That's right Mike Huckabee. I am exaggerating of course. He has no chance of winning due to his lack of financial support from Wall Street but the specter of a Huckabee presidency frightens me nonetheless.
religious zealotry + extreme social conservatism +economic populism= Indigestion
Moreover I continue to be astounded anew at the progression of 21th century U.S. conservatism. The movement has strayed so far from it's Burkean birth. Hell, it has changed drastically since the George H. W. Bush Presidency. The new checklist for a republican nominee seems to be as follows.......
1. Unabashed support for torture
2. Expansion of the welfare state
3. Expansion of the warfare state
4. Utopian delusions of a transformed Middle East
5. Adherence to dogmatic religious belief
I have a sneaking suspicion that the likes of Romney, McCain and Thompson would make, at the least, decent presidents. But they are being forced to sound like foaming at the mouth, nativist, war gods to appease the 30% of the population that still thinks Bush was elected by Jesus. And these 30% have a strangle hold on the party due to their high voter turn out in primaries. What I wouldn't do for a nice moderate conservative. *Sigh*
