HUCK FIN
I’m a Protestant. And I guess I favor the Baptist approach to things more than the Anglican one because I prefer my Christian worship to be simple, direct and unadorned. Toward the end of my run with the Episcopalians, the Anglo-Catholic pomp and circumstance at my joint really began to annoy me so, except for Christmas and Easter, I completely abandoned it in favor of this low-church thing we did in a small, side chapel.
Spend the first 48 years of your life inside a particular tradition and leaving it is the hardest thing in the world so I keep telling myself that I’m going to die as some kind of Anglican or other. But I really think that I’m probably going to end up as a Southern Baptist or as a member of some other church with a similar, low-church style of worship.
For one thing, the sermons are better. But that’s not saying much. Not many traditions don’t preach better than the Episcopalians, Catholics included. And I read Charles Spurgeon all the time so maybe I’m setting the bar awfully high.
I just wish that some Southern Baptists would stop embarrassing me. Take Mike Huckabee. The former Baptist pastor and later governor of Arkansas used to be someone I would have enthusiastically backed for president. Not anymore:
Mike Huckabee rallied hundreds of Southern Baptists on a conference call Friday night in support of Todd Akin, offering advice about how they can help the embattled Missouri Senate candidate stay in the race — while acknowledging Akin still may have to bow out.
“This could be a Mount Carmel moment,” said the former Arkansas governor, referring to the holy battle between Elijah and the prophets of Baal in the book of Kings. “You know, you bring your gods. We’ll bring ours. We’ll see whose God answers the prayers and brings fire from heaven. That’s kind of where I’m praying: that there will be fire from heaven, and we’ll see it clearly, and everyone else will to.”
Head, Keyboard, you know the drill. Just call me QWERTY Face. WONderful idea, Huck. Compare a true prophet of the living God to an arrogant, self-centered, opportunistic six-term Missouri congressman who can’t get out of his own way but thinks he’s entitled to the nomination simply because a tiny percentage of Missourians tapped the touch screen for him. If that doesn’t convince people, I don’t know what will. David Barton, one of the people Huck called in for this conference of his, doubled down.
“There’s been a lot of political leaders who have made major gaffes but not just misspoken,” said Barton. “One of the greatest leaders in Israel’s history was David, who had [committed] adultery, murdered Uriah, etc. But he repented. God gave him forgiveness. Great leader. But that was not a misspeaking of words. And then Noah had trouble with drunkenness. God still used him. Samuel couldn’t control his children. He ran a nation. Moses, guilty of murder. He came back, delivers a nation.”
Go on sinning that grace might increase, Dave? Once again, we’re talking about one inept Missouri congressman here, not one of the Apostles. And believe me, it’s not like Missouri Republicans are shunning the next Abraham Lincoln. Oh, and Huck? If you want to take the Christian approach to this controversy, it seems like it would be a pretty good idea to steer clear of lying through your teeth.
Huckabee said he received calls from the highest levels of the Republican Party after he came out in support of Akin, who came under fire Sunday after his “legitimate rape” remarks. But Huckabee suggested the GOP establishment has begun to realize that Akin may wind up being their only hope.
“Today, the rhetoric was dramatically dialed back,” he said. “You did not see the NRSC, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, coming out with the kind of harsh statements because they’ve dialed it back. They’ve assured me that they will no longer be threatening the business of some of the vendors in politics and telling them that if they do anything to help Todd, they’d be blackballed and not get any business.
“That kind of stuff’s been going on, and I told these people yesterday that I talked to: That’s got to stop. It can’t continue. That’s what union goons do: breaking people’s kneecaps when you cross a line. And Todd Akin has done nothing but make a mistake for which he has roundly repudiated the comment and apologized. There’s nothing else he can do.”
The NRSC pushed back firmly on Huckabee’s accusation.
“We have a great deal of respect for Gov. Huckabee and regret that we do not see eye to eye with him on this race,” said NRSC Communications Director Brian Walsh. “It’s important to set the record straight, though, that the types of tactics he describes simply did not happen — and further, no one at the NRSC has even spoken with the governor this week.”
Huckabee released a statement Saturday walking back the comments he made on the call.
“I have not had any direct contact with leaders or staff from the NRSC,” he said in the emailed statement. “This is an attempt to create a story. My comments this week on my own forums of radio and to the people who choose to receive communications from me are first hand and accurately reflect what I said. I hardly need third-party news outlets who ‘heard’ things to report on that which simply didn’t happen. Harry Reid has imaginary friends who tell him things about others, and it appears that there are some others in the media who have some imaginary friends.”
Ah, the famous reductio ad infantum argument, popularly known as “I’m rubber and you’re glue, etc.” Dave Weigel reports that if Huck ever wants to take another run at high political office, he’s got a “magic uterus” problem of his own which, amazingly, he handled even worse than Akin handled his.
But Huckabee’s been at this rodeo — do pilgrims rodeo? — at this clam bake for quite some time. In 1998, Arkansas State Senator Fay Boozman helped wreck his chances at a U.S. Senate seat by suggesting that rape-activated female hormones could prevent pregnancy — “God’s little shield.”
Spend the first 48 years of your life inside a particular tradition and leaving it is the hardest thing in the world so I keep telling myself that I’m going to die as some kind of Anglican or other. But I really think that I’m probably going to end up as a Southern Baptist or as a member of some other church with a similar, low-church style of worship.
For one thing, the sermons are better. But that’s not saying much. Not many traditions don’t preach better than the Episcopalians, Catholics included. And I read Charles Spurgeon all the time so maybe I’m setting the bar awfully high.
I just wish that some Southern Baptists would stop embarrassing me. Take Mike Huckabee. The former Baptist pastor and later governor of Arkansas used to be someone I would have enthusiastically backed for president. Not anymore:
Mike Huckabee rallied hundreds of Southern Baptists on a conference call Friday night in support of Todd Akin, offering advice about how they can help the embattled Missouri Senate candidate stay in the race — while acknowledging Akin still may have to bow out.
“This could be a Mount Carmel moment,” said the former Arkansas governor, referring to the holy battle between Elijah and the prophets of Baal in the book of Kings. “You know, you bring your gods. We’ll bring ours. We’ll see whose God answers the prayers and brings fire from heaven. That’s kind of where I’m praying: that there will be fire from heaven, and we’ll see it clearly, and everyone else will to.”
Head, Keyboard, you know the drill. Just call me QWERTY Face. WONderful idea, Huck. Compare a true prophet of the living God to an arrogant, self-centered, opportunistic six-term Missouri congressman who can’t get out of his own way but thinks he’s entitled to the nomination simply because a tiny percentage of Missourians tapped the touch screen for him. If that doesn’t convince people, I don’t know what will. David Barton, one of the people Huck called in for this conference of his, doubled down.
“There’s been a lot of political leaders who have made major gaffes but not just misspoken,” said Barton. “One of the greatest leaders in Israel’s history was David, who had [committed] adultery, murdered Uriah, etc. But he repented. God gave him forgiveness. Great leader. But that was not a misspeaking of words. And then Noah had trouble with drunkenness. God still used him. Samuel couldn’t control his children. He ran a nation. Moses, guilty of murder. He came back, delivers a nation.”
Go on sinning that grace might increase, Dave? Once again, we’re talking about one inept Missouri congressman here, not one of the Apostles. And believe me, it’s not like Missouri Republicans are shunning the next Abraham Lincoln. Oh, and Huck? If you want to take the Christian approach to this controversy, it seems like it would be a pretty good idea to steer clear of lying through your teeth.
Huckabee said he received calls from the highest levels of the Republican Party after he came out in support of Akin, who came under fire Sunday after his “legitimate rape” remarks. But Huckabee suggested the GOP establishment has begun to realize that Akin may wind up being their only hope.
“Today, the rhetoric was dramatically dialed back,” he said. “You did not see the NRSC, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, coming out with the kind of harsh statements because they’ve dialed it back. They’ve assured me that they will no longer be threatening the business of some of the vendors in politics and telling them that if they do anything to help Todd, they’d be blackballed and not get any business.
“That kind of stuff’s been going on, and I told these people yesterday that I talked to: That’s got to stop. It can’t continue. That’s what union goons do: breaking people’s kneecaps when you cross a line. And Todd Akin has done nothing but make a mistake for which he has roundly repudiated the comment and apologized. There’s nothing else he can do.”
The NRSC pushed back firmly on Huckabee’s accusation.
“We have a great deal of respect for Gov. Huckabee and regret that we do not see eye to eye with him on this race,” said NRSC Communications Director Brian Walsh. “It’s important to set the record straight, though, that the types of tactics he describes simply did not happen — and further, no one at the NRSC has even spoken with the governor this week.”
Huckabee released a statement Saturday walking back the comments he made on the call.
“I have not had any direct contact with leaders or staff from the NRSC,” he said in the emailed statement. “This is an attempt to create a story. My comments this week on my own forums of radio and to the people who choose to receive communications from me are first hand and accurately reflect what I said. I hardly need third-party news outlets who ‘heard’ things to report on that which simply didn’t happen. Harry Reid has imaginary friends who tell him things about others, and it appears that there are some others in the media who have some imaginary friends.”
Ah, the famous reductio ad infantum argument, popularly known as “I’m rubber and you’re glue, etc.” Dave Weigel reports that if Huck ever wants to take another run at high political office, he’s got a “magic uterus” problem of his own which, amazingly, he handled even worse than Akin handled his.
But Huckabee’s been at this rodeo — do pilgrims rodeo? — at this clam bake for quite some time. In 1998, Arkansas State Senator Fay Boozman helped wreck his chances at a U.S. Senate seat by suggesting that rape-activated female hormones could prevent pregnancy — “God’s little shield.”
Boozman lost by 12 points. Then he lucked out. Gov. Mike Huckabee, a friend and political ally for many years, put Boozman in charge of the Arkansas Department of Health. The “God’s little shield” controversy was fresh, and Huckabee kept getting asked about it. As far as he was concerned, the story was over, and it was unfair to harp on it. “If nothing else,” said Huckabee, according to a February 1999 story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, “I hope to make it very clear that our administration is not governed by intimidation. We’re not going to allow the shrill voices of a few to so disparage the character of a very decent and good person to an outstanding position in such a way that Arkansas would lose his service at the Department of Health.”
Look. I’m certain that Todd Akin is a wonderful person who just picked the wrong words to answer an interviewer. Those things happen. But fairly or unfairly, Huck, the simple fact of the matter is that Akin’s words and, more importantly, his words and actions since then have badly hurt the GOP and turned an easy Republican senatorial pick-up into a probable Democratic senatorial retention.
There were two other conservatives in the Missouri primary, Sarah Steelman and John Brunner, who are just as pro-life as Akin is and haven’t made complete fools of themselves in public for a couple of months. So for you to turn support for Akin, by far the weakest candidate of the three, into some kind of religious litmus test is more than a little offensive to me, Huck, and I share your views on most issues.
Your loyalty to your friends is admirable, Huck, and in an ideal world, Akin’s apology would have sufficed, he’d still lead the execrable McCaskill and one of his aides would be in Washington as I type this, lining up his living arrangements and office space. But we don’t live in an ideal world, Huck.
Because if we did, Akin understands the damage he had, however inadvertently, done to his party and to the causes he says he supports and withdraws from the race. Instead, this clueless dolt thinks that winning 36% of 200,000 votes entitles him to remain the Republican nominee, regardless of how his candidacy affects the party here in Missouri and elsewhere across the country.
Huck, you and Akin make much of the fact that you’re independent of the “Republican establishment” and how the “party bosses” don’t much care for either of you. So you have no right to complain about how the “Republican establishment” is reluctant to fly to your aid now. If the two of you don’t like them, they probably don’t like the two of you.
Why not? If you get the time, Huck, look up the meaning of the term “team player.”
Look. I’m certain that Todd Akin is a wonderful person who just picked the wrong words to answer an interviewer. Those things happen. But fairly or unfairly, Huck, the simple fact of the matter is that Akin’s words and, more importantly, his words and actions since then have badly hurt the GOP and turned an easy Republican senatorial pick-up into a probable Democratic senatorial retention.
There were two other conservatives in the Missouri primary, Sarah Steelman and John Brunner, who are just as pro-life as Akin is and haven’t made complete fools of themselves in public for a couple of months. So for you to turn support for Akin, by far the weakest candidate of the three, into some kind of religious litmus test is more than a little offensive to me, Huck, and I share your views on most issues.
Your loyalty to your friends is admirable, Huck, and in an ideal world, Akin’s apology would have sufficed, he’d still lead the execrable McCaskill and one of his aides would be in Washington as I type this, lining up his living arrangements and office space. But we don’t live in an ideal world, Huck.
Because if we did, Akin understands the damage he had, however inadvertently, done to his party and to the causes he says he supports and withdraws from the race. Instead, this clueless dolt thinks that winning 36% of 200,000 votes entitles him to remain the Republican nominee, regardless of how his candidacy affects the party here in Missouri and elsewhere across the country.
Huck, you and Akin make much of the fact that you’re independent of the “Republican establishment” and how the “party bosses” don’t much care for either of you. So you have no right to complain about how the “Republican establishment” is reluctant to fly to your aid now. If the two of you don’t like them, they probably don’t like the two of you.
Why not? If you get the time, Huck, look up the meaning of the term “team player.”
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