I asked Karen Hanretty what Huckabee statement she was referring to when she told Rich that “Huckabee has indicated on more than one occasion that he’s uniquely qualified among the GOP candidates to be Commander in Chief because he has a theology degree.” It was this statement, made when the Christian Broadcasting Network asked Huckabee last month to address the concerns of some evangelical leaders who “don’t see him as very strong when it comes to the war on terror” and also on illegal immigration:
People look at my record and say that I’m as strong on immigration, strong on terror as anybody. In fact I think I’m stronger than most people because I truly understand the nature of the war that we are in with Islamo fascism. These are people that want to kill us. It’s a theocratic war. And I don’t know if anybody fully understands that. I’m the only guy on that stage with a theology degree. I think I understand it really well. And know the threat of it is absolutely overwhelming to us. As a president, nobody’s going to be stronger on building border security, not having amnesty, no sanctuary cities, having a process in place that forces a process that is legal. When it comes to national security, I understand that the threat that we face is not about our grandchildren having better homes and better cars, it’s about whether they’re going to have a breath and a pulse.
That seems a kind of boilerplate response – Huckabee is one of a number of candidates who claims that he has a particularly deep understanding of the threat we face. As far as Huckabee’s degree is concerned, however, there is some news. NBC’s First Read reports that Huckabee was asked today about a Powerline report that he doesn’t really have a theology degree. Huckabee’s answer:
I have a bachelor of arts in religion and a minor in communications in my undergraduate work. And then I have 46 hours on a master’s degree at Southwestern Theology Seminary. So, my degree as a theological degree is at the college level and then 46 hours toward a masters — three years of study of New Testament Greek, and then the rest of it, all in Seminary was theological studies, but my degree was actually in religion.
Not sure what the reaction will be. Will people who aren’t academics be upset because he called a degree in religion a degree in theology? If not, will they nevertheless view it as Huckabee misrepresenting his background or padding his resume?