Mike Huckabee’s rapid ascent in the polls has come as a surprise to many. It began with his performance and win at the Values Voter Debate, where he assured a bevy of second and third-tier right-wing activists that he was different from the other candidates - for while they simply come “to” them seeking support, he comes “from” them.
Huckabee rode the wave from the Debate into the Value Voter Summit where he wooed the audience by telling them everything they longed to hear from a presidential candidate and walked away with the majority of votes of those in attendance in the straw poll.
Since then, Huckabee has been racking up endorsements from right-wing figures like Janet Folger, Rick Scarborough, and Tim and Beverly LaHaye and been transformed into a viable front-runner.
In addition, Huckabee has undoubtedly benefited from the fact that many in the press seem smitten with his affability, humor, and “ah shucks” demeanor – but, as we noted in a report we recently released, they are ignoring his “a long record of rhetoric and actions that reveal an ideologue’s agenda and a zealot’s intolerance for differing opinions.”
For example, in this recent profile of Huckabee, the New York Times undertook no real investigation of any of Huckabee’s past work or inflammatory remarks, stating simply:
Mr. Huckabee served as Mr. [James] Robison’s announcer, advance man and public relations representative, drumming up attendance and coverage for his prayer meetings and appearing on broadcasts. (The organization was based near Dallas, which is how Mr. Huckabee came to work on the 1980 Reagan rally). Mr. Robison could be harsh — he yelled in the pulpit and referred to gay people as perverts — but Mr. Huckabee was a genial ambassador
That is all well and good, until you realize just who Huckabee was working for:
Likewise, the Times goes on to perfunctorily recount Huckabee’s failed 1992 Senate campaign:
Mr. Huckabee ran largely on social issues like abortion, portraying his opponent, Senator Dale Bumpers, a Democrat who was virtually an Arkansas institution, as a pornographer because he supported the National Endowment for the Arts. But attacking the popular veteran backfired; Mr. Huckabee was badly beaten.
Of course, there is more to it than that – such as the positions he put forward during his campaign, which he discussed with the Associated Press:
Having gays and lesbians in the military would be a disgrace for the nation, according to Huckabee.
"I agree with the leadership of our military, who believe it is not in the best interest of the armed forces to have homosexuals serving on active duty," he said. "I believe to try to legitimize that which is inherently illegitimate would be a disgraceful act of government. I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk."
…
Q: Do you approve of a man and a woman living together out of marriage?
Huckabee: Whether or not I approve of a man and woman living together is not as much of an issue as whether or not it is right and whether or not God approves of it. The "living together" relationship is demeaning to the highest expression of human love and commitment. I reject it as an alternate lifestyle, because it robs people of the highest possible relationship one can experience: marriage. We should always strive to encourage every human being to experience his or her full potential and possibilities.
Huckabee also shared his views regarding the proper treatment of people who are infected with HIV:
"It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population," he said. "This deadly disease, for which there is no cure, is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents.
"If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague."
This was 1992 – four years after the federal government distributed a pamphlet penned by then Surgeon General C. Everett Koop entitled “Understanding AIDS” which explained that the disease could not be contracted through everyday contact. And is not as if Huckabee just didn’t see the pamphlet, since it “was sent to all 107 million households in the United States in 1988, the largest public health mailing ever done.”
Huckabee likes to portray himself as a different kind of right-wing leader, one who is conservative but “is not angry about it.” But judging by his past remarks, he appears far more like his right-wing allies than he would like the nation to believe.
