Behind Huckabee's "Aw Shucks" Smile

This morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe, they played a clip from a speech made yesterday by GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee in which he said:

"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it is a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that is what we need to do.... to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary standards that the country needed...."

This is scary wrong on so many levels. Of course, he was referring to his "beliefs," beliefs that he would act upon regarding termination of pregnancy and the definition of marriage. As this quote makes clear, he wants the Constitution to adhere to his literal translation of the Bible. Gone would be consensus, the will of the people.... only the doctrine of conservative Christians would prevail in his tortured vision of a Huckabee presidency.

While pandering to his base using The Word for cover, he, and all other religious hucksters like him, neglect to mention that the Bible does not provide an absolute answer as the flock is led to believe since it doesn't mention same-sex marriage and touches only once on miscarriage with a fine if a man causes something to happen to a pregnancy....

"Suppose a pregnant woman suffers a miscarriage as the result of an injury caused by someone who is fighting. If she isn't badly hurt, the one who injured her must pay whatever fine her husband demands and the judges approve. But if she is seriously injured, the payment will be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, cut for cut, and bruise for bruise. Exodus 21: 22-25. Contemporary English Version, American Bible Society"

In this same Bible chapter, it also demands: "Death is the punishment for cursing your father and mother." Does this biblical admonition also apply? Where would these alignments with the "God's standards" stop under a Huckabee presidency?

Some of Huckabee's religious backers.... The Christian Reconstructionists and dominionists.... are working hard to implement their narrow religious agendas based upon their belief in the inerrancy of the Bible and it's position of dominance in our government... not upon our Constitution and the freedoms and rights guaranteed under that Constitution. They're counting on Huckabee, and Huckabee is counting on their support.

This is serious. It's more than advocating for a breach in the wall separating church and state, it's a full-out assault on the very bedrock of our democracy. An attempt to stampede the unquestioning faithful toward a national theocracy.... and so far it's working.

Huckabee has the second-most Republican delegates and according to politico wisdom, stands to take the lion's share of the South Carolina primary delegates next Saturday.... the same large block of evangelical votes he captured in Iowa.

Huckabee probably won't resonate in the Michigan GOP primary today.... the rust-belt state has policy issues that need addressing starting with the NAFTA-gutting of manufacturing and the desperate plight of their working middle-class.

Hopefully, the religious Republican voters of South Carolina won't be gulled by the silky rhetoric of a former Baptist minister who is using his campaign bully pulpit to promise a rapture that in reality would be a "casting down" of their rights and freedoms.

Letter to Michigan Voters

Dear Michigan Republicans.... It's up to you to speak for the many who don't want to go down the aisle of theological politics to genuflect before the alter of a self-righteous privacy-invading government.

It's your chance to shun the revival tent of presidential candidate and former Baptist minister Mike Huckabee who wants to be Pastor-in-Chief because being Commander-in-Chief would require some clue about international affairs.

Huckabee preached on "Meet the Press" on CBS this morning that he wants to "recapture the soul" of our nation. Besides cornering the soul of the nation.... "Huckabee: Evangelical Christians Now Have a Chance to Lead GOP," (WaPo).... he'll use his nomination to convert the Republican Party into the Grand Old Pastorate.

At a Michigan pastors' meeting recently he exhorted these men of the cloth to "mobilize people of like mind and spirit" by tapping their email lists and phone lists. Never mind that the major requirement for churches to avoid paying taxes is to not endorse and advocate for a political candidate.

Nevertheless, this strategy worked for Huckabee in Iowa where about 80 percent of his voters identified themselves as "born again" or "evangelical." While his plan on issues like health care are sketchy, he loudly supports messing around with our Constitution with bans on same-sex marriage and abortion.... and he would be comfortable displaying the Ten Commandments in the White House.

Demonstrating how self-servingly myopic are the ambitions of the religious right, "Fulton Sheen, a conservative religious activist in Michigan who switched his support from former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney to Huckabee on Saturday said, 'There is little difference in faith and values issues' between Huckabee and President Bush."

Imagine.... identifying with the values of the man who started a war of choice that has taken over 4,000 American lives, displaced millions and caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands in their homeland.

So, besides wars of aggression, a vote for Huckabee means more church and less state, more invasion of privacy and the diminishing of our freedoms.

Hey.... if you love the grip the Ayatollahs have on the government of Iran, you'll love the tyranny of a Christian cabal leading your party and..... what a chilling thought.... in the White House.

Michigan, the eyes and hopes of our Constitution-revering citizens yearning for a serious candidate who can bring us together and pull the country back from the abyss of arrogant "religiously inspired" ineptitude are on you next Tuesday. Sincerely....