or,
Huckabee the Hatemonger
A Republican, a bigot? Surely I must jest. Of course Mike Huckabee opposes gay marriage — all of the Republicans do. (For that matter, as far as I can tell, all of the Democrats do, albeit less badly.) The way in which he does so is interesting, though. Huckabee says that "it’s a lot easier to change the constitution
than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that’s what
we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards
rather than try to change God’s standards." That’s right, he wants a constitutional amendment to bring the Constitution in line with the Bible. Or his version of the Bible, really. The point is, he’s using anti-secular language and promising to govern the masses according to God’s will.
But that’s not even the fun Huckabee-is-a-bigot story that caught my eye. No, I’m talking about the one out of South Carolina.
"You don’t like people from outside the state coming in and telling
you what to do with your flag," Mr. Huckabee, a former governor of
Arkansas, told supporters in Myrtle Beach, according to The Associated
Press."In fact," he said, "if somebody came to Arkansas and
told us what to do with our flag, we’d tell them what to do with the
pole; that’s what we’d do." [link]
That’s not just the states’ rights meme, that’s the states’ rights meme vis-à-vis the Confederacy, i.e. slavery. It’s barely (if at all) veiled code for "vote for me if you hate black people." Or insert a worse word for black people.
Even Fred Thompson — vying for the same portion of the electorate as Huckabee — has acknowledged that the Confederate flag is a "symbol of racism," and is "glad that people have made a decision not to display it as a prominent flag symbolic of something in a state capitol."
You know, a Huckabee-Obama matchup might tell us where this country is on race.
I hope we don’t have to find out. I’m afraid of what the answer might be — and the possibility of an even-more-disastrous-than-President-Bush, eight years of President Huckabee.
Accidental Blogger 
8 responses to “Vote for me, I’m a bigot! (Joe)”
Joe:
So you think that a majority of Americans will vote for Huckabee in a Obama – Huckabee match up?
As it happens, I just wrote a post which is timed to come up soon. There is a snippet about Huckabee in my post too.
LikeLike
I think that a majority of Americans might vote for Huckabee in an Obama – Huckabee match up — and that the result would wind up being disturbingly close.
LikeLike
Huckabee sounds convincingly funny on Colbert (I remember catching both his appearances which were quite funny, until the tears of laughter morph into horror when you look at the other details).Unfortunately his talent extends to stand up comedy which is the perfect sheep’s clothing for attracting an electorate. But he is definitely Dubyalite, or worse, a perfidious jester with a dangerous mix of sanity and insanity, if one goes by the Wayne Dumond pardon and Arkansas governor’s mansion shenanigans.
I’m hoping that the Republicans don’t nominate him- he’s a more redoubtable candidate in a general election than any of the others, despite the litany of accusations against him.
LikeLike
Sujatha, I’m really hoping that Huckabee (or Romney) wins the nomination. This can happen because the primaries tend to draw the more conservative and the more liberal in the two parties. However, if we run the numbers, only about 25-30% of Americans are evangelical Christians who would vote primarily on religious grounds. Huckabee is such a lunatic that lots of moderates and independents will not vote for him. McCain on the other hand, will also attract the moderates and independents (what with “the surge” he supported now making a difference), posing a bigger challenge to the Democrats. So if you want the Democrats back, make a donation to Huckabee today!
LikeLike
Namit, I think you underestimate Huckabee. What happens if donating as you say results in not a Huckabee nomination for president, but a McCain-Huckabee ticket? That would have a powerful appeal to all the Republican faithfuls. Not a good option to fight against in the general election.
Somehow, I’m beginning to see what looks like a Clinton-Obama ticket in the making as well, even if that may still be just in Ellen Goodman’s dreams right now.
LikeLike
Sujatha, don’t you think Huckabee’s constituency is in the Republican bag in any case? Who else will they vote for? Of course, the same could have been said about Bush in 2000 when he was vying for nomination, but Bush also had brand name appeal. The wild cards now seem to me the social liberals / fiscal conservatives who have been betrayed by Bush and will be once-bitten, twice shy. I think a McCain-X ticket, where X is a moderate, may well have better odds of winning than McCain-Huckabee (though this might attract a higher evangelical voter turnout and more funds from them). But we shall see (I said the donation bit in jest). Never a dull moment.
LikeLike
Namit, the joke’s on you if you think I took your comment on contributing to the Huckabee campaign seriously :D
The problem with the wild cards is that it wasn’t enough to get Kerry the presidency in 2004- how do you explain the idiocy of an electorate that voted twice for Bush?
LikeLike
That’s a good point, Sujatha — more of these “moderate” wild cards still preferred Bush to Kerry. If a similar thing happens again, well, the American people would again get the leaders they deserve. It would be a small leap for democracy and a giant setback for humankind.
LikeLike