Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is preparing to add his name to the list of Republican presidential candidates. While we wait for his final decision, American Jews should know who Mike Huckabee really is - a man with close ties to the religous right and a long and storied history of pandering to the community.
In 1998, while speaking to a 1998 Southern Baptist convention, Huckabee made a call is to "take this nation back to Christ."
Excerpts from Huckabee's 1998 speech:
And the reason we have so much broken humanity is because sin reigns in the hearts and lives of human beings instead of the Savior... I didn't get into politics because I thought government had a better answer. I got into politics because I knew government didn't have the real answers, that the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives... (emphasis added)
And:
I fear we will turn and hit the snooze button one more time and lose this great republic of ours.... I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ. (emphasis added)
When asked this past weekend on Meet the Press whether or not he still believes that America needs is a Christian nation, Huckabee refused to say no. Instead, the best he could muster was, "I'd probably phrase it a little differently today."
Really? And what would you have said, Governor? It certainly wouldn't have been any louder than your silent wink and nod of approval to the religious right that was your answer this weekend.
This is the same Mike Huckabee who refused to apologize for equating working with Arkansas Democrats with being held hostage in a "concentration camp."
The Washington Post's take on Huckabee's pandering to the religious right.
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