Mike Huckabee in CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2015

On Abortion: Pro-life rhetoric not to blame in clinic shootout

HUCKABEE: We don't know fully what the facts are. But regardless of why he did it, what he did is absolutely abominable, especially to those of us in the pro-life movement, because none of us would condone something like this.There is no legitimizing. There is no rationalizing. It was mass murder. So, I think that's a little bit disingenuous on the part of Planned Parenthood to blame people who have a strong philosophical disagreement with the dismembering of human babies to say that we would like to retaliate by sending some madman into a clinic to kill people.

On Abortion: Abortion should be illegal but not criminal

HUCKABEE: Well, there wouldn't be a criminal penalty against a woman. I have often said that there are two victims with every abortion. One is the unborn child who loses its life, and the other is often that woman who is talked into the abortion, pressured into it, maybe feels she has no other option. There's no reason to criminalize her. I personally think that that would be a useless and, frankly, a harsh and unnecessary kind of attack on a woman who needs love and support and assistance, not criminalization.

On Foreign Policy: Muslim nations must fight ISIS; sanction those that don't

HUCKABEE: If you mean coalition of the unwilling, those who refuse to lift a finger to stop this aggression, they should be isolated. And, yes, we should put sanctions on them. There's no excuse, especially for Middle Eastern nations, especially for Muslim Middle Eastern nations, to simply sit back and do nothing and let America, the United Kingdom, France, NATO countries, to let the rest of the world attack this malignant cancer called Islamic jihadism, and then sit back and protect their own special and well-funded kingdoms.

On War & Peace: We are at war with radical Islam

HUCKABEE: After the attack in Mali, there were numerous reports that the gunmen were going around and saying, can you quote a verse from the Koran? If they said yes, they were allowed to go free. If they couldn't, they were shot. And so the point was is that, while the president has said we need to disarm law-abiding people, it was just a reminder that we are at war with radical Islam. It's not that we are at war with all Islam, but we are at war with those who believe that the purpose they have on earth is to declare a worldwide caliphate to kill all the infidels, which would mean everyone, including other Muslims, who don't agree to their harsh, intense, anti-woman, anti-human being approach to life and who want to take us back to the seventh century.

On Abortion: Taking innocent life does not solve problem of rape

A: Does it solve a problem by taking the life of an innocent child? And that's really the issue. So when I think about one horror, I also think about the possibilities that exist. And I just don't want to think that somehow we discount human life. I realize there are some people that will be very different in their view of this than me, and I respect that.

On Foreign Policy: Iranian nuclear deal arms & equips a terrorist state

A: I have been going to Israel for 42 years. My first trip was in 1973. I have been dozens and dozens of times. I have got a lot of friends there. I will be visiting with a number of officials and discussing the Iranian deal, because I think it's the most dangerous situation that we face, not just for the Middle East, but for the rest of the world. This is essentially arming and equipping a terrorist state. The Iranian government is not to be trusted. And for 36 years, they kidnapped Americans. They have killed Americans. They hold Americans hostage right now. And we're being pushed to get into a deal that gives us nothing, but gives the Iranians the capacity to ultimately end up with a nuclear weapon, and that's just insane.

On Environment: Ethanol mandate is a matter of national security

Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, hit back at criticism that politicians like him simply support the RFS for political reasons: "The decisions are made not just frankly for what's best for Iowa--that's not the rationale. You can't make a decision and say, 'It's good for Iowa. Gee, they're the caucus state, we better suck up to them.' We better make decisions that are good for every consumer," he said.