FRC Action Crowd ♥'s Mike
By Erick Posted in 2008 | FRC Action — Comments (10) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Mike Huckabee is coming. The Arkansas folks in the crowd go nuts. They won't stop cheering.
It's abundantly apparent from the corridors to the reception he gets when he comes in that Huckabee is among his own, more so than Romney or Fred.
He starts with an Al Gore joke. Then he talks about baby boomers now entering the system and what's going to happen when the hippies realize they can now get free drugs.
"I come as one not who comes to you, but as one who comes from you. You are my roots," he says as he sinks in to his speech. He points out that he started out as a Baptist minister. He tells a joke about a lady asking if he was one of those Baptists who was so narrow minded he thought only the Baptists would go to heaven. He says, "Lady, I'm more narrow minded than that. I don't think even all the Baptists are going to heaven."
Now he transcends into "non-negotiable values." Freedom. Family. Faith.
He says we cannot "negotiate, accommodate, or placate Islamic terrorists. We must eliminate." The crowd likes that. "We cannot have the naive idea that if we leave them alone they will leave us alone. That will get us killed," he says as the crowd roars.
Then he goes into immigration and the broken border. He says he thanks God that we live in a place where people want to break into than break out of, but how terrible it is that it is more difficult for us to get on an airplane in our hometown than it is for an illegal to get over the border. Biggest Applause of Any Speech Yet That I've Seen.
He says he doesn't blame those who want to come here. He blames the government that has sat around doing nothing for over 20 years. Again, the crowd goes nuts.
He moves to energy and how bad it is that we are so dependent on energy from others. People in the crowd verbally agree with him. Then he bashes China and the crowd goes wild. Romney should be nervous. So should Fred.
"Our freedom is threatened by a tax system that is out of control." "As we say in the south, not even duct tape and WD-40 can fix it." He goes into Fair Tax. He points out how it would stop the IRS from muzzling ministers in the pulpits from speaking out. The crowd goes wild again.
He brings up the Law of the Sea Treaty. The people clap. He says any judge that thinks he can legislate from the bench "ought to be impeached." My ears are ringing the crowd is so loud.
Thompson and Romney should be worried. We have reached the crowd favorite.
Now he goes into marriage. The crowd goes wild and these, by the way, are not his people. His small group is up front, but the rest of the crowd is not his, but they are now.
"Why are we importing so many to do our work? Because we've aborted over a million Americans." He calls it a holocaust. The crowd gets loud, but not as loud as at other points.
"We don't need to move God to meet the cultural norms. We need to move the cultural norms to meet God." Massive applause. Standing ovation.
Now he's moved on to how faith is threatened in this country. He says there was once a time when some things were negotiable, but the sanctity of life and marriage and our freedom was not and never should be negotiable. "Let us never sacrifice our principles for anybody's politics," he says. The crowd likes that line.
"You know the prophets of old spoke the truth boldly," he says. "They spoke the truth to power. All of you in this room have the power to go back to your states and counties and be true to your faith and convictions."
Now he transitions into sermon. He talks about Jesus (I don't remember Romney talking about the J man). He talks about believing in a God who could light a fire on wood soaked in water. He talks about Jesus raising Lazarus. "I don't ever want anyone to let us replace expediency as new values for our long held values." Someone shouts "Come on Mike!" He crowd starts yelling. They stand. They clap. They cheer. They whistle.
"I do not spell G-O-D, G-O-P. Our party may be important. But our principles are more important." He says we cannot compromise our core beliefs. He says "Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time for those of us who call ourselves value voters to pledge our lifes, our fortunes, our sacred honor to that which is right, and true, and eternal."
And then he's gone.
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FRC Action Crowd ♥'s Mike 10 Comments (0 topical, 10 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
I know that not all Christians will be rooting for him, because in their sight, Huckabee doesn't have a realistic chance of beating Giuliani, Romney, and Thompson.
But if I may offer a few verses from the Bible:
2 Cor. 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
And...
Rom. 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
And finally...
Heb. 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
I urge all born-again Christians to have faith and vote Huckabee in both primary and general elections, if he can make that far. If you will vote with your faith intact, then I should think God will reward our faith accordingly by exalting Huckabee in due time. As long Huckabee is humble in his heart and depends upon God for the right answers and wisdom, then he may be the biggest surprise of all Republican candidates so far.
So far, I am pleased by Huckabee's performance, let's give him a chance even if media doesn't notice him at all.
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Daniel 2:20 And he [God] changeth the times and seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding.
It was just a lot harder to see when he was languishing around 1%. Now those standing ovations have hope behind them. It's awesome.
I'm only worried that using the H-word regarding abortion will put him in trouble, but we'll see if anyone picks up on it.
Whether you like his policies or not, you have to admit that Huckabee has that unique skill of generating that feel-good buzz. He did it at the NRA convention. He's done it at the debates. And he did it here at the Washington Briefing.
The folks over at dailykos are afraid of Huckabee. He is solidly conservative and charismatic enough to explain it. I've been a Fred Thompson supporter, but I just think he lacks the charisma to win a general election. Huckabee and Thompson's issue positions are almost identical, and Huckabee has that extra something to peel away votes from Democrats, rally independents behind him, and solidify the Republican base behind him and beat Hillary in a landslide. Check dailykos for yourself and search for Huckabee. They are scared and rightly so. Losing the presidency for 3 straight elections isn't fun.
Every day. It may be right twice a day but you never know when.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
Looks like Erick is not the only astute conservative analyst that noted something amazing and significant happened today who has not previously been a Huckabee cheerleader: Rich Lowry's latest post on Huckabee at National Review. All you skeptics need to start taking Huckabee VERY seriously, Lowry is no naiive evangelical when he speaks here as the editor of National Review which has (at least in online version) been practically ignoring Huckabee (pasted from The Corner):
Huckabee Today [Rich Lowry]
Wow. Let me repeat: Wow. What an incredible communicator. His message has gotten stronger with the accent on Buchanesque nationalist/protectionist notes, and he speaks the language of these kind of voters better than anyone. I found myself getting goose-bumps near the end of his speech when he invoked a long series of Biblical underdogs, beginning with David and his five smooth stones. He made as strong a case as possible for putting all pragmatic considerations aside and going with him. And no one could mistake the shots at Romney, including a reference to candidates who have as many positions as Elvis had sizes to his waist-band. Watch out in Iowa.
from
10/20 03:02 PM
I still don't trust Huckabee's positions. I don't deny he might excite people. But even Lowry notes that he stresses protectionism. The Fair Tax isn't going to be enough to get him past the doubt FiCons have in the big-government statements he's made. And while the Fair Tax might be great, it is unrealistic to think it will ever happen - too much to demagogue against, and too much that needs to be done to make it work (the biggest being the absolute need to repeal the income tax and the 16th Amendment that allows it).
If Huckabee wants to be seen as more than just another 4 years of GWB's domestic policies, he needs to really sit down and have some sort of revelation on the things that the FiCons are going to be interested in. What's his backup plan for when the Fair Tax goes nowhere (yes, I said when not if)? Exactly how far is he going to take the protectionist thing - is he going to get us into a trade war with China? Why is he latching on to the big-government NCLB premise of massive federal involvement in education when most conservatives have turned against it?
Right now, there are too many questions out there. I don't want to elect another person that we're going to have to constantly babysit to keep him from sliding into soft socialism. I'd rather vote for Rudy.
Huckabee OWNED this crowd. I agree -- Fred and Romney should be nervous. I wonder if Rudy stuck around to watch his earlier speech disappear into thin air... Rudy who?