to his son David while a Boy Scout Counselor after killing a dog at camp (TammyBruce.com).

David looks awful–dreadful mug, dreadful family story.

There has been some anti-Evangelical sentiment, which does not translate to anti Christian. Evangelicals are but a portion of Christianity, sometimes Evangelicals forget that.

Pam on December 16, 2007 at 12:08 PM

Give me a break.

I just hope the evangelicals who are supporting him will take a cold, hard look at his actual record before vaulting him to the nomination.

I AGREE 100%.
In Colorado, I haven’t heard much talk for Huckabee at all in our church. I do spend some time with other evangelicals as well, and none are talking Huck.
Eph 4 is what we’re all about.
R Warren is weak, just like you mentioned Bryan, IMO. He has a ‘pat you on the back’ / ‘make me feel good’ message that has little substance and little depth.

Rick Warren comes across to me like a religious Oprah. It is still all about you. One can go to his site and read the first chapters of his book. The word ‘YOU’ appears so often it hurts my eyes

I do not discount his sincerity but the philosophy panders (IMHO) to self centered boomers and their search for more and more information about their most precious possesion, self

It creeps me out but many would disagree with me and that is their right

I find the quest to a God centered life a better quest. The highest commandment was to ‘love the Lord thy God with all they heart and all thy soul and all thy might’

In other words, God is not there to fulfill your needs, nor are you there to fulfill God’s need’s. You are there to Love and worship Him and live according to His commandments. I believe if you believe in God, and the promises and prophecies in the Bible how can you not be fulfilled?

Many tel evangelists are going Oprah big time lately. Self fulfillment is the goal. Ick

Ancient wisdom, via Michael Corleone

Last night Paul commented here on Mike Huckabee’s deep thoughts on foreign policy as spelled out in the new issue of Foreign Affairs. When Huckabee addresses Iran, he invokes classic authority:

Sun-tzu’s ancient wisdom is relevant today: “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
At Junkyard Blog, See-Dubya traces the saying, not to Sun Tzu, but rather to The Godfather. See-Dubya advises Huckabee, when trying to impress the swells:
Do a little fact checking.

After all, as de Tocqueville said, This is the business we have chosen. Or was that the Federalist Papers?

I think it’s the Federalist Papers that advises aspiring presidential candidates not to make fools of themselves.

a capella on December 16, 2007 at 12:13 PM

I was referring to this particular post, but I agree that it is Evangelicals that are driving his surge in Iowa..That being said, Iowa is not a NH and I think that the top tiered candidates won’t be hanging it up after Iowa or even NH for that matter.

I wasn’t suggesting that pastors were endorsing Huck from their pulpits, just that word of mouth might be building him up among the churches that follow Warren’s lead.

Bryan on December 15, 2007 at 9:57 PM

They dodn’t have to do it from the pulpit, though. As I’m sure Bryan, and most other church-goers know, many if not most pastors do “visitation” during the week, visiting congregants, aswell as having one-on-one meetings at the church office. In informal settings like that, it can be much easier for a pastor to express personal opinions, and likes and dislikes, like “I really like the sound of what that Mike Huckabee has to say”; for some, unfortunately, that would be enough to swing them to the Huckster. I’m not saying this is what’s happening, but it doesn’t sound implausible either.
FWIW, I always felt a little skeptical about the whole “Rick Warren/Purpose Driven” stuff, and I felt vindicated about my skepticism when I heard he invited Obama to speak to his congregation, whether it was from the pulpit or not. That showed such a lack of judgement on Warren’s part as to be unbelievable, given Obama’s record on abortion issues. I was raised in a strong Christian family; my mother’s father is a minister who, even in his early 80’s, still travels to Belarus, the Ukraine, Siberia and Mongolia to teach in seminaries. My father is a Baptist minister who is very conservative socially, politically, and theologically, and I know (because I aasked him) that he would never invite someone to speak to his congregation if a large portion of that person’s beliefs/action were contrary to biblical doctrine.

I don’t recall seeing a single one who is willing to proudly claim that Huck is The One.

I learned from reading the comments that we can’t lump all Evangelicals in with this Huckabee surge in the polls..it appears from the comments that you received that not all evangelicals are on board with Huckabee. Most appear to be able to hold onto their religious beliefs while at the same time, hold onto their political beliefs and never sacrifice one for the other.

Pam on December 16, 2007 at 12:05 PM

Most on this board, yes. But, something is driving the Huck surge in the voting population, and given all his warts, there seems to be one common denominator.

but some of the recent threads for Allah’s posts have revealed for me a new level of anti-Christian sentiment.

Dork B. on December 16, 2007 at 10:55 AM

There has been some anti-Evangelical sentiment, which does not translate to anti Christian. Evangelicals are but a portion of Christianity, sometimes Evangelicals forget that.

I wanted to give my 2 cents to this discussion..I learned from reading the comments that we can’t lump all Evangelicals in with this Huckabee surge in the polls..it appears from the comments that you received that not all evangelicals are on board with Huckabee. Most appear to be able to hold onto their religious beliefs while at the same time, hold onto their political beliefs and never sacrifice one for the other.

The only thing I can figure is that people are ignorant as to his actual positions on many policy issues. The posts by Gianni only make me believe this even more.

Michael in MI on December 16, 2007 at 1:39 AM

I’m afraid that pre-emptive strike foreign policy paper will be interpeted as gospel(pun) by the people who are too lazy or faith blinded to check out his real background. It gives them an excuse to give him a pass.

Rick Warren has mass-marketed the seeker-freindly church model with stunning results.

Willow Creek just gave up on the seeker-friendly (read: pandering) model (which they started) because they finally figured out that butts in the pews ≠ successful ministry.

Dork B. on December 16, 2007 at 10:55 AM

So, we have a guy who franchises belief systems serving as a kingmaker for the GOP nominee? Swell! If this succeeds, it will discredit the whole Christian coalition when Huck goes down in flames vs Hillary or Obama. Opposition research will be on this like white on rice, and fair or not, the stereotypes will be invoked. Warren’s trip to Syria and his comments/denials will be above the fold during the general.

Having said that, why am I not surprised that Rick Warren has given Huck his stamp of aproval? I saw Warren’s populist political shortcomings on full display when he invited Obama to speak at his church. I am convinced that his success and influence have less to do with God’s blessing than his own marketing skills. His church -growth model has proven to be too irresistable for many well-intentioned pastors who are tempted by the promise of larger congregations.
When I moved to Cleveland a few years ago, I set out to find a good chuch. One of the churches I visited happened to be full-on working the Warren model. Everyting in print at that church had the Prupose Driven logo on it – the signs, the lukewarm worship lyrics, the program – even the three-point “sermon”, which by the way was a lesson on church membership growth. The pastor more than once stated that their vision was to have a mega-sized congregation. There was one mention of sin in the whole service, during a skit or video – I can’t remember. It was disheartening. I thought, “this isn’t a worship service, this is a business seminar.”
Rick Warren has mass-marketed the seeker-freindly church model with stunning results. But I wonder how many true conversions this movement is responsible for.
The Huckleberries need to wake up and do a little research on their candidate rather than assume his surge in the polls indicates a mandate from God. (And I hope that more people will excercise a bit of discernment in regards to Warren. It’s called Google, folks!)
Thanks to Hot Air I know the truth about Huck – should some of these evangelical supporters find their way here I hope they feel welcome – but some of the recent threads for Allah’s posts have revealed for me a new level of anti-Christian sentiment.

I could be wrong on the Warren-Huckabee connection. I don’t think I am, of course, but I could be. If I’m right, I just hope the evangelicals who are supporting him will take a cold, hard look at his actual record before vaulting him to the nomination.

I hope so too Bryan. We’re electing a president here, not a chaplain.

Go Fred!

But I confess, my main anxiety about Christian conservatives is their seeming willingness to turn a blind eye to Christian pastor Mike Huckabee’s decidedly liberal instincts and either his acceptance of or desire to pander to politically correct conventional wisdom.