What's the matter, Chick-Fil-A, you don't think ...

... Santorum, Huckabee, and Palin love you enough already?

(cf., cf.)

The Myth of the "Surprisingly Affable Republican Media Personality"

Michael C. Tracey on The Huckster:

[...] What happened to the wholesome, courteous underdog we once knew?

He never existed. I interviewed Huckabee when he visited my former university last year to deliver a $25,000 speech. [...]

Worth a read if your only impressions of Huckabee come from places like the New York Times.

Huckabee Jumps Into the Birther Ring

Former Republican governor and current FoxNews employee Mike Huckabee is burping up the company Kool-Aid:

During a radio appearance yesterday, Mike Huckabee repeatedly falsely claimed that President Obama grew up in Kenya. After questioning Obama's purported secrecy about the birth certificate, Malzberg asked Huckabee if "we deserve to know more about this man." Huckabee responded, "I would love to know more. What I know is troubling enough."

Speaking on WOR's The Steve Malzberg Show, Huckabee -- a Fox News host and potential presidential candidate -- said that "one thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, very different than the average American ... his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British are a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather."

Of course ...

Contrary to Huckabee's claims, Obama did not grow up in Kenya. Obama spends significant portions of his book Dreams From My Father describing his first visit to Kenya in the late 1980s.

And ...

The BBC noted in a 2008 article that "Barack Obama has never lived in Kenya and he has visited the country just three times."

Additionally, Obama did not grow up "with a Kenyan father and grandfather." Indeed, Dreams From My Father is largely about Obama's struggles with the absence of his father. The AP noted in 2006 that Obama "was mostly raised in Hawaii and did not know his Kenyan father well."

(pic. source | x-posted)

Make It Stop

Newell's headline of horror:

America's Prayers Answered: Mike Huckabee Gets Another TV Show

Just how many of the likely presidential Republican candidates for president is Fox going to put on the payroll, anyway?

(previously)

Aw, Jesus. Not Huckabee Again.

I haven't read the New Yorker piece on the Huckster yet, because just thinking of doing so stirs up all the stomach acid generated by the endless reacharounds given to him by the so-called liberal media back in ought-seven and ought-eight.

However, over at Rumproast, marindenver makes a good point about the know thine enemy aspect. (I know this is a good point, because I often make it myself, when trying to get people to pay attention to other wingnuts.)

I'm not up for reading it just yet, but I have read her post reacting to it, and I can highly recommend that.

(pic. source)

Huckabee Goes Full Metal Wingnut

Remember an earlier post about the beyond-wingnuttery wingnuts who fret about the looming danger of E.M.P.?

Looks like Mike Huckabee has joined that crowd.

(h/t: Jim Newell/Wonkette)

---

[Added] Funny take from watertiger, especially the closing line.

The Pen Blog is Mightier than the Sword Roundhouse Kick

Bad enough that Chuck Norris campaigned for Mike Huckabee, but who knew he was so far gone that he's been posting on Clownhall.com? Fortunately, the good people at Whiskey Fire are on the case:

I agree about the "losing our minds" thing; for instance, I am right now reading Chuck Norris' thoughts on politics. That's proof of something right there.

Get your RDA of snark by reading the whole thing.

(h/t: Roger Ailes)

Uphuck

Josh, a few minutes ago:

Can someone get Huckabee off the stage and end the most painfully embarrassing concession I think I've ever heard?

Another reason to be glad I don't have a TV.

Added: Andrew apparently agrees. Full post:

Jeez. Enough already.

Up[c]huck Motivator II: Word 'round the campfire is that McCain will fly to Washington, D.C., to pose while receiving the endorsement from some guy who won't be living there that much longer. And you know what that means.

Subtle

What is Salon saying here? That Mike Huckabee serves as his own caricature?

(click pic to enlarge)

New Record Set in (Intentionally) Missing the Point

Surely you've heard the line: "But apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the theater?"

I think Matt Yglesias, musing upon James Pinkerton's joining up with Campaign Huckabee, might have come up with one even more horrific:

Advocacy of genocide as a counterinsurgency strategy aside, …

A Skepchick's Response to Huckabee

(Updated: minor wordsmithing)

The MSM continues its strange love for Mike Huckabee. No news there, and considering the alternatives among the GOP candidates, maybe it's somewhat understandable. But the universal fawning and cooing over his response to the Bible question during the recent YouTube debate has been nothing short of nauseating.

Stacey gets it right, however:

Most of the candidates skirted the question with the typical “symbolism and allegory” apologies, but Huckabee, who has a degree in theology (how scary is that?) says (paraphrasing again), “The Bible cannot be understood by a finite mind because it was created by an infinite God. If you can understand every word in your Bible, your God is too small.” (this was met with applause)

Let’s just think that through. An omniscient, omnipotent, and infinite God created a book via humans and for humans, and this is the only vehicle through which they are able to experience and understand him, and he made it too complicated for them to understand. And the fact that it can’t be understood only proves how great he is.

So I guess the more senseless the scripture, the greater the god. Wow. I may need a theology degree to understand that line of thinking…

Huckabee Hound

It's been a while since I've indulged in fisking David Brooks. Lately, he's been showing signs of coming to his senses, at least on some issues. He occasionally borders on sounding sane these days, both in his column and on his point-counterpoint gig on PBS's News Hour. Sure, he still coughs up one of his patented sociology-as-seen-from-suburbia navel gazers from time to time, but I can forgive overlook these. Coming up with a column twice a week isn't as easy as blogging when the mood strikes.

But then there's this, from out of nowhere, a love letter to Mike Huckabee.

Let's pick it up in the middle of the lede.

But it’s quickly clear that Huckabee is as good a campaigner as anybody running for president this year.

And by "anybody," I mean "anybody in the GOP." And by "quickly," I mean "it only took me a year to come up with this."

I get that a not-completely-unhinged guy like Brooks has to be appalled at the front runners in the Republican Party. Giuliani wants to start World War Whatever. Hard as is to conceive of the possibility, Romney is both creepier and less trustworthy. And Thompson? (Long pause for laughter, or a collective under-the-breath "OMFG," depending on the audience.)

But really. The standard for bars has never been lower.

And before too long it becomes easy to come up with reasons why he might have a realistic shot at winning the Republican nomination:

First, Republican voters here and in Iowa are restless. That means that there will be sharp movements during the last 30 days toward whoever seems fresh and hot.

Shorter version: I have no idea how any of this is going to play out.

... Huckabee is the most normal person running for president ...

Bars, low, very. (op. cit.)

... he is part of the new generation of evangelical leaders.

Did he raise his hand when asked, "Who here doesn't believe in evolution?"

Yes he did. So, define "new."

... though you wouldn’t know it from the past few years, the white working class is the backbone of the G.O.P. Huckabee is most in tune with these voters.

Redacted: I don't actually have any statistics to back this up, but the assertions sound good, don't they? (And wait'll you hear 'em said live on TV!)

He tells audiences that the only soap his family could afford was the rough Lava soap, and that he was in college before he realized showering didn’t have to hurt.

Yup. And Alberto Gonzales sold crap from the trunk of his car. Or his father did. No matter. The key is, a heart-warming personal story guarantees exemplary public service.

He condemns "immoral" C.E.O. salaries ...

Which won't ever happen again if he moves out of the second tier and starts having to ask for real money.

... and on global trade he sounds like a Democrat: "There’s no free trade without fair trade."

He's the bold candidate for all people! He dares to makes vague statements when he's in single digits in the polls!

... he’s a former governor. He talks about issues in a down-to-earth way that other candidates can’t match. For example, he’s got a riff on childhood obesity that rivets the attention of his audiences.

One point to Mr. Brooks for not saying that I/you/he/we would like to have a beer with him. But other than that, the NYT Sunday magazine already puffed him on this suitable-for-Oprah-fans weight loss story. What else you got?

... he’s a collaborative conservative.

What brand does that make me think of ... ? Wait! I've got it! It's two, two, two brands in one! "Compassionate conservative" PLUS "Uniter, not a divider!" And both of those worked out really, really well!

He also criticizes the Bush administration for its arrogance.

He is so far ahead of the curve on this one, isn't he? After all, 24% of the country has yet to achieve this insight.

He is a solid conservative who is both temperamentally and substantively different from the conservatives who have led the country over the past few years.

He's got the old values, but he's all new? Maybe Brooks will clarify?

Too late! Word limit looming! Final graf just ahead!

He’s rising in the polls, especially in Iowa. His popularity with the press corps suggests he could catch a free media wave that would put him in the top tier.

And by "press corps," I mean "me." And by "free," I mean "I work cheap, don't I?" And by "suggests," I mean, "Don't hold me to any of this. Please."