Posted on 12/23/2007 2:48:25 PM PST by Ol' Sparky
George Will doesn't like him. Neither, apparently, does Rush Limbaugh. The Bush wing of the party now apparently distrusts him. He hasn't done well by Drudge (at least so far) and today even Peggy Noonan has her reservations.
The good news for Mike Huckabee is that he's doing one hell of a job of reuniting significant portions of the old Reagan coalition. The bad news is that it's increasingly arrayed against him.
The point, of course, is that in this case, what looks like bad news may well be the opposite. Insurgent, dissident candidates always feed off the attacks of the establishment in ways other candidates don't. It was General Edward Stuyvesant Bragg who said of Grover Cleveland, "They love him most for the enemies he has made," and in Huckabee's case, his supporters might well be thinking the same thing.
It's true that Limbaugh and Drudge aren't commonly thought of as establishment figures. But the truth is that they've now been around long enough to be, well, part of the woodwork. To a discerning observer, they're not part of the chattering class. But to an evangelical voter who doesn't follow politics that closely or a new voter angry enough by the turn of events in the country to finally get involved? Limbaugh, Drudge, Will - what's the difference?
Jim Pinkerton astutely put his finger on all this recently. Look at what's dominating the news - school and mall shootings, Britney's sister is pregnant, baseball is full of cheaters. The only candidate even remotely addressing the crisis of the American spirit - and that's what it is - is Mike Huckabee.
If Huckabee's opponents want to undermine his campaign, the best way to do that is to begin talking about the issues he's addressing. Until then, it's possible that all they're doing is pouring gasoline on a fire.
Nice analysis.
A VOTE FOR HUCKSTER IS A VOTE FOR PIAPS...
I like Fred (he's the first campaign I donated to), and I like Hunter, but both are not winnable by any means with the general electorate. Hunter's a poor speaker and Fred is dull and boring (I remember when he had to ask for applause at the end of one of his "rallies"). Huckabee, when it comes to the general election, with his sense of humor and personality, will mop up Osama-bama and Hitlery without having the flip-flopping of Flip Romney and the extremely liberal record of Giuliani.
You’re exactly right. Kind of like in the YouTube debates when he tried making a funny about the guy throwing the shotgun to a friend. In the manner of the background music when Coyote falls off of the cliff while trying to get RoadRunner, “Wha, Whaa, Whaaant, Wuhhhhhn.”
Any respect I had for Will disappeared when he started pimping Giuliani.
Despite who wins, and I do hope it’s Huckabee, I will vote for the winner over the Hildabeast or any other demonrat. But, I fear that if Fred or Flip Romney win, our party will lose in the general election. If Giuliani, Hitlery, Osama-bama, or Edwards win the general election, the whole country loses. But, I can’t wait to see who wins either way; it’s out of my hands beyond me voting in my primary. Merry Christmas to you also.
I don't care for Huckabee but I fail to see why the endorsement
of some guy who sits on his butt and runs his mouth should matter for anything.
Cast aside the media, Will and Limbaugh are media.
Keep the yammerheads in their place.
The Huckster did a push-poll here in Iowa. It was NOT well received by the public. In the wake of the backlash, Huck claimed he had nothing to do with it.
I would have to go with Romney. His habitual lying is frightening similar to Clinton as are his denials when he gets caught.
Right! Nothing to do with it! I don’t know nothing about nothing! This guy is the GOP Clinton. Claims he’s not using negative attacks against his opponents, then does it, and claims it was somebody else. Throws out little smears like the Jesus and Satan are brothers dig, then apologizes... but he got his message across. Maybe James Carville is running his campaign behind the scenes.
I'm not an evangelical, and if it were only Hillary and Huckabee from which to choose, I'm for Huck.
And ...Go Fred!
I, too, initially thought Huckabee would run very strongly in the general election. The more I see of him, the more I am not so sure about that. He has a lot of dirty laundry that has yet to be fully aired. Much of it has already been posted here, but the electorate doesn’t know about yet.
As far as flip-flopping, Huckabee has done his share of that. He says he’s a tax-cutter, his record suggests otherwise. He very recently swore to close the border, his record suggest he won’t do a thing. Hillary may actually be able to run to the right of him on some issues like the war. If Thompson is able to get the nomination, he’ll run just fine against the Democrats. After all, if he wins the nomination, that will kind of disspell the ‘boring, lazy, unelectable’ argument.
I'll lump you into the "looking for a reason to be offended" demographic. Nowhere did I say that all evangelicals support Huckster nor did I lump all Christians into "the idiot crowd."
It is a fact that Huckabee is targeting evangelicals.
It is a fact that he's counting on his typical supporter to not check into his liberal gubernatorial record.
Of course, if you want to feel persecuted, please misinterpret this post too as throwing you to the lions. Heck...report me to your local D.A. for a cyber hate crime. /sarc
I have two criteria for choosing my GOP Candidate -
#1 - Has to be best able to defeat the Dems Candidate.
#2 - Have the highest weighted score against desired characteristics.
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