Josh at TPM has got a new Christianist Dog Whistle catch from Hucklebee’s campaign, and I think he’s underplaying it. It sounds simple to the point of simplistic (like a lot of Hucky’s stuff) but it is a deep and foul pit indeed once you dig into it.

The word is “Vertical.” Josh has a screen shot with the quote “I think the country is looking for somebody who is vertical, who is thinking, Let’s take America up and not down.”

So what is a “vertical thinker” anyway? Horizontal brings to mind Fred Thompson, but resist that thought and think in terms of society, and communities, and how we organize ourselves and agree to follow certain rules: i.e., government.

The short? “Vertical” means that rules—which is to say laws—come down from God Above, and all we can, and should, and must do is obey them. “Horizontal” thinking by contrast is what us old time freethinkers thought was the social contract, agreements, the coming together of people to agree, one person one vote, on what the laws would be.

Not in Huck’s world.  Read more