The Reinventing of Governor Rick Perry

‘How the American Family Association can play the Anti-Mormon card, while grooming Perry into their own candidate for 2012′.

By Craig Edwards

Reputed Republican Presidential candidate – Texas Governor Rick Perry, recently gathered considerable criticism for his upcoming prayer event titled ‘The Response’. The Houston event is billed as a ‘call for prayer for a nation in crisis’, planned for August 6th at Reliant Stadium. In an article highly critical on the event, Hearst owned newspaper The Houston Chronicle decreed the religious event, as a sign of Perry’s entry into the Republican Presidential race (1).

Other have pressed Church & State concerns, such as Rev. Welton Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance. Speaking on the event, Gaddy noted “(it) raises serious concerns about his commitment to the boundaries between religion and government.” (2). Perry also extended invitations to his fellow United State Governors, and well as to religious leaders to attend. So far, only Republican Sam Brownback of Kansas has been the only Governor RSVP to the event (3).

One of the participants in ‘The Response’, is the American Family Association, a group that has obtained the most ire from critics (4). As a prominently evangelic organization, the American Family Association are no strangers to controversies. The AFA have long been condemned as a hate movement, from leftist groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center (5), as well by several LGBT activists for promoting extensive homophobia. The Tupelo based group founded in 1977 by Rev. Don Wildmon now controls vast media outlets that include the extensive American Family Radio network, websites, and a vast media library. AFA have also used it’s clout in sponsoring political events such as the Values Voter Summit (6), and promoting candidates to their liking.

The association between Huckabee, and AFA was also significant during the 2008 Iowa Republican caucus (7). It was the Iowa Primary that established the rift between Candidate Huckabee, and Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. In the months leading to the Iowa Republican caucus, Romney was spending millions campaigning in the Hawkeye state, and capturing the Ames Straw Poll in August 2007. Even while trailing in the polls, Huckabee quickly cut the margin between Romney after only a few weeks of campaigning in Iowa (8). So how did a man spending only $400,000 out preform a man that spent millions?  It was all thanks to the numerous evangelic groups, who helped sway Iowa towards the narrative of Pastor Huckabee (9).

HUCKABEE: You know, I just don’t think that’s an appropriate issue for me to get into, the nuances of the Mormon faith. (10)

In December 2007, Huckabee appeared at the ‘Iowa Renewal Project’, an AFA connected event held at the Des Moines Marriott. The event was also promoted via email by AFA President Don Wildmon who noted the event “(is to) encourage pastors and their congregations to take a stand for morality in their daily lives”. As the event was closed to press, reporters took to rivals for comment.  Rivals proclaimed the event was a campaign organization for pastors, operating on Huckabee’s behalf (11). This event, and the faith based Huckabee spots now running on Iowa televison (12), may have been the catalyst that forced Romney’s hand into giving his December 6th 2007 speech titled ‘Faith In America’.  A move that some political pundits viewed as being too premature in the Primary season, for Romney to give (13).

‘Redeem The Vote’ (an evangelical version of ‘Rock The Vote’), were a group that also served Huckabee well. It was Huckabee that had served as the chairman of their national advisory committee in 2004, and now the connection proved to be an invaluable asset.  This assisted with the Huckabee campaign gathering the all important Iowa voter data. In the most odd connection, Randy Brinson of Redeem The Vote provided 414,000 contacts for the Huckabee campaign.  Data mostly obtained via Brinson’s marketing tenure of Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of the Christ’ (14).

As all this was happening behinds the scenes, Huckabee would also provide New York Times reporter Zev Chafets a quote, that would transform the Iowa Primary into a stealth litmus test over Romney’s faith.

He mentioned how much he respected his fellow candidates John McCain and Rudolph W. Giuliani. The name of his principal rival in Iowa, Mitt Romney, went unmentioned. Romney, a Mormon, had promised that he would be addressing the subject of his religion a few days later. I asked Huckabee, who describes himself as the only Republican candidate with a degree in theology, if he considered Mormonism a cult or a religion. ‘‘I think it’s a religion,’’ he said. ‘‘I really don’t know much about it.’’

‘‘Don’t Mormons,’’ he asked in an innocent voice, ‘‘believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?’’

I was about to jot down this piece of boilerplate when Huckabee surprised me with a question of his own: ‘‘Don’t Mormons,’’ he asked in an innocent voice, ‘‘believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?’’ (15)

The mainstream media were quick to act upon the comment (16), forcing Huckabee to explain his perceived snipe at Romney’s faith. Huckabee later apologized to Romney (17), and maintained he knew little on Mormon theology when making the statement.  Just the previous month, Huckabee was interviewed by Michael Scherer for salon.com, in which he gave far different statement on Mormonism.

You know, I just don’t think that’s an appropriate issue for me to get into, the nuances of the Mormon faith. (10)

Even if it was a calculated unbidden move by Huckabee (18), the faith knockout punch had landed on Romney.  In the aftermath of Super Tuesday, Romney bowed out of the 2008 Republican race, and later endorsed McCain.  Huckabee on the other hand, remained in the Primary long enough to capture the bragging rights at finishing second (19).

If you were to subscribe to Huckeabee’s statement on having limited knowledge of Mormon theocracy (20), it would make the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention held in Salt Lake City Utah as his highest point.  Huckabee was at the time, the Governor of Arkansas, and one of the key speaker at the convention. During the event, 2000 visiting Southern Baptist proselytized in the SLC area, conducting a door to door effort targeting Mormon beliefs (21). If any Anti-Mormon comments involving Huckabee were ever made during his Convention speech, no evidence of it has ever surfaced.

Video footage of past Huckabee sermons, or audio material made by the TV pastor can be hard to come by. Just ask Slate reporter Hanna Rosin. In her Feb 21st 2008 Slate article titled “What’s Huck Hiding? – Searching for the lost Huckabee tapes”, Rosin was frequently stonewalled in seeking vintage VHS / Audio tapes of Pastor Huck in Arkansas. Such was the case of Ouachita Baptist University’s vast media collection of Huckabee content (22), that had mysteriously gone missing. Rosin’s search eventually lead her to 84 year-old Martha Bobo, who’s late husband had run the same Pine Bluff TV station that had televised early Huckabee. Bobo enthusiastically agreed to share the vast collection of tapes, which she claimed were still stored in her home.  A few days later, Rosin received a call exclaiming Huckabee had apparently sent word to Bobo, that it wasn’t a good idea for her to honor Rosin’s request (23).

With the absence of Huckabee entering the 2012 Republican Presidential race, and AFA’s involvement in Perry’s August 6th event, leaves one to wonder if AFA have already recruited Perry to fill their evangelic void in 2012?  If AFA are indeed fielding Perry as their candidate, was it timed to counter Mitt Romney’s re-entry into seeking the 2012 Republican Nomination?

The connection between AFA, and their stance on Homosexuality has been long documented by those on the left (24). What has not been so well identified are AFA’s views on Mormonism, mainly their Anti-Mormon views. The AFA, have made no efforts in hiding their bias across all of their AFA websites/groups. Content by-proxy connected to Mitt Romney, Glenn Beck, and occasionally Harry Reid, offer the ire of Anti-Mormon editorial from the likes of Chad Groening, Dr. Russell Moore, and Bryan Fisher (23), (24), (25), (26), (27), (28), (29), (30). Other parties in the ‘The Response’ event, include other AFA funded groups, and International House of Prayer, that have also been known for holding mono-evangelical views and mannerisms (31).

If indeed it is Mitt Romney season by AFA standards, and if Romney was hoping to avoid another ‘Romney Wrecking Crew’ in Iowa in 2012 (32), those hopes evaporated in March of this year. It was at that moment the Des Moines Sheraton played host to 400 pastors, having all accepted an invitation signed by co-sponsor Mike Huckabee. An all expenses paid event for the 2012 Iowa Renewal Project (33). This event was also closed to the media, speeches from the event, were later made available on American Family Association website (34).

If Perry is looking to get in on the ground floor to become the Huckabee of 2012, then he has joined the perfect team. If AFA and Perry have connected up for 2012, ‘The Response’ (35) is now looking to be Perry’s inauguration ceremony, his inauguration as the Evangelical Candidate for the “American Family Association Republican Party” in 2012.

References

1: Perry’s upcoming prayer event draws sharp criticism – By Patricia Kilday Hart - The Houston Chronicle – June 8, 2011.

2: Perry’s Planned Prayer Event Riles Critics – Stephen Clark – Fox News - June 07, 2011.

3: Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback to attend Texas prayer rally ‘on behalf of our troubled nation’ - Scott Rothschild – DesotoExplorer.com June 7, 2011.

4: Fact Sheet: Gov. Rick Perry’s Extremist Allies – Right Wing Watch – June 9, 2011

5: Christian ‘Hate Groups’ Accused of ‘Anti-Gay Crusade’ – Randy Hall, CNS news.com Thursday, June 30, 2005

6: 2011 Value Voters Summit Sponsor Listing: http://www.valuesvotersummit.org/sponsors

7: Huckabee throws a Mitt fit – Maggie Haberman – Politico – 2/21/11

8: Iowa Republican Caucus – http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/ia/iowa_republican_caucus-207.html

9: Huckabee Rallies the Right in Iowa – Right Wing Watch – December 3rd, 2007.

10: Mike Huckabee, on a wing and a prayer – Michael Scherer – Salon.com November, 2007

11: Huckabee To Address Hundreds Of Pastors In Des Moines – Marc Ambinder – The Atlantic Monthly Group November, 2007.

12: Huckabee Faith – Iowa TV Spot – 2007 You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjtGgfhKIvo&feature=player_embedded

13: Romney’s “Faith in America” Speech: What Worked and What Didn’t – Chris Cillizza – Dec 6th, 2007 – The Fix – Washington Post

14: The Man Who Helped Start Huckabee’s Roll – By Chris Cillizza And Shailagh Murray Sunday, December 2, 2007 Washington Post.

15: The Huckabee Factor – Zev Chafets – New York Times – December 12, 2007

16: Huck camp backtracks on Mormon question – Michael Calderone – December 12, 2007 Politico

17: Huckabee’s Apology – Byron York – National Review Online – December 12, 2007

18: NYT Writer Explains Huckabee’s Mormon Remarks – Mark Hemingway – National Review Online – December 13, 2007

19: Huckabee says he will stay in GOP race – MSNBC – 2/9/2008

20: Did Huckabee Study Mormons in School? What a Southern Baptist pastor learns in seminary. – Michelle Tsai – Slate – Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007,

21: Utah’s Mormons loathe Huckabee – Politico – Richard T. Cullen February 4, 2008

22: Huckabee’s theology degree? Now says ain’t necessarily so – WND – Dec 14th, 2007.

23: What’s Huck Hiding? Searching for the lost Huckabee tapes. – Hanna Rosin – Slate – Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008.

24: Rick Perry Goes Full Cross With Hate Group – Patience John – Daily Kos – June 12, 2011

25: God, the gospel, and Glenn Beck – Dr. Russell Moore – Guest Columnist – OneNewsNow – 8/30/2010

26: GOP nod: ‘It’s Romney’s race to lose – Chad Groening and Russ Jones – OneNewsNow – 5/30/2011

27: Mormon critic wary of Romney’s alleged’real goal’. Chad Groening – OneNewsNow – 2/4/2008

28: What you believe, Mr. Future President (and supporters), matters Jody Brown – OneNewsNow.com
12/13/2007

29: Beck’s Jerusalem conference denounced Chad Groening – OneNewsNow – 5/20/2011

30: Mitt Romney: The Man Who Gave Us Homosexual Marriage – Bryan Fisher – afa.net Thursday, April 14. 2011

31: Intelligence Report, Winter 2010, Issue Number: 140 – Southern Poverty Law Center – 2010

32: Iowa ‘Pastors’ Policy Briefing’ to host Bachmann, other 2012 hopefuls By Lynda Waddington 03.01.11 – Minnesota Independent

33: Registration page for Iowa Renewal Project 2011 – https://the.maxcelreg.net/Gr2Web/RegPage.aspx?RegistrationEventID=32&RegistrantTypeID=1

34: An Iowa Stop in a Broad Effort To Revitalize the Religious Right – Erik Eckholm – New York Times- April 3rd, 2011

35: Perry Watch: Reliant manager brushes aside criticism of prayer event sponsor but says stadium ‘wouldn’t want to rent to al-Qaeda’ – Mike Morris – Houston Chronicle – June 13, 2011

There are no real ‘hard and fast’ rules when announcing a Presidential Campaign.   According to Wikipedia, the 2008 Presidential Election saw Democrats Mike Gravel announced on April 17, 2006, followed by Tom Vilsack on November 30, 2006, Dennis Kucinich  December 12, 2006, John Edwards December 28, 2006, Joe Biden January 7, 2007, Chris Dodd January 11, 2007,  Hillary Clinton January 20, 2007, Bill Richardson January 21, 2007 and Barrack Obama February 10, 2007.   Beating the pack was Evan Bayh who announced in the aftermath of Kerry’s defeat in the 2004 election.

On the Republican side: Sam Brownback January 20, 2007,  Duncan Hunter January 23, 2007, Mike Huckabee January 28 2007, Rudy Giuliani February 5, 2007, John McCain February 28, 2007, Ron Paul March 12, 2007, Tommy Thompson April 1, 2007, Tom Tancredo April 2, 2007, Jim Gilmore April 26, 2007, Fred Thompson September 5, 2007, Alan Keyes September 14, 2007 and Mitt Romney February 7, 2008.

Going by this data (one has to consider this election involved a retiring President), the opposition party tend to announce after the Mid-Terms up to February the following year.  The incumbent party candidates usually announced the following year.  Another factor to consider is that the Democrats gained both houses during the 2006 Midterms.   This had a tendency to push forward Presidential announcements to take full advantage of the Mid-Terms victory momentum.  Meaning, Republican Presidential candidates speculation could be touted closer to the 2010 Mid-Terms.

Craig Edwards