Mike Huckabee pretends to put politics aside, starts conducting his campaign as an explicit appeal to Christian identity politics:
Of course the more secular Jewish liberals complain, the better Huckabee will do.
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If You Love Baby Jesus, Vote for Me
17 Dec 2007 04:31 pm
Comments (40)
The guy who a few days ago said "Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office" has no problem waving the little baby Jesus around like a campaign placard.
That is very, very special.
Why shouldn't he, he's campaigning on what he believes in.
Posted by Bill | December 17, 2007 4:41 PM
The point is that what he believes in --- which is evidently that disenfranchising everyone except those of your own religious group is just AOK --- goes directly against the grain of the US Constitution, which was designed to protect minorities.
Jesus was too smart to run for public office (according to the Huckster)?
Does he not understand what/who the Messiah was/is? Does he think the Romans, not particularly known for their sense of irony, were merely being ironic when they put "INRI" in his cross?
The Huckster is not alone though. Much of Christianity (since the time of Paul and Christianity's foundation) has been dedicated to taking the very political message of Jesus and trying to make it non, in fact anti, political (c.f. Eagleton) ... because, well, Jesus saying "well you poor shouldn't try to better your lot 'cause you'll get rewarded in heaven while those rich folks will get theirs in the end" is a lot better of a belief for the masses to have, as far as the rich and powerful are concerned, than what Jesus must have actually said.
A similar trick has been performed with the Prophets -- having them "predict" the coming of a depoliticized Jesus as opposed to placing their very political commentary in the proper context.
Nu? The result, of course, is that people take away from the "Judeo-Christian" scriptures the exact opposite message they are supposed to take away from them.
The guy who a few days ago said "Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office" has no problem waving the little baby Jesus around like a campaign placard.
Baby Jesus in one hand and an aborted fetus in the other--the perfect campaign stance for your religious right politician.
starts conducting his campaign as an explicit appeal to Christian identity politics
No different than Obama's appeal to blacks (see, e.g., Oprah) or Hillary's appeal to women.
Of course the more secular Jewish liberals complain, the better Huckabee will do.
Presuambly you will be complaining 5 times a day every day from now until the primary season's over, then?
Yep, a black chick endorsing Obama means that it's all identity politics. Two black people in a room = identity politics. Two white people in a room = comforting normalcy.
And Hillary, by always wearing a pantsuit, is rubbing her revolting femalishness in our faces.
Both of them have all those ads where they're like, "let's not forget what this season is really all about-- celebration of black people/women." They really are just the same thing as Huckabee.
This is just hilarious. Did the establishment really think that the evangelical Christian base would fall in line and vote for a flip-flopping Northeastern Mormon or a pro-gay, pro-abortion, pro-gun control Northeastern multi-marriage Catholic?
They've been pandered to for too long. They want the real deal, and Huckabee is the best they've got.
"Of course the more secular Jewish liberals complain, the better Huckabee will do."
Then I really need to start kvetching more. A Huckabee nod would truly be a godsend, no matter who you pray to.
At the risk of sounding Broder-esque, I think there is a lot of identity politics in both parties. I certainly see Al's point, and I'm sure Al would concede Yglesias' point in this post.
My only problem is that we hear about Democratic identity politics all the time, and yet few people concede that the GOP needs those same tactics to win. What comforts Christians about Huckabee is that he's a Christian like them. What comforted a lot of people about George Bush was that you could "have a beer with him"; he was a regular guy, just like them.
Again- I think both parties play the identity politics game; but my point is that it is rarely acknowledged that the GOP plays the same electoral game as the Democrats. I wish people would care less about having a President "like them", which just gives us a mediocre, avg. President by definition, but I have no hope of that happening, and that is beyond the scope of this particular post.
Apparently, some conservative Jews are not too happy with Huckabee either. The attached is to a column last week by Mr. Yglesias' favorite columnist, Charles Krauthammer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/13/AR2007121301501.html?sub=AR
I heard everytime someone donates $2000 to the Huckabee campaign, an angel gets its wings.
I like to think of Jesus with like giant eagles wings and singin’ lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with like an Angel Band, and I’m in the front row, and I’m hammered drunk…
Well, personally I really, REALLY prefer this sort of campaign message to McCain or Giuliani shrieking "Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran!"...
Seems to me, if I were George Soros, I'd find me a great media consultant and drop a few million dollars into Iowa/New Hampshire/South Carolina TV spots ferociously denouncing Mike Huckabee for his horrible threat to "Christianize America"...
I'm with Jared. Let's loudly kvetch, while quietly kvelling.
P.S. While I shouldn't feed the trolls, I do think there is a bit of a difference between Huckabee and Romney basically asying Christ will dictate policy on the one hand, and, on the other hand, Obama acknowledging that he is black and Hillary acknowledging that she is female.
People tend to forget that Huckabee made his now famous quote about Christ being too smart to run for public office as a way to snake out of a question as to whether Jesus would approve of the GOPs beloved death penalty. Of course Jesus wouldn't approve it and Huckabee knows it so instead of manning up and being true to his faith by admitting that he and his party adhere to such an unChristian policy position, he came up with this sort of clever quip about how Jesus was too smart to run for public office--as if Christ wasn't bold enough to take a stand on such a vexing policy issue as the death penalty. In this way is he is indeed a hypocrite who runs on Jesus but does not truly adhere to his teachings.
P.S.
Don't forget the TV tag-line: "I'm George Soros, an Atheistic Jewish Moneylender, and I approve his attack against Christian Mike Huckabee"...
Nobody wants to get into trouble with the FEC...
starts conducting his campaign as an explicit appeal to Christian identity politics
No different than Obama's appeal to blacks (see, e.g., Oprah)
This made me laugh. Thanks Al.
You crazy, bitter liberals. Some public official just tries to wish you a Merry Christmas, and remind you that Christmas is about Jesus, and suddenly you're all screaming just like the Liberal Fascists that Lucianne Goldberg's kid said you were.
Amen, jbentley.
It's also further proof that these guys - Huckabee and Romney in particular - want to have their religious cake and eat it, too.
"We are Christians and only faith can save this country! Don't take religion out of the public square! We need to have faith in God now more than ever! My decisions are based on my faith!"
OK then, well now: Do you believe in evolution, Mike?
"No fair! You are intolerant!"
Aren't some of your beliefs contrary to Christ's teachings?
"Religious bigot! Heathen!"
Oh, Mitt: What is this stuff I keep hearing about Mormon men getting their own planets when they die?
"Knock it off with that! The nuts and bolts of my religion are off-limits. But I am very religious!"
And black people were considered cursed by God
right up until 1978?
"Secularist! Persecutor!"
aaaaand ... scene (clap)
No, the appropriate comparison is not Mike Huckabee to Barack Obama. Obama is the first black candidate who has widespread appeal to non-black voters. The appropriate comparison is Mike Huckabee to Al Sharpton.
Jeebus. Who does Huckabee think he is fooling? Not that I expect enormous amounts of intelligence from voters, but this is the most easily-seen-through piece of bullshit I think I've ever seen in politics.
Man, that big, glowing, bright lighted, cross that starts to the left of the Huckster then moves behind him as he talks is So Over The Top!!
The only trick they missed was shifting the cross light so it gave Huckster a halo when it went behind him.
Next up, for New Years?
The Huckster runs a commercial with news he will help New Years Resolutions with his banning stuff like tobacco, fast food if he becomes President so voters can be saved from hell.
Then he will show a brief clip of what hell looks like as a warning. With a digitally inserted Mitt Romney dressed as Satan, Rudy and the Pope shoveling coal to fan the flames, Lieberman and Obama dressed as a shifty Hassidic and a sheikh respectively, sticking sinners with pitchforks.
I'm surprised that more people here aren't impressed by this ad, at least in a narrowly political sense. Yes, it's an appeal to Christianists and the "War on Christmas" crowd, and all that, but it's also a reasonably successful attempt to make Huckabee look presidential.
I wouldn't bet real money on it, but I'm beginning to see possible scenarios in which Huckabee could actually become the GOP nominee. (The money thing is still a huge problem, as are his many gaffes.) He's a very skilled communicator, and I think the more he gets the Christian Right grassroots behind him, the longer he can outlast Romney or Giuliani. If he makes it to Super Tuesday with a few major wins under his belt, he have just enough momentum to lock up enough delegates.
This is going to be interesting.
A few posts back, Yglesias complains that while he agrees with the ideological secularists on the substance of the "God" question, he finds their rhetoric to be bad politics. Well, why not put them to work for a political cause we can all support: getting Mike Huckabee the Republican nomination for president. As Yglesias and a few of the commenters note, the more that liberal secularists complain about Huckabee, the better he'll do on the Republican side -- and this is a good thing!
How do we get Soros, Hitchens, Dawkins on TV to talk (honestly and openly) about how terrible it would be for the United States to have a theocratic, creationist president Huckabee? Bonus: all of those men have crazy foreign accents! Is there any other scheme in the world that would win more evangelical votes for the man?
If Osama can broadcast anti-Bush propaganda just before American elections to help win some votes for his old pal, surely we can do the same for our friend Mike Huckabee?
I'm with Philly. This is a brilliant political move. If Huckabee can spin this ad into a "I don't want to talk about issues the next three weeks -- it's Christmas!" strategy, than he will win Iowa in a landslide. The more Iowans look at Huckabee's actually policy proposals, the rosier things get for Romney and the rest.
"I heard everytime someone donates $2000 to the Huckabee campaign, an angel gets its wings."
No, no, that's when a bell rings, silly. A donation to Huckabee gets the angel an angry enema...
Jbentley,
No, Our Lord was not opposed to the death penalty. Based on Luke 23:41 in which St. Dysmas, the repentant thief on the cross, says that he is receiving the just penalty for his actions, and Christ declines to contradict him. If Christ had been opposed to the death penalty, He would have taken advantage of this opportunity to make His opposition known, however he didn't.
In a broader sense, if you accept the idea of redemption through suffering, that acceptance of death is the supreme act of contrition and obedience to God, and that the crucifixion of Christ was necessary payment for human sin, then it becomes hard to maintain a position that the death penalty is always wrong. I agree with the position of Simone Weil, borrowing from Plato within a Christian framework, that the death penalty is sometimes necessary for the reformation of the criminal's soul.
Our Lord was not all about sweetness and light, you know. He talked quite a bit about 'the place where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched', etc. Also see Luke 19:27, "But these mine enemies, that would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me."
There is a religious double standard in American politics: if a Republican talks about Jesus, he's a loon; if a Democrat talks about Jesus (particularly in a black church), secular lefties (Jew and otherwise) are much more forgiving. Lefties assume the Democrat doesn't actually believe in Jesus and is merely playing along to dupe the superstitious blacks or bumpkin whites into liking him.
if a Republican talks about Jesus, he's a loon
...and even if he doesn't.
Which is why they will end up nominating Jesus
If they get some bump every time a secular Jewish liberal objects to Huckabee running as Christ's candidate, imagine the bump they'll get when you folks challenge the state filings for Christ, Candidate to run for the Presidency. Of course, you'll challenge on the extraordinarily reasonable grounds that Christ isn't a real person. The rest will be history.
Whatever benefit they get from the martyrdom of a Jesus candidate, they'll get even better by eliminating the middleman, and just running Jesus Hisself as their candidate.
Actually, on a purely practical note, one problem Huckabee faces is that he has very little cash for TV spots, and even if the money is now coming in, there's probably little inventory of air-time available in IA/NH/SC this close to the votes and with so many deep-pocketed rivals having bought everything in sight.
Easy solution: Just get the ACLU to immediately send out a press release threatening a lawsuit unless the media stops running such Christian-bigoted Huckabee commercials...
That way, all the news channels will have to show the Huckabee spots over and over again for free to properly explain the story, and anyway every Christian activist in the whole country will watch them on YouTube.
Does he say "vote for me" in the ad? Any call to action at all? Other than "have a magnificent (?!) Christmas?"
I'm no Christian, and no Huck fan, but I liked it, BECAUSE he omitted any political call to action.
Does he say "vote for me" in the ad?
You're being serious here?
I agree it probably plays well with his target audience, but to pretend it isn't a political ad that shouts "I love Jesus and I'm running for president" is a bit much.
Well, Huck's just managed to get THIS pagan Neo-Platonist really, really annoyed and wondering how much room there is going to be in Huckabee's America for someone like me. None, I suspect.
Ah well, time to brush up the Chinese....
It's just like those Coors beer comercials where the coors guy talks to the camera and wishes us a merry christmas, blah blah blah. Yeah, I really by that. Almost all politicians look like phoneys because all most all are phoneys. What saddnes me is the gullibility of average americans who have seen this ad a million times from beer companies and plumbers and appliance stores and used car lots, but still take something like this huckaby ad seriously.
Why is Huckabee doing a Budweiser commercial?
"if a Republican talks about Jesus, he's a loon;"
Yeah, that's about right.
"if a Democrat talks about Jesus (particularly in a black church), secular lefties (Jew and otherwise) are much more forgiving. Lefties assume the Democrat doesn't actually believe in Jesus and is merely playing along to dupe the superstitious blacks or bumpkin whites into liking him."
Yeah, that's about right, too - including the part about superstitious blacks and bumpkin whites - which are the only people you find in black or white churches - and the part about duping them (like Republicans aren't duping them as well.)
What's your point?
Oh but he's so adorable! He's like a big puppy! Don't you want to just reach out and scratch him behind the ears?
"...what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ...who wasn't the brother of Satan...and never appeared in the New World...to a tribe of Jews who had crossed the Atlantic...and all that other wacky stuff. I hope that you and your family will have a MAG-nificent Christmas season..."
Comments closed December 31, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
Why shouldn't he, he's campaigning on what he believes in.
Posted by Bill | December 17, 2007 4:41 PM