Saturday, February 09, 2008

It's time to take Huckabee seriously

"The Washington Post headline read: "Huckabee Complicates GOP Contest."
Wrong. What is complicating the GOP contest is the attempt to imagine, craft, articulate, and sell a "conservatism" that does not have respect for the dignity of life as its most fundamental value"

begins the article from Mary Kochan, editor of Catholic Exchange. She explains how the right to life is pivotal to all the freedoms we enjoy as Americans. She then goes on to quote Deacon Keith Fournier's article in Inside Catholic,
"Gov. Mike Huckabee is the only candidate running for the presidency who has fully, clearly and consistently been Pro-Life and Pro-Family throughout his public career. He has always strongly supported both the Right to Life and Traditional Marriage Amendments to the Constitution, which most Catholics know are essential to the protection of these social values. He states on his website:
"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. ...I will staff all relevant positions with pro-life appointees. I will use the Bully Pulpit to change hearts and minds, to move this country from a culture of death to a culture of life. I have no desire to throw women in jail, I just want to stop throwing babies in the garbage."

Whatever reason it was that has held Catholics back from Huckabee until now, should pale by comparison into to the clear contrast with John McCain, who tried to pull the pro-life plank from the Republican Party for the 2004 Presidential Election, the election in which he offered to become John Kerry's running mate. Senator Kerry was, at the time, the most pro-abortion senator in the US Senate. If John McCain could support Kerry's candidacy for president, is he really any different from Clinton and Obama?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That was a great article at CE. I think she shows that there is more at stake here in the big picture than just this election. If Catholics want to remain a significant force in American conservatism, they'd better act now (indeed, if it's not already too late).