Huckabee: 'a different kind of Jesus juice'

The Republican's idiosyncratic agenda in Arkansas -- a health plan, taxes for parks -- was always driven by faith, he says.
By Richard Fausset
Los Angeles Times

LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — In 2005, a Republican state senator named Jim Holt introduced a bill to deny public benefits to Arkansas' soaring population of illegal immigrants. Holt, a Southern Baptist minister, figured it was a rock-solid conservative idea -- a matter, he said, "of right and wrong."

Arkansas' governor at the time was also a professed conservative, and also a Southern Baptist minister. But Mike Huckabee had only scorn for his fellow Republican's proposal.

Huckabee called the bill "race-baiting" and "demagoguery," and argued that the denial of health services could harm innocent children. The bill, Huckabee said, did not conform with his take on Christian values.

"I drink a different kind of Jesus juice," Huckabee said.

Today, Huckabee is seeking the Republican nomination for president, and voters nationwide are getting to know a different kind of candidate: He is the Southern preacher who favors droll wit over brimstone sermonizing, a rock 'n' roll bass player who believes in creationism, with an Oprah-ready story about a 110-pound weight loss that probably saved his life.

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