Huckabee: Trying To Have It Both Ways
Posted by
tgirsch
It seems Mike Huckabee is upset that he’s being asked about his beliefs:
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist preacher who has surged in Iowa with evangelical Christian support, bristled Tuesday when asked if creationism should be taught in public schools.
Huckabee — who raised his hand at a debate last May when asked which candidates disbelieved the theory of evolution — asked this time why there is such a fascination with his beliefs.
“I believe God created the heavens and the Earth,” he said at a news conference with Iowa pastors who murmured, “Amen.”
“I wasn’t there when he did it, so how he did it, I don’t know,” Huckabee said.
But he expressed frustration that he is asked about it so often, arguing with the questioner that it ultimately doesn’t matter what his personal views are.
“That’s an irrelevant question to ask me — I’m happy to answer what I believe, but what I believe is not what’s going to be taught in 50 different states,” Huckabee said. “Education is a state function. The more state it is, and the less federal it is, the better off we are.”
Sorry, Governor, but you got the support you have now primarily by pandering to evangelicals. Trying to run away from that now won’t wash, either with the public, or with them. If you’re going to run as an evangelical, then own that. But evangelicals have long had a clear political agenda with respect to education (among other things), so it’s a fair question. Either own your ties to evangelicals, or shut up about them. Your choice.
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Trackback 12/5/2007
“Trying to run away from that now won’t wash, either with the public, or with them.”
The answer he gave was a good one. You certainly have no evidence that he is trying to “run away” from his beliefs. The opposite is true.
Comment 12/5/2007
[…] Mike Huckabee doesn’t think he should have to answer queries about creationism on the campaign trial, Lean Left begs to differ with the former pastor: Sorry, Governor, but you got the support you have now primarily by pandering to evangelicals. Trying to run away from that now won’t wash, either with the public, or with them. If you’re going to run as an evangelical, then own that. But evangelicals have long had a clear political agenda with respect to education (among other things), so it’s a fair question. Either own your ties to evangelicals, or shut up about them. Your choice. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
Pingback 12/5/2007
He also come across as a hypocrite for trying to play the federalism card when, more than any other Republican candidate, he’s been campaigning on all sorts of expansions of federal power (e.g. a national smoking ban).
Comment 12/5/2007
And furthermore If you really believe evolution to be both a lie and an evil conspiracy to strip “the children” of moral values a separate them from god, then why would you allow the godless blue states to teach this horrible falsehood?
Comment 12/5/2007
And furthermore If you really believe evolution to be both a lie and an evil conspiracy to strip “the children” of moral values a separate them from god, then why would you allow the godless blue states to teach this horrible falsehood?”
Exactly how would the president impose his will on the states if he wanted to prohibit the teaching of evolution? In spite of the insistence of liberals to the contrary, the presidency is not a dictatorship.
Comment 12/5/2007
the presidency is not a dictatorship.
Despite the current administration’s best efforts…
Comment 12/5/2007
Blah, blah, blah.
Comment 12/5/2007
The thing is Huckabee’s comments actually leave a lot of wiggle room that could mean a lot of things. Is he advocating Theistic Evolution? Insta-verse 4004BC? King James Version pseudo-literal version? What is it? Is this just another Abortion type issue where the GOP could do much much more to make their fundamentalist pawns happy, but know the push-back would make it a losing proposition?
[Comment edited per commenter’s request]
Comment 12/5/2007
Which version of the Bible gives a date for creation of 4004 B.C.? That’s a new one.
Comment 12/5/2007
Go forth and educate yourself. Of course, chronologies such as that assume that what the Bible says is true, and can be applied in practical terms, which is why most of us reject them…
Comment 12/5/2007