Oh, And His Attitude Toward Gays Boils Down To This: “There’s a difference between the equality of each individual and the equality of what we do.”
Former Governor and former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee visited The Daily Show last night and told Jon Stewart and us what was on his mind. Part one was all about why government is bad, and that we wouldn’t need it if we were better people. Huckabee said,
“Government exists to regulate the bad guys and keep them from messing up the stuff for the good guys.“
Two thoughts come to mind. The first, no surprise, is that Huckabee, and ordained Minister, thinks we’re “bad”. The second is his view that government is here to police us. Obama’s view is that government is here to help us when we need help, to help us do the things that as individuals we cannot, and to help us lead better lives. So, yes, I’m still in the Obama camp. Why is it the Republican view of the world is so dark and evil? But Huckabee doesn’t like government, doesn’t trust government. To which, Stewart replied,
“The fact that you would trust government with tanks and nuclear weapons, but not to pass out cheese to poor people, you know, you got to say to yourself, I don’t get it.”
Then, the conversation got really interesting. (Part two of the interview is above.) If you thought Keith Olbermann’s “Special Comment” on the passage of Proposition 8 was touching and logical and helpful, watch Stewart eloquently, intelligently, really beautifully debate Mike Huckabee. Some more of Stewart’s quotes from last night’s interview with Mike Huckabee:
“You write that marriage is the bedrock of our society. Why would you not want more couples to buy into the stability of marriage? Why would you want that precluded for an entire group of people?”
“Reaffirming the tradition of marriage over 5000 years, which takes it back to the Old Testament, where, polygamy was the norm… Marriage has evolved greatly over those 5000 years, from a property arrangement, to polygamy, we’ve redefined it constantly. It used to be that people of different races could not marry. It strikes me as very convenient to go back to the Bible and say, ‘Hey man, we got to go back to the Bible and look at the way they divide marriage’. Look at the way they did slavery in the Bible.”
But perhaps Stewart saved his best thoughts for last. I’m not sure which is better. What do you think?
“Religion is far more of a choice than homosexuality.”
“It’s a travesty that people have forced someone who is gay to have to make their case that they deserve the same basic rights.”
Thank you, Jon Stewart.