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Mike Huckabee: ‘It’s Not My Nature To Be A Bully’

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Former governor Mike Huckabee on Sunday told ABC News, “it’s not my nature to be a bully.” Just how demonstrably false is that claim?

Speaking with ABC News journalist Martha Raddatz on Sunday’s “This Week,” Republican former governor Mike Huckabee lamented the demise of chivalry in political campaigns against women candidates.

Radditz cornered the 59-year old ordained Southern Baptist Minister on his comments, originally made in a New Republic interview. 

“You said I’ve run twice against women opponents and it’s a very different kind of approach for those of us who have some chivalry left there’s a level of respect to treat some things as a special treasure, you treat other things as common,” Radditz reminded him. “What do you mean specifically by that?”

Huckabee’s response was insincere and insufficient.

“Well, I just mean that you always want to be respectful. You want to treat everyone with respect. But in the culture of the south, the culture that I grew up with, I think chivalry is still alive. There’s a sense of that you pay a great deal of respect and you don’t come across as a bully.”

Perhaps realizing his poor answer, Huckabee concluded, “It’s not an issue of sexism, it’s an issue of simply understanding that every opponent, whether it’s a male, a female, whether they’re from the Northeast or from the Southwest, everybody has different nuances, and you always have to — because I’ve been in a lot of races. I’ve been in politics for 25 years. I’ve run a lot of races as lieutenant governor, for U.S. Senate, for governor two different times and for president.”

In between those fumblings, Radditz asked Huckabee if he would “run differently against Joe Biden?” as opposed to Hillary Clinton.

His odd response: “it’s not my nature to be a bully.”

But let’s take a look at that claim.

Huckabee, despite what some in the media are recently claiming is a more tolerant potential 2016 candidate for the White House, has used the LGBT community as a punching bag for years.

In 2006 “Brokeback Mountain” won three Academy Awards. Huckabee used the groundbreaking film to ensure conservative voters knew where he stood on same-sex marriage. “Until Moses comes down with two stone tablets from Brokeback Mountain saying he’s changed the rules,” Huckabee quipped, “let’s keep it like it is.”

Fast forward to today.

Last week on his Facebook page, Huckabee pushed his latest book by telling followers, “I have a very special and personal favor. My new book ‘God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy’ releases next week on Tuesday, January 20. It’s already generated a lot of attention because I make the case for why those who live with traditional moral values and respect for the Constitution aren’t the outliers.”

But then, without mentioning gay people, he attacks them.

The book was written with vivid illustrations of bigotry toward Christians and in plain language. 

I detail the attacks on our friends like the Duggars, the Benhams, and the Robertsons of Duck Dynasty and provide many examples of the intolerance of the secular left, all delivered or course, in the name of “tolerance.”

In October, Huckabee put away his “chivalry” and “respect” he claims to show women, to rail against Houston Mayor Annise Parker, telling her to, “Keep your filthy government hands off of religious liberty.” It’s the only record we could find of Huckabee using the word “filthy” to describe a person – and in this case, a person who happens to be a lesbian.

That month Huckabee also posted an outlandish, false, fear-mongering, hate-filled, anti-gay warning on Facebook, and later Huckabee demanded the Republican Party “grow a spine” and not back down in their fight against same-sex marriage, or, he threatened, he would quit the party. 

The following month Huckabee compared Nazi Germany to America, and told a group of pastors that same-sex marriage will destroy the foundation of civilization.

Earlier last year, at the National Organization For Marriage’s rally in Washington, D.C., Huckabee wrongly told a small crowd that Martin Luther King, Jr. would have opposed same-sex marriage like he opposed Hitler.

These attacks are not new. Huckabee has a long and ugly history of bullying gay people and their allies.

In 2010 he compared legalizing same-sex marriage to legalizing incest, polygamy, and drug use. The following year he called same-sex couples parenting of children “experiments,” and their families “guinea pigs.” 

In 2008 he offered this theocratic opinion: “I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that’s what we need to do — to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view.”

The following year he said he wanted to “isolate” HIV/AIDS victims. That same year he told Ann Coulter, “I am definitely not pro-sodomy. I promise. Scout’s honor.”

In 2013, Huckabee lamented he was forced to see same-sex couples on TV.

Claiming Chick-fil-A was being smeared by vicious hate speech and intolerant bigotry from the left, Huckabee in 2012 created National Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day, which he helped turn into a national attack on LGBT people. That year he also declared that the Boy Scouts – which at that point had decided to continue its ban on gay scouts – had done the right thing because, he claimed, gays abuse children.

In the series, “Before They Were Candidates,” the Concord Monitor profiled several 2008 presidential candidates. “‘Bullying’ gays wasn’t priority for Huckabee” before he ran for the White House, the Monitor reported. 

On gay rights, “Rita Sklar, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, said Huckabee’s rhetoric was often ‘extremely unpleasant or sarcastic.'”

“‘He is hardly ever outright nasty,’ Sklar said. ‘But he is suggestively nasty.'”

Clearly, presidential campaigns have changed that.

 

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News

Lindsey Graham Admonished by Senate Ethics Committee

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March 23, 2023

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U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has been formally admonished by the Senate Ethics Committee for violating ethics rules and standards by repeatedly soliciting campaign donations during an interview at the Capitol.

The bipartisan committee issued Graham a Public Letter of Admonition after the South Carolina Republican solicited donations for Georgia GOP Senate nominee Herschel Walker.

“Based upon all available information, the Committee concluded that on November 30, 2022, you conducted a media interview with Fox News in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building and that your interview was slightly over nine minutes, with over four minutes devoted to a discussion of the 2022 senatorial run-off election in Georgia. The Committee further concluded that during your discussion of the senatorial run-off election, you directly solicited campaign contributions on behalf of Mr. Walker’s campaign committee, www.teamherschel.com, five separate times.”

The letter notes that Sen. Graham had previously violated the same standards when he solicited campaign donations in a federal building in October of 2020, but said it was an “unplanned media interview.” When a reporter had asked him about fundraising, Graham “directly solicited campaign contributions” for his re-election campaign.

READ MORE: Watch: GOP Lawmaker Orders Grieving Parkland Parents Removed From ‘ATF Overreach’ Hearing

The Committee noted “mitigating” circumstances and did not cite him for that violation.

“The public must feel confident that Members use public resources only for official actions in the best interests of the United States, not for partisan political activity,” the letter concludes. “Your actions failed to uphold that standard, resulting in harm to the public trust and confidence in the United States Senate. You are hereby admonished.”

CNN’s Manu Raju posted the letter to social media.

You can read the letter below or at this link.

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Watch: GOP Lawmaker Orders Grieving Parkland Parents Removed From ‘ATF Overreach’ Hearing

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6 hours ago

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March 23, 2023

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U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) is being criticized for having the parents of a victim of the Parkland school massacre removed from a GOP-led House committee hearing on “ATF Overreach” after he deemed them “out of order” for remarks they made while a Member was speaking. Minutes later, Capital Police pinned the father to the ground in the hallway and arrested him.

“See this is, exactly what we have to avoid!” Rep. Fallon, chairing the joint hearing, angrily declared as he pointed his finger after the father, Manuel Oliver, made a remark that was inaudible. “Which is some minority of folks trying to silence dissent. Dissent shouldn’t be kryptonite.”

“There’s a decorum that should be adhered to,” Fallon, who recently refused to sign a statement denouncing white supremacy, said as he chastising Oliver.

After another, louder outburst, Fallon mockingly asked, “Is this an insurrection? So will they be held to the same — I don’t want another January 6.”

READ MORE: ‘Unlawful Incursion’: Manhattan DA Schools Jim Jordan for Demanding He Testify in Ongoing Trump Investigation

Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI) responded, “If they’re trying to overthrow the government, they oughta be held to the same standard, but I think they’re trying to express their frustrations.”

Angrily again, Rep. Fallon interjected.

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa,” he shouted as he banged the gavel.

“Member’s out of line,” Fallon said (incorrectly. The term is “out of order.”)

Shortly thereafter, Rep. Fallon had both Manuel and Patricia Oliver removed.

ABC News reporter Will Steakin, who was in the hearing, tweeted video and said bot Manuel and Patricia Oliver “appear to leave without resistance… moments later there was a loud thud outside the hearing room and I found Manuel being pinned to the ground by multiple officers.”

“Manuel Oliver, the father of a 17-year-old Parkland shooting victim, was arrested Thursday on Capitol Hill after he appeared to shout at a Republican lawmaker who was speaking during a hearing on gun regulations,” NBC News reports. Patricia Oliver, his wife and the mother of their 17-year old son, Joaquin Oliver, who was one of 17 people who died in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, was not arrested.

READ MORE: ‘National Security Implications’: Former DOJ Official Speculates on Ruling Ordering Trump Attorney to Hand Over Docs

On social media critics expressed anger at Fallon.

“Rep. Pat Fallon (R) thinks parents of slaughtered children should just sit down & shut up as Republicans maintain outrageously dangerous gun laws. He had this parent expelled rather than just giving a warning, which is the usual,” wrote one Twitter user.

“Texas Rep. Pat Fallon: You are the EXACT problem with the gun violence and why it keeps being the leading cause of death in children today,” wrote another.

According to the NIH, gun violence is the leading cause of childhood death.

Still another Twitter user blasted Fallon: “What disgraceful & despicable behavior by Representative Pat Fallon. Exercising your right to free speech is being an insurrectionist? The man lost his son. Have you no compassion? I think he has more than earned the right to be heard by Congress. Such an abuse of power.”

And one called Fallon “feckless.”

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News

‘Repercussions’: Biden White House Warns Uganda ‘Kill the Gays’ Bill Could Force US to Cancel $950 Million in Annual Aid

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8 hours ago

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March 23, 2023

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The Biden administration may cancel the $950 million in annual assistance the U.S. provides to Uganda if President Yoweri Museveni signs into law its latest “Kill the Gays” bill, which calls for the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and between ten and 20 years in prison for other LGBTQ “acts.”

National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby on Wednesday made clear if Uganda further criminalizes homosexuality and the LGBTQ community there could be “repercussions that we would have to take.”

“That would be really unfortunate because so much of the economic assistance that we provide Uganda is health assistance,” Admiral Kirby said at a White House press briefing.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also told reporters Wednesday the Biden administration has “grave concerns” over the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA), and “increasing violence targeting LGBTQIA+ persons.”

READ MORE: Florida GOP Lawmaker Who Wrote ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill Facing Up to 35 Years After Pleading Guilty in COVID Fraud Case

“If the AHA is signed into law and enacted, it would impinge upon universal human rights, jeopardize progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS, deter tourism and invest in Uganda and damage Uganda’s international reputation,” Jean-Pierre warned. “The bill is one of the most extreme anti-LGBTQI+ laws in the world.”

Kirby and Jean-Pierre’s remarks came on the same day as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” legislation, saying it “would undermine fundamental human rights of all Ugandans and could reverse gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS.”

“The United States provides more than $950 million in aid to Uganda each year, according to the State Department. The money supports development and health care measures, such as combating HIV/AIDS,” Courthouse News reported Wednesday. “Uganda is already among 30 African countries that ban same-sex relations. The new proposal would broaden penalties and appears to be the first to outlaw identifying as LGBTQ+, according to Human Rights Watch.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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