Huckabee's Christmas Ad, Ron Paul Fires Back

Mike Huckabee is bringing his Christmas cheer, and his Baptist minister roots, to Iowans this election season. His recent ad, "What Really Matters," features the former governor offering citizens a Merry Christmas.

This isn't your ordinary Happy Holidays event. Huckabee lets loose the Christian spirit, saying "what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ." The ad also features a bookshelf in the background that appears to some like a "floating cross." The ad is a not-too-subtle play to Iowa value voters, who cringe at what they view as an increasingly secularized holiday.

Asked about the ad today, Ron Paul decried Huckabee's religious iconography with his own veiled reference on Fox and Friends:

"It reminds me of what Sinclair Lewis once said. He says, 'when fascism comes to this country, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross.' Now I don't know whether that's a fair assessment or not, but you wonder about using a cross, like he is the only Christian or implying that subtly. So, I don't think I would ever use anything like that."

Mike Huckabee's campaign today denied that the bookshelf/cross was an intentional reference. Iowa Director Eric Woolson responded:

It's the window frame in the background... Once you've got it in your head that it's a cross, it's a cross.

See the original ad and Ron Paul's response below.

Comments

[SCharb]

Ron Paul? The one who believes in the War on Christmas? Who thinks that this country was founded as a "christian nation" and that the founding fathers wanted everybody to go to church? The same Ron Paul who doesn't believe in evolution?

[Maxbyte]

I could not agree more.

Too bad he's a Texan. No more from that part of the world.

[Bardamu6]

I've never been a Ron Paul believer until now. Where can I throw him some of my money? Who was it said that when theocracy comes to America it will be via a bass player whose son hung a dog upside down until it's death?

[Kalima]

Oh.for goodness sake! What a load of fuss about a
shelf that looks like a cross.
I don't like the man especially on his stance about
abortion but this is hysteria.
Hasn't there always been a traditional Christmas tree
at the WH?
From this day on, do I have to be offened by Xmas
trees,lights and Christmas songs springing up all
over Japan in late November?
Should I shun non-Christians in Asia for daring
to follow the traditions of the West?
Where does all this indignation stop?

[GRMM]

It seems like people [and it's not just politicians] would rather dig holes and avoid answers and face more and more questions rather than give a straight up answer.

With Huckabee's advert it comes down to one of two things - He either intended to have a cross in the commercial, or he's way too stupid to run the United States - we all know that small slip ups can lead to big issues, and if he was completely unaware of the cross in the background of his 'Jesus-praise-him' ad then he is not fit to run the nation.

On the other hand, how absurd did Ron Paul's low blow come off? Fascism?! And why was he rambling and half-incoherent? What was with the coughing? I know the younger kids like him... Is it because he smokes the herb? Eh, that's a non-issue...

Either way, in all honesty, I think they both hurt themselves here.

Not only did Huckabee produce an awful advertisement, he then denied knowing that there was a giant cross on the screen for more than half the ad prior to its release... Brutal!

Then there's Paul, who in his attempt to link Huckabee's blunder to fascism, came off as 'half-losing-it' grandfather in desperate need of a warm glass of salt water to gargle in order to clear the ol' pipes...
Brutal!

Instead of pumping out corny ads that add up to nothing and jumping on morning 'news' programs Huckabee, Paul and every other candidate should sit down with a regular, everyday, normal person and tape them answering that person's questions... I'd like to see how they interact with the people they seek to govern.

[tyruler]

Ron Paul is the true patriot along with Rep. Dennis Kucinich!

BOTH ARE MAN OF PRINCIPLE, EQUITY, AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!!!

I switched my registration from Dem to Republican in New Jersey on Monday just to vote for the good doctor.

You don't have to agree with him 100% as I sure don't but you have to ask yourself, who has the balls to lead and take positions of your own conscience even when its against the Washington herd mentality, ex: Patriot Act. When Dems were falling over themselves in waving the flag and passing that fucking legislation who was the only one who stood up against? Who went against Iraq??? Against Iran????? Against pro-Israel warmongering??????????

WHO? Congressman Paul that who. Not Pelosi, not Hoyer, not Hillary.

COME ON PEOPLE WAKE UP AND SUPPORT A MAN OF PRINCIPLE, instead of the coward Obama and the corporate oiled Hillary. Show them and the big media that grassroots matter and is MORE POWERFUL than lobbies, corporations, and their dirty money.

[realpolitic]

Of course, since this interview aired on Fox News, when Ron Paul made the prescient comment that "Sinclair Lewis said when facism comes to this country it will be wrapped in a flag, carrying a cross," the idiotic correspondent had to correct him. He said, "Of course, Gov. Huckabee is not selling facism, he is simply sending out a Christmas messsage." O.K., then why did you ask the question? At Fox, they not only ask the questions, they supply the answers as well.

Then the other anchor wanted one word answers to such phrases as 'war on terrorism' and 'mainstream media.' Why not just ask for hand gestures in reply? Fox News dumbs down journalism to a color-by-the-numbers mentality. It allows no discussion of the systematic elimination of our civil liberties or the primacy of the executive branch espoused by this administration and the resultant trivialization of congress, which may in the end result in some form of facism brought on by a well-meaning, patriotic demogogue.

[factanonverba]

What I like about Ron Paul is that he too sees the threats to our Republic; it is his philosophical outlook with which I disagree with. In his view, the government is the problem and that thus the solution is to limit the size of the government. That strategy might work if our democracy afforded equality of conditions but it doesn't. Our democracy no longer offers, if it ever did, equality of opportunity. By equality of conditions, I mean a fairly heterogeneous society and America is clearly not one. The rules of the game in the US are evermore now twisted in favour of an elite with the policy-making apparatus of the state largely in the hands of an elite.
Still the matter here is that I as a progressive liberal who would advocate for policies that narrow income distribution rather the ones currently in place that widen the gulf. That we are a more unequal society now than we were in 1970 should worry us all. Gaps between haves and have-nots all seem to encourage street riots. If the US succumbs to fascism it is because the legal framework has been already largely enacted. That's why Naomi Klein's and Naomi Wolf's two books are perhaps the most important books of 2007.

[dansama]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/finally-action-ron-pau_b_69042.html
Naomi Wolf on Ron Paul
On Monday, Rep. Ron Paul, the outsider Republican presidential candidate who has long upheld these values and who was an early voice warning of the grave danger to all of us of these abuses, introduced the AFA's legislative package into Congress. (The mainstream press has an irrational habit of disparaging outsider candidates -- as if corrupt money and machine endorsements equal seriousness of purpose -- even though the Founders hoped that the system they established would lead citizens, ideally those unembedded in the establishment, to offer their service to the nation.) It is the http://www.americanfreedomcampaign.org/storage/afagenda/documents/AFA%20Act%20text.pdf">American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007 [PDF], and you should read it in its entirety: just as accounts of the recent abuses send chills down your spine, this beautifully argued document feels historic and has the ring of great power to correct great injustice.

see also
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/ten-steps-to-close-down-a_b_46695.html

[apogee2perogee]

I used to think I leaned towards the libertarian viewpoint. I discovered however that most of my agreement had to do with the emphasis on freedom and the constitution. I DO agree with the government staying out of our personal issues. I agree with most of the social side of the libertarian viewpoint which is fundamentally liberal in a Jeffersonian way.

However, I would imagine the limited government espoused by libertarians would be abject failure. The market is not perfectly 'self-guided' and corporations are greedy and powerful. Regulation is absolutely necessary. I don't agree with Ron Paul's fiscal policy either. I agree that the best government is the smallest POSSIBLE government, but the small government imagined by hardcore libertarians is IMPOSSIBLE. I am an engineer, in all things I seek balance and efficiency. But the libertarians imagine a limited government that would leave the citizens to the corporate wolves.

[jimpryor99]

Most of you have lost your mind. Its a frigging window. And the man says that over Christmas, the most important thing is the birth of Christ. He's a Christian, what is he supposed to say?

[foolchild0]

I think Dr. Paul was right on with the Sinclair Lewis quote, but it seems odd to hear that argument coming from him.

Because is Dr. Paul really any different than Huckabee as far as religion's influence on his views?

Dr. Paul is anti-abortion, using the standard pro-life argument, and he sponsored the Marriage Protection Act, and he wants to close our borders, an issue on which Huckabee is actually very progressive.

It just seems to me like Paul, while having many laudable qualities, contradicts himself in his talk of personal liberty when he has so many views that will restrict the liberty of so many people.

Now, I admit there may be something in Paul I am not seeing. Could someone please tell me how Paul does NOT have fundamentally non-Libertarian views on social issues? And don't tell me he won't push his views on other people, b/c he's sponsored legislation in support of all of these far-right views, so he obviously will push it on people by making it the law of the land.

I'm just asking here, because I'd love to embrace Paul, but my conscience keeps stopping me.

[cognate]

Ron Paul came across very well tonight on Glenn Beck's CNNHN program.

This may be the first of many hour-long interviews the good doctor will be giving over the next 12 months.

[texmex66]

Ron Paul wrapped in the Nazi flag and carrying a burning cross! He better borrow Hillary's asbestos
suit.

[georgiabluecoast]

mark my words folks, this is the next president. i think i may move to Spain. At least their Inquisition has come and gone.