Mike Huckabee on NPR
January 31, 2008 — wickleAs I was on the way to the church this evening, I head Mike Huckabee on the radio, it was a pretty good, if short, interview about the “two man race” for the GOP nomination.
“It’s only a two-person race if the national media tries to pick the president for the people. It’s absurd to let this become a play-yard shouting match between John McCain and Mitt Romney,” Huckabee tells Michele Norris.
But the former Baptist minister has sharp criticism of his own of Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts.
“[Romney] can spend all the money in the world, [but] he can’t change the fact that he’s got a very, very tough message to sell because he’s had so many different products out of the same box. He has a lot of money, and he’s spent a lot of money. But for the amount of money that he’s spent, he hasn’t done that well.
“If people look at the money we’ve had, and how well we’ve done with it, I think that’s the story that gives us some credibility to say we’re in this thing for the long haul,” Huckabee says, noting that his campaign has been frugal, relying on volunteers and limited resources, and has never gone into debt.
In addition, Huckabee says that he finds it difficult when he hears Romney “speak with such boldness about … being a conservative.”
He cites video of Romney distancing himself from Reagan and Bush and also of him saying he would do more for the gay and lesbian agenda than Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA).
“For him to come along now and try to suddenly step in front of many of us who have been conservatives, when he obviously was not one, is just a little difficult to take.
“For many of us, we find [it] hard to believe that a person has just hit political puberty at age 60,” he says.
Huckabee says he is now focused on the races at stake on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5. He says his campaign has a “real shot to win and pick up significant delegates” in key states in the South and Midwest: Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Montana and West Virginia.
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It should be in the audio, but they didn’t include it in the article … Gov. Huckabee noted that he isn’t that far behind Gov. Romney in the delegate race. People are writing him off when he’s got 40 delegates, to Romney’s 59. That’s hardly a commanding lead. It takes about 1200 delegates to be nominated. No one’s broken 100, yet.
January 31, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I believe our man has a bit of righteous indignation in him, Wickle. He has been pretty much humble throughout this entire campaign, but after the antics of Limbaugh and Hannity and after the debate last night, I think he has had his fill of the way things are happening. He spoke his mind last night and he is speaking his mind today. It’s good to hear.
January 31, 2008 at 11:51 pm
I do believe that you’re right, Larry. He’s been ignored, dismissed, mocked, and belittled all along; now, there’s just another new excuse being tossed about for why he should drop out.
February 1, 2008 at 12:05 am
and he needs to continue to be ignored, the jealous hayseed needs to go back to passing the collection plate.
February 1, 2008 at 12:34 am
He must drop out. The conservitive vote is being divided. Bush used the same plan in 2000. McCain is using it again, and the Republicans will us it again if Mike does not drop out.
February 1, 2008 at 12:39 am
He (Mitt) must drop out. The conservative vote is being divided. Bush used the same plan in 2000. McCain is using it again, and the Republicans will us it again if Mitt does not drop out.
February 1, 2008 at 12:52 am
Well said, Miranda.
Jean - Thank you for your brilliant and insightful contribution to rational discourse.
February 1, 2008 at 7:17 am
Thank goodness for NPR, where truth occasionally is allowed a comment or two. Huckabee is absolutely right about the extreme danger of letting the national media choose our candidates. What would Washington, Jefferson, and our other founding fathers think of this bleak turn, in which our field of choice is narrowed to two candidates with deep “war chests” for each party after only a handful of states have held a primary? In the meantime, we get more and more distracting gossip and less of what we need to hear on our major television networks. It has worked several times before to achieve media election of most malleable candidate for their purposes. The networks have made “Super Tuesday” a moot point.
February 1, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I heard the California debates last night and did find it comical how both McCain and Romney were trying to present themselves as Reagan’s heir-apparent.
I loved Huckabee’s response to the tax rebate question. He’s right on the money about us borrowing the money from China, then many people spending the money on Chinese things.
I think his point is well made that building infrastructure is a much better idea (though I’d hesitate to support this if it makes us go deeper in debt). Still, his humor shined through in saying he used Florida as an example when the debate was in Florida. Now, in California, he’d use California as an example.
I don’t know if Huckabee is “electable” (and I don’t care). He’s sure got my vote.
February 2, 2008 at 12:43 am
I’m with you. I think that the Reagan question presented a real difference between Gov. Huckabee and the other two. They went ahead and spoke for Pres. Reagan. I thought about writing about that, but decided it was going to come across as too nasty.
And I’m with you on the vote … Gov. Huckabee is my guy.