Zakaridicule: Newsweek Editor Compares Huckabee to Ahmadinejad

Mike Huckabee’s declaration that we need to amend the Constitution to be in line with God’s standards easily drives secular liberals into a frenzy. On CNN’s Late Edition on Sunday, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin called that statement in conflict with "all of American constitutional history." Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria was more blunt: "It frankly made him sound more like Ahmadinejad of Iran."

From the CNN transcript:

MIKE HUCKABEE: But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that's what we need to do, is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards, rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.

WOLF BLITZER: He wants constitutional amendments, just to be precise, that would ban abortion and same-sex marriage.

JEFFREY TOOBIN: Well, yes. And that is not a particularly out-of-the-mainstream view. I mean, there are a lot of Republicans who want to amend the Constitution in that way, though, there is not a great deal of support outside the right wing of the Republican Party on that. But the way Huckabee expressed himself is really in conflict with about 225 years, that is all of American constitutional history. The Constitution is a document that is supposed to allow all religions to flourish, or people who don't believe in religion to flourish. And, you know, he later backed off that expression. But I mean, it's just an indication. He's a very conservative candidate.

FAREED ZAKARIA: It frankly made him sound more like Ahmadinejad of Iran. I mean, the way in which he was describing, you know, implementing God's law -- I mean, isn't that where we get scared off, when we hear it from Iranians and Saudis?

(Hat tip: Damian G)

Why is it that supposedly educated people like Zakaria cannot make the most elementary distinctions between American democrats and Middle Eastern tyrants? Did he go to Yale? Or do they teach you to hate God so much at Yale that you can't think in a straight line?

But this is common among journalists who find "God talk" not only uncomfortable, but menacing. Raised in a Muslim house and a Christian school, Zakaria told the Village Voice he found the role of token Muslim explainer in the American media slightly uncomfortable. "I occasionally find myself reluctant to be pulled into a world that's not mine, in the sense that I'm not a religious guy." He tried to claim he was a centrist, appalled at how moderate people were "an increasingly embattled phenomenon in a country with a president talking about intelligent design."