Posted: 1/9/2008 at 04:04 AM
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I try my best to keep an open mind when it comes to politics. To that end, I was recently browsing former Arkansas Governor and Babtist Minister Mike Huckabee's website because he is the candidate that I know least about. I typically buy in to a rather radical brand of progressive politics and so I doubted that I would agree with much of what he had to say, but was curious about how he had won over Iowa Republicans on a fraction of the budget and name recognition wielded by McCain, Romney, and Giuliani. If there is one thing that I respect, it is an upset from an underdog and if there is one thing I am fascinated by, it is effective political strategy.
Most of what I found on the "Issues" portion of Huckabee's website horrified me. The man has issues all right. His immigration policy calls for the common but still blatantly racist "fence" idea. Notice how the war on terror and national security doesn't require us to secure the Canadian border with such extreme measures! He supports the war of Iraq as part of the "War on Terror," which has always been an absurd idea with no link ever being est between Iraq and either "Weapons of Mass Destruction" nor Al Qaeda and the 9-11 bombing. Don't even get me started on that rhetoric. His health care plan condemns universalized health care that would cover the 47 million Americans without insurance (16%), many of whom are employed "working poor" that do not have benefits packages. In fact, he argues that insurance costs employers too much and hinders economic growth and that it should be paid for by individual consumers instead. So much for access to medical treatment being a basic human right.
However, I have strayed far afield from my area of "expertise," that is, disability. What really bugged me about the "issues" of Huckabee's campaign was the final paragraph in his rant about his support of "marriage." I expected it to be homophobic and maybe even sexist, but it was his unapologetic ABLEISM that moved me to write this blog. I quote his words exactly: "My wife Janet and I celebrated our thirty-third wedding anniversary this past May. For us, every anniversary is a miracle. When we were both twenty and married just over a year, when I was in my last semester of college, Janet was diagnosed with cancer of the spine. I can't tell you what a stunning blow it was - two kids just starting out, you don't think something like that could happen when you are so young. Yet there we were, staring death in the face. At first, they told us that even if she lived, she might be paralyzed from the waist down, so I'd be a young man with an invalid wife. After I learned she wouldn't be paralyzed, I was told that because of the radiation she received following surgery, we'd probably never have children... If Janet were in a were in a wheelchair today, if we'd never have children, I can tell you this - she'd still be my wife."
In relating his TOUCHING personal story that is supposed to show his strength of moral character and deep commitment to the sacred institution of marriage -- something that homo loving former governor of MA surely doesn't have with his funny religion, Huckabee sends an unintended but earsplittingly raucous message: people with disabilities are of lesser value. Not only does he characterize wheelchair users with the quaintly oppressive and hateful word "invalid," but he also heavily implies that using a wheelchair would have made his wife less desirable as a marriage partner! Sure, he is a good guy and he ASSURES us that he would have stuck by his invalid wife's side because he loves her so very much, but it would have apparently been something that would have made good ol' Mike worthy of sainthood because everyone knows that no one wants "an ivalid wife." Can't you see the F$%*er's hallow glaring off his shiny bald head?
This is not something he said in passing, but something he posted on his website as an official stance. Please, show your friends and family and help spread the word. We need to send a clear message as the primaries continue that America has no use for such a hateful, backward thinking man.
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ughh Joe...what a weird passing statement. So I guess if he would have had an "invalid wife", he still would have supported individual responsibility for healthcare. I doubt it...
I needed to read this though because he's also one of the candidates I don't know enough about......thanks.
Ugh! I watched the debate- and boy is he STRANGE. That man does not belong on a national stage. His surge in the polls almost makes me believe in the Illuminati and that the religious right control them.
What I find most interesting about his racist immigration stance is that he was not always that way. He supported a Mexican consulate in Arkansas, he has spoken in support of the hiring of foreign workers, and even made a fairly insightful statement about the "They're stealing our jobs" argument, saying that he'd never met someone who couldn't get a job plucking a chicken or picking tomatoes or tarring a roof because of immigration. The presidential race has changed a looney with some common sense into a looney who will say downright racist, evil things to get elected.
It seems to me he was more passing the judgement upon others who wouldn't have stayed with their wives in this instance. That she would be of less value to some but just as good to him because she was his wife and he loved her.
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If he is saying that an invalid wife is of less worth to some I guess in a sense he could be promoting ableism in some way but in his action toward his wife if the worst case scenario occurred I see it more as condemnation of it. But you are right, it is one of those pat-on- the-back political propaganda stories.
In the context you've given I don't see how that story would translate into a support/denial of gay marriage. I know his stance on the issue as I saw him on Larry King with Chuck Norris months ago and would say he's probably going from the personal experience angle with that one.
kara,
huckabee pretty much just tastes like crazy juice that has been left out in the miami sun too long. new hampshire gave me a bit more hope that the republican party hasn't COMPLETELY lost all sense of rationality.
Veralidaine,
in a way, huckabee's scary ass getting the republican nod may be the best thing to happen to our country in a good long while. this is because i think he is unelectable and either hillary or obama would eat him alive.
CF212,
him referring to a wheelchair user as an "invalid" reveals his ableism pretty clearly. also, the assumption here is that wheelchair use is something bad that he would have to "look past" in order for him to stay with her. this is DEEPLY ableist.
if the message is "look at how great i am for staying with my invalid wife when most men wouldn't," then the underlying assumption that statement is built off of is that disability is an undesirable thing to have in a partner. if it weren't a bad thing to huckabee, then there would be no way for him to claim that staying with her would make him virtuous. he wouldn't say "i am awesome because i'd even stay with my wife if she dyed her hair from blond to brunette" because he sees something like haircolor as a neutral trait and not a negative trait. it is BECAUSE of his ableist attitude that he even mentions it.
As someone whose first husband left because of my chronic illness, I'm afraid that I can't get all that upset about what Huckabee said (no, I do not intend to vote for him.) Just this last week I learned that my friend Sylvie was being divorced by her husband because he was unwilling or unable to deal with her congenital spinal problems now that they are limiting her mobility. On an aside, I'm afraid fondness for illegal aliens is inversely correlated to proximity to them; it is one thing to love them in the abstract or find them good employees and quite another to have illegal alien gang members demand that you "pay taxes" to them or have your home invaded. I've had the latter experience and it makes me very fond of the idea of making sure exactly who is in this country and not rewarding those who have broken the law. It's an extremely complex issue since I have legal alien neighbors who had to wait *decades* to get a sibling with high level skills into this country while illegal aliens were amnestied by Reagan. I've spent literally hours consoling a friend whose sister-in-law waits in a refugee camp - and dealt with his families tears whenever they read about someone who entered illegally being given the privelige of staying while their relative lives in horrible conditions.
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