Republican Hoosiers,Tar Heels Echo Pennsylvanians Sentiments

Even with many of the pundits auditioning for the role of the “Fat Lady” and Hillary Clinton riling up her supporters by promising to continue the fight after her crushing defeat in North Carolina and narrow victory in Indiana, the loudest clangor in John McCain’s ears is probably the echo reverberating from PA throughout IN and NC.

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I'm not sure what this means. Perhaps the base is not energized to get out and vote because they feel the issue is decided. Huckabee and Paul supporters, on the other hand, have taken this opportunity to send a message to McCain and the RNC ... one wonders if they are listening, however.

Mike Huckabee on MSNBC

Mike was asked to comment on the recent public statements of controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright. In the past Mike has said we need to cut Rev. Wright a little slack in view of his prior experiences growing up in a segregated US. Mike expresses concern as to Wright's motives with his present actions.

Heading To Montana

Governor Huckabee heads to Montana to campaign for conservative candidates.

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Huck PAC was founded with the intention of supporting Republican candidates who are passionate advocates for tax reform, a strong national defense, real border security, life, the family, less government and individual liberty.

Just plain dishonest

Barack Obama tries to portray himself as honest and the agent of change. Then he acts like any other politician and is as guilty of spin as the people he points fingers at. I get sick of hearing him say he didn't campaign in Florida as if to imply that Clinton did. He knows she didn't and his innuendo gets picked up and repeated until I would be willing to bet that most of his supporters now believe that she campaigned in defiance of the candidates agreement that they would not. And when he says he wasn't even on the ballot in MI, why doesn't he say why? He wasn't on the ballot because he had his name removed! The statements he makes imply that *he* is somehow more ethical than Clinton. The amazing thing is that it seems to work. Why doesn't the media point out how disingenuous is statements are?

We Are Just Getting Started

Read and learn more about Huck PAC ... Governor Huckabee details the goals and plans for supporting candidates at local, state and national levels.

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It will be fun seeing governor Huckabee shake up the establishment. This is so needed to reform the Republican party so that it once more responds to the people.

Rubber Meets Road

I have often been frustrated by the two party system. I've wondered more than once if it wouldn't make sense to start supporting third (or fourth or fifth) parties that represent my views better than the big 2. I would not hesitate to say that most people probably do not support either the Republican or Democratic party as they now stand. They seem to have become despots, telling us what we will believe and what we will support rather that serving what we believe and support. And winning is all they care about. Being top dog as it were.

I've stated before that most people support the candidate, not the party. And perhaps that is why the whole system seems so dysfunctional. It probably goes a long way toward explaining voter apathy. Why vote when you don't feel you can support either candidate? Perhaps to vote for the lesser of what you see as two evils? "Of two evils, choose neither."* is good advice, but seldom practiced in contemporary politics. Often our vote is a vote against, rather than for, something.

I'm very disappointed that the best qualified candidates in both parties have withdrawn. I'm disappointed overall with the way we select candidates, because the ones who win are not usually the best qualified or even the most likely to win. So how do we address and correct this? How do we make the parties more responsive to what we want? We are, after all, the People, the ones it is supposed to be all about.

I've recently come to see that the only way to change the death grip the party system has on the election process is to change the parties from the bottom up. Rather than going away disappointed when the best candidates don't become the nominees, we have to start changing the whole system. It won't come the way candidates promise. The only way to "change Washington" is to start at the bottom of the political system and build it anew. It is to look for candidates at the local and state level who represent your views and really support them. It is to support candidates for Congress that represent your views. It is to stop letting incumbent Representatives and Senators run unopposed because we think they cannot be defeated. It is to demand that they stop thinking they were elected kings and start thinking they were elected servants of the people.

Good men and women with servant hearts could make all the difference.

*Charles Haddon Spurgeon
(Cross posted to Dei)

What Now?

Of many points made on the conference call last night with Mike Huckabee, perhaps the strongest was the challenge that we not sit and wait for 2012. There are many things that can happen between now and then and we need to be looking for ways to rebuild and reform our politics long before candidates for that election begin lining up.

Mike said he would be supporting candidates at all levels ... local, state and national ... who endorse positions we hold important. He said we need to begin now to change the Republican party so that is is responsive to the needs of people and works for them. It should no longer be considered the party of the rich and elite. With that goal in mind, Mike announced that his web site would be undergoing a redesign and would relaunch on Tuesday, April 15. (/me wonders at the significance of that!)

Maybe that explains why my Ranger link is not working? Nah ... it was something missing in the code. Not sure why, but it is fixed for now.

In Spite Of ...

So in spite of my resolution to keep this blog active and speak out on issues I found important, I have been silent for a month. Credit my apathy to disappointment that Mike Huckabee did not prevail in the March primaries and my total lack of enthusiasm for any of the remaining candidates. I have written extensively at dei about why I don't feel we should support candidates who are current office holders. Clinton, McCain and Obama have all neglected their current positions to run for president. They have abused the trust of their constituents and are not deserving of higher office. See Luke 16.10 "He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much."

I have been participating sporadically at F3 Coalition. There are some active conversations on the discussion boards right now. But my experience with discussion boards leads me to hold back from getting heavily involved. I say "yes" to supporting the aims of the group while saying "no" to spending time on the discussion board. It is too easy to expend all your energy in discussion and not have any left for action. I've been there and done that, I guess.

I was excited to be invited to Steve Strang's conference call with Mike Huckabee last night. I was frustrated that I could not actually get into the call. I was able to connect, but there was a problem with the lines and only the first number was working. That was quickly overwhelmed as over 6,000 people tried to connect with the call. I really appreciated the prompt sending of a link to listen to a recording of the call. It was good to hear Mike's perspective on where we are in the election process.

When Do We Start to Learn?

I was surprised and a little dismayed to find this video today. Surprised because I didn't remember Reagan as a Republican that early ... I thought he was still one of "Dem" in the early 60s. Dismayed because we have learned so little in the intervening years ...

Huckabee may be new face of the religious right

With the race for the Republican presidential nomination now behind him, former candidate Mike Huckabee has many possibilities ahead: Potential vice president to John McCain? GOP adviser? Another run for the White House? Any way, observers say, one thing seems clear: Huckabee is now a kinder, gentler fresh face of the evangelical movement.

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Mike would be a great choice to lead the evangelical movement and could do much to erase the negative connotation in the minds of the public from earlier, more dogmatic leaders.

Obamination

Don't try to use Scripture to justify your positions, Mr. Obama. We know you are the most liberal member of the Senate. We know you are the most liberal candidate in this race. And now we know you will use any means to try to pander to voters.

I usually don't agree with Hugh Hewitt on much, but his recent post on Barack Obama's use of Scripture gave me pause: Obama's Sermon on the Mount. Hewitt suggests a law that might be useful in political situations: "A candidate should never cite Scripture except with great specificity and unless he or she expects and desires to return to the subject and have every reference they used parsed over by millions of Bible readers." I second that thought.

The Baptist Press picked up the story and ran the following on March 3rd: Obama: Sermon on the Mount supports gay civil unions. Better go back to the Bible and read it again, Mr. Obama.

On the other hand, if he keeps making statements like this, it might be enormously helpful to John McCain. Evangelicals aren't likely to get excited about the Arizona senator, but they might get very excited about voting against someone who makes statements distorting Scripture in such a way.

What's Next?

What's next for Polit-speak? This blog was born as a means to support Mike Huckabee. While I am not sure how successful it was in that endeavor, it did get some traffic and was a place to share information about the candidate of my choice.

I still have things to say about this election, and will continue to post to this blog.

That's what!

Delayed, But Not Deterred

"I want to thank all of you for the incredible encouragement that you've been giving to Janet and me these past few days. We read the blogs daily and get such a lift from the thoughtful and gracious things people are sayinig. It really does overwhelm us with gratitude." ... (read a personal message from Mike Huckabee)

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Aftermath

Support for Mike Huckabee is being poured out on the blog over at Huckabee.com and many are calling for a campaign to urge John McCain to select Mike as his running mate. There are many reasons why this is not likely to happen, and the most important one is that it might be the worst possible move Mike could make. As John Edwards discovered this year, being tied to a losing ticket doesn't help your political future.

Of the candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination, John Edwards was the only one who spoke to the real concerns of people who make up the Democratic base, yet his campaign never took off. Why? I think there were two reasons:

1. Concern for Elizabeth Edwards health
2. People saw him as a loser after the acrimonious campaign in 2004

Is it fair? Not at all, but who says politics is fair?

I'm willing to add my 2 cents worth to the debate. I say there is a pattern to follow in Ronald Reagan's loss at the convention in 1976. Reagan spent the next four years gaining traction and building his bona fides as a statesman. The nomination in 1980 wasn't a walk in the park, but a backward look shows that it was almost inevitable. This is the time for Mike Huckabee to become more well known. No matter who wins the election this year, Mike has the opportunity to speak out on the issues and serve as the conscience of his party. Four years well spent could well reap big rewards in 2012.

Texas Toast

Tonight I am disappointed to see the end of Governor Huckabee's run for 2008. Yet I also hold out hope that he will continue to advance the issues that are so important to those of us who supported his candidacy ... secure borders, no amnesty for illegals, a fair trade policy, tax reform, the sanctity of human life and that marriage is not a civil right, but was instituted by God and is between one man and one woman.

More than anything else, I appreciated the humor, wit and decency that Mike Huckabee brought to the political arena. He is unmatched by any politician in my memory (even Ronald Reagan).

I hope that we learn well the lesson that the coming election will teach us. When we don't put forward our brightest and best, we surely deserve what we get. In the case of the candidates still in the race, I fear we will be greatly disappointed.

As an independent, I am faced with a huge dilemma. I have said all along that I did not feel I could support any of the candidates who are current office holders. My reason for this is the fact that none of them is keeping faith with the voters who elected them to their current jobs. And I felt that if they could not be faithful in the job they have now, they could not be trusted with higher office. Now I have to think long and hard about how I will vote.

It's a puzzlement.