If your faith does not inform your politics, it is not faith, but something else entirely.
I think your problem, with all sincerity, is that you do not think there are multiple means to affect the political process. To wit, I prefer Fred (even as a committed Christian). He would not impinge upon my right to practice my faith. Further, I believe his appointment of conservative, constructionist Supreme Court justices would advance the pro-life cause in a very pragmatic way. (If you'd like to give me a flow-chart as to how Huckabee plans to get the HLA approved, I'd be more than happy to look at it.) Finally, his foreign policy and economic views place him ahead of the other pro-life candidates.
I think Huckabee has a history of saying whatever the people in front of him want to hear. I think that is borne out by the facts (see Gilchrist re: Anchor Babies, the NH NEA re: school choice, Arkansas Democrats re: tax increases, etc). That is not the mold of a good leader, whatever his religious leanings are. I understand that the evangelical mindset is almost a default posture of defensiveness. I think this has benefited Mike Huckabee, as the more he's attacked, the more loyal his evangelical (but not conservative) base becomes.
So, though you chose not to answer the question at hand, I do thank you for the post and agree with much of what you said. We just disagree on who would be the best leader. Committed Christians can do that.
Thank you for your post. I will vote for Fred if he is the nominee, but you will have to determine the kind of people he will support for the Courts based on all of his history. Fred is in truth "a good ol' boy", He lives through networking with others like him in a mixture of loyalty, friendship and you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours. Howard Baker, a pro-federally funded abortion, pro-affirmative action "moderate" Republican is his mentor and has gotten him into politics on three seperate occassions. Fred returned the favor by supporting Baker over Reagan in 1980 for the Presidency. Baker was luke warm on Bork and was responsible for his name becoming a verb. McCain is his other mentor and friend--Keating 5, McCain Feingold, Gang of 14, McCain-Kennedy McCain. Fred was one of 4 senators to support McCain against W in 2000. Fred's supporters say that it just shows that he is loyal and they like that. To me it shows that he puts personal relationships above America's best interest. I would rather have a candidate guided by God's law, than one guided by Baker and McCain.