My apologies in advance: I would rather have kept my public thoughts out of the election process, but I simply cannot resist any more. Here goes:
Mike Huckabee is more and more frequently referred to as ‘The Huckster’ in comments I am reading around the Web, and for good reason. According to the dictionary built into my MacBook Pro, a ‘huckster’ is ‘a mercenary person eager to make a profit out of anything‘. I was further pleased to discover that a ‘mercenary’ is ‘a person or behavior primarily concerned with making money at the expense of ethics‘. Beautiful.
When hearing ‘huckster’, the deceitful car salesman portrayed by Danny DeVito in Matilda always comes to mind. You may recall he was a lying, cheating salesman who would try anything to get ahead. Let it be known that I have hereafter mentally replaced DeVito’s character (Matilda is among my favorite movies) with Mike ‘The Huckster’ Huckabee. Allow me to explain…
It all started for me just before December 16th, when the Web was abuzz about Huckabee’s comment in a New York Times Magazine article about Mitt Romney. The Huckster, a seasoned Baptist minister, posed a seemingly innocent question about Romney’s Mormonism: ‘Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?’, he asked. Sheepishly.
Give me a break. Huckabee was here in my own state, condemning Mormons and leveling educated insults at every turn, nearly ten years ago at the Baptist convention in 1998. Even the likes of Matt Lauer could see through this deception, and called him out for it in a question to Mit Romney. For those of you not ‘in the know’; Baptists consider themselves the spiritual enemies of Mormons, and take it upon themselves to be conversationally familiar with every LDS shortcoming. Huckabee, as a ordained minister, was certainly more than just a little familiar with every ounce of controversial Mormon theology.
Huckabee knew exactly what he was saying, and tried to toss a religious grenade from behind a silk curtain. Too bad the sun was shining brightly behind him; we got to see a full silhouette of his deception.
Next was his ridiculous Christmas message. In it a well-placed and professionally lit box-shelf presents itself as a Christian cross and softly creeps across the screen. It disappears behind Huckabee’s head as he finishes his touching message about being nice during the holidays and bringing Jesus into our lives. Why a candidate would boldly place a pro-Christian ad on the air during a political campaign is terrifying to me, but that isn’t what bristled by neck hairs; when called on the carpet, Huckabee expressed ignorance about the ‘floating cross’. Wow.
As a professional marketer, I have been involved in the production of professional commercials and high-end professional photography. With this experience in hand, I can assure you that every element of a photo shoot is planned and controlled. There is absolutely no possible way that ‘floating cross’ was an accident. Notice the special lighting. Watch it float across and draw your attention to the candidate in the final shot. Huckabee was flat out lying when he said he had no knowledge of the floating cross. It is rather Arrogant of him to assume we are all so stupid.
Click Here to see Mike Huckabee deny there is a floating cross in his ad.
Huckabee’s latest stunt is what pushed me over the edge and forced my hands to start typing this post. Today he held a press conference to announce a new negative ad. Apparently, and at the last minute, he decided to pull the ad and take the high road. ‘Enough is enough’, he said. He apparently doesn’t want to mar his campaign with negative ads about his competition. Baloney
Only moments after explaining that he doesn’t want to release negative campaign ads, he showed it to the press. You know; to prove that the ad existed in the first place, and to assure them that he was legitimately taking the high road and not releasing the ad… to the press.
What an Arrogant stunt. Don’t believe me? Just look at the backdrop that was professionally printed on what looks like foam-core backing, and professionally hung behind The Huckster while he made the announcement of his ‘last minute change of heart’. ‘Enough is Enough’, it reads. Trust me; you don’t get those printed up in just a few minutes. This thing was planned, and planned well in advance.
Mike Huckabee truly is a huckster. He is showing me, and the rest of the nation, that he is willing to go to deceptive lengths while pretending to be innocent. Unfortunately for him, it comes off as looking like he is out of touch, out of control, and out of his mind.
Hey Mike: If a man’s dishonest trying to get the job, will he be dishonest on the job? Don’t worry about giving an answer, you Arrogant Jerk; We already know.
UPDATE: Mike Huckabee, the presidential candidate, gave a sermon at a local church in New Hampshire on Sunday. In the sermon he is quoted by The Washington Post as having said “When you give yourself to Christ, some relationships have to go,” and “It’s no longer your life; you’ve signed it over.”
While I think that is all fine and nice, I do not believe we need a president who feels that he has signed over control to Jesus. Mike Huckabee appears to be a religious fanatic. Religious extremism is just around the corner, and we only need to look back to 9/11 to see where that can lead.
UPDATE: According to an article on FoxNews.com, Mike Huckabee recently said “I’m more into miracles than math,… miracles, I understand; math is a little harder.”
What troubles me most is that nearly a third of the conservative voters out there don’t interpret this as dangerous thinking. Huckabee may be a great faith healer, but I am not sure a faith healer is presidential material. Don’t we need someone who is better at math, and who doesn’t wait for miracles?
