Speaking with the Family Research Councils Tony Perkins on his radio program, Washington Watch, Huckabee discussed the columns at length, saying he found it funny the anecdotes from his past showed him to be a devote Christian while other potential Republican rivals were admitting past drug and alcohol use.
Its a column that I wrote for the Baptist Trumpet newspaper. It was actually even before I went to college, I was writing it when I was a senior in high school. I was 17 years old and I wrote this weekly column in the newspaper and it was sort of an advice column for teenagers who were believers, said Huckabee.
The former Arkansas governor added the title of the column, RAPture Express, came from combining rap and the rapture.
So the term the Rapture Express came from the very popular term in the 70s for rap, meaning to converse and of course rapture was something we were all talking about in the 70s. So much talking about the second coming. But anyway, I did this so, BuzzFeed, I dont know how they got em, Im not sure, dont really care, but they found sets, a whole selection of the columns I wrote, on which I discussed things like dating, dancing, smoking, I mean all sorts of issues that would be relevant to a 1973 teenager. Cause thats when it was, 1973. I was 17.
Huckabee said he found it funny people were focusing on his old columns, specifically one in which he wrote Christians shouldnt dance, when at the same time other potential Republican candidates were addressing past drug use and drinking.
Well it was basically likeyou knowI couldnt say that it was prohibited but I wasnt sure that it was good for a persons witness. Anyway, the funniest thing, I mean, I read this and I laughed out loud and I said, while other candidates are being outed for their teenage drug use, their teenage alcohol use, their teenage partying hard, doing all sorts of destructive things like painting graffiti on bridges. The scandal with me is that I wrote a column at age 17 telling Christian young people to live a godly life. So, I mean, I just had to say, is this really controversial? Id much rather have to defend this than say, yes, I used to regularly be apart of the choom gang. Its just bizarre.
Huckabee said BuzzFeed News story showed how contemptuous the left really is toward believers.
I just wish that I can grow as much hair now Tony, I really do. Now Ive been made fun of by my own family because of the sideburns. But I tell them, I say, hey, it was 1973, what do you think Im going to look like? Thank goodness they didnt have the bell bottom pants to show those as well. I just find that its amazing, but it shows though how contemptuous the left really is toward believers. They truly think that we are just laughable for the beliefs we hold. Rather than let get me down and make me all depressed, I just take it as, wow, the worst thing they can say about us is that we truly believe that the scripture teaches us to live a circumspect life, okay well you got me, I plead guilty, and well find something else to be upset about.
