Huckabee does Imus
Posted: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 10:58 AM by Mark Murray
From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
Huckabee -- the fourth presidential candidate to go on Don Imus' show since it returned yesterday (following McCain, Dodd, and Richardson) -- faced difficult questions today on Romney's Mormonism, who can go to heaven, and abortion.
Although Imus may have been attempting to spark controversy by asking Huckabee if Mormons are true Christians and if Jewish people can go to heaven, the former governor didn't take the bait. Responding to the Mormon question, Huckabee disregarded any friction between Mormons and conservative Christians, saying there's friction between people in the same pew. "It's really not so much related to your denomination or label; it's related to your relationship with the person of Christ," Huckabee said. "I know some Baptists. I'm not sure I'd call them Christians, because they don't behave like it. People make too much of the labels we wear and not enough about the character we have."
When asked if Jewish people can got to heaven, Huckabee responded with one of his trademarked quips. "I think anybody can go to heaven. I think you could even go to heaven and that's a pretty thick stretch. I'm not saying you will; I'm just saying I think you could."
Imus pushed Huckabee for more, asking him if someone must believe in Jesus Christ to go to heaven. "You're getting way into an area that I don't know has anything to do with running for president," Huckabee responded, implying his religious beliefs would not impact the American people. "For me to start telling everybody else what their beliefs are and the validity of them, certainly is not my role, not only individually but absolutely has no business in my being president."
However, Huckabee's religious beliefs may influence his opinion on issues like abortion. Huckabee said what he would like is "an affirmation of human life" and called for a national constitutional law. "I hear some people say, 'Well every state has their own views on that.' Well, that's like every state can have view their on slavery. That's the logic of the Civil War. This is a moral issue. It is either right or it's wrong. If it's wrong for us to put some beings with a greater value than others, than this is an issue that cannot be determined geographically."
Although Huckabee faced tough questions, Imus offered him a near-endorsement. "I'm just about to climb on that Huckabee bandwagon," Imus told the former governor during the interview.
"Well, you should be, because you were dissing me some kind of way earlier when I first announced I was going to run," Huckabee replied. "And I remember, it wasn't exactly like you met it with a standing ovation, so only Bernie [one of Imus' co-hosts] had the insight and the prophetic vision to see what was going to happen."
"I'll tell you what, if we go all the way, we'll have your show from the East Room of the White House," Huckabee joked. "That would wreck any re-election chances I'd ever have."
