Dancing with the devil

-- by Dave

My latest post at The Big Con went up yesterday, a discussion of the secular right's wailing and gnashing of teeth over the looming prospect of Mike Huckabee as their party's nominee. I titled it "The Devil His Due":

I suppose progressives should sit back and enjoy the moment of schadenfreude provided by the spectacle of secular movement conservatives freaking out over the recent ascension of Mike Huckabee's presidential candidacy. But some important lessons for Democrats and progressives lie therein too, and taking stock of them will play a critical role in their success or failure not just in 2008 but beyond.

The moral to the Huckabee story: You got to dance with the one who brung you.

The conservative movement's core has always been the pro-corporate, pro-business right, but it has swelled its ranks by wrapping itself in a cultural conservatism, built around the religious right, that attracted the votes of a lot of working-class people. Now the rabble, in the person of Huckabee, are threatening to take over, and the secular right doesn't like it a bit.

Hope you enjoy it.