While there’s some rumbling that the Democratic National Convention might involve tear gas this year it appears that the GOP higher-ups are getting a bit worried about Huckabee’s popularity. Huckabee took all the delegates for Kansas and won Louisiana by 1 percent just to have the GOP declare McCain the winner in Washington after counting only 87% of the returns.
It would be one thing if McCain was leading by a significant number of votes, but he wasn’t. Only 242 votes stood between him and Huckabee which is less than a two percent lead with about 1500 votes unaccounted for.
Amusingly, the party leader appears to be a bit surprised that anyone would consider a party disenfranchising it’s own members to be a bit on the bizarre side of things. Apparently no one told the Washington branch that you scrap the other party’s votes, not your own.
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It is fascinating to watch the Republicans try to figure out what to do with the Huckster. They’ve been pandering to Christian extremists for some time now, and it appears that they’ve done their job a little too well. His popularity says disturbing things about America, but I can’t resist finding it at least a little amusing that the Republicans are finally getting what they deserve.
I know where you’re coming from vjack. I think it’s possible that Huckabee could end up as the VP under McCain (I don’t think he can beat McCain at this point) which is a bit scary, but this pearl clutching by the money wing of the GOP just amuses the hell out of me.
Part of me almost feels sorry for the Republican Party. The Republican leadeship, in the 1970s, made a conscious decision to court the evangelical christian voter. They did not do this out of any sense of agreement with said social conservatives, but (and this is my view) as a way to convince Americans to vote against their economic self-interest.
The anti-tax Republicans view the federal govenment as a roadblock denying big business and the wealthy a chance to get bigger and wealthier. Supply-side economics gave the wealthiest Americans a large tax cut (which was spent on high-end luxury cars from Europe and then Japan). Deregulation gave big business a better opportunity to maximize profits while screwing the consumer, the IRS, the environmetn and their own employees. Neither of these economic policies are in the best interest of a vast majority of Americans.
Lower taxes means less money at the federal level (the bullshit about tax cuts paying for themselves has just GOT to stop!). Less money means less revenue sharing. Less money means less for schools, roads, airports, bridges, the National Park Service, NASA, scientific research (including alternate fuels), etc. Look closely at that short list. Other than airports and National Parks, the wealthy can replace these services out of their own pockets (well, scientific research, no, but when you are a multi-millionaire, who cares? You can still buy the best and least efficient of everything). These are programs which directly benefit and enlarge the middle class — the majority of Americans (at least for the time being, anyway).
By attaching no-tax and no-regulation to anti-choice and anti-gay politics, the Republican Party has been able to convince enough Americans to vote against their own economic well-being to gain and hold power. They have used this power not to pursue socially conservative programs (though they talk a good game), but rather to enrich themselves and their cronies through corporate wellfare (why do oil companies, with their massive profits, need a tax break?), no-bid contracts (Halliburton?), massive deregulation (coal mines?) and relaxed financing rules (Enron?). I don’t think that the Republican leadership ever gave a Tinker’s damn about abortion or gays. The social issues were merely a campaign ploy to get the votes.
Now, however, the proverbial turkeys have come home to the proverbial roost. Huckabee, a social conservative who really doesn’t give a hoot about big business, is making a strong run for the Republican nomination. The Republican leadership is now very frightened of the Frankensteinian monster that they have created: politically active social conservatives who honestly believe that they, and they alone, have the only answer to America’s woes. That answer is democratic theocracy.
Of course the Republican leadership will do all in their power to derail Huckabee’s nomination. If they are willing to rig elections in Ohio during a Presidential campaign, then playing games with their own nomination process is small potatoes.
This (prediction time, here) will not be the last time between now and the end of the nominating process that voters are disenfranchised. The only difference is, now its not inner-city minorities. Now, its grass roots Republican fundamentalist christianist dominionist voters.
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