Not another subgroup of Republicans...
Aug. 25th, 2006 04:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wombat_sochoThis is an interesting look at Governor Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) by the folks at National Journal's "Hotline" blog. Huckabee's a long shot for the '08 presidential nomination but could wind up as somebody's VP; his Southern Baptist pragmatism would probably make a decent balance for Rudy Giuliani, for example.
What's interesting for me is the last paragraph, which is also what caught Glenn Reynolds' attention. Marc Ambinder and Jonathan Martin, after spending most of the article talking about how difficult/impossible it is to pigeonhole Huckabee, find a whole new hole to stuff him into: "the Sam's Club Republican", coined by Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam. The description actually makes Huckabee and the SCRs sound like your stereotypical conservative Christian: middle/working-class, socially conservative, pro-defense, and not inherently opposed to big government, especially if they're getting a piece of the action. The SCRs only look different from conservative Christians to the folks in the NYDCLA axis, who think all those people look and act like Jerry Falwell at best and Fred Phelps at worst. Out here in the middle, of course, where most of those folks (like Mike Huckabee) actually live and work, well, we know better. We also know that those folks don't come just in white, either, which comes as a shock to those people who were surprised that Russell Simmons is coming to the aid of Michael Steele.
Be that as it may, Governor Huckabee looks like an interesting person, though if he does make it to Washington he won't be the first Republican to find out that the Democrats he's been working with down home don't have a lot in common with the kind that hang out in DC.
What's interesting for me is the last paragraph, which is also what caught Glenn Reynolds' attention. Marc Ambinder and Jonathan Martin, after spending most of the article talking about how difficult/impossible it is to pigeonhole Huckabee, find a whole new hole to stuff him into: "the Sam's Club Republican", coined by Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam. The description actually makes Huckabee and the SCRs sound like your stereotypical conservative Christian: middle/working-class, socially conservative, pro-defense, and not inherently opposed to big government, especially if they're getting a piece of the action. The SCRs only look different from conservative Christians to the folks in the NYDCLA axis, who think all those people look and act like Jerry Falwell at best and Fred Phelps at worst. Out here in the middle, of course, where most of those folks (like Mike Huckabee) actually live and work, well, we know better. We also know that those folks don't come just in white, either, which comes as a shock to those people who were surprised that Russell Simmons is coming to the aid of Michael Steele.
Be that as it may, Governor Huckabee looks like an interesting person, though if he does make it to Washington he won't be the first Republican to find out that the Democrats he's been working with down home don't have a lot in common with the kind that hang out in DC.
