Regarding that Huckabee advisor's soon-to-be-regretted comments about Limbaugh, Huckabee actually encourages people in his book From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 STOPs to Restoring America's Greatness to "listen to less talk radio" as part of his "12 Action Steps to STOP Being Cynical." No doubt he wants everybody to follow that advice today.
I had (largely) refrained from piling on Huckabee because I wanted to give him a fair shake. I've now read his last two books (you can read my piece about them on NRO today) and am here to tell you they were terribly written and totally insubstantial. Thought his Foreign Affairs piece was bad? Read his chapter in From Hope to Higher Ground on how to "STOP the Loss of America's Prestige at Home and Abroad." His relentless use of folksy aphorisms and corny rhetorical sleight of hand provokes visceral objections — but the criticism isn't merely superficial. In the TNR I piece I linked to yesterday a member of the Arkansas press corps observed, "He thinks and speaks in metaphors. And, often, they're not right." That, well, hits the nail on the head. And his ideas about the limits of governance are frightening:
History shows that we can, in fact, help Americans to change, not by force-feeding them government restrictions or requirements but by first changing the attitudes and atmosphere in which we live. Eventually, having shifted public opinion, we can solidify the attitude and atmospheric changes with government actions that define the will of the majority. [Emphasis Added]
I don't think I'm being uncharitable when I say that's disturbingly authoritarian. Huckabee should probably start answering some critics instead of dismissing this all as "The Establishment" trying to keep a good ol' boy down.
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UPDATE: I described the source of the anti-Limbaugh comment as an "advisor" — that's probably overstating it. Ambinder described him as a "DC-based Huckabee ally."
I would bet that person posts here.
It’s not so much Huckabee’s personality and past stances I don’t like.
It’s what he represents to the body politic, whether fairly or unfairly perceived.
In the minds of most voters, Huckabee would respresent the dogmatic judgemental Preacher type of leader who subliminally wants to inject his will on Americans.
That is NOT what I believe about Huckabee, being a fairly strict Baptist church-goer.
But I am certain others will see a self-righteous moralist minister when they look at Huckabee — which would mean a 50-state sweep for the Democrats.
Having an Ayatollah Khomeini in charge of Iran gave us enough grief...we don't need to elect an ayatollah as President of the United States. And I don't think the Republican Party will want to give its nomination to someone who applies Hitler analogies to the President of the United States, particularly when that President is a Republican...not unless they take leave of their senses.
I think Huckabee was registered on Free Republic for a while...was he on DU at the same time?
The man has no grit.
Our country needs a man with grit at the helm, period.
Social engineering and sheeple control to save taxpayer money on healthcare is not a Conservative principle. When they come for you and your twinkie Norseman with the social engineering experiment, know that I will be somewhere laughing my ass off at you. Anti smoking is a social engineering experiment designed to coerce smokers to quit for their own good and they learned their lesson well to straighten you out.
Mike Huckabee - the more you know him, the less you like him PING.