Harry Hope
2008-01-19 11:56:15 UTC
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Huckabee_gave_speech_to_white_supremacists_0118.html
January 18, 2008
Huckabee gave speech to white supremacists
Max Blumenthal
As South Carolina's Republican primary election draws nearer, Mike
Huckabee has ratcheted up his appeals to the racial nationalism of
white evangelicals.
"You don't like people from outside the state coming in and telling
you what to do with your flag," the former Arkansas governor told a
Myrtle Beach crowd on January 17, referring to the Confederate flag.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/18/huckabee-embraces-confede_n_82199.html
"If somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag,
we'd tell them what to do with the pole. That's what we'd do."
Making coded appeals to white racism is nothing new for Huckabee.
Indeed, well before he was a nationally known political star, Huckabee
nurtured a relationship with America's largest white supremacist
group, the Council of Conservative Citizens. http://cofcc.org/
The extent of Huckabee's interaction with the racist group is unclear,
but this much is known:
he accepted an invitation to speak at the group's annual conference in
1993 and ultimately delivered a videotaped address that was "extremely
well received by the audience."
Descended from the White Citizens Councils that battled integration in
the Jim Crow South, including at Arkansas' Little Rock High School,
the Council (or CofCC) has been designated a "hate group" by the
Southern Poverty Law Center.
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=487
In its "Statement of Principles," the CofCC declares, "We also oppose
all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races
over the European-American people through so-called "affirmative
action" and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the
European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern
people, and to force the integration of the races."
http://www.cofcc.org/
The CofCC has hosted several conservative Republican legislators at
its conferences, including former Representative Bob Barr of Georgia
and Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi.
But mostly it has been a source of embarrassment to Republicans hoping
to move their party beyond its race-baiting image.
Former Reagan speechwriter and conservative pundit Peggy Noonan
pithily declared that anyone involved with the CofCC "does not deserve
to be in a leadership position in America."
During a lengthy phone conversation in 2006, CofCC founder and former
White Citizens Council organizer Gordon Lee Baum detailed for me
Huckabee's dalliances with his group.
Baum told me that Huckabee eagerly accepted his invitation to speak at
the CofCC's 1993 national convention in Memphis, Tennessee.
Huckabee's plan was complicated, however, when Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy
Tucker journeyed out of state and appointed a state senator to preside
over the governorship.
The Arkansas state legislature passed a resolution forbidding the
lieutenant governor from leaving Arkansas until Tucker returned, thus
preventing Huckabee from attending the CofCC's conference.
In lieu of his appearance, according to Baum, Huckabee "sent an
audio/video presentation saying 'I can't be with you but I'd like to
be speaker next time.'"
(The CofCC promptly replaced Huckabee with Michael Ramirez, a
right-wing cartoonist whose work is currently syndicated to 400
newspapers by the Copley News Service.)
Baum's account of Huckabee's videotaped message was confirmed by a
CofCC newsletter
http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/presidentialcandidates2008.htm
obtained by Edward Sebesta, http://newtknight.blogspot.com/ a veteran
observer of the neo-Confederate movement.
"Ark. Lt. Governor Mike Huckabee, unable to leave Arkansas by law
because the Governor was absent from the state, sent a terrific
videotape speech, which was viewed and extremely well received by the
audience," the 1993 newsletter (Vol. 24, No. 3) reported.
The following year, in 1994, the CofCC held its national conference in
Little Rock, Arkansas to accommodate Huckabee.
According to Baum, Huckabee initially agreed to speak before his
group, but became apprehensive when the Arkansas media reported that
he would be joined on the CofCC's podium by Kirk Lyons,
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=251 a white
nationalist legal activist who has hailed Hitler as "probably the most
misunderstood man in German history."
"He didn't know anything about Kirk Lyons or anyone else," Baum said
of Huckabee.
"He said he would show up if we took Lyons off."
But Baum refused to remove his friend Lyons from the bill.
Huckabee, who was more concerned about receiving bad publicity than by
the racist underpinnings of the CofCC, withdrew his promise to speak.
The CofCC replaced him this time with former Arkansas Supreme Court
Justice Jim Johnson, a White Citizens Council founder who organized
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=123 the mob
that rioted against the integration of Little Rock High School and
later served as the star narrator http://www.slate.com/id/2091 of Rev.
Jerry Falwell's discredited film, "The Clinton Chronicles."
In the end, Huckabee's aborted relationship with the CofCC benefited
the group.
"We had the biggest crowd in our history because of the publicity"
surrounding Huckabee's planned appearance, Baum said of his 1994
conference.
The CofCC has since rebuked Huckabee for his insufficiently intolerant
political behavior.
Unfortunately, Huckabee has never rebuked the CofCC.
Instead he embraced the group, ignoring its well known legacy of
promoting racism and only severing ties when his political ambitions
were threatened by bad publicity.
_______________________________________________________
Harry
January 18, 2008
Huckabee gave speech to white supremacists
Max Blumenthal
As South Carolina's Republican primary election draws nearer, Mike
Huckabee has ratcheted up his appeals to the racial nationalism of
white evangelicals.
"You don't like people from outside the state coming in and telling
you what to do with your flag," the former Arkansas governor told a
Myrtle Beach crowd on January 17, referring to the Confederate flag.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/18/huckabee-embraces-confede_n_82199.html
"If somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag,
we'd tell them what to do with the pole. That's what we'd do."
Making coded appeals to white racism is nothing new for Huckabee.
Indeed, well before he was a nationally known political star, Huckabee
nurtured a relationship with America's largest white supremacist
group, the Council of Conservative Citizens. http://cofcc.org/
The extent of Huckabee's interaction with the racist group is unclear,
but this much is known:
he accepted an invitation to speak at the group's annual conference in
1993 and ultimately delivered a videotaped address that was "extremely
well received by the audience."
Descended from the White Citizens Councils that battled integration in
the Jim Crow South, including at Arkansas' Little Rock High School,
the Council (or CofCC) has been designated a "hate group" by the
Southern Poverty Law Center.
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=487
In its "Statement of Principles," the CofCC declares, "We also oppose
all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races
over the European-American people through so-called "affirmative
action" and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the
European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern
people, and to force the integration of the races."
http://www.cofcc.org/
The CofCC has hosted several conservative Republican legislators at
its conferences, including former Representative Bob Barr of Georgia
and Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi.
But mostly it has been a source of embarrassment to Republicans hoping
to move their party beyond its race-baiting image.
Former Reagan speechwriter and conservative pundit Peggy Noonan
pithily declared that anyone involved with the CofCC "does not deserve
to be in a leadership position in America."
During a lengthy phone conversation in 2006, CofCC founder and former
White Citizens Council organizer Gordon Lee Baum detailed for me
Huckabee's dalliances with his group.
Baum told me that Huckabee eagerly accepted his invitation to speak at
the CofCC's 1993 national convention in Memphis, Tennessee.
Huckabee's plan was complicated, however, when Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy
Tucker journeyed out of state and appointed a state senator to preside
over the governorship.
The Arkansas state legislature passed a resolution forbidding the
lieutenant governor from leaving Arkansas until Tucker returned, thus
preventing Huckabee from attending the CofCC's conference.
In lieu of his appearance, according to Baum, Huckabee "sent an
audio/video presentation saying 'I can't be with you but I'd like to
be speaker next time.'"
(The CofCC promptly replaced Huckabee with Michael Ramirez, a
right-wing cartoonist whose work is currently syndicated to 400
newspapers by the Copley News Service.)
Baum's account of Huckabee's videotaped message was confirmed by a
CofCC newsletter
http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/presidentialcandidates2008.htm
obtained by Edward Sebesta, http://newtknight.blogspot.com/ a veteran
observer of the neo-Confederate movement.
"Ark. Lt. Governor Mike Huckabee, unable to leave Arkansas by law
because the Governor was absent from the state, sent a terrific
videotape speech, which was viewed and extremely well received by the
audience," the 1993 newsletter (Vol. 24, No. 3) reported.
The following year, in 1994, the CofCC held its national conference in
Little Rock, Arkansas to accommodate Huckabee.
According to Baum, Huckabee initially agreed to speak before his
group, but became apprehensive when the Arkansas media reported that
he would be joined on the CofCC's podium by Kirk Lyons,
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=251 a white
nationalist legal activist who has hailed Hitler as "probably the most
misunderstood man in German history."
"He didn't know anything about Kirk Lyons or anyone else," Baum said
of Huckabee.
"He said he would show up if we took Lyons off."
But Baum refused to remove his friend Lyons from the bill.
Huckabee, who was more concerned about receiving bad publicity than by
the racist underpinnings of the CofCC, withdrew his promise to speak.
The CofCC replaced him this time with former Arkansas Supreme Court
Justice Jim Johnson, a White Citizens Council founder who organized
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=123 the mob
that rioted against the integration of Little Rock High School and
later served as the star narrator http://www.slate.com/id/2091 of Rev.
Jerry Falwell's discredited film, "The Clinton Chronicles."
In the end, Huckabee's aborted relationship with the CofCC benefited
the group.
"We had the biggest crowd in our history because of the publicity"
surrounding Huckabee's planned appearance, Baum said of his 1994
conference.
The CofCC has since rebuked Huckabee for his insufficiently intolerant
political behavior.
Unfortunately, Huckabee has never rebuked the CofCC.
Instead he embraced the group, ignoring its well known legacy of
promoting racism and only severing ties when his political ambitions
were threatened by bad publicity.
_______________________________________________________
Harry