Governor Romney and the echo chamber of Conservative media have been calling for Governor Huckabee to drop out of the race to allow Conservatives to unite behind Romney. There are a few problems with this appeal.
1) Mike Huckabee was leading or tied in all the southern states when this appeal was begun. The result of the constant drumbeat of the lie that this is a "two-man race" has been an erosion of some of Governor Huckabee's support, but polls in the past couple of days have shown that support growing back.
2) Mike Huckabee was in SECOND place in the national polls when this appeal began, so if anyone should have considered dropping out, it should have been THIRD place Romney.
3) A large percentage of those of us who are supporting Governor Huckabee would never consider voting for Romney. One of the draws of Mike Huckabee is his authenticity, that is, he is believable. Mitt Romney has no credibility with those of us who value authenticity. It's one thing to change one's positions. It's quite another to change one's positions about ten minutes before one forms an exploratory committee to run for President. The bottom line is that we just don't believe Mitt Romney. To further cement this "authenticity gap," take another look at points 1 & 2.
For weeks, Mitt Romney and the Conservative media echo chamber have been calling Governor Huckabee a Liberal, but now they claim that he is siphoning off Conservative votes from Romney. How is that possible? It's not. The two claims are mutually exclusive.
Governor Huckabee is by far the most socially Conservative candidate. His Fair Tax plan is the most Conservative economic plan espoused by any of the candidates, and his record as Governor of Arkansas is more Conservative than Romney's record as Governor of Massachusetts. On National Security issues, he is at least the equal of Governor Romney, and I believe that the authenticity gap causes Romney to lose this prong as well.
Mike Huckabee is the best candidate for the three-legged stool of Reagan Conservatism, but many are too blinded by their own hubris or greed to see it.
5 comments:
It's sad, but it looks like the general direction of the party is away from conservative values. We've got a number of liberals infiltrating the party to the point of having two seperate brands of liberal controlling the country.
Even Huckabee is lack on illegal immigration much like McCain. I wish the media hadn't begun to seriously disregard Huckabee last week. One would think there are only two candidates headed into super Tuesday.
McCain, Huckabee Worst Picks for Evangelicals
MEDIA ADVISORY, Feb. 4 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Reverend Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK), in his capacity as a private citizen, today released this statement regarding tomorrow's primary votes:
"I have spent the last 33 years as an active evangelical Christian. I am an ordained evangelical minister. I graduated from an evangelical Bible college and an evangelical seminary. I serve on the board of America's oldest association of evangelical church leaders, and I head one of the most active evangelical ministries in Washington, DC.
"I have thought long and hard about the upcoming elections. I have prayed earnestly about them, and I have met many of the candidates and their top campaign people and I have studied their platforms and policy proposals.
"After careful and prayerful consideration, I have concluded that an evangelical vote for Mike Huckabee is a vote for John McCain, and a vote for John McCain will be a disaster for this country.
"Let me explain. It's clear to me and many others that Mike Huckabee is not broadening his appeal enough to win the primary. Therefore, his only contribution is to siphon off votes, giving McCain a clear path to victory. It's very possible Huckabee is being positioned to be John McCain's pick for vice president. In order to win, McCain needs Mike Huckabee and the evangelical votes he brings with him. The specter of a McCain-Huckabee ticket is bad for evangelicals.
"McCain is proud of his signature accomplishment, the McCain-Feingold law co-authored with liberal Democrat senator Russ Feingold. McCain-Feingold severely limits the First Amendment rights of evangelicals. McCain will use this law as the litmus test for his Supreme Court nominees. If a judge is likely to be against McCain's unconstitutional law, McCain will not nominate him. Make no mistake about it, constitutional originalist judges will be against McCain-Feingold. These same judges will also be pro-life, for traditional marriage and for the public acknowledgment of God.
"Only liberal judges will support McCain-Feingold. They will also be pro-abortion, anti-traditional marriage and against the public acknowledgement of God. So, with a McCain-Huckabee administration, or with a McCain-anyone administration, we get the wrong judges. Most distressing, we get the wrong justices on the U.S. Supreme Court."Evangelicals must consider both the stakes and the realities in this election. Mike Huckabee's continuation only helps John McCain. The consequences are just too great to take this risk. A McCain victory will hurt this country because of the long-term damage of the wrong judges and justices. Worse, McCain's court legacy will continue to hurt our children and our grandchildren, perhaps even our great grandchildren.
"Evangelicals must choose wisely from among candidates other than Mike Huckabee and John McCain as they vote tomorrow, February 5.
"For identification purposes only, the Reverend Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK) is president of Faith and Action in the Nation's Capital, chairman of the Committee on Church and Society for the Evangelical Church Alliance and co-founder of the annual National Memorial for the Pre-born and their Mothers and Fathers, the only pro-life worship service held inside the U.S. Capitol complex in Washington, DC.
It’s time to Rally to Romney so we can block McCain!
The Rev. Schenck, whoever that may be, is entitled to his opinion, but he's plain wrong. He's wrong about the "badness" of John McCain and he's wrong, more pertinently to this blog, about what impact Mike Huckabee is having on the primary race.
It's nothing more than another fiction foisted by people who can't see straight that Huckabee is siphoning from Romney. There's ample evidence that a majority of Huckabee voters are more likely to support McCain than Romney, were it a head to head matchup.
Besides, this is a PRIMARY election. This is where you vote your conscience, and make sure your primary concerns are heard at the party deliberations.
Further besides, i see no reason to trust Mitt Romney as a conservative. He cannot be trusted to lead the prolife cause, to take one significant example.
I respect your thoughts on the subject.
I just worry that McCain will not stand by his Presidential Platform of appointing conservative judges. McCain's record is more and more liberal over the years.
I hope your have a great day.
fleeting thoughts, i stopped in again to thank you for your magnaminity (if that is a word), though i do have to say that i'm disappointed to read some of the not-nice things you say on your political blog. For example, describing Huckabee's speech last night, you cracked that you think Mike's wife looks funny. That's beneath you, and should not be part of our political discourse, particularly for people for profess to be God-followers.
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