Mike Huckabee

Back in 2008, when I was running for President and dared to criticize the government bailouts of so-called “too-big-to-fail” Wall Street firms, it made me a lonely target among many fellow conservatives. I was accused of attacking capitalism, or even being a socialist, which is downright funny. What I thought I was doing was defending the classic free market model that said when you risk capital, if you win, you deserve the profits, but if not, you take the loss. Our current model isn’t capitalism, it’s corporatism and cronyism. Real capitalism gives anyone with a good idea a chance to compete with the big guys and become big themselves. Cronyism unfairly stifles competition. Well, several years and trillions of dollars worth of bailouts and government sweetheart contracts to donors later, and suddenly, it’s not so lonely out here. Even some of the conservative groups who attacked me in 2008 are now pressing Congress to reign in the lovefest between big business and big government. And now, even the intellectuals are finally catching on. This week, George Mason University kicked off a series of academic papers on cronyism and government-and-business collusion, and how it’s undermining our capitalist system. All I can say is welcome to the party…but where were you guys four years ago, when I really needed you?

This is from yesterday's Huckabee Report.