I'm not a Huckabee supporter. In fact, he's the candidate I dislike most, behind Ron Paul of course, in the Republican field. But this is just silly. It's a bookcase. Don't feed the liberals hysterical attempts to manufacture scandal just cause you also don't much care for their chosen target. Next time they'll make something up about a candidate you DO like.
Actually, I think this thrills the libs. They want nothing more than Huckabee to win the GOP nomination because it will ensure a Dem victory. Why else, do you suppose, there is virtually no negative media coverage of Huck?
And it is a cross; to think otherwise is to naively not understand the sophistication of presidential campaigning.
Kudos to you, Laer, for stating so succinctly what was wrong with this advertisement -- and it's not the fact that Huckabee is Christian. It's that it was a cynical ploy followed by disingenuous denials. The man's foreign policy scares me, and his Arkansas style politics -- something entirely separate from his faith -- dismay me.
I used to be a Huckabee supporter but he's been stepping in it big time in the last 2 weeks. Very sad.
However, his Christmas ad was beautiful. 1) it wasn't a cross, it was a WINDOWPANE!!! 2) Even though it looks like a cross, what the heck is wrong with that? The cross is a symbol of our Christian faith because, among other things, it is the reason Christ was born: to redeem the world through his sacrifice on the cross.
Of all the things Huckabee has done this week, this was the best. You are completely barking up the wrong tree. This was a CHRISTMAS commercial. It’s extremely judgmental to ascribe movtives to him. When Jesus said, “Don’t judge, for the same measuring stick by which you judge will be applied to you”, this is exactly what he was talking about.
I wear a crucifix and display one in a photo I have at home. Am I also “using” the cross? I find this whole discussion embarrassing. Do you want a religion nuetral, secular Christmas commerical?
If his windowpane looked like a Menorah would that be better or worse?
By the way, you said this in your article: it very evident that the image was carefully thought out to serve two purposes: Connect with Christians, and leverage the ad buy by getting free air time as pundits discuss the meaning of it all.
Well, holy cow! We wouldn't want Huckabee connecting with Christians at Christmas!
You're completely out of context to use Jesus' cleansing of the temple and compare it to this ad. You should be ashamed of yourself for doing so. In the Temple, Jews were taking advantage of the Law regarding sacrifice and making God's Holy Temple into a marketplace rather than a penitential house of worship. Surely you can see the difference! IT WAS A WINDOWPANE!
Amy, love your blog and all, but c'mon. Your telling of the specifics is correct, but to me the greater lesson is that things God holds as holy, be it the ancient need for sacrifice, or the cross, which eliminated that need, should not be exploited in God's name.
If Huckabee were as thoughtful and honorable as he would like us to think he is, he would have shuddered at the concept of the commercial and thrown the advisors who cooked up the scheme out, just as Jesus threw the guys out of the temple.
You know, I would have felt very differently had it been a cross, a real cross on the bookshelf (not window pane) for all to see. It was that he was trying to create a subliminal message that bugs me.
And yes, my how he's stepped in it.
I'm glad that I live in a country where you can say you dont like seeing the cross in this ad and I
can say that I'm glad he made this ad. Because
Christmas is about the birth of jesus whom I love very much!!
Huckabee's faith is a prop in his televangelist style campaign for votes. I'm not challenging whether he is a Christian just how he chooses to use his faith.
This was completely evident to me when Huckabee apologized to Romney for the NY Times piece. He went to Romney PRIVATELY and then went to the cameras to keep the story alive and make him look "humble." Thus forcing Romney to talk about a private conversation and Huckabee's apology.
Masterfully manipulative are the words that come to mind.
I'm an evangelical homeschooer and he did a number of many in this subculture. But when he snagged the NEA endorsement many were awakened to the obvious contradiction that is Mike Huckabee his faith and his politics.
The final clincher was accepting funds for an embryonic stem cell company. I am opposed to such research and Huckbee took $35K for two speaking engagements. Sorry, but once again Huckabee's faith doesn't seem to impact him except when there's a camera in front of him. He reminds me of Clinton who knew exactly how to manage the camera to make sure it showed him exactly the way he wanted.
Most of these comments about someone wishing all of us Merry Christmas make Americans look
very cynical.
For Worst Ad I think there's a tie between Hillary Clinton's egregiously horrible “A Very Elitist Christmas” ad and Giuliani's embarassingly idiotic one.
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