Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Evidence Of Mike Huckabee's Catholic Problem

I came across this article in the Atlantic website illustrating statistical evidence of Catholic voting patterns in the recent Iowa caucuses for Mitt Romney instead of Mike Huckabee. I've put my emphasis in bold italics.

Here's some interesting graphics. First, the Iowa counties Mike Huckabee won in blue, those Mitt Romney won in red:

Next up, the proportion of Catholics in each county:

That's circumstantial evidence that Catholics don't like the Huckster. Philip Klinker, who put those images together, ran the numbers more rigorously and came to a firmer conclusion -- Catholics don't like the guy.

At the end of the day, that's big trouble. One thinks, traditionally, of white (?) Catholics as the core bloc of culturally traditionalist voters with some leanings in the direction of economic populism. Any nationally successful coalition founded on the sort of Christian Democratic approach that Huckabee gestures at in his more appealing moments would need to have Catholic voters at its heart, not pushed out to the margins.

Not pushed out to the margins is exactly what Mike Huckabee is doing when he doesn't denounce the anti-Catholic bigot John Hagee before or after speaking at Cornerstone church in San Antonio last month.
For the Atlantic article click here.

7 comments:

Matt said...

Frankly the Republican party has a Catholic problem - most of them don't support the GOP despite the oppositions decidedly immoral platform.

I noticed that Ron Paul hasn't denounced the white supremacists or radical lefties (George Soros), pimps and pornographers that support him.

I would like it if Huckabee would denounce Hagee, but that doesn't change my belief that among the viable candidates he is the most aligned with Catholic moral values. Romney is a newbie quasi-pro lifer - he recently abandoned the abortion on demand position for a more electable abortion in the case of rape, incest, or the health of the mother. He also recently changed his tune on gay marriage.

I have no problem with McCain, but he has not exactly been a champion of the unborn despite his pro-life voting record.

None of the other candidates are viable, so what do we do?

God Bless,

Matt

Matt said...

Ooops, I meant to post this:

Huckabee on Catholics

Like past elections we choose the least of all evils.

James H said...

I will repeat what I said on the original post in the comment section in response to your observtions

Ok lets stop the double standard here. By the way Huckabee addressed that
BREAKING: Governor Huckabee Addresses Anti-Catholicism
http://opinionatedcatholic.blogspot.com/2007/12/breaking-governor-huckabee-addresses.html

So he did disassociate himself from those statements. Plus he took time and talked to Cathoic Online in the article I linkled above. By the way he does not believe the Pope is the anti Christ. Which is more progressive than one of the largest mainstream bodies of Lutherans in the US ( The Missouri Synod) that has official Doctrine that the offic eof the Papacy is the anti Christ. I shall stay tuned to see if Catholic bloggers demand clarification from Politicians that appear with Lutherans

So what is he position on Catholics? I am not sure what more you can ask. IN the articles I have linked and also that he has put Catholic at the heart of his campaign to get him to the White House I think needless to say his view is pretty good!!! Besides Huckabee entering a RCIA class I am not sure what people want

One word other on Hagee. I think we need to be real here as to double standards. You know , I know , the potted plant in the corner knows the reason he appeared there was because of the Israel vote.

Now I must ask this. It is well known that very Catholic Former Senator Rick Santorum is associated with Hagee political groups and appeared on the same stage with him as did people like Sen Joe Liberman and many other conservatives. We also learn. And seat down for this That Catholic Sen Brownback is assoicated with him too

Now I have not checked the FEC filings but I would not be surprised if both Santorium and Brownback recieved a contribution from his PAC and no doubt had his access to his mailing lists and everything. In fact many Republicans do.

I ahve seen no one else in the Catholic Blogsphere ask Senator Brownback, Senator Santorum, or the the then Chair of the Republican Party to disassociate himself from his anti Catholic views.

If I had a day , I bet it would be very interesting to see what other leading Catholic figures in political life have associated themselves with Hagee.

In the Republican party we have an alliance with these particular Evangelicals that are a specific subset that have strong beliefs on the support of Israel. That is what is going on here.

James,

Brownback is out of the race and Santorum is out of office.

But yes we should ask them the same question, to denounce John Hagee's statements.

No, Huckabee did not denounce John Hagee's statements.

He "distanced" himself from them.

Huckabee should make a public denouncement of John Hagee's statements and of John Hagee himself.

Not dance around like politician and hedge his way out of answering that question.

Again, no, Huckabee did not denounce Hagee in that Catholic Online interview. I've read it several times before.

Also I have not called Huckabee a bigot, only the people he associates with. I like Huckabee but what will seal my vote is he denouncing John Hagee's anti-Catholic statements.

Thanks for commenting!

Tito

James H said...

Tito:

You better add John McCain to your list because he is assoicated with HAgee too which you can easily find my using Google as well as Bush and about half the Republicans

I suppose we shall disagree on thisin good faith. We have gone from a era where Catholic politicians were not welcomed , to where Catholic Politicians were trusted by Protestants and Evangelicals to a point where we Catholics now can say "ooops don't associate with those people"

It does not seem very Catholic to me. I guess I think when Jesus was eating with Tax collecters and Sinners and the apostles were shocked.

In Louisiana we have a ton of Catholic Politicans that speak at Churches that don't exactly have a friend Catholic Theology.

THis year the state democrat party ran a no mothing campaign against Catholic Bobby Jindal in Protestant areas of the state. All over a apologetic piece he wrote in Nw Oxford Review. You can see their handiwork here
http://www.jindalonreligion.com/

Be sure to seet the ads.

Catholic in South Louisiana and across the nation could care less it seemed. But these Churches did not fall for it. They were the ones that spoke out in Bobby's defense. Why? Because he came not as a Catholic or anything else but a man that came to listen to thheir concerns.

Anyway before you write people off be sure to research the others guys too.

If it is McCain or Huckabee they both seem to fail the test you are setting for them

I guess Romney is out since he appeared at Bob Jones University and got their endorsement

Pretty soon your only choices will eb Obama and Hillary.

Anyway I just hoping Catholics holkd a consistent standard even if they do not endorse or like Huckabee. I just want fairness in the standards that are being set up

James H,

You make an excellent point as to how far we as Catholics have come in this country. Where we are discussing the points of a Southern Baptis and completely discounting the Catholic Giuliani.

Like I said, I do like Huckabee and it is a minor point, relatively speaking.

I'm not sure how we disagree about Huckabee, but he's got my vote so far, though I'm not committed to him yet.

Tito

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