Short Takes -- Wondering about Huckabee Edition
Frederick Clarkson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Thu Nov 29, 2007 at 04:54:57 PM EST
David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network wonders whether Mike Huckabee might win in Iowa -- (and maybe win it all?) The Nation magazine wonders whether Huckabee's campaign is not based on a certain subtle anti-Mormonism;  Is it any wonder that former Southern Baptist minister Huckabee has been endorsed by the Falwells? I wonder whether liberal columnist Bill Press still believes that Huckabee is being "almost totally ignored by his fellow Christians"; and Pastordan wonders what's up with the media mostly failing to see Huckabee's dark side.
David Brody, correspondent and blogger for Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network wonders about what the lastest Rasmussen poll may mean. It shows  that dark horse candidate Mike Huckabee is pulling ahead in the Iowa caucuses and is given a clear shot at winning. But that is not all:

Forty-eight percent of Evangelical Christians support Hucakbee. That's more than all the other candidates combined. Romney attracts 16% of the Evangelical vote.

Did you catch the Evangelical number? That's called 'lapping the field.'

Huckabee picks-up the endorsement of the Falwell legacy:

After Huckabee delivered an address at the evangelical Liberty University here, he picked up an endorsement from Jerry Falwell, Jr., the son of the school's late founder. "My father supported Huckabee before he was number two in the polls," Falwell said. "We're just proud, honored to have you here."

Falwell was not expecting to endorse Huckabee today, but when put on the spot, he did. "He's my choice, yes," Falwell said to cheers from students and a smile from Huckabee. While Falwell called Huckabee his "close friend," he also said [Fred] Thompson would have been good choice.

Meanwhile The Nation wonders about whether Huckabee's playing up his particular faith isn't also stoking the anti-Mormonism of many evangelical and fundamentalist Christians.

No serious observer of what's playing out in Iowa will disagree with the New York Times assessment that: "The religious divide over Mitt Romney's Mormon faith that his supporters had long feared would occur is emerging in Iowa as he is being challenged in state polls by Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor who has played up his faith in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Huckabee's rise in Iowa -- some recent polls now put him in a dead heat with Mr. Romney, who had led surveys for months -- has been fueled by evangelical Christians, who believe Mormonism runs counter to Christian orthodoxy."

Huckabee backers in Iowa have been quoted as referring to Romney, a member of one of Mormonism's most prominent families, as a politician "who's going to be acting on an anti-Christian faith as the basis of their decision-making." The former Arkansas governor's Iowa campaign co-chair, veteran Republican activist Daniel Carroll, has been quoted as saying that Christians prefer Huckabee over Romney because Huckabee "prays to the God of the Bible.'

And what about the Constitutional proscription on religious tests for public office? The Nation wonders about that too.

I wonder whether liberal columnist Bill Press is paying attention after his claim last week:

Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee, the only ordained Baptist minister in the race, is almost totally ignored by his fellow Christians because, even though Huckabee scores 100 percent on the issues, they don't think he has a snowball's chance in hell of winning. Huckabee's only evangelical endorsement comes from Tim LaHaye, co-author of the "Left Behind" novels - which may be the appropriate title for Huckabee's campaign.

(Except for the endorsements of at least three past presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention; American Family Assocation founder Don Wildmon, Vision America honcho Rick Scarborough; former SBC 2nd Vice President, Wiley Drake;  televangelists James Robison, Ken Copeland, Jerry Falwell Jr., Jonathan Falwell (brother of Jerry Sr.), actor Chuck Norris and radio talk show host Janet Folger. And those are just the one's I am aware of.)

Pastordan wonders about what's up with the media (mostly) missing that the seemingy sunny Huckabee can also be a shady character.




Display:
You've gotta admit that the Huckster can certainly entertain the crowd.  He certainly seemed more at home and much less calculating that the other Republicans on stage last night (though it was a pretty awful debate overall).

Now that Thompson's proven to be a damp squib and with Rudy's infidelities back in the headlines, perhaps some of the voters may even be giving him a second look.  He can certainly win Iowa, which is pretty friendly territory for him.

Of course, he's really just as calculating as the rest of them, but he hides it well.  He was grilled today over the "Christian Leader" line prominently shown in his latest campaign ad, and he would not admit that it was deliberately used that way to separate himself from the rest of the field.

In the end, though, even if he wins the nomination, he's going to get a load of grief about his flat tax ideas.  The idea is that you can do away with the IRS and all payroll taxes and replace it with a "23% sales tax"... except, the 23% is a deception, it's really 30% (but they don't say that, because it polls much much worse than the lower figure).

The way we calculate sales tax today, say 8%, you pay 8c for every dollar - you add 8% to the total.  In the flat tax, you would pay 30c for every dollar, or 30% more than the untaxed amount.  Now 30c happens to be 23% of $1.30 so they may be technically correct (that's how you calculate the payroll tax today),  but nobody talks about sales tax that way.  

Once the message gets out, unless Huckabee backtracks on this flat tax thing, he's going to get killed on it.

by tacitus on Fri Nov 30, 2007 at 12:49:12 AM EST

Unless there are a lot of protections placed on necessary items like food, medicine, and so on- this tax would be regressive and force the poor to pay much more than their fare share (which, in reality, is the case today).

This idea was something I entertained many years ago, until all of the errors in thinking were pointed out to me.

They want to fix the problem?  GET RID OF CORPORATE WELFARE!!!

And if they want to improve things- go to a progressive tax (with no loopholes or breaks for the rich!)


by ArchaeoBob on Fri Nov 30, 2007 at 10:23:40 AM EST
Parent

Here, here!

by tacitus on Mon Dec 03, 2007 at 02:42:15 AM EST
Parent




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