TOKYO - Former U.S. presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said Wednesday he was not actively seeking to become John McCain's running mate in the November general election, but that if chosen he could strengthen McCain's base in the south.
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(Photo: AP Images / David J. Phillip)Delegates take pictures of former Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, right, as he speaks during the Texas Republican Party State Convention Friday, June 13, 2008 in Houston.
"I'm moving on with my life," the Republican former Arkansas governor said. "I'm not waiting on the phone."
Huckabee told reporters at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan in Tokyo that he was focusing on his new job as political commentator for Fox News, writing a book and making the rounds of the lecture circuit.
"I'm not seeking it - that's the truth," he said.
Huckabee, however, didn't exactly close the door on the vice presidential slot, should McCain want him.
"The vice presidency is a job that no one ever seems to want and no one turns down," he said, adding that if McCain is looking to shore up the base of the party, and particularly win over the conservatives and the south, "then frankly a person, if not me, a person with similar background to me makes sense."
Huckabee, who is an ordained Baptist preacher, said he could also help lock up mainstream conservative Republican voters, a demographic that has been flagged as a potential weak spot for McCain.
"I leave it to him - I'm supporting him, I'm campaigning for him, and I'm actively doing everything I can on his behalf, because I do think he's a good person," Huckabee said.
Huckabee's low-budget campaign was one of the big surprises of the GOP primaries. He won eight states, including the leadoff Iowa caucuses, and was the last Republican rival left in the race when McCain claimed victory.
He said the weak U.S. economy, not racial issues, would likely be the major theme of the election, a trend that was worked for Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee.
"When people are really hurting, and they are right now, they're not looking at a person's race," Huckabee said. "That's why I think Barack Obama is in play in a way that he might not have been in another election year."
Huckabee added it would be a "fundamental, if not fatal mistake" for the Republican party to seek victory by "demonizing" Obama.
Huckabee said he was disappointed that in the Republican primaries more attention was not given to issues such as education and health care. He said he favors more focus on creative programs like art and music in schools, and a health care system that works to prevent chronic conditions rather than treat them later in life.
Huckabee was in Tokyo to give speeches at universities and meet with business groups.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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grace2, AMEN and may that be true for all of us, be blessed as you serve Him, believer
believer
When God reveals His will to Huckabee "hopefully he will submit to God's calling on his life".
I am with you on this one, Huckabee submitting to God's caling on his life.
grace2, the problem with the verse you used is that according to every single commentary I looked at said it refers to salvation and not vocation none of them in any way said it referred to God's calling of a person to ministry. Plus I have known several people who thought at one time in their life that God was truly calling them into full-time Christian service only to find out later that was not the case, but rather God had another calling on their life. So why could this not be true of Mike Huckabee as well and who knows maybe his failure in the primaries was indeed God telling him He still desires him to be in full-time Christian service and not politics, but once again this is a matter between God and Mike Huckabee and hopefully he will submit to God's calling on his life.
believer
God's Word says that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance (Romans 11:29). God is not going to call someone into the ministry and then after several years change His mind and tell them to go do something else that is not ministry related. I don't believe that that is the character of God.
Some of his political views are OK with me. I just know that what he is doing is not of God. I have no axe to grind.
I supported Huckabee and WAS upset when he quit but since then he has shown his TRUE colors!
I would NOT vote for him for DOG Catcher!
He's a PHONEY!
grace2, I do not know the heart of Mike Huckabee, I do not know what He is hearing from God with regard to God fulfilling His calling in Mike Huckabee's life, that is a matter between Mike Huckabee and God and if indeed as you say he is violating God's calling on his life, he will have to give an account to God for the decisions and actions which are keeping him from answering God's calling on his life. But for me to determine what the specific calling of God is on his life is and what all the details of that calling are I can't say, but it appears you feel you can although it sounds more like you have an axe to grind with regards to his political views rather than God's call on his life.
mike huckabee
believer - I am through with exposing Mike Huckabee. I still am convinced that he is outside the will of God in his efforts to pursue a political office.
You obviously don't see that there is anything wrong with leaving the ministry you felt called to to pursue a secular job that in no ways allows you to fulfil what God has called you to do.It surprises me that you, a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, finds no problem with that.
The following excerpt taken from:
Mike Huckabee Profile
http://www.independentmail.com/news/2008/jan/08/mike-huckabee-profile/
When Huckabee, a Southern Baptist, felt the call in high school to pursue the ministry, his older sister, Pat Harris, remembers that local folks sadly shook their heads and said, “Gosh, what a loss. He could've really been something.”
Two decades later, when he decided to give up his hugely popular ministry for a life in politics — as a Republican in Democratic Arkansas, no less — the reaction was the same.
“Talk about some upset folks,” says Harris, “when you resign your church and tell them you're going into politics, that just didn't sit well at all.” And, she adds, “nobody whines any better than a bunch of church people.”
Wow! What an attitude. Does that reflect his as well?
(I flagged myself.)
grace2, I think we all get it you don't like Mike Huckabee and what he stands for and therefore would not support him if he ran for public office, specifically if he ran for President, so why must you continue this tirade against him?
Part 1a
Source: http://www2.arkansas.com/news/1998/jun/08/huckabee-us-gave-religion/
Huckabee: U.S. gave up on religion
By Linda Caillouet
SALT LAKE CITY — Government may have dropped the ball in modern American society, but religion dropped it first,....
"The reason we have so much government is because we have so much broken humanity," he said. "And the reason we have so much broken humanity is because sin reigns in the hearts and lives of human beings instead of the Savior."
Part 1b
"Government knows it does not have the answer, but it's arrogant and acts as though it does," Huckabee said. "Church does have the answer but will cowardly deny that it does and wonder when the world will be changed."
Part 2
Huckabee also explained why he left pastoring for politics.
"I didn't get into politics because I thought government had a better answer. I got into politics because I knew government didn't have the real answers, that the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives."
He compared his entry into politics to "getting inside the dragon's belly," adding, "There's not one thing we can do in those marbled halls and domed capitols that can equal what's done when Jesus touches the lives of a sinner."
The most basic unit of government is not the city council, quorum court or state legislature, Huckabee said. "It is Mom and Dad raising kids and teaching them respect for authority, others and God."
The nation has descended gradually into crisis, Huckabee said, and repairing the damage needs to be gradual, too. He said the solution is simple: faith in Christ.
Part 3
He also spoke of his early misconceptions of his duties as a pastor.
"In one of the first churches I was assigned to, I thought I was supposed to be the captain of a warship leading the congregation into a battle against spiritual darkness," he said.
"But they wanted the captain of the Love Boat. They just wanted everybody to be happy. It was not about how many people were won to Christ or how many teens were pulled away from drugs or how many marriages were saved. Instead, it was about the seniors having a great trip going to watch the fall leaves change, the teen-agers going to a better summer camp than the church across town."
"I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ."
You don't do that Mike Huckabee by sitting in the Oval Office!
If Huckabee really thinks that Jesus Christ is the answer to the woes of America and not government then why did he leave the ministry and pursue a job in politics? It doesn't make any sense. Is God not important to him any more? He can never reach the lost for Christ sitting in the Oval Office. His job would be to run a secular government not preach Jesus Christ.
Mike Huckabee's priorities are out of wack. He needs to repent and return to serving God with all his heart and helping others to do the same.
testing
GO MIKE !
Maybe Giuliani and McCain would make a great team.
" Can Huckabee Attrack Non-Evangelicals":Bot Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:07 am
Bot Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:07 am
Mike Huckabee was regarded by fellow Republican governors as a compulsive tax increaser and spender. He increased the Arkansas tax burden by 47 percent, boosting the levies on gasoline and cigarettes. The Arkansas Leader.com editorialized that Mike Huckabee raised more taxes in 10 years in office than Bill Clinton did in his 12 years.
The National Education Association endorses any candidate who raises taxes and opposes school choice – thus they endorse Mike Huckabee.
Huckabee “broadly repudiates core Republican policies such as free trade, low taxes, the essential legitimacy of America’s corporate entities and the market system allocating wealth and opportunity,” according to George Will.
The Arkansas Ethics Commission held proceedings 20 times on the former governor. During his tenure, Huckabee accepted 314 gifts valued overall at more than $150,000, according to documents filed with the Arkansas secretary of state's office. (He accepted 187 gifts in his first three years as governor but was not required to report their value.)
Two months after taking office, Huckabee stunned the state by saying he questioned rapist Wayne DuMond's guilt and that it was his intention to free the rapist, DuMond murdered a women in Illinois after Huckabee set him free
Huckabee battled conservatives within his own party who were pushing for stricter state-level immigration measures, such as:.
- proof of legal status when applying for state services that aren’t federally mandated
- proof of citizenship when registering to vote
- Huckabee failed in his effort to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for state-funded scholarships and in-state tuition to Arkansas colleges.
He joined the Democratic chorus in indicting President Bush for his "arrogant bunker mentality." Is he in the right party?
Huck’s use of the “Christian Leader” title and the Cross in his ads and his attempt to denigrate Mitt Romney’s religion is a thinly-veiled attempt to impose a religious test in violation of Article Six of the Constitution
Huckabee was the keynote speaker at an anti-Mormon conference in Salt Lake City. And he knows nothing about Mormons? And the "Christian Leader" doesn't want to release his sermons?
He led the Arkansas Baptists liberal congregations in a dispute with the conservative Southern Baptist Conference.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ry0xrOsqSQ
Mike fails on so many levels as a true conservative.
RE:God used all sorts of leaders in the Bible who has secular positions like Joseph to make amazing impact for good. God could be using Huckabee in this way.
Yes that is true with Joseph but God's will for Joseph's life was evident from his teenage years. It is different with Huckabee. God called him into the full time ministry. So you cannot not make the same comparison or use the same argument.
RE: We should not condemn him but rather be happy that there is a man like him who is willing to brave the attacks he faces in service of his country.
No, Christians should be mourning the fact that a man of God left the calling on his life and is out of the will of God. As a nation we should hope he is never elected. Who would want the judgment of God on their nation because their leader is in rebellion against God?
grace2, how do you know he's not filling pulpits or some other form of ministry and how do you know he was called into full-time ministry as opposed to bi-vocational or that God's calling on his life has changed?
You have to love people who want to decide what Father has called for someone else. We are so good in our judgments but so often lacking in discernment. Father has called all his children to bi-vocational ministry whether paid or not. God is the one who raises up kings and takes them down. Perhaps it is best that we allow Father to do that. Vote for whom Father calls you to do not a party.
davidblp
Re:How do you know that Huckabee was not called to be in a secular job?
Because "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance"(Romans 11:29).
believer - he was called into the full time ministry not a bi-vocatonal one. Evern if he were called into the bi-vocaional ministry then why isn't he serving God some where? He has abandoned God's will to pursue the will of his flesh.
"Arkansas republicans are scrare of Huckabee too because he was such a bad governor. "
Arkansas Republicans LOVE Huckabee...that is why he got over 60% of the vote there in the primary and the next closest was 20%.
"Huckabee was called by God to lead and feed God's flock by being a Pastor.He was not called to be in a secular job."
How do you know that Huckabee was not called to be in a secular job?
The Bible does not teach that once someone is a pastor they can never do anything else. Let us call out someone when they stay from God's Word. Huckabee has not done that.
God used all sorts of leaders in the Bible who has secular positions like Joseph to make amazing impact for good. God could be using Huckabee in this way. We should not condemn him but rather be happy that there is a man like him who is willing to brave the attacks he faces in service of his country.
grace2, are you saying he can't be called of God to both, in my association a majority of my pastors are bi-vocational and they feel as called of God to their secular position if you can call it that as much as they do to their pastorate and for the most part their doing a very effective job in their pastorate and they see both as ministry.
Grace2—
“Huckabee was called by God to lead and feed God's flock by being a Pastor. He was not called to be in a secular job."
How do you know that? Has God told you what He has called Mike Huckabee to do? Certainly God calls godly leaders. Why should Huckabee be excluded?
tpique1 - Arkansas republicans are scrare of Huckabee too because he was such a bad governor.
Huckabee was called by God to lead and feed God's flock by being a Pastor.He was not called to be in a secular job.
He has removed himself from the will of Gd for his life. He is outside the will of God and is in rebellion against God.
grace2-
You need to expand your view of "ministry". If minstry only took place within the walls of the church behind a pulpit--how would you define Jesus' ministry...or Paul's?
Miike Hucakbee was called by God to be in the ministry. He is in rebelion against God.
I concur that Mike Huckabee would certainly have been a good candidate, but let's not forget 2012 is not that far away and personally I'm not comfortable with either McCain or Obama. In fact I heard this morning that the author of the George Bush book said that although he's not planning on voting for Obama he believes many evangelical Christians will because of his charisma and his views on the war in Iraq and plans to help the poor. If that's the case then by 2012 our nation will not only be ready but we'll know we're ready for a godly man like Mike Huckabee.
I like Huckabee because he's a Christian and liberals are scared to death of him. That's got to say something.
The Body of Christ and Christian leaders truly missed the boat when we didn't rally behind Huckabee, a true Christians. Now we don't know what to do with McCain and Obama is not even an option for us. Pat Robertson could have endorsed him instead of Guliani (what was he thinking?). Hagee turned his back on huckabee after he told him that he would endorse him and instead he endorses McCain and that came back to slap him in the face. Where was Rod Parseley? Who could have gotten behind him so he could win Ohio, instead he tries to endorse McCain and McCains tells him no thank you. Dr. James Dobson gets behind him when it was too late, As soon as Huckabee made the commercial for Christman talking about how we needed to put our focus on Christ every Christian should have rallied behind him because only a true believer would face the prosecution that would follow. Now we are all facing the consequences of bad decision our only hope is (Jesus of course), that McCain can make the most logical decision and choose Huck for V.P. so he can get the conservatives and the true born again believer to vote for him. He can even get the votes from so called, believers that are planning to vote for pro-abortion Obama. Let's keep this in prayer.
God bless you all,
Sword bearer
send me an email to swordbearer4@gmail.com and I will send you a pdf file called Obama Exposed.
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answers2why.blog.com