by Nicholas Beaudrot of Electoral Math
I have mixed feelings about Scripture-based gotchas—they sometimes feel only a step up from dictionary/encyclopaedia-based gotchas—but "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is not, in fact, the 2nd commandment in the Old Testament [no graven images], or even the 2nd New Testament commandment. Let's go to the tape [Matthew 22:37-40]:
... He [Jesus] said to him,"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." ...
And this is the New American Version, not the "authoritative" King James Version of the Bible, which is even a bit further from the colloquial "do unto others" version that Mike Huckabee (R-AR) offers. In his partial defense, he obviously has the sentiment right, it's easy to confuse the many similar Judeo-Christian restatements of the ethic of reciprocity (especially when you spend so much time raising money), and of all the candidates Huckabee is what I'd like the Republican party to be. Thus I have a hard time coming down on him too harshly.
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), on the other hand? Fire away.
