A huge showing for Huckabee considering the great odds of him not coming even 3rd place just two weeks ago. Its a huge blow to Giuliani, Fred, and Paul.
I bet its those 'Evangelicals', because only the Christian right wingers vote for Huckabee, right? Huckabee is 1st/2nd in Florida and 2nd in California according to the polls, I'm sure all of them are evangelical too.
Zev Chafets of NY Times has written up an 8000+ word article on Huckabee and this part got most of the media attention. The article as a whole is positive.
Chapter 3 also contains the admonition to ‘‘keep sound wisdom and discretion.’’ Huckabee is, indeed, a discreet fellow, but he has no trouble making his feelings known. He mentioned how much he respected his fellow candidates John McCain and Rudolph W. Giuliani. The name of his principal rival in Iowa, Mitt Romney, went unmentioned. Romney, a Mormon, had promised that he would be addressing the subject of his religion a few days later. I asked Huckabee, who describes himself as the only Republican candidate with a degree in theology, if he considered Mormonism a cult or a religion. ‘‘I think it’s a religion,’’ he said. ‘‘I really don’t know much about it.’’
I was about to jot down this piece of boilerplate when Huckabee surprised me with a question of his own: ‘‘Don’t Mormons,’’ he asked in an innocent voice, ‘‘believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?’’
The media has finally succeeded in trapping Gov. Huckabee in 'bigotry'. Maybe not.
Here are the developments of this story:
First, the Huckabee campaign came out with this response:
LITTLE ROCK, AR – A report released tonight cites an upcoming article in the Sunday edition of The New York Times Magazine which quotes former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee asking a question about the content of the Mormon faith. In fact, the full context of the exchange makes it clear that Governor Huckabee was illustrating his unwillingness to answer questions about Mormonism and to avoid addressing theological questions during this campaign.
“Governor Huckabee has said consistently that he believes this campaign should center on a discussion of the important issues confronting our nation,” said Senior Advisor, Dr. Charmaine Yoest, “and not focus on questions of religious belief. He wants to assure persons of all faith traditions of his firm commitment to religious tolerance and freedom of worship. Governor Huckabee believes that one of the great strengths of our nation lies in its diversity of thought, opinion and faith.”
After the debate, Gov. Huckabee personally apologized to Gov. Romney about this situation. He reinstated the fact that there should be no religious test. Period.
Here is Gov. Huckabee on CNN explaining the whole ordeal.
You might be wondering, hmm.. Gov. Huckabee has a theology degree and doesn't know what Mormonism is all about? Well, his degree was in biblical studies and no it isn't true that you suddenly become an expert in comparative religions when you major in a different field of study. Usually people take outside time in learning about other religions, Gov. Huckabee hasn't spent time investigating other religions. It is clear though that he knows some commonly heard things about Mormonism, however.
Second, you might be asking - A NY TIMES reporter knows what Mormonism is all about? How is that possible? Well, Zev Chafets is very unique in this regard. He wrote this article defending Romney and Mormonism in the LA Times in Feb 2007. Read the article for yourself.
Who is Zev Chafets? Well here is a short bio: ZEV CHAFETS is the author of "A Match Made in Heaven: American Jews, Christian Zionists and One Man's Exploration of the Weird and Wonderful Judeo-Evangelical Alliance." Clearly, Mr. Chafets specializes in religion and is no typical reporter.
I hope this clears up any outstanding doubts about this issue. Gov. Romney accepted the apology and Gov. Huckabee has said that he would absolutely not talk about Mormonism and he said that no one should/should not vote for any candidate because of their religion. ------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE: Apparently Mr. Chafets is not willing to corroborate the story. He's not willing to admit it, but he's still hasn't rejected the story.
Reached Wednesday in Cooperstown, N.Y., where he’s writing a book on the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Chafets told Politico: “I asked him the question about Mormonism and whether he thought it was a religion or a cult.
“He said it was a religion, and didn’t know much about it. There was a pause. Then he asked his question,” Chafets continued.
“He can spin it any way he wants. It was on the wires and picked up by candidates, and I can’t be accountable for that,” Chafets said, adding, “I hope that the article, as I wrote it, was entirely in context.”
Lieberman [Chafets' editor] said she also understood that Huckabee’s question “was an unbidden response.”
Chafets wasn't clear in his answer on whether he explained what Mormons believe to Gov. Huckabee. I'm guessing the context is this: Just as the article suggests, Gov. Huckabee asked that question and then Chafets answered his question. Then the Governor asked more questions and they had a mini-conversation about Mormonism.
This is how the article presents the story:
I was about to jot down this piece of boilerplate when Huckabee surprised me with a question of his own: ‘‘Don’t Mormons,’’ he asked in an innocent voice, ‘‘believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?’’
So my question is, what happened after that? Did Chafets say anything back? It obviously wasn't a rhetorical question. Did Chafets just smile back and say nothing? Or did he actually go in depth about the Mormon faith which led Gov. Huckabee to ask more questions. Remember that this interview was a 4 to 5 hour conversation over a period of a couple days, so it was not a typical 10 minute interview.
Chafets doesn't want to really get in the middle of this and defend Huckabee because they want this article to get more play in the media for business purposes. It's pretty sad, but thats how the media works. The editors look at the columnists notes and also the person's article and try to make additions/deletions as they see it. This one sentence that Chafets used in the article was basically the trigger point for people buy the entire magazine on Sunday. Very unfortunate.
In a Family Research Council Action email sent out earlier yesterday, FRC president Tony Perkins came out in defense of Mike Huckabee. Mr. Perkins knows like I do that if the media succeeds in derailing a candidate just because he has absolute moral views and Christian convictions and not by his/her record, then that would create a dangerous precedent that would effectively ban young evangelicals like me from running for office. Many evenhanded people know that Gov. Huckabee is a sincerely loving and caring Christian, and I can't think of anybody who can better represent us as a Christian.
I agree with Mr. Perkins that if this continues, there will be a strong rise in support of Huckabee regardless of the differences people might have on his policies. Gov. Huckabee is handling the media storm well, and I pray that he would have the strength to keep his composure.
A Reverse Religious Test
Over the weekend I had flashbacks of the brutal judicial confirmation hearings that took place between 2003 and 2005 where certain nominees like William Pryor, Janice Rogers Brown, Charles Pickering, and others were filibustered by the Democratic minority because of what Sen. Charles Schumer called their "deeply held personal beliefs." Those "beliefs" were the religious convictions that led them in part to hold a position that abortion was wrong. There was a reverse religious litmus test applied. A subtle message was being sent that a person had to choose between an active, life-impacting faith and public service. It was wrong then and it is wrong now as it is being applied to Mike Huckabee. Let me preface what I am about to say by first recalling what I wrote last week (Dec. 3, 2007) explaining why I had not endorsed a presidential candidate and at present have no plans to do so. I remain undecided and what I say below does not imply a change in those plans; however, I feel compelled to rise to the defense of Mike Huckabee.
The media had been toying with and even promoting Mike Huckabee, thinking he would go nowhere; however, after FRC Action's Values Voter Summit he began a steady rise in the polls. In my opinion it was not because he finished a close second in the straw poll to Mitt Romney, but because he came out for the first time at our event, co-hosted by Focus on the Family Action and others and spoke unabashedly and unequivocally conservative on all the core social issues. He began to compete for territory that had been ceded to Gov. Romney. That message has resonated and he has not only climbed to first place in Iowa, but nationally he is second only to Rudy Giuliani in the most current polls. There is apparently fear now among the elites that his rise could be real and not a creation of the media.
Enter the reverse religious test that is being applied. In various settings over the last few days Huckabee has been confronted with articles from nearly a decade ago containing statements on the morality of issues like HIV-AIDS, homosexuality and even the need for spiritual awakening in America. He was basically asked to recant. I am pleased to say that he did not recant.
This morning, for example, the lead story on Drudge was a 1998 article from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporting on a speech that Huckabee gave at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptists calling on the church to wake up following a rash of school shootings. The Drudge headline touted, "Take this nation back for Christ," a subtle but clear warning to secular elites. Columnist Richard Cohen wasn't as subtle last week when he said Huckabee is climbing in the polls because of "his obdurate and narrow-minded religious beliefs."
There is clearly a reverse religious standard being applied to Mike Huckabee, a standard that says there will be no defining religious beliefs. I would hope the other candidates, including the Democrats, would clearly and absolutely denounce this reverse religious test and keep the media from going further down this path. If not, I predict that bible-believing Christians will step over policy differences they have with Mike Huckabee to stand by and support a candidate who is being attacked because he believes, as they do, that their Christian faith should actually impact the way they live. If that happens, the recent meteoric rise of the Huckabee campaign in the polls could look minuscule compared to the tsunami of support that he will get from Christians who are tired of the elites who belittle their beliefs and attempt to rob them of every public reflection of their faith.
It is clear that Matt Drudge (www.drudgereport.com) wants to take the lead in derailing Gov. Huckabee's candidacy. He has been relatively kind to the other candidates but he's relentless in his attacks against Huckabee, mostly hitting his views on homosexuality and recently, his past Christian statements.
Huckabee said ungiving individuals are responsible for higher taxes. "I'm often asked why taxes are so high and government is so big. It's because the faith we have in local churches has become so small. If we'd been doing what we should have -- giving a dime from every dollar to help the widows, the orphans and the poor -- we now wouldn't be giving nearly 50 cents of every dollar to a government that's doing ... what we should have been doing all along." Huckabee also explained why he left pastoring for politics. "I didn't get into politics because I thought government had a better answer. I got into politics because I knew government didn't have the real answers, that the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives."
First of all, let me say that this quote shows how Gov. Huckabee believes in limited government. The government wouldn't have to be in charge of humanitarian and community development programs if there were private entities who had the heart to lead and fund it.
Here at EvangelicalsforMike.com, we try to focus on the 'values' policies of Gov. Huckabee and also his sermons and speeches. I don't want to give the impression that we want a Pastor-in-chief, even Gov. Huckabee said he's not running for that position. His record in Arkansas running a Government for 11 years tells us how he will integrate his faith when it comes to governance. He didn't turn the government into a cathedral. Instead, he tried to run an effective government that served the people. How he handled the folks from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina was very noteworthy, I hope that gets a lot more media coverage.
Coming back to the article, I believe Gov. Huckabee was right on with this comment. If there were more people with Christ-like attitudes and values, the world would be a much better place. For the non-Christians reading this blog, let me stress that right minded Christians don't believe in forcing our faith down other people's throats. However consider this: if your faith in Christ is what defines who you are how can you hide it? It will require you becoming somebody you truly are not. Even in secular settings, I know the current mantra is "To Be Yourself". So, is it wrong to be yourself?
I hope Gov. Huckabee can reassure folks on how his faith in Christ does not discriminate against those who don't believe in what he believes. He will be the President for all Americans of all religious backgrounds.
As you might have heard, many of Gov. Huckabee's past statements in 1992 and beyond are coming out in public. One of them was Gov. Huckabee's views on AIDS and homosexuality. Conservatives websites Drudge Report and Hotair.com have been hammering at Gov. Huckabee on this (which surprises me).
Anyways, here is Gov. Huckabee's defending his past views. I thought it was a very honest and detailed statement.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Huckabee defended his past stance and written comments calling for a quarantine of those with AIDS, likened homosexuality to "lying" and "stealing" and again lauded the power of prayer in campaigns while speaking to reporters here.
Here’s what he said… On AIDS: “Fifteen years ago, the AIDS crisis was just that; it was a crisis, and we didn't know exactly all the details of how extensive it was going to be. There were a lot of questions back at that time as to just how the disease could be carried. You may remember the 1991 case of the person who had contracted AIDS from her dentist.
“There was just a real panic in this country, and what I mentioned was that the only time in human history that we had not quarantined people who are a carrier of a disease for which we didn't know where it was going was this time, and if I were making those same comments today I might make them a little differently. But obviously I have to stand by what I said and the fact is that it was unusual for us to do something unlike medical protocols. Medical protocols typically says that if have a disease for which there is no cure, and you are uncertain about the transmission of it that the first thing you do is you quarantine or isolate carriers, and that's historically how we've done that in the public health community.”
But as the AP notes: “When Huckabee wrote his answers in 1992, it was common knowledge that AIDS could not be spread by casual contact. In late 1991, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were 195,718 AIDS patients in the country and that 126,159 people had died from the syndrome.
“The nation had an increased awareness of AIDS at the time because pro basketball star Magic Johnson had recently disclosed he carried the virus responsible for it. Johnson retired but returned to the NBA briefly during the 1994-95 season.”
But Huckabee stuck by his 1992 statement, even after a reporter informed him that in 1988, the Surgeon General wrote, "you wont just catch AIDS like a cold or flu because the virus is a different type."
On homosexuality: “I think people have a right to live anyway they want to, but if asked specifically do I believe that it is a normal behavior, I've said all along that I don't, that I think that it is behavior that is outside the boundaries of the man-woman relationship that is traditional marriage.”
Asked if he thinks homosexuality is sinful, he said, “Well I believe it would be -- just like lying is sinful and stealing is sinful. There are a lot of things that are sinful. It doesn't mean that a person is a horrible person. It means that they engage in behavior that is outside the norms of those boundaries of our traditional view of what's right and what's wrong. So, I think that anybody who has, maybe a traditional worldview of sexuality would classify that as an unusual behavior that is not traditional and that would be outside those bounds.”
Asked about saying that there were public health concerns with homosexuality, and he said, “There are a lot of obvious changes in what we understand about the transmission today that we didn't understand in 1992, and I think that's part of the whole issue here. For someone to dig out that 229 question questionnaire, that's going to happen. There'll probably be some more stuff that'll be dug up before now, and that's fine. The one thing that I feel like is important to note is you stick by what you said, and I'm not going to go around changing my opinion on everything.”
On whether he believes God has chosen him, Huckabee said, “Well I've been very, very careful never to say I think God's chosen me, because I think that's a very presumptuous thing for anybody to try to say. So I don't know that, and I did say on that very day that last time I checked God did not register to vote in one of the states in which there's a primary.
“So this isn't about saying God is going to elect me to anything; people will elect me. And as far as the role of prayer, I would like to believe people are praying, not just for me but for our country and praying that we will have a great country and that we'll have a revived spirit in this nation, getting back to that sense of optimism and hope that I've been talking about on the campaign trail. I think that's clearly what's resonating with a whole lot of people.
About using the words “Christian Leader” in his Iowa ad: “It's a historical fact or a description of my biography to use that term,” Huckabee said. “What I've been interested in is that same ad has another banner equal to that that says one of America's five best governors according to Time Magazine. Nobody's asked me about that one, and it's just as descriptive as is the idea of Christian leaders.
“So there was nothing written into that. A lot of people have tried to read something in, and it's more about those who are reading it in. It was not intended to try to say anything about anybody else. It was simply a description of my own biography, nothing more nothing less than that.
“I think it's more about moral leadership, leadership that relates to consistency in one's own life and belief. I don't think a person has to have a particular religious faith to be elected. In fact, I think it's important that we don't have a religious test. Our Constitution says that we shouldn't have one, and I would agree with that. I don't think that anybody should be excluded.
“Go back and look at the tape when Bill Maher interviewed me on his show on HBO a few months ago. I think I surprised him and probably a lot of people when he asked me about Pete Stark's comment, Pete Stark the California congressman, and asked because Pete Stark that week had said he was an atheist. And he asked me, did I think that should disqualify him for Congress. I said absolutely not and, in fact, if anything, I have more respect for a man, who says I'm an atheist and is honest about it than a man who says he's a Christian, but doesn't live like it. So, that's always been my position. I've said that on national television. I say it here tonight and that would remain my position.”
On federal funding for AIDS research and the disconnect between the surgeon general's recommendation and his comments: “Notice what I said in '92,” Huckabee said. “I didn't say that I wasn't for funding, but the question was, ‘Was I for additional funding,’ and I mentioned that there were a lot of diseases that we needed to fund, and that included diabetes and heart disease, and I would add to that Alzheimer's and a host of diseases that effect a lot of American families.
“To single out one disease as the only one that we're going to increase funding for to the exclusion of the others, I think was wrong then. I think it would be wrong now. Do I support additional funding for HIV/AIDS? Yes. I actually did it out of the Governor's Emergency Fund when I was a governor. So my record is one of taking personal initiative to make sure that we did do it, but on the other hand if we only touch that disease, and we leave a lot of people without any consideration who have cancer, who have heart disease, who have diabetes, who have Alzheimer's in their family, then I'm not sure how we can justify that. So that was the point I made then. It's consistent with the point that I continue to make now.”
But what Huckabee wrote then was this: "In light of the extraordinary funds already being given for AIDS research, it does not seem that additional federal spending can be justified. An alternative would be to request that multimillionaire celebrities, such as Elizabeth Taylor (,) Madonna and others who are pushing for more AIDS funding be encouraged to give out of their own personal treasuries increased amounts for AIDS research."
Huckabee added today, “There was still a great deal of, I think, uncertainty about just how widespread AIDS was, how it could be transmitted. So, we know more now than we knew in 1992. All of us do, hopefully, about not just AIDS, but about a lot of things.
“Let me say this, it's flattering that people now are digging back everything I ever wrote and ever said, and there must be something about my campaign that's catching on, but you know if the worst thing somebody can say about me is that 15 years ago, you know, I said that we need to be very careful about this transmission of a disease, then I'm probably going to be okay.”
You might be wondering why I titled this blog post as Gov. Huckabee's faith in America speech. Of course, several days ago Gov. Romney gave a speech at Texas A&M about how his faith informs him. Many expected him to be more specific on how Mormon doctrines influence him and ground him.
Gov. Romney being a Mormon is not the reason why I do not support him. Mormons are as strong, maybe even more when it comes to pro-life, and pro-family values. My concern is his authenticity and his inconsistent and 'timely' shift in beliefs. The concern is that he is not truly pro-life and pro-family in his heart of hearts. Unfortunately, social issues are not the only area that he has been weak on.
I listened to Gov. Romney's speech and I thought it was a great speech. Since I've been following Gov. Huckabee's candidacy so much, the content of Romney's speech was very familiar to me. Gov. Huckabee has been saying the same thing everywhere he goes, he just hasn't gotten much coverage.
Recently Gov. Huckabee said this: "Maybe I ought to give a God speech too, I would have an alter call and an offering at the end". I thought that was hilarious.
Here are some videos that show Gov. Huckabee talking about how his faith defines who he is and how does God come into the picture when it comes to our 'unalienable rights'. FAITH AND POLITICS
