The sound of one trunk clapping
If you get a chance, I recommend that you listen to some right-wing talk radio this weekend. The anti-Huckabee hatred is simply amazing. I listened to Mark Levin (essentially, a Hannity copycat) in the car last night and he actually called Huckabee a “socialist.” Rush Limbaugh also has a well-publicized feud with Huckabee going. And our own Bob Lonsberry is calling Huckabee a “religious bigot”.
I don’t understand all of this. At some level, it stems from the fact that the modern Republican party is, at its core, an unholy alliance between corporate interests and evangelical Christians (sorry, traditional conservatives of the upstate variety: the national Republican party doesn’t even pretend to represent you any more), two groups that have almost no real common interests.
Someone, somewhere made the point that the establishment wants the religious types to play their role: supply votes and shut the hell up. You say:
No, they don’t appear to represent traditional Republicans, but they do represent them more than Evangelicals. They pretend to represent Evangelicals because they assume the yokels in hicksville will fall for anything. Part of what’s got the Establishment Republicans so bent and worried is that Evangelicals have gotten wise and started a revolution.
You’re right that they don’t really represent evangelicals, at least insofar as they refuse to make a serious effort to overturn Roe v. Wade, which is what evangelicals want most. I think they do give them small crumbs, though — such as funding faith-based organizations and promoting abstinence only programs.
One day evangelicals will make up and realize that on most issues — care for the poor, aid to Africa, immigration — they’re actually liberals. What’s happening here is the start of that.
Faith based initiatives were started by Al Gore during the Clinton Administration, and despite the hub-bub, have had their funding cut every single budget since Bush took office. They don’t exist for all intents and purpose, these days. Bush isn’t going to even attempt to overturn Roe, even though he’s stacked a court that could do that. Intelligent Design - again for all the hoopla - got a cold reception and no real endorsement from Bush, nor has he started any initiatives to go any farther with it.
The crumbs are very few and far between, mostly at election time, and of absolutely no consequence in real terms. It’s part of what I was talking about with my New Years resolution post.
If you want an interesting read - and some good insight as to where this little revolution is coming from - you should read “Tempting Faith” by David Quo.
You are kidding? Right?
“Faith based initiatives were started by Al Gore during the Clinton Administration”
Here are the White House Executive Orders that George Bush issued creating the office.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/fbci/executive-orders.html
( Are you sure you’re not confusing Faith Based Initiatives with the internet Al invented?)
You can also checkout the most recent press release issued two weeks ago about the latest FB intiative on the WH web site.
“Intelligent Design - again for all the hoopla - got a cold reception and no real endorsement from Bush”
Here’s a link to an article describing how the President fueled the debate by suggesting ID be taught along with evolution.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/02/AR2005080201686.html
Publius is correct. BUSH opened the offices to create so-called “faith-based” initiatives. Jeesh DFE…
U.S. Department of Labor
Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
http://www.dol.gov/cfbci/TLCbrochure.htm
Since President Bush established the Center in 2001, the Department of Labor has worked to reduce barriers and create new funding and partnership opportunities for faith-based and community groups. It started with a project to create new partnerships between the Job Corps local organizations mentor programs. Following a competitive grant process, DOL awarded the first federal government grants for the purposes of building links between small faith-based and community groups and the nations premier job training and employment institution, the One-Stop Career Center system. The DOL Center, along with the Employment and Training Administration, the Department of Justice and Public/Private Ventures based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has launched Ready4Work, a faith- and community-based program to assist men and women returning from prison in finding and keeping jobs. The Center has also worked with the Veterans Employment and Training Service to strengthen services for the homeless, the Office of Disability Employment Policy to encourage faith- and community-based mentoring of disabled youth, and the International Labor Affairs Bureau in working with faithbased and community groups throughout the world to reduce trafficking in human persons and fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in East Africa. And, we are just getting started!
Limbaugh, Hannity and company represent the corporate Republicans. Romney and Giuliani are their men. They will accept McCain - but holding their noses - if they have too (he’s safer than Huckabee).
Huckabee represents a combination of the evengelical and populist sides of Republicanism. He speaks out against Wall Street and the Conservative talking head elite.
One comment he made would really grate on them (I’m paraphrasing); “I’m more like the guy you work next to and not the guy who will lay you off.”
The corporate types can’t stand him!
In some ways, he has more in common with Edwards than with some of his fellow Republicans.
That’s a pretty accurate summary of it all.
Lee, as a conservative I must say you summed Rush and Hannity up pretty damn well. I haven’t listened to him in years, since he became just another country club, blue blood, Bushbot Republican and i’ve never particulalry like Hannity, he lacks any feeling of sincerity when I hear him, and he and Rush seem to be in a race to out Bushbot each other.
Rudy, Mitt or McCaine, six of one half a dozen of the other and I won’t vote for them. I like some of Fred’s written stuff and a fair number of his outlooks but this delatane thing he’s got going on about running for the presidency is starting to get old, and turning me off a bit. Ru Paul, just seems a little to Ross Perot to me.
While I have little in common with Obama politically he comes off as genuine when i’ve heard him speak which goes a long way. Politicians being the seedy group they are these days, any one who can actually come off as genuine ( they’ll all tell you what they think you want to hear but that doesn’t mean you believe them) goes a long way in my book.
Bush Sr. was a supporter of Planned Parenthood before becoming Reagan’s V.P. and I think that shows his personal liberal leanings. That must have had some influence on his son, indicating a more liberal Bush family than they’ve let on.
Read this from alternet.org:
“Planned Parenthood Federation of America serves one in four American women during their lifetime. It’s widely considered the most convenient and reliable provider of low-cost birth control. It’s been that way since 1970, when Title X, the family-planning program of the Public Service Health Act, was passed. (George Bush Sr. was one of its primary sponsors.)”
I completely agree that the Republican party nationally does not really care at all about the southern conservatives.
Speaking of bigotry, isn’t Lonsberry the same guy who got canned from his radio show after comparing former Mayor Johnson to a monkey?