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On CBS, Armen Keteyian pursued his Investigation of the Rev Kenneth Copeland, a televangelist whose Prosperity Gospel ministry is under fire from a Senate committee. Last week, Keteyian examined Copeland's finances; now he looks at his politics. Specifically, Keteyian implied that Republican Mike Huckabee is a hypocrite--"not practicing what he preaches"--for accepting campaign funds raised by Copeland at a meeting of evangelical ministers at his headquarters in Texas.
Yet Keteyian only gave one example of what Huckabee preaches: "Treat people like you would want to be treated," a precept he showed no evidence of being violated. He produced only one critic of Huckabee, good government activist Melanie Sloan of the inside-the-Beltway Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington. Her criticism of Huckabee amounted to no more than guilt by association: he "has terrible judgment because not only is he being closely associated with someone under this ethical cloud, he is refusing to distance himself."
Besides campaign contributions from Copeland himself and the ministers he organized, what was the nature of the close association? Huckabee was a guest of Copeland's television ministry last November for an apolitical interview on "integrity of character." Copeland offered not to air the interview once news of the investigation into his finances surfaced for fear that it might harm Huckabee's candidacy. Huckabee vociferously stuck by his commitment. "He hollered at me on the phone," Copeland recalled.
Huckabee, on his own behalf, declared: "If it is legal, legitimate, honest contributions I am not sure what the premise would be of giving it back." Neither is it clear what is the premise of the insinuations made by Keteyian and Sloan.
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