There is much angst and hand wringing in the rightosphere today. While our opponents gleefully gloat about the surprisingly easy win by Baptist-Preacher-Turned-Presidential- Prophet Mike Huckabee in the Iowa Caucuses last night, many of us are left with a feelings of utter astonishment and ultimately despair over this revolting development.
Stephen Green pulls no punches or minces any words as his “Letter to Iowa Republicans” drips venom and spits acid into the faces of the social cons who gave Huckabee his victory:
I’ll put this in language even your tiny little Iowa brains can understand: What the f*** is wrong with you people?The news coming out of Des Moines (literally, French for “tell me about the rabbits, Georgeâ€) tonight is distressing in the extreme. 32 years ago, your Democratic brethren took one look at Jimmy Carter—the worst 20th Century President bar Nixon, and the worst ex-President ever—and declared, “That’s our man!â€
Three decades later, and along comes Mike Huckabee. Same moral pretentiousness, same gullibility on foreign affairs, only-slightly-less toothy idiot’s grin. Then you so-called Republicans took a look at Carter’s clone and said, “That’s our man, too!â€
Having lived in Iowa for 7 years, I would say that there is nothing much wrong with the people as much as the process of choosing a Caucus winner. It virtually guarantees an extraordinarily small group of people can have an enormous impact on the choice of a candidate for president.
Iowa has about 600,000 registered Republicans. Mike Huckabee got 39,000 votes. That’s about 8% of Iowa Republicans choosing a man who will now seriously compete for the GOP nomination.
Are we really prepared for this? A man whose foreign policy experience lies in promoting Perdue chicken sales to South America? Or was governor of a state whose major University has a battle cry of “Soooeeeeeeeey…HOG?”
I am bereft today. What was once unthinkable has now become slightly more realistic. The odds of Huckaboob getting the nomination are still pretty long. After all, there are plenty of states where they have churches that are for, you know, worshipping God and not plotting the downfall of the Republican party by nominating a fellow who believes the earth was created 6,000 years ago and that it took only 7 days for the universe to expand, cool, coalesce, and create an infinite number of galaxies filled with uncounted numbers of stars. And let’s not start with the notion that God simply plopped millions of creatures on planet earth because the elderly gent was lonely. In those states where rational, thinking Christians outnumber the kinds of loons who voted for Huckabee in Iowa, the Huckadisaster will have trouble.
And well he should. This is a man who thinks that man walked the earth with dinosaurs. This is a man who thinks the Cambrian Explosion was a Fourth of July celebration at a college in England. This is a man who will consult Christ before the American people or Congress.
Myself, I prefer the reverse order of the above, thank you. I don’t think Jesus knows much about improving health care or building the next generation Air Force fighter.
Does any of this matter to the superstitious nincompoops in other states who are salivating to vote for this guy? Does it matter that thugs like Hugo Chavez are sharpening their knives at the thought of a Huckabee presidency (admittedly a virtual impossibility but we’re talking about the thought processes of people who would be envious of birds if they knew the average size of the avian brain)? And can you imagine what a cutthroat like Vladmir Putin would be thinking if the Huckafu*k ever made it past the gate to the White House? He might consider simply backing up a truck into Foggy Bottom and making off with the State Department fine china.
The prospect of what would be going through the mind of Osama Bin Laden at the thought of a Huckabee presidency cannot be put down on paper lest the sheer, abject horror of it were to give the reader a heart attack.
And yet here we are the day after the Iowa Caucuses gazing up into the dopey looking visage of a rube who, with his fake sincerity and oily words have hypnotized the faithful into thinking that he’s the man to lead the way to the New Jerusalem.
Huckabee is a party killer. He is a rogue asteroid on a collision course with Planet GOP and looking around, the only saviors in sight are John McCain and Rudy Giuliani (please my fellow Fredheads, don’t stop me I’m on a roll). And if those guys are the only thing standing between Huckabee and an historic meltdown, I weep for the party of Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Reagan.
UPDATE
Allah believes that posts like Green’s play into the hands of Huckabee:
It’s being interpreted by some, I think, as a veiled swipe at the intelligence of evangelical voters, who made up 80+% of Huck’s support, or even rural voters. VP doesn’t say a word about either, although I admit to cringing at it just because it plays right into the type of identity politics Huckabee’s worked so hard to cultivate and which our own resident evangelical incisively exposed last night. Like I said when Coulter attacked him for being “easily led,†he’s trying to fuse religious, class, and regional grievances into some sort of “simple folk vs. the elites†movement. Every time an “elite†hits his supporters for being stupid, it’s more grist for the mill to allege that what those elites really find stupid is Christianity or farmers, as opposed to pretty much everything he’s said about Pakistan in the last two weeks.
The irony is, while it’s true that most of Huck’s supporters last night were evangelical, it’s not true that most evangelicals were Huck supporters. From what I hear, a little more than half broke for other candidates. We have plenty of evangelicals commenting here, first and foremost among them my esteemed co-blogger, and the Hucka Hucka burnin’ love is nowhere to be found. It bears reminding people of that, since the more his supporters are falsely equated with Christians in the public mind, the easier it is for him to disingenuously spin attacks on him as attacks on Christianity or Christmas or whatever. Which isn’t to suggest I’m accusing VP of attacking religious voters, merely that making it an issue of intelligence is the wrong “frame,†as the nutroots like to say.
In a slightly different vein, frequent commenter B. Poster offers this:
Insulting the so called social const is probably not the best approach to forging an acceptable compromise with them. The philospy represented by Stephen Green and others like him are the dominant forces in the Republican party.
The question is does the Republican party want to survive or not? If it does, the Stephen Greens of the world will need to get busy on trying to work out a compromise with the so called social cons. The current one sided arrangement we have where the social cons get very little except being ignored and insulted is not very helpful. If the Conservative movement is going to survive, the powers that be in the Republican party will need to work on forging a compromise with social conservatives that is based upon mutual respect. Perhaps the Republican party needs to take a drubbing before the Stephen Greens of the world and those like him will be humble enough to work constructively with social conservatives. If this is the case, so be it. Perhaps, after the drubbing, the Republican leadership will be humble enough to work construcively with Social Conservatives.
I plead incredibly guilty.
I would say to both of those thoughtful gentlemen that the war has already started, that simply papering over differences with the various factions is what has brought us to George Bush, a Congress drunk with power and besotted with overspending not to mention a party whose best hope now lies with a moderately left leaning former Mayor of New York City and Senator so in love with his being labeled as a “maverick” by the media that he will stick it to conservatives any time he thinks he can get away with it.
What Allah and to a certain extent B Poster are trying to prevent has already happened. Putting a bandaid over the open wounds for the sake of electoral victory only delays the inevitable reckoning. Cobbling together a broken coalition using chewing gum and kite string won’t address the fundamental concerns that some of us have; that the GOP is getting out of touch with the modern world because it continues to live on past glories rather than do the intelligent thing and reform itself to better reflect the realities of 21 century America.
Call me an apostate. Call me a fool. Call me a liberal if you want. It won’t change what I see as a total, unmitigated disaster represented by the candidacy of this guy.
UPDATE: 1/5
3:34 pm
If you don’t want Huckabee to the Republican party nominee, I would suggest that the dominant forces in the Republican should try to forge some sort of compromise with the so called social cons. In any event, there seems to be a number of problems with Huckabee. Iowa likely was only a fluke. Huckabee has almost no chance of getting the nomination. The attention he has recevied on this blog and elsewhere simply is not warranted.
3:44 pm
Insulting the so called social const is probably not the best approach to forging an acceptable compromise with them. The philospy represented by Stephen Green and others like him are the dominant forces in the Republican party.
The question is does the Republican party want to survive or not? If it does, the Stephen Greens of the world will need to get busy on trying to work out a compromise with the so called social cons. The current one sided arrangement we have where the social cons get very little except being ignored and insulted is not very helpful. If the Conservative movement is going to survive, the powers that be in the Republican party will need to work on forging a compromise with social conservatives that is based upon mutual respect. Perhaps the Republican party needs to take a drubbing before the Stephen Greens of the world and those like him will be humble enough to work constructively with social conservatives. If this is the case, so be it. Perhaps, after the drubbing, the Republican leadership will be humble enough to work construcively with Social Conservatives.
3:46 pm
Reagan pandering to the Religious Right all those years ago is what has led to last night. At least give credit where credit is due.
The fundies make up over one third of the GOP. You really think they’ll show up for Rudy in the general election?
As a friend recently said to me.. “The Christians vs. the Corporatists in the GOP. Let the games begin!”
3:48 pm
I would disagree that the social cons get “nothing” out of the GOP today.
Their major issues are now litmus tests for GOP candidates for president. They control about half the state parties in America. They have taken control of the party and I want it back.
And yes, it is ignorant to believe the earth was created 6,000 years ago. Not that all evangelicals believe that – but their opposition to evolutionary theory and other science issues is appalling.
If they want to play in my sandbox, they’re going to have to grow up and join the rest of the human race in the 21st century.
3:52 pm
I wish you’d leave and not come back.
That must be the 5th time you’ve left the shallow, ignorant comment about Reagan. If you’re going to make that claim, you’re going to have to ignore the history of the previous decade – something you do very well – and posit the unbelievable notion that the Christian right showed up on the GOP doorstep in 1980.
Read something besides the crap on liberal blogs. From here on out, any comment you make with that kind of ignorant snark is going to be deleted.
4:03 pm
Rick,
Abortion wasn’t a national campaign issue until 1980. The evangelicals blew off Carter for the GOP.
4:48 pm
Rick writes: “They have taken control of the party and I want it back.” You have control of the party. The views you represent are the dominant forces within the party. The candidates merely pay lip service to the isssues of the so called social cons. They seem to ger very little.
Very few people believe the earth is only six thousand years old. In any event, it does not seem to be a very significant issue. As for evolution, Intellegent Design and Evolutionary Theory could both be taught. This is one area where you might be able to reach a compromise.
Being an athiest you are probably uncomfortable with evangelicals. Some veangelicals may be uncomfortable with athiests.
I think you are the best right-of-center blogger on the internet and I will continue to read your blog, however, the “sandbox” insult is uncalled for. By throwing out that insult it suggests to me that you are not humble enough to try and seek a compromise with so called social cons. I don;t want it to come to this but perhaps a drubbing in the general elections will humble you and the Republican establsihment enough to seek out an acceptable compromise with so called social conservatives.
For the record, I have noticed a number of problems with Mike Huckabee. I do not support his for President. I think it would be an unmitigated disaster for Republicans and for the Conservative movement if he were to somehow get the nomination. As such, his candidacy should be opposed. If we want to enhance our chances of someone like Huckabee being nominated, the best thing to do is for the Republican establishment to seek an amicable compromise with social conservatives.
My sense is the so called religous right is fed up at being virtually completely ignored. It is long past time for the Republican establishment and for blogger extrodinaire Rick Moran to swallow their pride and seek out a compromise with them or get ready for a major drubbing in 2008. If it takes a major drubbing to humble the Republican establsihment enough to work constructively with this important group, then so be it.
5:04 pm
Rick
I should have read your update before I replied to your post. Thank you for putting my post in the body of the update. (At least I think!! I appreciate being referred to as thoughtful. At least I try to be thoughtful. I don’t always succeed.
I tend to agree with you that IF Huckabee got the nomination would be an unmitigated disaster for Republicans. I say “IF” because I don’t think he can or will get the nomination. If we want to enhance the chances of avoiding a Huckabee nomination, I would suggest that people like Stephen Green and the Republican establishment start trying to construcively work with social conservatives. Insults like those issued by Mr. Green are unlikely to be helpful.
Perhaps the differences are to vast to forge a compromise but I suggest we try. The survival of the Republican party and the Conservative movement likely depends on it. The first move should go to the Republican establishment. The so called social cons have simply not gotten enough of what they desire to be in any position to give up something. One cannot give up what they don’t have.
5:15 pm
B.Poster
Why on earth would anyone work with religious right? They are the easiest voter block in the world to manipulate.
Most republicans I know couldn’t possibly care less about gay marriage or abortion or any other stupid hot button issue. They care about their business. They vote their wallets most of the time and that is why they are pissed off right now.
But, they know that if the gays or abortion on the ballot they can expect 80 million God fearing evangelical zombies to shuffle diligently to the polling places and vote against the baby killing queers.
Putting those nonsense resolutions on a ballot is like an on/off switch for the evangelicals. The Republican Party can turn it on and off at will by paying lip service only. Why would they need to be ‘worked with’?
The problem the party has now is that the zombies are trying to think for themselves. Thus, you have Huckabee.
5:15 pm
Evangelicals aren’t dumb, just myopic and uninformed.
My sister and her husband are evangelicals. Want to know the last time they watched the news? Never. They support Huckabee. Want to know how much they know about amnesty and Dumond and tax raises? Nothing. They don’t care.
They care about one thing. That Huckabee is an evangelical Christian.
5:19 pm
What kind of compromise can be reached? We had Bush run as an explicit evangelical Christian; remember how he was lambasted for it in the major media? He signed the bill to veto partial birth, we still have the Hyde amendment, he appointed some solid judges. We have the taxpayer-funded faith-based initiatives. Bush has said the philosopher he admired most was Jesus. It’s implausible to argue that the evangelicals have been told to shut up, or that they have been ignored. I thought one compromise was Rudy. How? Rudy is plausible on fiscal matters and national security, as plausible as any of the other GOP hopefuls. Rudy promised to appoint the kind of judges who would be in a position to overturn Roe. Those kind of judges would also refrain from “discovering” a right to “gay marriage” in the Constitution, despite how Rudy may feel about the matter. Presumably this sort of thing ought to be settled with legislation, and that’s where Congress comes in, not the Executive. Rudy is fine with school choice (Christian schools would be possible), and is an avowed enemy of the teachers’ unions. You know, those teachers who inculcate the “wrong” culture in the children of the evangelicals?
But there is very, very little any President can do to outright eliminate abortion or gay marriage with the flick of a pen. In other words, the idea was that Rudy could appeal to the broader electorate in the general, while doing in the White House just about everything any President could about evangelicals hot-button issues. The President simply hasn’t the power to eliminate abortion or kill gay marriage in its cradle. In theory, an evangelical could vote for Rudy, saying to himself “He can put the right people in place to make progress for evangelical concerns, yet simultaneously earn the votes of those culturally different than ourselves.”
Well, Rudy has faded in the polls, and evangelicals don’t buy this idea of compromise. So what do they want? What will they give those of us who don’t agree with all of the evangelical agenda? Where is their offer of compromise?
Compromise means “No one gets everything they want.” Evangelicals ought to consider that if they demand that the final GOP candidate begin every press conference saying “All abortion must be stopped immediately, and the same goes for gay marriage, Darwinism, and drinking on Sunday,” they will be out of power in national politics until the next century.
5:36 pm
Christians are fine with the Rick Morans of this world, but only if they cast their votes for Republicans and then keep their mouths shut.
Looks like Social Conservatives just ain’t buying the Neo-Con line anymore. After 8 years of Bush they’ve decided they want a real Christian.
5:58 pm
I understand your despair and I can’t begin to comprehend why any informed Conservative in their right mind would vote for this glib, facile, lying egoist.
However, I do believe that Michael Dale Huckabee had better enjoy his 15 minutes in the limelight because the lights are about to go out on his big dream.
Then, let us all hope—and some of us pray—that Republicans all over the country will come to their senses and that we can vote for Fred.
6:12 pm
Comments 9 and 10 are examples of how the so called religous right is disrepcted by the Republican establishment at virtually every turn. Insulting someone is generally not the best way to establish constructive rapport with someone. If the Republican party and the Conservative movement are to survive, the Republican leadership will need to find someway to work constructively with the so called religous right. So far I’m not sensing the humility on the part of teh Republican leadership that would be necessary to accomplish this.
Faradaycage: Rudy may have been an attempt at the Republican establishment to reach a compromise, however, he has largely been rejected by much of the country. His fading in the polls has little to do with so called evangelicals. Most of what so called evangelicals have gotten is merely lip service.
6:13 pm
[...] As if that’s not enough we also have Rick Moran who lashes out at Huckabee today in a post called “Facing Up To The Unbearable Truth.” Rick writes: I am bereft today. What was once unthinkable has now become slightly more realistic. The odds of Huckaboob getting the nomination are still pretty long. After all, there are plenty of states where they have churches that are for, you know, worshipping God and not plotting the downfall of the Republican party by nominating a fellow who believes the earth was created 6,000 years ago and that it took only 7 days for the universe to expand, cool, coalesce, and create an infinite number of galaxies filled with uncounted numbers of stars. And let’s not start with the notion that God simply plopped millions of creatures on planet earth because the elderly gent was lonely. In those states where rational, thinking Christians outnumber the kinds of loons who voted for Huckabee in Iowa, the Huckadisaster will have trouble. [...]
6:22 pm
Fred’s best chance ISN’T to have Huckabee and McCain take alternating states, because Mitt has tons of money and won’t go anywhere. His best chance is to get McCain and Huckabee out of the race and then be THE alternative to Mitt. I would love to see that race. At least then the alternatives are somewhat palatable.
6:34 pm
Poddy O’Shea
You write: “Christians are fine with the Rick Moran’s of this world, but only if they vote Republican and keep their mouths shut.” Christians don’t have that much influence over who votes Republican or not. A better way to put this would be “the Republican establishment has no problem with Christians, as long as they vote Republican and are content with lip service in support of their issues.” The views held by Mr. Moran are much more in sync with Republican leadership than any thing the so called religous right holds dear.
“Looks like social conservatives aren’t buying the Neo-Con line anymore. After 8 years of Bush they’ve decided they want a real Christian.” Not enough is known about Huckabee to know if he is a “real Christian” or not. He did get 34% of the Iowa vote. Evangelical Christians don’t make up that much of the populace nor or they unified on any single Republican candidate enough to decide the winner of any caucus. It would seem Huckabee’s support was broader than just so called evangelicals.
Assuming evangelicals voted substantially for Huckabee their votes along with others may have made a big difference for the candidate. What it may indicate is that evangelicals don’t like being treated like second class citizens. Personally I think a Huckabee nomination would be disasterous for Conservatives and for the Republican party. As such, it is something to try and avoid. The insults being thrown about by Stephen Green, thePeoPle, and Bill Mitchell are not helpful. If the Republicans get Huckabee, they will likely lose. Perhaps such a loss would humble the Republican leadership enough to work constructively with Social Conservatives in the future, assuming the Republican party survives.
Btw, the issues that FaradayCage mentions in post number 11 enjoy or did enjoy broad support that goes beyond evangelicals. An area of compromise that I might suggest is pushing for less government control over individual lives. This might have the effect of allowing the views of evengelicals to be expressed more freely
6:38 pm
Allowing the views of Religous Conservatives to be expressed more freely may be a major concern of the Republican establishment. This could partially explain why the Republicans have become the party of big government along with the Democrats.
6:44 pm
Rick, I’m a big fan of yours, from back in the Superhawk days, but this is unworthy of you (and Green as well). You know darn well that last night’s win actually goes to McCain (and to a lesser extent, Guiliani). Check out their contracts at InTrade if you doubt me.
Huckabee got his win precisely because of anti-Christian sentiment in the MSM about him. Posts like this and Green’s (which I admit was far worse) will just tick off the CC crowd, and may result in them sitting on their hands in the general.
6:57 pm
THere is areason I guess why the GOP is referred to as the “stupid party.” Since when has teh Right co-opted teh Left in thinking that the POTUS is a monarch who can outlaw anything he does not like? IT is singularly unimportant what Rudy Giuliani thinks about abortion or gay marriage as abortion will still be legal by in 2012 and gay marriage will not be the law of the land. This fight with the James Dobson’s is long overdue. If Hillary were anti abortion but overhwhelingly liberal and socialist on every other issue would the Huckabee’s of America vote for her?
7:06 pm
The Christian Right actually showed up on the GOP door step for good, I would say in 1972 for Richard Nixon. I think some of that Right went to Jimmy Carter (foolishly by the way) in 1976 but has been solidly GOP since Reagan as the Democratic Party became so left wing as it is unrecognizable from the Democratic Party of the first half of the 2oth century.
7:12 pm
As Iowa goes, so goes Iowa. It bears repeating.
It is a media made, media frenzy, nothing more.
Sometimes an underdog gets a little momentum and press notice.
Look at the history of winners in Iowa – the memorable names are few and far between.
Rudy has cash. Fred has the values. Give it a few weeks.
8:05 pm
Brainster: I could not agree more. You expressed my sentiments far more articulately than I seem to be able to.
Tim B: You write “Rudy has cash. Fred has values. Give it a few weeks.” I agree. Huckabee has almost no chance of getting the nomination. His positions on many of the issues are easy enough to attack and destroy the candidate without attacking so called evangelicals. This will happen in the coming weeks. As more people become aware of his stances on the issues, he will fade from consideration.
8:22 pm
Okay… Using both barrels at the same time is never a good idea.
Yes, I agree that Huckabee is a disaster. I sent my money (the first time in my 54 years) to Fred.
I separate the religion of the office holder from the office. If the holders’ beliefs are consonant with conservative goals I don’t care. It is not Huck’s conservative bits that are worrisome to me. It is the very large big gummint (AND the neeccessary big taxes) stripe that bugs me.that they are not out in the street burning cars etc. but you are skating on the point when you make such an attack.
I am a believer. I also work to stay at least somewhat consistent with “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand (not all of the follow-on stuff, that just becomes a NABU). Chew on that for a while – ‘cause they ain’t supposed to be in any way compatible. I also support the death penalty and opppose abortion. I would suggest that taking those positions – together, requires at least some thought.
Please allow that at least some followers of Christ do not have continuous digestive systems. (Think about it, I ain’t spelling it out.) Those who don’t will think again about any support for the Huckabubba.
9:16 pm
As a Christian conservative, I get a knot in my stomach at the thought of Mike Huckabee as POTUS. I get the same knot in my stomach with an Obama presidency. Both of these guys are the textbook definition of naive boobs when it comes to foreign policy. My God, have we forgotten some of Obama’s answers to questions concerning nutjob dictators!! Here we are at war with radical islam, and two Jimmy Carter wannabees got the nod in the first caucus. It is stunning and extremely NAUSEATING! Not only do we need God to save us from radical Islam, but we also need Him to save us from the evangelicals.
9:26 pm
Without the Fundies, the GOP is permanently a minority Party. With the Fundies, the GOP is permanently a minority Party.
9:31 pm
Did world history begin in 2006?
I seem to recall that for the last 30 years for the most part, Democrats have been the “permanent minority party.” And the GOP majority included those “Fundies.” Hence, the latter part of your comment is either born of unbelievable ignorance or simple sophistry.
Jesus Lord if you’re going to criticize at least do it intelligently. Your comment is ridiculous on its face given recent history.
9:41 pm
I seem to recall that for the last 30 years for the most part, Democrats have been the “permanent minority party.â€
I’d say it was from 1994-2006 in the House.
9:57 pm
“As a Christian Conservative, I get a knot in my stomach at the thought of Mike Huckabee as POTUS.” I agree, BubbaJ. When Huckabee stances on the various issues become more known his candidacy will likely sink like a rock, as it should.
10:05 pm
I like Fred, he believes our rights are endowed by our creator not our government; Bloomberg, Hickabee and every other politican is not my God.
Outside the Republican Party social conservatives don’t have many friends.
Then again, outside the Republican Party fiscal conservatives don’t have many friends either.
Then again, who wants friends who are determined to commit social, economic and cultural suicide to save polar bears, trees and Barbara Streisand’s spectacular ocean view.
This race began too early so, like Fred, I’m not going to jump ahead of myself just out the gate.
That said, if we weren’t engaging in fierce debate over our next leader then I’d be really worried about the sanity of our country.
10:30 pm
Others have said it before me, but I’ll say it again; Rick and a lot of the commenters here don’t know much about “fundies”, as you call them. I am one, and I am not myopic, nor am I an idiot. I understand and support Jesus’ admonition to leave to Ceaser what is Ceaser’s. I don’t vote for a person’s faith, I vote for the person I think would be the best leader for America.
I also agree that Huckabee and Obama would both be terrible Presidents, in the mold of Carter. Nevertheless, as pointed out by many here, Huckabee has almost no chance to win the nomination. If the rest of the country follows the arcane habits of Iowa, I’ll eat my hat.
11:12 pm
The Republican Party without religious conservatives is a dead party period. The extreme religious conservatives are un predictable and often do more harm than good. The elites who attack Evangelicals and ridicule their Christian faith are despicable and do nothing but drive an even bigger wedge between Conservatives..
There will never come a time when the elites and the religious right will walk hand and hand down harmony road. The best we can expect is to have enough cooperation between the two to win a few elections and maintain some degree of influence in the political process.
11:41 pm
[...] Back to Basics Time for American Conservatism First, some perspective on the Iowa Caucus from Rick Moran at RightWingNuthouse: Having lived in Iowa for 7 years, I would say that there is nothing much wrong with the people as much as the process of choosing a Caucus winner. It virtually guarantees an extraordinarily small group of people can have an enormous impact on the choice of a candidate for president. [...]
2:08 am
Forget about Rudy – it aint happening.
What does seem interesting is that it might come down to John McCain in a death match against Huckabee (against evangelicals) in South Carolina.
Does that have some historical resonance or what?
4:39 am
@B.Poster:
“The question is does the Republican party want to survive or not? If it does, the Stephen Greens of the world will need to get busy on trying to work out a compromise with the so called social cons. ”
As has been said above, compromise is a two way street. What compromise are the social cons willing to make? Accept abortion? Accept homosexuality? Accept a loss of Christian reference is public life?
As an outsider to the Conservative Party, it seems like the so-con “revolt” is grounded not in a desire to have more input, but in a desire to have their policy goals accomplished. Isn’t the impetus for this schism specifically an impatience with the Repubs not following through enough on their lip-service pledges to the so-cons? I may well be wrong, but it certainly appears so from my window.
8:28 am
Rick,
Can you be any more condescending to Bible believers? You are going into Kos territory here by making disagreement into something personal. I am not a Huckabee supporter—like you I am for Fred. I am however, a Bible believing Christian. Now, if that makes me a “superstitious nincompoop” in your book, so be it. I am a retired USAF officer who has commanded a squadron, I have a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and also an MBA. So I do have some education and life experience to dispute the nincompoop label. But I also have faith in God and what He can do. You have faith in something else. That is OK! That is a disagreement we will have, but I will not make it personal. You are doing that in this post. You can do better Rick!
8:44 am
Voting for Huckabee is as stupid as believing in evolution, it actually takes more blind faith to beleive in evolution than creation. But because it’s easier not to seek the truth; people believe the lie that is evolution it’s just like some voters beleive the lie that Huckabee is conservative. It’s like the lie that Fred was going to drop out of the race and endorse McCain. I guess if a lie is repeated enough then some people will believe it when common sense points in the opposite direction. I suggest Stephen Green read “Starlight and Time: Solving the Puzzle of Distant Starlight in a Young Universe” by Dr Russell Humphreys. Fred Thompson is the Common-Sense Conservative. Being a Christian makes Fred the logical choice. I’ll keep donating to Fred campaign till Fred is elected President of the United States. I would like to see Fred behind a pulpit every Sunday, the strong spiritual image would help. But we know Fred does not pander for votes like his competition.
9:50 am
My apologies to Stephen Green, I mistakenly believed what Rick Moran wrote after your name was something you said. Still the book “Starlight and Time: Solving the Puzzle of Distant Starlight in a Young Universe†by Dr Russell Humphreys a young Earth creationist and a nuclear physicist is a book Mr Moran should read.
1:56 pm
Well the Republican Party is about to hit the rock bottom that it deserves. Whilst the world has moved on the inmates have taken over the asylum that is the Republican Party; you corporatists thought that they were just playing, but wrong; they were planning, evolving and getting ready.
Now you can’t win without them, and if you dump Hucks then many of them will look for another Christian candidate – either third party or Mr Obama.
HAHAHAAHAHA! With glee.
Malcolm
2:00 pm
I’m very sorry malc19ken but this is a site for adults only. You must be able to read and write beyond a 3rd grade level and have superior cognitive thinking skills to a marmoset.
Please run home to your mama and do not visit here again.
2:44 pm
Well hello Rick,
I’m 61 years old. My dear mother died eleven years ago. You may wish to know that I was the Chairman of the Board of Governors of a University College before I retired. I have opinions, and strong ones and the right to express them.
What’s your excuse?
And I quote:
HAHAHAAHAHA! With glee.
What matchbook cover “University” were you Chairman of the BOG? And the above would indicate that your emotional development was stunted as a child.
I don’t need an excuse. You need therapy.
3:32 pm
I consider myself one of those religious nuts and am constantly taken aback by those that treat some of the kindest and most respectful people you will ever meet as though they are ignorant sheep. I am not a Huckabee supporter (I prefer Romney or McCain). Huckabee has a bad habit of making “oopsies” that allow him to go negative but pretend he is not. As Rush would say, this is too cute by half. But if you take the time to listen to what he actually says (instead of what is said about him), his message is quite reasonable.
I listened to Hannity debate Huckabee the other day (right after Iowa). Hannity tossed out ALL the usual criticisms against Huckabee and the Huck fielded them all with reasonable and credible rebuttals. Frankly I think the out of hand rejection of Huckabee because of his professed beliefs is religious bigotry of the highest order. Equally as repulsive as the bigotry evangelicals get accused of for failing to support Romney.
After bothering to actually listen to Huckabee (since Iowa) I can see full well why he gets the support he gets. It comes from people that actually listen to him and not just to his critics.
And before I get tossed into the pile of dismissed perspectives for being just another ignorant religious zealot let me just say I am a voracious blog reader, talk radio listener, news watcher and Ann Coulter/Michelle Malkin groupie. And yes, Huckabee foreign policy would probably be Carteresqe but I think war fatigue has placed many Republicans in a situation where they would be relieved to see us pull back on the world stage. Even though that would probably be bad in the long term.
Oddly Rick I think Huckabee aligns with your feelings on all but social issues pretty well. Assuming you listen to what Huckabee himself says.
P.S. I take no responsibility for spelling or grammer.
3:33 pm
Crap, mispelled my own name. Guess I am ignorant.
3:53 pm
Rick, hell of a post. This isn’t petty in-fighting- it goes to the heart and future of conservatism. Thought you hit it right yesterday on BlogTalk with Michael VDG of the Poligazette when you said that half of the state parties are controlled by so-cons. I live in a Red midwestern state with a 2/1 GOP voter registration differntial. Yet, as a direct result of the GOP’s Great Divide, we have a Dem Governor and AG. My state often battles over inserting intelligent design (creationism) in biology texts, which is very disconcerting to secular conservatives.
An aside: go home to your momma. Love it- you crack me up.
11:38 pm
Busboy33
There really is not much for so called religous conservatives to compromise on. They don’t have any thing of value that they can part with. As a starting point for a compromise, I would suggest allowing state and local governments through their elected officials decide on issues like abortion and homosexual marriages. This is not something the courts should be deciding arbitraily. Often times the courts have been used to strip rights away from so called religous conservatives. Let the voters decide on whether or not we will have things like abortion, homosexual marriages, whether or not prayer is schools shall be allowed, and whether or not we can have nativitiy scenes at Christmas. The powers that be within the Republican party need to focus on returning power to the voters and not on ignoring or fighting against religious conservatives.
6:40 pm
As a graduate of the University of Arkansas, I’d like to point out that it’s ““Soooeeeeeeeey…PIG†– not “Soooeeeeeeeey…HOG.â€