Mike Huckabee’s Vertical Politics

Outside the Beltway ^ | January 5, 2008 | James Joyner

[Tlaloc]

Josh Marshall was perusing Mike Huckabee’s campaign site to help understand his appeal and came upon something that stumped him:

Can anyone explain what the hell that means? Vertical? I guess if you’re main opponent was Fred Thompson you might push the fact that you spend most of your time standing up. But seriously, is there something I’m missing here? Or is this the weirdest campaign I’ve ever heard?

[Tlaloc]

"For almost two centuries we have proved man’s capacity for self-government, but today we are told we must choose between a left and right or, as others suggest, a third alternative, a kind of safe middle ground. I suggest to you there is no left or right, only an up or down. Up to the maximum of individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism; and regardless of their humanitarian purpose those who would sacrifice freedom for security have, whether they know it or not, chosen this downward path." - Ronald Reagan

[Inyokern]

If that guy Billy Mays, (the one who pitches products on late night cable TV) ever retires, Huckabee would be a perfect replacement for him.

[dforest]

Huckabee isn’t vertical politics. He is playing his cards better than the “best” streetwalker. This is Huck politics at its best.

I see right through this faker. He comes up vertically “short”.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

I suggest to you there is no left or right, only an up or down. Up to the maximum of individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.

OK. We redefine Left vs Right as Down vs. Up. And liberals are down on the ant heap and conservatives are up with freedom and God.

I always thought liberals were like ants.

[Plutarch]

Can anyone explain what the hell that means? Vertical?

These secular pundits just don't get it. To Huckabee's followers it is obviously the vertical line between earth and heaven. Here Titian illustrates Mary going vertical in the Assumption of the Virgin.

[Juan Medén]

According to his website, it means politics based on right and wrong rather than left and right.

[Jason_b]

FWIW Huckabee exposed as new world order puppet FWIW

[scottteng]

If at this point you still love G.W. Bush and think he has done no wrong then Mike Huckabee is your man. More of the same big government solutions to imaginary problems. The only plus he has going for him is the pledge to support the fair tax. He believes in the late unlamented amnesty bill. Is pro life but not enough so to rock the boat. Does not have a problem with being the tax collector for the welfare state or with being compassionate with your money. At least if the fair tax passes it will suck large amounts of coercive power out of Washington and let each and every one of us know exactly what our compassion is costing us.

[Kevmo]

Huckabee has surged because he won a couple of debates and he’s got evangelical support. If a quick rise can happen to the liberal pro-life evangelical Huckster, it can happen to the conservative pro-life evangelical Hunter.

Today Hunter won 2 delegates in the Wyoming primary. He didn’t campaign much in Iowa.

[Isara]

Let me add more of the same President Reagan's speech:

You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down--up to a man's age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order--or down to the ant heap totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.

.....

Yet anytime you and I question the schemes of the do-gooders, we are denounced as being against their humanitarian goals. They say we are always "against" things, never "for" anything. Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so. We are for a provision that destitution should not follow unemployment by reason of old age, and to that end we have accepted Social Security as a step toward meeting the problem.