Value Voters Favor Huckabee

Among the contenders for the GOP Presidential nomination, Mike Huckabee is the clear front runner among Value Voters.

At the Values Voter Summit in Washington this weekend, Huckabee easily won the Presidential straw poll taken Saturday with nearly 29 percent of the vote - getting more than double the support of any other candidate, and, in fact, besting any two other candidates combined!'

Romney, Pawlenty, Palin and Pence each won roughly 12 percent of the 597 votes cast.

It's a long way to 2012, but if he can sew up the conservative and religious base, he can then reach out to broaden his appeal to independents and moderates.

Romney reveals what he believes?

Romney's true beliefs? Or just what he thinks the audience believes or wants to hear?

New Poll: Huckabee on top

The results of a Washington Post poll:

27. (ASKED OF REPUBLICANS AND GOP-LEANING INDEPENDENTS) If the 2012 Republican presidential primary or caucus in your state were being held today, and the candidates were (READ LIST) for whom would you vote?

Mike Huckabee 26%
Mitt Romney 21%
Sarah Palin 19%
Newt Gingrich 10%
Tim Pawlenty 4%
Jeb Bush 3%
Haley Barbour 1%
Bobby Jindal (vol.) 2%
Charlie Crist (vol.) *

It's only 2009, but Huckabee is slowly beginning to edge ahead in some polls. A recent Public Policy Polling poll also had him closer than any other Republican to Obama in a head-to-head race, trailing 48-42. Last month he trailed by seven points.

I Have a Nightmare

Yesterday, our new Attorney General made a public speech commemorating African-American History Month. Among other notable statements, Holder called this country “a nation of cowards”, because “we, average Americans” fail to discuss and work out “unresolved racial issues”.

My first reaction to Holder's comments was that Obama's election is living proof that he is right, i.e., that the nation would rather elect the left-most US Senator (from the corrupt Chicago political machine, no less) to the Presidency just because he is black, in order to pretend it had gotten beyond the race issue, than to confront it. (This is the meaning of the satire, "Barack, the Magic Negro", based on an idea expressed by an African-American LA Times reporter.)

But the more I read Holder's statements, the more troubled I get. Specifically, Holder acknowledged that America has done “a pretty good job of melding the races in the workplace”, but then decried the largely segregated lives that black and white Americans continue to lead “(O)n Saturdays and Sundays.”

So, what’s the DOJ got to do with what Americans do in their spare time, you ask? “Through its work and through its example, this Department of Justice, as long as I am here, must—and will—lead the nation to the ‘new birth of freedom’ so long ago promised by our greatest President (Lincoln).”, continued Holder.

Forgive me if I’m mistaken, but I just don’t seem to remember that Lincoln ever tried or suggested using the US Department of Justice “through its work”, to enforce any sort of social agenda for the private lives of Americans.

But it sounds like our new Attorney General intends for the DOJ to get into the business of criminalizing non-integrated church-going and socializing. Outside of the fact that this seems to portend an Orwellian nightmare of government intrusion into citizens' private lives, it is also ironic in that it has been the liberals all along who have hijacked the civil rights movement and consistently sought to divide the nation racially, fighting the noble "I have a dream"-type dream of an integrated society every step of the way.

In truth, of course, there is only one human race; racism belonging on that scrap heap of fictitious ideas that have wreaked such havoc with modern society, right along with man-made global warming, Keynesian economics and "safe abortion”.

Stand your ground, Chip!

It might seem that there's already too much being made of the flap over our good friend, Chip Saltsman's including Paul Shanklin's "Barack, the magic Negro" parody in a Christmas gift CD to fellow Republicans. But I'm jumping in here for the simple reason that every published quote I can find on this one misses the point.

Let's just look at the reactions in the mix: First, we have the Democrat opposition types already pulling their "R word" trigger, with RNC Chair Mike Duncan, fellow RNC Chair candidate Saul Anuzis, ND party chair Gary Emineth and no less prominent a figure than Newt Gingrich piling on and suggesting that this episode should end Chip's bid to succeed Duncan as national Party Chairman.

Then we have some real stand-up guys like fellow RNC Chair candidate Ken Blackwell supporting Chip and chiding other RNC members for dissing him. Blackwell said: "When looked at in the proper context, these concerns (about Chip's sending the parody around) are minimal." Said OK committeewoman Carolyn McClarty: “I don’t think he intended it as any kind of racial slur. I think he intended it as a humor gift,” adding “I think it was innocently done by Chip.”

So what's missing here, you ask? I would suggest a little perspective is missing. There's no question that a good perspective has to take into account that there is still a tremendous race-counsciousness and racism in America. So in fact, one really can't put out a parody about a "magic Negro" without provoking that 800-pound gorilla.

But here's the problem, as I see it: The Democrats want us all to pet the gorilla and keep him fat and happy and full of bananas. And those in the GOP who are afraid of them and their media sponsors want us to go along and do just that. That's what poor ol' Senator Trent Lott did, and the gorilla sat on him!

I would suggest that thoughtful Americans--certainly thoughtful Republicans--want to get rid of that gorilla called American racism. And how best to do that than with a great parody that pokes fun at racists and race-baiters like Al Sharpton? That's what Shanklin's parody of Sharpton does so brilliantly in "Barack, the Magic Negro". I remember when my old college friend Dwight Raiford organized the re-institution of the Harlem Little League baseball team some years ago. I was hoping he might call the team the "Harlem Whiteskins", as a way to do the same thing: make a mockery of racism.

So hang in there, Chip. And thank you for being unafraid to help us all laugh at America's foibles. Feeding the gorilla will only make it grow. But laughing at it ultimately might just make it go away.

Message from Mike

November 04, 2008 - 11:40 PM
We Will Be Back In Strength
by Mike Huckabee

I'm very proud to have supported Senator McCain and the only regret is that more Americans didn't share my conviction that he would have made an outstanding President. I not only recognize, but respect that we are a nation in which the people choose and tonight they have chosen Senator Obama. He was not my choice, but he will be my President and I will pray for him to lead this great nation with God's help and grace. He will face serious challenges to lead our country and he will need all Americans to give him a chance.

The campaign is over and now is the time for governing and leading. The Republican Party must now reassess where it is and where it is going. Our problem is not that our views aren't acceptable, it is that many in our party have abandoned the very principles that once drew Americans to trust us. Our party will be back with strength, but tonight we should all celebrate the historic nature of this election and put our country ahead of our party.

As disappointed as I am that we have lost the election, I can't help but feel that many courageous leaders of the civil rights movement look down from heaven tonight with a smile that the day has come when a man is elected without regard to his color. I salute President-elect Obama for his discipline and tenacity that has given our country the opportunity to witness this significant event.

Politics is not an event but a process. We sometimes lose the events but it never gives us the right to stop being faithful to our principles that enlisted us in the process. We shall live to fight another day.

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2012

Okay, that's over. President Obama.

Now, let's start building for 2012.

Mike is not getting enough mention in the media or polls. Romney is the "leader" at this point, with Palin - whom I like - getting some support.

We need to get the word out.