Family Research Council Action, Washington’s premier Christian Right advocacy group, yesterday issued a defense of Mike Huckabee in the face of what it called a “reverse religious test” sparked by Huckabee’s past statements about AIDS, homosexuality, and the need to “take this nation back for Christ.” With Huckabee surging in recent national polls, those remarks have generated plenty of controversy.
In an interview last week with Beliefnet, however, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins raised doubts about Huckabee’s viability and noted that Huckabee is the only Republican presidential candidate he has not met with personally since the race got underway. Perkins said that every other candidate, including the socially moderate Rudy Giuliani, had requested such a meeting.
“He may be trying to avoid the leadership [of the Christian Right] and it may be because of other issues,” Perkins said, citing Huckabee’s stances on illegal immigration and taxes, which have been criticized by some conservative groups.
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Despite Huckabee’s surge in Iowa—polls showing Huckabee’s dramatic national gains hadn’t been released at the time of the interview last Tuesday—Perkins said there are concerns among evangelical leaders over the Baptist preacher’s ability to excite economic and defense conservatives who fill out the GOP’s base.
“Huckabee is certainly good on our issues, but is there enough to bring together a winning coalition?” Perkins asked. “There are some questions about that.”
“Social conservatives alone cannot elect a president,” he continued. “We have to work within a conservative coalition, so there has been a desire to work together and all agree upon” a candidate to rally around.
“That doesn’t mean he’s not a good candidate,” Perkins added. “I like a lot of what I’ve seen of him.”
Though Huckabee has picked up endorsements from evangelical activists like the American Family Association’s Don Wildmon and Patrick Henry College chancellor Michael Farris, top-tier Christian Right leaders like Perkins, Focus on the Family’s James Dobson, and former presidential candidate Gary Bauer have declined to be publicly supportive.
During the same interview, Perkins praised Arizona Senator John McCain, who is viewed with suspicion by much of the Christian Right since he called the movement’s leaders “agents of intolerance” during his 2000 presidential bid and authored 2002′s McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, which restricted the political activities of advocacy groups. Perkins said he had met with McCain recently.
“He does have a strong record on the life issue and I think I still see him as a very viable candidate who’s making a comeback, working aggressively, and has staked out the right position on the new Iraq surge policy,” Perkins said. “So if you’re a ‘security voter’ concerned with radical Islam, you have more than just the choice of Rudy Giuliani, with all his baggage on social issues.”
Perkins said he us unlikely to endorse a candidate in the presidential race. “You become a trophy on their wall and never hearing from them again,” he said of his past experiences with candidate endorsements.
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posted December 11, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Governor Huckabee is certainly a candidate to be reckoned with. I believe we are seeing the final phase in the demise of “the leaders of the Evangelical Church” being pushed aside by the popularity of a candidate that inspires, motivates, and challenges the voter.
For too long we have waited for “the leaders” to tell us who to support. We don’t need that kind of direction anymore. Because of their leadership or lack of leadership, I believe they have allowed a climate of fear and hate to permeate our country by not condemning the politics of fear concerning undocumented immigrants.
Huckabee brings a new sense of morality and justice to the political scene. He is not afraid to speak his mind and his position on immigration. While the other GOP candidates are all trying hard to out do Tancredo, Huckabee is willing to show some CHRISTIAN compassion and care.
Perkings, Dobson, & Bauer…do your Christian credentials count for anything other than political gain and visability? Where is your leadership, your Christian compassion, and your Bibilical position on caring for the stranger and alien amongest us?
Huckabee inspires voters in a time when we need a leader who is not cut out of the same old mold. His message is one of hope and good expectation.
What this country needs is Governor Huckabee….Praise the Lord and pass the votes this way toward Huckabee.
posted December 11, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Tony Perkins is a hypocrite. His version of Christianity bears little resemblance to the Word preached by Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ never preached against homosexuality but did preach a gospel centered around “love thy neighbor.” Perkins, on the other hand, seeks to strip homosexuals of full standing as citizens and to deny them rights accorded others. This is a hurtful and hateful act, no matter how the slick talker spins it.
Perkins uses the faith as a wedge tool to divide people, to condemn people who disagree with Republican dogma. When he meets his maker, Tony Perkins will have some ‘splaining to do.
posted December 11, 2007 at 2:35 pm
I don’t understand how the political, Christian leadership of Perkins, Bauer, Dobson can support any other candidate, but Huckabee.
These leaders criticize Huckabee on immigration, but NumbersUSA says that he is better on immigration than Romney, McCain, and Guiliani. When this fact is pointed out to these leaders, their response it that he flip-flopped.
Well if flip-flopping is to be the yardstick, then they have all flip-flopped and none pass that test. Romney was for abortion, gun control, and gay marriage while governor, but against them now. Guiliani sued the feds to defend the NYC sanctuary city policy and is for gay marriage. McCain co-sponsored the amnesty bill and voted against the Defense of Marriage Act. Thompson took money from abortionists and abortion clients. All of these guys have changed their positions on key issues.
Huckabee is the ONLY one that has not flip-flopped on abortion and gay marriage. These are two of the most important issues that Perkins, Bauser, and Dobson have campaigned on. Then when it comes to pick a candidate, they completely throw out anything they have said in the past and make statements against Huckabee. Huckabee best mirrors the policies these Christian leaders have been speaking out against for years.
posted December 11, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Perkin’s comment about feeling slighted is probably the root of the conflict between Huckabee and the more fundamentalist Christian leaders. Huckabee is a Baptist, which is a much more staid tradition than that of Perkins, Bauer, or Dobson, who espouse variants of Pentecostalism. Huckabee almost certainly thinks that he is above these social movement activists on any measure of political experience or power, and he probably suspects that these unwashed fundamentalists could hurt his campaign.
Additionally, I think the sex issue is pertinent. Fundamentalist preachers have no oversight or authority evaluating their character and performance. Dobson, Bauer, and Perkins all hail from the close-knit group of independent fundamentalist Christians that brought us the likes of Jim Baker and Ted Haggard. Huckabee may be leery of getting close to people who could create a moral scandal. While Huckabee is as homophobic as any of these in his personal values and legislative behavior, I doubt Huckabee wakes up at night worried about gay marriage or homosexual activity. Perkins, Bauer, and Dobson, in contrast, seem obsessed with homosexuality to a point that is beyond regular run-of-the-mill homophobia.
posted December 11, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Huck is a big government, big tax same old same old. He has nothing new to bring to the table, he releases rapists to rape again, and he is not worthy of being my president. My vote goes to the man of principal and small government, Ron Paul. Please just go back to hicksville, Huckester.
posted December 11, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Well, I guess Huckabee is your Christian candidate if such doesn’t require truth and honesty. In less than a week he’s been caught in two flat out lies, about the conditions under which the rapist was granted parole, and then what he really said about aids victims and quarantine. And now he’s given instructions that none of his sermons should be released to the public. Not to mention other potentially damaging statements (damaging for his overall image to the public), such as In August of 1998, Huckabee was one of 131 signatories to a full page USA Today Ad which declared: “I affirm the statement on the family issued by the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention.” What was in the family statement from the SBC? “A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.”
posted December 12, 2007 at 6:44 am
“Social conservatives alone cannot elect a president,”
Let’s hope that goes for getting them nominated as well