He was America's first born again president. He was deacon of a Baptist church that -- during his bid for presidency -- he had to sever his membership with because they would not allow blacks to become members.
Shades of Huckabee.
Shades of Romney.
But I'm talking about Jimmy Carter who was then, as he remains now, a hero of the liberal fringe. The far left has no problem with Carter's faith, and never feared that he would be more of a theologian than politician.
And yet...
Huckabee runs a Christmas-themed ad. The liberals see a floating cross, and believe that alone make the man unfit to be president. Instead, I think that makes some on the far left too paranoid to trust with a vote.
The floating cross as subliminal imagery of Christ? How about that huge Christ - mas(s) tree sitting over Hukabee's shoulder as actual imagery of Christ? You know, just like the tree that sits at the White House in Washington where all the government offices are shut down on Dec. 25 -- the day we celebrate as the birth of baby Jesus.
And yet, despite the fact the majority of us acknowledge Christmas in some way, in typically liberal fashion the fringe uses the censorship of political correctness to turn "Merry Christmas" in a verboten phrase.
What's particularly galling is the left's selective prosecution of religiosity. There is, as first mentioned, Jimmy Carter and his faith which causes no liberal ripples. And few liberals batted an eye when Barack Obama launched his Embrace the Change tour with black ministers -- despite the fact one was (and still is) a homophobe. When Harold Ford Jr. ran a political ad filmed in a church there wasn't a word of derision spoken from the left as they knew such an ad would pull votes for Mr. Ford in Tennessee. And during their presidential runs no one on the left accused the reverends Jackson or Sharpton of being too tied to the cloth.
As a cohost of MSNBC's Morning Joe I've had the opportunity to talk to Governor Huckabee on a couple of occasions. He's no zealot. I don't agree with Huckabee on every issue. But, then, I don't agree with any candidate on every issue. Huckabee does agree that Jimi Hendrix was probably the greatest guitarist ever which is not a reason to vote for him, but certainly a reason to at least give a listen to what he has to say. And during his tenure as Governor Huckabee didn't exactly turn Arkansas into a theocracy.
If I could give the Governor one tip to quiet his critics, it would be to run an ad somewhere acknowledging the start of Kwanzaa on Dec. 26th.
By the way, how many of you liberals even knew on what day Kwanzaa began?
If the far left were smart, instead of continuing to make religion a wedge issue, they would -- as Obama has smartly tried to do -- take religion off the table by displaying their faith. The majority of this quadrennial's Republican candidates have already proven what an empty phrase "family values" is. By taking away religion, it leaves the Republicans the battlefield of the economy, Iraq and foreign policy on which to fight for the presidency.