Last night, in debate in South Carolina, Mike Huckabee took out after Ron Paul after the libertarian fringe candidate said, “We support Israel, and we try to have this balance. But I think it would be much better to have a balance by being out of there.”

Here’s what Huckabee said:

I’d like to just, with all due respect, Congressman Paul, the issue of whether the president should be in the Middle East comes to something that I think we’ve got to recognize.

We’ve got one true ally in the Middle East, and that’s Israel. It’s a tiny nation. I’ve been there nine time. I’ve literally traveled from Dan to Beersheba, and I understand something of that nation and the vulnerability of it.

And for us to give the world the impression that we would stand by if it were under attack and simply say, “It’s not our problem,” would be recklessly irresponsible on our part.

And if I were president, you can rest assured that we would not let an ally be annihilated by those enemies which is surround it, who have openly stated it is their direct intention to destroy that nation. It would not happen under my presidency.