Tax cuts for the rich, part 2

Decision Week for the Republican Primary has brought some interesting, although not completely unexpected developments with the withdrawal of Romney, the rise of McCain, and the near unanimous chorus in the punditeria that “it’s over.”

Also heard from the the pundit class is that Huckabee has had his 15 minutes, but he must not be the VP choice.

It may come as a surprise to many, but Huck is not running to be McCain’s VP. He hasn’t been running to spoil it for Romney. Or Thompson. Or anyone else.

He’s been running to win. Period.

And, with the time and money short, the delegate math becoming nearly impossible, and the odds growing longer than ever, Huck is facing the hard decision of either withdrawing from the race, or performing a near miracle at C-PAC on Saturday morning.

If there is one candidate in the race, on either side, who has the rhetorical flair to pull it off, it is Mike Huckabee. But what can he say, what words can he employ, what theme can he strike, to win the hearts and minds of the conservative base to become the viable alternative to John McCain?

I can think of only one.

Huckabee can answer, once and for all, the thorn in the side of fiscal conservatism: “Tax Cuts For The Rich.”

If there were any doubt that TCFTR would be a dominant theme in the general election, just listen to Obama’s Super Tuesday Speech. As I listened to the Senator’s list of grievances against the Right, the overblown hysteria about “100 years of war” just made me chuckle. Any Right-brain worth his salt can chew that up for breakfast. In fact, anyone who believes that either of the Donk Senators can compete on the National security field with the Republicans just hasn’t been paying attention. But, the TCFTR language was front and center, brought forth as the proximate cause of every fiscal problem facing the nation. The one thing, that if removed, would allow for the full implementation of every liberal pipe dream ever imagined.

John McCain will not answer it. He believes it. He used the rhetoric of Left to oppose the Tax Reform Act of 2001.

Mitt Romney can’t, nor can Stephen Moore, Arthur Laffer, The CfG, Cato, or anyone else who would attempt a scholarly rebuttal. They’ve all tried and failed. Their words have fallen on deaf ears.

Mike Huckabee can.

The way to respond to a gutteral, populist charge is with a response that is equal parts of emotion and populism, and delivered with conviction. Huckabee can do it with the credibility that will be necessary to make it stick. He is, in fact, the only one who can. And, once successfully countered, it is put to bed, once and for all.

If he does it Saturday morning at C-PAC, then this really can become a two man race.

UPDATE: James Dobson endorses Huckabee

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Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Allie is Wired, Right Truth, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, , , , A Newt One, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.