We’ve previously heard Mike Huckabee credit God for his rise in the polls. David Corn quotes from a speech before the NRA last September in which Huckabee appears to also credit angels for assistance, this time with hunting:
I decided that one way or the other, this hunt is about to be over, because I can’t stand any more of this cold. And somehow, by the grace of God, when I squeezed the trigger, my Weatherby .300 Mag, which has got to be the greatest gun, I think, ever made in the form of a rifle — for my sake in hunting, I’ve never squeezed the trigger and not gotten something — did its work, and somehow the angels took that bullet and went right to the antelope, and my hunt was over in a wonderful way.
Corn says he has contacted Huckabee’s press office more than once to find out if Huckabee does “believe that angels literally intervene in the affairs of human beings and that such intervention includes hunting events.” He has received no reply. Is this because Huckabee does believe that angels have helped him hunt, or because he doesn’t want to risk the consequences of having his potential supporters hear a denial?
Good Heavens! (And that’s a not a prayer or a religious expression).
What IS the big deal about Huckabee and Mr. God? I think any consensual relationship between a grown man and his deity is a private matter.
I do find it interesting , however, that it is this that seems to be driving you crazy and NOT that fact Huckabee is one the biggest “BIG-GOVERNMENT converservatives.” Note what’s capitalized and what’s not here – Huckabee’s conservatism should be the least of your concerns.
To wit: As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee dramatically increased state spending. During his two-term tenure, spending increased by more than 65 percent — at three times the rate of inflation. The number of government workers increased by 20 percent, and the state’s debt services increased by nearly $1 billion. Huckabee financed his spending binge with higher taxes. Under his leadership, the average Arkansan’s tax burden increased 47 percent, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, including increases in the state’s gas, sales, income, and cigarette taxes. He raised taxes on everything from groceries to nursing home beds.
Attacking Huckabee because he talks to God while ignoring all this is like, say, attacking John Wilkes Booth for his bad acting while saying nary a word about how good with a gun he is.
Huckabee’s only claim on conservative credentials is that as a former Baptist minister, he is more anti-abortion and anti-gay than the other candidates. In many ways, he has been running an overtly religion-based campaign. However, even here, his preference is to increase and centralize federal government power. Unlike Fred Thompson, John McCain, or Ron Paul, Huckabee rejects federalist solutions to these issues and would have the federal government overrule state abortion and marriage laws.
I would start to worry less about BIG-GOD and start to worry more about BIG-GOVERNMENT if Huckabee gets the GOP nomination and, GOD forbid, the presidency.
“What IS the big deal about Huckabee and Mr. God? I think any consensual relationship between a grown man and his deity is a private matter.”
It is not a private matter when people impose their religious views on others by government action.
Which is exactly why you want limited government – very limited government.
Which is also why it is necessary to keep the Republicans out of office because, despite their rhetoric, they are the worse of the big government parties.
You are, I afraid and sad to say, exactly 100% correct . . . for die-hard real conservatives, like me, watching the Bush and the GOP over the last few years is like watching a much older drunk uncle hit on your new 20 year old girlfriend at the family Christmas party. It’s not pretty.