Why I Heart Huckabee the Anti-Evolutionist (at least I did Wednesday night)

The following piece is published on the author's blog, WitnessLA, as well as OffTheBus.

Watching the YouTube/CNN debate on Wednesday night, I was appalled to realize that if I alone was charged with choosing the next president of the United States, and the only possible POTUS candidates were those standing on the St. Petersburg, Florida stage last night (and Anderson Cooper was definitely not an option), God help me, I'd pick the guy who doesn't believe in evolution.

Yes, of course, I'm opposed to nearly all of Mike Huckabee's stands on the issues: abortion, gays in the military, capital punishment, stem cell research and so on. But, when fielding the YouTubers' questions, while undeniably conservative, Huckabee also appeared remarkably un-poll-driven, thoughtful and compassionate. Plus he didn't seem to need to insult everyone else who held an opinion other than his own.

In fact, weirdly all through the evening, it was Huckabee who seemed to be the candidate most willing to be the President for all Americans--rather than just for Republicans.

Not so for the others on the stage: Mitt Romney still comes off like a guy playing a candidate on television, a casting director's creation. He waffled irritatingly on any question that demanded he not behave like a Republican Ken doll, and tied himself in Boy Scout knots over his former (gasp) support of gays in the military. When confronted with McCain's articulate hammering on the issue of waterboarding, he was completely on the ropes.

Then when Cooper cornered Mitt about whether he believed the Bible was, page for page, line for line, literally all true---while Huckabee, the evangelical preacher, handled the question without completely alienating those of us who don't look to The Book of Revelation for life instruction---Romney was suddenly a man wishing he had urgent business elsewhere.

As for Fred Thompson, there was his bizarre attack ad. And with each passing day, he looks more distressingly like a very tall bullfrog. I think he'd be swell at providing a character voice for the next Pixar movie. But, trust me, the Republicans are not going to select a bullfrog as their candidate.

McCain had a couple of winning moments (condemning torture), and a couple of crazy dude moments (shouting at Ron Paul that Paul's attitude would have helped Hitler win, or whatever it was he said).

And Rudy? Well, the polls suggest he's still probably the one to beat, although he's polling poorly in Iowa and, there are a zillion ways he can implode. He explained himself awkwardly on several of issues, like the 2nd Amendment question that had him scrambling frantically for the right I Like Guns tone. But, he broke out well with his opening jab at Romney on immigration: "Mitt had a sanctuary mansion, not just sanctuary cities," referring to the fact that undocumented workers had been found to be employed at the governor's mansion during Mitt's tenure.

Rudy certainly had most of the good jokes: "Not bad to have a Republican who can beat Bill Clinton," he quipped when he was challenged on the successful lawsuit he brought while New York mayor to yank the federal line-item veto away from Clinton. And then there was his Yankees riff: "When I was mayor of New York City, the Yankees won four world championships....and since I've left being mayor of New York City, the Yankees have won none."

Yet it was, Huckabee, not Rudy, got the biggest laugh of the night with his answer to the WWJDCP? question. (What Would Jesus Do about capital punishment.) "Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office, Anderson," said Mike and the audience loved it.

Huckabee also scored the biggest applause line of the night with an answer that was not very Republican sounding. I'm talking about his eloquent defense of college scholarships for undocumented kids: "With all due respect," Huckabee said, "we are a better country than to punish children for what their parents did. We're a better country than that." And there was wild cheering because, well, we are a better country than that.

Here's the thing: If the 2008 presidential match-up turns out to be Rudy against Hillary, I think and hope Hillary will take it---although even that is by no means clear. But if by some crazy chance dark horse Mike Huckabee is the Republican nominee, we Democrats could be in deep trouble. When I took a multi-state driving trip this summer and, while on the road, interviewed ordinary people about their views on issues, it quickly became very clear to me that Americans are sick of the vicious partisanship, sick of the poison. They want a uniter not a divider.

And, while we're on the subject, Andrew Sullivan got it right in his essay in December's Atlantic Monthly: Obama is a uniter. But in a Huckabee Clinton match-up, rightly or not, the candidate I suspect is most likely to be viewed as the uniter by a big portion of the American electorate.... is the one who thinks Darwin got it wrong.

Comments

[John Warren Gotsch]

What impressed me the most about Huckabee was what he said about the excruciating attention the death penalty required of him as Gov and that the Bible is filled with much more than I expected to hear from him such as moral stories, allegories and so on.
This is a decent man with character and Barack Obama saw it first and answered Huckabee is interesting to me when asked if there just might be a Republican he could see as Pres.

[strangelet]

A person's character is influenced by, but not determined by, his or her religious beliefs (or non-beliefs). Thus, Mike Huckabee may well be a warm, witty, and tolerant person. Mitt Romney may also, although he suffers a bit of Al Gore disease -- his public persona seems too staged.

The thing is, a person's behavior and decisions are STRONGLY influenced by his or her religious beliefs (if the beliefs are strongly held). I am absolutely committed to the idea that a person's faith (or not) is his/her own business; but when interviewing a candidate for President, it is fair to consider what impact that faith might have on the person's execution of the duties of the office.

Mike Huckabee is not merely anti-evolution; he is a Young-Earth Creationist. This places him so far at odds with the rationalist world-view that NO ONE who is not also a Y-EC should consider voting him into any position of authority, no matter how nice a guy he may be. Even Old-Earth Creationists should give him a pass. We live in a large world, filled with people who are just as smart as we are, probably more motivated, and many of whom have no religious issues obscuring their pursuit of technological innovation. If you are not deeply certain that End Times are due within years, you are crazy to support a Young-Earth Creationist.

With Romney, the issue is cloudier. While the LDS are officially still a literalist religion, a lot of Saints that I know (who are, by the way, all great folks) have a more metaphorical view of the scriptures. Hard to tell where Mitt stands, because everybody is afraid to ask. If he's a devout literalist, even Mike Huckabee would think he was crazy.

[OETKB]

We have become the foils for entertaining delivery laced with some sense of humanity. This time in the package of Mike Huckabee. However, the substance of his stances do not play well when dealing with a more complicated world. It works barely fine within our borders but will not translate well in places where science is embraced or where there are different faiths.

We presently have soldiers bogged down in a senseless conflict and Christian soldier Mike wants to battle on. He is ill equipped to handle that situation. Even on domestic issues he will be a holding action rather than bring progress since he will be at loggerheads with most of us.

Francis Bacon warned of "idols of the market place." These are the ideas or persons who seem so attractive we give up our healthy skepticism of examining whether their ideas are grounded in fact. Although a president should present himself well, that person must also be aware of the social contract that includes all of us. It is foolish to embrace someone who has a narrow view of human worthiness.

[CelesteFremon]

Look, I'm not saying I WANT Huckabee to be the nominee, or that I think he's a great guy because he had the biggest laugh line. I'm merely assessing audience reactions to him, my own included.

Put another way, Huckabee was potentially the most dangerous person on that stage because of his weird and irrational crossover appeal. A great many people will, I believe, back away from Romney, when push comes to shove, because, in addition to his unpleasant stands on issues, he comes across as inauthentic.

Rudy would be vulnerable in the general election on a host of issues, many of which have yet to fully detonate. (Firefighters' radios anybody?) Thompson is a nonstarter. And McCain, while he appeals to a certain segment, will never have the momentum to take the nomination. He's too pathetically and obviously out of touch with the electorate on issues like Iraq.

(The others are out of touch too, but they aren't as in-your-face about it.)

One commenter made the point that Huckabee doesn't have the money necessary to go the distance, so the nominee will most likely be Romney or Giuliani, both of whom will be easier to beat in the general election.

Hey, may it be so, because Creationism Mike will be a hell of a lot tougher to beat, especially should the Dem nominee be Hillary Clinton. So everyone better pray that there are no Huckabee miracles in our future.

[hopeless277]

This country gets what it deserves. It DESERVES George Bush and his police state mentality. It deserves to sacrifice it's young for corporate profit. It deserves to leave it's poor in desperate need. It deserves to leave it's eldery in poverty and sickness. If this country elects another Republican president in my lifetime, then it deserves to let 99% of the population drown in poverty while the remaining 1% live on mount Olympus. Republicans, all of 'em, are criminals and cowards. If this country does not recognize that by now, it never will. If a Republican is sworn in on January 20th, 2009, then we are the country that needs to be liberated. By force.

[Larkinvos]

Huckabee may have gotten the biggest laugh, but did
anyone notice that he answered the question, "What
would Jesus do" about capital punishment, by telling us
what Jesus WOULDN'T do, i.e. run for office?

Also, why doesn't someone ask these anti-evolution clowns how they explain antibiotic­-resistant strains of bacteria, MRSA for example, which has caused deaths in
several cities. Hello?? This is evolution, happening right
before your eyes.

[DemandTruth]

Uniter, not a divider, huh? Make me LAUGH!
The Democrats have spent YEARS bending over backward trying to be as bi-partisan as possible, essentially giving the GOP everything they want, working & compromising with them on EVERY issue - most times to the detriment of this country.

In the meantime, A McCain supporter calls Hillary a bitch and everybody laughs. At the debate, a Republican candidate running for president of ALL the American people says he wants to put Hillary on a rocketship to Mars and everybody laughs!

Ha Ha Ha. All this uniting is KILLING ME!

[Qbear]

I pray Chuckles Huckabee wins Iowa, not only can Dems beat him with one word....EVOLUTION.
He'd humiliate Mittler who has spent gobs of money (a lot his own....that tickles me bigtime.)As a gay man I want Mittler not just beaten, I want him humiliaed, like Santorum humiliated, like JD Hayworth humiliated, like Alan Keyes humiliated!

[LeeFromVA]

I actually felt bad for Rudy last night. I'm no fan by any means, but he is taking a beating for the illegals in NYC. He had to deal with millions of them and it only makes sense for them to be able to go to the hospital or report a crime when witnessed. I don't understand the mean streak of all those people worried about the "immigration crisis." For many years these people have been "invited" to this country by people that give them jobs. Why be angry at the people that want a better life? Why not point your anger towards those hiring them? At any rate, I think we need to get past this irrational fixation on immigration. It's a problem, not a crisis. We need to secure our borders, yes, but some of these people have lived here for 20 years or more. It's all their children know. Why does the narrow-minded approach like Tancrado's get so much applause? Republicans love to hate.

[ianrey]

[[He is a conservative that is not mean. I am a Fifty-something year-old African American who like most AAs tend to be conservative on social issues. We however tend to reject Republicans because they generally dont care "about the least of these". Huckabee appears to be different.]]

Appearance is all it is. Check his record as Governor, read articles by journalists in Arkansas. He is an authoritarian par excellence, moreso than anyone on that stage except maybe Mussoliani.

[BobbyJoe]

So, you're saying you're against Huckabee on pretty much every issue, but because he "appeared" compassionate and didn't insult anyone, you see him as "the candidate most willing to be the President for all Americans." ("all Americans," except I imagine for folks like us gays, Ms. Fremon?)

Ummmm hmmmm. Maybe Huckabee's the candidate you'd most like to have a beer with.

News Flash: the country just went down this same road, and look where it got us. There were a lot of liberal pundit enablers along the way. The last thing we need to be doing is publishing more articles where we're suckered in by the "awww, shucks" phoney-baloney "compassionate" conservatism of any of these folks.

Huckabee will defintiely be "trouble" if he's the nominee and we're putting out articles with a theme of "gee, he's not so bad as the others." The press had a field day doing precisely that with George Bush. It's time to decide if we're going to play that same game this time around (and end up in the same place) or stay focused and on-the-attack to pull the masks off these clowns.

[cheforacle]

Last night's debate was the first of the GOP's to actually be instructive on two counts: (1) many of the people who asked the questions via youtube video seemed as if they were barely a generation removed from the Timothy McVeighs and Michael Koreshs of the world; between the Confederate flag, the brandishing of the weapon; the shaking of the Bible in front of the camera and the dark shadowy ways in which some of the questioners presented themselves it was apparent that many of the GOP faithful are even scarier than the candidates who have been systematically pandering to the worse impulses of the base; and (2) there was exposed a fault line within the GOP field between the Huckabee-McCain anti-torture and "America is better than that" crowd and the rest of the group (Paul excluded as he marches to his own drummer) who have, from the first GOP debate forward, sought to see who could be toughest against illegals, against any and all gun regulations, meanest against all people believed to be terrorists and most fervent in their pro-life beliefs. The dichotomy poses the inevitable question: Does the Republican party still want to base its policies on the worst impulses of its constituents or recognize that compassion and attempts to adhere to some standards in the way we treat people in this country has a role in determining policies?

[Wilbur]

Your comments about who had the most good jokes (Rudy) and who got the biggest laugh from the audience (Huckabee) in last night's GOP debate cause me to write here about something that simply INFURIATES me about this election process. Just what the hell do JOKES and ONE-LINERS have to do with making a decision as to who is to be our next president? I am fed up beyond all tolerance with the TV talking heads and others who base their opinions about "Who won the debate?" on which candidate made people laugh the most or the loudest. For crying out loud, are we selecting a leader for our nation or a stand-up comic??

It drives me crazy yet when I hear Chrissy-boy Matthews reminisce about the second debate between Ronald Ray-gun and Walter Mondale prior to the 1984 presidential election. He always gushes over how Ray-gun "won" the debate by turning a question about his (Ray-gun's) own age and how it might affect his ability to lead the nation into a supposed joke about how he "wouldn't use his opponent's (Mondale's) youth and inexperience against him..." Everyone laughed, and that seemed to propel Ray-gun back into public esteem after he had fared so badly in the first debate. So, we ended up with another four years of "leadership" from a guy who was dumber than a box of rocks (still smarter than Dubya, though) and was drifting slowly into the awful clutches of Alzheimer's Disease, just because he could tell a joke.

Ms. Fremon, I don't give a damn who tells the best jokes or gets the most laughs at presidential debates. I want to know where the candidates stand on issues and how they will implement policy. If I want to laugh, I'll watch re-runs of "Married With Children."

Wilbur

[Vixen0932]

As a young 20 something AA..I do like Huckabee too. If he is the nominee CLinton, Obama or anyone else is going to have a problem

[krocklin]

not one word in this "debate" about oil dependence and healthcare.

the republicans have only wedge issues - abortion, gay marriage and this cycle especially illegal immigration.

even though the "cost" of illegal immigration - a nebulous concept at best given all the labor immigrants provide that would be more costly or non-existent without them - is believed by republican lemmings to be depriving them of taxdollars.

in truth this mythical cost, if it is indeed one, doesnt begin to amount to a fraction of the other costly boondoggles in the republican budget - like the tax cuts for the rich, the iraq war, unnecessary military spending with all its attendant corruption, earmarks etc. etc.

but its a wedge issue and the republicans will use it.

nevermind that jeb bush and the republican governor of florida SUPPORT drivers licenses for illegal immigrants too, and that under republicans, who have the power to pass any laws they want for over a decade, there has been no immigration crackdown or reform.

yes huckabee is less hysterical on this issue than other republicans and less poll driven.

that was a surprise at this forum for me, since he favors guns for everyone, continued aggression in iraq and all the other wingnut republican talking points.