Mike Huckabee got into hot water recently by making a politically incorrect statement about how Democrats demean women. Within minutes, the liberal media twisted his comments into the polar opposite of what he actually meant and said. For a good clarification:
But it wasn't just the liberal media that pounced. His comment was panned by Charles Krauthammer as well as RNC chairman Reince Priebus. Now, in fairness to Priebus, his job is to help get GOP candidates get elected, and he thinks Huckabee's comment hurts the Republican brand. That said, Huckabee's center-right critics are dead wrong.
i) To begin with, at present, Huckabee is a pundit, not a politician. He can afford to make impolitic statements. It's not his job to be politically correct.
Now, if he throws his hat into the presidential ring, his comment may come back to haunt him, not because he said anything wrong, but because he will have to spend time explaining himself, and the liberal media will misrepresent his comment, to preemptive discredit him. But for now, that's not his concern.
ii) Liberals are moral squatters. They invade someone else's land, fence it off, then stick a no-trespassing sign in the ground. Yesterday's morally unthinkable position becomes today's trial balloon and tomorrow's new dogma.
Liberals succeed by creating legendary narratives. Allowed to go unchallenged, these attain the status of truth. And these, in turn, become the false premise on which to build further moral and factual falsehoods.
Liberals are thugs who win by trying to bully dissenters into silence on pain of violating liberal speech codes. Break the code and you will be fired, fined, and/or incarcerated. They unilaterally declare certain positions off-limits.
Huckabee's statement was so intolerable because it put liberals on the defensive. It turned the tables. That's not something they're used to. And they can't stand it.
iii) Now, it may be that GOP candidates won't be politically viable if they are too outspoken on some issues. Maybe that makes them unelectable.
If so, that's all the more reason why we need Christian social critics who will say what they dare not say. Someone needs to challenge liberal squatters. There needs to be some people who are prepared to speak "offensive" truths which correct entrenched falsehoods. Take the battle to the enemy. We need pastors and pundits who are not afraid to do that. Liberal pressure tactics require counter-pressure. We can't unilaterally disarm. Unilaterally surrender major fronts on the culture wars to liberal rioters.
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