In August 1980, as the conservative Christian movement was first transforming American politics, Ronald Reagan stood before a Dallas stadium full of 15,000 foot-stomping, hand-clapping evangelicals and pledged his fealty to the Bible. “All the complex and horrendous questions confronting us at home and worldwide have their answer in that single book,” said Mr. Reagan, the Republican presidential nominee.
Assisting with logistics for the event was a young seminary dropout named Mike Huckabee. “It was the genesis for the whole movement,” Mr. Huckabee recalled of those early days.
Now Mr. Huckabee is running for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, his campaign shaped by his two decades as an evangelical pastor and broadcaster. While he says he is running based on his career in the Arkansas governor’s mansion, not the pulpit, he has grounded his views on issues like abortion and immigration in Scripture, rallied members of the clergy for support, benefited from the anti-Mormon sentiment dogging a political rival and relied on the down-to-earth style he honed in the pulpit to help catapult him in the polls.
I know some folks here and elsewhere may snicker at Baptists from time-to-time, but I believe Governor Huckabee could be the candidate for a lot of reasserting Anglicans. I would encourage you, before you dismiss him, to take a look at what the Governor is actually proposing as a part of his campaign:
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=9]Faith and Politics[/url]
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=11]Sanctity of Life[/url]
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=25]Veterans’ Bill of Rights[/url]
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=7]Education and the Arts[/url]
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=8]Healthcare[/url]
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=5]Taxes and the Economy[/url]
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=10]Marriage and the Family[/url]
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=21]Energy Independence[/url]
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=4]Immigration[/url]
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=2]National Security and Foreign Policy: Iraq[/url]
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=20]National Security and Foreign Policy: the Global War on Terror[/url]
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=3]Foreign Policy: Israel[/url]
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=23]Agriculture[/url]
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=22]National Crisis Management[/url]
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=18]Second Amendment Rights[/url]
• [url=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=24]Vertical Politics[/url]
To me, Mike Huckabee’s platform of “faith, family, freedom” really resonates with what’s important for the near- and long-term future of this country.
As someone who, with many reasserting Anglicans, believes that too many times persons of faith are being dismissed simply because they take the Bible seriously, Governor Huckabee’s commitment to what he calls “the word of revelation to us from God himself” is something that strongly reassures me that I can trust him to take a firm stand for truth on the policy issues and decisions that really matter.
As a yellow dog, but socially conservative, Democrat – I have to say I really like Mike! He’s honest and self effacing and has promised to put Stephen Colbert on the ticket. It would be nice to have a real believer in the White House. When he talks about what he believes I get the idea that he hasn’t run it through a focus group. I’ll likely still vote Dem for policy reasons, but I really like Mike.
Huckabee reminds me of FDR.
this man will never be President. ever.
I never tell for whom I am voting because I believe in the sanctity of the anonymous ballot, but if I were to say, it would be sound a lot like “Mike Huckabee”. 😉
NewTrollObserver, is that a good or a bad thing?
After the news today about his questionable pardon, I’m not sure I still like him. I hope he has a good explanation.
From the articles I have briefly scanned, it looks like Mike Huckabee may have advocated for the above-referenced pardon based on the information he had at the time. He made a mistake. Should that mistake prevent him from being president? If making a mistake, an error in judgment, should keep a person from office, I`m afraid that we may have a shortage of qualified candidates for all or our elected offices.
The article I read had pretty specific allegations that MH spoke with the 17 yo victim of the offense and received letters from women who had also been victims but had been too afraid to press charges. As I said above, I hope that it is not true, b/c so far I have found him to be the most straightforward of the candidates. If he pardoned a rapist b/c of some weird political thing (the vic was a distant cousin of Bill Clinton), who then went on to rape and murder two other women, I’m afraid my opinion would be diminished.