Fans of Fred are spotlighting this Mother Jones blog posting by Jonathan Stein, praising Mike Huckabee’s economic record, which, they contend, “which should tell you pretty much what you need to know about his economic policy.”

The blog posting goes even further than that; it knocks the Democratic National Committee for slamming the former Arkansas Governor for being “a tax and spend politician.”

I know the Democrats aren’t going to praise a Republican, but at least they can withhold their fire on a pol with such a respectable record.
Especially here: “As Governor, Huckabee implemented an increase on everything from cigarettes, to gasoline and even on driver’s licenses,” a DNC spokesperson said. Democrats support taxes on cigarettes and gasoline! Can it, DNC!”

Stein is right, in the sense that this illustrates how the national parties’ press operations are monotonous and unpersuasive heads-I-win, tails-you-lose attack machines, completely detached from any cohesive argument of which policies the party actually thinks are right. (Another great example, Democratic lawmakers in Maryland considering slots at racetracks, when former Governor Robert Ehrlich was supposed to be some sort of beyond-the-pale Neanderthal for recommending the idea.)

“Don’t think about what other members of the party have said, or even what the party said last week; just remember our core message that the other guy is bad.”