Happy Hour Roundup
• Mike Huckabee wishes he'd had more time at last night's debate to explain his disbelief in evolution, and how he would not try to have creationism taught in schools. "I'm not sure what in the world that has to do with being president of the United States," Huckabee said about the whole subject.
• Rogue state Florida's push to advance their primary ahead of the national parties' official calendar could have huge repercussions — potentially prompting Iowa to move the caucus to Jan. 7 or even earlier.
• Gallup shows Hillary Clinton with a net unfavorable rating among Americans, with 45% favorable and 52% unfavorable.
• Mitt Romney will speak tomorrow at Pat Robertson's Regent University. He is not expected to directly address concerns about the Latter-Day Saints religion.
• Romney's campaign has a major grassroots push planned out, hoping to sign up 24,000 supporters within 24 hours of the first Republican debate to be held in South Carolina, to be held on May 15.
• Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin first brought up the idea of providing Secret Service protection to Barack Obama, out of concern for the size of Obama's crowds — plus suspicious materials that have not been otherwise specified. "It is the sad reality this day and age that Mr. Obama’s African American heritage is a cause for very violent and hated reactions from some people," Durbin told local media in Chicago.
• Bill Richardson supports immediate de-authorization of the Iraq War, followed by an orderly withdrawal and no residual troops left behind.
• Chuck Hagel acknowledged that an Independent bid for President is still possible: "I don't ever foreclose any options."
• Some Georgia Democrats are reportedly urging conservative Democratic Congressman Jim Marshall to run against GOP Senator Saxby Chambliss.
• The Los Angeles Times speculates about whether Fred Thompson's portrayal of a white supremacist on a TV show 20 years ago could hurt him in the age of YouTube.
The Gallup numbers on Hillary are absolutely brutal. The air is leaking out of the balloon.........
I don't see how money, organization, or experience can fix what is wrong with her campaign. Look at the breakdown in Gallups poll. Both the positives and the negatives are not driven by issues. I have been chanting for months, "It's the authenticity, stupid!"
May 4, 2007 8:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Eric, FWIW, that Gallup poll isn't new; it's from mid-April.
http://pollingreport.com/C2.htm#Hillary
May 4, 2007 8:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
And two months earlier her numbers were 58 positive, 40 negative. It's too much of a swing in both directions, frankly. Most other polls have her positives and negatives running about even, which isn't good but it's better than the dire picture Gallup portrays. I think HRC is electable. At this moment, though, Obama and Edwards are more so. The first primary is still eight months away.
May 4, 2007 8:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
FWIW, Brooks and Shields both proclaimed that they liked Huckabee on the PBS Newhour this evening. He came across as genuine, was the flavor of their remarks.
I have not watched his performance.
May 4, 2007 10:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Huckabee's probably the nicest guy in the GOP lineup and he wasn't afraid to appear on the Daily Show. And he plays bass guitar! McCain was on recently and mixed it up with Jon Stewart on Iraq. I can't imagine Mitt or Tommy showing up there. Ron Paul might be interesting, though.
That said, none of them should be president.
May 4, 2007 11:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Huckabee is as big a jerk as the rest of the Republican candidates, plus he's a hypocritical fundie, to boot, and his son's apparently a psycho:
"(Miller County, Arkansas) Two boy scout counselors, 17 year old Clayton Frady and 18 year old David Huckabee, the son of Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, have admitted to catching a stray dog during their summer session at Camp Pioneer in Hatfield, AR, and hanging the dog by his neck, slitting his throat and stoning him to death.
Camp officials, who did not report the crime to law enforcement officials, have admitted that the act did occur and have fired the boys from their positions. However, no charges have been filed against the young men.
Arkansas State Police conducted a perfunctory investigation, but did not attempt to locate witnesses to the crime."
Good work with the kid, Dad -- shall we see what you can do with the whole country?
May 5, 2007 10:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is it possible at all we can leave the candidates' families out of this?
The development of a psychopath that Huckabee's kid may or may not be is the subject of intense research. Once it was pretty much a given that mommy, and pretty much only the mother, was to blame. It was once the same with autistics though that canard seems to be pretty much discarded.
Genetic inheritance and childhood development certainly play a part. For instance psychopathic serial killers have nearly universally been shown to have suffered traumatic brain injury. I doubt the incidence is coincidental but rather that there is a causal relationship.
Let's leave the trash talk regarding family to Republicans shall we?
Just a thought for you.
Best, Terry
May 5, 2007 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Huckabee said if given a chance to elaborate on the question from MSNBC moderator Chris Matthews, he would have responded: ``If you want to believe that you and your family came from apes, I'll accept that....I believe there was a creative process.''"
Ugh. I agree that he seemed like a nice enough guy on Colbert etc., but comments like this make me seriously doubt his mental capacity.
Governor, it's not a matter of "what I want to believe", it's a matter of what the data suggest. That's why it's science and not religion. Sheesh, no wonder Republican control of this country is forcing it into the toilet.
May 5, 2007 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
If this is true, I suspect it shows the parameter -- sadly -- of pro-life beliefs. I've seen this type of attitude in rural Colorado, they love to display their pro-life bumper stickers (usually on the back of a pick-up), but they can be unbelievably callous to their pets.
Although this may seem like an odd observation, it's a something that I've run into so frequently of late that I couldn't help but notice.
And I'll even segue into what I think drives this attitude. See "Dominionism," here:
http://www.publiceye.org/cgi-bin/htsearch.cgi
May 6, 2007 7:58 AM | Reply | Permalink