In 1997, Huckabee Delayed Bill That Referred To Disasters As "Acts Of God"
Here's another blast from Mike Huckabee's Christianist past. As governor of Arkansas in 1997, Huckabee held up passage of a bill to protect storm victims from insurance companies — thus creating a window of time for the companies to cancel people's coverage — on the grounds that the bill used the traditional legal term "acts of God":
The Arkansas Legislature scrambled today to rewrite a bill intended to protect storm victims after Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, objected to language describing such natural phenomena as tornadoes and floods as "acts of God."Mr. Huckabee said that signing the legislation "would be violating my own conscience" inasmuch as it described "a destructive and deadly force as being 'an act of God.'" The Governor, a Republican, said the legislation was an otherwise worthy bill with objectives he shared.
Mr. Huckabee did not veto the bill but instead asked that it be recalled by the General Assembly. He suggested that the phrase "acts of God" be changed to "natural disasters."...
The legislation would bar insurance companies from canceling coverage solely on the basis of claims filed after losses from storms. It was introduced before a series of tornados on March 1 killed 26 people and destroyed hundreds of houses and businesses, leaving damage in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
In other words, Huckabee's insistence on changing this language entirely for theological reasons — with no actual change in the legal meaning of the bill, and with his request only made after it had already passed both houses — risked costing people their insurance coverage by giving the companies an incentive to cancel policies before passage finally occurred.
Comments (19)
Allisa wrote on December 11, 2007 4:47 PM:Bush is the tooth fairy compared to this
scary dude.
Anyone who starts off a letter to a
rapist and murderer after the fact by addressing him as
"Dear"
is seriously or religiously warped
FRIGHTENED wrote on December 11, 2007 4:50 PM:I'm not sure if the voters in Iowa have really vetted Huck yet.
They are conservative for the most part,
but they are not stupid. Huckabee is just a really serious bad sequel to Bush - with the religious speil down pat.
He is a religious fundamentalal
Dick Cheney
Be afraid - be very afraid
I'm scared wrote on December 11, 2007 4:58 PM:Mark -
you hit the nail on the head,
Huckabee is what Cheney would look like if he were a religious fanatic.
AC Slater wrote on December 11, 2007 4:58 PM:Dear God...
bridoc wrote on December 11, 2007 5:01 PM:Apparently Huck isn't a big Old Testament fan.
bridoc wrote on December 11, 2007 5:10 PM:@ votenic
Somehow I have a hard time caring about any poll where Ron Paul regularly garners nearly 50% of the vote. Obviously the poll has some significance to his online posse, maybe because online polls are all he will ever win. I'm with him on being against the war, but past that he is a cashew.
Heraldblog wrote on December 11, 2007 5:33 PM:I seriously want the GOP to nominate Huckabee. He's the Bizzaro World George McGovern - he'll sweep Alabama, and Obama will take the other 49.
Anonymous wrote on December 11, 2007 5:44 PM:This just endears Huckabee to the GOP base.
Romney or someone is really crankin' out the oppo these days, huh?
Nick wrote on December 11, 2007 5:58 PM:Okay, this guy is a freaking loon. The evidence just adds up. Come on , Mitt -- take him down so we can cream your candy ass next November.
hello_world wrote on December 11, 2007 6:15 PM:8 years ago, this guy would have been completely unelectable. The problem is, the current administration has lowered the bar so much, that I'm honestly afraid that all these newly revealed exploits from Huckabee's will be swept aside by the general population as just one more thing to be tolerated from a Republican Presidential candidate, kinda like their vague appeals to racism and their overt demagogy. The problem is, this guy truly dangerous if this is his idea of a reasonable use of his Executive Powers.
Dan wrote on December 11, 2007 6:27 PM:Underestimate Huckabee at your own peril. Bush won bc of his supposed folksiness. This guy actually IS folksy, and he's much more eloquent to boot. I've seen many people saying Huckabee is "even dumber than Bush," and the like, and we need to face reality to beat him: he has Bush's "strengths" and few of his weaknesses.
Brent wrote on December 11, 2007 6:56 PM:Dan
I totally agree
Up Chuck Huck is to be feared
As a yellow-dog Dem, I am gleeful at the prospect of Huckabee getting the GOP nod, and said on these boards and various others months ago to watch for Huckabee to break out with the GOP base.
For what it's worth, Huckabee is nothing like Cheney. Cheney is no theocrat. They are both whack-jobs, but of vastly different sorts.
jeffgee wrote on December 11, 2007 9:10 PM:'Cuz God is sooo good that he wouldn't make tornadoes and floods. And God speaks to Huck directly.
tom wrote on December 11, 2007 10:20 PM:At least "natural disaster" sounds more
secular than "act of God".
This may be about the ONLY time I ever agree with Huckabee, albeit for totally different reasons. I'm an athiest, so "natural disasters" simply sounds more accurate to me than "acts of God" in this case. How Huck even could even conceive of that in relation to insurance legislation is beyond me. Geez he's crazy.
That said, I agree wholehartedly with Dan and Brent in that this guy is not to be taken lightly. His pure talent as a politician is stunning (at the level of Bill Clinton circa '92). But I gotta believe in the end his over-the-top Christian-craziness turns off enough Indie voters to lose the general election.
Missed It By THAT Much wrote on December 12, 2007 4:24 AM:Independent voters are ALL secular?
Richard L. Adlof wrote on December 12, 2007 9:16 AM:Tancredo . . . Looking better every day . . . If you are going bat-shit crazy, why go half way?
