Huckabee And Catholics

I have nothing personally against Mike Huckabee, he seems like a nice guy and a good governor. Now it comes out that Huckabee will be speaking at the Cornerstone Church in Texas. What NRO has discovered is that the pastor at said church, John Hagee, is an anit-Catholic bigot.

One thing that George W. Bush did in his elections of 2000 and 2004 was unite conservative evangelicals and Catholics, despite some major differences between the faiths. President Bush found common ground on issues of life and morality. In fact, a very large case can be made that it was the Catholic vote that elected George W. Bush in 2004 over the Catholic John Kerry 54%-47%. I personally know many Catholics who feel like Bush was "more Catholic" that many of our own politicians in terms of his public record. For Gov. Huckabee to turn his back on Catholics like this, to endorse the views of this preacher by speaking from the same pulpit is beyond unspeakable.

As a Catholic conservative who wants nothing more than to simply support the Republican nominee in 2008 (hopefully Rudy Guiliani), Huckabee makes it hard. He could also do untold damage to our electoral prospects by sending Catholics back to the Democrats with actions like this. Remember, historically Catholics have overwhelmingly supported Democrats to the point that it is part of the heritage of the Catholic experience in America. Republicans have worked very hard to bring Catholics in the party and I truly believe that Catholics delivered the 2004 election to George W. Bush. If Huckabee keeps this up and is the nominee, we risk losing many of those Catholic voters.

Comments

[Anne]

I agree that Pastor Hagee appears to be quite unenlightened, to say the least, about Catholicism. If I were in Mike Huckabee's shoes, I guess I'd be excusing myself from that engagement...

[disapointedRepublican]

I am certainly not a Huckabee apologist and I am certainly disappointed in some of his stances but
like it or not, Hagee has a huge following throughout the entire United States. I like both Thompson and Huckabee and I am also very hesitant to believe anything that comes out of the National Review lately because of their blind allegiance to Romney. National Review can keep arguing against Huckabee but calling a good pro-family, pro-life, and anti-Islamic fundamentalist minister and friend of Israel a bigot is just absurd.
I don't think calling a mainstream evangelical leader like Hagee a bigot does anygood for anyone. If Hagee's a bigot than so is anyone loosely affiliated with the late Jerry Falwell or any other evangelical protestant in this state. Hagee is definitely considered mainstream and is great pro-Isreal leader within the US. Lately the National Review seems more anti-Protestant than anything. I will not be reading them for a while just based on this hateful diatribe against the Rev. Hagee. Hagee is a GREAT friend to all social conservatives within the US.

[Chris - Mason Conservative]

But apparently not to social conservative Catholics.

[Anne]

I agree, Chris. Nevertheless, Disappointed Republican, I doubt Rev. Hagee's following is as big as il PapaRatzi (Roman Catholicism still being the largest single Christian sect last I checked). So I think the sheer number of probable, Catholic voters is also something Huckabee needs to consider in his political calculations.

I don't know if Hagee is a bigot (that's a strong label that media people like to throw out and watch people pin on others), although he seems to me to be quite unenlightened about Catholicism. A lot of people, even highly intelligent people, harbor silly and incorrect ideas about what Catholics actually believe.

I have a good deal of respect for Huckabee. I think he's a long shot, but he's a decent sort of fellow and I'd like to see him avoid negative publicity. We are all at least somewhat judged by the company we keep and (fair or not) how that company is perceived by others.

[disapointedrepublican]

I do think the National Review's hostile, anti-Huckabee and anti-evangelical bias is hurting the GOP as a whole. While I don't have a problem with either, Romney,Huckabee, or Thompson, I am much less likely to vote for Romney since he appears to just want to run negative right now.

A war between sections of Christianity is exactly what we don't need right now within the GOP. I think the National Review is just throwing out names like bigot because of their sheer hatred for Huckabee and evangelicals stirring the pot within the GOP.Both traditionalist Republicans and folks at the National Review are fans of the status quo and want evanglicals in their usual place within the party.They are absolutely scared to death that any evangelical could win. Using strong language like bigot to describe a normal preacher is just an example.

The National Review would be much better off comparing all the candidates pluses and minuses than using hyperbole to get their point across.

[Jon Wong]

Chris says, "A lot of people, even highly intelligent people, harbor silly and incorrect ideas about what Catholics (and Mormons, I might add)actually believe." AMEN Brother Chris.

Rev. Huckabee, who by all appearances seems to be a decent sort of fellow, is going to have to try real hard to keep his fellow Southern Baptists from showing their true feelings of "HATE" towards Mormons and Catholics. The largest church in my local town (Southern Baptist) ran an add on their Bill Board a couple of years ago advertising
a guest speaker who was going to expose the Mormons for the true CULTISTS that they were. And just recently, after Romney gave his religious speech, didn't someone come out and say that Mormons equated Jesus with Satan?

Here's hopin' Huckabee can keep the lid on the trash can.

[Roy]

That person was Huckabee