shanevanderhart's blog
Posted at 9:46pm on Oct. 23, 2007 Alter: The Case for Huckabee
By shanevanderhart
Newsweek's Jonathan Alter makes a case for Mike Huckabee as the GOP nominee saying he is the GOP's best bet in beating the Democrats.
Huckabee comes across more hopeful than Giuliani, more believable than Romney, more intelligent than Thompson and fresher than McCain. He would hold the base and capture moderates drawn to his down-home style. His greatest asset is that he alone among the Republicans "speaks American." He connects to his audience with stories and metaphors and a geniality that can't be faked.
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Posted at 8:10pm on Oct. 23, 2007 Top Seven Lines From Sunday's GOP Debate
By shanevanderhart
I thought this was pretty good so I thought I would share it. I agree with the #1 pick for the person who did the video - McCain's comment about Clinton's support of funding for the Woodstock Concert Museum was classic.
I would have replaced Thompson's comment with Guiliani's comment that "America can't afford you (Hillary Clinton)."
Posted at 7:48pm on Oct. 23, 2007 Huckabee & the Christian Right
By shanevanderhart
Coming off a heady week of endorsements from heavyweights in the Christian Right world, including Bob Jones III and Don Wilton, former president of the South Carolina Southern Baptist Convention, Mitt Romney technically won the straw poll with 1,585 of the total 5,576 votes cast. But it was former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee who lit up the crowd with a fiery sermon as the last candidate to address the gathering. He took second place, just 30 votes behind Romney. When organizers broke the votes down into those cast online and those of summit attendees, the results revealed a true thrashing. In the tally of those present at the summit, Huckabee swamped his opponents, capturing 50% of the vote. By contrast, Romney was the choice of only 10% of on-site values voters.
Mike Huckabee clearly has momentum. Over at the Campaign Spot on National Review shares that Mitt Romney's "win" is merely perception.
A strategist for a campaign that is neither Romney's nor Huckabee's: "How did Mike Huckabee's media team let headlines get out that said, 'Romney Wins FRC Straw Poll'? (A good collection of those headlines can be found here.) This guy won almost all of the votes that were available on the floor. He's the much more compelling story coming out of the straw poll. His team ought to be trying to get the 'Huckabee's the real winner' story out there.
Technorati Tags: Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Values Voters, Christian Right, Presidential Race '08
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Posted at 8:03pm on Aug. 12, 2007 Iowa Straw Poll
By shanevanderhart
This is from my post yesterday on my main blog.
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Posted at 2:20am on Aug. 11, 2007 Democratic Snoozefest
By shanevanderhart
If you are having a hard time sleeping, watch this. Yes, according to Obama, the war in Iraq can not be won. I wonder how the soldiers and Marines over there feel about that.
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Posted at 3:02pm on Aug. 6, 2007 Yesterday's GOP Debate
By shanevanderhart
I can't say that I liked having it on a Sunday morning at 8:00am, but I did watch before church. I am taking part in a voter voices panel for the Des Moines Register. Below is what I sent into them yesterday afternoon.
I was glad that the debate started on the topic of abortion and right-to-life issues. A recent Pew Research poll showed that 47% of GOP voters do not know that Rudy Giuliani is pro-choice. I feel Senator Brownback helped himself in this debate among the conservative base with the pro-life issue.
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Posted at 6:03pm on Aug. 5, 2007 Do People Really Know Rudy Giuliani?
By shanevanderhart
I guess not according to a recent poll of GOP faithful mentioned in the Carpetbagger Report. When I attended a Brownback function back in June, David Barton of Wallbuilders spoke. He said that evangelicals in 2000 and 2004 made it out to vote in the general election, but evangelicals are not as good at getting out for the caucus and primary vote. I would like to submit to my fellow evangelicals who read this blog that the caucus/primary vote is extremely important, especially this year. I don't know about you, but I would prefer not to have to choose between two pro-choice, pro-gay (special) rights candidates in the general election. It is time to get to know the candidates.
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Posted at 3:13am on Aug. 5, 2007 HamNation: Better Living Through Bathroom Etiquette
By shanevanderhart
Mary Katharine Ham of TownHall.com posted her latest HamNation video on YouTube. Oh, how sad that this is now considered a criminal act.
Posted in Culture — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:02am on Aug. 4, 2007 Huckabee & Homeschooling
By shanevanderhart
My wife and I (ok, mostly my wife :) have home educated our children for six years - all three of them. I really appreciated watching this video on Governor Mike Huckabee's stance on home education. This is just another reason of why he has my support in his bid to become our next President.
Posted at 11:59pm on Aug. 3, 2007 God's Politics Review - "A Lack of Vision" (Chapter 2)
By shanevanderhart
Wallis shares in chapter 2 of God's Politics of how you can determine who a politician is - look for the person who is walking around with their finger high in the air trying to determine the direction of the wind. Where the wind blows so they go. He says that we will never see anything accomplished in Washington by replacing one person with a wet finger with another. To truly bring change he says... we need to change the wind.
Posted in Miscellanea — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 1:02pm on Aug. 2, 2007 God's Politics Review - "Take Back The Faith" (Chapter 1)
By shanevanderhart
I'm reviewing the book, God's Politics: A New Vision for Faith and Politics by Jim Wallis of Sojourners. The subtitle of this chapter is "Co-opted by the Right, Dismissed by the Left". In this chapter Wallis encourages us to take back our faith from what he sees as the hijacking of the Christian faith by the Republican Party and the ignoring at best or being hostile to the Christian faith at worst by the Democratic Party.
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Posted at 12:54pm on Aug. 2, 2007 DM Register: Evangelicals Not Impressed
By shanevanderhart
The Des Moines Register reported yesterday that the GOP presidential candidates fail to appeal to a key constituency. That key constituency being evangelicals. When they say "GOP presidential candidates" they of course are talking about the "top tier" candidates whom the mainstream media have already declared likely to win the nomination. It is way to early to declare a winner. I believe that we will see Governor Mike Huckabee or Senator Sam Brownback (perhaps both) gain ground after the Iowa Straw Poll on August 11. Both candidates have been campaigning hard with evangelicals. Both are solid social conservatives.
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Posted at 2:41am on Aug. 2, 2007 God's Politics Review (Introduction)
By shanevanderhart
I started reading God's Politics by Jim Wallis, and thought that I would post a few thoughts about the Introduction chapter: "Why Can't We Talk about Religion and Politics?"
One of his first statements that caught my eye was:
"sometimes the most strident and narrow voices are the loudest, while more progressive, prophetic , and healing faith often gets missed," (pg. xv)
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Posted at 2:13pm on Jul. 30, 2007 Switching Sides
By shanevanderhart
I have been thinking about this post for some time now. Back on May 10 I endorsed Senator Sam Brownback. Looking back at that now I feel I made a mistake, I endorsed a candidate too early. It isn't that I don't like Senator Brownback, I do. I just overlooked Governor Mike Huckabee at the time, and made my decision too quickly. After prayerfully taking a good hard look at Governor Huckabee, I have decided to retract my endorsement of Senator Brownback, and endorse Governor Huckabee instead. He is the one whom I will be voting for at the Ames Straw Poll on August 11, and in the Iowa Caucus.
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