Mysterious Group Attacks Huckabee

[sabra]

Source: ABC News

Third Party Group Distributed Flier in Iowa Claiming He's Not a True Conservative, Christian


A mysterious group calling itself Iowans for Some Semblance of Christian Decency has begun waging a campaign against former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, insinuating that not only is the Republican presidential candidate not a true conservative, he's not a real Christian.

In fliers put under the doors of reporters at the Marriott in Des Moines, where Huckabee was staying Monday night, the organization, whose members are unknown, lays out its interpretation of how the former Baptist minister's views run contrary to the Bible.

Huckabee's support of educational opportunities for the children of illegal immigrants is portrayed, for instance, as "justification for violating the 8th commandment (stealing from U.S. citizens)." A lighthearted video clip where he pretends to talk to the Lord (watch HERE) is portrayed as "sacrilegious mocking of God for political gain."

The flier also raises the controversial case of Wayne Dumond, a convicted rapist whom Huckabee publicly suggested should be freed from prison. After Dumond was freed by the parole board, whose members later said they had been influenced by Huckabee, Dumond sexually assaulted and murdered a woman named Carol Sue Shields. Dumond died in prison in Missouri in 2005.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=3951594&page=1

[Vanje]

1. Hmmmmmm. Smells like Rove nt

[PATRICK]

5. Unlike

the firemen against Guiliani this has GOP organizational politics written all over it. Bush wants one of the miserable choices not any sort of semblance to an independent. They all are rotten apples but look who they choose to move against, destroy? They could take down Guiliani in the space of a thirty second commercial. They want the religious core throttled into submission, not genuinely represented.

The GOP is showing their hand, or at least the Bush people whether they are working on different campaigns or not.

[Kolesar]

6. Huckleberry has spoken for climate protection, so he must be destroyed

...by the energy industry, also known as "The Bush family evil empire".

[calimary]

21. Fine by me. Let them eat their own. They'll be doing a lot of our advance work

for us. We're liable to need him thoroughly softened up before the big bout. I'm surprised they're only getting started now. He blindsided EVERYBODY.

[niceypoo]

10. Smells like Gulliani

The designated FOX news candidate

[Dulcinea]

43. That's what I think too.

Giuliani is toast as of Feb. 6, and everyone but him knows that.

[LiberalFighter]

51. I say Romney is behind it

He needs to draw attention from him being a Mormon.

[customerserviceguy]

56. I'm with you on the Romney charge

His whole strategy was to spend heavy to win Iowa and New Hampshire, and ride the momentum wave of publicity into Super Tuesday. He didn't bargain on Thompson coming in, but Freddie has fizzled. He sure didn't expect one of the low-tier unknowns to rise to the first tier, and Chucklebee has done that.

The fundies don't like Rudy for obvious reasons (Pat Robertson notwithstanding), they still haven't forgiven McCain for pissing them off in 2000, they don't think Thompson is "pure" enough, and they really don't want to give Mormon missionaries the "Our President (or the last Republican nominee) is one of us!" as a line to use in sucking people away from contributing to their coffers. So, along comes Aw-Shucksabee and grabs the fundie support overnight. Mittens has to do something to blunt this, so why not attack him on the basis the fundies want him for?

[OKIsItJustMe]

18. Reminds me of what the Democrats did to Dean 4 years ago

http://publicintegrity.org/report.aspx?aid=194

...

On November 7, 2003, a strange new group no one had ever heard of called "Americans for Jobs & Healthcare" was quietly formed and soon thereafter began running a million dollar operation including political ads against then-frontrunner Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean. The commercials ripped Dean over his positions or past record on gun rights, trade and Medicare growth. But the most inflammatory ad used the visual image of Osama bin Laden as a way to raise questions about Dean's foreign policy credibility. While the spots ran, Americans for Jobs—through its then-spokesman, Robert Gibbs, a former Kerry campaign employee—refused to disclose its donors.

...

[ozone_man]

32. Wasn't that supporters of Kerry and Gephardt?

The tracks are always covered up so it's hard to tell where the attacks are coming from.

[OKIsItJustMe]

48. Apparently, yes

Check out the article.

[kansasblue]

49. Rovian ...yes. Maybe to cover this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/04/documents-expose-huckabee_n_75362.html

to group a bunch of baseless charges in with the valid one. And thus all the charges become evil anti-Christian attacks.

Nice work Rove!

[phantom power]

2. Have fun feeding your religious-nutcase beast, GOP.

:evilgrin:

[TwilightGardener]

3. Man, this is awesome. "Some Semblance of Christian Decency"--

excellent name. And it's totally fair--not a swiftboating.

[lurky]

4. Man, those Republicans and their "mysterious groups"...

creepy and un-American, if you ask me.

I have to admit, however that it is still fun watching them eat their own. :evilgrin:

[bklyncowgirl]

7. ...and the Swiftboating of Huck begins. I predicted this.

There is no way that the big business, anti-tax types want this guy as their candidate. Mittens is their man, lock, stock and barrel. Huckleberry may actually have a conscience and some convictions--that's anethema to the GOP--with Mitt there's no problem.

[TwilightGardener]

13. Mittens is FAR more ethical than Huckabee. And I don't like Mittens.

But I can't STAND Fuckabee.

[Dulcinea]

44. No surprise there.

I'm no fan of Huckabee, but he has charisma & comes across as genuine, unlike Mittens & Sleazebag Rudy. Plus, he may not just shut up & do what he's told by Corporate America, & that will never fly.

Watch out for Huckabee. He's a more formidable opponent than any of these other rejects the GOP wants America to swallow.

[bklyncowgirl]

45. Don't think we have to worry too much--looks like the GOP is kneecapping him right now.

I agree, he'd be a strong candidate in the general election but it seems that the Republicans are going to do the Democrats a favor.

[Virginia Dare]

8. Marriott you say?

would that be the Marriotts who are very big dogs in the LDS?

[tekisui]

9. That would be them.

I think the Marriotts are the richest Mormons. And a lot of Mormons ahve a lot of money.

[underpants]

26. Hmm why yes look right here in today's Times-Dispatch

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/search.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-12-04-0115.html

Marriott has a firm belief in two worlds
Hotel chain CEO finds his passion in Mormon church

In addition to being a longtime leader of the $14 billion company -- and member of Forbes' list of the 500 richest Americans -- Marriott is an elder in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormon church. The suburban Maryland resident provides lay counsel for much of Virginia. He visited the Cogbill Road congregation in Chesterfield County on Saturday.

Marriott, 75, recalled that when he was growing up, there were few Mormon churches in Virginia. Now, there are more than 80,500 Mormons in the state, including about 9,000 members in 27 congregations in the Richmond and Tri-Cities areas, according to local church leaders.

While in town, Marriott helped Frank E. Ramsey, president of a nine-congregation district, including Chesterfield and the Tri-Cities, figure out a way to reduce the number of meetings that church leaders must attend. That should help give more time to spend with family, Ramsey said.

Marriott also paused from his church-related duties to answer a few questions about the balance of business and religion.

Q. Mormonism is in the news a lot now with Mitt Romney running for president. Is that good PR for the church?

A. It has raised the level of interest in the church. That's good. We want people to understand us. We want people to have a sense of who we are and what we believe.

Q. Are you involved in his campaign?

A. I'm the chairman of his finance committee in Maryland. He was on the board at Marriott for 10 years. I also knew his father and mother well.

Q. You have a blog. How long has that been running?

A. About a year. We a new head of global communications, Kathleen Matthews (wife of TV host Chris Matthews.) She was excited about blogging and what it provided me and the company, a way to connect with people and tell them about our beliefs.

Q. On the blog, you say you're frustrated with Congress for not passing immigration legislation. Is that because almost half of your workers are foreign-born?

A. On immigration, obviously we believe in upholding the law. But we believe people should be given a chance. In our church, we believe Jesus gave us all a chance to repent our sins and return to him. We should give people a chance for citizenship. This country couldn't exist without immigrants.

Q. Do Mormon values help business? Are the two related?

A. Solid business decisions are often motivated by the same set of principles. Church teaches you to do the right thing and it helps in business to have a set of values with strong beliefs . . . You realize there are more important things than making money. . . . We believe strongly that we know why we're here and where we came from, and where we're going. When there's a business setback, we try to do everything to get back on track. And it's not as hard if you have a strong religious foundation.

Q. How do you balance the Mormon Church's desire to convert non-Mormons with running a company that sells hotel rooms to people of all creeds?

A. It's not even something I think about. The church missionary has nothing to do with our company. We're trying to satisfy business travelers or families on vacation. Our business is a good business, and an ethical business, but the only tie-in with the church is that I'm a practicing, active member and also the CEO of the company.

Q. Do members of the church ever ask you for your business advice?

A. No. We're not there to talk business. We talk about Jesus, church and Scripture.

[Virginia Dare]

46. Just so happens to be Tweety's wife's new employer too..

she's got a nice cushy PR job there now.

[Zynx]

11. This is Romney sure as the day I was born.

[Frances]

17. I agree with you

It used to be that evangelicals were supporting Mitt because they didn't think Huckabee had a chance of winning. Now the evangelicals are flocking to one of their own. As a result, Mitt is bleeding.

[Renew Deal]

12. This shows you who ISN'T the establishment candidate.

[nightrider767]

14. I smell a rat!!! Er,, a Mitt Romey! n/t

[Virginia Dare]

15. ....

[Chovexani]

16. HE'S NOT A CHRISTIAN!!!11

HE'S DORK SIDED!!!1 GARGOYLES!!11

[kestrel91316]

19. What, he's not ENOUGH of a fundie whackjob for some folks????

[Mike Daniels]

22. He's spoken out against waterboarding and thinks Gitmo has damaged America

He's a fundy wackjob but he seems to have some principles that are totally out of sync with the FReeps and other wackjobs that want to continue to live their keyboard warrior fantasies and that will doom him in the end.

[kestrel91316]

23. "against waterboarding and thinks Gitmo has damaged America".....

oh dear - THAT will never do......

[spinbaby]

24. He seems too decent for the neocons

They can't have a person with actual scruples running.

[Virginia Dare]

47. Unlike the fake fundie right wingers like Reagan and Bush..

I think Huckabee is really a fundie nutjob.

[TlalocW]

20. Feh, if this were a real conservative Christian group

They wouldn't bring up DuMond as that whole incident sprung from the "We-Hate-Clinton" cottage industry that sprung up in the 1990s where they would say or believe anything that made Clinton look bad include believe this guy got a raw deal under Clinton. Huckabee got him sprung, and he raped and murdered again, but I'm not sure if that's enough for true religious conservatives to condemn as it takes away a reason to hate Clinton and believing that he routinely whacked people and made more money than most countries' GNP by smuggling cocaine through Mena isn't enough for these clods.

TlalocW

[greiner3]

25. Quick; avert your eyes;

This looks like cannibalism!

[troubleinwinter]

27. There is personal animosity by the Mormon church against Huckabee.

The Mormon church has spent 150 years trying to cover and minimize the subject of the worst massacre of whites in Western American history, perpetrated by Mormons against 120 innocent men, women and children (and orchestrated and covered up according to modern historians, by 'Prophet' and church leader, Joseph Smith)... wagon-train pioneers from Arkansas crossing through Utah: The Mountain Meadows Massacre.

In 1999, the bones of 29 of the victims were accidentally unearthed. Per Utah state law requirements, the unearthed remains were beginning to be forensically examined. This examination disproved the long-standing lie by the church that "Indians did it", and proved that stories by eyewitness survivors were true: that the people had been executed by Mormons in cold blood.

So though Utah state law required complete forensic examination prior to re-interment (6 months), the Utah governor stepped in and had the remains repossessed within 24 hours and reburied.

The descendants of the slaughtered Arkansas pioneers appealed to then-Arkansas Governor Huckabee to have the remains declared to be under federal jurisdiction, rather than the Mormon church.

... descendants have enlisted the support of Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in calling for federal stewardship of the emigrant mass graves scattered in Mountain Meadows, instead of having the Mormon Church own the land.
"We're doubtful with the church in control this will ever be completely put to rest," says Scott Fancher, president of the Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation in Arkansas. "There's a sense among some of our members it's like having Lee Harvey Oswald in charge of JFK's tomb."http://www.cesnur.org/testi/morm_01.htm

No love lost between the Mormon establishment and Huckabee.

[Kolesar]

28. Wow. Who would have imagined the massacre would have been an issue in the 21st century

...gop primary?

Wasn't Gov. Mike Leavitt bush's second EPA chief?

[troubleinwinter]

29. It is a big issue even today, 150 years later, because of the continued coverup

especially among those who have left the church upon learning of lies & coverups, and the evasion of the historical issues regarding the role of 'prophet' Governor Joseph Smith and his part in it and his cover of the criminals (some 50 or so Mormons participated, but only one was ever prosectuted and executed for the murders some 20 years later, though it was perfectly well known who took part).

It's an issue to many Mormons and many Arkansasans, though most people never heard of it (partly because the church worked hard to bury one of the largest and most shocking massacres in American history).

[Kolesar]

58. My buddy actually looked up John Lee's grave site when the Ranger broke down in Panguitch

He left me at a trailhead on the Under the Rim trail to hike "all the way back to the campground" at Bryce NP.

The Ford dealer in Panguitch doesn't stock a lot of parts, so he was there for a long time.

[troubleinwinter]

30. I'm not sure if it is an issue in the GOP primary.

Just sayin' there's a bad history between ex-Gov. Huck and the Mormon church establishment.

[mitchum]

52. Hell, who would have imagined that the crazyass Abrahamic skygod...

would have been an issue in the 21st century gop primary?
That nonsense is even older than the equally nonsensical Mormon faith

[Kolesar]

57. That is all deeply imprinted into culture from before The Enlightenment & the Scientific Method

It's going to take some fussin' to get society beyond that. Back in the 1990s, I thought a lot of people were going to transfer their worship to angels. All those angel appliques' and dolls and bumperstickers were quite the rage.

[SoxFan]

31. The Dumond thing is legitimate

Huckabee got bamboozled by a collection of tinfoil-hat right wingers who saw Dumond's imprisonment as proof of an evil Clinton conspiracy. Apparently, one of Dumond's victims was a distant cousin of Bill Clinton.

[AlCzervik]

34. yes and i'm sure the very fact she is distantly related to the Clenis was a contributing factor

Huckabee is a loser.

Iowans for Some Semblance of Christian Decency thats gonna need 2 tshirts.

[SoxFan]

35. A huge factor

I went to law school at the University of Arkansas, and I would occasionally listen, against my better judgement, to KFAY-AM, the local nutball station. You'd think that Dumond was the Holy Martyr of the Ozarks.

These people honestly believed that Clinton arranged to have Dumond castrated while in prison.

[DCKit]

41. You can't fit...

"I :loveya: NAMBLA" on one shirt?

[superconnected]

33. definitely an election year. It's already getting dirty. I think the repukes

will out do themselves worse than ever before in ugly politics and eating their own this time.

[Jacobin]

36. Ain't it fun to watch Christians fight?

Debating about how many angels can dance on the heads of their respect pins?

[ryanmuegge]

37. Ask McCain, once you oppose a tax cut or support a tax increase of any kind

As the Huckster apparently did in Arkansas, the Republican powerbrokers are against you for life. The ONLY things they care about are increasing their profits and not paying taxes. That is their ONLY issue. Everything else is just pretense.

[yurbud]

38. thick necked guys from New York? ''He aint no fucking Christian, ask Rudy...''

''Dat's a Christian dere, dat mayor Juliani.''

[Schema Thing]

50. lol

[laststeamtrain]

39. Was it The SInging Senators? n/t

[24HRrnr]

40. Who cares!

I'd rather look after our own.

[LeftishBrit]

42. While I loathe Huckabee..

any group which insists that religion = right-wing policies ('support of educational opportunities for the children of illegal immigrants is portrayed, for instance, as "justification for violating the 8th commandment (stealing from U.S. citizens).") is absolutely foul and evil.

I thought no one could be to the right of Huckabee, but it seems that I was wrong!

[jzodda]

53. Ahh Iowan Swiftboaters for truth

those guys get around!

[yurbud]

55. SwiftHogs or swiftcorns

[goofticket]

54. Club for Growth or All Children Matter

These two terrorist groups, one the Club was fined and disbanded by the FEC in 2006.
They came back as the "New" Club for Growth and are doing the same illegal things they did before.
You see, do the dirty deed, pay the fine, disband and just re-file as a new non profit.

All Children Matter, is a bit more insidious. They claim to be the Dick DeVos(Amway) arm of protecting children, although they only give money to hate issue ads.
Wisconsin had a ton of them in 2004 & 2006. Michigan folks know about this group and anyone should go into the Michigan forum, here , and ask about DeVos, and his ACM PAC.

Google works too, in finding more about how these groups are simply money laudering for political billionaires, and military contractors who CANNOT spend on campaigns.
So they make their own, fake issues, make false claims and create hate and distrust.

Issue ads should be banned, and the Congress should outlaw such 501(c)4 groups.