Gingrich & Huckabee in Church

Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee, along with Oliver North, spoke at a Virginia church forum on Friday.  I'm not sure when Newt Gingrich became one of the "leading voices of the Republican Party's evangelical wing," as the news report describes him. But he has been much more overtly religious after his recent conversion to Catholicism.  I used to like Gingrich, back when he led the GOP opposition and helped regain control of Congress. But it has been all downhill from there. Gingrich was vying with Huckabee at the forum  to see who could make the stupidest statement. Here's Gingrich:

"I think this is one of the most critical moments in American history," Gingrich said. "We are living in a period where we are surrounded by paganism."

Does Gingrich even know what paganism means? And if we are at a critical point in history, does it have anything to do with paganism? Ok, that's pretty stupid. But then there was Huckabee.  

The United States is a "blessed" nation, he said, calling American revolutionaries' defeat of the British empire "a miracle from God's hand."

The same kind of miracle, he said, led California voters to approve Proposition 8, which overturned a state law legalizing same-sex marriages.

Huckabee might want to read some histories of the Revolutionary War. If he did, he might understand that there are plenty of actual reasons why the U.S. succeeded in achieving independence. There were no miracles involved, and none were necessary. And the comment about Prop 8, regardless of which side you are on, is just idiotic. How is a successful well-funded, well-organized grassroots political campaign some sort of miracle? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Huckabee doesn't think Barack Obama's election was a miracle given by God -- even though when he announced his candidacy, his victory was far more of a longshot than Prop 8.

Both Gingrich & Huckabee argued that "the rights of Americans stem from God and to ignore that connection is perilous." What's perilous is pretending that our rights come from a being that lacks any evidence for existence, instead of recognizing that they derive from our Constitution and political structure. They also actually "urged Christians to get involved in politics to preserve the presence of religion in American life." That's right, we don't have enough religion in American life. What country are they living in?

I expect this sort of thing from Huckabee. But now Gingrich is also doing his best to associate the GOP with conservative Christianity. Thanks for nothing, Newt.

Huckabee on the GOP

CNN reports that Mike Huckabee warns that the GOP is "at risk of becoming as 'irrelevant as the Whigs.'" That's not exactly an uncommon fear (or hope in the case of Democrats) these days. But what is different is Huckabee's take on the reason:  

Huckabee said the GOP would only further decline in influence should it alienate social conservatives — largely considered the most energetic and loyal faction of the party.

That's pretty funny. It's social conservatives who call everyone else in the party RINOs, cheer when moderates like Specter leave the GOP, wish others could be kicked out, and who demand ideological conformity. But somehow moderates are the problem. Moderates aren't calling for expelling people from the party. They simply want some say in the direction of the party in the aftermath of electoral disaster. The entire party is looking for ways to restore the GOP to power, and ideas differ. But only one part of the GOP, social conservatives, thinks that it alone represents "true" conservativism, and demonizes anyone who disagrees. Most moderates respect the big tent principle, and understand that social conservatives form an important part of the party. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for social conservatives, many of whom see moderates as enemies within the GOP.

If the GOP becomes irrelevant, one of the reasons will be that politicians like Huckabee are what pass for leaders in today's Republican party. 

Gallup Poll on 2012 GOP Candidates

A new Gallup poll shows that Palin, Romney & Huckabee -- in that order -- are the leading choice of Republicans and "Republican-leaning independents" in 2012.  Hopefully Republicans can come up with some better options before then.  Let's consider these three in reverse order.

Huckabee.  An populist who likes to mix his religious beliefs with policy, and who isn't particularly conservative except on social issues.  No thanks.  He's my least favorite of the three.

Romney.  Mitt seems like a decent guy, is an ok speaker, and is the best on economic policy.  He's my top choice of the three.  But his campaign this year didn't exactly catch fire.  He couldn't even get the nomination in a fairly weak field of candidates.  Why would he do better in 2012?

Palin.  Much of the base loves her, but I think that's as much a reaction to the insane hatred & smears of her by the left as anything else. Other than energy and her social conservative positions, what do we actually know about her policy views? Does anyone really think she has a good grasp of national issues? What about her performance during the campaign actually makes people think she'd be a good candidate in 2012? She gave a good acceptance speech and was great at the convention.  From then on it was all downhill. Why does she deserve a shot at the top of the ticket?