Huckabee: ‘Evangelicals will take a walk’ if GOP supports marriage equality.
Evangelicals will leave the Republican Party if it supports redefining marriage to include same-sex couples, Mike Huckabee said.
When asked if he believes the Republican Party will change its position and support gay marriage in a Wednesday Newsmax interview, Huckabee remarked, “They might, and if they do, they’re going to lose a large part of their base because evangelicals will take a walk.”
Huckabee currently hosts a Fox News show called “Huckabee.” He was formerly the governor of Arkansas and ran for president in 2008. Before he entered politics, Huckabee was a Southern Baptist pastor and a religious radio broadcaster.
“And it’s not because there’s an anti-homosexual mood, and nobody’s homophobic that I know of,” he continued, “but many of us, and I consider myself included, base our standards not on the latest Washington Post poll, but on an objective standard, not a subjective standard.”
“I don’t hate people, my religion does” is a crappy argument that cowardly haters use to dodge accusations of bigotry. But Mike doesn’t have to worry, RNC chairman Reince Priebus says that, while he wants the party to be more accepting of people who do support marriage equality, the party’s platform will still have the “we hate gays!” plank. At least for now, anyway.
Besides, where would these evangelicals “walk” to? Certainly not the Democrats and not Libertarians, either (that is, real libertarians. Not Republicans who don’t want to call themselves Republicans like Rand and Ron Paul). Start up an Evangelical Party? I suppose they could, but by leaving the GOP coalition, they’d actually be losing power.
The GOP will drop the marriage-inequality plank eventually. Probably within Huckabee’s lifetime. So I guess we’ll have the opportunity to find out where he’ll walk to when that day comes.
Huckabee and the bizarre anti-logic of gun apologists.
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee attributed the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in part to restrictions on school prayer and religious materials in the classroom.
“We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools,” Huckabee said on Fox News, discussing the murder spree that took the lives of 20 children and 6 adults in Newtown, CT that morning. “Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?”
Law enforcement has released few details on the alleged gunman, but Huckabee suggested that the separation of church and state may have spurred his rampage.
First off, I’d like to ask everyone in America to join me in inviting Mike Huckabee to STFU. This is as crassly opportunistic and insensitive as the comments of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell after 9/11. America was outraged by those words and we should find these just as bad.
But does it even make any logical sense? By Huckabee’s argument, more religious societies should be more peaceful and more atheistic societies should be more violent. But if we compare Europe and the middle east, we find the exact opposite correlation of violence and religiosity. In fact, logic would dictate that atheistic societies would be more peaceful, simply because everyone has one less thing to argue about.
Just as illogical is blaming violent video games or movies. Everyone has the same video games and American movies have a worldwide audience, so that makes no sense either. These don’t explain why America is more violent than most places other than political and drug-related war zones.
What’s different about America is that we have — by an insane margin — more guns per capita than any other country in the world. America has 88.8 guns per 100 residents — far outpacing second place Serbia, at only 58.2 per 100. The wide proliferation of guns is the problem. Period.
Anything else is just making lame excuses and ignoring the problem. It’s absolutely, 100%, inarguably clear that more guns does not mean more safety. We have more guns than anyone and we’re less safe than most.
Stories to Watch: 10/4/11
“Not gonna happen”
-Headline of the Day-
“Gov. Chris Christie will not run for president.”
After media-fueled speculation that Chris Christie may run for president started a rumor that Chris Christie would run for president, Christie himself shot that rumor down today.
“Now is not the time…” the Governor of New Jersey said in a press conference. “New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me.” The news comes as Christie-mania hits a fever-pitch, with at least one poll showing that Republican voters didn’t care whether he jumped in or not. I’m sure the disappointment will be just as impalpable as the excitement was.
Wait for pundits to say this is the latest sign that Christie is still weighing his options. At least, until they get around to speculating as to whether Mike Huckabee might run. (NJ.com)
-Wall Street protests, explained-
Click to embiggen
It’s the modern equivalent of “let them eat cake.” (Truthdig)
-Bonus HotD-
“Court turns away lawsuit over Obama eligibility.”
Long story short, Alan Keyes is some kind of record-holding sore loser. (AP)
Stories to Watch: 8/7/11
A couple of thoughts on the Standard & Poors downgrade. First, there was a big market sell-off just before it happened. We should be finding out exactly why that happened, who started selling first, and whether any insider trading went on there.
Second, the “US is headed for a Greece-style meltdown!” fearmongering should officially die. Nations on the brink of financial collapse don’t have AA+ ratings from one agency and AAA from all the rest.
Now here’s the news…
Finally, broad bipartisan agreement out of Washington. The issue; S&P’s downgrade is bullshit.
Steve Benen has a short history of US deficits and surpluses since Reagan. Not at all coincidentally, it’s also a timeline of Republican stupidity.
According to the Tea Party, people involved with the recalls in Wisconsin are Nazis and terrorists and embrace a philosophy that has “killed a billion people in the last century.” Seems to me that if one sixth of the world’s population were killed, someone would’ve noticed it. Why anyone ever took these clowns seriously is beyond me.
Also in the Wisconsin recalls; Republicans like to complain that they’re being attacked by out of shadowy, state groups. But a closer look shows that when they say “attacked,” they mostly mean “backed.”
Mike Huckabee is an idiot.
Rick Perry keeps threatening to run for president. I think he’s already missed his window — the media seems to be getting tired of it.
As they go home to face their constituents, dems make sure that Republicans face the music for voting to end Medicare as we know it.
Finally, Sen. John Kerry rightly names S&P’s action the “Tea Party downgrade.”
News Roundup for 8/4/11
History’s greatest educator
-Headline of the Day-
“How Bush Killed Bin Laden: What’s Really In Huckabee’s 9/11 Cartoon.”
Mike Huckabee is a man who thinks of the children. And so it only makes sense that he puts out cartoons that help the little tykes understand history. In one video, kids learn how Ronald Reagan saved America from black thugs in t-shirts that said “DISCO” on them and Franklin D. Roosevelt wasn’t around to fight WWII. You know, real accurate stuff.
And so it is with 9/11 and terrorism. In case you’ve forgotten, the story goes like this: a bunch of Muslims attacked America, because they hate our freedom and because they were Muslims. Then George W. Bush yelled at them with a bullhorn and gave birth to the PATRIOT Act atop the pile of rubble. Liberals, of course, hated the whole idea because they like terrorists and don’t like to make people mad, so they just wanted to forget 9/11 ever happened.
But not George W. Bush! He did a bunch of intelligence stuff and some stuff happened for a while that no one really needs to know all that much about and then, lo and behold, Osama bin Laden was dead! Yay for Bush!
Thank God we have Mike Huckabee to set the record straight. (Talking Points Memo)
-Cartoon time with Mark Fiore-
Hey kids, with all the fightin’ and feudin’ and fussin’, wouldn’t a little “bipartisanship” be nice? Well, we’re going to find out how bipartisanship in Washington works Yay!
Click for animation
Remember, bipartisanship means never having to say you’re sorry for breaking someone’s kneecaps with tire iron. (MarkFiore.com)
-Bonus HotD-
“Obama Turns 50 Despite Republican Opposition.”
Onion headlines are often amazingly accurate. (The Onion)
Stories to Watch: 6/1/11
Making burgers. On the grill. Because that’s the sort of thing I do. Now here’s the news…
Republicans don’t like it when President Obama tells them that tax rates are lower now than under Reagan. In fact, they pretty much refuse to believe it. Proof yet again that the GOP is at war with reality.
Sarah Palin met with Fox News execs; presumably to decide whether she’s running for president or being a Fox personality. She can’t do both and stay clear of the law.
Latest maybe-gonna-run-for-prez: Jim DeMint. Sooner or later, Republicans are going to have to come to grips with the idea that the candidates they have are the candidates they have. If they don’t like them, tough. Finding new nuts that are exactly like the ones already running isn’t going to save their asses.
Wisconsin recall target Dan Kapanke isn’t feeling any voter love for Republicans. “We’ve got tons of government workers in my district — tons,” he says. “From La Crosse to Prairie du Chien and to Viroqua and to Ontario and to Hillsboro, you can go on and on and on. We have to overcome that. We gotta hope that they, kind of, are sleeping on July 12th — or whenever the date is.” That quote wasn’t meant for public consumption, by the way — according to the report, it was “secretly recorded.” He also doesn’t hold out a lot of hope for Randy Hopper or Alberta Darling.
Jesus may have ruled out a presidential bid for Mike Huckabee, but he didn’t say anything about the veepee slot.
Rep. Anthony Weiner doesn’t make the most convincing argument in the world that an underwear shot is not of him.
Finally, a class act all the way, Sarah Palin goes to Ellis Island to bash the DREAM Act.
Stories to Watch: 5/15/11
I’m still missing posts on my blogspot blogs. As I wrote yesterday, if they aren’t up by tonight, I’m giving up and doing it myself. This means my javascript buttons project will probably be pushed back yet again. Mostly, I’m afraid that I’ll restore the posts, then blogger engineers will come along and re-restore them, leaving me with duplicates. Not the biggest problem in the world — they’re easy enough to delete — just one I’d rather avoid facing due to my own impatience. Besides, I’m hoping that blogger will restore them to their original URLS, which would mean any links anyone made to the pages would start working again. Keeping my fingers crossed. Now here’s the news…
The head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, is accused in the the sexual assault (read “rape”) of a New York hotel maid. While this throws a huge monkeywrench into French politics, it has global implications as well.
Mike Huckabee won’t run in 2012. Frankly, I’m a lot less surprised about that then I’m supposed to be, it seems. The big tip-off for me was that he made the announcement on his Fox show, which might’ve made things troublesome election/media laws-wise if his announcement had been anything other than “no.” Still, I’ll bet his ratings killed. After all, that’s what all the “Huckabee emails suggest a run!” stories were all about.
We hit the debt limit tomorrow. Expect a lot of stupid statements from Republicans, but remember that we’ve got enough to keep the lights on until about August — then catastrophe as the US defaults on loans and bonds. Until the week or two before we run out of money, it’ll all be bluster. It’s a game of chicken and, frankly, Republicans suck at it.
Rep. Paul Ryan, well-known author of fantasy-economics porn, will decide whether he wants to run for retiring Sen. Herb Kohl’s seat this week. I don’t like to make predictions, but I’m guessing no. Ryan is a “rising star” in the House GOP and, if he switches to the Senate, he’ll practically have to start over as a freshmen nobody. Still you never know — in terms of temperament, the calm, non-bomb-tossing Ryan seems more Senate. I’m not pinned down either way, but I think it’s more likely he’ll rule it out.
Newt Gingrich really is a jackass. Now he’s suggesting an illegal “poll test” — i.e., requiring someone to pass some sort of knowledge test before being allowed to vote. These were typically used in the racist south to keep poor blacks from voting. I’m sure the ‘baggers love the idea, but the irony is that this would disenfranchise a lot of teabagging morans — literacy was often a requirement.
Finally, conservative pundit George Will shocks America by actually being right for once.
News Roundup for 4/11/11
Donald Trump, shown making an ass of himself by opening his mouth
-Headline of the day-
“Trump says he is Obama campaign’s ‘worst nightmare’.”
White House adviser David Plouffe answered a question about Donald Trump on some talking head program this weekend and Trump sees that as proof that he has the Obama administration all scaredy-pantsed.
“I am leading a lot of polls and doing very well,” Trump told some foxbot on the network’s weekly Ask Donald Trump Fawning Questions segment. “I can tell you I am their worst nightmare.”
A slight problem here: Donald Trump isn’t leading in any poll. A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll (pdf) puts The Donald tying with Mike Huckabee for second place behind Mittens Romney — and that’s just for the GOP nomination. To give you any idea of the size of the Trump groundswell that poll measured, 17% gives you second place. So yeah, “leading” is just a tad wide of the truth there.
But hey, anything to keep a publicity stunt for a flailing reality show host going, right? (CNN)
-Not the best idea…-
Wiley Miller looks at the qualifications many politicians cite for holding office…
Click to enbiggen
…and finds them wanting. (GoComics.com)
-Bonus HotD-
“Bachmann: A one-term president.”
Shelly Bachmann says that after she wins the presidency in November, she probably won’t run for reelection.
That’s a load off my mind… (CNN)
Stories to Watch: 4/4/11
I made some English muffins today. From scratch. Turns out you can do that. Now here’s the news…
Matt Yglesias asks, “Will Paul Ryan propose a giant tax hike to make tax cuts for the rich affordable?” The answer: sure looks that way. The question is whether the rest of the party will be willing to jump off that particular cliff with him.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be tried by a military tribunal at Gitmo. While the media is portraying this as a “reversal,” Steve Benen points out that congress made any other outcome impossible.
John Boehner seems stuck on stupid.
Obama officially announces he’s running for reelection, surprising absolutely no one.
Mike Huckabee’s days as governor come back to haunt him.
Finally, Koch Industries’ DC offices get some visitors.
Stories to Watch: 3/4/11
Right-leaning pollster Rasmussen has more bad news for Wisconsin Republicans — Gov. Walker’s approvals are dropping like a stone. This has the rightwing blogosphere in a despair worthy of Goethe. It’s quite a feat to strike them spinless.
Mike Huckabee criticizes Natalie Portman for being pregnant and single, realizes this sounds a lot like Bristol Palin, and tries to jam the words back in his mouth. Mike’s been trying to play to the GOP base, while at the same time trying not to sound completely insane. Turns out, it can’t be done.
The US added 192,000 jobs last month, making it the best jobs report in three years. Of course Republicans, who haven’t actually gotten much of anything passed, take all the credit.
Meanwhile, Krugman points out that Republicans are doing everything in their power to choke off job growth and kill economic recovery.
Scott Walker isn’t Hitler… But Hitler is very disappointed in Scott Walker.
Speaking of Hitler, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown says something that’s undeniably true — that Hitler oppressed unions. So, of course, it’s the worst thing ever! Breitbart’s Big Government claims that Hitler was a big fan of unions — which might be believable, if it weren’t so famously untrue.
Finally, the Obama administration rolls up its sleeves and joins in on the growing labor fight in the states — behind the scenes, of course. I can understand them wanting to test the waters first, but you really wish someone would just shove them in.
