Following yesterday’s uneventful Republican presidential debate in Iowa, Mike Huckabee made a beeline for Mitt Romney to apologize for his “‘Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?” remark to The New York Times Magazine. CNN has the story. A top Huckabee aide tells God-o-Meter this morning that the ex-Arkansas governor was “genuinely distressed” that his comment had made it into print and had caused an uproar. The aide says Huckabee made the apology entirely on his own, and that even his traveling staff didn’t know it was coming until the deed was done.
It’s worth nothing that from the Huckabee camp’s perspective, it’s Huckabee–not Romney–who’s being singled out because of his religion. “He’s been trying to chart a course of bringing the conversation back to policy,” the Huckabee aide tells God-o-Meter. “But he’s constantly getting hit with questions about his religion.” Asked why Huckabee hasn’t come out and plainly stated that Romney should not be opposed because of his Mormonism–rather than simply refusing to answer questions about whether Mormonism is a cult–the Huckabee aide insisted he has, pointing God-o-Meter to recent appearances on the Sunday morning newsmaker shows. If Huckabee has made such a statement, God-o-Meter asks its faithful readers to clue it in. Until then, GOM is still unconvinced that Huckabee has not played the Mormon card, albeit in subtly.
For The New York Times’ version of how Huckabee’s comments came about, check out The Politico:
…Huckabee should not have been too shocked, according to Megan Lieberman, the Times Magazine editor who handled the piece.
Lieberman told Politico that the article was thoroughly fact-checked, and that Alice Stewart, the Huckabee campaign’s press secretary, raised no concerns when briefed on that specific quote prior to publication.
Stewart did not return a call seeking comment.
….Reached Wednesday in Cooperstown, N.Y., where he’s writing a book on the National Baseball Hall of Fame, [Zev] Chafets [The New York Times Magazine writer who did the Huckabee piece] told Politico: “I asked him the question about Mormonism and whether he thought it was a religion or a cult.
“He said it was a religion, and didn’t know much about it. There was a pause. Then he asked his question,” Chafets continued.
“He can spin it any way he wants. It was on the wires and picked up by candidates, and I can’t be accountable for that,” Chafets said, adding, “I hope that the article, as I wrote it, was entirely in context.”
[italics are God-o-Meter's]
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posted December 13, 2007 at 10:16 am
The reason Huckabee won’t come out and say Mormonism is not a cult is because Mormonism IS a cult.
Cult – a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.
Also, A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.
And, followers of an exclusive system of religious beliefs and practices.
Mormonism is a cult because of their focus on religious rites of passage, their ‘secret ceremonies’, their leadership system, and their exclusivity. Not to mention the questionable obtaining of their original religious revelation by Joseph Smith.
I put Mormonism alongside things like Jehovah’s Witnessism and Christian Science. They are religions obviously fabricated by modern men outside of the guidance of any god and created so that the original leaders could obtain power or at least accomplish persuasion.
posted December 13, 2007 at 11:42 am
Huckabee made a beeline for Romney and then for the cameras to tell the world what he’d just done. That tells me the real motive for his apology. The apology was for Romney to tell the world about if he decided to do so, not Huckabee.
The article did not mention Romney by name, remember Huckabee told us he was just having a chat with the NYTimes reporter about Mormonism when he asked the “innocent” question. Why would he single out his opponent for an apology when the article didn’t even reference him. Because we all know excactly what Huck was doing, and the fact that he only apologized to Romney shows that he knew it too.
posted December 13, 2007 at 12:16 pm
SPUNKY–Interesting point about Huckabee making for the cameras after issuing his apology to Romney. So if he really meant it, in your opinion, Huckabee would have kept mum on the apology before the cameras and just disavowed his NY Times comments insteady? I guess that would be a reasonable thing to do.
posted December 13, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Exactly!
Let Romney tell the world what he said if he chose to say anything at all. But Huckabee’s rush to the camera appeared opportunistic and cheapened any apology he offered to Mitt. This then caused the reporters to run to Mitt asking him about Huckabee’s apology leaving the “victim” in the precarious position of having to talk about a supposedly private conversation.
In a day and age where everyone demands an apology for every little thing, Romney never demanded one. He took the high rode and “turned the other cheek.” His reward? A pandering Christian politician smears him in public, apologizes in private, and then capitalize on it in public.
This episode makes Huckabee look like a shameless politician on the order of Bill Clinton who calculated every turn of the head to make sure the camera always showed him in the best way possible. Romney’s disciplined campaign stands in sharp contrast to Huckabee, “Speak now, think later” comedy routine.
By the way, I’m not a Mitt supporter, but an honest evangelical. I didn’t like Bill Clinton’s “opportunistic” demeanor and I like it even less when it comes from “one of us.”
posted December 13, 2007 at 1:56 pm
And when you consider a mother who lost a daughter because of a parole decision while Huckabee was Governor. The families of the victim, Davidson and Williams say they NEVER even got a call from Governor Huckabee.
“Davidson and Williams said they’re particularly angry because Huckabee has never called them to apologize or explain his part in the DuMond case.
“In retrospect,” Huckabee said, “someone should have made some contact. They have every right to feel distraught. I say that with sorrow, respect, and absolute regret for the terrible things they went through.”
But over a comment in the NYTimes Huckabee makes a beeline Mitt to apologize? It just doens’t add up.
Here’s the link to the article I took the quote from…
http://www.kctv5.com/news/14782769/detail.html
And a powerful You Tube of the mother talking about it here.
http://www.youtube.com/huckabeefacts
posted December 19, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Huckabee is quite skilled at spinning the attention his way, but you are correct in calling his apology hollow and opportunistic. If he is going to make a public, it shoudl be to all Mormons and should resemble Ellen Degeneres’ sorrow for her puppy ordeal.
Still many are feeling justified, because like the first response they believe Mormonism a cult. The big news on GOD-O-METER is that an ordained Southern Baptist Convention minister just told the New York Times ON THE RECORD, that mormonism is not a cult, but is rather a bona-fide religion!!!
If Jessica disagrees with that then maybe Huckabee is not the candidate she should be supporting.
Lets put this in perspective. Say an evangelical was running for high political office in Italy, where most follow the Catholic tradition, and evangelicals are a small minority.
During the campaign one of the leading candidates (who is a Catholic minister) is asked if evangelicals are a cult or a religion. The minster says that he does nto know very much about them, but feels they are a religion.
Then UNPROMPTED he offers to the biggest news paper in the country, “Don’t they believe that it is a sin to baptize children and that baptism must be by immersion? (innocent voice)
How would you feel? Would you take his words at face value that he was unschooled in other religions and really just thought the reporter could educate him?
No, you would not. You would dispise that politician, just as many now dispise Mike Huckabee.