Values Voter Summit: Huckabee Feints at Positive Message But Shoots Far to the Right

When Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) spoke at the Values Voter Summit, directly following a morning during which speakers from Gov. Mitt Romney (R) of Massachusetts to Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) to James Dobson and Tony Perkins hammered away at their opposition to the “homosexual agenda,” abortion, and embryonic stem-cell research, the potential presidential candidate tried to accentuate the positive. Listing off policy achievements and the concerns of the common man, he scolded the audience to be “pro-life” after, not just before, birth. And he worried about the image of the Religious Right as being too negative.

“We need to be known for what we’re for, not just what we’re against,” Huckabee said. As an example, he gave his opposition to same-sex marriage. He asserted that, instead, he is merely in favor of “traditional marriage,” and:

Until Moses comes down from Brokeback Mountain with two stone tablets saying we’ve changed the rules, let’s keep it like it is!