Comments

How does that, in any way, seem that he's taking the Lord's name in vain? I think it was a great way, very poetic, to say that God's behind it.

I'm about as cynical as they come, but that was nice.

This is a tough one. It's appropriate - required, even - for Christians to thank God for their success and to credit their successes to God. However, if Huckabee is suggesting that he is "God's candidate," then that is hubris. From what I've seen of Huckabee, I think that he says this out of humility, not hubris, but it also worries me that, if he's elected (and I'm a supporter of his), he will see his presidency as a "divine appointment" (and not in a good way).

Huckabee deals with this question at the end of this (somewhat hostile) interview on Hardball.

Wonders, I think you meant to link this. And there, while he warns against a messianic complex, he doesn't address the questions over whether his surge in the polling is due to the miraculous power of Jesus Christ.

OK Ted, try this one, starting at 3:45.

Wow, I totally botched that first attempt to link. What I meant for the hardball interview was this.

But Ted is right - my second one is a more direct answer to the question.

What happened to "The Teddy Bear Affair" on Liveblog? Here is my comment on that mysteriously disappearing entry, which I'm posting here because it has some tangential relevance to Mike Huckabee:

Why, one has to ask, have "[we] allowed the message of political Islam to breed unchallenged within the British Muslim community...?" The ascendancy of radical egalitarianism and hyper-nondiscrimination is why. Viewed through that suicidal lens, Muslims are just another oppressed minority group who have been aggrieved by the evil persons of European ancestry. The tactic is always the same: make the minority group the victim and blame its bad behavior on one or more of the following: institutional racism, xenophobia, nativism, European culture, conservatism, or Christianity.

I hope Mr. Guthrie's comments (even though they were removed) are indicative of a growing realization that it is Islam generally, and not some radical tiny minority of same, which is incompatible with Western culture and values. The question you must really ask yourself is, am I willing to accept the West’s demographic and civilizational collapse? If so, then do nothing except vote for Mike "Open Borders for Christ" Huckabee.

Actually, Diver, I was surprised to find that Huckabee's grasp of both the threat of radical Islam and the nuanced politics of the Middle East were far better than I would have thought:

http://media.csis.org/csistv/?070928_huckabee

I just don't see how it furthers the cause of Christ to paint all of Islam with a broad brush. Don't get me wrong - I want the Haggai Sophia back as much as the next guy - but I am not interested in seeing the very tribal in-fighting Islamic world unite against the West.

Why is it only card-carrying evangelical Christian candidates (uh, I guess that would be only Huckabee) draw this kind of "concern." Every one of the candidates blathers with God-talk, but only Huckabee gets pinned for it. Is it because we need to exegete his comments--"Did he mean it's a "miracle" as in God intervening to contravene natural law, or that it's "providential" as in God working supernaturally through the natural?" If the former, then he's surely gone too far; if the latter, then that's okay. After all, every candidate believes God is on his/her side, even if he/she does not say it quite so directly.

And we as Christians certainly must believe that God still does intervene in raising up Godly leaders for nations, or else we would be just a bunch of Christianized fatalists. Isn't Huck just giving voice to what we really believe, but have been cowed by culture to repress ourselves from really saying? And for goodness sakes, he's politicking to the choir here--he's just schmoozing his Baptist base at Liberty University. How many times have you heard Democratic presidential candidates pandering to their liberal Christian base in some ethnic church pulpit (and it's simply accepted as acceptable)?

Mike Huckabee may well be "God's man" for the Presidency, even though no one wants to mouth those words with any surety. He's just saying what we all should be saying--the reason he's rising in the polls is because God wants him to be. God may lower them tomorrow, but the man is living by faith today and giving God glory. He should be free to let that kind of evangelical "faith talk" be a part of his public persona without being doubted by Christians. It's who he is. Let the voters decide what to do with it.

Frankly, I find it refreshing to hear a candidate whose God talk I know to be genuine, and not some kind of scripted spiritual lip-synching. I'm supporting Huckabee not just because he is a Christian, although that's certainly a big part of it, but because he is the ONLY consistent conservative candidate in the rest of the sorry lot of them. If Christians don't see God raising up a good and godly man in THIS man, then we deserve to get a Mormon, an adulterer, or some other mess of man on the ticket. I'm praying for Huck, which means I'm asking God to help him win if that is His will. Shouldn't Huck be able to suggest the same thing? Go Huck!

Is Huckabee running for President of the United States or Preacher of the United States?

I don't know much about Huckabee, but I think it's a fair estimate to say that we probably wouldn't recognize a genuine Christian running for office, because we've grown so used to flattering lies. But we can still test people's words. Pray, assume all the truth you can and update at each development, pray, take all conclusions to the extreme, pray, and add grace to avoid twisting any words. No deception will survive diligent inspection.

So basically, Huckabee (all candidates, for that matter) should be "innocent until proven guilty" according to your own carefully and prayerfully considered opinion. (That ideal is what democracy counts on.)

Mike "Liberal to the Core" Huckabee is now having his very own Willie Horton moment. The sad part is that while the Willie Horton story was somewhat trumped up by Bush the elder's campaign, the facts surrounding Huckabee's lack of sense are truly terrible. As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee indeed told the state’s parole board that he supported the release of a convicted rapist, Truth Wayne Dumond. He felt sorry for Dumond because he had been the victim of vigilante justice. Well, once Huckabee got him turned loose, he raped and then killed. Way to pick 'em Evangelicals. Please, look at the man's policies, not his supposed adherence to Evangelical Christianity.

Glad to hear Huckabees prayers have been more effective than Thompsons', since that's where his new supporters are primarily coming from. Let's hope the rest of America is okay with God anointing Huckabee. Clinton will have a party with that video clip when the election broadens.