VALUES VOTER
(or)
POWER HUNGRY MANIPULATORS?

Tony Blankley has a Townhall column today about Values Voters, etc.
“…Faith and tradition by the national Democratic Party was also conspicuously visible in the popular media, journalism and academe -- which, while not explicitly a part of the Democratic Party, still added to the sense of moral decay that most Americans were feeling and thereby benefited the GOP. This resulted in Republicans winning six of the nine presidential elections between 1972 and 2004, the GOP losing only after Watergate and to Bill Clinton (and then holding Clinton to less than 50 percent of the national vote). Of course, conventional issues still mattered a lot. For example, in 1980, Reagan ran powerfully on strengthening America in the face of Soviet aggression and promising to cut taxes and spending. Conversely, values were always important either explicitly or as an atmospheric in national elections. For example, New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller's divorce seriously hurt him in his 1964 bid for the Republican nomination. So it is never a binary matter of the public caring or not caring about values. Rather, as elections are decided on the margins -- by the shift of only a few million voters in even a landslide presidential election -- the question I am considering is whether we are witnessing a shift of emphasis by a critical few million traditionally Republican voters away from values in the 2008 election….”

THE HUCKABEE “FAITH” QUESTION
Earlier today (or maybe it was yesterday) Harold Hutchison of Called As Seen
 emailed about Huckabee. He has an interesting commentary today about Huckabee, Iowa, Romney’s LDS faith, and manipulations.  Harold and I both have the same feeling about conservatives.  They’re dragging down the GOP.  I think they are singing their swan songs and don’t know it.  Harold referenced an Article6 posting by Lovell Brown about a Fred Barnes piece on Huckabee’s “Faith” TV Ad.
“…The Huckabee ad, entitled “Believe,” begins with Huckabee’s emphasis on the importance of his faith. “Faith doesn’t just influence me,” he says. “It really defines me.” A few seconds later, the words “Christian Leader” are emblazoned on the screen. Even TV evangelist Pat Robertson, a leader in the emergence of Christian conservatives as a major bloc in Republican politics, didn’t appeal to voters with such a strong emphasis on his personal religious faith when he ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988 - and finished second in Iowa. What’s striking is that it’s not until the end of the Huckabee ad that the words “Authentic Conservative” pop up on the screen. As a result, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that, at least in this ad, Huckabee has made his political views secondary to his religious beliefs. Perhaps this is what Christian conservatives in Iowa want to hear. But Huckabee may be risking a backlash….”

Brown wrote
“…What does this have to do with The Question? An awful lot, I’m afraid. Can anyone doubt what was running through the minds of Huckabee strategists when they decided to run that ad? They know Huck is rising in the polls. They know many Iowa caucus voters are Evangelical Christians. They know Romney — the only candidate ahead of Huck– is vulnerable to strategies aimed at his Mormon faith. They also know they can appeal to discomfort among some Evangelicals about Romney’s Mormonism– perhaps just enough votes to eke out a victory, which would be a stunning triumph for their guy…”

Also read the most recent commentary about Huckabee’s alleged anti-Mormon ad, etc. Harold references a NYTimes article accusing Huckabee of playing the Mormon card.

MORMON BASHING A ‘CROCK’
I think the MSM and conservative commentators who might not be as aware of the world around them than the “average” Republican, is making a huge mistake here.  The whole idea of bashing the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints is a huge crock. Neither group resides in a world where the LDS church is one of the fastest growing in the US.  You can’t throw mud at one of the fastest growing churches in the country and not have it splash back on you.  These people just don’t comprehend the reality ‘on the street’.  

Mitt Romney’s being Mormon is just a coincidence and a way for Mitt Romney to garner more attention.  He’s like the truly sick individual who would hire someone to beat himself up so he can get attention.  The reality is that there is little “Mormon bashing” in the US.  Rational people don’t bash Mormons.  They may have theological differences, but there’s nothing wrong with having theological differences.  I have huge theological problems with Mike Huckabee’s Baptist version of Christian Theology, and I was once a Baptist.  (It’s all about Holy Eucharist and the Baptist distaste in ‘that Catholic thing’).  Am I going to bash Huckabee because he’s Baptist?  It’s a stupid non issue.  

EMAIL ABOUT IMMIGRATION
I received an email from someone today about the stats involved in illegal immigration, welfare, iegal immigration, and there are some fascinating statistics just waiting to be crunched.  Like the whole blow-up over illegals taking up emergency room space in California hospitals, the idea that illegals are sucking up welfare for legal Americans is also a manipulation.

Dave Neiwert wrote this:
“…I have always wondered if the frustration of legal immigrants isn’t somewhat misplaced. Shouldn’t they be asking why they have to endure so many enormous obstacles to citizenship in the first place? And aren’t those hassles the very reason so many millions of people, frustrated and desperate, are skipping in through the back door in the first place? I try to remind people that the foundation of our current immigration law, in many regards, is the Immigration Act of 1924, which first created the concept of the “illegal alien” in its drive to exclude all immigration from Asia, as well as other targeted “undesirable” nationalities. The overtly racist elements of the law have been largely stripped out over the years, but it’s important to understand that the underlying intent – the preservation of the status-quo white privilege, riddled with a xenophobic mistrust of “alien” cultures – has never fully gone away. As Wikipedia notes, the law “was structured to maintain the cultural and ethnic traditions of the United States” -- that is, the existing system of white privilege….”

Steve Maloney, from Campaign Victory A wrote in an email to me today:
“…From a Christian perspective, you are doing and saying exactly the proper things.  For the most part, I stay away from the immigration issue because it's so charged.  One important Republican consultant (Raymond Smalley) absolutely hates me because I suggest one of his candidate ads was racist, which it is.   I do understand the "antis" frustration over the fact that so many immigrants are moving around in the shadows of America.  But my point always has been this:  what if any of us (Steve, Sandra, Malia) were in the shoes of an impoverished Mexican or Gautamalan family?  What would we do?  Would we cross the border in search of work.  Of course the answer is:  Yes.   My stance in favor of Immigration Reform (McCain-Graham style) cost me readers on Townhall and is one of the reasons I switched to Blogger.  I have been emphasizing the practical politics element, basically saying that we cannot afford to lose yet another huge bloc of voters.  If you tick off tens of millions of voters there's no way to win an election.   One of the great ironies is that the Democrats' "liberal" stance on immigration doesn't hurt them at all.  Santorum, anti-immigration, lost to Casey, pro-immigration, by 59% to 41%.  Santorum's anti-stance earned him nothing!  Casey may have lost 5,000 votes (out of 5 MILLION) cast.   In the county where I lived in PA, immigration is a non-issue.  That's true throughout almost all of PA.  This is something the antis find impossible to grasp.

In Sarah Palin's Alaska they desperately need new residents, and I don't believe they care about their Green Card status.  In PA, there are jobs (e.g., picking vegetables, cleaning rest rooms, etc.) that almost NO "regular" American citizens will do.  There are some businesses here on the verge of going out of business because there's nobody to do the work.  Some businesspeople in Arizona and elsewhere are moving TO Mexico or Asia because they can't find "legal" workers.  One of these companies makes steel fittings and pays $20 an hour….”  

MICHAEL MEDVED’S COLUMN
Medved’s most recent Townhall column reflects something of why Huckabee may be ‘surging’.
“…In other words, religiously as well as morally, Americans refuse to march in lock step along a single parade route, at the same time that we find ourselves unable to stand still. All measures of morality show a complex, multi-faceted, dynamic and, to some extent, turbulent nation. Some Americans (unfortunately concentrated in the entertainment industry, academia and other centers of major influence) explore decadence and experimental values with more daring or abandon than ever before. At the same time, many others flock to our churches and synagogues (where religious services regularly draw four times more participants than all feature films every weekend) and affirm faith-filled values with energy, self-confidence, and dedication that continue to energize the religious conservative movement. In a sense, most Americans have boarded one of two express trains racing in opposite directions – toward more radicalism, or more traditionalism; heading to greater skepticism and secularism on the one hand, or to more spirited religious commitment on the other.

In all cases, no passage is final: life-long skeptics and cynics may embrace Biblical truth in their ‘70’s or ‘80’s (like the celebrated and controversial case of the British professor Antony Flew) or prominent religious leaders, especially when tainted by scandal or tagged with hypocrisy, may walk away from the faith of a life time. Choice remains an option, both nationally and individually – even for those who believe that a Higher Power ultimately forces our hand.

Moreover, in the United States no story concludes with a single generation. Those raised in strictly religious homes will, on famous occasions, throw over the faith of their fathers with an angry and dismissive attitude while pursuing other sources of satisfaction. More frequently today, many children of un-churched, disillusioned and disaffiliated parents may become religious leaders and teachers – and even go home to recruit various siblings or elders….”

THE RANT
In a recent Q&A at Clemson University (yep, I went there) the Immigration Prof Blog reports:
“…Suggesting compassion, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said not everyone in the U.S. illegally should be deported. "If you’re prepared to send an 80-year-old grandmother who’s been here 70 years back to some country, then frankly you’re not quite as compassionate as maybe I am," McCain said Wednesday in response to a question from a Clemson University student who described himself as the child of legal immigrants…”

BACK TO THE RANT
I think the reason Huckabee is surging in the polls is NOT because he is the ‘conservative choice’ but because he may be resonating with the American people.
1.  He is a man of faith
2.  He is fairly conservative, but not unreasonable
3.  He is one of the most reasonable of candidates (next to McCain) on immigration

I am a Giuliani supporter.  I want to see him break the back of the “Values Voter” power mavens.  I want to see an end to the tyranny of the far right.  I like John McCain.  The more I see of him the more I like him.  There’s something extraordinary about the man.  Maybe of all the candidates he is the one most touched with abject greatness.  I can take or leave Huckabee.  Romney is plastic.  The other candidates are unacceptable to me.  But – I can see why Huckabee is starting to surge.

I can also understand why he is moving ahead in Iowa.  

People in Iowa seem to pride themselves on their abject, plain, basic ‘midwestern-ness’, no frills, no spills, just plain folk.  It’s the same way people here in New Mexico seem to pride ourselves on being a little weird and quirky.  Here in New Mexico we exist in two worlds – the Wild West and the Space Age with very little in between. Iowa is Norman Rockwell.  It is hokey, backward, and “normal”.  

We’re talking basic “American” values here.  

Yep, it’s where Huckabee had better excel, if not, then there’s something wrong with him.

It has nothing to do with “Mormon”.

I think it has a lot to do with Huckabee’s humane approach to Immigration Reform.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson's Website, Rosemary's Thoughts, Adam's Blog, Right Truth, Leaning Straight Up, The Bullwinkle Blog, Big Dog's Weblog, The Amboy Times, Cao's Blog, Chuck Adkins, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, third world county, Allie is Wired, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate's Cove, Dumb Ox Daily News, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
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