Huckabee: God Wants Me to Be President
God wants Mike Huckabee to be President. Is there any other way to interpret this?
STUDENT: Recent polls show you surging… What do you attribute this surge to?
HUCKABEE: There’s only one explanation for it, and it’s not a human one. It’s the same power that helped a little boy with two fish and five loaves feed a crowd of five thousand people. (Applause) That’s the only way that our campaign can be doing what it’s doing. And I’m not being facetious nor am I trying to be trite. There literally are thousands of people across this country who are praying that a little will become much, and it has. And it defies all explanation, it has confounded the pundits. And I’m enjoying every minute of them trying to figure it out, and until they look at it, from a, just experience beyond human, they’ll never figure it out. And it’s probably just as well. That’s honestly why it’s happening.
The irony is that Huckabee is saying this with sincere humility — it’s divine intervention, not the power of one mere man at work — but it’s an incredibly arrogant thing to say.
Jim Geraghty has the best line I’ve seen on this so far: “Wow. Huckabee’s been endorsed by both Chuck Norris AND Jesus Christ.”
Via Andrew Sullivan, who says, “Well: what else is he going to believe?”
UPDATE: ChubbyChaser offers the obvious retort: “I guess this means Huckabee thinks his supporters in New Hampshire are really sh–ty at praying, since he’s in fourth place there with single-digit poll numbers. Either that or the Granite State’s recently-installed God Blocker 9000 (TM) anti-divinity force-field is working quite well.”
It is, of course, possible that Huckabee did not intend what to many may be the arrogant, presumptious conclusion that he is the candidate “annointed by God”.
He may be merely be invoking the relatively orthodox Christian doctrine that nothing is possible without God’s blessing and nothing is impossible with it.
Today many more people are uncomfortable with this kind of thinking than, say, in the time of Lincoln or of Joe Lewis, who once said to much acclaim:
I don’t think he means it in that spirit at all. He means it more in the spirit of gratitude – like I might thank God for a new job when I’ve been unemployed for a year, or a newborn son. Am I saying “I’m so great – God WANTS me to have this job as opposed to those other losers, or God WANTS me to have this son as opposed to that infertile couple down the street”? Of course not.
He clarifies this here starting at 3:35. He also made the point that any sort of messianic or divine right mentality by a ruler is horribly dangerous, at the end of this interview here.
People are often hypersensitive to religious language, but crediting God and not yourself for good things happening to you is NOT meant as a slam at someone else.
That is what you are reading into it Mr. Joyner. It certainly does appear that God is blessing and multiplying this man’s effort. He has no money, and no organization, what has he spent in Iowa $45 or something? I think he’s far from arrogant about the situation, somewhat awed, but not proud. How do you explain it James? This guy’s first in the nation among Republican candidates according to Rasmussen Polls. Will he be elected, I guess God only knows.
Joe Louis, not Lewis. Sorry.
Huckabee helped a convicted rapist out of prison, for political reasons. That man went on to rape and murder to more people. Huckabee has claimed a deminished role in the release, inspite of what a senior staff member recalls and the fact he reappointed two Democrats to the parole board after they paroled this future killer. Like the other man from Hope. Huckabee seems to be able to lie at the drop of a political hat. I think we have had enough Arkasas governors as chief executives in this country.
I’m confused here. Doesn’t George Bush pretty much say the same thing?
Doesn’t seem that unusual for Republicans to be claiming that God is guiding them, singling them out for these important missions.
What is odd is finding Republicans who have somehow missed all the republicans saying such things and finding them odd…
Big deal. Bush believes the same thing. Huckabee is running in the Bush mold and will likely make the same stupid decisions and judgement calls if he were elected. If you want the same type of “spiritual” logic that Bush brought to the White House, vote Huckabee.
Re: The Bush comparison.
I *get* it when politicians say they’re inspired by God to do something. They’re experiencing a personal conversation that, based on their spiritual beliefs, they think involves a second entity. That’s an experience most Americans have on a fairly regular basis.
It’s something else again, though, to claim that God is responsible for your poll numbers.
Again, I realize that Huckabee is giving credit/glory to God in saying this. But it’s still what it is.
It is essentially the same thing from the standpoint of logic and reasoning. Both Bush and Huckabee show that they are guided by an epistemology of magic and wizardry as opposed to rationality.
Hal’s quotes from Bush give a good window into the psyche of a man who invades countries because he hears weird voices in his head rather than analyzing the actual problem at hand.
Hopefully voters are sick of Bush’s pious puppetry and will reject Huckabee.
As a matter of history, there are many great world leaders who professed to be divinely called to one activity or another; some for good, some for ill. These professions, by definition, do not rely on logic and rationality, but on faith. Fortunately, it is still not universally excepted that faith is the equivalent of magic and wizardry. Otherwise “In God We Trust” would not be as readily accepted as the national motto as I believe it is, Newdow to the contrary notwithstanding.
I believe the actual phrase is “In God We Trust, all others pay cash”. Trusting someone else’s assertion that they’re doing god’s will is a rather quick ticket to bringing hell to earth, as much of the past has shown.
What in the Great Blue Hell are you talking about, what you say describes people like you who worship the monkey and the tree.
lol what???? Conspiracy theory no:32,it was the voices in bush’s head. lollollol
whats pious puppetry, is that something like poopoo donkeytism.
Zing! You’re killing us. Please, please stop. We can’t take much more of your pounding….
LOL
“I’m not saying God wants me to be elected”, This from Mike Huckabee from today’s (12/6/2007) National Review online
This just in: (Reuters) Fri. Mar 7–God denies he endorsed Huckabee. “He is confused”, said God, “I prefer that he run for the Arkansas Senate seat, but he won’t listen!” Later- God blessed the GOP and mumbled something about Democrats being on the “dark side”.
In other, related news– God flooded the blue state of Washington.
The Huckster raised taxes while governor, and tried giving the taxes to illegal aliens. He released a rapist who then committed murder. He continues to lie about all of it. Don’t listen to what he says, check the facts on what he has done.
Here.
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And here.