Mike Huckabee Ain't No Sissy

I came up with the title of this post after reading an article in newsobserver.com from North Carolina. "Huckabee's faith moves him past hot button issues"

• WASHINGTON - Mike Huckabee isn't what pundits would call a mainstream Christian conservative Republican.
  Sure, the candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination is a devout Christian. In fact, he's a Baptist minister and was the president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention before he served as the governor of Arkansas for 10 years.
  But ask the 51-year-old Huckabee how his faith affects his politics, and he skips over the standard hot-button issues of abortion, gays or whether people should say "Merry Christmas" or "season's greetings" -- topics that dominate talk radio and cable TV and thus define Christian conservatives to much of the country.
  Rather, he talks passionately about the morality of helping parents send their children to college, the need to observe the golden rule in handling Katrina refugees mistreated by an uncaring federal government, and the immorality of corporate chief executive officers getting multimillion-dollar bonuses while taking pensions and jobs away from workers.

I think it is more important for someone in government to care about these things. While abortion is a major issue, it does not affect everyday issues. Does who's gay or how holidays are wished put young adults through college? No. Does it help victims of natural disasters? No. Does it put dinner on the kitchen table of the workers of the big corporations? No.

• But he says his version of moral conservatism makes sense in governing, and it could appeal to a broader audience at a time when many Republicans have lost support from independents and moderate suburbanites.
  "It is an appealing message to a broader cross-section of the voting public, not just a litmus-test list," said former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley, who recently endorsed Huckabee. "His sense of right and wrong is more than just a few issues."

David Beasley says exactly what I am thinking. Mike Huckabee is a multi-faceted candidate. He doesn't fit any mold. I think this is what scares some in the "party establishment," about him. They want some Pinocchio that they can mold, create and pull the strings. Well Mike ain't no sissy who will allow others to control him. There is no elitist Republican ventriloquist speaking behind Mike Huckabee. Soon, the noses of the "Pinochios" will grow long and the ventriloquists hands up the butts will be exposed. Then the American people will see who the true Conservative really is. And that person is Mike Huckabee.

• During a recent Republican debate in New Hampshire, Huckabee criticized his fellow opponents of abortion for appearing to lose interest in children after birth and for not talking about problems such as homelessness later in life.

I am glad that someone is speaking out that pro-life is more than just what happens up until birth. How is it pro-life if life is not taken serious? When life after birth is not taken serious then it is just "talking points" spin and drivel.

• Huckabee started in politics as Arkansas lieutenant governor in 1993. He moved up to the top job in 1996 when the governor resigned amid a corruption scandal. Huckabee cut income taxes, expanded health care for poor children, boosted elementary-school education and was re-elected twice.
• He noted that he's solidly against abortion -- he signed a state ban on late-term abortions -- but stressed that the issue didn't come close to dominating his agenda.
  "I was consistent in my views and values as it related to social issues," he said. "But 91 percent of our state budget is spent on education, prisons and Medicaid. So it didn't make sense to spend 91 percent of my time on issues that didn't reflect my real job."

• Huckabee insists on other examples to illustrate how his faith affects the way he governs. Nothing got him as agitated as the thought of people losing jobs or pensions.
  When a CEO makes $100 million while his workers lose pensions or jobs, he said, "that is immoral. ... That's not free enterprise. That's theft."

This is one of my biggest pet peeves about the party. They try telling everyone that these fancy pants guys deserve all the big raises and whatnot, because he went to college and got a BS degree. I am not knocking down someone who went to college and studied to graduate. But there is such an imbalance in the pay between the "fat-cats" and the blue-collar people who are struggling to put dinner on the table and pay their bills according to which utility company is threatening to shut them off.

Some people may disagree with me and even call me a liberal. But I don't care. Personally, I think whenever these CEOs and executives get raises and promotions it's because they got a new mistress. And he needs more money to buy her a car, jewelry, fur coats or "set her up" in a condo. Maybe he has to pay hush money. It also could be that his wife has found out about said mistress and is threatening to call the best divorce attorney in town. So what does mister fancy pants do? He buys her something shiny to keep her quiet. These are the same people who talk about morality and purity. Ha-ha!

Sometimes I can see communism in both parties. One party says they want to take from the poor and take from the rich. And yet they want to stay rich. Why? Because they know more than everyone else. They deserve it. That is wrong. Then you have another party that wants to see a major schism in pay between the haves and have nots. Whenever anyone questions this they are told not to question. We are told they know better than the rest of us. This too is wrong. How I got off on a tangent about communism is beyond me?

God Bless from the Upper Peninsula in Michigan!

Huckabee Warns Christians NOT to Abandon Principles

In this article in the Washington Times Mike Huckabee makes a plea to Christians. He tells Christians not to abandon their beliefs.

"Christian conservatives are on the brink of becoming irrelevant in this election cycle if they do not remain active because they really believe something about their faith that drives them into the political arena," he said in remarks made at a Pew Forum press conference. Typically, Christians have entered the political arena out of concern for the family, to stop abortion and because of other issues that "really emanate from our faith," he said. "If they say those issues are not as important this time; if they say the real issues are taxes or national security, then frankly, they are just another Republican special interest group."

He talked about how he combined his faith and governing of Arkansas when over 75,000 Katrina evacuees entered his state. He organized church leaders to help house evacuees. He did not do things half-arse.

"I promise you, faith guided me through all of that, not just in terms of my compassion for the people I saw. ... I determined we were not going to treat these people like boxes ... stacking them up in some sports arena and calling that rescue. It went back to the simple prescription: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," he said, quoting Luke 6:31.

About reporters constantly asking him God questions, "I wasn't sure whether I was being interviewed to be president of the United States or chaplain of the Senate," he added.

In regards to other candidates trying to seperate their faith from the way they govern, "I sometimes marvel when people running for office are asked about faith and their answer is, 'Oh, I don't get into that. I keep that completely separate. My faith is completely immaterial to how I think and how I govern.' To me that's really tantamount to saying, 'My faith is so marginal, so insignificant, so inconsequential, that it really doesn't impact the way I live.' I'd consider that an extraordinarily shallow faith."

He also talked about how money is affecting the way the media, including "fair and balanced" FOX News, has been treating who are electable. "This whole process is being driven solely by money and not by message. ... If we're not careful, we're leading this country not towards a presidency but to a plutocracy. I am not sure that's where we want to be."

I truly believe that it is possible for someone to lead the country through faith and include all Americans, regardless of religious preferences. The person who can do this? Mike Huckabee. He proved this during the Katrina incident.

To read the whole article click the link at the top of the page.

God Bless from the Upper Peninsula in Michigan!

Mike Huckabee on the Creation Question

I did manage to watch Mike Huckabee answer the question of creation. At the first debate candidates were asked the question "Who does not believe in evolution." Mike Huckabee was one of the three candidates who raised their hand. Ever since then the media won't let him live it down.

At this recent debate he was asked about his belief on creation. Wolf Blitzer asked him something around the line of "Do you believe God created the world in 6 days and it was 6,000 years ago." Mike's answer was absolutely brilliant. He said he didn't see how that has anything to do with becoming President. "I'm not planning on writing an eighth grade curriculum," he said. But since the answer was asked of him he answered it honestly. He said he didn't believe that everything was created by complete accident. He doesn't know exactly how it was done, but it was done by God. Does he claim to know it was done in exactly 6 24 hour days 6,000 years ago? No. As he said, "I wasn't there, so I don't know." He got a little chuckle out of it. He also said that if someone wants to believe that they came from primates that's fine with him. Of course Wolf had to say that he didn't answer the question. Yes he did, duh! Mike told him that he did answer the question that he said he believed in creation, just that he doesn't know how long exactly it took.
I wonder how all these other candidates who claim to be Christians and read the Bible figure on this? If people are looking for a true Christian candidate shouldn't they want someone who believes everything in the Bible, not just pick and choose? Maybe that's just my thought. While belief in how the world began isn't going to affect economy, taxes, border issues or International dealings, it does show an incite to a Christian candidate's view of the Bible.
For a review of the debates go to http://www.ktracy.com/.

God Bless from the Upper Peninsula in Michigan!