Noting Huckabee-Paul debate disagreement on Iraq, Luntz declared Huckabee’s position “principle[d]”

On the September 5 post-presidential debate edition of Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes, Republican pollster Frank Luntz cited Republican focus group responses to an exchange over Iraq policy between former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), and, echoing Huckabee’s assertion about needing to not “lose our honor,” declared: “Clearly, principle won out in this exchange.” Luntz made his declaration about which side “won” the exchange in the opinion of the focus groups after showing a video clip of part of the exchange with lines on the screen showing the focus group’s response to have been more favorable to Huckabee. He did not cite any comments from focus group participants or any other evidence that the participants favored Huckabee’s comments because they thought that the comments — in contrast with Paul’s — were based on “principle.” Nor did he explain his suggestion that Paul’s position on the war was not based on principle.

In fact, Paul’s position on the Iraq war has been consistent, though originally sharply at odds with public opinion. On October 8, 2002, Paul said, “There is no convincing evidence that Iraq is capable of threatening the security of this country, and, therefore, very little reason, if any, to pursue a war.” He was only one of only six Republicans in the House to vote against the resolution authorizing war with Iraq. Paul has also been calling for a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq for more than two years.

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