Mike Huckabee

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Michael Dale "Mike" "Bubba" Huckabee is a former governor of the State of Arkansas, and was a candidate for the 2008 United States presidential election. He surprised everyone by winning the Iowa Republican caucus. He is a Baptist minister, and as a young earth creationist, rejects evolution, among other elements of modern science like heliocentricism, gravity, and math. One of Huckabee's greatest victories was losing over one hundred pounds, and then turning that energy towards making the kids of Arkansas healthier as well. Huckabee polled first in the Iowa Caucuses, and third in the New Hampshire Primary. He stayed in the race even after the party coalesced around John McCain, claiming that he "majored in miracles, not in math" - which is probably not the best background for someone who's supposed to deal with a budget deficit. He was also rumored to be a potential contender in 2012, but eventually decided that he liked his Fox News gig better after all.

Contents

Leadership

Huckabee's Ideal Cabinet.

Despite some reservations amongst the old guard of the religious right - who question Huckabee's economic populism - Huckabee was the favorite of the younger evangelical movement, who admire him for his open commitment to "Christian values" and their place in government.[1]

Given Huckabee's electoral success (he won in Iowa, and continued to get up to double digit vote counts against the presumptive nominee McCain through the last of the primaries), though, it is necessary to reflect upon just what the success of this kind of candidate would mean for the rest of America. Namely, how much would Huckabee's religious vitality have affected his leadership, and would it have affected it negatively?

The answers are "greatly," and "yes."[2] Huckabee has said openly that, in his mind, America must be under the rule of God: his God.[3]

I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that’s what we need to do is amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than trying to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.

In short, Huckabee advocates nothing short of theocracy.

He is not a man who uses religion to guide logical actions, or to inform a logical inquiry; he uses religion as the beginning and end of his political reasoning. For example, during his tenure as Arkansas Governor, Huckabee refused to sign disaster relief legislation, for the mere reason that the legal boilerplate in the bill seemed to constitute a rhetorical slight to God. The machinery of Government ground to a halt, to stall a trifling offense to the Almighty.[4] Conduct on the campaign trail suggests that Huckabee's tendency to subordinate logic and governmental responsibilities to petty religious squabbles is undiminished - in August, Huckabee (then trailing in the polls) engaged in a very public and very personal religious squabble with the Religious Right's other darling, Sam Brownback.[5] Insofar as leadership requires one to rise above themselves to guide the nation, Mike Huckabee is no leader.

Evangelism as an Influence on Huckabee's Candidacy

Huckabee and Covenant Marriage

He is, in some ways, a really creepy guy. He worked hard to bring "covenant marriage" to Arkansas. Covenant marriage is a formal status in which the couple is not eligible for "no-fault divorce" - people who sign up for this form of "super marriage" must show a reason for divorce such as abuse or neglect. This is as opposed to the usual situation where "irreconcilable differences" are sufficient cause for divorce. Obviously this was designed to bring the definition of "marriage" more into line with his Christian fundamentalist viewpoint. After the passage of the law Huckabee converted his own marriage to a "covenant marriage" - though he is the only high profile Arkansan to have done so.

Actions such as this should be a warning to those non-evangelicals who would support Huckabee for President, and a reminder that for the evangelical politician, there is no division between church and state.

Huckabee on School Prayer

How did we move in one generation from a society with a shared, confident sense of right to a society of relativism and moral decay? The first step to answering that question is to admit there isn't just one answer. I've heard that it all started when we took prayer out of schools. That's a simplistic answer. It wasn't just prayer in schools; it wasn't just TV; it wasn't just Watergate; it wasn't just welfare.[6]

Huckabee the Scientist

He has used the infamous bumblebee argument to try to show that science doesn't know everything. Speaking about the bumblebee he said:[7]

The fat bumblebee, whose ability to fly has baffled generations of scientists. The bumblebee, being unaware of these scientific facts, goes ahead and flies anyway and makes honey and pollinates the other plants

Logic and modern aeronautical science notwithstanding, Huckabee clings to the notion that science is to be ignored.

He also has reservations about evolution. Apart from the famous "hand raising" at the first Republican debate (where he, Tom Tancredo, and Sam Brownback raised their hands to the question, "who doesn't believe in evolution?"), he said recently:[8] "If you want to believe that you and your family came from apes, that's fine. I'll accept that. I just don't happen to think that I did."

On a recent episode of the Colbert Report, Huckabee reiterated his belief that, regarding evolution, "it's all a farce."[9]

Optimists among us may hope that, while Huckabee's private views on religion are surely radical, they would not seep into his political life. His record as governor, however, conveys the exact opposite conclusion: under Huckabee's tenure, science education languished, as if the modern scientific apparatus were the target of a renewed witch hunt.[10]

Huckabee the Historian

Mr Huckabee has been careful to avoid actually saying that he believes the earth is six thousand years old. When he was asked by Wolf Blitzer if the creation of the Earth occurred six thousand years ago and only took six days, as stated in the Old Testament, Huckabee said, "I don't know. I wasn't there."[11]

Huckabee the Hunter

He has claimed that angels guide his bullets when he hunts. Seriously.[12]

I decided that one way or another, this hunt is about to be over, because I can't stand any more of this cold. And somehow by the grace of God, when I squeezed the trigger, my Weatherby .300 Mag., which has got to be the greatest gun, I think, ever made in the form of a rifle -- for my sake in hunting, I've never squeezed the trigger and not gotten something -- did its work and somehow the angels took that bullet and went right to the antelope, and my hunt was over in a wonderful way.

Huckabee the Lawyer

Mr Huckabee has made the outrageous suggestion that the Ten Commandments form the basis of US law.[13] In fact, about half the Ten commandments are completely incompatible with the First Amendment to the American constitution.

See our Ten Commandments article for reasons why they would make a very bad basis for any country's law.

The Art of the Publicity Stunt - a.k.a., The 'Huck and Chuck' Show

When Huckabee was lagging in the polls, he resorted to a number of publicity stunts to raise awareness of, well, his existence -- including several appearances on the TV show The Colbert Report. When Huckabee's poll numbers lagged below 5% in November, for example, he even promised host Stephen Colbert the vice presidential spot on his eventual (and, then, impossible) Republican presidential ticket. Later, Huckabee reaffirmed his commitment to Colbert.[14] Despite his front-runner status, fostering the image of the "involved" and "hip" candidate is clearly his goal.

Huckabee also gathered the support of prominent creationist, actor, and butt-of-jokes Chuck Norris. For example, when Huckabee appeared with him in a TV ad, the candidate proclaimed: "My plan to secure the border? Two words: Chuck Norris."[15] So far, Huck has remarkably coasted on style more than substance, leading to wild support amongst evangelicals (who merely demand to see a creationist, before they give their support), and wild opposition amongst the Republican Old Guard.[16]

Parodist or not?

As the election cycle unwound, and we were treated to Governor Huckabee being on the Colbert Report for the nth time, Governor Huckabee making fun of his math skills and lack of awareness of the primary delegate structures on Saturday Night Live, and Governor Huckabee playing bass in random pickup bands at hoot nights... the question had to be asked: "Governor Huckabee...parodist?.. or the real thing?" We may never know how this stalwart of strangeness would have run the United States, since he won't.

See Also

  • FairTax: Huck's magic solution for the economy.

Footnotes

  1. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/us/politics/13huckabee.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
  2. For an overview, see the LA Times.
  3. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/15/huckabee-amend-the-constitution-to-gods-standards/
  4. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE0DB173BF932A15750C0A961958260
  5. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/02/a-righteous-e-mail-battle/
  6. [Mike Huckabee Character Makes a Difference]
  7. Huckabee the bumblebee.
  8. Huck not primate
  9. Colbert Report, 15 minutes through, 9 Jan 2008. Video on Colbert Nation
  10. http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/01/how_bad_could_huckabee_be.php
  11. Huckabee not present at creation!
  12. Angels guide his bullets
  13. Huck and the Ten Commandments
  14. The Colbert Report, 9 Jan 2008.
  15. 'Huck and Chuck' show
  16. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/us/politics/13huckabee.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1200168121-P/vXr9rdiSTOk/f9uFnYTg
United States 2008 Presidential election articles on RationalWiki
Topics: 2008 U.S. Presidential Election - Democratic Party - Debate:Religious beliefs and public office - Republican Party - Same-sex marriage - United States Electoral College
Candidates: Hillary Rodham Clinton - Rudolph Giuliani - Mike Huckabee - John McCain - Alan Keyes - Dennis Kucinich - Ron Paul - Mitt Romney
Running mates: Joe Biden - Sarah Palin
Winner: Barack Obama
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