Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
Ron Paul on Huckabee Holiday Ad: "When Fascism Comes...It Will Be Wrapped in the Flag, Carrying a Cross" [VIDEO]
Got a tip for a post?:
Email us | Anonymous form
Mike Huckabee is bringing his Christmas cheer, and his Baptist minister roots, to Iowans this election season. His recent ad, "What Really Matters," features the former governor offering citizens a Merry Christmas.
This isn't your ordinary Happy Holidays event. Huckabee let's loose the Christian spirit, saying "what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ." The ad also features a bookshelf in the background that appears to some like a "floating cross." The ad is a not-too-subtle play to Iowa value voters, who cringe at what they view as an increasingly secularized holiday.
Asked about the ad today, Ron Paul decried Huckabee's religious iconography with his own veiled reference on Fox and Friends:
"It reminds me of what Sinclair Lewis once said. He says, 'when fascism comes to this country, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross.' Now I don't know whether that's a fair assessment or not, but you wonder about using a cross, like he is the only Christian or implying that subtly. So, I don't think I would ever use anything like that."
Mike Huckabee's campaign today denied that the bookshelf/cross was an intentional reference. Iowa Director Eric Woolson responded:
It's the window frame in the background... Once you've got it in your head that it's a cross, it's a cross.
See the original ad below and Ron Paul's response to your right.
Tagged as: fascism, christmas, religion, huckabee, paul
Will Thomas is an Associate News Editor and Political Reporter at the Huffington Post. Previously, he worked as a researcher for Talking Points Memo and TPMmuckraker. He lives in New York.
| Also in Video | |||
| Is Palin a Step Backwards for Women in Power? Sarah Palin is a milestone, for we achieve true gender equality when an incompetent woman goes as far as an incompetent man. Post by Suzanne Braun Levine. September 5, 2008. |
Fox News: 'McCain's TV Commercials Contain ... Out-Right Lies' Wait, we're seriously talking about Fox News? The Fox News? Post by Steve Benen. September 5, 2008. |
Van Halen, Heart, Others to GOP: Stop Using Our Songs! GOP ignores copyrights, raises ire of multiple recording artists. Post by Dave Burdick. September 5, 2008. |
|