While hunting pheasant in Iowa today, Mike Huckabee bagged a bird with his 12 gauge shotgun. Afterwards, he was asked about the value of hunting:

“The truth is hunters are the ones who preserve the species,” he said, since hunters have an interest in preserving wildlife and their license fees pay for conservation efforts. “In many cases extinction comes from not having some level of hunting. It’s the hunters who actually keep the wildlife alive. A lot of people think that when you hunt you’re destroying the wildlife.”

That’s a good answer and demonstrates that Mike is on the mark for hunters. In addition, he supports concealed-carry and other sane gun positions.

This is a hit through the infield and Mike is safe at first base.

The Club for Growth assesses Mike’s position the economy:

“Governor Huckabee says he is a fiscal conservative,” Club for Growth President Pat Toomey said, “but his ten-year economic-policy record as the governor of Arkansas is mixed, at best. His history includes numerous tax hikes, ballooning government spending, and increased regulation. To be sure, Governor Huckabee’s record displays an occasional deference to a pro-growth philosophy, but that is only a small slice of a much bigger picture. The Club for Growth feels citizens deserve a full picture of where Governor Huckabee stands on the critical economic issues of the day.”

Mike hits a ground ball to the short stop and Mike is tossed out out at first.

Jake Files, a former Arkansas state representative and current chairman of the Sebastian County, Ark., Republican Party says this about Mike’s immigration policies while Governor of Arkansas:

“I would hope he could be trusted to secure the borders, but given his track record in Arkansas, I don’t see the conservative he has portrayed himself to be in Iowa,”

When he was governor, Huckabee held the following positions on illegal immigration: He supported higher education benefits for children of illegal immigrants, opposed a federal roundup of illegals from his state in 2005, opposed a 2001 bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote in the state, and in 2001, a member of his administration pushed for legislation to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

Mike hits a popup to the second baseman who makes the play.

Now, when asked about his views on foreign policy, Huckabee articulates this position:

“You treat others the way you’d like to be treated. That’s to me the fundamental issue that has to be re-established in our dealings with other countries.”

The problem with this is naive position is that Mike misses the real issue - most countries hostile to our American freedom and strength will not treat the U.S. in the same way they would “like to be treated.” This brings to mind Samuel F.B. Morse’s famous quote, “If you pound your swords into plowshares, then you will probably be plowing for someone who kept their swords.”

Strikeout.