Avoid an "Unintended Presidency” - Know your Republican Choices: Mike Huckabee
Let me introduce you to Mike Huckabee, Republican.
Brace yourselves for this one! Former Governor Huckabee is unashamedly anti-choice. Get this, he has an ENTIRE part of his website devoted to The Sanctity of Life. What I find somewhat funny (come on, you have to find some humor in these men who are so high on their pedestals that they have NO CLUE what thousands of American women feel each year when facing an unintended pregnancy), is that this page is supposed to be a tribute to his victories in the world of reproductive rights. Let’s see what Mr. Huckabee has to say (consider yourselves warned):
- “I first became politically active because of abortion, when I helped pass Arkansas' Unborn Child Amendment, which requires the state to do whatever it legally can to protect life.”
- “I support and have always supported passage of a constitutional amendment to protect the right to life. My convictions regarding the sanctity of life have always been clear and consistent, without equivocation or wavering. I believe that Roe v. Wade should be over-turned.”
- "As Governor, I did all I could to protect life. The many pro-life laws I got through my Democrat legislature are the accomplishments that give me the most pride and personal satisfaction. I banned partial birth abortion, I required parental notification, I required that a woman give informed consent before having an abortion, I required that a woman be told her baby will experience pain and be given the option of anesthesia for her baby, I allowed a woman to have her baby and leave the child safely at a hospital, and I made it a crime for an unborn child to be injured or murdered during an attack on his mother."
- What I accomplished as Governor proves that there is a lot more that a pro-life President can do than wait for a Supreme Court vacancy, and I will do everything I can to promote a pro-life agenda and pass pro-life legislation. If I'm saddled with a Democrat Congress, I'll veto any pro-abortion legislation they pass. I will staff all relevant positions with pro-life appointees.
And let’s talk hypocrite here. Although Huckabee is clearly pro-life (or more specifically, anti-choice), he in favor of the death penalty! WHAT? How can anyone who supports "a constitutional amendment written specifically to protect the right to human life,” and who shamelessly spouts out that his "convictions about the sanctity of human life are clear and consistent" possible be pro-death? Bet ya want to know how he rationalizes this one... to Huckabee, the death penalty is the result of a judicial process whereby the person in question is deemed guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, yet a woman who decides to have an abortion is ending the life of an innocent and defenseless child.
Let’s look critically at this one folks (a skill Mr. Huckabee is obviously lacking). His rationale - abortion is ending the life of an innocent child. Well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to confirm that many a “innocent" person has been killed due to the death penalty; in fact, since 1973, over 124 people have been released from death row due to evidence of their innocence. There is no way of ever knowing how many “defenseless, innocent” (mind you, Huckabee’s words) people lost their lives unfairly due to a death sentence, and evidence shows that the danger that innocent people will be executed because of errors in the criminal justice system is only getting worse. It seems to me that the one who espouses the “sanctity of life” should not pick and choose who qualifies under this title. The innocent people killed on death row were fathers, mothers, son, daughters, brothers, etc.; they left behind a life – one where they actually walked on the earth and contributed to it. They were real, living people – not a mass of cells fusing together.
And, just to add a little more fuel to this embarrassing fire that Mr. Huckabee has created for himself, how about this statement he made in regard to the announcement that Leading House Democrats said that they would pull the plug on abstinence-only education when a $50 million grant expired on June 30:
"Abstinence education provides a valuable counterweight to peer pressure and the message young people get from the popular culture encouraging casual relationships and separating sex from love, commitment and marriage. I do not believe in teaching about sex or contraception in public schools. That is the responsibility of parents. I am disappointed that funding for abstinence education is not likely to be renewed by the Democrat Congress. This reversal only emphasizes how important it is for Republicans to take back Congress and win the White House with an authentic conservative in 2008."For somebody who is anti-choice, this sounds like a REAL "well-planned out" idea (given that we know how abstinence-only education does nothing to curb teenage abortion rates). Plus, I don’t know about you, but if my 8th grader decides to have sex, I would much prefer someone giving him a condom than a bible. Last I checked, condoms are 85-98% effective and have been proven to reduce the risk of certain sexually transmitted infections. I wonder what the research says about the effectiveness rates of the bible on pregnancy and STD’s…hmmm?"I miss the America I grew up in where the Gideons gave Bibles to fifth graders instead of school nurses giving condoms to eighth graders. With so much at stake, it's important that we return to the core values and guiding principles which have made our country great."
Mr. Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, believes, “The First Amendment requires that expressions of faith be neither prohibited nor preferred. We should not banish religion from the public square, but should guarantee access to all voices and views” (I believe this translates to: everyone must believe as I do since my hard-core religious convictions and faulty notions are the only way, and although I SAY that we should guarantee access to all voices and views, I have absolutely no intention of considering other viewpoints, let alone act upon them). After all, per Huckabee, “My faith is my life - it defines me. My faith doesn't influence my decisions, it drives them.”
All I know is that I never wish to move to Arkansas, as he has already stripped those poor people of their reproductive rights…and with the power trip this man is on, I cannot even begin to imagine what he would do if has free reign to this country - not to mention the fact that, let’s be real here, can anybody say, “Yes Sir, Mr. President Huckabee” with a straight face?
Shouldn’t he be off in some waterhole fishin’ with Tom Sawyer?
Mike Huckabee Photo Courtesy of Mark Wilson/Getty Images.
Comments
To the (Open Minded) Person Who shared their view,
please allow me to introduce my self – I am Deandra Bible a 30 year old mother of 3. I used to feel almost the same way that you do about the issues in this commentary, as a matter of fact I would have agreed with you on these issues from the first age I was aware of them (about 13years old) until I was 26years old. I used to think that a unborn child was just a mass of cells, and it shouldnt matter what a woman did with -____it._____ Id like to add that I thought I was a christian during the above period of time. Then when I was 26years old I heard a knock on my door – and although it was a literal knock it was more than that it was as if the scripture in the HOLY BIBLE came off of the page and to my door; the door to my house and the door to my Heart. That scripture that I speak of is in The Revelation/or Revelations 3:20 were Jesus says “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and will open the door, I will come in and sup(eat)with him”. Now I just told you above that I considered myself a christian for all those years so your probably thinking -well its simple you knew that scripture and you had a wacked out moment or emotional moment and thought about it and it made you feel like the scripture jumped off of the page and to your door but it was just in your head lady- sound anything like what you were thinking? Well I could probably see how you might have a point thinking that but theres just one thing- I had never ever read any of the books in the Bible except the book of John when I was 16, and it does not have that scripture in it. You might think also that I might have heard it in a song or at church then- Nope- never. I sit here now knowing what I could not have that day- the Word (every word in the Holy Bible) is alive and it is indeed sharper than any two edged sword. I know because it knocked on my house door by the way of a preacher man, but it knocked on my Hearts door by way of the Holy Spirit. Okay I know you probably think this chick is wacked out! You know that I KNOW I would have thought that even though I considered myself a christian for those years, but when I really heard that knock – the sweet gentle voice of my ever near Savior wisper in my ear I knew that I had not been “open minded” as I believed I was, I then knew that my “open-mindedness” was only if GOD was not envolved. I was open minded to all sorts of outlandish Ideas and Therories, and ways of living, but when it came to being open minded enough to sit down open a Bible when someone was telling me about it and read it expecting nothing bad or good, but just truly being open minded – forget it! Now does that really sound open minded to you? When I finally became truly open minded it resulted in something I never would have guessed – an open heart as well. Now are you open minded, or are you “open-minded”? I can tell you that when I opened the door to my house and the door to my heart that a fire was ignighted in me. Not an angry fire but an unexplainable all consuming passionate fire was ignighted in the depths of my being to know all I could about GOD and his Infallable Word. I started reading and just as alive as that first scripture was, so were all the rest. Its been 4 years now and they seem to have more life and life giving Power everyday! Now I know your probably saying what in the world does all this have to do with abortion? I had to say those things to say this- in Isaiah 44:2 it says “Thus saith the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you….” also in Isaiah 49:1 it says “…The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.” These scriptures are a clear picture to show that GOD Almighty, El Shaddi, fashioned us with his hands and not only gave us a name but called us by it. Now I dont know about you but when I really opened my mind to these words it really opened my heart too. To think that I could have condoned something before for so many years that completly contradicted the title of christian that I had been professing- well now THAT made me sick to my stomach! More that that it pricked my heart and caused me to ask my Jesus to please be the LORD of my life (for real this time) and to please forgive me for all of my sins, all the ones I knew about because of my conscious and the ones that I didnt like the one above, because of my ignorance of His Word. I knew at that moment when I had agreed with “pro-choice” that I had been disagreeing with GOD. I was literally saying to him without knowing – LORD your handy work doesnt mean anything to me. Which is pretty funny- not ha ha funny, but funny because I am his handiwork…. so I was saying that I didnt mean anything to me. Now thats crazy. Above when I mentioned that I considered myself a cristian, let me clarify – I never KNEW the Savior that I professed, or even his Word (which is what he is- see John 1:1-14). See because to be a true christian means that you KNOW GOD not just that you Know of him. You can have the same gift of eternal life with our GOD and Savior Jesus Christ also and the same intimate relationship that I have been beyond blessed to experience and live for the last 4 years also if you will only Truly open your mind…and your heart will follow. If you want to KNOW the GOD of Abraham Isaac and Jacob like I know him then please close your eyes now and surrender Truly surrender your life to him like I did 4 years ago. Pray that he will Baptize you with his Peace and Joy, that is His Holy Spirit, in Jesus Name after you repent that is say and mean it out loud to him that you are sorry for all the sins that you have sined that just like me caused our GOD in flesh to hang on the cross at calvary and shed his blood so that we could come to him this way. Please understand JESUS LOVES YOU if he didnt he would not have had me accidentally stumble upon this web site about a man (Huckabee) that I barely know anything about at all, and when I hardly ever use the internet – probably only twice a month, to talk to you;and he would have never died for you either if he didnt love you. He is risen and you too right now can have the power of His Holy Ghost living in you. Please if you never ever have an open mind about anything else in life – PLEASE have one for this! Hes coming back soon and I want nothing more my friend than to dance around his Glorious Throne with you! May Jesus Bless you and Keep you, may he make is Glorious face to shine upon you, in JESUS NAME I Pray.AMEN. Thank you for allowing me this time, better yet thank you for allowing GOD this time.
In Love,
Deandra Bible
P.S. If you’ve opened your heart enough to take the steps above then please read ACTS 2:38-39 (The ACTS of the Apostles 2:38-39) JESUS BLESS YOU!
That was quite a sermon left on your site! It’s a little scary that I am reading the same information as the previous commenter. Anyway, although (I don’t want to admit it), I agree with what Deandra wrote – - to a certain extent – I believe the message that she missed and that you were trying to communicate is that this Huckabee character is just way too zealous to be given the power of the presidency. It does not sound as if he is open to any way but his way. Although I am personally against abortion, I do not believe that it is my right or any person’s right to make that decision for a woman (esp. some religious nut who doesn’t know the first thing about what it feels like to be stuck with a pregnancy that you did not want). People are so quick to say , you need to protect the baby – maybe having an abortion is just that – protecting a baby from a life where its not wanted. My other problem with this Huckabee and Deandra is that they areboth working off the idea that you and others ascribe to the same religious beliefs that they do. I am Islamic, so I don’t need to repent to Jesus for my sins, I don’t need to b baptized by spirit of the holy ghost, and don’t give a hoot if Jesus loves me or hates me. It doesn’t matter what your religion is, anybody who is too extreme should ought to really re-evaluate why they are so dependant on their religion – and so easily persuaded by it that they give up any right to be able to think critically about anything. Thanks – Mysha OH – Loved your piece on the different religions and their views – thanks for bringing highlighting diversity on your site!
I’m not sure of the presidential candidates and would rather not comment on my views regarding this subject. However, contraception is what I am interested in posting. They say there is Pro Life and Pro Choice. I don’t see it that way. I see it as pro life or pro death! If you choose to get an abortion, which is so unnecessary, unless you are going to die without one (I’ve never heard of that happening, yet). If you don’t want your baby there are thousands upon thousands of infertile couples that would love to adopt a baby.