[meandog]

"Mike Huckabee will come out of the 2008 campaign without the nomination but with the enhanced earning prospects, popularity, influence and stature."

[iowamark]

Shields: Huckabee “wins” because the liberal media loves him. He gets his own show on MSNBC and denounces the Republicans every night.

[Brilliant]

I would suggest that Huckabee think in terms of the Senate instead of the White House.

[houstonman58]

"He will leave the race more popular and more influential than he entered it and with the real potential of becoming the most important evangelical leader in American political life."

If political stunts and grandstanding are how the "evangelicals" get their leaders, God help them. You just know this man has ulterior motives by hanging around in a race that he lost long ago.

[RichardMoore]

Huckabee has the support of the CFR, having one of their top guys as an advisor. That would seem to mean that he won’t be going away. His dump the IRS campaign would strike a strong note with many voters, like myself. After McCain loses, and he will, Obama should make a very interesting target for all sane people and should be ripe for dumping in 2012. If we live that long.

[detective]

Why is it that all these liberal Democrats who want the Republicans to lose and want the conservatives to be destroyed keep praising Huckabee?

[RC2]

People, normally, don’t like to be associated with a looser. They will desert him.

[IMissPresidentReagan]

"Mike Huckabee will come out of the 2008 campaign without the nomination but with the enhanced earning prospects, popularity, influence and stature."

And don't forget, one heck of a book tour. ;-)

[longtermmemmory]

the only strenght huckabee will leave with is abeing a “good christian” socialist the DBM can trot out to bash conservatives.

He finished his future beyond his state offices.

[Prospero]

"...the most important evangelical leader in American political life." Shields' man-crush on Huck is a Hoot. I don't know where to start, whether to even bother attacking Shields' conclusion when we know Christianity and evangelism are so ridiculously misunderstood and underestimated by such people as Shields that anything they might feel compelled to say about such matters always comes out as straight-faced, dumb as a bag of hammers.

Or to imagine Huckabee taking over the 700 Club hosting duties, which I can't seem to square with a round socket.

I'll just stick with Shields being dumb as a bag of hammers, and dead wrong on any learned conclusion he has spoken about on television regarding Conservatism, Christianity, Middle America, you name it. He is astoundingly wrong so often, and he has such a face for radio, that I can't understand what act of kindness he has to regularly perform to keep his job.

[coramdeo]

As an evangelical, I can only say if Huckabee emerges as the face of evangelicals God help us all. He is actually quite polarizing, with a fair number of evangelicals like me embarrassed and offended by him - not that he identifies himself as an evangelical, but that he does so and then runs a campaign that is so contrary to biblical principles.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Mark Sheilds is mostly an idiot.

BTW, when Romney entered the race, he had about 3% support. He leaves after having been the “conservative” savior and winning over 4 million votes.

Seems like he left a lot more popular and well-known than he started as well.

In fact, in almost every primary, at least one loser leaves stronger than they started. Like McCain in 2000.

[highball]

"Mike Huckabee will come out of the 2008 campaign without the nomination but with the enhanced earning prospects, popularity, influence and stature."

Maybe.

But he won't come out of the 2008 campaign as a conservative.

[spectre]

Shields nailed it with this quote:

"As governor, he pushed for the right of the children of undocumented immigrants to be able to attend state colleges at the in-state tuition rate. Bowing to withering criticism during the campaign, Mike Huckabee — to mollify the anti-immigrant Republican fever — uncourageously backpedaled on immigration."

Yep, and he was smooth enough to convince Jim Gilchrist and Duncan Hunter he "saw the light"..praise-be-jesus..

sw

[ElPatriota]

... It bears repeating this message although a little old now, the heart of the message has not changed.

Even if losing WA, that does not detract from their great victory!)

==============================

To my Evangelical / Social Conservative friends… CONGRATULATIONS!...

Wow, last night 2-9-08 was a tremendous win for Huck in LA, not sure in WA but no matter, it's not about the "# of delegates" anyway. Fantastic real or moral victory but more importantly, a victory for Social-Conservatives of all kinds, religious, and non-religious like me.

We Social-Conservatives KNOW that this is not about Huck or even winning the nomination or even the general election, very unlikely although not impossible… Huck just happens to be the best candidate that represents our values at the moment. This is the ONLY candidate who made it through coming from nowhere and he is still alive!.. What I hoped it would happen with Duncan… A true grass roots choice who made it big and that is GREAT beyond words.

For one, it shows, the Evangelicals who care about 'values' have not lost their focus… their eyes ARE ON THE BALL! and I congratulate them and support them. Just think, if the Evangelicals have been able to accomplish this much by themselves… THINK of what we could do if ALL OF US UNITE in the fight!.. Heck let's learn from the homos themselves!... Look what the have accomplished with such a tiny percentage… and all because they have been united in purpose… Look at the Blacks… You see them all over the place on TV now :) ... probably electing the first Black president in this country… I would say that IS success.

So, if they can do it… Why not us?... After all, we are on the side of God and that should count for something, or not? :)

I have decided that I will vote for Huck now that our turn is coming here in VA. I also sent him a small contribution. I encourage all Social-Conservatives of ALL kinds, from ALL religions, and non-religious people who care for the same 'values' to join our Evangelical friends in their fight.

America is not Europe!... And that is why this movement will grow stronger… For the simple reason that social-conservatives have NO OTHER CHOICE than to band together if we are going to have a fair fight against this monster of a Goliath that is the MSM, ACLU/Homosexual-agenda, Hollywood, The Teacher's National Association :), Liberal Universities Faculties and all the others, all working together to turn this country into a cesspool of immorality. We must fight to protect the unborn, the boys-scouts and such, even the MILITARY - The homosexual's last frontier so to speak - who dream to convert it into a laboratory for social engineering. Someone who is ready to sacrifice their very own lives for this country should not have to worry about these people… if you get my meaning. If we let that happen, shame on all of us Social-conservatives!

I purposely use the Social-Conservatives label, to differentiate us from the 'other' conservatives who seem to care about every 'conservative' cause, except social values! .We on the other hand care about those values a lot, otherwise we'll end up with a very 'rich', very 'free' but a very ugly country. In other words, although important, it's more than just about money or philosophies or guns for us.