Robert Novak Kneecaps Mike Huckabee

This is interesting; Robert Novak entitles his latest article "The False Conservative" and then makes it clear he's talking about Mike Huckabee. Interesting.

The danger is a serious contender for the nomination who passes the litmus test of social conservatives on abortion, gay marriage and gun control but is far removed from the conservative-libertarian model of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.

There is no doubt about Huckabee's record during a decade in Little Rock as governor. He was regarded by fellow Republican governors as a compulsive tax increaser and spender. He increased the Arkansas tax burden by 47 percent, boosting the levies on gasoline and cigarettes. When he decided to lose 100 pounds and pressed his new lifestyle on the American people, he was far from a Goldwater-Reagan libertarian.

Interesting. I don't know, however, if this hurts or helps Huckabee. I mean Novak is a big city libertarian conservative; Huckabee might be able to paint him as a "Country Club" Republican, and thus build his reputation with his supporters.