And so far Mr Governor, how many people have pledged to follow you over the cliff?
Mike Huckabee is still a formidable member of the Republican 2016 Presidential Action Squad, mostly based on his being a preacher and all. He is the go to mouthpiece for the social conservatives who get crazy ginned up on two things, Abortion & Teh Gays.He's practically lived in Iowa since 2008, so he polls particularly well in this particularly important caucus state. Most certainly he will be on the stage at each and every Republican Presidential debate. This is the message he is sending the GOP rank-n-file as of this week on the American Family Associations' radio shoe:
Huck's response to another,
totally different question
“If the Republicans want to lose guys like me — and a whole bunch of still God-fearing Bible-believing people — go ahead and just abdicate on this issue (gay marriage- in case you didn't get it), and why you’re at it, go ahead and say abortion doesn’t matter, either.”
“Because at that point, you lose me, I’m gone. I’ll become an independent. I’ll start finding people that have guts to stand. I’m tired of this.”
So, not only is the most influential American SocialCon in a ratfuck mood over the Party Of Rove's full on embrace of buggery (sorry, did I miss that?), he apparently thinks they haven't managed enough restrictions on abortion. What, you have to drive 250 miles to get an abortion? And why DO these women have drivers licenses in the first place? Compassionate Conservatism has to have it's limits folks.
We keep reminding ourselves of the demographic cliff the Republican Party is inevitably marching over as America becomes browner, yellower, greener (shhh, don't tell), but Huck and his numerous brethren may well push the GOP over a policy cliff soon. It is already hard to remember back when gay marriage wasn't a majority popular proposition in the USA... yep, all the way back to the summer of 2012.
Here's a snapshot from May 10th, 2012 from liberal propaganda rag,the Wall Street Journal:
President Barack Obama said Wednesday he supported gay marriage, reversing his position on a controversial social issue just six months before the November election and adopting a stance fraught with uncertain political implications.
Mr. Obama had been under intense pressure this week to lay out a clear stance on same-sex marriage after Vice President Joe Biden and other top advisers endorsed it. Mr. Obama said that after years of lengthy discussions with friends and family, including his wife and two young daughters, he now "personally" believes gays and lesbians should have the right to marry.
...
Mr. Obama's position puts him squarely at odds with that of Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee. Mr. Romney has said he believes marriage should be between a man and a woman. He also opposes civil unions and has said he would back a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage
....
Polls show Americans' views on gay marriage are shifting faster than for many other hot-button social issues, with 49% in favor, according to a March Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, up from 41% in 2009. Some 40% of Americans oppose gay marriage, according to the poll.
2012 was the last time marriage equality was really a ballot consideration and it didn't work well for Team Red, if you remember. If you look at Republican campaigns this year you would find plenty of Guns and a fair share of God but you have to look REAL HARD to find any Gay. Case in point, look how far the Party mouthpieces have kept from the right Reverend Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty. Politically it might play in the backwaters of Mississippi but Red media makers have kept it quarantined to the "Inside Edition" celebrity fuck up chambers.
Should the 2016 R-Primary season become a referendum on gay marriage and abortion (and yes, contraception), President Hillary might be gifted a Lincolnesque majority throughout the legislature, regardless of gerrymandering. In an election that is bound to be defined by gender issues, Huckabee wants to remind everyone just where one party stands in the social wars. Assuming that he will loose those primaries he may well force his conqueror and all of their congressional candidates to take on a mantel of Vagino-Homo-Intellect-O-Phobe. WAIT you say... American's already know that! Why should it matter?
Look back at that 2012 snapshot: only 49% of American "supported" marriage equality then, four years earlier, that number was only 40% according to NBC/WSJ. Gallup, which had it tied at 50% in 2012, had it up to 42% - 55% this year. The moral of the story is that a lot of middle thinking Americans, including a lot of Democrats, Liberals, Republicans and Conservatives have changed there minds. In '08 Gay marriage was underwater 56%-40% in that same Gallup poll. That is a 29% net change in a position in 6 years.
Where is a good guy with a gun
when you need them?
It is the constituent equivalence of 50 to 60 million immigrants crossing into America preregistered to vote (and James O'Keefe probably has the video already).
OR he may taint the Republican Party as Philistines, Libertines and Apostates in the eyes of those bible thumping masses he proclaims to represent.
I certainly would hope Rev. Huckabee took to the hustings as an Independent running on a platform of Hate. Give the American Taliban a comfortable place to call their own, and leave the GOP to the Mean, the Greedy and the Stupid who run the show now anyway.
Oh, and in case you didn't really understand who could still be debating this, here is a brainsplain from the comments in a HotAir column on the subject:
Here is how our society currently regards marriage and married people:
A) If a poor young woman of little education and no real skills has several babies out of wedlock by a string of wannabe gangster types of little education and no real skills but who give her nice presents from their sales of illegal drugs, society sees fit to give her lots of dollars so she and her kids can live a lower middle class lifestyle, but without the work.
B) If that same woman chose to marry a fine young lad of little education and no real skills who works hard at his minimum wage job and they have several children within the bonds of matrimony, society thinks they don’t need much if any help, so including his after tax paycheck they get less than she would have gotten under option A.
That is how our society now regards marriage, and it is how it has regarded marriage for the last half century.
Marriage today is a bad joke, a really bad joke. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
fadetogray on October 10, 2014 at 1:09 PM
See, Compassionate Conservatism can see beyond a hatred of teh Gay to a hatred for "gangster types" with "no real skills" too! Charming.