Good grief! Who the heck cares how he lost weight? If I were to consider voting for him, his weight, and how he lost it, would be the least of my concerns. As it turns out, I don’t like him because I don’t trust him on the issues, so he won’t get my vote in the primary. If he’s the last man standing as the nominee when the General election rolls around, then I’ll vote for him.
This is why it matters, per Plutarch’s post:
RAMIFICATIONS OF A HUCKABEE DISCLOSURE:
If Huckabee the nominee is eventually forced to admit that he mischaracterized the details of his weight loss saga, the magnitude of the negative political impact is unknown. Perhaps it wouldn’t much matter, voters would accept and forget. Perhaps otherwise, it doesn’t take too much imagination to think of what hay political opponents could of it. It is just as easy to imagine a revelation would make the general election season a perpetual Christmas for Democrats.
Should they wish to attack Huckabee’s veracity, integrity, credibility, qualifications, issues, health status, suitability for office, or even person, Huckabee’s acknowledgement of deception provides the solid footing to drive home attacks into what would prove to be the Huckabee campaign’s soft underbelly. A thousand articles would begin “Huckabee, who admitted deceit regarding his gastric bypass surgery…” and would follow with further accusations that the campaign would have to defend from back on its heels.
It is easy to see the lines of attack that flow directly from an admission of gastric bypass surgery, and that a Huckabee GOP Nominee could scarcely defend:
1. Huckabee the former preacher even now has a perception of being an Elmer Gantry. Being the perpetrator of a diet scam will complete the template, which will be used endlessly.
2. Democrat attack ad: “Huckabee’s Arkansas health plan was to secretly have gastric bypass surgery, and then blame Arkansans still obese for high health care costs.”
3. The Democrats and media will find victims. Obese Arkansans will be interviewed, who felt humiliated for remaining fat after the Governor falsely claimed that his weight loss proved “anyone can”.
4. Huckabee will have been shown to falsify his Presidential resume with his spurious weight loss achievement. People who falsify resumes are fired, not elevated to the Nation’s highest office.
5. Bariatric surgery is associated with high rates of hospitalization, increased long term mortality, and anemia, osteoporosis, nutritional deficiencies, and neurological complications. The media will helpfully run features emphasizing these risks.
6. Huckabee will have falsified his medical history to voters. Thompson admitted he had Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, Giuliani prostate cancer and McCain melanoma. Bariatric surgery is of similar medical impact, and Huckabee has no excuse to hide his status from voters.
Nobody cares how he lost the weight. I care whether he lied about how he lost the weight. Big difference. Character is issue #1.