Friday, October 26, 2007
The Huckabee Backlash
Just as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee started making a move on the leaders in Iowa, it seems like the inevitable backlash has begun. And what is so surprising is its intensity.
It started early this week with this rather sardonic Rich Lowry column, with cool lines like,
Anyway, that was followed by Quinn Hillyer's tough piece -- especially on ethics -- in The American Spectator. (Huckabee's campaign responded here.)
Now, John Fund chronicles the views of various "movement" conservatives on the "other Man from Hope," including stalwarts such as Phyllis Schlafly. And Pat Toomey of the Club For Growth is appalled even about the idea of Huckabee as a VP pick (an idea RT helped float a few weeks back).
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. It's also interesting, to say the least, to wonder how it is that all of these articles appear at about the same time. One would think that there was some sort of coordinated feeding of unflattering stories about Huckabee.
Nah, couldn't be that, right?
I'm not exactly carrying a particular brief for Huckabee, but, except perhaps for Ron Paul, has there been nearly as much concentrated insta-piling on of a candidate who is still in single digits nationally? And, yeah, his line in the debate last week about how most of the signers of the Constitution were clergymen was seriously dumb. But, that just underscores my point even more: Is there so much to fear from Mike Huckabee that there is suddenly a conservative swarm against him?
|
It started early this week with this rather sardonic Rich Lowry column, with cool lines like,
Without organization, money or an agenda, Huckabee is very unlikely to win the nomination. A presidential candidate has to be more than a performer. As one top social conservative says, He’s not running for Toastmasters.”No offense, Rich, but maybe I missed where the other GOP candidates had an "agenda" that was that different from each other.
Anyway, that was followed by Quinn Hillyer's tough piece -- especially on ethics -- in The American Spectator. (Huckabee's campaign responded here.)
Now, John Fund chronicles the views of various "movement" conservatives on the "other Man from Hope," including stalwarts such as Phyllis Schlafly. And Pat Toomey of the Club For Growth is appalled even about the idea of Huckabee as a VP pick (an idea RT helped float a few weeks back).
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. It's also interesting, to say the least, to wonder how it is that all of these articles appear at about the same time. One would think that there was some sort of coordinated feeding of unflattering stories about Huckabee.
Nah, couldn't be that, right?
I'm not exactly carrying a particular brief for Huckabee, but, except perhaps for Ron Paul, has there been nearly as much concentrated insta-piling on of a candidate who is still in single digits nationally? And, yeah, his line in the debate last week about how most of the signers of the Constitution were clergymen was seriously dumb. But, that just underscores my point even more: Is there so much to fear from Mike Huckabee that there is suddenly a conservative swarm against him?
Labels: GOP 2008 President, Mike Huckabee
