Spang
09-18-2009, 06:50 PM
At the conservative Values Voters Summit this morning, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, (and 2008 presidential aspirant), stressed that he has made no decision on whether to run again for national office.
Despite his pronouncement, his speech might have belied further ambitions, as he took on the Obama administration and the state of national politics before an extremely energized crowd in Washington.
The politician-turned-pundit delivered a hard-hitting attack at the summit, sponsored by the socially conservative Family Research Council, knocking President Obama and Democrats on reliably social conservative issues like abortion. But Mr. Huckabee, who now is the host of a show on Fox News, also addressed hot-button issues like health care, the economy and the president’s recent decision on the missile shield.
The “audacity of hope,” Mr. Huckabee said, referring to the title of one of Mr. Obama’s books, has become the “audacity of hypocrisy.”
Mr. Huckabee, whose humorous side has long accompanied his life in the national spotlight, delivered his share of zingers to a receptive crowd, including several near the front with signs bearing the name of Mr. Huckabee’s political action committee.
“Gosh, you don’t look that difficult,” he said early in his speech, referring to descriptions of the current conservative opposition as mobs.
Mr. Huckabee also cheered a recent bipartisan health care development on Capitol Hill, the proposal recently released by Senator Max Baucus: “Both sides hate it equally.” And he imagined what Adam Smith, the 18th-century economist known for his belief in free markets, might respond if he were alive – with a salute of a “single digit.”
But, perhaps befitting the venue and his own history as a pastor, Mr. Huckabee both opened and closed his address with references to David and the prophet Elijah, Old Testament underdogs who took on the powerful.
Sometimes, he said, people need to “just stand up and say enough already.”
The event at the Omni Shoreham here in Washington today and tomorrow features a variety of high-profile Republican speakers, some of whom already have lauded the protests aimed at the current administration’s policies, including the one last weekend on the Washington Mall that drew thousands and thousands of people.
Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader from Kentucky, congratulated that throng — and took the time to disagree with the Democrats’ argument that the mass outpouring was an organized, false representation of worry across the country. “This grassroots activism isn’t Astroturf, as they like to put it,” Mr. McConnell said. “It’s something that started at your kitchen tables; and your living rooms. It was born out of a sense of urgency about the future, and it was underwritten by you, not a public relations firm in Washington.”
Some speakers have turned their own phrase of a “culture of life” among religious adherents who are against abortion or end-of-life measures to describing the Obama administration’s policies as a “culture of death.”
In addition, one of the featured speakers this morning was Carrie Prejean, the 22-year-old beauty queen whose views against same-sex marriage made her a cause celebre among conservatives. She choked up at one point, as she said that she knew her God had a crown for her somewhere else along the line. Ms. Prejean has been riding the speaking circuit among conservatives of late, learning the ropes of politics. Her introduction today included the promotion of a book she’s written, titled, “Still Standing.”
The Source (http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/huckabee-revs-up-conservative-crowd/?)
Despite his pronouncement, his speech might have belied further ambitions, as he took on the Obama administration and the state of national politics before an extremely energized crowd in Washington.
The politician-turned-pundit delivered a hard-hitting attack at the summit, sponsored by the socially conservative Family Research Council, knocking President Obama and Democrats on reliably social conservative issues like abortion. But Mr. Huckabee, who now is the host of a show on Fox News, also addressed hot-button issues like health care, the economy and the president’s recent decision on the missile shield.
The “audacity of hope,” Mr. Huckabee said, referring to the title of one of Mr. Obama’s books, has become the “audacity of hypocrisy.”
Mr. Huckabee, whose humorous side has long accompanied his life in the national spotlight, delivered his share of zingers to a receptive crowd, including several near the front with signs bearing the name of Mr. Huckabee’s political action committee.
“Gosh, you don’t look that difficult,” he said early in his speech, referring to descriptions of the current conservative opposition as mobs.
Mr. Huckabee also cheered a recent bipartisan health care development on Capitol Hill, the proposal recently released by Senator Max Baucus: “Both sides hate it equally.” And he imagined what Adam Smith, the 18th-century economist known for his belief in free markets, might respond if he were alive – with a salute of a “single digit.”
But, perhaps befitting the venue and his own history as a pastor, Mr. Huckabee both opened and closed his address with references to David and the prophet Elijah, Old Testament underdogs who took on the powerful.
Sometimes, he said, people need to “just stand up and say enough already.”
The event at the Omni Shoreham here in Washington today and tomorrow features a variety of high-profile Republican speakers, some of whom already have lauded the protests aimed at the current administration’s policies, including the one last weekend on the Washington Mall that drew thousands and thousands of people.
Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader from Kentucky, congratulated that throng — and took the time to disagree with the Democrats’ argument that the mass outpouring was an organized, false representation of worry across the country. “This grassroots activism isn’t Astroturf, as they like to put it,” Mr. McConnell said. “It’s something that started at your kitchen tables; and your living rooms. It was born out of a sense of urgency about the future, and it was underwritten by you, not a public relations firm in Washington.”
Some speakers have turned their own phrase of a “culture of life” among religious adherents who are against abortion or end-of-life measures to describing the Obama administration’s policies as a “culture of death.”
In addition, one of the featured speakers this morning was Carrie Prejean, the 22-year-old beauty queen whose views against same-sex marriage made her a cause celebre among conservatives. She choked up at one point, as she said that she knew her God had a crown for her somewhere else along the line. Ms. Prejean has been riding the speaking circuit among conservatives of late, learning the ropes of politics. Her introduction today included the promotion of a book she’s written, titled, “Still Standing.”
The Source (http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/huckabee-revs-up-conservative-crowd/?)