Huckabee asked to explain how his campaign is "surging" (real bad choice of words, isn't it?) and he responds by essentially saying it is the same force that fed the 5,000. God prefers him to the other candidates and you should too. What a scumbag.
Sully has the video. I can't bear to post it--it makes me ill.
7 comments:
I don't know if I get quite the same take from that sound bite. If someone believes they are blessed by God, then that doesn't necessarily mean they believe that God prefers them to others. I suppose he could have provided a more empirical answer, but that was kind of a silly question.
I gotta admit, I'm a little fretted at that response. I'm uncomfortable carte blanche applying a miracle story of the Gospels to one's own position in the political sphere. Maybe God does prefer Huckabee. How can you know? But it is applying the faith in an unreal way.
It is funny though when you think that Romney has spent in excess of $7 million campaigning and the Huckster has only spent around one million.
I also read somewhere else that same choice of words applied to McCain when he jumped up a couple of percentage points. If I find it, I'll drop another comment.
Steve, I don't deny the question was stupid, but the answer was worse. He truly was suggesting that God was THE reason his campaign was doing better. It is the political equivalent of the athlete suggesting that God made him score that winning touchdown. Of course, neither want to think about the implications. God must not really like the other team--else why would he have sided with mine, and he must not like McCain and Romney (for example) because they didn't "surge" like Huck.
Steve, I think you are being far too lenient here. Huckabee is playing to the crowd that believes with every fiber of their being (as SBC President Frank Page essentially said in a column) that God resides in the GOP and prefers the fundies.
I think we are on the same page, Tony.
I agree that using one of the miracles to draw a comparison was not good. I see your point. I also agree that people should be humble and not make a show of prayer or their faith, but when would it be ok to acknowledge a blessing? Do you think he is insincere? Maybe I am being too lenient, but I didn't get the same "God likes me more" vibe.
I still am not sure about him, but I found the NIE comments to be more worrisome.
To me, "God has blessed me" means that you are giving thanks for your speaking ability, ability to connect with voters, score touchdowns, lose weight, etc. These are all gifts, and the acknowledgement and thanks is God-directed.
Claiming a miracle on your own behalf, in the sense that "God blocked the defensive lineman so I could score the winning TD"or "God caused my rise in the polls" is different. It is vanity and self-aggrandizement to claim to know the mind of God and to further claim direct intervention on your own behalf.
I was wondering how he didn't think that Giuliani and Romney were affected by the same force that plagued the Pharoah.
Good point, and I understand the difference (and agree).
So I guess this answers any questions we might have about him being a biblical literalist:-). I can easily see a number of pastors from my past making the same kind of analogy/claim in other contexts but with the same "this could be the only explanation" tone. Fortune is from God. Misfortune is persecution (as opposed to God being against). Later-BB
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