I Hate Politics, part 2

Mike Huckabee is perfecting the art of "Monet speak", in which the collective statement sounds nice but upon closer examination is clearly a mess. From an interview:

Well, let's remember that all law establishes morality. That's what law does. The law of speeding is saying that it's immoral to go at 85 miles an hour. The morality is that we have established a 65-mile-an-hour limit. So that's what all law does: It establishes that it is wrong for me to murder you. We've determined that that's not a good idea.

That is so obviously false -- like "I swear those are real" factually wrong -- I don't think I really need to point out what's wrong with it for you, my Dear Intelligent Reader, but just for clarity's sake: the law establishes morality? Really, Mike Huckabee? I wasn't aware that going 70 in a 55 was immoral. I'm in a heap of moral trouble, man.

No, it doesn't work that way. in fact it's quite the opposite. Well, it should be anyway. If law established morality, then we could say man establishes morality. By extension we could say "Do whatever you darn well please, it don't make a lick of moral difference!"

Oh... right. We have said that.

To be fair, Mr. Huckabbe said this earlier in that same article:

If you believe it's a moral issue, then you really have to believe that morality does not change at the state line. That idea that morality is different in Massachusetts than it is in Texas is the rationale of the Civil War.

That seems like a more or less reasonable, solid-ish statement. Actually, come to think of it, isn't he sort of contradicting himself here?

My point, and why this goes under the heading of I Hate Politics, is that the man is trying so hard to establish himself as a person of strong moral principals, who could be relied on to "establish" good morals, that he's talking nonsense. This is what the political beast does to normal, rational people. I think I get what Huckabee is trying to say, and it's possible I actually agree with him in some measure, but the way he's verbally blubbering around punches gaping holes in his own card house. Possibly more troubling is the mess of people out there who will read/hear that, or some similar base-covering balderdash, and buy it for reasons of the He's-my-party's-best-shot, I-like-this-guy-already, Well-it's-better-than-the-alternative, variety.

Besides, I'm offended by his implication that I am somehow less awesome because I tend to edge the speedometer a wee tiny bit over where it's supposed to be. Seriously, who is more immoral: me, speeding to get to mass (I am speedier than thou), or the guy driving five under in the fast lane, inciting everyone around him to road rage? C'mon, Mike. Think about it.