On the Huckabee Christmas commercial, I’m about where this reader is:
Huck’s ad wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, while fine in any other context, strikes me as him once using religion to score political points for himself – something I find utterly repulsive. The ad not-so-subtly underlines the message that he’s the Christian in the race (distinguishing himself from the Mormon, the adulterer, the movie star, etc, etc) and also appeals to all those Bill O’Reilly types who see generic ‘holiday greetings’ as proof of our eroding cultural heritage.
Ideally, I want a candidate whose faith informs their world view (they believe in God, they look to the Scripture for guidance and they pray often for strength and wisdom). However, what I don’t want is someone who uses religion as a means to an ends. To me that’s real scary. From his ‘innocent’ question regarding Romney’s religious beliefs to this current ad on television, I think Huck crosses the line.
I don’t deny the ad is brilliant. He does something different. Something inviting. (Except to the atheists and agnostics!!) Something that hits mom-and-dad concerns about the secularization of Christmas. Something that completely changes the subject from those critical ads Romney is running on actual policy issues. And, of course, something that subtly reminds anyone who grew up learning that Mormons are members of a “cult” that they have options in the Republican primary. There is a “Christian leader” running.
Brilliant. Brilliantly offensive.
I gripe more about Huckabee’s religious hardball here.