Mike Huckabee Says He Doesn’t Recall If He Wrote Line About Bush ‘Bunker Mentality' (LOL Alert)

Fox News ^ | 12/22/07 | Serafin Gomez and Carl Cameron and The Associated Press

[JohnHuang2]

Mike Huckabee said Friday that he does not remember if he even wrote the line in a controversial journal article calling President Bush’s foreign policy “arrogant bunker mentality,” after the article drew criticism from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The Republican presidential candidate’s piece in the January-February edition of Foreign Affairs said that Bush’s foreign policy is “counterproductive,” and urged a shift in diplomatic tone. GOP rival Mitt Romney afterward condemned the comments and Rice called them “simply ludicrous” on Friday.

But Huckabee told reporters aboard a bus in Iowa that he was not the sole author of that piece.

“I wrote most of the article, but I had help … There was probably eight or 10 people involved,” he said, explaining that it went through several re-writes.

Even if Huckabee didn’t write the “bunker mentality” line, he’s still espoused that criticism before.

The former Arkansas governor said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event in September that the “administration’s bunker mentality has been counterproductive, both at home and abroad. They’ve done a poor job of communicating and consulting with other countries, just as they have, frankly, with the American people.”

[dearolddad]

Another Huck-up.

I think you might want to check your spelling.

[Doofer]

He was being figurative. I am so sick of political doublespeak. I said it but I did not mean what you think I said, or I have no clear recollection of saying that, or I changed my mind since I said that. Dang it already....say what you mean and mean what you say.

He said what what he thinks....

[donnab]

“He said what what he thinks..”

figuratively speaking I didn’t mean it.
I know that and you know that ...but now Huck has gone into the land of denial...which come to think of it, this isn’t the first time.
I want a candidate to stick to his guns (literally and figuratively) even if I disagree with them. I would still support someone that gives it to me straight without nuance, rhetoric, or blame to someone else for what is out there.

[TomGuy]

But Huckabee told reporters aboard a bus in Iowa that he was not the sole author of that piece.

Now, Huckabee is starting to sound like John Kerry in 04. It was the snow's fault. It was the writer's fault. It was the staff's fault. It was everybody's fault, expect Kerry's [04]...Huckabee's [[08].

[JCEccles]

Geez Louis. Do you mean he had eight to ten of his top people work on that piece?!?

[Caipirabob]

Buh-bye, Huckster. Thank you for playing. Buh-bye...

[Don'tMessWithTexas]

Hey y'all! Shut The Huck Up!

Rush, Coulter and Condi have eviscerated this Gomer with a guitar.

Tell your mama...Tell your pa....gotta send him back to Arkansas!

[Eroteme]

Even if he didn’t write it, he must have approved the final draft. If he didn’t, he has no business running the country.

Agreed. Moreover, Huckabee wouldn't even have seen it til there was solid consensus among his hand-picked staff and trusted advisers--people he surrounds himself with precisely for their shared idealogy, policies, and tactical talents.

It's laughable to imagine the line was the creation of some rogue aide who somehow managed to slip it past the team of 8-10 writers, plus senior staff and advisers--all of whom who obsessively dissect and analyze the tiniest nuance to ensure it's on message and comports with the candidate's positions while putting him in best light. This is the bookshelf-cross all over again.

[GOP_Lady]

And Mr. Huckabee doesn’t remember how that bookcase became a cross either. Yeah, right.

[JCEccles]

“I wrote most of the article, but I had help . . ."

In my mind's ear:

Huck: "I only wrote the good parts."

Reporter: "Which are the good parts?"

Huck: "You tell me."

[TomGuy]

[MaestroLC]

...but if there are losses for both the front runners, it opens the door for my current # 1 FRED THOMPSON !!! And maybe McCain too....brokered convention ! Cool.

I like FRed. I also like Hunter, but he has no chance. FRed/Hunter 2008.

McCain is not a conservative at all. Huck and RuPaul are non-starters. Mitt and Rudy are begrudgingly acceptable.

If only George Allen were running. Or Ruck Santorum.

[McGruff]

All that’s left is for him to do the Dean Scream after the Iowa caucus.

[USS Alaska]

I think he would improve his position if he would just,

SHUT THE HUCK UP.

[Eroteme]

I note that Huck spoke the bunker mentality phrase in a speech in September,

That alone discredits his mush-mouthed distancing. Or maybe he wants to claim that he wasn't the only one speaking. There were 8-10 other people in his head.

[ejonesie22]

Hey, you people can say what ever you want to about Huckabee, but I like him a lot better than any of the other Democrats in the race...

[Honeybunch]

but he can’t beat the other Democrats in the race....no matter which side he’s on.

[puroresu]

Yeah, but look on the bright side. Huck agrees completely with Bush about open borders.

[Mr Rogers]

Anyone who publishes a paper written by committee in a major foreign policy journal without reading it is far too stupid to run anything. I don’t even send out emails (from my work, at least) without re-reading them a couple of times and asking how they will be interpreted.

And a pastor ought to know that a few poorly chosen words can hurt people - and by analogy, a few poorly chosen words published by the President of the United States can cause grave harm!

[BusterBear]

Huckabee might be the first politician to steal a line from Joe Biden.

Ha ha. That's so good.