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Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Pat Buchanan :: Townhall.com Columnist
The Mitt-Mike Religious War
by Pat Buchanan
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Today, the one man who can do that is Romney. If Romney wins Iowa, not only would that break Huckabee's momentum, but Romney would likely surge to victory in New Hampshire, five days later, where he leads, and in Michigan, a week after, where his father was governor and Romney is a famous name. Comes then South Carolina. If Mitt is 3-0 going into South Carolina and everyone else is 0 for 3, it is hard to see who beats him there.

If Romney loses Iowa, however, he has to win New Hampshire or he is done. But if Huckabee wins Iowa, he need not win New Hampshire for he has already moved into the lead in South Carolina.

The question for the other Republicans is the same: Where do you win? And if you don't win early, do you have the resources to go on?

John McCain, the candidate of the Union-Leader, either wins New Hampshire or goes home. For he is going to be humiliated in Iowa if he does not drop out. And if he cannot win the Granite State, his strongest in 2000, how does he raise the money to carry on, and where does he win?

Fred Thompson appears to have little chance to win any of the first three. He is banking on holding on until South Carolina, despite a probable three straight losses before then and no publicity to rival what Huckabee and Romney are getting right now. Fred may not make it to South Carolina.

Which brings us to Rudy, the front-runner. His hope: That Huckabee wins Iowa, McCain wins New Hampshire, Romney wins Michigan, and Thompson or McCain wins South Carolina. Then, after four defeats, he comes roaring back in Florida, grabs the headlines going into Feb. 5, when half the primaries are held, and marches forward to the nomination.

Whoever thought up this strategy is the kind of guy who plays Russian roulette with four bullets in the chamber. The peril of the Rudy strategy is if a Romney, a Huckabee or a McCain wins in New Hampshire and South Carolina and catches a fire no attack ad can put out. Already, Rudy's national lead is vanishing. How he maintains it through December and four straight January losses is, as they say, problematic.

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About The Author
Pat Buchanan is a founding editor of The American Conservative magazine, and the author of many books including State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America .
 
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Reply # 1
Date: Dec 12, 2007 - 1:12 AM EST
Huckabee and Mormons
I want the President to be foremost concerned about maintaining diplomatic relations with God. I believe this can be done without the establishment of a state religion. Though I’m LDS, I favored Huckabee over Romney. I didn’t support Mitt just because he’s LDS. Then I heard about Huckabee and taxes, and illegal immigration. Then I caught part of the you tube debate, and heard Mitt admit he was wrong before about abortion. No excuses. Just an admission of error. I was impressed. Then I read his speech on faith.

I heard Huckabee’s soft on anti-Mormon bigotry, even participates. I heard he attended a baptist convention in Salt Lake City recently. I lived there when they started having those. They came in claiming that they were going to bring Christ to us Mormons. Like we didn't already know Him. They had full page ads in newspapers and billboards to match, geared to people who had never heard of Jesus, like we were as far from Christian as people who worshiping rats. They haven't changed much. At the last convention, one of the books they distributed to the press was an anti-Mormon book.

This is what I think Huckabee actually believes in: invalidation of a Christian religion because its doctrines are considered unorthodox by the mainstream, though its adherents profess belief in Christ as the Son of God. If nothing else, I would hope that man would at least have the sense to try not to pointlessly divide people on the basis of religion when they are political kindreds.

My opinion of Romney is continually improving and my opinion of Huckabee is continually sinking. I could have remained a Huckabee supporter, if only he had not pulled some of the stunts he has, such as branding himself implicitly as THE Christian Leader. In this race, he is A Christian Leader, not THE Christian Leader. I don't need that kind of attitude.

I'm rooting for Romney now. I know he's not perfect, but he's the best choice I see out there.
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Reply # 2
Date: Dec 12, 2007 - 1:07 AM EST
Give Huckabee a break...
Without the religious conservative vote any Republican is dead in the water. Mike Huckabee is the only candidate that has been able to fully inspire this base of the party. This fact is undeniable.

So why not give him a break and get behind him? In my opinion, Giuliani will divide the party, Romney's Mormonism makes him unelectable (the proof is in the pudding), Thompson is uninspiring-boring and McCain is a rebel with too many enemies in the party. So who's left but Huckabee?

It's possible that the likability of Huckabee set against the coldness of Hilary will make the whole discussion unnecessary. Everyone likes the Huck personally, even the media. They hate what he stands for and of course will attack him like they have been doing these past couple of weeks. However, he has stood up to them and kept his cool and the polls have demonstrated it.

In my opinion, the country needs someone who can communicate with the American people and inspire us to accomplish something significant. No Republican can do that except Huckabee and Giuliani. And since Giuliani is so divisive on the social issues--Huckabee is our best bet. Let's give him a break and support the guy.


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