PURITAN NEWS WEEKLY

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2/08/08

BEATING THE ODDS

By Parnell McCarter

The political pundits may be wrong and Governor Mike Huckabee may yet beat the odds now that the Republican race is essentially down to him and McCain (albeit with McCain the strong favorite). What if Huckabee gives a rousing speech this Saturday to the CPAC convention, such that conservatives decide to rally around him? What if he wins upcoming Republican primaries in Kansas, Louisiana, Virginia, and Texas? What if influential conservatives like Rush Limbaugh support Huckabee, like James Dobson seems to have done now? What if Romney delegates ended up going with Huckabee? While it seems a long shot, it is at least plausible the answers to these questions could go in Huckabee’s favor and Governor Huckabee could yet have a close race with Senator McCain and even win the nomination.

Something else could work in Huckabee’s favor. Most conservatives mistakenly believe the primary motive behind the mainstream media is liberalism, but in reality liberalism plays second fiddle to a far greater motive: increasing viewers which increases ad revenue. With this primary motive, the media has in its interest to promote suspenseful political races, like it already has on the Democratic side. Now it can help drum beat for Huckabee to build a suspenseful race on the Republican side. We should not be surprised if press coverage now begins to favor just such a development.

If this happens, and I think it could, Senator McCain may well rue that he did not make more promises yesterday at the CPAC convention to allay concerns of conservatives of what he would do as president.

But whoever wins this election, my own view remains unchanged: this is a race among those who are opposed to reformed Christian establishment and who at the end of the day are prepared to pledge to uphold non-religious establishment. As a matter of conscience, I can never support such, so I must patiently wait until God overturns the current secularist order, which I am confident He will in the future. God will one day raise up reformed Christian governments around the world, after great judgment of enemies of Christ’s rule.

Post-Virginia Primary Post-Script: Gov. Huckabee really needed to win the Virginia primary, but he lost it, so any chances of capturing the nomination are significantly diminished. According to exit poll results at http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/epolls/#VAREP , in the Virginia primary Governor Huckabee significantly won among Protestants that attend church services weekly, but significantly lost among Catholics that attend church services weekly (as well as Catholics in general). Gov. Huckabee likely had known this would be an area of vulnerability for his campaign, which may explain at least in part his selection of Chip Saltsman as national campaign chairman. As noted at http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/feb/04/cbuer-running-huckabee-02/:

“Chip Saltsman was instantly a "big fish in a small pond" when he arrived at the Memphis campus of Christian Brothers University in the mid-1980s, a retired Christian brother and confidant recalled recently. Saltsman, 39, the former Tennessee Republican Party chairman now running former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's national campaign for president, was active in Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, the Knights of Columbus and student government after arriving from a Catholic prep school in Nashville. "Chip showed a lot of leadership," said Brother Patrick O'Brien, 70, who retired two years ago after 35 years at CBU. In the current CBU alumni magazine Belltower, Saltsman credits O'Brien for teaching him the basics of fund-raising. Saltsman ran the "Senior Drive" in his last year as an undergraduate. He later returned for an MBA. "When he left the university, my thought was that he might join the (Christian) brothers or go into the seminary, and I wanted to encourage that," said O'Brien. "He was still thinking that way but the political opportunity came open and that fit him."

Given the demographic shifts that are occurring in the USA, there is reason to believe that the “Christian Right” will increasingly be tempted to turn to Roman Catholics (like Governor Jeb Bush) to get “pro-life” government leaders. (This is already proving true on the Supreme Court, as exhibited by recent Justice appointments Samuel Alito and John Roberts.) Indeed, this path logically leads into the Roman Catholic Church not only politically, but religiously.

I disagree with this political avenue being taken by many professing Protestants, nor do I agree with the path of political indifference. Rather, I recommend the path reflected at https://www.puritans.net/Reformation_Party/ .