Guess Who Just Loves The Clintons — Christian Rightist Mike Huckabee!
Via the USA Today blog, you absolutely need to check out the interview Mike Huckabee just gave NPR's new podcast show, The Bryant Park Project. It turns out the man is an admirer of ... the Clintons:
"You know, I've never hated the Clintons. I still don't, I have great respect for them. He made a lot of mistakes — a lot of personal ones — but you know something that I think should not be forgotten. There's two things about Bill Clinton I tell Republicans, it drives them nuts, but here it is."Number one, don't get it lost on you that a kid out of a very small, Southern rural state aspired to be President of the United States. This kid came from a dysfunctional family — alcoholic abusive father. And yet he didn't just aspire, he was elected president of the United States not once, but twice. That is an affirmation of the system. And it's a wonderful testament to give to every kid in America that no matter where you've come from, you've got an opportunity to do something extraordinary.
"The second thing, and this'll really wrangle, again, some of my Republican colleagues. Bill Clinton and Hillary went through some horrible experiences in their marriage, because of some of the reckless behavior that he has admitted he had. I'm not defending him on that — it's indefensible. But they kept their marriage together. And a lot of the Republicans who have condemned them, and who talk about their platform of family values, interestingly didn't keep their own families together."
This guy should keep talking! To me he makes a lot of sense, especially with the one where he essentially calls the rightwingnuts hypocrites, and suggests that the Clintons, for having stuck together through thick and thin with their marriage intact, are more 'moral' than their Bible-quoting, 'God-fearing' wingnuts, who are divorced!
Now, we can at least explain HRC's strong Hawg Country poll numbers.
August 17, 2007 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Man, this Huckabee character must really make the wingers seethe. For that reason alone, I kinda like him. I'd never in a million years vote for him, but it appears that he is less of a lying hypocrite than the folks who make up the base to whom he must appeal.
Keep talking, about the swamp that is your Party. We enjoy it over here at least!
August 17, 2007 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Stephen Colbert can hand Huckabee the nomination, maybe they will let him give the keynote at the RNC convention.
August 17, 2007 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I mean I totally disagree with Huckabee on almost everything, but you've got to admit that sometimes he's speaking truth to power... I love the part about the Republicans' family values...
[CT]
One million page hits against Bush!!!
August 17, 2007 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Got that Newt, Rudy, McCain, Fred?
August 17, 2007 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Classy guy!
August 17, 2007 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can we give him a Matthew Yglesias award?
August 17, 2007 6:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
With the exception of his googly eyes (seriously, take a look at one of his pictures when he's facing the camera dead-on), Mike Huckabee scares the hell out of me. Of all the GOPers, he's the only one who can successfully pull off the ultimate flanking maneuver -- going to the right and the left of your opponent at the same time.
I've only seen this maneuver done once - Dick Murphy v. Ron Roberts for Mayor of San Diego - but it worked to perfection. Can you imagine Huckabee against Hillary Clinton? He would move to her left on economic policy (he's a populist) and possibly Iraq, while staying to her right on social issues. . .sorry, I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.
Anyway, he could be serious trouble for us - if he gets out of the primary.
August 17, 2007 6:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree, treglio. He's the only GOP candidate who I can see average people voting for.
August 17, 2007 9:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
He certainly could beat Hillary. On the other hand, Huckabee vs. Obama both would be a likely easy win for the Ds, and the sort of campaign--fought on ideas by two basically civil guys--that would make a lot of us feel much better about our screwed-up politics.
But I can't see him getting it. Today's Republican Party is organized around one principle: how much they hate liberals. And Huckabee doesn't seem nearly hate-addled enough for the rabid righty base and the Christatollahs like Dobson. Add in that he--gasp!--raised taxes once or twice to pay for badly needed services for non-millionaires, and you have to believe that Grover Norquist wouldn't give him much love either. It ain't happening.
August 17, 2007 10:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
If he likes Hillary, it makes me wonder... Does she "believe" in ecolution?
August 17, 2007 11:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOOK OUT FOR THIS MAN!
He gives people the same warm fuzzy that Bush did in 2000. I like a lot of what he says. But at the end of the day, if he is president, we have a very rightwing idealogue for at least another 4 years. Breyer, Stevens and Ginsberg replaced by this guy? Roe's gone. Not to mention he's extremely hateful of gays.
He comes across like a rightwing Edwards. He could beat almost anyone we nominate. He can't get the GOP nod or we're doomed.
August 17, 2007 11:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Huckabee would match up perfectly as a VP candidate on a Rudy ticket, which is a scary thought (Rudy is a lot scarier than Huckabee, for my money.)
Has anyone else noticed that, except for the rather sweet, puppy-dog expression, Huckabee actually looks a lot like Richard Nixon? I'm not saying this to bash Huckabee--his entire persona is 180 degrees from Nixonn's--but physically the resemblance is striking.
August 18, 2007 8:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, I've noticed this resemblance too. I wondered if I was the only one.
August 18, 2007 9:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
So Mike Huckabee likes Bill Clinton. Great. That ought to give Hillary's campaign a real boost. I think Huckabee is representative of a lot of Hillary's supporters, actually--he can't tell the difference between the former president and the wife of the former president.
"The Clintons" aren't running for office. Hillary is. That's not a minor point.
August 18, 2007 11:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is it possible on this or any other forum to simply regard a personal response as that? Huckabee is refreshing here because he's able to show a little respect for someone because of who they are and not for the political party they represent. He has made a similar comment defending Hillary's commitment to her religious faith when she has been attacked by the right for lacking such. It would be a fine day in this country, indeed the world, when people can discuss differences in policy or ideology while retaining respect, even reverence, for the personhood of the other. I oppose the pubic policy positions of Huckabee and I applaud and respect the fact that he can be a person who relates and shows respect as a person, even at the cost of some political backlash.
August 18, 2007 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think it is unfair and misleading to use the word "loves" in the header here.
Mike Huckabee never expressed anything close to "love." He merely pointed out some truth: that Bill Clinton pulled himself up from humble beginnings in a troubled family, that the Clintons stayed together "for better or for worse," and that many of their Republican critics are major hypocrites.
August 18, 2007 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it's mostly about showing some pride for a fellow Arkansan.
August 18, 2007 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
NJ Lawyer, that's a good point. And more than that, believe it or not, they're both from Hope. And if you've ever been to Hope, Arkansas, you'll realize what a miracle it is to have two successful politicians emerge from it.
August 18, 2007 6:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Huckabee would be most effective against Senator Clinton in the General because in a lot of ways he is a change candidate (though when you dig a little deeper it's more a rhetorical change up). Against Obama I don't think he'd do so well. He'd probably win the debates, but Obama has more charisma and gives a better inspirational speech.
I think he's a good person (indeed he's my favorite candidate) but he's more of a Hoover (use the bully pulpit to encourage everyone to play nice) than a Teddy Roosevelt (go make it happen). There's lots of good rhetoric there, but he doesn't believe the government should do anything about it. So he can simultaneously sound left but act right
Here's a sample
Notice how on energy and food security he is terribly, terribly concerned....and the answer is for the government to get out of the way and let the better angels of our nature solve it.
August 19, 2007 7:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
I saw him on Colbert last week. He's different from the other repubs because he's got a sense of humor, a quick wit, and isn't afraid to parry with someone like Colbert. That in itself sets him apart from the Stepford Men in the rest of the party. It also means that they view him as a loose cannon and don't know what to do with him, even though he's actually the closest thing to an actual evangelical Christian in the whole lot of them. The GOP machine wants a puppet they can manipulate. That worked out well with Bush.
August 19, 2007 8:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are good reasons why Markos (of dKos) singled out Huckabee many months ago as the one Republican candidate who made him nervous (in the "might win an election" way, not in a "would be a disaster for the world").
Obviously, the fact that Huckabee has been languishing in both the polls and the fundraising race since then has lessened his nervousness, but still.
August 20, 2007 11:03 AM | Reply | Permalink