Dear Nick Kristof
by tristero
Dear Nick Kristof,
You write:At a New York or Los Angeles cocktail party, few would dare make a pejorative comment about Barack Obama’s race or Hillary Clinton’s sex. Yet it would be easy to get away with deriding Mike Huckabee’s religious faith.
Sir, let's not talk hypotheticals. I have discussed Michael Huckabee several times at New York parties. And I have derided Michael Huckabee at these events. I plan to do so again. And again. And again. Until Huckabee is pushed back to the margins of American discourse where he belongs.
Huckabee ignored court testimony in favor of right wing operatives and worked to release a serial rapist. Upon his Huckabee-engineered release, the rapist graduated to murder, possibly twice, before he was caught. Because of this incident, I have spoken with blistering contempt about Huckabee's character.
Huckabee blamed everyone but himself for the release of this rapist/murderer, especially Bill Clinton and lied repeatedly about substantiated facts. Because of his failure to tell the truth about his mistakes, I have denounced Huckabee's integrity numerous times.
During Huckabee's reign as governor, Arkansas' public schools regressed to a pre-modern attitude towards science, especially biology. This neglect was willful, and done with Huckabee's knowledge and consent. Because of his ignorance, I have denounced Huckabee's actions at every opportunity.
For reasons I don't quite understand, you equate essential, virtually unmodifiable characteristics - a man's race, a woman's gender - with Huckabee's chosen "faith." And you take me, a liberal, to task for deriding it. Well, Mr. Kristof, let me be plain:
Any religious faith that glorifies ignorance, excuses lies, and encourages behavior as disgraceful as the release of a serial rapist to society based upon political calculation would deserve derision. But, of course, Huckabee's religion teaches no such things.* So it is not I who derides Michael Huckabee's faith, but Huckabee himself. I deride only Huckabee, who has said and done the stupidest, most repellent things, and then cynically deflected criticism by hiding behind priestly vestments.
Huckabee's private beliefs are just that: private. I couldn't care less whether he's an atheist, a Buddhist, or a Southern Baptist. But Huckabee's public actions are those of a ruthless rightwing politician with no scruples. They must be denounced, confronted, defeated. And they most certainly should be derided.
Unlike you, Mr. Kristof, I do not make the mistake of thinking Huckabee's public actions are those of a Christian.
Love,
tristero
* Except for the ignorance of science, which is as shameful as other weird, destructive beliefs regardless of creed. Denial of evolution is on a par with flagellation, eugenics, and female genital mutilation. One can certainly be a liberal and find all of these behaviors deeply repugnant.