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Huckabee the RebelPosted on Dec 20, 2007By E.J. Dionne WASHINGTON—The rise of Mike Huckabee has put the fear of God into the Republican establishment. Its alarm has nothing to do with the Almighty. The Huckabee surge represents a break with what has been standard operating procedure within the GOP for more than a generation. Huckabee’s evangelical Christian army in Iowa ignored the importuning of entrenched leaders of the religious right and decided to go with one of their own. Huckabee himself preaches a gospel of populism that rejects conservative orthodoxy on trade, the value of government and the beneficence of Wall Street. Huckabee is no William Jennings Bryan, the great fundamentalist scourge of big business a century ago. But Bryan would have appreciated Huckabee’s attack on politics as a mere extension of economics. “If it was all about the money,” Huckabee said recently, “then we might as well put the presidency up on eBay.” The former Arkansas governor has exposed a fault line within the Republican coalition. The old religious right is dying because it subordinated the actual views of its followers to short-term political calculations. The white evangelical electorate is tired of taking orders from politicians who care more about protecting the wealthy than ending abortion, more about deregulation than family values. That’s why Washington-focused religious operatives tied to old GOP strategies are being outdone by new leaders with authentic grass-roots followings—people such as Michael Farris, who chairs the Home School Legal Defense Association and supports Huckabee. The paradox is that if Huckabee’s candidacy poses a mortal threat to Mitt Romney in Iowa, the Baptist minister’s rise may boost Romney’s effort to consolidate establishment conservative support. This could help Romney in his Jan. 8 showdown with John McCain in New Hampshire. The rallying to Romney began earlier in the campaign, says David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, because many on the right saw Rudy Giuliani’s candidacy as the main threat to their cause. But Huckabee poses an even greater danger since Giuliani, despite his apostasy on abortion and gay rights, has pledged fealty to economic and foreign policy conservatism. Huckabee, said Keene, a Romney supporter, “is not a conservative who is an evangelical, he’s an evangelical populist. It’s not the evangelical part that conservatives worry about. It’s the populism. It’s his economic views.” National Review—the canonical publication of the conservative movement—rallied behind Romney last week in an editorial that was candid about the dangers facing the conservative coalition. Giuliani and Huckabee, the magazine’s editors argued, “would pull apart the coalition from opposite ends: Giuliani alienating the social conservatives, and Huckabee the economic (and foreign-policy) conservatives. A Republican Party that abandoned either limited government or moral standards would be much diminished in the service it could give the country.” But the crackup that National Review fears may already be happening. In a report issued in May 2005, the Pew Research Center pointed to the rise of a new group within the Republican alliance it labeled “pro-government conservatives.” Pew sees this group accounting for just under a third of the GOP’s core support. The report described them as “broadly religious and socially conservative, but they deviate from the party line in their backing for government involvement in a wide range of policy areas, such as government regulation and more generous assistance to the poor.” They sound like Huckabee conservatives—or what conservative writers Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam called “The Party of Sam’s Club” in a 2005 Weekly Standard article that they have expanded into a book to be published next year. “On domestic policy,” say Douthat and Salam, the Republican Party “isn’t just out of touch with the country as a whole, it’s out of touch with its own base” [their emphasis]. Reaching such voters requires “talking about economic insecurity as well as about self-reliance.” That’s what Huckabee does. The polls suggest that religious conservatism, not economic populism, is behind Huckabee’s rise in Iowa. But he is not backing down from his role as a tribune of the dispossessed. On NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday, he declared that “the Wall Street-to-Washington axis, this corridor of power, is absolutely, frantically against me.” He insisted: “The president ought to be a servant of the people and ought not to be elected to the ruling class.” Power to the People, Mike, Right On! If you had to bet, you’d wager that the Republican establishment will eventually crush Huckabee. But the rebellion he is leading is a warning to Republicans. The faithful are restive, tired of being used, and no longer willing to do the bidding of a crowd that subordinates Main Street’s values to Wall Street’s interests.
E.J. Dionne’s e-mail address is postchat(at)aol.com.
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By Conservative Yankee, December 22, 2007 at 6:35 am # 121638 by P. T. on121638 by P. T. on 12/20 at 11:32 pm “Mike Huckabee has already sold out his base amongst ordinary people by advocating the replacement of the progressive income tax with a regressive consumption tax.” Your income tax is progressive??? What nation do you pay? Here in the US those of us with less than 10% of the wealth pay 60% of the income tax.... Go figure.
By Chris Bieber, December 21, 2007 at 8:35 pm # it is quite amazing thatit is quite amazing that there is ANOTHER Strongman in the race for the White House..for a long time Generalissimo Benito had a monopoly on MORE law and MORE orter...now the innocent softspoken! Governor from Bugtussle AK is cajoling oblivious and FuehrerPrinzip-afflicted CRighters into lemming-like support his Childrens Crusade...er campaign..so HE can wield the MIGHT Club of Government and USE it without the meddling niceties of the Constitutional LIMITATIONS on Executive Branch actions...the HE** with Declaring War and US Soveriengty and the impending COLLAPSE(like Zimbabwe!)of our currency....he will USE the Club inerringly on the side of what God tells him to do… The plague we will inherit if we keep going down this UnScriptural and philosophically BANKRUPT smilingface FASCISM and FeelGood EMPIRE will and ought to be laid on the feet of these servile toadies of the Huckabee as well as the softspoken HueyLongish Huckabee...and the GOPugnicans… chris_bieber at yahoo dot com
By Chauncy, December 21, 2007 at 7:26 pm # If Huck is doing soIf Huck is doing so well in the polls how come he can’t raise any money? It really doesn’t add up.
By Chauncy, December 21, 2007 at 6:59 pm # Just for the record, HuckJust for the record, Huck is currently earning his wings as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. His foreign policy adviser, Richard Haas, is president of the CFR. I hate to be the one to break it to you folks, but Huck is nothing more than a puppet. And so is.. Fred Thompson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo5CZvD3-QM ..in this video you will discover the agenda of these CFR candidates, and you’ll find some pretty scary quotes from Huck’s foreign policy advisor, and other prominent CFR goons.
By HEYHO, December 21, 2007 at 3:49 pm # 2 WORDS... Jesus Freak!2 WORDS… Jesus Freak!
By MaryT, December 21, 2007 at 12:59 pm # I agree with EJ.I agree with EJ. The repub’s elite will not let Huckabee win. They are too close to burying all the New Deal programs. The big one, Social Security is still out there, waiting for their greedy hands. They need a Willard, Fred or Rudy to put that last nail in the SocSer coffin. Huckabee will not do it for them. It’s all about m-o-n-e-y.
By john, December 21, 2007 at 10:29 am # All you Huckabee hating foolsAll you Huckabee hating fools who think he can’t win the nomination and beat Clinton or any other dem(oboma might be a challange) are in for a rude awakening when you wake up and realize he is the next president. All I have to say is Wait and See you’ll all be just as shocked and dumb-founded as you were last election when Bush was re-elected. However, I think Huck will do a much better job than Bush has in the past few years(it shouldn’t be that difficult) I’d hate to rain on your anti-Huckabee parade but he has the ability to pull votes from both sides of the isle he has several UNION endorcements and I have seen posts from many DEMS that say they would vote for him in the general election which will make it extreamly difficult for a dem to get elected. Anyone BUT Hillary!! Go HUCKABEE, Go OBOMA(to insure it’s not Hillary)
By ForeverDem, December 21, 2007 at 9:31 am # Huckabee and his legion ofHuckabee and his legion of religious fundamentalists are indeed on the march!! It’s SICK as hell but also very REAL! However, even though this is discusting & outrageous to Democrats, here is something we should really be concerned with: “Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) now leads challenger Jeanne Shaheen (D), 52% to 41%, in a re-match for U.S. Senate, according to the latest American Research Group survey.” Sununu (another Bush Fascist) is rapidly putting distance between himself and Shaheen - something that was NOT happening a few months back! WHY is this happening?...The electorate is loosing confidence in the Democrats, due to the ineffectiveness of Congressional Democrats to confront the lawless Bush Regime. The weak and incompetent leadership of Reid in the Senate and Pelosi in the House is beginning to take its toll. This has got to change and change FAST or Democrats are likely to loose seats in both Houses in November 08. REID AND PELOSI SHOULD STEP ASIDE NOW!!
By Harris, December 21, 2007 at 9:30 am # Good article. A soreGood article. A sore has been festering within the Republican party for years. This battle was inevitable, but it took Huckabee’s rise to kick it off. It looks like it will be fiscal cons vs. social cons. Whichever team doesn’t win the primary will be pretty angry. The question is whether the loser will be angry enough to not vote for the anointed Republican candidate, or not vote at all. This IS the battle for the direction of the party.
By Bill in LA, December 21, 2007 at 8:54 am # "The old religious right is“The old religious right is dying because it subordinated the actual views of its followers to short-term political calculations. “ Great article… As an evangelical pastor in California, I couldn’t agree more with this statement. The GOP is in trouble because it is losing the emerging generations of evangelicals as we see more compassion in the social justice agendas of the left. I think Huckabee has managed to tap into those changing currents among evangelicals, who want to remain socially conservative (ie. look more like a republican in issues like abortion), but also are looking to embrace a socially compassionate agenda (ie. look more like a democrat in issues like immigration, the environment, and programs for the poor).
By John Borowski, December 21, 2007 at 6:24 am # To illustrate the stupidity ofTo illustrate the stupidity of the average American is the Supreme Court make up. You can’t get an objective or unbiased judgments if you load up the Supreme Court with biased right wingers or Liberal oriented people. The Supreme Court should have people (If that is possible) to be totally objective in their judgments. If this type of Supreme Court existed the British would ban it.
By www.TaxHikeMike.org, December 21, 2007 at 5:37 am #
By John Borowski, December 21, 2007 at 5:03 am # Folks, there is no wayFolks, there is no way a big guy in the sky would allow charlatans, sex abusers, and thieves to violate his house. The latest insult to a god is in Philadelphia where a priest was accused of stealing $900,000 from god’s pockets. If that priest truly believed in a god he wouldn’t steal a penny of his money because the priest would know he wouldn’t get away with it. If this Huckabee had more respect for the American voters he would never come out with something like this.
By Derek, December 20, 2007 at 11:39 pm # Governor Huckabee is the onlyGovernor Huckabee is the only republican candidate that I would vote for, if he doesn’t get the nomination I will be going third party or not voting in 08. If the rich elitist such as slick Mitt want to divide this party so be it, this will be the end to the grand old GOP. GO HUCKABEE Add Your Comment |
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