Ordained Baptist minister and former Republican governor Mike Huckabee will bring his unique blend of Southern charm and anti-gay hate to the 2016 presidential race.
He’s been a staffer for a televangelist, a pastor, the Lt. Governor and then Governor of Arkansas, a Fox News TV show host, an author, and now, once again, Mike Huckabee wants to be President. This morning, as expected, the 59-year old Hope, Arkansas native returned to his hometown to formally announce what he’s made increasingly clear.Â
After walking through his bio, growing up in Hope Arkansas, Huckabee told his audience, “I am a candidate for president of the United States of America.”
Huckabee “leaked” a less-than-impressive campaign teaser last week, positioning himself as the man who battled and won against the Clinton machine in Arkansas, despite the fact that he succeeded, and not by running against, Bill Clinton.Â
In 2008, Huckabee also tried to win the GOP nomination, but lost to John McCain. In 2012, amid wide speculation he would try again, he teamed up with Donald Trump to announce he would not, stating he just did not have the burning desire in him to run.
Most voters might think that would have disqualified him from seeking higher office ever again, but no, he’s in it to win it, supposedly. And if not, Huckabee will have done what most GOP presidential candidates set out to do: make more money.
Huckabee is widely known primarily for invoking his Christian orthodox faith and using it as a sword, sometimes against his critics, but mostly against gay people. Over the past decade the Southern Baptist has taken every possible opportunity to criticize, attack, lambast, and denigrate same-sex marriage, the LGBT community, and its allies. He’s pandering to his base, of course, but in a country where over six in ten Americans now believe same-sex couples should have the legal right to marry, 35 percent of likely voters say they are less likely to vote for a candidate who doesn’t support same-sex marriage.
The Arkansas Republican has told states repeatedly thy should ignore the Supreme Court if it rules for same-sex marriage. In a more embarrassing episode, he claimed that marriage equality is discriminatory because it denies bisexual people two spouses. He took the opportunity of speaking at a Holocaust tour to claim same-sex marriage will destroy civilization. And he’s flat-out lied about the facts surrounding same-sex marriage, including in a Facebook rant about an Idaho wedding chapel being “forced” to marry same-sex couples.
Huckabee’s policies, like his bible, will never change.
He is vehemently anti-choice, anti-immigration reform, anti-marijuana legalization, anti-gun control, anti-Cuba, and anti-gay. He’ll work to repeal Obamacare and destroy the social safety net, including social security and Medicare for future generations, while increasing defense spending. And he won’t hesitate for one minute, despite his Ten Commandments, to take us to war. And he’s obsessively pro-Israel, for all the wrong, i.e., religious reasons.
Importantly, Americans likely realize that while Huckabee has no real shot at the White House, he will turn the 2016 campaign ugly, and force what will ultimately be his almost two dozen GOP opponents to the far right, the last thing America needs.
Huckabee’s announcement puts him in the race early, to gain access to the millions of dollars in campaign cash that await him. He joins Ted Cruz, Rand Paul Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina, and Ben Carson, but there will be many, many other joining soon.
Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight Politics dove into all the numbers, and concluded that for Huckabee, it may be the same way his 2008 campaign did.
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This is a breaking news and developing story and will be updated.
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