Candidate's favorite books
If true this is a pretty funny.
"Who is your favorite author?" Aleya Deatsch, 7, of West Des Moines asked Mr. Huckabee in one of those posing-like-a-shopping-mall-Santa moments.
Mr. Huckabee paused, then said his favorite author was Dr. Seuss.
In an interview afterward with the news media, Aleya said she was somewhat surprised. She thought the candidate would be reading at a higher level.
"My favorite author is C. S. Lewis," she said.
Candidates do have strange answers at times to this question. Mitt Romney replied before that Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard was his favorite novel. On one level that answer makes a lot of sense since L. Ron Hubbard and Joseph Smith have a lot in common in that both made up their own religions. But on a literary taste level Battlefield Earth was just a so-so SF novel that really needed an editor. Though if Mitt had replied that Battlefield Earth was his favorite movie I think that would have totally disqualified him from running for president. But Mitt seems to have flipped (what a surprise) on his literary choice since his Facebook entry lists a bunch of novels as his favorites and none of them were Battlefield Earth.
Mike Huckabee's Facebook page lists his favorite books as " The Holy Bible, To Kill a Mockingbird, Mere Christianity, and anything by Francis Schaeffer." So he really blew it with the seven year old and would have done much better mentioning Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.
Sen. John McCain's favorite novel is "For Whom the Bell Tolls" which is also the theme for his campaign.
For Rudy Giuliani his selections "Testimony by Nicolas Sarkozy, Churchill, Their Finest Hour, Profiles in Courage, Lincoln, Babe: The Legend Comes to Life" seem like books he would ask someone to come up with to make him look smart. Can you trust a guy that can't list one piece of fiction other then his conservative credentials?
Neither Duncan Hunter or Ron Paul's Facebook page list any favorite books.
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The first three books on Huckabee's list, (although I like Dr Seuss, too) make me relax a bit about him. But, since this is a time of intense "marketing", it wouldn't be surprising if his fav list was overseen by political experts. ("Mike, Catholics like CS Lewis--add one of his books.") I am uncharacteristically suspicious about our candidates this year, I admit. Maybe I've been duped one time too many.
STILL, it makes me nervous to have so MANY Catholics accept Huckabee's intentions so rapidly. It would be good to have firm, (unswayed by a winning personality) politically astute Catholics ask a lot more of the questions we haven't yet realized we should be asking of Mike Huckabee and all the candidates who pledge friendship to causes near to us.
Phil Donahue's opinion of MH, considering his last tirade over a Christmas greeting, doesn't count for much.
Leave it to a child for an honest, non-politically correct response.
I found this on Ron Paul: "FAVORITE BOOKS: "Human Action: A Treatise on Economics" by Ludwig von Mises and "The Road to Serfdom" by Friedrich A. Hayek"
Joanne,
For example what sort of questions should we ask of Mike Huckabee? He had an absolutely excellent four-page interview at Catholic dot org in which he gave a number of very good points speaking in very Catholic terms such as "culture of death" etc.
"What I accomplished as Governor proves that there is a lot more that a pro-life President can do than wait for a Supreme Court vacancy, and I will do everything I can to promote a pro-life agenda and pass pro-life legislation. I'll veto any pro-abortion legislation Congress passes. I will staff all relevant positions with pro-life appointees. I will use the Bully Pulpit to change hearts and minds, to move this country from a culture of death to a culture of life."
...
“As Governor, I banned partial birth abortion; I required parental notification; I required that a woman give informed consent before having an abortion; I required that a woman be told her baby will experience pain and be given the option of anesthesia for her baby; I allowed a woman to have her baby and, if she was unable to care for it, leave the child safely at a hospital; and I made it a crime for an unborn child to be injured or murdered during an attack on his mother.
"I support and have always supported passage of a constitutional amendment to protect the right to life. As President, I will fight for passage of this amendment. My convictions regarding the sanctity of life have always been clear and consistent, without equivocation or wavering.
"I believe that Roe v. Wade should be over-turned.
"I applaud the Supreme Court's recent decision in Gonzales v. Cathcart forbidding the gruesome practice of partial birth abortion. While I am optimistic that we are turning the tide in favor of life, we still have many battles ahead of us to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and so it is vital that we elect a pro-life President.”
Source: http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=26206
Despite the fact that Romney has come at Mike with all $63 million guns blazing, he still retains a remarkable edge. Huckabee's movement is totally grass-roots, though and he needs the support he deserves sooner rather than later.
Sure he can do more with $2mil than Romney can with over thirty times as much, but he refuses to launch attack ads of his own; trusting to an approach more reminiscent of Catholic apologetics than politics.
I would like to ask all conservative bloggers, Catholic or otherwise, to consider Huckabee, visit his site, read what he has to say on the issues, and give him the endorsements he deserves.
I am StubbleSpark and I approve this message.
What does this say about academics who study children's literature? I don't care to defend Huckabee per se, but there are many different criteria for choosing a favorite author: pure enjoyment, depth, inspirational ideas, the number of books by that author a person enjoys... Perhaps she should have asked which was his favorite book by Seuss. Mine is Scrambled Eggs Super. The child was honest, yes. And well on her way to intellectual snobbery and pretension (though she should abandon C. S. Lewis to complete that process)!
Haven't yet figured out why so many Catholics are attracted to C. S. Lewis. He didn't like Catholics (but made an exception for Tolkien). But then, I'm not sure why so many Evangelical Protestants like him either, since his ideas are frequently at odds with theirs...
We're really clashing today, Literacy-Chick. Hopefully, ss the child grows up her literary attitudes will mature. You can't expect a child to think like an adult.
What I find interesting is that Romney made a big deal in recent days about being an English lit major when the flab about "seeing" his father march with Martin Luther King Jr. came up and he tried to explain "what the definition is 'seeing' is". And Battlefield Earth is his favorite book?
Assuming that this was indeed a true encounter, I guess Mr. Romney had this assumption about children that age. We often sell kids short, I guess, when we really shouldn't. There's no reason why they can't appreciate good Christian reading at that age, too.
i don't trust people who don't read any fiction.
That's a strange coincidence Matt. I don't trust people who read *only* fiction. ;)
StubbleSpark,
I like what I hear from Mike Huckabee. I might also like what I hear from a used-car salesman if I haven't come to the encounter prepared with a list of questions. The questions asked of MH by Catholics are always asked with respect for his Christianity. I am finding though, that sometimes we ASSUME equal respect from others when it does not, in fact, exist.
If I were a diplomatic but shrewd interviewer, I might find an inoffensive way to ask Mike if he believes that the Roman Catholic Church is the Great Whore of Revelations, if he harbors a pastoral desire to rescue Catholics from the "dross" of our religion (including the Communion of Saints, the Sacramental life, prayer for the souls in Purgatory, the beauty and necessity of the priesthood, the value of and need for suffering for the Kingdom, the continued need for God's mercy, the authority and guidance of the Pope, love for and reliance on our Blessed Mother, the Holy Mass, and our core belief in Jesus as He comes to us in the Eucharist), and if he rejects a true ecumenism that respects all faiths and cooperates with all people in doing good but does not diminish or insult the great gifts God has given to all and each of us. If MH holds any or all of the beliefs listed, what impact, according to him, would those convictions have on his presidency and his vision for the United States?
You might say that MH could not have cooperated ecumenically on life issues if he could not respect people of other faiths, and especially the Catholic faith. I would have said that, too, a month ago. I would have been wrong. And YES, it does make a difference, particularly when a candidate has built his campaign on his spiritual vision.
To cooperate on one issue for a limited or an extended time is one thing and an IMPORTANT thing when the issue is the life of the unborn! But there are other pro-life candidates. We are not required, then to choose one whose ministry includes the destruction of the Church, if in fact that is essential to his religious integrity.
It might be good news that some Baptists find MH too liberal, if that means he respects Catholics and will not in any way exploit their inclusiveness.
Good gracious, can't they stop pandering at ALL???