Posted on 03/07/2008 7:30:41 AM PST by TonyRo76
He may be down and finally out but Mike Huckabee's longevity in the presidential race has been the surprise of campaign season. He was the favorite of evangelicals, finished with a much higher than expected delegate count, and outlasted such better-funded rivals as Mitt Romney.
Huckabee lost because he never connected with non-evangelical Republicans, particularly economic conservatives who doubted his commitment to limited government. On the campaign trail, Huckabee mused about fighting poverty and signing a national smoking ban. In Arkansas, he approved tax increases.
But these weren't just the candidate's personal tics. Hucakbee was following his evangelical flock. Supportive of activist government but still pro-life and pro-marriage, they're not you're father's social conservatives. Enter the emerging evangelical populist. Providentially, it seem, Huckabee answered their call.
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Pose the question of how to solve human-interest and environmental issues to today�s postmodern churchgoers and for many, the answer lies within the government. To paraphrase the lone evangelical on the left, Jim Wallis: If "the poor you shall always have with you," why not take some from those who are "blessed," and give it to those who need more blessing?
[[snip]]
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
If today's postmodern churchgoers really think "the answer lies within government" then apparently they need to go back and re-read Scripture. It plainly tells us Who our Provider, Protector and Perfecter is.
And He ain't the federal (or state) government!!!
If the Huck wants credibility, he should get elected to the Senate and try to establish a REAL conservative voting record.
Too much religion and not enough conservatism. Give me a Duncan Hunter style Christian over a Minister any day of the week.
>>Supportive of activist government but still pro-life and pro-marriage, they’re not you’re father’s social conservatives.
OK, so he’s a pro-life, pro-marriage socialist. That doesn’t sound like any sort of conservative.
(and my father is a big-time lib Dem, so maybe Huck is my father’s social conservative)
Bump!!
'Zactly. My problem with Huckster all along was that he tried to cloak Big Gummint liberalism in a "Christian" wrapping. Totally disingenuous, and ultimately un-Biblical!
Reagan was the type of Christian I would like to see in office. He said relatively little about religion, choosing actions over words. Its what I saw in Hunter.
This is a misinterpretation. There is a strong overlap between Southerners and Evangelicals. Outside the South, Huckabee's support among evangelicals was not remarkable. In Michigan, Romney pulled more evangelicals than Huckabee. In Colorado Springs, crawling with evangeliccal activists, Huckabee got 17% in the caucus.
I have lots of evangelical friends, the only ones supporting Huck live in Arkansas.
Amen. Huck’s first calling was to be a minister, and that trumps being called to be President, any day of the week.
He was untrustworthy because of his record in Arkansas, including his many ethical run-ins and skirting of laws to benefit himself.
The Bible he claims to love says that we should avoid even the appearance of evil.
His supposed conversion to conservative principles was too late and too fake—no Saul on the road to Damascus is he.
One President from Hope was one too many.
There’s been a lot of wrong headed categorizing in this election. In my supprt of Duncan Hunter I inexplicably found myself labeld as a “right wing Christian” or “evangelical” but I’m really quite moderate on many social issues.
Very insightful, and sooooo true! All the pandering to Christians on the basis of religious identity politics was quite tacky of Huck, if you ask me.
Reagan was clearly confident enough in his faith that he didn't see a need to showcase it on the campaign trail. But looking at Reagan's life, you have no doubt Whom this quiet Presbyterian's heart belonged to.
He didn’t “outlast” others, any more than the guy who comes in 3rd place in a race “outlasts” the 2nd place finisher by being on the track longer.
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