The Constitution Isn't Good Enough for Mike Huckabee

[pegkerr]

Via sleigh, who got it from Terry Kanago, who got it from Raw Story. Go to that last link and watch the clip of Mike Huckabee saying:

"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."

My jaw dropped when I heard this quotation. Fer crying out loud, we're trying to elect a President, not the nation's preacher. Good heavens (and I'm speaking as a Christian here) wasn't George W. Bush enough of a nut?

Please, dear Lord in heaven, not Mike Huckabee.

Comments

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I've seen that story around LJ before - but I'd never heard of The Raw Spirit. So I did a little checking and, sure 'nuff, here's the same quote on MSNBC's on website.

If Huckabee gets elected, maybe I will try to stay out of the country a couple years longer than planned...

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I already grumped about theocracy after the Iowa caucuses...

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I just pasted this quote into my LJ, with your name attached. If that offends, let me know and I'll kill the thing. But I figure spreading the word around helps to, well, spread the word.

[eal.livejournal.com]

I think I'm tracking down a link and sending that one to my very Republican parents. I'm certain they plan to vote for McCain (though I think Florida doesn't count in the primaries this year, I'm not sure about that), but just in case they were thinking of skipping the primary . . . that kind of stuff REALLY gets under my dad's skin.

[ckd]

"My first proposal will be the Anti-Shellfish[1] Amendment. It'll only affect those Godless folks on the coasts, anyway."

[1] Lev 11:12: "Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you."

[swords-and-pens.livejournal.com]

See Mike.
See Mike's base.
See Mike pander to his base.
Pander, Mike, pander!

From "Dick and Jane visit Electionland"

On the up side, it *is* interesting to watch the fracturing of a party that was supposed to be a "permanent majority" by now. :)

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

Hmm, did I say "scared" before? More like "terrified."

[baldanders.livejournal.com]

It makes me wonder how he's going to put his hand on the bible he fervently believes in and swear to the god he fervently believes in that he will uphold the constitution.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

*snerk*

[ozarque.livejournal.com]

There are an awful lot of things to worry about, but I don't think you need to waste any time worrying about Huckabee winning the presidency. Truly.

[tinymich.livejournal.com]

Part of me wants to hope the same thing, but the other part of me is all "the same people who elected GWB could totally do this to us again!"

I hope you are right. He is the only Republican candidate I have extremely strong aversions to. Evangelicals (and I say this having been raised very evangelical, and with my entire family still Huckabeeesque evangelical) scare the crap out of me, because I *know* what they're about.

[ozarque.livejournal.com]

I think it's safe not to worry this time. Bush was much more careful never to do outrageous religious warbles in public and/or on the record. Huckabee doesn't believe in that sort of strategy.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

You know, that reassurance would work a lot better if there hadn't been a lot of things happening in this country over the last few years which were just absolutely unthinkable eight years ago.

[ozarque.livejournal.com]

True. All too true.

[musicbearmn.livejournal.com]

very, very frightening indeed. South Carolina will be the one to watch.

On another note, is the karate place you clean/go to next to a Caribou Coffee? I think I saw you cleaning it when I got coffee on Saturday.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Yes! That was me!

[musicbearmn.livejournal.com]

Well, that was me in a blue coat and cap getting coffee :) Cool!

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

IF Huckabee = $GOPCAND
THEN
GET $PASSPORT
GET $CANADAJOB

[sternel.livejournal.com]

Don't tell people my secret plan! The more people go, the harder it will be to convince them to let me in!!

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

I need to call the Canadian embassy and see if I have Canadian citizenship via my father being born in Canada...

And maybe I need to push my wife into getting that Irish citizenship via her grandmother...

[weaselmom.livejournal.com]

Wow. In a long list of things that scare me about Mike "Rapist Hugger" Huckabee, this is now at the top of the list.

[nwl.livejournal.com]

I suppose a lot of people would stifle anyone who didn't match up with their views, but thankfully we do have freedom of speech, so people can talk about their views. My feeling is that the trouble starts when people feel no one is listening and they turn to extreme groups. Would you remove freedom of speech from the Constitution because people have views different from you?

And be reminded that it's not a snap to change the Constitution. Any amendment has to go though Congress and a majority of states - I can't recall what the percentage is. And it can take quite a bit of time. How many amendments have made it compared to the ones that passed? (I leave that as an exercise to the reader.)

While you might not want anyone to talk if you disagree with them, I think it's important to let everyone have their say and open the door to discussion. People don't think any more; they take every statement as an absolute. It's not. It's the beginning of the discussion. Some people are upset about the Fair Tax suggestion (as opposed to the Flat Tax that has been floating around for at least 20 years), BUT it gets people talking, if not thinking. Maybe there could be some national taxes - there is already one on gas. But people need to stop screaming at each other and start thinking.

Presidential candidates say a lot, but the power is in Congress, as people tend to forget. If just saying it meant automatic doing, the government would have next to no agencies as just about all have been suggested abolished in the last 50 years.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

What you've said is worth thinking on.

One thing that concerns me a great deal is the extent to which our present President has made an end run around the requirements of the Constitution with signing statements. He'll sign a bill into law and then add a signing statement that says "I really don't have to follow this because I think it conflicts with my view of the Constitution," making the shiny new law absolutely meaningless. The important thing then is not the law itself, which is passed by Congress (as the Founders intended) but the President's own personal interpretation of the Constitution. If this (terrible) trend continues into the next Presidency, then the President's interpretation of the Constitution carries an extreme amount of weight. And an opinion as expressed by Huckabee, combined with this new trend, could lead to a truly frightening scenario: a President who thinks it's okay to say "I don't intend to obey this law because in my opinion, Constitutional law should be trumped by Biblical law."

See the Boston Globe article on this issue here.