Posted on 12/31/2007 6:00:00 PM PST by Checkers
Jonah, that Powerline blogger you link to does make an excellent case that Huckabee's 110-pound weight loss in a year, and other physical changes are more consistent with bariatric surgery than unassisted diet and exercise. I had wondered about it, but am always happy to believe it is possible to do it without the surgery. From everything we now know about obesity, however, while it is possible to overcome, it is pretty difficult for someone with the dread "fat gene" to keep it off for a long time without constant vigilance. (Indeed, recent pictures suggest that campaign life is taking a toll on his waistline. Or was that just the hunting jacket?)
So, if Huck had the surgery, I for one, would not blame him or think any less of him. (That would be true even if I thought highly of him.) I regard it as a radical but increasingly common solution to a persistent problem. No more or less. Nor do I really think it is anyone's business, though, like plastic surgery, it isn't so easy to hide and unless you are exceptionally vain, you will probably be happier admitting it. At least that applies in private life. It's a different ballgame now that he wants to be president. In that case being honest is warranted, since it is a serious operation, with ongoing health implications.
Even if he did it for pure health reasons, he would have had to consider the fact that his career could not progress without the weight loss, however effected. Because, as is clear, fat is the last taboo in the upper reaches of American power. The days of 300-lb. presidents Grover Cleveland, William Howard Taft are over, if only because whatever intelligence, wisdom, and energy they might bring to the task, the ubiquitous, angle-loving camera would do them in before they got off the ground. And, in our morally challenged culture, physical fitness is considered a proxy for moral fitness, regardless of the individual truth of the matter, or the general justice of the equation.
In Huckabee's case, acknowledging the surgery (if true), would also, unhappily for him, deprive him of moral credit for what is, in his own telling, his signal personal accomplishment. He has made much of his victory over the flesh, and spent much time cajoling the population of Arkansas and the rest of us to follow suit. His health care policy, for heaven's sake, is based on having all of us lose weight and get exercise so we don't need insurance or medicine. If he had the surgery, his preaching is based on a deep deception about the road to health. Not so good.
LOL!!!
Thanks for the link giving Freeper Plutarch’s analysis of Huckabee’s weight loss. If anyone wants to really know about this, it’s a must read, and a fascinating piece of research, based on what might be called a coalition of probabilities.
Without the testimony of his doctors, any absolute proof that he had an operation is unavailable, and such testimony would be illegal without Huckabee’s permission.
But in the absence of proof, you can examine the evidence and perhaps come up with a very high probability. So, the only way around it is to consider all the probabilities, each one strengthening the others. And I find that argument extremely convincing. It’s virtually certain, IMHO, that Huckabee had the operation—and a followup operation as well, when it apparently caused trouble. Anyone interested should read it and see.
http://plutarch01.wordpress.com/2007/12/11/new-121007-300pm/
This would not be all that important if it were not for the fact that if Huckabee were, by extremely bad luck, to win the Republican nomination, then the corrupt MSM would almost certainly get someone at the hospital where the operation took place to rat on Huckabee and release the details. And that person would be protected from prosecution by the press and by Hillary if she won the presidency. They’ve done it before; they would do it again. if you can leak national security secrets and never be even threatened with prosecution, you can leak medical secrets.
Freedom of the press, ya know.
And such a story would be extremely damaging. Huckabee lied. And he actually wrote a damned BOOK about how to lose weight. And he used Arkansas tax funds to buy a million dollar professor’s chair for the doctor he claims advised him how to lose weight.
Ugh. What a con artist this guy is! It just grows and grows.
Maybe he started eating at Subway.
And don't forget,
"Cross, what cross? Honest, I didn't notice that big glowing white cross moving across the screen behind my head for 16 seconds. Honest."
If a former preacher will use the cross in an ad (fine with me), and then LIE about it, what WON'T he lie about?
Bill
What rumor? Have your read Plutarch’s analysis, and you still believe it’s just a rumor?
As far as Im concerned, these fools attacking huck for his weight are a bunch of fatass losers that can’t put down the twinkie and get off their dam couch. Look at the pic of his family. He’s not that fat. His sons are hideously obese. Huck is overweight, but not disgustingly or hopelessly so, especially not for a man his age.
A runner can drop pounds so fast it’ll make your head spin. If huck really is running long distances, then there’s no need for surgery. Idiots that have no clue and never experience prolonged exercise such as long distance running will argue otherwise.
There’s way more important reasons to criticize huckster than this silly weight nonsense.
I don’t care about his weight-loss. More power to him for his weight-loss.
I care about his socialism. I care about his wide open borderism. I care about his free the rapists and murderism.
That’s what I’m talking about.
Hickabee’s a creep. Not worthy of our respect or support.
What movie is that from?
Plutarch’s theory is nothing but bullsh!t.
What’s next? Is he gonna go after Jared from Subway who lost 245 lbs. in a year?
http://www.subway.com/subwayroot/MenuNutrition/Jared/jaredsStory.aspx
What a moron.
I applaud the Huckabee campaign for forthrightly answering NRO's question (and NRO for asking).
If Huckabee is concerned his spokesman's denial is insufficient, he can put this permanently and definitvely to rest in 20 minutes. He can sign a release for medical records, fax that to the Radiology facility at which he likely had a CT scan in 2005, and request that the facility fax the radiologist's report to NRO. The CT image can also be electronically transmitted. If these demonstrate a normal stomach, then Huckabee's vindication will be complete.
Check the link in post #10.
It’s pretty indepth.
HAVE YOU NO SHAME?
Why not ask if he had any kind of surgery to lose weight.
Why didn’t the spokesperson just say, “No, he had no surgery of any kind to help him lose weight.” They seem to kinda dance around the issue.
I really don’t find that sentence difficult to understand.
There’s a procedure called laparoscopic surgery, which is not as invasive as bariatric. Huckster did not deny he had this kind of surgery.
Trust but verify.
I may have read Plutarch's comments once, but I didn't find them all that compelling. Either way, I just don't care. We should not select him to be our nominee because he's not that strong on the issues and doesn't seem to have the right temperament. He's probably a pretty good pastor, and he might have been a good enough governor for Arkansas. Nothing he's shown us in the campaign makes a case for him to be president. We should focus on that failing and not on his weight.
Bill
Where are the links you referenced?
ow this is the scam that finally going to bring down Gov. Huckabee (/sarcasm)
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