Mike Huckabee’s publicity tour for his new book God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy (and for his likely 2016 presidential run) has not been going so great. First he got schooled by Jon Stewart and later taken to task by Megyn Kelly of all people on Fox News for his remarks on pop culture and “trashy” women who have the audacity to swear like men.
So yesterday Huckabee paid a visit to CNN and enlightened viewers with his opinions on homosexuality and gay marriage. Good news! The former Governor may not approve of gay marriage, but he can find it in himself to be tolerant of homosexuality because, hey, he has friends who drink and swear and he can still be cool with them!
I don’t drink alcohol, but gosh – a lot of my friends, maybe most of them, do. You know, I don’t use profanity, but believe me, I’ve got a lot of friends who do. Some people really like classical music and ballet and opera – it’s not my cup of tea.
I’d like to think there is room in America for people to disagree instead of screaming and shouting and having to shut their businesses down,” he said, adding: “People can be my friends who have lifestyles that are not necessarily my lifestyle. I don’t shut people out of my circle or out of my life because they have a different point of view.
Things only go downhill from there as Huckabee explains why you’ll take his opposition to gay marriage out of his cold dead hands:
This is not just a political issue, this is a biblical issue. And as a biblical issue, unless I get a new version of the scriptures, it’s not my place to say, OK, I’m going to evolve. It’s like asking somebody who’s Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped shrimp in their deli. We don’t want to do that, and we’re not going to do that. Or asking a Muslim to serve up, ah, something that is offensive to him, to have dogs in his backyard.
We’re so sensitive to make sure we don’t offend certain religions, but then we act like Christians can’t have the convictions that they have had for over 2,000 years.
Does anyone else think bacon-wrapped shrimp is an oddly specific example of something that you wouldn’t find at a Jewish deli? Does Mike Huckabee have something in common with UPROXX hero Ron Swanson?
On a serious note, please nobody vote for this man.
Via The Guardian