I often agree with Michael Medved, but I think he’s excessively optimistic in his piece on why Huckabee’s rise is good for the Republican Party.
Medved offers the argument, “The Huck-a-surge gives the lie to the claim that the GOP is controlled by out-of-touch elites.”
For answering those who claim that planet earth groans under the control of some secret cabal of Bilderbergers, Illuminati, the CFR, Trilateralists or neo-cons, it’s useful to point to the current situation where a complete outsider with no globalist ties manages to shake up the Republican power structure (Yes, he’s outspokenly opposed to the Law of the Sea Treaty). While providing new excitement, energy and unpredictability to the Republican race, the affable Arkansan has pulled ahead of any and all of the Establishment’s favored candidates – showing that this establishment is vastly less omnipotent and fearful than previously assumed.
I wish that the rise of Huckabee was sufficient to persuade people that the GOP is not controlled by a secret cabal of elites. But there seems to be a deep streak of paranoia and suspicion running through every candidate’s camp and supporters these days. Thompson won the National-Right-to-Life endorsement, and a Romney backer immediately speculated to a Washington Times reporter that money had changed hands. As soon was word came out that push polling was going on, every campaign immediately pointed the finger at their least favorite rival. National Review endorses Romney, and suddenly some speculate it will “call into question the magazine’s considerable reporting on the other presidential candidates.”
Nobody sees anyone else’s differing decision in good faith; everyone sees sinister motives and secret forces pulling strings.
Not only is each faction of the Republican party convinced that their man is the only acceptable choice, they believe that the only way one of the other guys could possibly win is through cheating. So if Huckabee falls short of the nomination, I suspect his supporters won’t feel, “hey, we really gave the Establishment’s favored candidates a run for their money!” They’ll declare, “the Establishment stole another one.”