Huckabee: The GOP's Cynical Use of Religion Has Come Home to Roost

[napi21]

snip

So why is the Republican establishment suddenly in a state of near-apoplexy about Mike Huckabee? Shouldn't they be happy? They've been cultivating evangelicals and fundamentalists for 30 years. Now they finally have a candidate who's truly part of the movement. So what's the problem?

Actually, that is the problem. The evangelical crowd was fine when it was just a resource to be cynically exploited every few years in demagogic anti-gay get-out-the-vote campaigns. But now the holy-rolling monster the GOP's Dr. Frankensteins have created has thrown off the shackles, fled the lab, and is currently leading in Iowa. And the party doesn't know what to do.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/huckabee-the-gops-cynic_b_77165.html

This is a pretty amusing article!

[groovedaddy]

1. Maybe they were paying attention to what just happened in Kentucky

In what had been an increasinly red state, voters elected a fairly liberal democratic governor - Steve Beshear - over the incumbant Ernie Fletcher, a baptist preacher, among other things. The g.o.p. tried the usual fear mongering along religious lines:
As State Attorney General, Beshear ordered the removal of the 10 commandments from public buildings, based on an SCOTA ruling. The g.o.p. reminded the public of this action.
They also did a robo call campaign that basically told voters to choose Beshear if they favored "homosexual" rights.
All this and more, and we still beat them by 17%. Of course Fletcher's indictment by a Grand Jury for violating the state's merit system laws played a large part in the result. Still, the g.o.p. has to have gotten the message in a strong way that resorting to religious fundamentalism didn't work in this case.

[bryant69]

2. Accurate diagnosis, it strikes me.

The non-religious right wing has always assumed they can buy the religious right off with rhetoric - but it's not paying off this time around.

Bryant
Check it out -> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[NoBorders]

3. Ha! That's what I've been thinking

On some level, but this puts into words for me. I wonder if it will show, in the long run, how the majority of Americans reject right-wing fundie views. Assuming he doesn't get elected anyway.

[BearSquirrel2]

4. I've been thinking about his clemencies

I have been surprised that Republican opponents haven't pounced on Huckabee's Clemency issue yet. I think that everyone knows what is behind all these clemencies is Huckabee's uber-fundamentalism and his over-reliance on his baptist consiglieres. Here is the heart of the problem for Republicans, if they pound on Huckabee for being overly beholden to these crazy backwoods preachers, would this also alienate the Republican base in terms of keeping them away from the polls for the general election.

My gut tells me that these guys will try to beat Huckabee with money. They'll go after the clemencies only if they have to. They'll have to. It's too juicy and you know this level of irresponsibility will be pointed out by whomever the Democratic candidate is.

[brazos121200]

5. The repub powers that be will have to do something quick

to derail Huckleberry before it's too late. The last thing they want is a fundamentalist preacher wacko at the head of the ticket who will surely go down to defeat in the general election. What they will do I don't know but I can guess. Maybe some secret from his past will suddenly surface through a source untraceable to the repub party, or maybe one of the other candidates will be given some ammunition against him anonymously. Rest assured, he will not be their nominee. I am curious to see how they derail him without alienating his fundie right wing followers. But I can hope and pray that somehow he will survive the attacks and will emerge the nominee and the repub party will commit political suicide.