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The Rush Fallout for Huckabee: Fatal, or Missing the Target?
The Campaign Spot ^ | 12/21/2007 | Jim Geraghty

Posted on 12/21/2007 12:05:13 PM PST by Checkers

After today, Rush Limbaugh is in reruns until January 3, the day of the Iowa caucuses.

Highlight from a moment ago: "The drive bys are doing everything they can to influence the Republican primary. Mike Huckabee has been getting a pass from the drive-bys... They don't want Rudy because they think he can beat Hillary. They don't want Romney because of the same thing. They don't want Fred Thompson because of the same thing."

Can a guy who's been slammed as hard as Mike Huckabee has by Rush Limbaugh, the most popular conservative radio talk show host in the country, go on to win the Iowa caucuses? Anybody think Rush will have dropped this issue by the third of January?

My instinct is to say, "no way, a thumbs down from Rush is fatal," but a guy on another campaign cautions me. "An Iowa pastor who has been talking up Huckabee isn't going to change his mind because Rush Limbaugh doesn't like him." He points out that a pastors and religous leaders deal with people who fall short of their ideals all the time; hearing that Mike Huckabee was too merciful in dealing with Wayne Dumond is not going to be a dealbreaker for them. They'll probably go, no pun intended, "there but for the grace of God go I."

So... if a certain significant chunk of Huckabee's supporters back him because he's the most vocal Christian in the race, not because of the conservatism of his record or policy stances.... if the moment comes where the race needs a Huck Slayer (as social conservatives thought the race might require a Rudy Slayer)... can anybody in the race go after Huckabee on that ground? Can anyone make the argument to that Republican plurality, "Okay, nevermind conservative policy choices - he's not the good Christian leader you think he is"?

Tough ground to fight on. Just thinking out loud here, can a rival point out the ethics questions from Huckabee's Arkansas days? Is Huckabee's "innocent" question about Mormon beliefs the act of a good Christian? Is there something borderline blasphemous to compare opponents' direct mail to a Biblical verse describing "weapons" deployed against the righteous, or comparing one's campaign fundraising to the miracle of loaves and fishes?

Would Jesus hire Ed Rollins?


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: elections; gitmo; huck; huckabee; rush; talkradio
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To: OKIEDOC

Huck’s supporters sound just like the peanuts did back then.

Jimmy was the first born again with the twenty pound bible campaigning on TV and suckers plenty of people.


181 posted on 12/21/2007 9:05:01 PM PST by razorback-bert (Remember that amateurs built the Ark while professionals built the Titanic.)
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To: mcjordansc

“Boy, now I know how to get a bunch Freepers upset, criticize the great Rush Limbaugh. What is funny is how personal you all get. Nice to see that so many people are able to set aside intellectual curiosity and allow Rush Limbaugh to do their thinking for them.”

Hey scumbag, you’re the one who went personal when you made reference to “pill-popping” and “thrice-divorced”.

Put down the crackpipe.


182 posted on 12/21/2007 9:10:48 PM PST by Checkers (First they came for the Mormons, but I said nothing because I was not Mormon.)
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To: grey_whiskers
Yes, but conservative and Southern Baptist are a redundant terms.

They are ultra-conservatives.

I don’t think the Huckster is all that liberal. He wants everyone to quit smoking.

183 posted on 12/21/2007 9:12:04 PM PST by Little_GTO
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To: roamer_1
"The best way (and maybe the only way) to cause te Christians to drop their support of Huckabee is to offer them a choice. Huck is the only real thing they have to vote for." The choice is clear:
184 posted on 12/21/2007 9:16:24 PM PST by Checkers (First they came for the Mormons, but I said nothing because I was not Mormon.)
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To: inkling

I hate to say it but Rush imagined it. The only time Rush was mentioned was by the CBS reporter:

CBSNews.com:
Let’s start with the attacks on Governor Huckabee from a lot of Republican establishment figures lately. Rush Limbaugh has called him “the Huckster.” Rich Lowry, the editor of the National Review, has said it would be suicide to nominate him. Why do you think he’s provoking all of this criticism?

Ed Rollins:
Well, I think first of all he is not an establishment candidate. I don’t think anybody anticipated early on when he started to run that he would do as well as he’s doing. Some of these guys have picked other candidates.

And I think, to a certain extent, the alleged wise men have sat around in either the studios, or the newsrooms, basically writing magazine articles. They didn’t see it coming and I think they underestimated him.


185 posted on 12/21/2007 9:17:38 PM PST by donna (Duncan Hunter: US Army, 1969-1971, with service in Vietnam)
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To: Mr Rogers

Pro Life

Anti Homosexual agenda


186 posted on 12/21/2007 9:19:51 PM PST by Little_GTO
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To: mcjordansc

“Yes, because Rush Limbaugh and Ronald Reagan are so much alike. This was a dumb post.”

Your posts ain’t exactly Mensa material.


187 posted on 12/21/2007 9:20:42 PM PST by Checkers (First they came for the Mormons, but I said nothing because I was not Mormon.)
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To: tear gas

Rush knew Rudy from when he was in New York.

Rudy is a friend of Rodger Ailes.


188 posted on 12/21/2007 9:25:59 PM PST by Little_GTO
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To: Evil_Bok

“Huckabee is better than Mitt in every way.”

Condi bitchslapped the Huck today.

It was a beautiful sight to behold.


189 posted on 12/21/2007 9:28:56 PM PST by Checkers (First they came for the Mormons, but I said nothing because I was not Mormon.)
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To: MaestroLC
He’s a populist

And that's bad? Jack Kemp, whom I always admired, was a Populist. DO YOU KNOW WHAT A POPULIST IS? It's one who espouses "Populism".

Populism defined: The representation or extolling of the common person, the underdog, etc.; philosophies that offer unorthodox solutions or policies and appeal to the common person rather than according with traditional party or partisan ideologies.

Imagine that; a President "of, by and for the people". The "traditional partisan idologies" have gotten us into, as my granny used to say, "one mell of a hess".

190 posted on 12/21/2007 9:32:10 PM PST by no dems (FRED THOMPSON: The only Conservative running who can beat Hillary or Obama.)
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To: hinckley buzzard

“One reason they are influential is that they have built a record of knowing what they’re talking about.”

yep


191 posted on 12/21/2007 9:33:40 PM PST by Checkers (First they came for the Mormons, but I said nothing because I was not Mormon.)
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To: Checkers

I’m sorry. I still don’t get it with Huckabee, and, I certainly don’t understand his rise in the polls.


192 posted on 12/21/2007 9:37:32 PM PST by peggybac (Tolerance is the virtue of believing in nothing)
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To: tear gas
Is Rush a closet Rudy lover?

Remember earlier this year when Sean Hannity was "kissing up" to Rudy Julie Annie? Have you noticed that he cooled his jets and backed off on singing Rudy's praises? He got the message from Conservatives that we didn't have to watch H&C or listen to his radio program. Now, he's as quiet as the kid who got slapped away from the dinner table for fartin'.
193 posted on 12/21/2007 9:37:51 PM PST by no dems (FRED THOMPSON: The only Conservative running who can beat Hillary or Obama.)
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To: Sola Veritas

“Mike Huckabee represents a shift in the GOP that basically signals a move away from “conventional” (Goldwater) conservatism to one that is more firmly footed on moral absolutes.”

Moral abosolutes? What are refering to?


194 posted on 12/21/2007 9:38:31 PM PST by Checkers (First they came for the Mormons, but I said nothing because I was not Mormon.)
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To: rb22982
It’s your choice.

The pro-life, anti-gay Huckster or the Marxist Hillary.

Why don’t you, your parents and the conservative establishment get behind a true conservative, Duncan Hunter.

195 posted on 12/21/2007 9:39:43 PM PST by Little_GTO
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To: Eric Blair 2084

“You are a Horse Tooth Jackass with a modem with no listeners.”

using dial-up


196 posted on 12/21/2007 9:40:31 PM PST by Checkers (First they came for the Mormons, but I said nothing because I was not Mormon.)
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To: Checkers

Rush helps elect president’s?I stopped listening to him long ago.


197 posted on 12/21/2007 9:41:25 PM PST by fatima (Free Hugs for Christmas:))
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To: OKIEDOC

“I make no apologies for being an unabashed Thompson supporter.
I too have worries that he waited to long and then got out of the gate on a slow horse.

However, I believe that if voters will make comparisons of all the candidates they will see that Fred most resembles what we were looking for back in 2006.

I admit Fred looks a little old and droopy most of the time but it’s not what he looks like but what he says that impresses me.”

Who’s your second choice?


198 posted on 12/21/2007 9:42:33 PM PST by Checkers (First they came for the Mormons, but I said nothing because I was not Mormon.)
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To: fatima

You stopped listening to Rush?

Geez, now he only has 24,999,999 listeners. Waaaaahhhh!!!


199 posted on 12/21/2007 9:45:18 PM PST by Eric Blair 2084 (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms shouldn't be a federal agency...it should be a convenience store.)
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To: Maynerd

You had me convinced at “immigration”.


200 posted on 12/21/2007 9:48:39 PM PST by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
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