so...Mike Huckabee.

[BVS]

"I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ."

Did Christ ask for it?

 

[Irvine511]

I find these beliefs very troubling and at odds with my concept of what America is about.

this is the face of fascism?

and he seems so nice.

 

[INDY500]

That's one of the scariest things I've ever read from a person considered a legitimate contender for president.

Almost a scary as a candidate promising to deliver "A New Covenant" for the people if elected.

 

[Irvine511]

Almost a scary as a candidate promising to deliver "A New Covenant" for the people if elected.

what? really?

how can you possibly make that comparison? someone wants to win a nation "back" for "Christ," and the other uses some loosey-goosey religious language.

 

[BVS]

Almost a scary as a candidate promising to deliver "A New Covenant" for the people if elected.

Maybe someone was just a big Indiana Jones fan.

 

[deep]

it is all about winning elections

"A New Covenant"

is obviously code to try and attract the liberal - evangelicals

one only needs a few wackos to tip an election

 

[Earnie Shavers]

That's one of the scariest things I've ever read from a person considered a legitimate contender for president.

I'm guessing that being from the US means you are also to a degree numb to just how strange those comments actually are from a leadership candidate. I think I can safely speak on the behalf of any members here from Australia, Canada, the UK or New Zealand (all the closest cultural cousins of the US) and say that if a candidate uttered a statement like that - or similar to about 80% of what has come from some of these guys - they would be instantly confined to the outer wacko in fringe in the minds of the absolute overwhelming majority. Christians included - who I think in this country at least tend to have a very good B.S detector, and historically do not want their faith anywhere near politics.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Almost a scary as a candidate promising to deliver "A New Covenant" for the people if elected.

And yes, while nowhere near as scary as the Huckabee statement, not even in the same stratosphere, the 'New Covenant' slogan would have been considered just freakin' weird here too.

 

[phillyfan26]

Almost a scary as a candidate promising to deliver "A New Covenant" for the people if elected.

I really don't have anything else to say other than you're blatantly wrong. It's pretty obvious. I don't know if explaining it will do any good.

I'm guessing that being from the US means you are also to a degree numb to just how strange those comments actually are from a leadership candidate. I think I can safely speak on the behalf of any members here from Australia, Canada, the UK or New Zealand (all the closest cultural cousins of the US) and say that if a candidate uttered a statement like that - or similar to about 80% of what has come from some of these guys - they would be instantly confined to the outer wacko in fringe in the minds of the absolute overwhelming majority. Christians included - who I think in this country at least tend to have a very good B.S detector, and historically do not want their faith anywhere near politics.

Yeah, I've seen it mentioned. It's completely ridiculous. I wish that our conservatives could see how ridiculous it is.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

There's a big story about Huckabee in Newsweek

http://www.newsweek.com/id/74469/page/1

Apparently he has quite a temper and it's his way or the highway, so some say


They have video of his sermon in a church in Irving Texas on Dec 2nd

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Taking Aim: Janet Huckabee shoots skeet during a campaign stop with her husband

Janet Huckabee isn't shooting from the hip ... for now.
By Arian Campo-Flores
NEWSWEEK
Updated: 5:20 PM ET Dec 8, 2007

In Iowa last week, Mike Huckabee's wife, Janet, seemed docile and shy, a model of marital devotion. She stood in the shadows behind her husband as he delivered speeches. When he worked the room afterward, she kept close, never straying more than a few feet. She greeted voters with a hushed and honeyed "Thank y'all for coming out." At a dinner with reporters one night, she kept quiet and tended to her husband, ordering him iced tea and clam chowder and nudging him when it was time to leave.

It is a portrait of reticence that would strike most Arkansans back home as unrecognizable. There, Janet Huckabee, 52, has long been known as a straight-talking, independent-minded good ole gal with a daredevil streak and a passion for the outdoors. Dubbed the "First Tomboy" when her husband was governor, she tracked bears, hunted rattlesnakes, fired a grenade launcher and jumped out of an airplane. To promote a conservation sales tax, she jet-skied down the length of the Arkansas River— a stunt that helped earn her a spot in the state's Outdoor Hall of Fame. She often charmed local residents with her exploits, though she could also alienate them when her plain-spoken style veered into irascibility and crassness. "Janet is going to tell you what she thinks," says longtime friend Anita McCauley Murrell. "She is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person."

The fourth of five siblings raised by a single mother, Janet grew up poor in Hope, Ark. She was adventurous and competitive from an early age—partly a result of "trying to keep up with her [older] brothers," says her sister Susan Hinger. In high school, where she was a star basketball player, she began dating Mike Huckabee. They married at 18, only to discover two years later that she had spinal cancer and faced the possibility of ending up paralyzed and unable to bear children. "It was a testing of his commitment to me," Janet tells NEWSWEEK. "He took care of me, helped me learn to walk again, took me daily for six weeks to radiation therapy." (She recovered and eventually had three children.) When Mike was a student at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, he began pastoring at the first of several churches. Janet played the role of dutiful minister's wife—but with her own twist, frequently taking off on hikes with youth groups.

As Arkansas's First Lady, Huckabee was energetic and hands-on, climbing atop Habitat for Humanity construction projects and handing out her personal number to Hurricane Katrina evacuees who landed in the state. But she also came across at times as aggressive and churlish. Janet's low point: her run for secretary of State in 2002, in which she was "perceived as thin-skinned, even mean-spirited," says Janine Parry, a political-science professor at the University of Arkansas. Huckabee attacked her opponent over a past DWI conviction and suggested, without verification, that he still had a drinking problem. Responding to critics who questioned her use of state vehicles and troopers to campaign, she told The New York Times, "If it wasn't for the grace of God, I'd have shot a few people already." She got trounced in her race—voters saw her run as an unseemly power play by the couple—and nearly dragged down her husband in his re-election bid that year.

Given that experience, Janet's current restraint is understandable. She says she offers her husband advice, but that "making policy is really not my thing." Asked how she envisions herself as a potential First Lady to the country, she says that such speculation "is a little premature." Her focus is on helping her husband get elected—and enjoying herself while she's at it. "I've often been called the queen of fun," she says. That ought to sound familiar to the folks back home.

 

[martha]

while we're on this, i think we need to isolate anyone with the flu.

Working around small bipedal petrie dishes of cooties makes me want to support this idea.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Seems to me protecting straight marriage starts and ends with the actions and thoughts of straights who are married, and that loving committed gay marriages only strengthen the institution of marriage as an institution.

Makes sense to me. It amazes me that some people out there still don't seem to get this line of thinking.

The divorce rate hasn't gone up in MA as a result of gay marriage, I believe MA has one of the lowest. Divorce is highest in certain Southern states in the Bible belt, can you believe that?

Doesn't surprise me in the slightest. As I always say, when you're too busy trying to tell others how to live their lives and dictate what kind of relationships they should and shouldn't have, it leaves you very little time to focus on your relationships and make sure they're in good working order.

In contrast, he said, the catalysts for the nation's recent school shootings -- including the one March 24 near Jonesboro that left four students and a teacher dead and 10 others wounded -- were harder to see but were driven by "the winds of spiritual change in a nation that has forgotten its God."
"Government knows it does not have the answer, but it's arrogant and acts as though it does," Huckabee said. "Church does have the answer but will cowardly deny that it does and wonder when the world will be changed."
The shootings were just one more wake-up call to the nation, he said.

Hmmmm. I wonder how Huckabee can explain what happened here in Colorado yesterday. A man who was homeschooled and came from a deeply religious household killed people at a missionary school and a church. Now, he claimed to be religious, and the aforementioned places he went to were religious, and yet...violence happened.

Between that and the quarantining AIDS victims thing...like I said after the recent Republican debate, thanks for further clarifying why I'm not planning on voting Republican next year.

Angela

 

[melon]

Huckabee sure makes Bush seem intelligent, by comparison.

 

[Strongbow]

The latest poll on the Republican race from CNN has the following results:

Giuliani 24%
Huckabee 22%
Romney 16%
McCain 13%
Thompson 10%



Looks like Giuliani's impenetrable lead is over. Maybe Chris Matthews and others that say this might go down to the convention are right.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Huckabee sure makes Bush seem intelligent, by comparison.

Sort of not related, well, general staggering stupidity: The White House Press Secretary had never heard of the Cuban Missile Crisis: http://rawstory.com/news/2007/White_House_press_secretary_admits_she_1210.html

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Astonishing, isn't it?

Did I mention that that woman really, really just should not talk anymore?

Angela

 

[BVS]

2861U2, yesterday you mentioned that some of just can't stand the fact that you are conservative, a few tried to explain to you that this isn't the case.

You respect someone who stands behind such an assinine statement about AIDS?

This would have been a key question for you to answer if you want to be taken seriously.

Now, I admit my first comment was an emotional over the top response. And you called me out on it, but when I qualified it, I really would have liked to see you respond.

For me I can't see how anyone who knows anything about the teachings of Christ and how much he spoke about caring for the sick could say such a thing, it baffles me. I wouldn't want this man as my minister and I definately don't want him as my president.

 

[Irvine511]

Working around small bipedal petrie dishes of cooties makes me want to support this idea.

Memphis and i visited the Boston Museum of Science last year because i was all nostalgic for the 6th grade trip we took there, and it didn't take long for us to realize that Pink Eye was everywhere and we were not to touch anything.

but, anyway ...

 

[2861U2]

You respect someone who stands behind such an assinine statement about AIDS?

From what I understand, very little about the disease was known, and as Huckabee has said, quarantine is the proper thing to do medically when you've got a virus that is deadly and nobody knows much about it. People in here are making it sound like it was a shot against gay people. It wasn't. I fully believe he would have said the same thing regardless of what disease it was. Again, very little was known about AIDS, and nobody in this thread has provided evidence to the contrary. Also, it's upsetting that people in here are attacking Huckabee for acknowledging that he said this. What would you rather have? Have Huckabee deny that he ever said it?

 

[Irvine511]

From what I understand, very little about the disease was known, and as Huckabee has said, quarantine is the proper thing to do medically when you've got a virus that is deadly and nobody knows much about it. People in here are making it sound like it was a shot against gay people. It wasn't. I fully believe he would have said the same thing regardless of what disease it was. Again, very little was known about AIDS, and nobody in this thread has provided evidence to the contrary. Also, it's upsetting that people in here are attacking Huckabee for acknowledging that he said this. What would you rather have? Have Huckabee deny that he ever said it?

and deep said it best: Huckabee's statement would have been understandable in 1982, but this was 1992. everyone knew HIV wasn't spread by casual contact like the flu. everyone knew this.

if HIV was killing white soccer moms in the suburbs, no one, ever, would mention words like "quarantine." but since HIV, at first, affected such viewed-as-less-than-human undesirables -- gays, IV drug users, Haitians -- such statements could be made.

again, 1982 would have been much, much, much different than 1992.

and it's not Huckabee denying what he said, he's refused to say that his call for a quarantine in 1992 of the HIV infected was wrong.

 

[2861U2]

For me I can't see how anyone who knows anything about the teachings of Christ and how much he spoke about caring for the sick could say such a thing, it baffles me.

Fair point. However, human beings are not Jesus. Jesus could walk up to a leper and touch him and he would be healed. It isnt quite that simply for us. We need to take precaution in treating diseases. And it isnt like Huckabee or anyone else wasn't caring for the sick. I'm sure he does. But again, there are steps you may have to take when dealing with something like this.

 

[Irvine511]

Fair point. However, human beings are not Jesus. Jesus could walk up to a leper and touch him and he would be healed. It isnt quite that simply for us. We need to take precaution in treating diseases. And it isnt like Huckabee or anyone else wasn't caring for the sick. I'm sure he does. But again, there are steps you may have to take when dealing with something like this.

this was 1992!!!

 

[2861U2]

this was 1992!!!

And? Tell me if I'm wrong Irvine (or anyone else), but we still don't know all there is to know about AIDS, right? We still don't have a cure for AIDS, right? 15+ years later.

Again, I don't think this was a move to isolate all gay people and remove them from society. I really don't. Hopefully none of you do. I don't know the history of AIDS or the "timeline" of what was known about it. I probably wouldn't have said what Huckabee said, but I'm certainly not going to hold it against him. Apparently I'm alone in that here.

 

[verte76]

These statements about religion are really scary. Keep religion out of politics. That's one thing that's wrong with Bush, he can't keep nutty fundamentalist religion out of his politics.

 

[verte76]

"I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ."

Stuff like this isn't fair to people like Keith Ellison, the Muslim Congressman from Minnesota.

 

[Irvine511]

And? Tell me if I'm wrong Irvine (or anyone else), but we still don't know all there is to know about AIDS, right? We still don't have a cure for AIDS, right? 15+ years later.

Again, I don't think this was a move to isolate all gay people and remove them from society. I really don't. Hopefully none of you do. I don't know the history of AIDS or the "timeline" of what was known about it. I probably wouldn't have said what Huckabee said, but I'm certainly not going to hold it against him. Apparently I'm alone in that here.

what do you mean "and"? by 1992 we knew that AIDS wasn't spread through casual contact. it's far, far harder to catch HIV than it is to catch the flu, and way more people die from that every year than they do from AIDS.

you really, really need to do some reading on the history of AIDS before you make statements like this. if you want a good early history, i recommend And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts if you want a good history of the very early years (1979-1983).

by 1992, people knew how HIV was spread (do you?). they knew that you can't catch it like a cold or like that virus in "outbreak." all that quarantining would have done would have been to increase the stigmatization and shame of those who have the virus, it would have been a veritable scarlet "A."

yes, Huckabee's statement support the it isolation of *some* gay people -- most gay people do not have HIV, and gay men now make up less than half of all new infections in the US.

would you recommend rounding up African-American women, as they are the group with the fastest growing HIV infection rate?

 

[2861U2]

These statements about religion are really scary. Keep religion out of politics. That's one thing that's wrong with Bush, he can't keep nutty fundamentalist religion out of his politics.

Nutty fundamentalist? Believe it or not, many people like a candidate who is open about his faith. Case in point, Huckabee's rising numbers and the two victories by W.

would you recommend rounding up African-American women, as they are the group with the fastest growing HIV infection rate?

Of course not.

 

[BVS]

Fair point. However, human beings are not Jesus. Jesus could walk up to a leper and touch him and he would be healed. It isnt quite that simply for us. We need to take precaution in treating diseases. And it isnt like Huckabee or anyone else wasn't caring for the sick. I'm sure he does. But again, there are steps you may have to take when dealing with something like this.

Not by separating them from society, that isn't care, that isn't treating, that's ignorance.

 

[Irvine511]

Of course not.

so why excuse the quarantining of people with HIV in 1992? do the rules change when you go from gay men to african-american women?

i understand that you aren't personally advocating this, but you are defending Huckabee's statement.

what's really going on here is that Huckabee politically can't retract what he said, lest he show something like respect for gay people. and we know how much the Republican base loathes gay people.