“Context” Just Won’t Cut It
In their press release attempting to exonerate Huckabee from his outrageous comments regarding Mormon beliefs, the campaign said:
In fact, the full context of the exchange makes it clear that Governor Huckabee was illustrating his unwillingness to answer questions about Mormonism and to avoid addressing theological questions during this campaign.
Kevin McCollough, in demanding an apology from Hugh Hewitt, says essentially the same thing – think he got the memo?
You know, it’s funny. When Romney was questioned about Huckabee’s comments on the Today Show this morning, he managed to say he did not want to talk about theology, and then go on to ACTUALLY NOT TALK ABOUT IT.
Huckabee’s excuse here is a bit like saying, “Racism is an ugly thing – we should not be racists – we should accept the black man, despite his coal-black skin, limited intelligence, and generally poor value structure, as a useful member of society,” and then claiming that no racist remarks have been made because of the “context.”
Clearly Huckabee has forgotten the First Rule of Holes – If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging!
There are only two possibilities. On the one hand, Huckabee is taking a calculated, measured, implausibly deniable shot at Mormonism, and Mitt Romney. On the other hand, he lacks the discipline and self-control not to give into his baser religious instincts in the political arena. Whichever it is, bigot or fool, he seems squarely unqualified to serve as POTUS.
Update from Lowell: It looks like Huckabee has apologized, according to CNN. Geraghty is skeptical.
Posted in Candidate Qualifications, Political Strategy, Religious Bigotry | 3 Comments » | 
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JLFuller on 12 Dec 2007 at 3:32 pm #
John
I was going to say that!
coltakashi on 12 Dec 2007 at 9:44 pm #
Reverend Huckabee is disingenous (i.e. prevaricating) when he says he was actually asking the reporter for the New York Times if he knew whether a particular rumor that Huckabee had heard about Mormon beliefs was true. This was not a friendly chat and exchange of information; Huckabee was being interviewed by the New Yorkt Times! His inner Baptist preacher got the better of him for a moment and could not resist passing on gossip about Mormons, an accusation that you see repeated time and again by people whose ideas about Mormon beliefs have been distorted by books and videos produced by professional anti-Mormons, such as the book and video that was produced in 1998 by the Southern Baptist Convention in preparation for their convention in Salt Lake City and a program to have those attending go door to door and witness to the Mormons.
Huckabee’s apology on CNN denies that he is trying to differentiate himself in the political market as a Christian, as distinct from the other candidates. The TV ad where he calls himself a “Christian leader” is so blatant that his denial that it is what he is doing is another example of mendacity. If that is not the message of the ad, what is the message? Not taxes, national defense, or immigration. Not experience as a governor, but “Christian leadership.”
Huckabee spoke at the 1998 SBC convention in Salt Lake. He could hardly have avoided knowing about the video and written materials given to all delegates attacking Mormonism. As a Baptist minister from 1980 to 1992, Huckabee was surely exposed to similar anti-Mormon materials and offered the use of them for his own congregation. Huckabee is refusing to provide copies of his 12 years of sermons–about 600 in all–and my guess is that there are one or more of them that slammed Mormon beliefs in some way.
Incidentally, a lot of people attacking Romney and Mormons generally have claimed Mormons, and by extension Romney, are racist because of the denial of ordination in the LDS non-professional priesthood to blacks until June of 1978. Yet in the new Newsweek cover story about Huckabee, he tells the story that when he was a new pastor in 1980, his congregation was all white, and when he announced that a young black man who had heard him speak on the radio was going to attend church there, several members of his congregation objected and left. In other words, Reverend Huckabee’s Baptist congregation was racially segregated until 1980, so it was literally MORE racist than the LDS Church, which has never segregated blacks or other races.
HaroldHutchison on 12 Dec 2007 at 11:55 pm #
That is really the matter. Joshua Trevino has been defending Huckabee from the bigotry charges, but if Huckabee’s fiscal record and foreign policy stands were so defensible, then why has Huckabee resorted to the religion card?
It is a very simple question. The only logical answer is that Huckabee cannot defend himself against Romney’s criticism of him on the fiscal and foreign policy issues, and therefore, he has no choice but to attack Romney’s religion.