CAUSE CÉLÈBRE: Is Chuck Norris Huckabee's secret weapon?

AN A-list celebrity endorsement can lift a presidential campaign. But Chuck Norris' seal of approval can kick-start the Airbus.

Take Mike Huckabee's political efforts, for example. A month ago, few even knew that Huckabee was a former governor of Arkansas, let alone a Republican candidate for president. Then karate-movie tough guy Norris -- with a cult following big enough to populate three continents -- announced he was in Huckabee's camp. (They share evangelical Christian views.)

Suddenly, Huckabee became the presidential example of tough-guy cool. You thought Fred Thompson was going to be the law-and-order candidate? He was looking like a worn-out hound dog Wednesday night as Huckabee strode into the debate with the still buffed-up, 67-year-old Norris by his side.

"If you are going after those evildoers, you want Norris with you," said longtime Democratic strategist Rick Taylor, only half-joking. "That's how I look at it. Norris for secretary of Defense. I feel safer already."

To understand the Chuck Norris phenomenon (and why it's a factor in Huckabee's popularity surge), you've got to be hip, Web-savvy or age 13.

As strange as it may seem, the Norris cult seems to have begun in the generally liberal precincts of late-night television when NBC's Conan O'Brien began satirizing Norris' famous TV character, "Walker, Texas Ranger," in 2004. The fad quickly spread to the Internet, where sites were created extolling Norris as the ultimate alpha male and the international symbol of implacable macho.

In February 1995, Huckabee supported revising the GOP abortion plank to let states decide their own abortion laws.

"The issue divides strongly committed pro-life and pro-choice Republicans but is not a central issue to most other Republicans. A possible platform revision long under discussion would say the Republican Party, 'unlike the Democratic Party, does not stand for abortion on demand and is basically a pro-life party.' In the spirit of federalism, the proposed GOP revision also would replace the abortion amendment with a statement saying the issue should be left up to the individual state legislatures to deal with as each sees fit. 'That's exactly what we have looked for, and if it's left up to the states, more of them are going to put some restrictions on abortion,' Arkansas Lt. Gov. Mike Huckabee said in an interview after appearing on a conference panel yesterday."

(Ralph Z. Hallow, "Conservatives Hold Fire On Abortion," Washington Times, 2/12/95)

And in an April 2006 interview with the blog "Right Wing News" Huckabee indicated that abortion decisions should be left to the States.

John Hawkins [Right Wing News]: Switching gears again, do you think we should overturn Roe v. Wade?

Mike Huckabee: It would please me because I think Roe v. Wade is based on a real stretch of Constitutional application -- that somehow there is a greater privacy issue in the abortion concern -- than there is a human life issue -- and that the federal government should be making that decision as opposed to states making that decision. So, I've never felt that it was a legitimate manner in which to address this and, first of all, it should be left to the states, the 10th Amendment, but secondly, to somehow believe that the taking of an innocent, unborn human life is about privacy and not about that unborn life is ludicrous.

(www.rightwingnews.com/interviews/huckabee.php)

And just last week Huckbee give the completely opposite position while chastising Thompson for having the same position on abortion that Huckabee had just last year:

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee rejects letting states decide whether to allow abortions, claiming the right to life is a moral issue not subject to multiple interpretations. "It's the logic of the Civil War," Huckabee said Sunday, comparing abortion rights to slavery. "If morality is the point here, and if it's right or wrong, not just a political question, then you can't have 50 different versions of what's right and what's wrong." "For those of us for whom this is a moral question, you can't simply have 50 different versions of what's right," he said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071118/ap_on_el_pr/huckabee

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Immigration, just one month ago:

http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/10/immigration_activist_welcomes.php

The former Arkansas governor received numerous standing ovations during an address to 2,000 social conservatives at the recent Values Voters Summit in Washington, DC. Huckabee accused the government of making it more difficult for the average American to get on an airplane in their own hometown than for an illegal alien to get across an international border.

"We need to make it clear," Huckabee told the gathering, "that we will say no to amnesty, no to sanctuary cities, and no to the idea that there can be some complete ignoring of the fact that our laws have been broken."

Continuing, the GOP presidential hopeful said he does not blame those who want to come to America. "I blame our government for sitting on its hands for over 20 years and letting this problem get completely out of hand. Build a border fence, secure the border -- and do it now," Huckabee implored.

Roy Beck, president of Numbers USA, says Huckabee's past record on immigration has not matched his recent rhetoric, citing several instances when the former governor "stood up for illegal aliens" during federal immigration raids in Arkansas. "It does not seem to me that, as governor, he particularly lived by those principles, at least strongly so. I am always happy to see someone learn more about an issue and come around and take better positions," he states. "We welcome what seems to be some change of heart."

Beck says Huckabee received an "F" for his past record on immigration, but his recent statements have pulled him up to the "B" range.

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And what has Huckabee said on immigration in the past?

"I would hope that no matter who we are, or where we are from, that America should always be a place that opens its arms, opens it heart, opens its spirit to people who come because they want the best for their families."

-Mike Huckabee [spoken along with Tyson Foods Inc. Chairman and CEO John Tyson, at a noon luncheon of the League of United Latin American Citizens]

Gov. Mike Huckabee on Thursday heaped criticism upon immigration legislation in the Arkansas Legislature, describing it as inflammatory . . . race-baiting and demagoguery. He also challenged the Christian values of its main sponsor.

Huckabee said the bill, seeking to forbid public assistance and voting rights to undocumented immigrants, inflames those who are racist and bigots and makes them think there's a real problem. But theres not.

The bill is modeled after Proposition 200, approved by Arizona voters in November. The Arkansas measure was filed by Republican Sens. Jim Holt of Springdale and Denny Altes of Fort Smith.

Huckabee, also a Republican and a Baptist minister, said Arkansans should be welcoming hard-working immigrants of all races. He singled out Holt, who often talks of his strong Christian beliefs, saying, “I drink a different kind of Jesus juice. My faith says don't make false accusations against somebody. In the Bible, it's called don't bear false witness.”

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