Category: Politics

WSJ: “Huckabee fills that void”


From the Wall Street Journal:

With every day that passes, (Mike) Huckabee fills that void for conservatives, argued South Carolina’s former Republican Gov. David Beasley, a recent Huckabee convert who helped work the crowds for his candidate at Iowa State University. “I really believe now that the conservative voters will begin to coalesce behind Mike Huckabee…and it’s going to be infectious in New Hampshire and South Carolina” — states that, along with Iowa, hold the first presidential-nominating contests next winter.
Mr. Huckabee, ebullient after an outcome that surprised even him, said he offered experience and “a different kind of Republican, not a wholly owned subsidiary of Wall Street.”

Also from the article:

Social conservatives, who have come to dominate the Republican party, could decide the candidate they have been looking for has been in the race the whole time, languishing at the back of the pack with little money to promote himself….
Mr. Romney, a wealthy former venture capitalist, had spent huge sums for the straw poll: His $200,000 for a consultant to organize the effort was alone more than the $150,000 that Mr. Huckabee estimates he spent altogether. Mr. Romney rented buses; Mr. Huckabee’s supporters had to find their own way. Where Mr. Romney hired bands to play Saturday at the huge hospitality space he rented, Mr. Huckabee entertained the older crowds himself with his band, Capitol Offense, jamming at one point to the 1970s hit “Free Bird.”

Huckabee takes second

So… Mike Huckabee took second in the Iowa Straw Poll… What does that mean?

Second place is the first looser? Or something bigger? I’m going to agree with ChristianConservative on this one….

Significance:

– Huckabee rented ZERO buses
– Huckabee could only afford to pay for about 1800 tickets
– Huckabee spent considerably less on Ames than other candidates – including the winner Romney

Huckabee will now turn to television appearances (Face the nation on 8/12 to discuss results of the poll), an inaugural MySpace debate, and also has fundraisers scheduled for every day in September.
In addition I think his name is going to be spoken a lot more in the upcoming weeks considering the top two national candidates only received 1-percent of the ballot after they chose not to spend any money in Iowa and free publicity (blogs like this one and stories about him in the MSM) can only help him gain ground and momentum.

Unofficial Iowa Straw Poll Results

11. John Cox with 41 votes.
10. John McCain with 101 votes.
9. Duncan Hunter with 174 votes.
8. Rudy Giuliani with 183 votes.
7. Fred Thomson with 231 votes.
6. Tommy Thompson, 1,009 votes, 7.3%
5. Ron Paul with 1305 votes, and 9.1%
4. Tom Tancredo with 1961 votes, 13.7%.
3. Sen. Sam Brownback with 2192 votes and 15.3%
2. Gov. Mike Huckabee with 2587 votes and 18.1%
1. Gov. Mitt Romney with 4516 votes and 31%

Iowa state auditor David Vaudt unofficially certified the results.

14,203 ballots were cast.

I pledge allegiance…

I caught wind of this while web surfing and thought I’d add some interesting trivia about our beloved “Pledge of Allegiance”…
From Wikipedia:

  • The Pledge of Allegiance was written for the popular children’s magazine Youth’s Companion by Christian Socialist author and Baptist minister Francis Bellamy on September 7, 1892. The owners of Youth’s Companion were selling flags to schools, and approached Bellamy to write the Pledge for their advertising campaign. It was marketed as a way to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus arriving in the Americas and was first published on the following day.
  • Bellamy’s original Pledge read as follows: I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all
  • The pledge was seen by some as a call for national unity and wholeness after the divisive Civil War. The pledge was supposed to be quick and to the point. Bellamy designed it to be stated in 15 seconds. He had initially also considered using the words equality and fraternity but decided they were too controversial since many people still opposed equal rights for women and blacks. Bellamy said that the purpose of the pledge was to teach obedience to the state as a virtue.
  • After a proclamation by President Benjamin Harrison, the Pledge was first used in public schools on October 12, 1892 during Columbus Day observances. This date was also significant as it was the dedication day of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. Bellamy thought that the pledge itself and the involvement of children across the country would be a fine show of national solidarity.
  • In 1923 and 1924 the National Flag Conference called for the words “my Flag” to be changed to “the Flag of the United States of America.” The reason given was to ensure that immigrants knew to which flag reference was being made. The U.S. Congress officially recognized the Pledge as the official national pledge on December 28, 1945.
  • In 1940 the Supreme Court, in deciding the case of Minersville School District v. Gobitis, ruled that students in public schools could be compelled to recite the Pledge, even Jehovah’s Witnesses like the Gobitases (whose name was misspelled as ‘Gobitis’ in the court case), who considered the flag salute to be idolatry.
  • In 1943 the Supreme Court reversed its decision, ruling in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette that “compulsory unification of opinion” violated the First Amendment.
  • Before World War II, the Pledge would begin with the right hand over the heart during the phrase “I pledge allegiance”. The arm was then extended toward the Flag at the phrase “to the Flag”, and it remained outstretched during the rest of the pledge, with the palm facing upward, as if to lift the flag.
  • An early version of the salute, adopted in 1892, was known as the Bellamy salute. It also ended with the arm outstretched and the palm upwards, but began with the right hand outstretched, palm facing downward. However, during World War II the outstretched arm became identified with Nazism and Fascism, and the custom was changed: today the Pledge is said from beginning to end with the right hand over the heart.
  • The phrase “under God” was not added to the pledge until 1954.

I found some other thoughts on Bellamy and his “socialist pledge” as well…

As this article by Gene Healy of Cato asks, “What’s Conservative about the Pledge of Allegiance?” The pledge was drafted in virtually its present form in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, an unapologetic socialist who had been pushed out of his position as a Baptist minister because his sermons reflected more socialism than Gospel. Francis was cousin to Edward Bellamy, who wrote the 1888 utopian socialist novel Looking Backward, which I had to read in college in a class on utopian thinking. I guess it was valuable to know that to Bellamy utopia meant a highly regimented place where all incomes were equal and men were drafted into the state’s “industrial army” at age 21 and did whatever the state decided they should do. It helped to cement my distaste for such a system.
After being kicked out of the pulpit Francis Bellamy went to work for a magazine called Youth’s Companion, and decided to work through the public schools rather than the church to advance his notion of a socialist worker’s paradise. The Pledge was unquestionably part of this campaign. Bellamy even recommended that the ceremony start with a military salute and “At the words, ‘to my Flag,’ the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, towards the Flag, and remains in this gesture till the end of the affirmation.” For better or worse (and to be fair, long after Bellamy’s recommendation) the Nazis adopted this same salute. It was quietly dropped from American practice, but the intention was similar – to encourage a quasi-religious subordination to government.
In a country founded on “unalienable rights” of individuals, in which the government’s job is supposedly to “preserve these rights” and not much else, the government should be pledging allegiance to citizens and their rights, not the other way around.
It is curious that people who call themselves conservatives now consider this overtly socialist inducement to state-worship part of the sacred tradition of liberty and justice.

Interesting….

Help Huckabee reach 5,000

Help Mike Huckabee become the fastest growing candidate on Myspace.
As of 8:30 p.m., Sunday evening, Mike Huckabee has 4,920 friends on Myspace – only 80 away from hitting the 5,000 mark.
The campaign wants to hit 5,000 as soon as possible and is offering a copy of Huckabee’s book to friend #5,000.

From the campaign:
According to TechPresident.com, a website that tracks the growth of the major presidential candidate MySpace pages, we are the second fastest growing page of ALL the candidates– just behind Fred Thompson. So let’s not only help Mike get 5,000 friends, but let’s make his page the fastest growing page on MySpace!

Visit:
myspace.com/mikehuckabeeforpresident to join the campaign for 2008.

Huckabee campaign

From the Huckabee campaign:

Momentum and message are the key words coming out of today’s Republican presidential debate on ABC News at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Governor Huckabee clearly has it; other candidates whose campaigns are stagnant or failing only wish they did.

1. The debate opened with the network revealing details of the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll results in Iowa. Governor Huckabee has surged to a tie for third place among declared candidates at 8 percent. It’s no surprise that former Governor Mitt Romney leads because of the extraordinary amount of money he has poured into the race, including millions of his personal fortune. Former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani, who has chosen to ignore the Republican Party of Iowa Straw Poll in Ames this coming Saturday, is in second place as he continues to ride a wave of name identification. What has! surprised the mainstream media is Governor Huckabee’s continued strong showing, which can only be attributed to the strength of his message and the hard work of dedicated friends and volunteers like you.

2. Pollster Frank Luntz, who measured debate watchers’ reactions in real time, said afterward that Governor Huckabee is the clear winner. As in past debates, the public has responded favorably to his command of the facts, his control of his emotions and his ability as an outstanding communicator. That’s what leadership is all about, folks. As the Governor often says, he’s a conservative, but he’s not mad at anybody. That came through again in today’s debate, and that creates a real connection with the American public. Whenever people see Mike Huckabee, they come away with a favorable impression. Luntz’s tracking proves that fact.

3. The American public got another opportunity today to see that Governor Huckabee’s message is on target. On Iraq, health care, national infrastructure and other issues, Governor Huckabee of fered the most effective, balanced, reasoned and comprehensive solutions. The bottom line is that Mike Huckabee defined himself again today as a candidate with executive experience and a message focused on a strong, safe, economically vibrant America. He has what it takes to restore America’s greatness.