Posted on 01/03/2008 8:38:17 PM PST by 11th_VA
Edited on 01/03/2008 9:13:06 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
LOS ANGELES (Catholic Online) - First, it was Larry Sabato and then it was Rush Limbaugh. Sabato is the Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics of the Center for Politics at the University of at the University of Virginia.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholic.org ...
People don’t quit smoking because you ban the item, they do so because you present them with medical evidence that maybe smoking might not be such a wise decision, same with drugs in general. We need real leadership now, not yesterday or someday but now. Leadership that doesn’t just mouth respect but acts with respect to the people in this great country. People that try to ban things have no respect for individual rights, hence they disrespect the constitution. Either you love us warts and all or maybe you don’t belong in the Whitehouse. Should we ban gasoline too since people can hurt themselves with it? Time for the politic to change, time for new ideas, and responsibility. Huckabee appears to give off a distrust of common sense, if he thinks of banning smoking.
He certainly is playing the same political games that Slick Willy did. And the "Christian aspect" of who he is was responsible for the vast majority of his support in the Iowa caucus. And yes, it will only carry him so far.
I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Traditionally, whenever a charismatic fitness enthusiast campaigns on a platform that mixes nationalism and socialism, it's us Jews he comes after.
Wealthy cultist? Careful there, big boy. Envy is a sin. As much as "cross-dressing." Yes?
HOPE, Arkansas, specifically. Amazingly.
Whew! I was worried that Huck was a spender. He only increased spending by like 60%. That's phenomenal.
Psssst. I wouldn't really brag about this misstatement by the Thompson campaign. A 60% increase in STATE SPENDING is no better than doubling it. It's just a slightly slower speed to nanny-statism.
Look, we get you like Huck cause he's Baptist. Just admit that and quit pretending you're conservative.
Amen, brother (if you'll pardon the expression).
For so many years, people on the left have been reading undercurrents of over-religiosity into the words and actions of every Republican President since Ronald Reagan. They pilloried George W. Bush for saying that Jesus was his favorite philosopher and for saying he was comforted by knowing millions of Americans are praying for him. They see fascist Christians everywhere, like they had a nightmare after reading Margaret Atwood's ludicrous novel The Handmaid's Tale and don't realize that they're awake. Many years ago, I actually had a conversation with people who believed that Reagan might deliberately trigger a nuclear holocaust to fulfill prophecies of the Book of Revelation.
Neither Reagan nor Bush 41 nor Bush 43 fit the mold of prospective uber-Christian, but the left tried to squeeze them into it. Huckabee is embracing the label, but, unlike Reagan or either Bush, he is not yet really providing reasons why he would be a better President. Heck, the author of this smarmy opinion piece didn't give a real reason beyond halting abortion being priority #1 and the concept of "good government" largesse without explaining how in the world this offers a contrast to what the Democrats will proffer in November.
Is there something about Arkansas politics that produces folksy, amiable guys that are slick as slugs? Dale Bumpers, Bill Clinton, and now Huck. But Huckabee has taken it to a new level; rather than dirty tricks like hiring ethically challenged private detectives to intimidate former mistresses, he's putting subliminal messages in his TV ads (oh, no, it was just a bookcase, except it didn't have any -- how you say? -- books in it), and he's stretching his campaign dollars by producing an nasty ad, showing it to the media, and saying he's going to be a nice guy and not run it, while it is leaked to the internet and every newscast in the country.
But these aren't dirty tricks. Huckabee doesn't do dirty tricks. He does CLEAN tricks.
Rush is right, and the author's wrong. This IS identity politics (it's neither a "Rush-ism" nor a new concept, Einstein), and it's why so many conservatives are made uneasy by Huckabee. Most of us have spent years rejecting the concept out of hand as a matter of principle, and darned if the Dems in Iowa aren't doing so as well in rejecting Hillary and embracing Obama. Don't sweat the details about "fundamentalist" and "evangelical"; he's embracing Huck because he is willing to imply he's a better "Christian leader" than the rest. It's almost as if the people who wanted Harriet Miers to be a Supreme Court justice just because she was an anti-abortion evangelical have been biding their time, and Huckabee is their revenge.
If this is not just a one-off and is the beginning of a trend, this could be just as long a year for conservatives as it could be if Giuliani catches fire. And if the choice comes down to the two of them? More effective than syrup of ipecac.
The government didn't take anything from us. Our weak apathetic lazy morose society gave up its intellectual and moral underpinnings. The government was only an enabler. It was us.
Nor will they be won over to a model of the market which forgets that it is a servant and not a master.
These folks care about those who have not experienced the benefits of the engine of freedom that is supposed to be the market economy; the poor, the marginalized, the forgotten. They see a proper role, limited though it may be, in the exercise of “good� government in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.
They are not “anti-Government.� They believe that we are, in a real sense, “our brother’s keeper� and want to serve the common good by not only caring for their own families but reaching out in solidarity to the poor and the needy.
What else is there to say but the split is well underway. Let the realignment begin and see what happens.
“Religious big governmentism is contradictory with Christianity. “
Good point!
The MSM is out to destroy Christians and Conservatives.
To all of my Evangelical Christian friends, BEWARE of wolves in sheep’s clothing (I am speaking of the MSM who embrace the Hucksters until the Beast or Obama is nominated, then.....).
No matter what one's political leanings are, it's obvious that IA caucus goers just gave us Jimmy Carter II and Jimmy Carter III!!!
Now, can ya boil that all down to a bumpersticker???
I’m sorry did Bush even try to propose a Pro-Life amendment when he had control of both houses of Congress and a 90% approval rating? No. The Pro-Life cause to the GOP establishment is nothing more than a bait and switch to get Evangelicals to vote for them.
I don’t think most of the punditry understood rush’s comments because they are too in love with themselves.
They say the TOTAL turnout was 250,000
What percentage is 250,000 divided by 300,000,000?
answer .000083 percent!
The huckster NARROW CAST his message as “one of you” despite the televagalist stink of his message it played for the LESS THAT 100,000 that voted for him.
Conservatism WINS, it was shown again and again and recently (as Rush pointed out but the MSM refuses to report) in 2006 when DINO trumped RINO.
The politician pretends to be the servant so he can become the master.
Huckabee is just a sleazy televangelist who glomed onto religion as a tool. He would just as easily glomed onto any other issue to win.
but its ok, he is anti-abortion so that gives him the free pass...
WTF? Nobody was ever "vice-free for a lifetime" (certainly not Dubya, who by his own admission used to drink too much).
"Democracy is that system of government under which people, having 60,000,000 native-born adults to choose from, including thousands who are handsome and many who are wise, pick out a Coolidge to be head of state. It is as if a hungry man, set before a banquet prepared by master cooks and covering a table an acre in area, should turn his back upon the feast and stay his stomach by catching and eating flies."
--H. L. Mencken
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