Elephants Gone Wild

A shocking report just received from overseas:

Security forces armed with loud hailers were deployed in eastern Sri Lanka Monday to drive away wild elephants blocking access to polling booths, police said.

Villagers in Wellaveli told the authorities that they were unable to vote at the first local elections in 14 years because a herd of elephants had blocked their polling booth, a police official in the area said.

"We sent a team of commandos in armoured personnel carriers and loud hailers and sirens to drive away the elephants," the official said. "The roads have now been cleared."

Surely those weren't elephants disrupting the democratic process. They must have been RINOs.

Update: The Washington Post confirms that the Sri Lankan elephants' obstruction of voting is "not a massive right-wing conspiracy."

Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

RINO Alert: Mike Huckabee

There is some dispute about whether Mike Huckabee is a fiscal conservative. Here's what the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, says:

On its annual governor's report card, Cato gave Huckabee an 'F' for fiscal policy during his final term, and an overall two-term grade of 'D.' Only four governors had worse scores, and 15 Democratic governors got higher grades, including well-known liberals like Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, and Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania.

Surely we can do better than a candidate who earned an "'F' for fiscal policy."

That's great that he lost 120 pounds and was a Baptist preacher. But at the end of the tax year, I want the candidate who understands that it's my money, and that I don't need the federal government to spend it for me.

Huckabee displays a suspiciousness of the market that makes me wonder why he's not a Democrat. He is the only candidate to oppose school choice, and he is hostile to free trade.

More frightening is the prospect of Huckabee on the world stage. Vladimir Putin (and anyone else, for that matter) would run circles around him. We might as well bring back Jimmy Carter.

I'm still not prepared to commit to a presidential primary candidate. Huckabee, however, needs to be scrapped from consideration by anyone who believes in limited government and lower taxes.