Posted on 12/20/2007 9:12:14 AM PST by Ol' Sparky
Why does the GOP Establishment fear Huck?
Juan Cole's got a bad case of left-wing Huckenfreude:
I simply can not tell you how much I am enjoying this. The GOP has been pandering to these stupid bastards for years, and every time I pointed it out I was called “anti-Christian” or something or other. Those of us who saw what the party was becoming were told to shut up, that it was good politics.
Enjoy your new GOP, folks. And here is something else to think about- are the evangelicals going to support Romney or Giuliani if you do manage to trash Huckabee enough to secure the nomination for them? Will the eye for an eye crowd learn to forgive and forget? Have fun!
But that's not why the GOP Establishment is panicking. They're panicking because a) Huckabee is a wild card who could lose massively in the general election; b) Huckabee doesn't owe any of them anything; and c) Huckabee's rise shows how badly, perhaps irretrievably, the fusionist settlement (uniting social and economic conservatives) has broken down, leaving the GOP in a shambles.
It's funny, but when it looked like Rudy Giuliani, a social liberal, was going to be the nominee, we didn't see many, if any, establishment Republican opinion leaders freaking out over what kind of danger to the future of the party and the nation he represented, even though as Ross points out, Giuliani hasn't exactly been deep on policy (I had to research Giuliani for our Dallas Morning News editorial board debate on which candidate to endorse, and I was genuinely startled by how vague he was on many things). I think it's fair to say that it was assumed that Giuliani would be a sound representative of the Republican Party, and that the social and religious conservatives would do like they always do and get in line. Pat Robertson sure did.
But lo, it turns out that the candidate who's caught fire comes straight out of the religious/social conservative wing of the coalition, and he is unsound on issues most important to the fiscal wing. It's not supposed to work that way. Nobody at the elite level seems to expect the economic conservatives to suck it up for the sake of party unity. What does that say about the place of social conservatives in the party all these years?
I don't want to overdo this. I think it's perfectly fine to be worried about Huckabee's vagueness, and his unpreparedness. I'm worried about these things too, which is a big reason why I can't say I'd vote for him (though honestly, any Republican who finds himself worked up over Huckabee's lack of knowledge about foreign affairs, say, should ask himself if he felt the same way about Gov. Bush in 1999 and 2000, and if not, why not). Still, it's hard to shake the belief that the real problem with Mike Huckabee, as far as the establishment is concerned, is that he's not clubbable.
Reader Conor writes on this topic:
I really don't think it is because he is a Christian Evangelical who believes to the core of his person. I don't think it is because he is a Christian Evangelical through and through and is the equivalent of Pat Robertson winning. I think it is that he is a populist and he is a hell of a better politician than any of the other folks at the top of the tier. Sure Huckabee is trying to squeeze the Evangelicals for all they are worth, but there is more to him than that. I really think this is the piece that too many are missing by focusing in on the fact that he is a Baptist minister, Christian Leader, etc.
In my opinion, you are wrong. Mr. Romney can pull all factions of the GOP together. That’s why he has my support.
In a political ad, EVERYING IS SCRUTINZED and nothing is overlooked. Remember that everyone.
The Huckster’s Christianity isn’t what bothers me. His socialism worries me, just like I’m worried about Rudy and Mitt’s socialism. I worry about Mike’s sincerity and character, but no more than I worry about the other goonies that want to hang themselves around our necks.
I think the Social Conservatives have had factions for years. Those who are pro-life and don’t care about any other aspect of society, and those who are pro-life and do care. I figure that the establishment he speaks of never realized that one part of the group they took for granted will vote on this one issue alone without considering the disaster this candidate is for society. I don’t fear the man. I have a firm belief that he will either drop faster in the polls than he rose, or that God has decided to punish this country.
A pro-life liberal kind of sums it up.
This is illustrated by a simple game of "One Of These Things Doesn't Belong":
1. If you think pornography is degrading, you can simply decline to read it.Now, class, which of these statements is false?
2. If you think that religious practice is important, you can simply do it.
3. If you think taxes are too high, you can simply refuse to pay them.
People just don’t believe fundementalist Christians. They think you have to be crazy to REALLY believe that stuff.
Huck scares casual Protestant Christians, Catholics, the Jewish, Atheists, Agnostics, Secular Humanists, and others that have accomodated their beliefs to daily need. They think that Huck is either crazy or a lier, because they can’t admit the possibility that , not just Huck, but ANYBODY really believes their faith enough to live it.
He may be a charletan, He may be a cynical politician, He may, however, really live the teachings of his Bible. One way or another, it’s his religion that is spooking people, because his policies are consistant with it.
Boy, you hit that nail right on the head! But as well it’s true that when you look at the top three Dems and top three Repubs your looking at 6 Demopublicans.
Who says that we don’t fear Rudy nomination??
But at least Rudy is honest about his liberalism. Huck seems to believe that he was being conservative while he was raising taxes and appeasing the illegals.
There is a large portion of evangelicals who will not vote for Romney under any circumstances. A lot of conservatives will be turned off by his policies which are Giuliani-lite. If either of these groups have even relativley minor defections, all those states that Dubya squeaked by in 2004 with a unified base, Romney losses.
There is a reason why Romney is generally the weakest Republican candidate in the head-to-head matchups with the Democrat candidates. He turns off too much of the base and has little appeal to independents. At least, Giuliani picks up some independent support to offset the losses in the base.
Well said!
Iowa is only five percent Baptist, so don't go thinking this is a Baptist thing.
There is a pretty good analysis here: A Tale of Two States (Iowa, South Carolina)
Does the fact that he has failed to do so thus far indicate nything to you?
Or is he only able to do that when there are no available alternatives?
What? McCain is running? Who told you that? ;-)
Somebody should tell the author of this article that "freude" means joy, not fear. "Huck-fear" would be something like "Huck-furcht."
And a little history. The last two Southern Baptist presidents have been disasters for American foreign policy and its social fabric. I refer, of course, to Saint Jimmy and Good Time Bill.
I say this as a Southern Baptist, myself. We are the largest Protestant denomination and the second largest (after the RCs) denomination in America. We are a CONSERVATIVE group. We can’t offer any better than these three to the American people?? I weep.
All that being said, I will support the Republican nominee, whoever he is, in the general election. Unless it is Rudy or McCain. I can’t quite seem to bring myself to the sticking point on those two. I’ll keep working at it.
Except that then we wouldn't know what he meant, LOL.
This column is hard to read because it's hard to tell where the Juan Cole quote ends and Rod Dreher's word begin!
good points. If government was anywhere near the size our Founders intended, our Republic would be much more civil and just. Huck and all other liberals and STUPID social conservatives don't have any appreciation for Liberty and limited government.
Any conservative who supports Huck is an idiot. Government is foremost an instrument of force. It accomplishes all is does because if has the force of law to compel compliance. If one disagrees with the government, the government has the ultimate solution of physical violence to get it's way.
Government dominates almost ALL aspects of our lives, government takes more and more of our earnings and uses it to corrode our Republic through rabid socialism.
Huck is dangerous because in his twisted view if it was he at the top, he would know how to do things to create "peace on Earth" and do social justice. Huck is just another ego driven Liberal who craves government power to do things "his way." The last thing Huck would do is restrain government and consult the Constitution. Huck will NOT win the nomination.
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