Why Republican candidate Mike Huckabee worries Jewish voters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerBlog.jhtml?itemNo=946366&contrassID=25&\subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=1&listSrc=Y&art=1
[excerpt]
Mike Huckabee isn't said to have a particularly good chance at
snagging the Republican nomination. Irrespective of his achievements
so far, the experts simply find it hard to believe he can take the
big, important states with most of the delegates.
After his win in Iowa, 32 percent of Republicans surveyed in the
National Journal's Political Insiders Poll said he was the candidate
most likely to capture the nomination. Nevertheless, in this week's
issue, a majority (56 percent) said that evangelical Christian voters
would still be more important for clinching the nomination than
"independent" voters, who are the main support base for candidates
like John McCain.
If he fails to win the presidential nomination, Huckabee is considered
the leading candidate for the position of vice president. He's from
the South (Arkansas), he is an evangelical Christian and he could
balance a ticket headed by Mitt Romney, a Mormon, or by McCain or Rudy
Giuliani, neither of whom are popular with the Christian right because
of their positions on issues such as abortion and immigration.
In Jewish circles, this prospect has been met with dismay. Huckabee
has a long record of expressing a longing for a more Christian
America. Late last week, the American Jewish Committee criticized him
for views it characterized as "a prescription for theocracy."
This is what Huckabee said: "What we need to do is amend the
Constitution so it's in God?s standards rather than try to change
God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we
treat each other."
A rather opaque statement, but one message is clear: Huckabee wants to
change the U.S. Constitution to reflect what he sees as divine law.
It's not exactly what the Jewish voter wants.
It's not the first time Huckabee has butted heads with the principle
of the separation of church and state that is so dear, for obvious
reasons, to America's Jewish minority. On the eve of the Iowa caucus,
an ad went on the air in which he declared himself a "Christian leader."
The following day, he received a letter from Abraham Foxman, national
director of the Anti-Defamation League: "We presume you seek the
presidency in order to be the leader of all Americans, regardless of
the faith they hold." The ad, Foxman said, causes us to be
"concerned." The relationship between the Jews and the Christian
evangelical community is delicate, containing both satisfaction for
the latter's support for Israel as well as fears about its domestic
positions.
One month ago, Richard Cohen of The Washington Post wrote one of the
most critical columns against Huckabee in this context, comparing him
with the president. "He infused government with religion," Cohen wrote
about George Bush."Even the war in Iraq had and undeniably religious
cast to it." About Huckabee, Cohen wrote he "shows a similar religious
inclination." There is already an argument over the extent of
Huckabee's support for Israel, and his reasoning.
[end excerpt]
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You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation
of Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
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.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is
why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v.
Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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