We have long marvelled at how Mike Huckabee manages to use his folksy “aw shucks” charm to craft a reputation as a rather reasonable moderate rather then the anti-gay Religious Right ideologue that he is.
Huckabee regularly associates with all sorts of radical Religious Right figures and promotes the same agenda but, for some reason, these connections never seem to damage his reputation with the media or the general population.
Nothing better demonstrates this disconnect then the fact that today Huckabee is in Michigan headlining a fundraiser for radical anti-gay activist Gary Glenn as he makes a quixotic bid for the US Senate:
Fox News host and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will be making a pitch for U.S. Senate candidate Gary Glenn at the Birch Run Expo Center.
Huckabee will appear Thursday at the free rally and a $1,000-per-couple reception for Glenn, one of at least eight Michigan Republicans running for the chance to take on Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow.
Glenn, in his capacity as head of the American Family Association of Michigan, has been a vicious anti-gay activist, saying companies should not to hire gays on the grounds that “individuals who engage in homosexual behavior given all of its severe medical consequences [do not] constitute the best and the brightest.”
Glenn has also openly advocated the criminalization of homosexuality:
Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, has added his voice to a growing course of American leaders calling for the re-criminalization of homosexuality in the U.S.
In an e-mail to Michigan Messenger, here’s how Glenn responded when asked if he supported the criminalization move proposed by the Family Research Council’s Peter Sprigg’s comments last week on Hardball:
“The short answer to your question is yes, we believe that states should be free to regulate and prohibit behavior that’s a violation of community standards and a proven threat to public health and safety — including, as most of the United States did throughout its history, homosexual behavior.”
Huckabee has a long history of supporting Glenn, even filming a message for an AFA of Michigan banquet in 2009 in which he heaped praise upon him, saying that “if we had leaders like Gary Glenn across America, our work wouldn’t be so hard”:
Now, Glenn is seeking to take his radical anti-gay views with him to the United States Senate and Huckabee is proudly raising money to help him accomplish that.
