Minister Role Hurt Huckabee's Vice Presidential Bid
ST. PAUL — With the mounting complications over John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin as his running mate, some conservatives have been asking why the expected Republican nominee didn't choose former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won eight GOP primary and caucus contests and appeals to the same Christian social conservatives who have hailed the Palin pick. After all, Huckabee has more executive experience, was vetted by the media during the primary season, and honed his debating skills in myriad televised matchups. The answer, according to Richard Land who heads the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, is pretty simple. Huckabee is an ordained Baptist minister and, Land says, "polls show that 15 to 20 percent" of the electorate don't think a minister should be president. There's that, and the fact that economic conservatives are not fans of Huckabee, says Jim Wallis of Sojourners. So Huckabee, in the end, had a trifecta working against him: his ordination, his support of a scheme to replace federal income taxes with a national retail tax, and, ultimately, his gender.
Tags: Mike Huckabee | John McCain | Republican National Convention | Sarah Palin
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Richard Land is half correct
For Richard Land to call the Fair Tax a tax scheme shows his "ignorance" on the Fair Tax. It is the singlemost thing that can help our economy in the long term. He needs to read the two Neal Boorst books on the Fair Tax before he speaks. The people in the field are VERY supportive of the Fair Tax and we have started refusing to elect state officials who will not support it. Huckabee is very visionary in his platforms and, had the moderators in those debates concentrated less on Huck's job as a pastor ALMOST 20 yrs. ago and more on his platforms on health care, education, energy management and The Fair Tax, he would be our nominee. His gender probably did hurt him and John McCain's phobia towards pastors didn't help.... I agree that Palin lacks experience both domestic and foreign. She is strong on the social issues and I will vote the ticket but I'm not excited about it.
I would have preferred Huckabee
Governor Huckabee has been my choice for POTUS since c. September 2007. When Senator McCain got the 1,191 delegates needed to win the nomination, and Huckabee immediately dropped out, the Second Great Communicator (Huckabee) became my choice for VP.
But all that is in the past. Although I preferred Huckabee, I am overjoyed to see that McCain chose another solid conservative as his running mate, and I look forward to actively campaigning for the McCain/Palin ticket.
McCain/Palin 2008!
Palin/Huckabee 2012 (or else 2016)!
Huckabee's career is not a liability
I respectfully disagree with Dr Richard Land regarding Governor Huckabee. It continues to emphasize the chasm between the leaders of many of the conservative evangelical movement.
In fact, not only were social conservatives comfortable with Gov Huckabee, union households, African Americans, Hispanics, and working class families, strongly supported Gov Huckabee in his presidential bid and his gubernatorial races.
Maybe Dr Land, Tony Perkins, and other leaders that stayed on the sidelines during the presidential primaries need to get out of their mahogony offices and into the snow of Iowa, the hearland of Ohio, the hills of South Dakota, or the suburbs of central Florida, and travel the thousands of miles that we have seen over the last few months, could have a better barometer and better understand the sensibilities of evangelical America
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