How Huckabee Could Stop President Palin

Frum Forum ^ | November 22nd, 2010 at 10:22 am | David Frum

[onyx]

“A nightstick the size of a telephone pole and the muscle to wield it effortlessly.”

Mike Huckabee, who knows a thing or two about insurgent campaigns, sees the power of the Palin candidacy. Taegan Goddard links this morning to the Des Moines Register:

Mike Huckabee told the Des Moines Register that Sarah Palin would be a strong contender for president should she decide to run.

Said Huckabee: “No question, she will be a very, very strong presence and force, if she gets in. You know, she may run away with it. And that’s one of those things everyone needs to be prepared for.

Huckabee’s words are more than an observation. They are a warning. And they are a warning especially to be heeded because they come from the one politician who can probably do most to stop Palin, the candidate best positioned to win Iowa.

Huckabee himself is also persona non grata with party leaders, because of his repeated criticism of Wall Street and Wall Street minded GOP insiders.

But Huckabee is a very different cat from Sarah Palin. He’s smart and policy-minded. And while he expresses a strong social conservative message, he does not play the politics of division, disparagement, and resentment in which Palin specializes.

In the days of party conventions, the answer to the Palin problem would have been obvious: party leaders would assemble and force the mutually mistrustful Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee onto the same ticket.

In modern times, the game is played differently, but the structure of the situation remains the same: an early Huckabee pact with a candidate acceptable to Republican donors (if not Romney, then Tim Pawlenty or even Jeb Bush) would command enough clout to push Palin off the stage.

If not, all bets are off. As I think about it, that’s one of the big problems with the candidacies of a Thune, a Daniels or a Barbour: They will need Huckabee as much or more than Romney does.

Yet Huckabee is also a re-elected governor, plus he won the second largest haul of delegates last time. Why should he defer to any of the lower-polling governors? And who will make him?

“A nightstick the size of a telephone pole and the muscle to wield it effortlessly.”

Mike Huckabee, who knows a thing or two about insurgent campaigns, sees the power of the Palin candidacy. Taegan Goddard links this morning to the Des Moines Register:

Mike Huckabee told the Des Moines Register that Sarah Palin would be a strong contender for president should she decide to run.

Said Huckabee: “No question, she will be a very, very strong presence and force, if she gets in. You know, she may run away with it. And that’s one of those things everyone needs to be prepared for.

Huckabee’s words are more than an observation. They are a warning. And they are a warning especially to be heeded because they come from the one politician who can probably do most to stop Palin, the candidate best positioned to win Iowa.

Huckabee himself is also persona non grata with party leaders, because of his repeated criticism of Wall Street and Wall Street minded GOP insiders.

But Huckabee is a very different cat from Sarah Palin. He’s smart and policy-minded. And while he expresses a strong social conservative message, he does not play the politics of division, disparagement, and resentment in which Palin specializes.

In the days of party conventions, the answer to the Palin problem would have been obvious: party leaders would assemble and force the mutually mistrustful Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee onto the same ticket.

In modern times, the game is played differently, but the structure of the situation remains the same: an early Huckabee pact with a candidate acceptable to Republican donors (if not Romney, then Tim Pawlenty or even Jeb Bush) would command enough clout to push Palin off the stage.

If not, all bets are off. As I think about it, that’s one of the big problems with the candidacies of a Thune, a Daniels or a Barbour: They will need Huckabee as much or more than Romney does.

Yet Huckabee is also a re-elected governor, plus he won the second largest haul of delegates last time. Why should he defer to any of the lower-polling governors? And who will make him?

“A nightstick the size of a telephone pole and the muscle to wield it effortlessly.”

Mike Huckabee, who knows a thing or two about insurgent campaigns, sees the power of the Palin candidacy. Taegan Goddard links this morning to the Des Moines Register:

Mike Huckabee told the Des Moines Register that Sarah Palin would be a strong contender for president should she decide to run.

Said Huckabee: “No question, she will be a very, very strong presence and force, if she gets in. You know, she may run away with it. And that’s one of those things everyone needs to be prepared for.

Huckabee’s words are more than an observation. They are a warning. And they are a warning especially to be heeded because they come from the one politician who can probably do most to stop Palin, the candidate best positioned to win Iowa.

Huckabee himself is also persona non grata with party leaders, because of his repeated criticism of Wall Street and Wall Street minded GOP insiders.

But Huckabee is a very different cat from Sarah Palin. He’s smart and policy-minded. And while he expresses a strong social conservative message, he does not play the politics of division, disparagement, and resentment in which Palin specializes.

In the days of party conventions, the answer to the Palin problem would have been obvious: party leaders would assemble and force the mutually mistrustful Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee onto the same ticket.

In modern times, the game is played differently, but the structure of the situation remains the same: an early Huckabee pact with a candidate acceptable to Republican donors (if not Romney, then Tim Pawlenty or even Jeb Bush) would command enough clout to push Palin off the stage.

If not, all bets are off. As I think about it, that’s one of the big problems with the candidacies of a Thune, a Daniels or a Barbour: They will need Huckabee as much or more than Romney does.

Yet Huckabee is also a re-elected governor, plus he won the second largest haul of delegates last time. Why should he defer to any of the lower-polling governors? And who will make him?

[fso301]

The only thing the Huckster would bring Republicans as a presidential candidate is another John McCain nominee.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

time to post the Christmas picture of the Huckster and his family

Is that the one with everybody in striped shirts? I remember a thread about it. Most laughs a single thread ever gave me.

[onyx]

LOL. You made me LOLOLOLOL.

[onyx]

Hahahahahaha.
That there was their official Christmas card one year when he was the governor! LOL.

[onyx]

Yes. Huckabee is not Mister Excitement.

[DrewsMum]

Frum sounds like he’d prefer HITLER over SP....

This wasn’t a pro-Huckabee article as much as it was an “anti-Sarah” one.... Repubs are freaking out... I am more & more convinced that it has a whole lot to do w/her being a woman.

[MBB1984]

Maybe, but if Huckster wins it and Romney wins NH, Huckster would have a good chance of winning in SC. At that point it would look like a Huckster v. Romney race with Palin out. If Romney then wins FL, it may be over.

Huckster may be Romney's stalking horse and Romney's VP nominee.

[Diogenesis]

BigSkyFreeper (RomneyBOT demanding a Romney opportunity):
”Romney will probably get points for being persuasive on an economic agenda.
He may win NH, but doesn’t guarantee he would win the nomination.”

First, Romney is ONLY a spoiler like his RomneyBOT spoilers.

Second, Romney SUCKED on economy. Only his RomneyBOTs
like you, push this nonsense.

Third, bastard RomneyBOTs (when they are not supporting
the 911 Victory Mosque) are busy subverting the election ... again.

Proven-Failed Governor Mitt Romney should be NOWHERE the federal gov't.

"As U.S. real output grew 13 percent between 2002 and 2006, Massachusetts trailed at 9 percent.
* Manufacturing employment fell 7 percent nationwide those years, but sank 14 percent under Romney, placing Massachusetts 48th among the states.
* Between fall 2003 and autumn 2006, U.S. job growth averaged 5.4 percent, nearly three times Massachusetts' anemic 1.9 percent pace.
* While 8 million Americans over age 16 found work between 2002 and 2006, the number of employed Massachusetts residents actually declined by 8,500 during those years.
"Massachusetts was the only state to have failed to post any gain in its pool of employed residents," professors Sum and McLaughlin concluded.
In an April 2003 meeting with the Massachusetts congressional delegation in Washington, Romney failed to endorse President Bush's $726 billion tax-cut proposal."
[Cato Institute annual Fiscal Policy Report Card - America's Governors, 2004.]

---

Alex Beam: “In truth, Ronald Reagan
and Mitt Romney have as much in common
as Cardinal O’Malley and Conan O’Brien.
Deservedly or not, Reagan earned a reputation for constancy.
Once he turned against communism, he opposed it big-time.
…. And our former governor? Inconstancy, thy name is Mitt!
A woman’s right to choose? Yes! No! Yes!
Are we in Massachusetts? Yes! Are we in Iowa? No!
Are we on TV? Whatever!”

[Jim Noble]

This article was obviously put out by the Huckabee people

Nope.

If you put on your magic spectacles, you can see the invisible words < vote for Mitt > < vote for Mitt > between each paragraph.

Frum and his brethren think the American people are stupid (they're not ALWAYS wrong), and that their boy Mitt can kill off Sarah using surrogates while staying clean himself.

Who knows, it might work - but probably not. We're onto him, and we have ways of communicating besides using Kathleen Parker, Peggy Noonan, (yes, and you too, Hugh Hewitt) and David Frum.

But, honestly, what's the Mittster supposed to do? If he attacks Sarah openly, he pisses away what little chance he has. If he lets the status quo continue to play out, there won't BE a contest for the nomination.

So, he's chosen the route of the weasel.

[stockpirate]

Huck is a liberal troll, and Ann Coulter called him a liberal on his own TV show.

He makes me sick, He stayed in the race to get face time when he had no chance if winning.

A vote for Huck is a vote for Obama lite.

The article leaves out some major issues with Huckm one his pardons!

[stockpirate]

Winning Iowa is important to liberals on both sides because it is a liberal state, controlled by a liberal press.

[DocH]

Gomer is squishy on a lot of things.

Nice guy, but TOO nice to be the leader of our party, country, and world.

As Carville said Hillary could give a testicle to Obama, and they'd both have two, the same is true of Palin and Gomer.

We DO NOT need yet another "compassionate" "conservative" in the White House who's always trying to be nice to our domestic enemies by reaching across the aisle at every opportunity.

We need a kick-ass, no holds barred, no-shit CONSERVATIVE with the balls to tell it like it is and do what is right for America and Americans no matter what.

[Aut Pax Aut Bellum]

Is this the best this country can come up with for a presidential candidate? These three (or four if you count newt?) I like aspects of some, but none strike me as very charismatic, powerful enough to save us...what happened to real men?

[onyx]

You sure might be onto something! This “article” or column, is part of the STOP SARAH PALIN movement. You’re absolutely right. The ole boys club is not a figment of our imagination.

[onyx]

That’s right....LOL. Coulter called him a liberal on his own sorry show. I heard about that, so I watched the replay!!

[onyx]

Sarah Palin is the “real man” among this group, and the sissies know it.

[detective]

“Huckabee is a very different cat from Sarah Palin. He’s smart and policy-minded. And while he expresses a strong social conservative message, he does not play the politics of division, disparagement, and resentment in which Palin specializes.”

“Huckabee’s words are more than an observation. They are a warning. And they are a warning especially to be heeded because they come from the one politician who can probably do most to stop Palin, the candidate best positioned to win Iowa.”

The article praised Huckabee and attacked Sarah Palin. It then said that Huckabee is the only candidate who can save the Republicans from Sarah Palin. This article was obviously inspired by Republicans who only care about defeating Sarah and not about the American people. While you would need very strong “magic spectacles” to see Romney sponsoring this article, I believe he is capable of this.

If Huckabee and his people are not responsible for this article he should say publicly that he disagrees with it and the characterization of Sarah Palin.

I am sick of the Republican elite sponsoring articles that anonymously attack Sarah Palin when they don't have the courage to say the same things to her face.

[WilliamHouston]

Frum talking up Huckabee. A positive indicator that Palin is the true conservative in the race.

[Clyde5445]

Thats not a surpise before the election the AR GOP called none other than Sarah Palin to raise funds for them.

It seems AR GOP has no use for Huck.

[onyx]

You’re right.