Mark My Words - commentary on news, politics, religion, philosophy, science and social issues

Otherwise, I'd be voting against God in the Republican primary. At least, that's the direct implication of what Mike Huckabee recently stated.

Huckabee answers a question as to what he thinks is the reason for his surge in the polls:

There's only one explanation for it and it's not a human one. It's the same power that helped a little boy with two fish and five loves feed a crowd of five thousand people...I'm not being facetious, nor am I trying to be trite...(Video here, thanks to HotAir)

Despite the threat of dissing the almighty, I still do not have Huckabee on the top of my list per my recent post on the matter. This kind of pandering statement, which is actually worse if he really meant it, only reinforces my view and emphasizes a point I made in that previous post.

His tendency to justify his positions on global warming, torture, that parole, etc. as being properly Christian actions, does not help. I guess this means those Christians who disagree are lousy Christians or just atheists? While he has a gift for speaking well, perhaps as good as or even better than Ronald Reagan, such moralizing not only alienates other well meaning Christians, but makes it a cake walk to portray him as a theocrat that so many in this country fear. And with them, I do not desire someone who intends to install a theocracy in this country. The charge against Huckabee may be unfair, but he makes it very easy for people to simply draw such a conclusion about him in their own minds, without any prompting from the usual suspects or the typical attack ads. What some Christians may see his equating this or that position as derived from his Christian faith as a strength, I see as a serious flaw in this candidate, weakening his chances in the general election.

It also doesn't help that he now presents an immigration plan that's clearly designed to distract from his continued support of scholarships for illegal aliens.

Huckabee has a new immigration plan out, and it's way, way better than anyone would have expected from him.

[...]

But even on legal immigration, it represents progress, calling for the elimination of the egregious visa lottery and the preference category for adult siblings of American citizens. I'd eliminate more categories that that myself, and I'm not sure what the specifics are behind "Increase visas for highly-skilled and highly-educated applicants", but this is a big deal if Huckabee actually campaigns on this.

Sounds good, except that not long ago Huckabee had this to say:

Gov. Mike Huckabee Thursday denounced a bill by Sen. Jim Holt that would deny state benefits to illegal immigrants as un-Christian, un-American, irresponsible and anti-life. (source)

That was just in 2005. I wonder, will Huckabee now say that rejecting his new plan is un-Christian and un-American? It's one thing for politicians to pander, it's nearly guaranteed and at times necessary, but to add the religious moralizing element to nearly neck-snapping reversals of positions is only exceeded as a negative by Huckabee's ability to claim each new stance with total conviction and genuine sincerity in his tone and delivery.

So, I'm sorry baby Jesus, but Huckabee is not my choice until my only other option is one of the Democrat candidates.

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