Governor Mike Huckabee’s victory yesterday - made possible by Evangelical support, who came out to vote in droves - spells trouble for the Republican Party, as I mentioned earlier today. The reason is that Huckabee isn’t fiscally conservative, and too much of a populist, who uses religion so much that fiscal and traditional conservatives feel that, whatever happens, he can’t be the nominee.

We now see what these conservatives think of Huckabee and his supporters. Steven Green - aka the Vodkapundit - published an open letter to Iowa Republicans… and it ain’t nice:

Dear Iowa Republicans,

I’ll put this in language even your tiny little Iowa brains can understand: What the f*** is wrong with you people?

The news coming out of Des Moines (literally, French for “tell me about the rabbits, George”) tonight is distressing in the extreme. 32 years ago, your Democratic brethren took one look at Jimmy Carter — the worst 20th Century President bar Nixon, and the worst ex-President ever — and declared, “That’s our man!”

Three decades later, and along comes Mike Huckabee. Same moral pretentiousness, same gullibility on foreign affairs, only-slightly-less toothy idiot’s grin. Then you so-called Republicans took a look at Carter’s clone and said, “That’s our man, too!”

Allahpundit fears that Green is too aggressive and that he will give Christian conservative the impression that he thinks they’re stupid. He also fears(?) that Green’s post won’t hurt Huckabee, but help him since these are the kinds of attacks Huckabee likes to talk about every other hour or so, basically saying that Christianity is under attack.

In other words, he doesn’t disagree with Green, he’s merely unhappy with the way Green worded it.

David J. Sanders, meanwhile, wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal in which he also criticizes Huckabee.

As governor, he championed the ARKids First, which extended free health insurance not only to children of the working poor but to some lower middle-class families. He pleased teachers unions with his consistent opposition to school choice and voucher programs. He satisfied labor by signing into law a minimum-wage hike of 21%. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me”–Mr. Huckabee’s oft-cited scriptural justification for growing government–proved costly for Arkansans, who saw government spending double and their taxes rise about a half-billion dollars during his tenure.

It’s unlikely that Mr. Huckabee, as president, would be able to shepherd a federal marriage amendment through the House, the Senate and the state legislatures, but signing into law a cap-and-trade system ostensibly aimed at limiting global warming (something he has called a “moral issue”) would be much easier. If he wanted to push protectionist “fair trade” policies and a greater federal government role in health care, a Democratic Congress would be more than willing to let him live out his faith on the taxpayers’ dime.

He goes on to write that it’s likely that a President Huckabee would sign all kinds of bill expanding the size of the government, while saying that it’s the ‘moral’ thing to do.

As if that’s not enough we also have Rick Moran who lashes out at Huckabee today in a post called “Facing Up To The Unbearable Truth.” Rick writes:

I am bereft today. What was once unthinkable has now become slightly more realistic. The odds of Huckaboob getting the nomination are still pretty long. After all, there are plenty of states where they have churches that are for, you know, worshipping God and not plotting the downfall of the Republican party by nominating a fellow who believes the earth was created 6,000 years ago and that it took only 7 days for the universe to expand, cool, coalesce, and create an infinite number of galaxies filled with uncounted numbers of stars. And let’s not start with the notion that God simply plopped millions of creatures on planet earth because the elderly gent was lonely. In those states where rational, thinking Christians outnumber the kinds of loons who voted for Huckabee in Iowa, the Huckadisaster will have trouble.

And there’s more: “The prospect of what would be going through the mind of Osama Bin Laden at the thought of a Huckabee presidency cannot be put down on paper lest the sheer, abject horror of it were to give the reader a heart attack.” And then: “And yet here we are the day after the Iowa Caucuses gazing up into the dopey looking visage of a rube who, with his fake sincerity and oily words have hypnotized the faithful into thinking that he’s the man to lead the way to the New Jerusalem.”

The backlash doesn’t surprise me, but I have to say that the two sides are having a real go at each other which impresses me. Huckabee and his supporters lash out at those who disagree with them saying that their opponents are merely corporate elitists and fake Republicans, while Huckabee’s opponents do everything in their power to portray Huckabee as a complete Christian fundamentalist idiot.

And a socialist at that.

Although I’m not a fan of the way Huckabee mixes politics and religion and not of his populism, I have to say that I get the impression that American conservatives have to be very careful lest they blow the Republican Party up… from the inside. What led the GOP to success is the conservative coalition. Each conservative group has to be taken seriously for that coalition to survive. When different groups make war on each other, the coalition is likely to end, especially if a good compromise candidate doesn’t surface.

Both groups will remember what the other group said about them. That’s dangerous for the GOP.

On the other hand, the infighting is incredibly good news for the Democratic Party. Clinton and Obama are probably celebrating the constant attacks, hoping that the fight will get even dirtier. The more conservatives attack each other, the more likely it is that the Democratic nominee will win come November.

And my opinion about the goals? Well, as a Dutch conservative - which puts me right-of-center or center in the US - I have to say that I have little to no sympathy for Huckabee’s populist message and that I’m not very fond of Christian conservatism as such either. O, and I also believe that a presidential candidate should have foreign policy experience. With regards to the direction the GOP has taken over the years I’ll only say this: if I were American I would work very hard at having the party change directions, and - if necessary - I would be willing to blow up the coalition. Again, if that’s what it would take to stop Social Conservatives from taking over the party, I would probably be willing to do it.

This also means, however, that they’ve got to come up with an alternative coalition, or at least one that’s not dominated by one side or another. In this particular case, that could very well mean that the GOP would have to lose the 08 elections, use the following four possibly eight years to rebuild a coalition and then to take back the White House in 2012 or 2016.

Are American fiscal and traditional conservatives willing to do that? If not, they should tone down the rhetoric.

Fast.