New Hampshire NEA endorses … Huckabee?

Are any of the Republican presidential candidates members of the reality-based community?

Maybe they think he's the most beatable in the main election, or perhaps they think he's the best of a bad job. It's not as though it's easy to pick one of the Republican crowd as better than the rest, is it?

Very good question Bill. Rudy has come so far as to speculate that much of the bible is allegory.

mothra,

Ooh, that's really going to burn my born-again Baptist friend. He was really into Guilliani for doing such a great job cleaning up NY.

This Youtube clip of Huckabee is really frightening. He's asked why he is rising in the polls and he says that it's a miracle like the loaves and the fishes, not the result of human action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSQNSlUUoOc

Remember, NH is the state that voted for Pat Buchanan. The home of the Manchester Union Leader. If you scream loudly enough that you will cut taxes and that your opponents won't, you will get the Republican vote here.

Meanwhile, the Mormon, that's Romney, right? (so hard to keep these wingnuts straight) is now on record as saying that, yes, the leaders of LDS are divinely guided, but, no, he would not consult them on matters of governance if elected.

Now, let's get this straight: He claims to genuinely believe that he personally knows people who are reliably informed by a perfect, omniscient being, and yet he's not going to tap into this infallible source of advice? wtf?

Seriously, cognitive dissonance, thy name is theism.

Presumably the democrats in the NEA chose the democratic endorsement, and the republicans chose the republican endorsement, right?

[tongue-in-cheek]If so, then it makes sense. The fact they are republicans in the first place leads one to question their intelligence.[/tongue]

As far as we know, Huckabee could have gotten less support than the 5th place democrat, but got the "endorsement" because he was the top finishing republican. That's the type of results you can get in a two party system.

Guaranteed they supported two people to seem apolitical. Huckabee's growing convicted rapist/murderer commuting scandal will probably make the NEA wish they had paid more attention to the news.

As for the video of Huckabee saying his god is helping him win, that ain't that scary. What else woud you expect him to say, especially in front of a big friendly crowd? He's a politician. Of course he's going to say that.

There are far worse things religious candidates have said and done than what he said. I think the guy is as done as a pot roast though, once this commutation scandal really hits the news.

Playing devil's advocate, assuming they had to endorse a Republican, Huckabee's the single best choice they've got. Yeah, he's a wingnut when it comes to his religion (and Clinton conspiracy theories, apparently), but his social policies are close to John Edwards'. He supports school lunches and helping out impoverished kids with education and health care, which puts his goals pretty much in line with the NEA's -- at least compared to Romney's chainsaw-wielding-CEO style, Ron Paul's plan to drown government in a shot glass, or Rudy Giuliani's psychotic jail-everyone mentality. (And let's just stop pretending Fred Thompson is a front-runner. The man's campaign has all the heft of a damp piece of toilet paper.)

I'm not rooting for anyone on the GOP side -- honestly I am terrified of what 4 years with any of these candidates would yield -- but Huckabee, for all his considerable faults, does deserve some credit for his work to fight poverty.

The republican dilemma :

1. Huckabee seems to fit best the creationist doctrine and the grass roots supporters
2. Giuliani has better chances against Clinton

This just tends to confirm 1.

My guess is that as it becomes clearer to the GOP that Clinton will be the one to defeat, point 2. will take over. Let's see.

As for the video of Huckabee saying his god is helping him win, that ain't that scary. What else woud you expect him to say, especially in front of a big friendly crowd?

I would expect him to talk about, you know, POLITICAL stuff. Or maybe thank his supporters. Jesus Herbert Christ, am I gonna have to lower my expectations again?!

I guess that the NEA must have its share of people that know little if anything about science, or at least not care about it like they should.

There's a good, if depressing, article from teh Guardian today about Huckabee

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections08/story/0,,2222697,00.html

Slightly off topic, but Canadian Pharyngulites might want to try to catch this tonight at 9 pm on CBC TV.
http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/paganchrist.html

#5,About the video,

saying that divine providence is helping him, is ,... scary.
It's been used so many times in the past, by kings, dictators, facists and the colourful Kim Jong- Il.
That "trick" doesn't have a very good track record as to the "sanctity" of those who have abused of it.
Do the grass roots GOP have any knowledge of world history ?

I blame kindergarten teachers for this and also for supporting the appliquéd knit garment industry.

TO #16

No.

that was an easy answer :P

hmmm

"It's scientifically impossible for the bumblebee to fly," (Huckabee) told a crowd in the small town of Newton. "But the bumblebee, being unaware of these scientific facts, flies anyway."

On a scale of 0 to 100, what does that score him on the crackpot index ?

New Hampshire is the ying/yang reaction to Vermont. Lots of teh stupid up there. Even Mainer's have more politcal common sense, even if they trend republican.

That video of huckabee was freaky. I'm with Rey Fox -- the usual answer is to thank your supporters and say that people want change blah blah blah, not to say that Jesus is leading you to victory. That's creepy. And the crowd, while clapping, I think because the Divine was implied, wasn't exactly roaring enthusiasm at him. I think the statement was kind of a flop, and you can see him backpedalling just a bit -- "I'm not being facetious." People aren't struck silent because you're being facetious, Huck, they're in awe of your lunatic arrogance.

From the Guarian article:

It is, in Huckabee's telling of the story, also how the bumblebee flies: blind faith.

Hmmmm... maybe the real secret to Huckabee's success is due to dynamic stall.

@ 12:

Thanking the supporters would've been considered a thin response in that crowd, at least so far as he brought up religious forces. They're supposed to talk about political stuff - and maybe they in fact did (this IS only one question of many - but it works in that party to keep talking about religion because they don't believe people can have control over government or their lives; They think a higher power takes care of all that, so talking about policy is really kind of superfluous. Nevermind the fact that the higher power in question seems to be incapable of intervening to stop all kinds of bad things.

You ask if you have to lower expectations again. Concerning republicans, you mean you haven't HAD to consistently over the last 7+ years??

@ BlueIndependent "As for the video of Huckabee saying his god is helping him win, that ain't that scary. What else woud you expect him to say, especially in front of a big friendly crowd? He's a politician. Of course he's going to say that."

Did you watch the video? I'm thoroughly versed in American politics, Christian fundamentalism and their intersection. I've seen politicians credit God for all sorts of things people do. I have to say though I've never seen an American politician cite God's miraculous power as THE reason for his movement in the polls. Huckabee only later gets around to crediting people for being the agents of that change. It's an astounding moment - and I'm not saying it because Huckabee is my least favorite Republican candidate - there are at least 3 others I think are worse disasters.

Huckabee's comment about God as the root cause of his rise should make Christians uncomfortable -- because it implies they have no free will and are just pawns of God. It's just not polite to put it that way.

Polite ways to say it is, "There is a movement across this country, a spirit is alive among the people, etc..." to give some ownership to the crowd. People like to be flattered for being Warriors of God, not Robots of God.

Huckabee is my least favorite Republican candidate

Surely Tancredo or Ron Paul ranks lower than I <3 Huckabee? I mean, they're all abysmally terrible, but at least Huckabee's not campaigning against The Brown Menace like Tancredo, and he's not advocating the complete destruction of America's economic system like Ron Paul.

blast, HTML screwed up my post. It was sposta say "I 'heart' Huckabee".

@ stogoe - Huckabee is not my least favorite. Here's what I wrote, if perhaps inelegantly: "I'm not saying it because Huckabee is my least favorite Republican candidate - there are at least 3 others I think are worse disasters."

Those three are Tancredo, Guiliani and Hunter. Ron Paul may or may not be worse than Huckabee - I can't decide but then again I'm not going to give it much thought - suffice to say neither would get my vote over a bowl of warm oatmeal.

I can't decide but then again I'm not going to give it much thought - suffice to say neither would get my vote over a bowl of warm oatmeal.

The relevant metric is: Which of the candidate's heads would you be most comfortable smashing a bottle of beer over?

but it works in that party to keep talking about religion because they don't believe people can have control over government or their lives; They think a higher power takes care of all that, so talking about policy is really kind of superfluous.

And you don't find that scary? You must be more jaded than I am.

"Ron Paul may or may not be worse than Huckabee "

Ron Paul is much, much, much worse than Huckabee. It's not even close.

Alec@15, thanks for pointing the show out. I'd have missed it otherwise.

Picking one Republican candidate over the other is sort of like deciding which kind of tumor you'd like to have.

Picking one Republican candidate over the other is sort of like deciding which kind of tumor you'd like to have.

Posted by: Archaeopteryx |

Except that some tumors are benign...

While I weep for my state on a number of issues, I think post #10 probably describes what the NEA was thinking. While we (meaning most of the people who read this blog) would like science education to be one of the top concerns, the educators who teach subjects other than science probably don't care as much as about the Creationism issue. The other concerns that plague American education would be higher on their list of priorities.

"hmmm

"It's scientifically impossible for the bumblebee to fly," (Huckabee) told a crowd in the small town of Newton. "But the bumblebee, being unaware of these scientific facts, flies anyway."

On a scale of 0 to 100, what does that score him on the crackpot index ?"

I think they figured this out years ago and he's just quoting some crap he read somewhere to sound deep.

Follow the money.

Huckabee was all too happy to raise taxes and increase spending as governor, and the NEA is all about the money.

-jcr

"Picking one Republican candidate over the other is sort of like deciding which kind of tumor you'd like to have."

There is a big difference between a cyst and a brain tumor, unfortunately, it seems that most of them have the latter.

So thadd, Huckabee's reasoning is simple :

Bumblebee = Huckabee (metaphorically)

So, for him, what science says is impossible to do, he can do. Therefore, he must have some sort of supernatural power in him.

Conclusion, not only he's anti-science, he's completely delusional, and he's pretending that he is helped by divine providence.

And that as "leader of the free-world" ?

A very recent article on animal flight in EMBO reports (vol. 8, p. 811, 2007) contains contains references to articles on the aerodynamics of honeybee flight: Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, vol. 102, pp. 18213-18218 (2005).

I can see why a great many teachers might want the 2008 election to be Clinton vs. Huckabee.

The only problem with that lineup is the remote outside chance that -- with the electorate we have now, and the dubious voting machinery in place -- conceivably Huckabee might actually win.

@39: Don't you know that the much flawed scientific explanation for bumblebee flight is just a theory?

I think alternate views of how bumblebees fly - such as the simple and elegant theory of intelligent lifting (simply stated: I don't know how bumblebees fly, therefore, god. QED) - should be given equal emphasis in the schoolrooms of this great nation.

Do you think Elijah's flaming chariot was aerodymanic? Or that Jesus' needed localised areas of "high" and "low" pressure to ascend to the right hand of his father? I think not!

The godless militant secularist dogma of aerodynamics has held sway for long enough!

P.
Cliftingproponentist

In an interview with Glenn Beck on Wednesday, the Huckster says:

Now, the way to fix it is to change the tax code completely, get rid of the IRS, which we would do. That`s also a freedom of speech issue. No longer would some pastor be told, "You can`t say that because the IRS can come get you," because we'd come get the IRS and throw them out. April the 15 becomes just another pretty spring day in America. "

Who is "we?" The fundamentalist preachers? It's 10 AM and I need a drink!

You can read the entire transcipt here.