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   XPost: alt.religion   
   From: mani@sympatico.ca   
      
       Arianna Huffington| BIO | I'M A FAN OF THIS BLOGGER   
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   Huckabee: The GOP's Cynical Use of Religion Has Come Home to Roost   
      
   With Mike Huckabee's continuing surge, the Republican Party now has an   
   Iowa front-runner whose religious beliefs are virtually identical to   
   those of George Bush. He's anti-choice, born-again, against   
   gay-marriage, and gets political advice directly from God.   
      
     So why is the Republican establishment suddenly in a state of   
   near-apoplexy about Mike Huckabee? Shouldn't they be happy? They've   
   been cultivating evangelicals and fundamentalists for 30 years. Now   
   they finally have a candidate who's truly part of the movement. So   
   what's the problem?   
      
   Actually, that is the problem. The evangelical crowd was fine when it   
   was just a resource to be cynically exploited every few years in   
   demagogic anti-gay get-out-the-vote campaigns. But now the   
   holy-rolling monster the GOP's Dr. Frankensteins have created has   
   thrown off the shackles, fled the lab, and is currently leading in   
   Iowa. And the party doesn't know what to do.   
      
   It's actually fun to watch the consternation. Ross Douthat has dubbed   
   this feeling "Huckenfreude," which he defines as "pleasure derived   
   from the outrage of prominent conservative pundits over the rising   
   poll numbers of Mike Huckabee."   
      
   And there is certainly no shortage of outrage among hyperventilating   
   conservative columnists across the country. The National Review's Rich   
   Lowry has coined a neologism of his own: "Huckacide." This is when a   
   national party commits suicide by nominating an "under-vetted former   
   governor who is manifestly unprepared to be president of the United   
   States."   
      
   Yeah, that would certainly be crazy, wouldn't it? Makes you wonder   
   where these people have been for the last seven years.   
      
   Over at the Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer is wringing his hands   
   about an "overdose of public piety," "scriptural literalism," and how   
   the 2008 campaign is "knee-deep in religion."   
      
   etc. complete article at   
   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/huckabee-the-go   
   s-cynic_b_77165.html?view=print   
      
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