What happened to forgiveness ?

Huckabee wouldn't have been hurt by Hagee's endorsement, because, unlike McCain, he already had street cred in that neighborhood. And frankly, I'm not sure it hurt McCain, since guilt by association is only played against Dems (compare airplay for Jeramiah Wright vs Hagee and the Kenyan witch doctor). The thing that surprises me more, is that Huckabee would criticize any religious leaders.

I was always somewhat amazed that the leadership of the religious right rejected Huckabee. He certainly wasn't rejected by their followers. That's why he managed to hang on for so long. Romeny, McCain and Guliani may have gotten the endorsements from the leadership but the flock, for the most part, went to Huckabee. Because he was/is authentic.

I've always wondered what would have happened if the leadership of the religious right had decided to bet on Huckabee in the primary. It would have made the dynamics of the race a whole lot different.

Positioning. These are among the guys Huckabee needs to neutralize for whatever he's planning.

"So Huckabee is calling Hagee a sell-out for backing McCain instead of him, even knowing that McCain was eventually forced to disassociate himself from him because of Hagee's outrageous views? Doesn't it seem odd that instead of thinking that maybe he dodged a bullet by not getting Hagee's support, Huckabee is still mad about it?"

And then there were none.

Keep it, Mike. And while you may win the "Christian" right the next time around, that's about all you'll win if you think Hagee's endorsement has resonance with the rest of us.

It looks to me (who hasn't read the book and may be missing some context) as if Huckabee is simply calling a leading religious figure out for hypocrisy, however self-serving that call-out is. So it doesn't matter that McCain had no use for Hagee's endorsement in the end; in fact that bolsters Huckabee's argument, since McCain was not on the same page politically or doctrinally as Hagee, thus the endorsement must have come for other, secular reasons, which Huckabee suggests involved greed.

And wasn't that a frequent theme of Huckabee's campaign, that politics should serve moral rather than material ends?

But isn't it strange to still bitter about it now, especially given the fact that McCain had to scramble after we learned more about Hagee's anti-Catholic, anti-gay, and anti-Semitic sermons?

No. Not at all.

Consider whom they represent. Crackerstan.

Being "anti-Catholic, anti-gay, and anti-Semitic" are GOOD things, if you're running for president of Crackerstan.
.

I asked if he had prayed about this and believed this was what the Lord wanted him to do

If the Lord is so fracking all powerful, why does he need boobs like Huckabee and Hagee to pull on their forelocks and play guessing games about what he wants done?

I'm just weirded out by the notion that the way for serious political leaders to decide what decisions to make is that they ask their imaginary friend.

thorin-1 is onto something:

The fact is that if you look at who the Joneses have historically supported for decades, it is ALWAYS the monied interest candidate. ALWAYS. They will line up behind the more populist candidate only later when they feel the winds blowing (Reagan) but they don't usually line up the way their flock does early on.

Ask any South Carolinian who has watched them carefully for decades to confirm this.

What astonishes me is that folks among their own cohort (religious right types) haven't gotten it into their skulls that before anything else, the Jones family is quite wealthy--and have been for some time. They aren't of the Jim and Tammy Faye new money set either. They know how to make it, trust fund it, buy low and sell high (real estate, fabulous art collections etc) and hang onto their money.

They also are Old South types for whom being in the social club and being a known quantity (can be squeezed) is quite important. They are too religious for the Augusta National golf set but it is a similar mindset. (That would be the *other* Bobby Jones.)

So, their first choices of candidates bear out where their real interests lie. This isn't news to anyone who has lived in SC any length of time. Unfortunately, most of the people who like to opine have no sense of the place, its Faulknerian history or its people.

Crackerstan = Peckerville?

Thorin and FG are right, and not just Bob Jones. Llike modern environmentalists, it's about "access" more than anything else.

These people are still back at the Spanish Inquisition trying to put on trial who are the true heretics. None of this is about governing this country, but about power within some bizarre religious alternative reality.

As with all radical religious purges, there is never any sense to it or base in rational reality. Its essentially a phenomenon of group hysteria that won't stop until they either run out of targets or enough of them are destroyed to stop it. Magical religious hysterianism

Crackerstan = Peckerville? Posted by: jrosen

Peckersville is the capital of Crackerstan.

Americans just have no grasp of geography.

Huckabee didn't get the support of the Taliban because they knew he didn't have a chance. All they're interested in is access to power, which is why they suck up to the most likely candidates.

Can we just give these loons Nebraska and Kansas and get it over with. They can rule their little kingdom there and make all there subjects bow down to a monster plastic jesus while soaking them for all there money.

Crap. First Beck with his Scientology, and now the Purple One. Another artist to be purged from my iPod.

Scientology strikes me a seriously dangerous (talk to anyone who has ever crossed them). But I could have lived with Prince's incomprehensible conversion to Jehovah's Witness as long as he kept it to himself. But this goes too far and will probably be the last nail in the coffin of a career that was pretty much already sealed.

* * * * *

Prince: God's against gay marriage
GWKR

It's been known for more than five years that Prince is a Jehovah's Witness who goes door-to-door trying to win converts to the austere faith, as mentioned in this week's New Yorker. Less appreciated: the musician's growing distance from the liberal artistic values that pervade show business, despite his move to Los Angeles seven years ago. As Claire Hoffman writes, Prince has a budding relationship with Christian conservative media mogul Philip Anschutz, of Denver, and seems to be opposed to gay marriage and adoption. These can't be popular views among Prince's fellow California-based rockers:

When asked about his perspective on social issues--gay marriage, abortion--Prince tapped his Bible and said, "God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out. He was, like, 'Enough.'"

If Prince wants to get attention for his views, airing them amid nationwide demonstrations against the passage of a California anti-gay-marriage initiative will probably do the trick. What that does for the "celibate" musician's sales and popularity is another matte

I wonder if anyone proclaiming separation and the punishment of sinners by God ever actually read a Bible (any Bible: Christian, Jewish, Hindu, etc) with more than a literal interpretation. My studies of spirituality with many teachers is synthesized into the Golden Rule of treating others with love, compassion and understanding. Forgiveness is the foremost mechanism of peaceful reconciliation. Politicizing religion subjects it to human interpretation and removes authentic spiriutality from the equation. Whether you believe in a God or no god, the Universal Principles apply, just like physical principles such as mathmatics, physics, biology, chemistry and even, or especially, metaphysics. We live in a universe that operates on immutable laws, which are superior to their human interpretations. We are here to learn and grow in understanding of creation. The more we work together, the sooner we will unravel the mysteries of our existence. If that is what we truly desire. Or, we can fight with each other and delay the inevitable return to the Source.

I am committed to Oneness through Justice and Transformation
peace,
st john

"When asked about his perspective on social issues--gay marriage, abortion--Prince tapped his Bible and said, "God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out. He was, like, 'Enough.'"

Isn't that what Prince himself did for many years, just stick it wherever?

:..doesn't it seem strange..."
Not if you've lived in Arkansas a few years. The local thesis is that there's a Good Mike and a Bad Mike (or, maybe, the not-so-hot Mike). Good Mike is an articulate, principled conservative who understands that even impecunious southern states don't live in the 19th century any more, that the United States are not an assortment of loosely-bound Bible commonwealths and that yes, there is a legitimate place for government activity in addressing social concerns that is not confined to gleeful application of the death penalty. Good Mike has a generous sense of humor and makes sense most of the time...and even does his homework!

And then there's Bad Mike. One can tell when Bad Mike is out because the humor turns snide-to-cutting; the outstretched hand starts to grasp for quarters; his skin gets thinner and his grasp of logic, proprieties and so forth loosens up. B ad Mike is still entertaining but he's an ambitious, often nasty piece of work and defensive to boot. and, like McCain, Bad Mike sometimes forgets the bounds of ethics.

During much of the campaign, Good Mike was dominant--and that's why the Huck made a pretty good candidate. Not good enough to make me switch parties and vote for him, but good enough to make the late-anointed GOP Choice feel hard-pressed. And strong enough so that probably a few of Our Rightwise Friends are still wondering how Big John ended up with the governor of Alaska. Hell, I'm still wondering about that one.

Fear not, Repubs--Huckabee will be back. And fair warning: he cracks jokes but he carries grudges.

The United States of America is the last true superpower.
It is also the last modern western state to be so religiosly retarded that you can't win if you don't believe.

It's like an infant armed with an AK-47.