Mike Huckabee attacked Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney for his past support of abortion, his antigun policies and his false claims about Huckabee’s record as Arkansas governor.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Romney “comes on and says he's pro-life and yet he signed a bill that gives a $50 co-pay for an elective abortion in his state's health care plan,” Huckabee told host Tim Russert on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
On the issue of gun rights, Huckabee asserted that Romney falsely claimed he had an endorsement from the National Rifle Association, and said that while Romney "claims that he's really for the Second Amendment," he has "talked about how he supported limitations and restrictions on lawful, law-abiding citizens having gun ownership rights.
"Those are not the marks of a person who's pro-life and pro-Second Amendment."
Asked if Romney had made untrue charges about him, Huckabee answered: "How long do we have on the program today? He's said many things that are untrue.
“He said that I reduced methamphetamine sentences in Arkansas. Truth is I signed a bill in 1999 that doubled those sentences. We did not reduce them. Our sentences were four times harsher than they were in Massachusetts.
“He said that I supported special breaks for illegal aliens. That's not true, Tim…
“He made allegations that [we] increased spending by ridiculous amounts, and The New York Times came back and defended that, and said that's simply not true. And they took him apart and showed that the increases in spending were, frankly, the same if not a little better than his if you took into consideration the accounting methods we changed in Arkansas. [We had] very modest gains in spending.
"He made claims about things like tax increases, but he failed to mention that some of those were either court ordered or they were voted on by the people and approved by the people for things [such] as roads. And I left my roads in great shape, took them from the worst in the country to what Truckers magazine said were the most improved. He left his roads in a mess in Massachusetts, with huge problems in the infrastructure.
“He claimed that he didn't raise taxes, but in fact he did raise taxes by half a billion dollars."
Huckabee’s conclusion about Gov. Romney: “You know, Tim, what I've said, and I've been pretty blunt about it, if you aren't being honest in obtaining a job, can we trust you to be honest if you get the job?"
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