Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem

The Guardian nails this one!

Leading conservative pundits have discovered that the Republican electorate is dominated by Christian fundamentalists, and they are shocked, shocked! Aghast at the rise of the backwoods populist preacher-turned-governor Mike Huckabee, now polling first in Iowa with only two weeks until the caucuses, they’ve suddenly divined the value of secular politics, of knowledge gained by studying something other than the Bible.

“There is a sense in Iowa now that faith has been heightened as a determining factor in how to vote, that such things as executive ability, professional history, temperament, character, political philosophy and professed stands are secondary, tertiary,” an alarmed Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal last Friday. “But they are not, and cannot be. They are central. Things seem to be getting out of kilter, with the emphasis shifting too far.”

National Review’s Rich Lowry concurred. “Nominating a southern Baptist pastor running on his religiosity would be rather overdoing it,” he sniffed. “Social conservatism has to be part of the Republican message, but it can’t be the message in its entirety.” In the Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer’s column was titled An Overdose of Public Piety. “This campaign is knee-deep in religion, and it’s only going to get worse,” he wrote.

On Saturday, former Bush speechwriter David Frum chimed in with a National Post column titled, Don’t take Populism Too Far. “It’s always important to respect the values and principles of the voters,” intoned Frum. “But politicians who want to deliver effective government and positive results have to care about more than values - and have to do more than check their guts. They need to study the problem, master the evidence and face criticism.”

It’s nice that prominent conservatives are finally becoming concerned about America’s lurch into faith-based irrationality. It’s also a bit rich, since the GOP has spent the last three decades assiduously courting the religious right, showering them with contracts, grants and access to the heights of power. Republicans have rained contempt on science and secular expertise, pushing a kind of yahoo postmodernism in which truth is always assumed to be a function of politics, making facts - about, say, global warming, or the failure of abstinence-only education, or evolution - immediately suspect.

More (including links in situ to referenced articles): http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/20/5911/

Recommended.

who turns the tables on them in ways that they couldn't previously have imagined.

Sometimes, I think there really is a sort of collective karma!

discover now that they picked up the wrong end of the rattlesnake, and the fang end of the critter is whipping around to take a chunk out of their flesh.

this "man of the People".

Don't underestimate Huckabee, nor over-estimate Republican voters. Huckabee can hurt our candidates in The South.

more people will take as careful a look at the Guardian's comments on Huckabee as possible.

The republican party has always consisted of a rich elite, which somehow manages to unify freewheeling libertarians with conservative christians. The libertarians are already in open revolt via Paul, and if they snot nose Huckabee, which they appear to be doing, the fundies will be in open revolt as well.

I take issue with the author putting the rich republican elite (who have always called the shots) over the religious right. Guys like Huckabee have their hearts in the right places, guys like Paul actually have prinicples, the elite has neither.

on Huckabee yesterday. Ya'll tear each other apart boys but let me make a beer run first.

to awaken to what they have created.

hysterically funny, in a gallows humor sort of way. It would sure usher in the end of the Republican party for generations to come.

How long they would last would be a good question.

~snip~

“It’s always important to respect the values and principles of the voters,”

~snip~

However; the values and principles of the Constitution must trump those of any particular sector of the community, no matter how numerous, except as it refers to expanding the freedoms and liberties expressed in the Constitution to broader sectors of the community.

My 2 cents.

to Huckabilly's backside--time to bring this rampaging religious mutant down.

I'm always a bit shocked when I am reminded that there are a few Republicans who are also thoughtful people.

will many americans realise that the Republican party hasn't changed? They are and always have been the party of the rich and powerful. They made populist noises and fooled naby into thinking that they believed in G-d and values and all that when really all they wanted was to enrich themselves and their friends. While they were talking about gays, abortion, G-d, and terrorism (and doing f*** all about any of it), they tightened up bankruptcy laws, sent others sons and daughters to die in a pointless war so their corporations could profit, destroyed our public services, and stripped away our civil rights.

Please now see them for what they are. Listen to their criticisms of Mike Huckabee and realise they are really showing what they think of you, the average American voter.

The OP is correct about this piece in The Guardian.

This is a keeper.

:thumbsup:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/21/huckabee-faces-a-rush-lim_n_77905.html

The Huckabee campaign is trying to dumb down conservatism in order to get it to conform with his record," Limbaugh said today, during an extended session of Huckabee-bashing.