The ad, which is airing in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, shows Huckabee in front of a Christmas tree as he says, “Are you about worn out by all the television commercials you’ve been seeing, mostly about politics? Well, I don’t blame you. At this time of year sometimes it’s nice to pull aside from all of that and just remember that what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ and being with our family and friends.”
Huckabee is courting evangelical voters and other religious conservatives in his bid to win the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3. In Texas for a fundraiser, he said the ad was a harmless holiday greeting even though it excludes other religions.
“If we are so politically correct in this country that a person can’t say enough of the nonsense with the political attack ads could we pause for a few days and say Merry Christmas to each other then we’re really, really in trouble as a country,” Huckabee said.
Amen. Larry
Those attacking Huckabee for this are doing him a favor. I predict his numbers go even higher now.
Huckabee rejects the notion that one can’t say, “Merry Christmas.” His critics reply? You can’t say that!
Well, I am with Huckabee and would add, “God bless us, everyone.”
In 1994, President Clinton attended the 50th anniversary of D-Day, and was filmed walking pensively along the empty beach. He came across a group of small rocks on the otherwise featureless mud flats, bent down, and arranged them into a cross, and paused a few seconds in prayer. Very moving.
However, one camera caught him looking up in what he thought was a discrete glance to insure the press was covering this moment. And it later was verified that a staffer prepositioned the rocks. I wonder if any of the same people complaining about the Huckster complained then about the use of a Christian symbol in a political setting?
Yes, a very encouraging move on Huckabee’s part. One of the things I like about him is his leadership in promoting in Arkansas the adoption of the option of voluntary commitment to marriage licenses where a later, easy, no-fault divorce is ruled out. Arkansas has also become a leader in the government promotion of other marriage strengthening initiatives.
Better to light a candle than curse the darkness of the disastrous plague of easy divorces in this country. Win or lose, I hope Huckabee’s candidacy calls a lot more national attention to the social crisis we have been stuck in for several decades now due to the alarming breakdown of so many marriages in our country (since the foolish passage of no-fault divorce laws in almost every state).
David Handy
Supporter of Mike McManus and his Marriage Savers Movement
(as well as the New Reformation of course)
Up until this generation, such an statement by a Presidential candidate would have been utterly unremarkable, right across the political spectrum.
I don’t agree with key points of Huckabee’s policy, but to have Bill Donahue, of all people, adopting the anti-Christian tropes of his usual enemies is only going to drive Huckabee’s numbers higher. A lot of people – and not only evangelicals – are sick and tired of seeing the lynch mob light up their torches every time a public figure says “Jesus,” or “Christ,” or “Christmas.”
In a campaign in which a Mormon candidates religion has become a focus and Huckabee’s strong religious beliefs have also been in play, such an otherwise benign ad is not without its political calculation. What is Huckabee saying? Or rather, what is he telling us that we need to know? That Christmas is about Jesus? I think we know that already. The most important thing that is communicated in this ad is not what he said about Christmas, but what many of you said in your posts; here is a politician willing to speak up about Jesus. Is this ad about Christmas or is it about Huckabee?
Have all of you forgotten that Huckabee is a politician running for office? He is selling himself as a candidate. Are we to imagine that he didn’t think at all how this ad might play in the heartland of Iowa? Were there no other people in all the country saying what he just said?
I don’t like religion, even sincerely held beliefs which I believe Huckabee is expressing, used for other purposes. It would be far better to do this after he is elected and has little to gain by it. Now it just looks like he is trying to stoke up exactly the reaction that I have just seen on this thread.
Anybody remember about Jesus’ command to pray in a closet so that others do not see? There’s a reason why it is more than tasteless to wear your religion on your sleeve.
#8, Christopher Hathaway,
I respectfully disagree. I think you’re missing the point. This is not so much aout Huckabee himself as it is about defending the place of Christianity, or any other religion, in the public square.
Yes, I know that it’s also part of a calculated political strategy and thus self-serving in part. But there is a crucial principle at stake here. And that is to resist the false notion that religion of all sorts should be relegated to the private sphere (the prayer closet as it were), i.e., the old canard that religion and politics just don’t mix, or shouldn’t etc. Huckabee is rightly protesting the secularization of American politics. In effect he is saying, like St. Paul in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel…” To which I say a hearty “Amen.” Go for it, governor!
David Handy
#8: How about putting your light on a stand, so that it lightens the entire house?
Anglicanum, so the two Scriptures are in opposition and you can choose one to ignore the other? The point is that you should make your light to be about Jesus not about your piety. The question is, “who or what is being served by this ad?”
Both you and David Handy are missing the point. The ad isn’t about defending Christanity. If Huckabee really wanted to make that point he could as easily have had someone else unafiliated with his campaign say it in the ad and Huckabee’s name wouldn’t even need to have been anywhere in that ad because it then wouldn’t have been a campaign ad. But he made himself the messenger of this during a political campaign in which he is presenting himself as the best candidate to lead us. This is why he had to say at the end that he approved this ad.
If you want to talk about “defending the place of Christianity, or any other religion, in the public square” Romney’s speach was a better example.
Wow, Christopher, it’s really amazing how much you find to refute in just one sentence.
1. Huckabee is a conservative Christian, trying to let other conservative Christians know that he’s a viable candidate. He’s gone out on a limb and I, for one, appreciate it. If you don’t like him, don’t vote for him. Simple as that. Frankly, though, if Joseph Lieberman had gotten on TV and wished voters a Happy Hanukkah, I would feel the same way.
2. Your distinction between “making your light be about Jesus” and piety is spurious. Piety is nothing less than expressed devotion. If your light is going to be about Jesus, then it will presumably take on some outer manifestation. Is every one of them hypocritcal? Perhaps if you’re a Quietist, but I don’t see how it can be so otherwise.
The verses taken together don’t mean, “don’t do anything that might possibly let someone know you’re religious.” We still have an obligation to live as witnesses to the Truth. The verses taken together mean that we aren’t to boast, because boasting and bragging are offenses against Truth and are therefore lies. How can it be a lie for a Christian to wish people a merry Christmas, and for a political candidate to let people know where he stands on an issue? It seems to me that it is the very opposite of bragging.
#11, Christopher Hathaway,
Well, perhaps we may just have to agree to disagree here. I understand your cynicism about political candidates who flaunt (or more commonly feign) peity when seeking votes. I understand that Huckabee is trying to garner all the support he can from the “religious right,” and to position himself as the true representative of the values of conservative Christians (as opposed to Romney), and that inevitably his ad is indeed self-serving. I can see why that is offensive to you, brother. But hey, that’s just the nature of presidential politics.
Perhaps it might help if I made clear that despite my earlier post celebrating Huckabee’s leadership on the crucial issue of strengthening marriages in our country, I am far from being a big fan of his, or uncritical of him. Like many other Republicans, I am dismayed that there is really no one I can get that excited about in the race this time. My personal favorite, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas (a devout Roman Catholic) got nowhere with his campaign and dropped out quite early. You may recall that Brownback accused Huckabee of some outrageous anti-Catholic statements early in the campaign (not all that different from his recent anti-Mormon gaffe). I doubt that a populist like Huckabee can win in 2008. He just doesn’t have the savvy of Bill Clinton, so I doubt that we’ll have another person moving from the state house in Little Rock to the White House. But on the other hand, I sure would HATE to see Hillary get in office. Lord, have mercy.
David Handy
Huckabee is a conservative Christian, trying to let other conservative Christians know that he’s a viable candidate.
Anglicanum, I agree wholeheartedly with this statement. that is my problem. This ad seems to be no more than a continuation of that campaign strategy. He is letting peoiple know that he is a candidate who will put Christ at the center of Christmas.
For nearly all politicians, their message is inseparable from themselves. I grant that there are some candidates who run for office purely to keep ccertain issues in the forefront. Tom Tancredo might qualify as such in the presidential race. Immigration is his seeming sole issue, and given how hard it is for a mere Congressman to succeed in the Presindial race it is not unlikely he would bow out if some more viable candidiate would truly champion his issue. He has said as much.
But Huchabee does not seem to have any one issue that drives him into the arena becuase no others will take it up. Rather, he is like most other politicians: he has a host of positions on various issues and presents himself as the best candidate to advance them. “I am best qualified” is the near universal campaign theme of politicians. The attention he is giving to get political support shows that he is as focussed on getting himself elected as he is advancing any one or any set of issues. And why not? If he believes he is the best candidate I see no reason for him to shy away from that.
But given that, how can one take a deliberate paid ad to say “Merry Christmas” as merely that? When Guliani talks about Terrorism and 9/11 I know that he is implicitly telling us “this is an important issue to me, so you know I can be trusted to fight on it. If this matters to you i should be your candidate.” Pick an issue and you will find a politician or two telling us how strong they are on that, with the clear message being that they should be your candidate.
I am not saying that Huckabee is insincere. Far from it! He believes what he says just as much as Rudy believes what he says about the War on Terror, as much as Tancredo believes what he says about the border, as much as Ron Paul believes what he says about over extension in foreign affairs. But they all are presenting themselves as the best vehicle for their causes.
I LIKE the message of his ad. What I don’t like is that he is deliberately benefiting from it as well. If you think he is “going out on a limb” doing this, you don’t understand regional politics. Iowa is VERY religious, especially among Republican Caucus voters. This message bspeaks straight to their hearts. Look at how you all have reacted to it.
If this was a disinterested desire to spread the Christmas message he should have financed a private ad with no visible connection to himself. “Don’t let you left hand [the evil self-seeking one] know what your right hand is doing”. Christian ethics require that when you do public acts of piety or charity you work harder to ensure you don’t benefit from those acts.
When the rest of you finish dismissing this argument and continue to beam that a major politicain is standing up for the Faith just remember; the rest of the world is even more cynical than I and they will look at this as being nothing more than a cheap political stunt and will be strengthened in thinking that all political talk about religion is mere populist demogoguery and manipulation. So how much will this ad have really helped the cause of religion? When wicked men after being caught can gain sympathy by claiming to “find Jesus” how much will real testimonies be worth?
#14
I almost always agree with your comments, but although I understand your criticism here and I truly understand the “don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” message, I have to disagree with your taking exception to Sen. Huckabee’s ad. I think that the fact that he benefits from the add in no way diminishes the force of its witness. And frankly, any overt conservative Christian in the political arena will be branded a “populist demagogue” by “the rest of the world” whether deservededly or not, so I don’t lose much sleep over their opinion.
There is no law written or otherwise that says a person can’t declare his faith openly at least not in America. All the fjirst amendment really says is that Congress will not supprort any religion (leaving us alone to worship). It doesn’t tell anyone that they can demand that crosses can’t be displayed any where or any other Anit-Christian demand. Muslims and any other non-Christan faith have this same right with the exception of anything that can be construed as yelling fire in a crowded auditorium.