Right? Right?

That being said, a lot of what Huck was saying in this video (eg taxation regulation litigation) was why I started paying attention to Huckabee in the first place. Pity about his big government history, in contrast..

I just have to have faith in the American people that there is still a majority of us out here who see through the packaging to the maggots inside.

And that Fred or Mitt will come up with an effective way to demonstrate the wisdom of X-raying your presidential presents before accepting them.

RushBaby on January 4, 2008 at 10:32 AM

Now this was a wonderful analogy, JiangxiDad’s reality check, aside. I loved it.

One good outcome of last night was that csdeven’s ‘rabidity’ has shifted. Losses are very sobering. Must say that my friend has also become more humble and collected. Keep on this path and we might yet solve this. Know that I felt your pain last night. Always good on you,

fourstringfuror on January 4, 2008 at 1:33 PM

Once again, you look at it from OUR perspective, not theirs.

For most of the Islamists, it is their religious duty to Jihad, thus a religious war.

We have been trying to convince the more moderate members of Islam that this is NOT a religious war… that we are fighting just these groups, so that we don’t force them to choose sides…. trying to keep them neutral.

If we choose a “PREACHER” as President, the Islamists will simply say…” See, America is NOT a secular country… they are trying to get rid of ALL of Islam”

Propoganda is the war of Perception… not of reality…

This will give a huge boost to the meme of America being against ALL of Islam, of reinforcing their belief that this is a religious conflict… not one of culture.

fourstringfuror on January 4, 2008 at 1:01 PM

I believe your entire ten points are based on the assumption that the Islamic radicals are rational. They are not. If they were rational we wouldn’t be in Iraq trying to restore order and Benazer Bhutto would be alive.

Huckabee is a pastor. He leads (or led) a local congregation. He does not lead the Southern Baptist Convention, nor would he lead the Christian church (whatever that is), much less an American Church, if elected.

You’ve also said twice that we’re castigating “them” for putting “religious people” in power. Who are we castigating? Where? We have called for extreme elements in Iraq to compromise and put forth a viable solution for the governance of Iraq. Is that what you mean? That’s a call for moderation, not castigation.

Essentially, I disagree with your position that electing Huckabee would somehow give the enemy more reason to kill us. We’re already marked for extermination; this wouldn’t change anything.

This, in their minds, will PROOVE that it was all religious to start with.

Romeo13 on January 4, 2008 at 11:47 AM

There is no “in their minds” about it. They would be exactly correct. Many of these evangelicals voted for Huck because he is the same religion. How is that not voting for a religious leader?

fourstringfuror on January 4, 2008 at 1:01 PM

Sorry, you are looking at it from a Western perspective, not the perspective that THEY have been taught for the last two generations.

I did not say it was rational, but it IS exactly what will happen.

Propoganda is not necesarily for the enemy, its also used on your own people to convince them of somthing.

We are trying to fight a religious war, without calling it a religious war… and to convince our enemy that its NOT about religion.

We castigate them for putting religious people in power, but then potentialy elect a Religious Leader (how they will see it) to the Presidency.

Would be a HUGE propoganda boost to those we are trying to defeat.

1) Evangelicals, Catholics, and the Jewish community support him.

What? No Mormons?

2) The government shouldn’t come stomping down on Americans.

You mean like banning smoking?

3) Real Republicans like Huck.

4) I’m the only man that can save the republican party.

5) I am the new Ronald Reagan.

6) The Republican party is afraid of him.

7) Get the government off the backs of business.

You mean like smoking bans and raising taxes?

Here it comes….

8) I am a prophet.

Oh baby!!!

9) And did I mention I am the new Reagan?

I agree with Paul. Even Michael Steele was forced to concede on Fox News on Wednesday night that the Democrats are energized and have a group of candidates whose supporters really believe in them, whereas there is very little energy on the Republican side. Steele believed that the energy would come once we get further into the nominating process. Perhaps that is so, but the Dems have outraised us 3:1.

I’ve never seen a Republican party that is so demoralized. This is going to be a drubbing of epic proportions, regardless of whether Hillary or Obama is the Democratic candidate.

Romeo13 on January 4, 2008 at 11:47 AM

At the risk of sounding argumentative, I’ll take your bait.

1)The US does not run its government based on a set precepts from the Bible (or the Torah, or the Koran, or the Hare Krishna, for that matter)

2)The “poor Islamist” does not choose his leader. The leader is chosen for him.

3)Sharia law does come out of the 16th century.

4)We have not elected a religious leader. We haven’t elected anyone yet.

5)The President is not a religious leader.

6)Islam is not “downtrodden;” downtrodding perhaps, but not downtrodden.

7)If elected, Huckabee would not be the first former minister/pastor to take the Oath.

8)America is the Great Satan. Viewing an elected government official as a mullah would be counterintuitive.

9)Jihad was declared against America long ago. Electing a “religious leader” does not change the fact that Muslims want us dead.

10) The Crusade idea is hard to defend when the “poor Islamist” has been raping, murdering, torturing, imprisoning, and degrading Christians, Jews, Hindus, and basically every other human population on earth, including other Muslims, for the past 1500 years. There is no modern-day Crusade against the “poor Islamist.”

I swear, every time someone really dug into Huckabee on his positions, or lack thereof, Churck Norris showed up somewhere on camera.

fourstringfuror on January 4, 2008 at 11:36 AM

OK, pretty simple. Big bad Satan America has been telling you, the poor Islamist, that its WRONG to have your religious leaders run your government. That Sharia law comes out of the 16th Century… but that its NOT about religion, its about being Civilized….

And then they elect a RELIGIOUS Leader, a Mullah in your world view, to run the Government?

Don’t you see how Islamists can spin this right back into the Anti Islam Crusade meme that we have bent over backwards to avoid?

This, in their minds, will PROOVE that it was all religious to start with.

Agreed. That would certainly help calm my fears, but mine aren’t as deep as yours.

Yeah, it goes deeper than disagreement on issues with me. I simply do not trust that Huckabee would listen to advisers on foreign policy.

Don’t you see how this will fly in the face of everything we’ve tried to do in the Middle East, and reinforce the Meme that this IS a Religious Crusade against poor downtrodden Islam?

No, I don’t. Explain.

What Huckabee has to prove is that he’s willing to surround himself with solid, proven conservatives (Ed Rollins was a mistake Ed. A big one) and also bone up on national security – and fast. I want him to meet with people who understand the war we’re fighting and seriously change his worldview.

Agreed. That would certainly help calm my fears, but mine aren’t as deep as yours.

We’ve tried to get the Islamists to become more secular, to NOT let their Religious leaders have political power… so we are going to possibly elect a PREACHER as PRESIDENT?

Don’t you see how this will fly in the face of everything we’ve tried to do in the Middle East, and reinforce the Meme that this IS a Religious Crusade against poor downtrodden Islam?

I don’t care for megachurch Christianity, and I don’t consider myself an evangelical, but the extent to which I am a Bible-believing Christian, I can’t abide the bubbling hostility here at HotAir against my world-view. That’s why I rarely come here and even more rarely comment. It’s a great site, to be sure, but I know it’s not for unwashed, flat-earther Bible thumpers like myself; that’s been clear for some time now.

You make some good points about the dangers of anti-evangelical bias, but you might want to talk with your own fellow staff members first if you really care to do anything about it.

The media desperately need a Republican candidate they can paint as “another George Bush” and they got a guy who’s even MORE evangelical and Socially “compassionate” than Bush ever thought of being. This is a real coup for the Democrat Party.

The amount of power the mass media still have in the 21st Century amazes me, and it probably surprised even them. I’m only glad they didn’t feel their oats and decide to make Ron Paul our candidate instead – ’cause it looks like they could have pulled it off. Either guy will yield same outcome in November, but Paul would have been an even bigger embarrassment in the meantime.

Would you pull the level for Huckabee if he surrounds himself with solid, proven conservatives?

At this point? No. What Huckabee has to prove is that he’s willing to surround himself with solid, proven conservatives (Ed Rollins was a mistake) and also bone up on national security – and fast. I want him to meet with people who understand the war we’re fighting and seriously change his worldview.

One criticism of Huckabee is that his clemency record proves he’s soft on crime. I think it goes deeper than that. If you look at how Huckabee made his decisions, he was often too dismissive of the advice he was given by law enforcement professionals. The ability to heed wise counsel is an important attribute in an executive.

hell, someone should be asking that of all the candidates, at least then we might have some idea what direction they’ll take.

Heh. He may not be personally liberal, but he certainly had those tendencies in his governance style in Arkansas.

Slublog on January 4, 2008 at 10:29 AM

It’s not just the record in Arkansas. Just listen to his rhetoric on the stump or in interviews. On anything other than abortion and same sex marriage, if you listen to him talk about an issue it will sound exactly the same as a Democrat. It is all about class warfare and government being the answer, that kind of rhetoric should be anathema to anybody that calls themselves a conservative.

They’re on fire. Meanwhile, as someone else here put it, we on the right still can’t decide who we hate the least. We’re done. So we might as well throw down and have it out. Soon we’re not going to be running anything but our mouths anyway.

paul006 on January 4, 2008 at 10:48 AM

C’mon. Get a grip. Democrats don’t vet their candidates. It’s about color, or gender, or sexual identity. No wonder it’s all sweetness and light on that side.

There will be ONE Rep. candidate in November, and roughly half the country will vote for him.