2008 Woodie Awards
The biggest base
Christopher Skeet
Issue date: 1/28/08 Section: Opinions
With our presidential candidates doing their usual routine of campaigning to calculated coalitions of demographic and special interest groups, Mike Huckabee is appealing to a group of Americans that transcends the boundaries of race and gender that seem to preoccupy other candidates' attention. This group is called the Christians.
For decades, Christians chuckled as the mainstream media and university dime-a-dozen armchair revolutionaries have confined them to the lunatic fringe of society. But politicians on both ends of the spectrum (traditionally the Right, but increasingly the Left) realize that brushing off an ideological group that comprises 78 percent of the total population (CIA World Factbook, Jan. 17) to placate a few vocal extremists was failing to rake in the votes. Both sides now put forth increasing effort to win the "Christian" vote.
On the Right, Huckabee's got abortion and gay marriage locked down. But there are other issues that our left-leaning co-ideologues concern themselves with as well. In case we forgot, there's quite a bit in the Gospels about helping the less fortunate.
While governor of Arkansas, Huckabee supported in-state tuition for colleges, expanded low-income and working class health insurance for children (USA Today, Jan. 2) and pushed for tax increases to fund other social programs. Huckabee also promises to be more environmentally-friendly than his GOP predecessors, a notion that would play well among Christians who didn't, in their rush to the "gay marriage" section of the book, skip over the part in Genesis where God says something about man being entrusted to care for the earth.
Huckabee's appeal across the lines is evident. In New Hampshire, he was endorsed by the National Education Association (the first time the state affiliate has endorsed a GOP candidate). In South Carolina, he was endorsed by several black religious leaders and civil rights organizations. Even Bill Clinton, the husband of Huckabee's rival, took the stage to call him "a very good man" (AP, Jan 21).
The fanatics on the Right bemoan him for actually helping the poor. The fanatics on the Left spew their usual anti-religious bigotry. But nearly 80 percent of America could be solidly represented by Mike Huckabee.
For decades, Christians chuckled as the mainstream media and university dime-a-dozen armchair revolutionaries have confined them to the lunatic fringe of society. But politicians on both ends of the spectrum (traditionally the Right, but increasingly the Left) realize that brushing off an ideological group that comprises 78 percent of the total population (CIA World Factbook, Jan. 17) to placate a few vocal extremists was failing to rake in the votes. Both sides now put forth increasing effort to win the "Christian" vote.
On the Right, Huckabee's got abortion and gay marriage locked down. But there are other issues that our left-leaning co-ideologues concern themselves with as well. In case we forgot, there's quite a bit in the Gospels about helping the less fortunate.
While governor of Arkansas, Huckabee supported in-state tuition for colleges, expanded low-income and working class health insurance for children (USA Today, Jan. 2) and pushed for tax increases to fund other social programs. Huckabee also promises to be more environmentally-friendly than his GOP predecessors, a notion that would play well among Christians who didn't, in their rush to the "gay marriage" section of the book, skip over the part in Genesis where God says something about man being entrusted to care for the earth.
Huckabee's appeal across the lines is evident. In New Hampshire, he was endorsed by the National Education Association (the first time the state affiliate has endorsed a GOP candidate). In South Carolina, he was endorsed by several black religious leaders and civil rights organizations. Even Bill Clinton, the husband of Huckabee's rival, took the stage to call him "a very good man" (AP, Jan 21).
The fanatics on the Right bemoan him for actually helping the poor. The fanatics on the Left spew their usual anti-religious bigotry. But nearly 80 percent of America could be solidly represented by Mike Huckabee.
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Randy DeMoville
posted 1/28/08 @ 7:11 PM CST
HOW SHOULD A CHRISTIAN DECIDE HOW TO VOTE?
The media polls are filled with results to the question, "What is most important to you in choosing a presidential candidate?" The demise of America may be in the answer. (Continued…)
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