"In fact, if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we'd tell 'em what to do with the pole, that's what we'd do," Huckabee said.All bad stuff, right? Well, at least for those of us who value basic honesty and have evolved (sorry, Huck) beyond simple racism this guy is a train wreck waiting to happen. But we have not found bottom yet, or at least I fear. Turns out that our friend and former Baptist Minister Mike Huckabee is also a fan of the racist Council of Conservative Citizens:
"Indeed, well before he was a nationally known political star, Huckabee nurtured a relationship with America's largest white supremacist group, the Council of Conservative Citizens. The extent of Huckabee's interaction with the racist group is unclear, but this much is known: he accepted an invitation to speak at the group's annual conference in 1993 and ultimately delivered a videotaped address that was 'extremely well received by the audience.'Here is hoping that the video surfaces so we can see just what kind of weasel this man is. Even Peggy Noonan sees the problems with this group:
Descended from the White Citizens Councils that battled integration in the Jim Crow South, including at Arkansas' Little Rock High School, the Council (or CofCC) has been designated a 'hate group' by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In its 'Statement of Principles,' the CofCC declares, 'We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called 'affirmative action' and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races.'"
Former Reagan speechwriter and conservative pundit Peggy Noonan pithily declared that anyone involved with the CofCC "does not deserve to be in a leadership position in America."Huck will fan racism, shout Jesus, and hope that real Christians don't pay attention. The last 7 years suggests that he can get away with it. I still want to believe that conservative Christians are not going to be fooled again. We shall see.
Update: This just in, not only is Huckabee a scumbag, but his denomination is more than willing to look the other way. They
like him:
"“South Carolina should present a real good opportunity for Huckabee because the evangelical community is not only very large, but it’s dominated by Baptists — especially Southern Baptists.” Page, the Southern Baptist president, who has endorsed no candidate, agrees. “Huckabee is surging. He is a humble man. He is a compassionate man, and his message is making an inroad into many hearts.” “My guess, and it’s certainly a guess, is that Huckabee will win,” Page says."Southern Baptists like the racist liar. Not that I needed any help in my cynicism. But I was foolish enough to believe that the SBC had moved beyond some of this. The fact is, their problem with Bush is not that he tortured--they like that. They didn't mind drowning Katrina, and they certainly don't mind saber-rattling toward more war--they love war (as long as their taxes don't go up). But Southern Baptists, if they have any problem with Bush--it appears--is that he didn't hate the gays enough and wasn't openly racist enough.
I am beyond disgusted.
Updated again
Looks like McCain edged the Huck in SC. I am not sure what to think about that, but Melissa Rogers has more on the early exit polling. Looks like evangelicals and people who say that they have to elect someone who shares their values chose the Huck. General Protestants, Catholics and non-evangelical Christians chose McCain. Evangelicals don't help themselves, do they?
9 comments:
Tell them what they would do with the pole??!!?? Please tell me you are kidding; he didn't say this, did he?
I guess he did.
This statement is onerous for more than one reason. There is no comparison with the AR flag. Does the AR flag have anything remotely to do with racism and has it come to symbolize a whole subculture of virtual white supremacists?
And why does he think he can get away with a statement like that not just as a professing Christian but as someone who engages the pubic regularly? Its just tidied-up profanity (not that I am against profanity, I tend to use it myself on occasion) but someone who speaks regularly to the public should be more eloquent and studied than this. (Oh yeah...childrens do learn.)
And, this is shameless pandering--shameless! I wanted to like Huck--really--but there is no way, no way that I can now.
Tony,
great to hear from you again. I know you guys are very busy right now.
Yeah, I know you wanted to like Huckabee. Hell, at the beginning I did too. Not that I would vote for him, but I appreciated some of his moderation on the language surrounding abortion, and climate change. But the more you dig, the less core there is to the man. And with the connections to the racists, the "lack of core" becomes "actually bad person."
And another thing--I am assuming that Huck is talking about AR's state flag...AR doesn't have "another" flag do they, one I may not be aware of, like SC? I mean, I thought SC had a state flag and the Confederate flag wasn't it. So when he says "our" flag, does he mean the AR state flag???
And btw, to be fair, I am from SC.
The flagpole comment was just stupid. One thing that I had liked about him was that he seemed to have a sense of humor, but who is he trying to appeal to, middle schoolers?
I had never heard of the C of CC and was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, as I think the SPLC goes overboard in their designation of 'hate' groups, but then I read their statement of principles. Yuck. I am not a fan of affirmitive action that includes racial preferences and quotas, but can't spin "We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind" any remotely positive way.
Has he addressed this at all? I know that people change. Justice Hugo Black and Robert Byrd were once KKK members and changed their positions over the course of their lives. He is an idiot if he doesn't address this fast.
Steve, the C of CC is the historical children of the White Citizen's Councils. There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING positive about them. These are the businessmen and politicians who didn't have to wear robes and hoods, but were just as bad. That is the thing that amazes me. There are reasonable people who oppose affirmative action and can talk about race in a meaningful and reasonable way. These are not those people.
I know people can change. But Huckabee has shown even this last week with his pandering to people about the flag that he will say whatever to appeal to the extremes of the right. Karl Rove must be proud.
This makes me nearly physically sick.
Considering how Huck did in Nevada (2 delegates, Romney got 17), I am reassured that he is on hs way out.
Looks like that is true, Steve. The fact that Huckabee is dropping doesn't let the evangelical church off the hook.
The fact that Huckabee is dropping doesn't let the evangelical church off the hook.
I agree here. The machine that created Bush has enabled Huckabee. We have a lot more to account for yet somehow we evangelicals have lulled ourselves into believing that what we have done is right and good.
Nevada was never gonna go for Huck; that Ron Paul came in second just confirmed that western conservatives lean towards the libertarian and not the evangelical. SC. was a different thing, though. He did well with evangelicals, but was fighting with Thompson for the native son vote, while McCain got significant help from Independents. McCain has always done historically well down there (there's also a significant current and ex-military demographic in SC), so I wasn't terribly surprised to see him come away with a majority vote.
I think Huckabee still has some juice, though, and he'll be around at least through Feb 5. The evangelical bloc is just too big to not have a champion. If nothing else, he's in a John Edwards position: not able to be king, but instead to be king-maker.
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