Responding to MoJo, Huckabee Campaign Explains Difference Between Homosexuality and Necrophilia

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It’s hard to explain lumping together homosexuality and necrophilia. But that’s the mission that Mike Huckabee’s campaign research director, Joe Carter, took on when Talking Points Memo asked him about the recent Mother Jones story on a book Huckabee wrote in 1998. In that book, Huckabee decried American culture, equated environmentalism with pornography, insisted that people who do not believe in God tend to be immoral, and associated homosexuality with necrophilia:

It is now difficult to keep track of the vast array of publicly endorsed and institutionally supported aberrations—from homosexuality and pedophilia to sadomasochism and necrophilia.

Now lets turn to TPM:

When we asked Carter if Huckabee stood by this quote, he didn’t disavow the comment. But he sought to clarify its meaning, denying our suggestion that the quote equated homosexuality and necrophilia.

“He’s not equating homosexuality with necrophilia,” Carter told us. “He’s saying there’s a range of aberrant behavior. He considers homosexuality aberrant, but that’s at one end of the spectrum. Necrophilia is at the other end.”

Carter added: “No way is he saying that homosexuality is like having sex with dead people. That’s not it at all.”

Asked how one measured what rated where on this spectrum of aberrant behavior, Carter said: “He was talking about aberrant sexual behavior. Sado masochism and necrophilia are on the further end of the spectrum.”

Asked if this meant that Huckabee at least saw homosexuality and necrophilia as belonging to the same behavioral category, Carter said:

“That’s like saying any sex is the same. Yes, he considers both aberrant, but no, he does not equate the two in any way.”

Asked to elaborate further, Carter said: “He was describing behavior. He’s not casting judgment on the people themselves. His point is, the culture is becoming more accepting of aberrant behaviors.”

Carter probably never expected that his stint with Huckabee would require that he spin about necrophilia and homosexuality. But he did clear up this pressing matter: Huckabee believes homosexuality is awful, but not as awful as having sex with dead people. By the way, where in the United States is necrophilia accepted? If Huckabee has found communities where sex with corpses is truly “publicly endorsed and institutionally supported,” he’s traveling in some rather odd neighborhoods. Does Mrs. Huckabee know about this?

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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