But, watching the news tonight, it seems that this may not be a problem unique to Huckabee. “Resume inflation” seems to be a problem in other campaigns: Mitt Romney’s claim that he “saw his father march with Dr. King” is false. It never happened. George Romney was a pro-civil rights Republican and did go to King’s funeral and marched in some civil rights demonstrations, but never one in which King was present. Romney’s other claims about being a lifelong hunter or having NRA endorsement also turn out to be, at least, exaggerations.

Now, all politicians, of whatever party or persuasion, try to paint themselves in the best light ever. But I think voters prefer candor and integrity to exaggerations that later have to be explained away. Look what happened to Al Gore in 2000. Some of it was unfair, but Gore’s tendency to exaggerate (sometimes slightly, sometimes greatly) his role in accomplishments created in voters minds an impression of untrustworthiness–and in the wake of the Clinton White House, that proved disastrous. (Even if one believes, as I do, that the 2000 election was stolen, this remains true. Had Gore run an effective campaign–had he even won his home state of Tennessee, Florida would have been sorted out at leisure in January without any consequences for White House occupation.)

In the wake of an administration whose reputation for dishonesty far outstrips anything Bill Clinton was ever guilty of, do Republican hopefuls like Romney, or ministers like Huckabee, really want to repeat the mistakes of Al Gore?

No resume inflation. Just give us straight talk.

I’m with Big Daddy on this one: I think it’s a problem.

David Lowrie

I personally believe the comparison to George O’Leary is unfair.

Whether or not Huckabee should be our next president is for the voters to decide, but we should be careful about implying that he is loose with the truth.

David Lowrie

But I think you’re missing the point that this has been blown up beyond the need. It’s simply another hit job – trying to find a way to attack Huckabee on something other than the issues. Or a way to chip away at his integrity – something he seems to have more of than anyone else in the current field (both conservative and liberal).

As for your statement, “From listening to Huckabee, he always gave the impression that he had a degree from SWBTS,” I’d like to know what he said that made that not a misunderstanding on your part, but rather an intentional attempt on his to mislead. If you go in with that presupposition, then you can justify your belief. I just don’t think it’s justified from a neutral point of view.

And I’m not sure I’d describe a Religion or Christianity degree from Baptist schools such as Baylor, Mercer or Brewton-Parker College (the three I’m very familiar with) as the equivalent of a theology degree.

Does the Religion degree equal a theology degree or is Huck claiming that Ouachita plus 46 hours of MDiv work the equivalent of a theology degree? Rudy could make such a claim. According to several articles I’ve read, Rudy studied theology in college for 4 years. He doesn’t make the theology degree claim though.

Huck could have said he “studied theology” instead of making the degree claim and he’d have been telling the complete truth.

I waited a week to see how this would play out. From listening to Huckabee, he always gave the impression that he had a degree from SWBTS. I was surprised to see that he never completed seminary.

He did clarify by saying:

“I have a bachelor of arts in religion and a minor in communications in my undergraduate work. And then I have 46 hours on a master’s degree at Southwestern Theology Seminary. So, my degree as a theological degree is at the college level and then 46 hours toward a masters — three years of study of New Testament Greek, and then the rest of it, all in Seminary was theological studies, but my degree was actually in religion.

I don’t think he was intentionally trying to deceive, but rather pointing out his educational background did indeed involve theology. Now, if he’d said he had a Master’s degree in theology, then I would say that people should be up in arms. But really this is a non-issue and certainly not comparable to George O’Leary. As for anyone at National Review taking him “to task”, I would note that they have been trying to do hit jobs on him ever since he started his rise in the polls. The real problem here is that people have stopped listening to what the candidates have to say and have started playing “GOTCHA” instead. I wonder if Bill Clinton would have survived this kind of election (it sure looks like his wife is struggling with it these days).

Oh, and btw, 46 hours is a masters and a half in any other discipline than theological studies. And it’s about half of the 90 hours needed for a M.Div.