In recent posts Solon has exposed Hucakbee's constitutional weaknesses, his invocation of Divine Law, his panderings to the evangelical base. All of this is to the good. No issue is more important to Harrogate than the issue of gay rights, and Huckabee is decidedly on the wrong side of morality, and for that matter history, on this important issue. On a related note, the most damning thing about Huckabee so far is his recent defense of his statement in the 80s that AIDS victims should be quarantined.
And yet. Here are some Talking Points in Huckabee's favor:
Of the GOP candidates, only Guiliani (not counting Ron Paul) is clean of anti-gay bigotry.
Huckabee's Faith-Based rhetoric is less hypocritical than what we get from the other Republicans. For example, he takes seriously New Testament (not to mention humanist) mandates for taking care of the poor and weak.
Huckabee is not a global warming denier.
Of all the GOP candidates for the Presdidency, Harrogate has come to believe strongly that Huckabee is the least scary. Huck and McCain are the only ones who are not 100% in the pocket of the corporate death grip on the middle and lower classes--the subprime crisis, the health care embarrassment, and the outsourcing plague are all BFF with Giuliani, Thompson, and most especially the Mormon.
To an extent far eclipsing even McCain, Huckabee has demonstrated a consistent and acute worry over "kitchen table issues": Huck is the only GOP candidate, as he says in an effective soundbite, who is more in tune with workers than with those who lay workers off.
Huckabee is also (followed in a distant second by McCain) the least Xenophobic of the Republican candidates for President.
Look at his record in Arkansas. It demonstrates an active interest in education and health care for poor children (he achieved near-univesal health care in his state) that goes beyond lip service and extends into real life.
Finally, and most importantly of all, Huckabee is by far the least likely of the candidates (excluding Ron Paul) to escalate things in Iraq while at the same time experiencing a hard-on at the prospect of starting brand new bouncing baby wars. If you don't want another war, or several of them, then beware McCain, Giuliani, Thompson, and the Mormon: look again at Huckabee's emphasis on the Bush Admin's arrogance on the international stage, his frank embrace of diplomatic negotiation, and his refreshing lack of lust for blowing shit up to prove the bigness and badness of the United States.
Whoever gets the Democratic nomination, Harrogate will vote for. But of the GOP candidates, it is Stephen Colbert's running mate that Harrogate is least sickened by/afraid of.
4 comments:
Ummm, how about the new one where Huckabee compares gay marriage to beastiality? I mean, I've heard that one make the rounds before, but from a presidential candidate? Really?
To say that Huckabee is the lesser of several evils is to ignore some pretty damning evidence. I understand that he is relatively moderate--even liberal-- in terms of his support of workers. But that, to me, doesn't cancel out his bigotry.
I know that's not what Harrogate is arguing, but any implication that Huckabee isn't dangerous is dangerous, indeed.
Okay, I just reread the article about Huck and the beasts and he doesn't actually SAY that they're the same. He says that gay marriage opens the door to dangerous other options. Shady, shady.
Megs:
All Harrogate asks is that ye remember that, of all the GOP candidates, only Giuliani and McCain are not out and out knuckle-draggers on social issues.
And the obverse of this is, of these candidates, Giuliani and McCain are VERY likely to get people killed by the tens of thousands.
Huckabee is the best in the GOP field comparatively, in Harrogate's view.
Which no matter how you slice it, is a fucking sad commentary on American politics 2008.
Do we really have to debate which Republican candidate is the least evil? Can't for once, in the time that we have all known one another, just agree that all the Republican candidates are evil? And yes, I know Harrogate and Solon, that we have to be prepared, but I for one am not remotely prepared to entertain the thought of another Republican president. I will have to prepare myself for that at some point, but not quite yet.
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