Posted on 12/16/2009 9:52:42 AM PST by Laissez-faire capitalist
For the sake of brevity - straight to the point (pun intended).
I have thought long about Huckabee's recent interview with Katie Couric. One of the topics that came up was Huckabee's view on same-sex marriage, and it was no accident that it came up. Huckabee's position on the issue of abortion is concrete - he is ardently pro-life. What remained was for him to effectively frame the same-sex marriage debate, and that he did. Quite effectively in fact.
In short, he told Couric that he was pro-traditional marriage, not anti-same sex marriage. He said that it's not that he is against gay marriage, it is that he is for traditional marriage, and that marriage should be between one man and one woman, not one man and one man, one man and two women, etc.
Secondly, he said that once you open the door by redefining marriage (by allowing legal, consenting adult same sex marriage), that there is "no limit" on marriage being redefined again, and that you open the door for allowing marriage to be redefined once again to allow legal, consenting adult polygamous marriage.
Third, he said that it wasn't bigotry and intolerance to not support consenting adult polygamous marriage.
Huckabee has framed this issue in a way that is unwinnable for liberals - and they cannot counter him on this - at least not effectively.
If liberals say that Huckabee is an intolerant bigot, he can say that if he is an intolerant bigot, then they are just as bigoted and just as intolerant as he because they don't support marriage being redefined to allow consenting adult polygamous marriage. He can say that they are also hypocrites to boot (the label that NO ONE wants) because they support marriage being redefined to allow consenting adult same sex marriage, but they don't support marriage being redefined to allow consenting adult polygamous marriage for the tens of thousands of polygamists in America who do want to get married. He can say that at least he is consistent on the issue of marriage: no to polygamy and no to same sex marriage.
If some bring up the question of polygamous marriage presently being illegal, Huckabee can say that same-sex marriage is presently illegal in the overwhelming majority of places in the U.S. and that at one time it was illegal everywhere in the U.S.
If some bring up polygamous marriage being declared illegal by SCOTUS, then Huckabee can say that if same-sex marriage were declared illegal by SCOTUS that gay activists would never cease in trying to get a future SCOTUS to overturn its ruling in the future.
If liberals say that they are against discrimination and for marriage equality for gays, and that Huckabee is not, then Huckabee can counter by asking why they don't support marriage equality for polygamists and why do they support discrimination against them?
And on and on it would go...
This is an unwinnable situation for liberals, who really went after Huckabee on social issues in the 2008 elections. NO ONE wants to be seen as pro-polygamy. NO ONE. Just ask one of Obama's nominees.
Scalia was correct. We were told that overturning the sodomy laws would never, ever lead to gay activits trying to get same-sex marriage legalized. Look at what has happened. We have also been told that if marriage is redefined to allow consenting adult same sex marriage, that it would never ever be redefined again to allow consenting adult polygamous marriage. Sure.
The same arguments that have been used in the push for same sex marriage can be used in the push for polygamous marriage: Bigotry, intolerance, "marriage equality," discrimination, "marriage is about love" and so on.
The one thing that liberals might say to Huckabee is that the Bible condones polygamy, so why doesn't he? They would be hard pressed, though, to find anywhere in the Bible where Jesus condoned polygamous marriage.
For those who may wonder: Will I support Huckabee in 2012? Here is my list of whom I support in 2012, and in this order: Palin, Jindal, Huckabee.
I believe that he is working to lock them up and is doing so right now. That and working to do damage control over the clemency.
Humor ME some more, please.
Plain/Jindal: you get true conservatism AND you get name recognition. Can’t say the same for Hunter/Demint.
Want true conservatism? Then Palin should be first on your list, not Hunter or Demint.
I have no doubt he is trying, just seriously doubt he is succeeding. Sarah has a much larger following with social conservatives than he does, she’s actually getting more and better exposure with her facebook posts than Huck is getting.
BS
Wipe the stars out of your eyes, feller.
I hate to say it but Sarah is unelectable. Her image will not be boosted by writing a book and promoting it. I think, in substance, she is better than Obama. However, the welfare parasites, the homonazis, the New Atheists, soccer moms, anyone under 30, FDR & JFK Dems, all of New England, Pennsylvania, New York, and anyone with a college education will vote against her.
Face it, no matter how badly Obama bombs, Obama will get re-elected because he is smooth, not an eeeebil Republican, Hollyweird loves him, and he’s black. People will remember Sarah as being effectively illiterate and ignorant from some small town (she is neither, but the collective American conscience will judge her as much. I can see it now- all the major media companies, Daily Show, etc. will replay her interview with Katie Couric...her debate against Joe Biden).
Our best hope for toppling Obama is a Huckabee or a Romney. Sad but true.
Do I think that the clemency should have been given? No way. Do I personally like that he was given clemency? No way. Leave his hiney in jail. Have the waters been muddied enough, and did this come out early enough for damage control to work it way with it 3 years from now. Most likely.
I post from time-to-time, but not as much as I used to. Honestly, I really hope that DH runs in 2012 and gets more exposure this time. Do you really think this is a possibility? I think a Hunter/Palin ticket would be a Conservative wet dream...;-)(not literally of course)
Puhleeze. No where did I say that this was an issue that was over with me personally.
But there you go acting like a liberal by using an Ad Hoiminem attack and making it personal and falsely saying that it was an issue that was over for me. You use baseless ad homs like a true liberal.
LLS
’m old enough to remember a washed-up ex-VP named Nixon.And he turned out to be seeking the wrong line of work, anyway. He should have been a Secretary of State, and with his knowledge of the world in his time he would have made, very likely, a great one.
As for Schmuckabee, he'd lost me long enough before his pardons became such an issue. Big government isn't my style.
>>>The board that oversaw the clemency have already been injected into the fray. If they played the role in determining that he should be given clemency and Huckabee went on their recommendation, then it’s over for this issue.<<<
Sure, “The buck stops over there somewhere. Not here!”
Huckabee has the blood of 4 police officers on his hands. Three years will not wash it off. His deceptive, insensitive damage control campaign only made things worse, by exposing him as a weasel, who still thinks he made the right choice, and under the same circumstances, would unleash the same sort of thug on the community.
It was a massively dumb/idiotic/wrong move on Huck’s part. Did I agree with it? No way.
It is just my observation that by 2012 the issue will to a large degree been muddied.
Funny how you get attacked for just giving observations that don’t reflect how you personally feel on an issue.
He’s a big govt conservative. I don’t want another Bush.
Fine. If Huckabee wants to be relevant and do some good, then let him focus on this issue and stay out of the GOP race. And off the rehabilitation tour.
If trotting around to these talk shows is not about personal political ambition, then he should make himself clear he’s not a candidate, holds no position in the party, and is speaking as a private citizen, period. You think the media puts him on these shows because they’re interested in balanced discussion on gay-marriage? Of course not. The media is putting him on ONLY because he’s toxic. That’s why they supported him in the early primaries, and why they now gleefully accommodate him with bookings. They love to point out he’s a former R presidential candidate and “leader” of the social conservative movement. Huckabee: The face of the GOP and conservatism. It’s not respect, it’s a smear.
I agree. The GOP leaders forgot that it takes three legs: fiscal conservatives, social conservatives and foreign policy conservatives.
One of the main problems is RINO’s trying to run social cconservatives out of the party.
Non issue in a political sense.
Should he have been given clemency? No way. No how. Never.
Have the waters been muddled enough to make it a non issue? Yes.
That is what I meant, not it wasn’t an issue to me personally.
Spin it however you want...people like me wont LET it be a non issue...
That’s what you arent getting...
Frankly...the more I have learned about him...the more I dislike him...
As others have said...he’s clinton with a bible...
NO MORE ARKANSAS GOV’s!
Huckabee doesn't stand a chance against Obama in '12. There's no way the Huckster will capture white swing voters (the votes you need to be President) who view the guy as a bible-thumping rube.
Romney, like Giuliani, might've beaten Obama in '08 (Giuliani most certainly would have) but either man victorious would've been little comfort to conservatives.
My take is that I would be satisfied with any combination of Hunter, Palin, DeMint, Pence, Steve King, Inhofe. Hunter has not rules anything out, and he understands what he’d have to do differently, but he’s only worried about 2010 right now.
Of those I listed, only Hunter is a true cold warrior, and views China as an adversary. He also knows the military, foreign policy, border, and sovereignty issues better than the others. So I’ll support him first and foremost if he runs.
What I don’t want is a pack of retards again leading the race.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.