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REYNOLDS |
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Irritating and Bad Attacks on Huckabee
...May Encourage An Error in Our Voting
by John Mark Reynolds [author,
academic] 12/17/07
There are good reasons to vote for Mike Huckabee.
He was a successful Republican governor who knew how to reach out to minority and Democratic voters in his state.
He is a stalwart defender of the culture of life.
He is an excellent communicator.
My preferred candidate expressed his admiration for the former governor of Arkansas early in the race.
There are good reasons not to prefer Mr. Huckabee.
Contributor
John Mark Reynolds
John
Mark Reynolds is the founder and director of
the Torrey Honors Institute and Associate Professor
of Philosophy at Biola University.His
personal website can be found at www.johnmarkreynolds.com and
his blog can be found at http://scriptoriumdaily.com.
[go to Reynolds index] |
Of late, Mr. Huckabee has not been careful in his speech and in at least one case fell into abusive language toward an opponent. He has seemed, at moments, ill prepared for “prime time.”
His record (like that of all politicians) contains much about which a reasonable person should be critical. Two men I deeply admire have different views about that record. One able and decent man Hugh Hewitt attacks that record fairly and another capable and kind man, Joe Carter, defends it. Such hard hitting dialog amongst party members is healthy and right.
Mike Huckabee is also the victim of some of those most irritating attacks in this political season. As a Romney supporter, I must give pride of place to the attacks on Romney which have on the whole been the most uncharitable I have seen, but some of those directed to Huckabee are not much better.
Political attacks are part of the process and nobody running for President should fail to anticipate them . . . and must even relish them. Nobody bothers to attack you when you are Duncan Hunter. The problem with the attacks is they seem designed to make many people love Huck even more than they already do.
They are not right and they are not practical. Some reflect a class snobbery, an unjustified elitism, and regional bigotry that threaten to drive as much as forty percent of the party permanently into the Huckabee camp.
Since he is not my preferred candidate, I hope the unfair attacks stop soon!
Attacks on Huckabee’s region (Arkansas) are unfair and often smack of an irritating bigotry against Southern people.
Attacks on Huckabee’s religion (Evangelical Christian) are sometimes totally over the top. Where not politically relevant, these should be out of bounds and often come from people utterly ignorant of what one out of three Americans believes.
These attacks on region and religion are no more tolerable than bigotry against African-Americans (though they come with less of an American history of oppression), women, or Mormons.
Most dangerously to our informed vote this irritating condescension threatens our ability to hear any truth in the criticisms.
As a young man I was so irritated by bigotry against Southern people and conservative Christians that I overlooked the errors of a presidential candidate. I saw his virtues and overlooked his flaws. Since many of his flaws (which should have been obvious to me) were pointed out by people who simply hated Christians and Southern people and who made their criticisms with offensive condescension, I ignored the flaws of the candidate.
That was a foolish error.
A man gets no better if his critics are worse.
Each Huckabee supporter should ask himself or herself: Are the political and fair intellectual questions about Governor Huckabee telling?
Was his policy toward criminals sound?
Is his tax plan a good one?
Is he intellectually prepared to lead the War on Terror?
We must all condemn and ignore the bigots or know-nothings that assume the answers because Mike Huckabee is from Arkansas, is a Baptist, or believes in a Creator.
Otherwise, we run the risk of letting our foes folly create folly for self.
Personally, I do not feel Mr. Huckabee is the best choice for President of the United States. I do not feel that way because he is a Southern man, a Baptist, or a traditional Christian. I am from Appalachia and a traditional Christian with beloved relatives in Baptist ministry.
I think his tax policy quixotic.
His views on the role of government are too expansive for my taste.
He does not appear up to speed on the War.
For these reasons, I will not be voting for Mr. Huckabee in the primary.
If Mr. Huckabee is the Republican nominee I will certainly vote for him. I fear, however, that some of us may be tempted to repeat the mistake of my youth (one of the least harmful of many!) and simply back Mr. Huckabee in the primary because of disgust with some of his critics.
It would be shame to support a less qualified candidate merely because of a disgust (which I share) with some of his critics. ExileStreet
copyright
2007 John Mark Reynolds
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