Mike Huckabee

As Mike Huckabee travels the country promoting his new book, the overarching theme seems to be “It Should Have Been Me,” in that the book is essentially a 200 page gripe about how the Republican Party lost its way and ended up losing the election primarily because it failed to choose him as its nominee:

The former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who won eight states and more than four million votes in the Republican Presidential primaries, spent Election Night at home in Little Rock. Eating takeout in the den with his family and a few staffers, Huckabee wasn’t surprised to see Barack Obama win, although he couldn’t help but think that things might not have turned out the way they did had he been the nominee. “It would’ve been very different,” he said the other day. “Because I would’ve campaigned that the economy was headed toward meltdown. And I was saying this back when I was getting laughed at by the Wall Street Journal and pilloried by the National Review. They were just dicin’ and slicin’ me for not following the company line.”

And while his book is basically an extended attack on Mitt Romney and all that he represents, it looks like Huckabee doesn’t exactly have warm feelings about Sarah Palin - or rather, he’s really miffed that all the insiders who wrote him off suddenly rallied about Palin when the only difference between the two was that, unlike her, he was arguably qualified for the position:

Asked about Sarah Palin, he responded, “She, uh, was an appropriate choice, because she put John McCain back in the game.” That was the get-along answer, but a few minutes later the new, aggrieved Huckabee resurfaced. He recalled, “It was funny that all through the primary—I mean literally up until McCain got enough delegates to win—people said, ‘You know, Huckabee’s really running for Vice-President. Gee, Huckabee would be a great Vice-President.’ And from that day forward, when I actually was no longer running for President, nobody ever said, ‘Gee, Huckabee would be a great Vice-President.’ ” Neither was he quite so unperturbed by the Palin pick: “I was scratching my head, saying, ‘Hey, wait a minute. She’s wonderful, but the only difference was she looks better in stilettos than I do, and she has better hair.’ It wasn’t so much a gender issue, but it was like they suddenly decided that everything they disliked about me was O.K. . . . She was given a pass by some of the very people who said I wasn’t prepared.”

I think that is actually a really smart observation on Huckabee’s part. Why was it that all the Religious Right and Republican insiders who dismissed Huckabee, with his ten years of experience as governor and staunch record on their issues, rallied around Palin with her limited time in office and a record utterly devoid of accomplishments?

And yes, we are looking at you, Gary Bauer.

As I mentioned yesterday, I am currently in the process of reading Mike Huckabee's latest book and, having made it through 150 pages of his 216 page epic, I take issue with Huck's own assessment of the reviews saying that it seems bizarrely focused on former rival Mitt Romney:

The book, released yesterday, has stirred some controversy in the media over its apparent swipes at his former rival for the GOP nomination, Mitt Romney. In several instances in the book, Huckabee charged Romney for being out of touch with voters and for flip-flopping on certain issues. In an example from a debate where Romney was asked about how to help the economy, Huckabee writes that Romney was more focused on reciting lines about his business expertise than on helping the average American.

...

Huckabee reassured attendees of the book signing that there’s more to the book than the rehashing of an old beef with Romney. “It’s a very, very small part of the book,” he said. “It’s really not about the past or about the other people in the party. It’s about the future of the party, [which] starts with being true, authentic conservatives with clarity in our convictions.”

Let me just say this: as I was reading his book, I started to become distracted by just how frequently Romney's name appeared in the text, so I counted them all up - in the first 101 pages, the word "Romney" appears at least 60 times. In fact, in the first 21 pages, "Romney" appears 25 times.

And, for the record, in not one of those instances is Huckabee saying anything positive about him.

With the exception of Tommy Thompson, Huckabee doesn't really have anything positive to say about any of his other rivals; not even John McCain. But it is his visceral hatred of Romney and all that he represents that is the one unifying theme of his book.

This summer, Douglas MacKinnon released a novel entitled “The Apocalypse Directive” in which a fundamentalist US President uses his office to try to destroy the enemies of Christianity and bring about the apocalypse.  Roll Call offered this summary:   

Set in the near future, the novel centers on Ian Campbell, the deputy chief of staff to President Shelby Robertson, a religious zealot whose presidential decisions are based solely on his extreme view of Christianity. Campbell doesn’t share those beliefs; he’s a former Navy SEAL who’s jaded by the whole business of organized religion.

But to get the coveted White House gig, Campbell tricks Robertson into believing he shares the president’s religious views. Soon, Robertson is welcoming Campbell into a secret group calling themselves the “Christian Ambassadors,” whose goal is to advance the cause of Christianity and destroy those who oppose it.

Campbell soon learns that Robertson and his crew, made up of top military men and other government officials, are planning to launch a full-scale nuclear war to rid the earth of nonbelievers. Still fooling Robertson, Campbell is put in charge of a secret bunker built to provide a place for the Ambassadors to hide out during the slaughter, and he uses his new role to get more details on Robertson’s deadly plan before it is too late.

The use of the last name Robertson for this fictional president was undoubtedly intentional … but it turns out that it wasn’t actually a Pat Robertson presidency that MacKinnon was afraid of, it’s a Mike Huckabee one:

While doing publicity for my new novel “The Apocalypse Directive,” a number of interviewers asked me who served as the inspiration for the Evangelical President of the United States who professes to speak directly to God and so twists his Christian faith, that he is preparing to carry out the most heinous act known to humankind?  Other than stressing that it was not George W. Bush, I mostly left the question unanswered as I moved on to the next subject.

Mike Huckabee’s renewed, juvenile, and un-Christian written assault on former rival Mitt Romney compels me to admit that it was he who served as the inspiration for the evil character.

I should probably point out as well that MacKinnon is not exactly some wild-eyed liberal:

Douglas MacKinnon was a press secretary to former Senator Bob Dole. He was also a writer for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and a special assistant for policy and communications in the Defense Department.

During his presidential campaign, one of Mike Huckabee’s signature traits was his willingness to publicly complain and whine about some supposed conspiracy among the nation’s Religious Right powerbrokers to refuse to support his candidacy.  And even though the campaign is over and Huckabee now has a lucrative new career on television and radio, it looks like he still hasn’t gotten over it, according to Time’s Michael Scherer who has gotten an early look at his new book:    

Many conservative Christian leaders, who never backed Huckabee despite their holding very similar stances on social issues, are spared neither the rod nor the lash. Huckabee writes of Gary Bauer, the conservative Christian leader and former presidential candidate, as having an "ever-changing reason to deny me his support." Of one private meeting with Bauer, Huckabee says, "it was like playing Whac-a-Mole at the arcade — whatever issue I addressed, another one surfaced as a 'problem' that made my candidacy unacceptable." He accuses Bauer of putting the issue of national security before bedrock social issues like the sanctity of life and traditional marriage.

Huckabee describes other elders of the social conservative movement, many of whom meet in private as part of an organization called the Arlington Group, as "more enamored with the process, the political strategies, and the party hierarchy than with the simple principles that had originally motivated the Founders." Later Huckabee writes, "I lamented that so many people of faith had moved from being prophetic voices — like Naaman, confronting King David in his sin and saying, 'Though art the man!'— to being voices of patronage, and saying to those in power, 'You da' man!' "

He calls out Pat Robertson, the Virginia-based televangelist, and Dr. Bob Jones III, chancellor of Bob Jones University in South Carolina, for endorsing Rudy Giuliani and Romney, respectively. He also has words for the Texas-based Rev. John Hagee, who endorsed the more moderate John McCain in the primaries, as someone who was drawn to the eventual Republican nominee because of the lure of power. Huckabee speaks to Hagee by phone before the McCain endorsement, while the former Arkansas governor is preparing for a spot on Saturday Night Live. "I asked if he had prayed about this and believed this was what the Lord wanted him to do," Huckabee writes of his conversation with Hagee. "I didn't get a straight answer." Months later, McCain rejected Hagee's endorsement because of controversial remarks the pastor had made about biblical interpretations.

So Huckabee is calling Hagee a sell-out for backing McCain instead of him, even knowing that McCain was eventually forced to disassociate himself from him because of Hagee’s outrageous views?  Doesn’t it seem odd that instead of thinking that maybe he dodged a bullet by not getting Hagee’s support, Huckabee is still mad about it?

Of course, Hagee’s support for Huckabee probably wouldn’t have been especially noteworthy since his ultra-right-wing views were no different than those esposed by his other supporters like on Don Wildmon, Janet Porter, Rick Scarborough, and Tim and Beverly LaHaye.

But considering that Huckabee is mulling over a future presidential run, it seems a little counterproductive to start badmouthing the very people from whom he’ll need support the next time around, especially since their lack of support this time was what helped to doom his campaign.

I just wrote a post about the traditional claim from Religious Right leaders and activists that their votes are beholden to God and not tied to any one particular party.  It's an obvious fraud, as demonstrated by the fact that they'd rather vote for Satan than a Democrat, but it's what they have to say to convince themselves that they are somehow more principled than your run-of-the-mill partisan voter.

In my last post, I didn't provide any concrete examples of this contradiction because it is frankly so prevalent that I didn't think it really needed any.  But then I came across this article that perfectly sums up exactly what I was taking about:

From wall to wall, each pew was full on the Sunday before Election Day at Thomas Road Baptist Church.

“It is Election Day on Tuesday. We as Christians and we as Americans- this is something that we have been paying attention to,” said Pastor Jonathan Falwell.

Falwell introduced a friend, former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee – who the pastor previously endorsed. Huckabee, known as a conservative Republican, says he wants people to vote Christian.

“I would never use a pulpit of the church to try to tell people to vote Democrat or Republican or which candidate. That’s something they have to decide on their own conscience. But I never would hesitate to say vote on your principles,” Huckabee said.

He said parties are not as important and church members we talked to agree.

“Dr. Fallwell [says] don’t vote Republican, don’t vote Democrat, vote Christian. That’s how I voted,” said Linley Harrison.

If you just read that part, you'd think there might actually be something to this right-wing claim that they vote on their Christian principles regardless of party affiliation.  But then you read the rest of the article and find out that the church was passing out pro-McCain voting guides from the American Family Association and had McCain surrogates in attendance who were making the case for him:

The church passed out flyers from the American Family Association that listed key issues and whether McCain or Obama support or oppose them. Many in the congregation say it is Republicans like Huckabee who support the issues most crucial to them.

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One of John McCain’s fellow POW’s during the Vietnam War was also at the service. Orson Swindle has been friends with John McCain now for 37 years. He was by his side in captivity, and now he’s helping in the campaign ... Two more of McCain’s fellow POW’s were also at the service.

Sarah Posner has a good piece up at Religion Dispatches on Lou Engle, founder of The Call, and his recent branching out from this militant anti-abortion proselytizing and into the marriage debate and the upcoming election. 

Engle, as Posner explains, is best known for his efforts to turns hordes of young men and women into warriors for Christ and “raise up of an army of spiritual warriors for revival” and is becoming something of a regular figure in the political Religious Right movement, appearing with notable figures such as Tony Perkins and Mike Huckabee before and during his recent “The Call” rally in Washington, DC:

The Call’s advisory board is stacked with prominent Pentecostal and charismatic preachers, leading figures in the controversial apostolic movement, which is elevating a new generation of self-appointed prophets and apostles, African-American and Latino religious leaders, charismatic publishing giant Stephen Strang, and religious right leaders like Perkins, Harry Jackson, and Gary Bauer.

The religious right political leadership’s keen interest in Engle was evident at The Call held on the National Mall in August. The day before the event, the public relations firm Shirley Bannister introduced Engle, flanked by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins and former Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, at a press conference just a few blocks from the White House. Perkins, one of the most visible political leaders on the religious right, noted Engle’s influence on young evangelicals, who he claimed were even more conservative on abortion than their parents, though he cited no surveys or polls to support the claim.

…

Engle, per his custom, likened his crusade against abortion to Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement. He rocked back and forth, as though davening, preached against Roe v. Wade, and shouted, as the crowd prayed and spoke in tongues, “this is a Passover Day for America. Today, we plead the blood of Jesus on the doorpost!” Purity covenants, requiring abstention from even thinking about sex outside of marriage, were distributed. Participants were urged to consecrate themselves, to be ready for the moment when Jesus “is going to rule over Washington, DC and the world.”

“Repentance and revival cannot start in the building behind me,” said Huckabee, his back to the Capitol, “until it starts in the temple inside me.”

But when he’s not leading day-long rallies such as this or the anti-gay marriage one scheduled at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium this weekend, Engle and his army can be found at International House of Prayer he co-founded in Kansas City where they direct their prayers toward things like remaking the US Supreme Court … and rather successfully at that, according to Engle: 

Engle unabashedly credits prayer for George W. Bush’s presidency and his subsequent appointment of Supreme Court Justices who upheld the ban on so-called “partial birth abortion.” “The praying church deals with the demonic realm, so that God raises up one and brings down the other,” Engle said in a recent video on The Call’s web site, explaining how prayer proved victorious over satanic forces in the spiritual warfare of an election, adding, “I directly attribute [Bush’s election] to the prayers of the saints.”

Young people at his House of Prayer, said Engle, had been praying about judges for three years when Sandra Day O’Connor retired and William Rehnquist died. As if to prove to his acolytes that their prayer and fasting is not in vain, Engle maintains that their prayers and prophecies shaped the Supreme Court. “One of the young ladies had a dream,” Engle asserted, “that a man named John Roberts would be the next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.” He beams with pride. “Don’t you think those kids were baptized with confidence? Their prayers, I believe, were literally moving a king to appoint a justice who has now led a court that has banned partial birth abortion. Don’t tell me prayer doesn’t shape a nation.”

Just a few weeks ago we were noting that, during the GOP primary, we kept hearing about the emergence of a "new evangelical" movement, led by the likes of Mike Hucakabee, that cared about issues beyond the standard anti-gay, anti-abortion right-wing agenda. We then noted that, when it comes to crunch time, people like Huckabee inevitably revert to form by playing the “God, guns, and gays” card in an effort to bolster the GOP’s electoral chances.

Now, with the election only two weeks away, Huckabee seems to be narrowing the agenda even further and is currently seeking 100,000 signatures for his new “Sanctity of Life” petition:   

I have no doubt that the Democrats' ideas are totally wrong for America and many of their plans would take us the opposite direction from where America needs to go.

Led by Senator Obama, the Majority of the Democrat Party in the House and Senate support the most liberal and indefensible positions on abortion, including a refusal to support a ban on the most vile form of all, partial birth abortion. Led by Senator Obama these Democrats are actively pushing for what the anti-life forces euphemistically call "reproductive rights."

Against them, we must rally every American that seeks to protect and cherish life. I urge you to sign the Petition below and ask your friends and family to do the same.

Frankly, this smacks mainly of an effort by Huckabee to do little more than boost his own mailing list … perhaps as he begins to start thinking about his own 2012 presidential campaign.

During the GOP primary, we kept hearing about the emergence of a "new evangelical" movement that cared about issues beyond the standard anti-gay, anti-abortion right-wing agenda and were repeatedly told that Mike Huckabee was the most high profile example of this new type of leader.  

As we pointed out then, and have continued to point out, that was a dramatic oversimplification and fundamentally misleading.  Because, when you get down to it, people like Mike Huckabee are in fact fully aligned with the traditional Religious Right agenda and, as Dan Gilgoff smartly notices, inevitably revert to form when it comes crunch time:

Remember back to the Republican primaries, when Mike Huckabee campaigned as a new kind of evangelical candidate, adding issues like the environment, education, and poverty to the hot-button agenda of God, guns, and gays?

That big-tent Huck seems to be in much shorter supply now. An email the Arkansas governor just sent out soliciting donations for his political action committee--whose beneficiaries include John McCain and Sarah Palin--asks fors $5 for each of these five red meat issues:

1. Protection of Human Life 2. Traditional Marriage 3. Tax policy that doesn't punish people for working, but rewards them 4. 2nd amendment rights 5. Supreme Court and Federal Court judge selection

So much for all those professed concerns about poverty, the environment, and human rights. 

One of Mike Huckabee's not-so-hidden talents was skill on the electric bass. Unfortunately for him, his muscial career didn't pan out so he was forced to find another line of work behind the pulpit and eventually in public office.  But that doesn't mean he had to give up his dream of appearing on the cover of music magazines: