabee pressed Coulter for an explanation, whereby she opined that he was soft on illegal immigration. His defense was that we shouldn't punish the children of illegal immigrants, because "they didn't do anything wrong."

He then went on to talk about the son of an illegal immigrant who had been valedictorian of his class, rhetorically asking if it wouldn't be better for America if he went to college and became "a doctor and a citizen" or would we be better off "if he picked tomatoes?" Coulter's response was that such thinking leads people to believe that if they can just "run across the border," they can get their kids citizenship and a college education.

I admit that there's a libertarian side of me that believes any human being should have a right to live anywhere he wants – without anyone's permission. But that's theoretical libertarianism, which doesn't take into account an infinite number of realities that come into play in the real world.

In fairness to Mike Huckabee, I believe he actually does harbor many basic conservative principles. But so did George Bush when he abandoned his free-market principles "in order to save the free market." Put simply, like George Bush, Huckabee is a philosophically confused conservative, which is pretty much the same as being a "compassionate conservative" – someone who, whenever he feels compassion for one or more persons, believes it's OK to violate the rights of taxpayers.

I've written about this phenomenon before (see "Progressives' perversion of compassion"), and it doesn't work. It doesn't work economically, and, more important, it doesn't work morally.

Unlike Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee doesn't want to do harm to America. But the result can be pretty much the same over the long term (as in, boil the frog slowly) if philosophical confusion leads him to do things that do harm America.

Huckabee is the most talented politician of our time – bar none – which, again, is precisely why he is so dangerous. If he wins the Republican nomination, he will easily annihilate the angry, whining BHO and ascend to the presidency.

And if that happens, we will be right back to where we left off with George Bush – confronted with the fallacy and danger of compassionate conservatism. It's a confused, mushy philosophy that gives the progressives what they want, slowly but surely. Again, Mike Huckabee is dangerous because of the fact he is so talented, because he means well (as did George Bush), and because he can charm even a … well, even a Michelle Obama.

If you don't want to end up being boiled to death in a pot of water without even realizing it, start spreading the word now that Mike Huckabee must be stopped. Republicans are going to have enough problems in their party with the looming civil war between RINOs and those who are committed to tea-party principles. They don't need another philosophically confused conservative in the kitchen slowly turning up the heat under the pot.