Richard Land on Huckabee, Romney and the 2008 Election
Posted by: onemom on: October 24, 2007
I am so incredibly appalled at what I just read in a Newsweek interview with Richard Land, that I will write more on this later (not that I expect to be any less indignant later).
Here are a couple of points from the article:
NEWSWEEK: So we wanted to ask you, first of all, about the third-party idea and whether it’s serious. A number of people are suggesting it’s just a threat.
(Land): My intuition [is that] this is not a bluff. If Giuliani is the nominee there will be a third party.
(OneMom): Hmm? According to Jill Stanek’s article earlier today, she said that some of the general outcomes of the meeting held with leaders this past weekend at the Washington Briefing were that the majority support Mike Huckabee, with several supporting Duncan Hunter; and also that “For many well-researched reasons, third-party chatter was laid to rest.”
(Newsweek): We met with Gov. Huckabee recently, and he said, “Well, why don’t they vote for me right now? They’ve got me. Why do they need a third-party candidate?”
(Land): Well, I think if anybody other than Giuliani is the nominee, there won’t be a third party.
(NW) But his point is that you are not helping him to beat Giuliani.
(Land): Well, that’s not my job. That’s Gov. Huckabee’s job. I just encourage people to vote their values and their beliefs and their convictions, and when I am asked why Huckabee isn’t doing better, I can only answer that that’s up to the voters.
(OneMom): Excuse me?!?! Not your job?!?! You (Mr. Land) are a leader in the Christian community (although I personally wouldn’t follow you anywhere), but you see no responsibility to support a man with 10 years of proven conservative leadership … he actually left Arkansas in better shape than he found it (not many folks in Massachusetts would say that about Romney). And the cherry on top of the Sunday Mr. Land … Mike Huckabee is one of us. On the non-negotiable issues for me and my family, Mike Huckabee is the ONLY candidate that we can stand with and not feel like we have to “hold our noses” to support him.
Oh, and Mr. Land, if it’s “not your job” to support a candidate and help someone get elected, then why in the world are you so busy “instructing” Mitt Romney on what he needs to do to win over the Christian vote … you seem incredibly eager to make it your job to get Mitt Romney elected.
Did anything about the recent “Values Voters” summit in (Newsweek):Washington surprise you? Anything in the results of the straw poll?
(Land): The straw poll, no. I wasn’t surprised that Huckabee won among the people actually there, and that Mitt Romney mounted a strong Internet voting campaign and won the whole thing. Romney’s campaign is extremely well organized and extremely efficient. People who were there told me that Huckabee did phenomenally well in his speech. Mike’s a tremendous speaker, and he was speaking to his crowd. Probably 75 percent of the people in that room are evangelical Christians.
(OneMom): Excuse me again?!?!? “Romney won the whole thing” … hmm? I hardly call 30 votes (half a percent) a victory … if that had been an actual vote, we’d be recounting ballots right now. People had to tell you that Mike Huckabee did well with his speech on Saturday … didn’t you hear him for yourself?! And your assertion that Mike Huckabee did well because the room was full of Christians is absurd … he’s reaching people from all backgrounds – Christians, non-Christians; Republicans, Independents, Democrats – and they are coming aboard his campaign and we, the true conservative people of the United States will carry Mike Huckabee to the nomination and then to the White House.
You and some others in your group are so worried that Christians are becoming irrelevant in this country … Christians aren’t irrelevant, Mr. Land … what you are really worried about is that if we don’t blindly follow you and yours like obedient sheep – baaa, baaa – that YOU will become irrelevant.
That’s all for now everybody, except to remind you that we need to pray … more than ever.
Kerry
(to read the entire Newsweek article, please click HERE).
23 Responses to "Richard Land on Huckabee, Romney and the 2008 Election"
October 24, 2007 at 6:46 pm
I think many people are starting to grow very irate with those who are labeled as leaders of Christian conservatives. I am one such individual. I do not think it is wise to sacrifice our principles by turning pragmatic. If anything there does seem to be a rather large rift between the Christian conservative leaders, and the folks they are supposed to be leading.
October 24, 2007 at 7:37 pm
What Mike should say to these “Christian Leaders”
is ……….
IT’S ABOUT PRINCIPLE STUPID.
October 24, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Hey I just finished posting my interviews with Gary Bauer during the Values Voters Summit. Check out the three reasons that Bauer doesn’t support Huck yet.
http://luforhuckabee.blogspot.com/
October 24, 2007 at 11:17 pm
You know leaders like this quack are just like the elitists in Washington that lost us the majority, they have abandoned the base in an attempt to make themselves more powerful. As usual, outstanding job, keep it up.
October 25, 2007 at 1:17 am
“People who were there told me that Huckabee did phenomenally well in his speech. ”
Here is what bothers me the most . . . Why was a christian consevative lobbyist – Mr Land – not at the Washington Briefing to hear the speech?
October 25, 2007 at 9:10 am
Kerry,
I sent an email to Mr Land yesterday explaining my disappointment in our christian leadership ignoring Gov Huckabee’s viable candidacy.
October 25, 2007 at 9:43 am
As a member of the SBC, I whole heartedly agree with what you wrote. I have attempted to send Mr Land several emails on this very issue (I say attempted because I have little faith they ever reach his desk, let alone get read by him). But a brief word of encouragement.
1. I am afraid people like Mr Land are beginning to loose prominence within the Christian community because of such dribble as his interview (I read the whole thing). It may not happen soon enough for this race, but I believe it will happen.
2. God is still on the throne (actually, this one should be first) and if it is His will, even Mr Land cannot thwart it. And prayers is definitely the right way to address this entire situation.
Keep up the great work, One Mom! (and maybe try to relax a little. I know this is important, but God is still on the throne!)
Oh, yeah! I like Gov Huckabee’s response to this kind of thinking, that is about his electability. We (as Christ-followers), of all people, should know that God loves God-sized challanges – they just go to prove how awesome He is.
October 25, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Steve,
I, too, am a member of the SBC and I, too, have e-mailed Dr. Land. I did get a response that said he cannot legally endorse a candidate (although he has funny ways of not doing that) and that Huckabee and his supporters are responsible for gaining support for Huckabee, not him. I could agree with what he said if he didn’t speak to the media in support of other candidates and slam Huckabee. The article that prompted me to write to him had him gushing over Thompson and he called Huckabee a “cotton-picking conviction politician.” (No endorsements, my foot!) I wonder what SBC funds pay his salary and who we would need to contact to voice our disapproval of his job performance of representing our denomination on these issues. (And this has to be seen as a representation of our denomination and not just as his opinions as an individual, otherwise “not endorsing a candidate” wouldn’t be an issue.)
October 25, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Mom, please chill out, Huckabee is not electable – let’s face and accept that fact, so who else can we turn to for support of the values that you hold so dear, Giuliani? Hahahaa…Romney may be your only answer and, based on your seeming religious intolerance, a “necessary evil”.
October 25, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Dan,
Obviously, you are one of little faith. The fact is my God can and will bring about an electable(evidence all that is happening) Mike Huckabee. Things are getting stirred up…..and now some people are in the attack mode. I look forward to how God will work this all out.
October 25, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Dan – it’s not the time to “chill” – it is time for action, and I am very passionate in what I believe in.
Regarding my seeming religious intolerance, I said nothing about Gov. Romney’s religion … I have many reasons for not supporting Gov. Romney, but I said nothing in this post about mormons. If anything I am expressing my intolerance of Richard Land and other conservative Christian leaders (in this case a southern Baptist).
Regarding Mike Huckabee’s inelectability … that’s your opinion. I think differently.
What you will not find me doing Dan, is visiting blogs supporting other candidates, laughing at them, accusing them of intolerance or subtly suggesting that they are stupid. I stand with and for Mike Huckabee and that’s where I spend my energy, instead of cruising other candidate’s sites and always being on the attack. I would rather be “for” someone than “against” everyone else.
October 25, 2007 at 5:40 pm
My question then, if Romney wins (which looks more and more possible), will that be God’s will? …..and Hillary?
October 25, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Dan – Have you seen today’s Rasmussen polls. They look like this:
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll hows a very tight race for the Republican Presidential Nomination.
Rudy Giuliani 21%
Fred Thompson 19%
Undecided 17%
John McCain 14%
Mitt Romney 12%
Mike Huckabee 10%
Ron Paul 3%
The more you look at the numbers, the more you realize how wide open the race has become. In case you’re wondering, that’s an increase for Mike and a decrease for Mitt – how does that “look more and more” like a win for Romney?
October 25, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Onemom, let me remind you and educate you about politics – the polls you cited are “national polls”, to put it simply, there is NO such thing as a “national primary” – only state primaries. Now speaking of state primaries, the early states Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Florida, SC, etc., Romney leads in at least 3 of those – IA, NH & NV …and second or third in others incl. Michigan. Now by the time other states have had theirs, Romney will have already captured the nomination. SO if I were you, I would pay attention to the state polls – national polls are based more on name recognition.
October 25, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Thanks Dan, what would I do without your education.
Hey, considering the millions of dollars that Romney has spent on thousands of TV ads, and the millions of dollars he has loaned himself, I don’t think Iowa looks great for him (considering Fred joined the race not too long ago and Mike hasn’t spent a dime on advertising):
Iowa Caucus
Mitt Romney 25%
Fred Thompson 19%
Mike Huckabee 18%
Rudy Giuliani 13%
John McCain 6%
Other 8%
Last I saw, Mitt’s lead in NH had dropped from a 12% lead to a 3% lead over Rudy.
Bottom line is Dan … no GOP candidate has a wrap on this thing. About the only thing we know for sure right now is that Sam Brownback will not be our next President. Other than that, it could fall to any of them.
October 25, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Ooh! Dan, how did all that taste?
Don’t worry Dan, when Governor Huckabee wins Iowa, you can scramble on over and we might still let you on the bandwagon.
OneMom. Laying the smackdown.
October 25, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Karen – I would contact Frank S. Page, President of the SBC. http://www.sbc.net
Kerry
October 26, 2007 at 1:45 am
Here are the latest numbers from NH:
Mitt Romney, 32 percent
Rudy Giuliani, 22 percent
John McCain, 15 percent
Ron Paul, 7 percent
Mike Huckabee, 6 percent
Fred Thompson, 5 percent
Yes Romney is back up by 10 points!!!…please stay current with your polls and information.
And as far as your claim that Fred, compared to Romney, spent little and seemed to have reaped much, well I’m sure you’re a “christian” who believes in the law of rthe harvest, right? In the end Fred will reap what he sowed, I mean what he did not sow!
October 26, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Dan – first of all, your post went to Spam because you used the name of RP – that is a filter I had to set up for my own sanity.
Second, your data is from Saint Anselm College in NH, so you can’t really say Romney went up 10 points because the data I used was from Rasmussen Reports. That pesky old rule about not comparing apples and oranges.
Third, if you will note my current post from this morning, I discuss Rasmussen’s “teaser” about next weeks reports from Iowa and NH. It appears that Romney and Huckabee (Huckabee passing Thompson) lead in Iowa. It also appears that they are reporting some re-covered gain for Romney in NH, but also some good news from NH for Huckabee and McCain (not sure what that means for Giuliani and Thompson).
November 4, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Mom,
I agree with Dan, Gary Bauer and Dr. Land. Mitt Romney is a good man and will make a good president. We are electing a president and commander in chief not a pastor in chief.
You want to elect Huckabee just because he is not a mormon. Your bigotry and intolerance makes me question how valuable your opinion or blog is.
I want to elect the best candidate not just the guy who is not a particular religion. I think for most people the “anybody but a mormon crowd” is actually pushing more people to Mitt Romney because you come off sounding alot like the the southern racist in the 1950’s and 60’s.
Mitt Romney’s success in the private and public sector out surpasses all other candidates accomplishments. I think a Huckabee’s win would mean a loss to Hillary anyways. He does not have the backing or accomplishments to be taken seriously by independents. His being a former minister will turn off just as many people as it turns on among independents. Maybe you should not be so quick to jump on the Huckabee bandwagon and not be so quick to dismiss Romney. He is a h*** of a candidate … unless you are untolerant to other religions. If you are, you get what you deserve… intolerance is against the Bible last time I checked.
November 5, 2007 at 12:50 am
“everyday” –
First of all, Gary Bauer actually seems to be pushing Fred Thompson … unless of course I’ve missed a memo somewhere. If you read this post carefully, you will see that my complaints are for Richard Land.
Second, if you’ve read my blog, you will see that it is Gov. Huckabee’s qualifications and convictions on the non-negotiables that have made me a supporter. If it was solely because I like his religion, I might go elsewhere (having some denominational differences with the Southern Baptists). But see, I’m a Regular Baptist, and very “intolerant” of Baptists who aren’t like me. Oh wait, if that were true, I wouldn’t have given Gov. Huckabee a second look.
Third, my inability to support Gov. Romney has little to do with his being a mormon, and MUCH to do with his inconsistencies in matters that are truly non-negotiable to me.
Fourth, if you think that I am an intolerant bigot and that my opinion is worthless, then why does Dan keep coming back here (and now you’ve joined him)? Just sweep me under the rug and label me insignificant. Last I checked though, this is a free country and I am entitled to my opinion. I am even entitled to express my views here on my very own blog as a Christian that supports Mike Huckabee.
Fifth, if you have read any of my posts (most of which do not mention Gov. Romney), you would know that I don’t agree with Mike Huckabee on everything, but that on the issues that are of greatest import to me and my family, he is the only candidate that has been consistent and unwavering both in his private life, his work as a Pastor and as Governor of Arkansas.
Sixth, regarding your suggestion that I am intolerant, please read “The New Tolerance: How a cultural movement threatens to destroy you, your faith, and your children” by Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler. The new definition of tolerance in our society is a major factor in the degradation of morals in our country. Actually, if you think about your comment to me, you seem to be rather intolerant of me because 1) I am a Christian, and 2) because I support Mike Huckabee. Or perhaps you are in the growing group of people that says you have to be tolerant of everybody, EXCEPT Christians. I don’t cruise the blogs of other candidates because I believe they are entitled to their opinion, especially when you think about what blogs really are … web logs … one person’s personal point of view.
Seventh, watch your mouth on my blog please.
November 18, 2007 at 7:23 pm
I am shocked Land is advising Mitt Romney. Land has been informed of the abuses within the LDS stake areas of the Romney and additional areas of concern with the Romney’s.
There seems to be a lack of ethics, and this is what is giving the Christian right a bad name.
Romney $$$’s appearing to be buying influence.
Romney is ‘not’ a good man, Romney is an ambitious man Romney has $$$’s.
October 24, 2007 at 5:54 pm
Great post!
baaa-baaa..
haha