Playing the victim card

Usually Republicans are the ones against whom Democrats play the victim card, but, as Peggy Noonan points out, Mike Huckabee is playing that card right now when people express their queasiness at his overt religious appeals in his campaign.

Mr. Huckabee is clever. He puts forth his policies, such as they are, based on a faith-based understanding of public policy, and if you disagree with his policies, or take a hard shot at them, or at him, he suggests the reason is that you look down on evangelicals. This creates a new fissure in a party already riven by fissures. He has been accused by some in the conservative press of tearing the party apart, but it was being torn apart before he got on the scene. His rise is not a cause of collapse but an expression of it.

He plays the victim well. Others want to "trip him up," but he'll "get my message out there." His foes are "Wall Street-Washington" insiders, elitists. On the "Today" show he said his critics are the type who never liked evangelical Christians. When one of them runs, these establishment types say " 'Oh my gosh, now they're serious, they don't want to just show up and vote, they actually would want to be part of the discussion and really talk about issues that include hunger and poverty and things.' "

This is a form of populist manipulation. Evangelical Christians have been strong in the Republican Party since the 1970s. President Bush and Karl Rove helped them become more important. The suggestion that they are a small and abused group within the GOP is strange. It is as if the Reagan Democrats, largely Catholic and suburban, who buoyed the Republican Party from the late '70s through 2004, and who were very much part of the GOP coalition, decided to announce that Catholics have been abused within the party, and it's time for Christmas commercials with floating Miraculous Medals.

Exactly. Huckabee has found that he can achieve political success by using a mailing list to appeal directly to Iowa's evangelicals, who make up a large percentage of potential GOP caucus goers. And he's been quite open about his appeal as a former theology major that he has some special insights into foreign policy. He runs "Christian leader" in his ads and then seems surprised that people find that off-putting. Noonan is right - he seems nice, but rather creepy. And the reason people are attacking him is because he's achieved some success in the polls. And having been catapulted into a leading position in the GOP race, he's now being subjected to more scrutiny than he received when he was a second tier candidate. If he can't take the criticism that he's receiving now from Republicans how would he hold up in the general election? So stop insulting our intelligence by pretending to be a victim of an anti-evangelical tide.