Pick the preacher for president?

November 9, 2007

Given the circumstances, it’s not surprising that various presidential candidates are going to insist that they, and they alone, are uniquely suited to combat global terrorism. Some of the arguments are coherent but unpersuasive (John McCain emphasizes that he’s the only candidate who served in the military), while other arguments are plainly ridiculous (Rudy Giuliani argues that he’s the only candidate to serve as mayor of a city attacked by terrorists).

But former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, chatting with crazed TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network, offered an entirely new argument about his own qualifications.

“People look at my record and say that I’m as strong on immigration, strong on terror as anybody. In fact I think I’m stronger than most people because I truly understand the nature of the war that we are in with Islamo fascism. These are people that want to kill us. It’s a theocratic war. And I don’t know if anybody fully understands that. I’m the only guy on that stage with a theology degree. I think I understand it really well. And know the threat of it is absolutely overwhelming to us.” (emphasis added)

Look, Huckabee is arguably running fifth in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, so it stands to reason he’s going to have to take some chances to get ahead. Even some of Huckabee’s ardent admirers realize that when it comes to foreign policy and national security, Huckabee is not only inexperienced, but he routinely comes across as not ready for prime-time. (David Brooks, in an otherwise fawning column about the former governor, conceded that “his foreign policy thinking is thin.”)

But pointing to a theology degree is really the wrong way to go. Indeed, the follow-up question is fairly obvious: just how much did the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary teach Huckabee in the 1970s about 21st-century fundamentalist Islam? Here’s a wild guess: not much.

The closer one looks at Huckabee’s comments, the more it looks like the kind of thing his rivals might go after.

* “I think I’m stronger than most people because I truly understand the nature of the war that we are in with Islamo fascism.” — The other candidates understand it, but Huckabee truly understands it. Well, I’m convinced.

* “These are people that want to kill us.” — How insightful. It’s the kind of insights and depth we can only get from … every other Republican presidential candidate.

* “It’s a theocratic war.” — Actually, it’s not, and saying it is actually undermines our message. Do our counter-terrorism efforts pit Christianity against Islam? Of course not. That’s why it’s not a “theocratic war.” The last thing we want the Middle East to think is that the president of the United States perceives the broader challenge as a conflict between religions.

Maybe Huckabee can read a book or two and get back to us.

A theologian is a blind man in an unlit cellar looking for a black cat which isn’t there … and finds it.

I think we’ve had enough “leadership” from those who claim to “hear the voices”, thank you.

  • Do our counter-terrorism efforts pit Christianity against Islam? Of course not. That’s besides the point, the right wants a holy war. They think were in a holy war. Robertson didn’t pick rudy for his tough on crime stance, it was his willingness to wage war on the entire Middle East.

  • Seems to me a “theocratic war” would be a war between two theocracies, wouldn’t it? Despite W’s efforts to make it one, the US is not a theocracy. And until we got there, Iraq was definitely NOT a theocracy. It seems like a lot of religious wackos want to make this a war between Christianity and Islam. But, like all religious wars, ultimately it’s about earthly power and treasure. And the obstinate, crazy-ass leadership of assholes painting themselves as theologians.

  • “It’s a theocratic war.”

    I wish someone would ask Huckabee, “Does this mean that God will help us kill the bad guys?”

  • Ah, the Huckle-buck’s rhetoric has graduated from “theological war” to “theocratic war” –so, as chrenson points out, a “theocratic war” would require a struggle between theocracies as opposed to a “theological war” which would apparently be a struggle for or about God (can’t figure that one out).

    At any rate, like so much that is done in the name of the American People for the cause of the global American Empire without their knowledge or consent, so too is so much done in the Name of God (without his consent, I presume).

  • Huckabee’s problem is that his legitimately salable message–“I’m a principled conservative Republican who’s nonetheless able to competently run a government grounded in common sense rather than ideology”–isn’t something that wins in the freaky funhouse world of the Republican presidential nominating contest. The fact that he was, by most accounts, a good governor who wasn’t particulary partisan helps him not at all with people who not only value ideology and partisanship over competence, but seem to think competence is a bit fruity.

    So what else does he have? The collar. But even that doesn’t really help him that much, because the theocratic establishment either doesn’t like him because he occasionally goes beyond their kulturkampf issues or isn’t willing to risk schism with the Norquistian Taxes-Are-Icky faction, who hate Huckabee because, my goodness, he occasionally raised taxes for legitimate governing purposes.

    Their race is basically a “top this” battle over who’s most willing and eager to torture dark-skinned evildoers, wipe his ass with the Constitution and eliminate progressive taxation. That isn’t a race Huckabee can win, so he’s trying to shift it a little or at least neutralize the “who’s balls are bigger” element.

    It won’t work, but I understand what he’s thinking.

  • Oddly enough, when I Googled “theocratic war” most of the returns referred to the Jehovah Witness Watchtower organization’s doctrine of “theocratic warfare.” In brief, this doctrine espouses withholding the truth from those not entitled to know it. This includes lying under oath.

    I doubt that Huckabee was intentionally reaching out to the JW’s but it was a poor choice of words regardless. Defining counter terrorism as a theocratic war opens the gate to defining it as another Crusade; just what we want to win hearts and minds in the ME.

  • Islam ain’t Christian. If it ain’t Christian, it’s of the Devil. That’s all they teach about Islam at any Southern Baptist seminary. What else does a Baptist preacher need to know about Islam? What more do any of us need to know?

    Come on, CB and fellow commenters – you’re using reality-based analysis to skewer Huck’s pathetic attempt to appeal to religious know-nothings in Iowa and elsewhere. He’s thinking that there might be enough of them who are only weakly committed to a skunk like Giuliani or a Mormon like Romney who will switch, to keep Huck in the race for a while longer.

    It might even work.

  • I’m afraid you’re really missing Huckabee’s point here, not only shown by what he said, but also where he said it. Robertson knows that God is in charge of war, peace, and he often says so. Bush himself said, especially to leaders of Israel and Palestine, that he brought the war in Iraq because God told him to do so. Huckabee’s point is that he is the most qualified person to receive and understand God’s future directives with respect to these military matters.

  • Terrorists believe in a god that will only let them into heaven if they die in war against infidels. (anyone who doesn’t pay tithe or convert to Islam.) Heaven is only for those who die. Terrorists believe in a messiah that will come and rule the world, known as the 12th Imam. He comes when the earth is about to be destroyed, and they believe that if they do not cause war in the world it prolongs his arrival. So, theologically they will never agree to peace, because it prolongs the arrival of their messiah.

    As long as this theology is in tact, terrorists will have unlimited amounts of suicide bombers (because the terrorists want to go to heaven) to cause war and death (which hastens the arrival of their messiah) against the infidel, as Allah has commanded them.

    Huckabee has said the war has to be won on the battleground of the heart before it can be won on the battleground on the earth. He has made it clear that he would get Islamic preachers to stand against this theology to dismantle Islamic jihad against anyone who doesn’t believe in Allah.

    Furthermore, the fact that Huckabee preaches about a God who loved ALL MANKIND enough that he would send his own son to die for their sin that they could go to heaven is very appealing to a people who have only known of a god who only makes a way to heaven in death in war.

  • By Huckabee’s logic, a fascist US president would have done better against Hitler?

    In a sense, this is a “theocratic war”. So, we must field a secularist (or even an atheist).

  • What hope can there be when the Republicans elevate terrorism to apocalyptic proportions in order to scare the bejesus out of the American people into voting for them? Then the Democrats reinforce the notion that terrorism is western civilization’s greatest threat in history so that they don’t appear “weak on terrorism.”

    Nobody has the guts to say, “Hey wait a second, let’s put this into perspective and see what this threat really is.”

    Terrorism dominates our political discourse and prevents us from dealing with the most important issues and crises of our day. It is sapping our strength and resources and provoking us into acts of insanity that are destroying us – like invading and occupying Iraq and threatening same over Iran.

    Terrorism can never approach the carnage and destruction wrought by ordinary crime, and yet we take the latter in stride but go absolutely beserk and wax hysterical over terrorism 24/7.

    And the MSM mindlessly aids and abets this madness.

    Somebody in the establishment, please! Bring us some reason and sense before we stampede ourselves over the cliff.

  • I uderstood Huckabee to mean that there is a war of ideologies. The way a facist thinks, islamic or otherwise, is very different from the way an American should think. Even on issues like of the value of life itself, our positions differ radically.

    For the record, Baptist seminaries do instruct on the deepest roots of Islam, and ultimately, the stated objective of the faith is to subjugate the world to Allah by any means neccessary. Students have to study the writings of the most influential teachers of that faith and philosophy.

    I actually do believe that He would be ideally suited to understand the passion that would be driving the terrorists. It’s not a war of religions, but a war of ‘intentions’ Christians may be passionate about what they believe, but they got over killing to perpetuate it centuries ago. It seems the extremists in Islam have not gotten to that point yet.

    How many other candidates have the knowlege of the tenets of that religion that Huckabee does? I’d prefer a commander in chief who had a clue about the motivations driving the enemy, than one who could only react after the fact.

    Just my two cents.

  • Rensen (13): “How many other candidates have the knowlege of the tenets of that religion that Huckabee does? I’d prefer a commander in chief who had a clue about the motivations driving the enemy, than one who could only react after the fact.”

    One need not be a religious person to understand the religious motivations of another. All it takes is critical thinking skills and willingness to listen and learn from other perspectives. Neither of those is a skill espoused by any of the GOP candidates.

    I would prefer a commander-in-chief who understands the enemy’s motivations, had a decent working knowledge of the military, intelligence, and counterterrorism, and could be objective and realistic about possible solution. Religious zealots can’t be objective and realistic about anything because they believe that everyone else is wrong. See the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for reference.

  • “In fact I think I’m stronger than most people because I truly understand the nature of the war that we are in with Islamo fascism. These are people that want to kill us. It’s a theocratic war. ”

    It is this quote, combined with Huckabee’s easy-going, very reasonable style that to me makes him the most feared candidate among the repubs. He SEEMS moderate enough to get elected, but he has this insane belief about terrorism that we desperately need to keep away from the reins of power.

    To Benjamin – What you attribute to Huckabee as an interpretation of his words is something I have never heard from him, and I’m not gullible enough to accept your assurances that this is what Huckabee REALLY means.
    To Rensen – I understand fully well that there are noticable numbers of Mullims that wish to kill us for religious reasons (and I think most others who are against the ‘IslamoFascist’ characterization of our modern world also understand this). The real question is: “So what?” What can they realistically do to the rest of the world? I’m talking about a realistic capability assessment. The problem we face is having leaders that have gone crazy panicking about this stuff instead of calmly dealing with the problem in an appropriate way.

  • Heaven is only for those who die. — Benjamin, @10, speaking of Islam

    But, Benjamin, my little one… Last time I checked, it was the same for Christians. There are times when some men *feel* like they’re in heaven, though they’re affirming life rather than being dead, but it’s not the same as actually *going* to heaven…

  • Benjamin –

    Google up some “pre-millenial” Rapture theology. There are Christians in the US who believe almost the exact same thing, expect that instead of a 12th Imam there is an anti-Christ and the second coming of Christ. Constant warfare is preferable to world peace for these folks because anyone preaching for world peace is either a tool of the anti-Christ or the anti-Christ himself.

    There’s a lot of cross-over among extremists. Islam isn’t the only religion where stupid people do stupid things for their stupid beliefs.

  • Praise God that we have a canidate that will try to do the right thing and not bow to the pressure from the Islamist extremists.

    I think that Huckabee is a little liberal to suit me, with the comuting of sentences of felons, and keeping executions from taking place in prison, however I do feel that he has a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, and that he will try his best to uphold just as the founding fathers did the freedom of religion, and to keep the country safe.

    He would certainly do much better than Hillary.

    He was the first Governor in the Nation, although no longer the only, to get a concealed carry permit.

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