Concerns about Huckabee

Like many political conservatives - and, also, like more than a few political liberals -- I have been thinking that there is much to like about Gov. Huckabee.  (That said, he is not, and has never been, my preferred candidate.)  I liked it, that is, that -- in addition to having sound (i.e., my own) views on abortion-regulation, he seemed (for a while, anyway) not to endorse base anti-immigrant rhetoric; that, as Governor, he was willing to commute the sentences of, and pardon, convicted criminals; and that, for a while, he avoided Giuliani-esque over-the-top statements about how tough he is willing to be on detainees, etc.  (I have been bothered, though, by his cosy relationship with the teacher unions, among other things.)  I even gave him a little (very little) money.

This column, though, by Robert Novak, leaves me very troubled.  Now, to be clear, it is not (for me) a reason to worry about Gov. Huckabee's candidacy that, apparently, some Southern Baptist leaders are not endorsing him. What does bother me, though, is (what seems to be) Gov. Huckabee's close relationship with Steven Hotze, Rick Scarborough, and Vision America.

I've been pretty clear, I think, about my disdain for the tedious "the theocrats are coming!" thing that is so popular in some circles.  (See Ross Douthat's take-down of the genre here.)  But, as I see it, Hotze, Scarborough, and Vision America really do have troubling and misguided views about faith, law, and the political order.  We're not talking Fr. Neuhaus's critique of the naked public square here, or John Courtney Murray's We Hold These Truths.  These folks are hard-core.  And, they are, in many ways, wrong.

Now, I'm confident (should I be, though?) that Gov. Huckabee's own views are more thoughtful and sound than those of these so-called Christian Reconstructionists.  But, can anyone doubt that, were Huckabee to be the nominee, these people and their views (read this, for example) -- which would be, I'm confident, regarded as deeply creepy and troubling by most Americans -- would be at the center of the campaign?  (Indeed, it would be political malpractice for Huckabee's opponent, or opponents, not to exploit his connection with these people.)  Even those of us who have found things to like about Huckabee would, I hope, demand that he repudiate them, their views, and their aims.

I am, of course, pro-life and fairly conservative.  I agree entirely with those who insist that religious faith has a role to play in politics and policy.  I don't see "theocracy" looming behind efforts to, say, protect unborn children from partial-birth abortions.  But, I do worry about Vision America (not that they could actually achieve their aims, but that they will become associated in the public mind with *my* aims).

Also troubling to me - and, I hope, to other Catholics -- is the fact that Gov. Huckabee apparently has no difficulty appearing with, and preaching at the church of, Pastor John Hagee, a virulent and ignorant anti-Catholic polemecist who has, to put it mildly, not yet got the word about "Evangelicals and Catholics Together."

So:  tell me, MOJ readers who support Gov. Huckabee, if you think I'm overreacting here.  Should I not worry about Huckabee's relationship with the attendees at the event described in the Novak column?  About his relationship with Hagee?

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