George Will trashes Huckabee, Gingrich

It isn't often that I agree with George Will, but he makes some very salient points here:

Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich and the spotlight-chasing candidates of 2012

This incident that Will refers to of Huckabee's really diminished my opinion of him. I had once thought that he would be a republican that I could support, but now I would say that only in comparison to some.

Somewhere this past week Huckabee was on TV trying to clarify what he said, as this article mentioned, he said he was thinking Indonesia. BUT, I thought he said Kenya once, not 4 or 5 times!

A day after I watched that on TV, he made another comment, that clearly shows these are not "mistakes". Why do candidates always seem to put their foot in their mouths, and instead of taking it out, they shove it in even further?

This incident that Will refers to of Huckabee's really diminished my opinion of him. I had once thought that he would be a republican that I could support, but now I would say that only in comparison to some.

I have always thought Huckabee was a slime ball.

That seems to be quite a severe opinion of a man, in my opinion

This incident that Will refers to of Huckabee's really diminished my opinion of him. I had once thought that he would be a republican that I could support, but now I would say that only in comparison to some.

While I don't agree with Huckabee on a lot of things, I've always appreciated his amiable approach to politics. This is a strange departure.

Why is Huckabee going down this road? Does this mean he's running for president and is trying to keep up with the rest of the field? Something else?

What about when Mrs. Obama called Kenya Obama's home country. If you are going to trash Huckabee about this look at her.

What about when Mrs. Obama called Kenya Obama's home country. If you are going to trash Huckabee about this look at her.

I'd be willing to look at a link to see the context, if you want to provide one.

While I don't agree with Huckabee on a lot of things, I've always appreciated his amiable approach to politics. This is a strange departure.

 

Why is Huckabee going down this road? Does this mean he's running for president and is trying to keep up with the rest of the field? Something else?

It is very much a departure from his usual path. Surely he knows about the "birther" conspiracy theorists and the language that he used in that interview will only add fuel to their irrational fire. His "misspoken" words were really, really, really unfortunate if they were, in fact, misspoken.

What about when Mrs. Obama called Kenya Obama's home country. If you are going to trash Huckabee about this look at her.

I would guess that she means that it's the "motherland for blacks."

Huck compounded the problem by saying that of course he meant to say "Indonesia" which proved by pointing out that he said it multiple times in his book.

Did he? I read that Indonesia is never mentioned in his book.

It is very much a departure from his usual path. Surely he knows about the "birther" conspiracy theorists and the language that he used in that interview will only add fuel to their irrational fire. His "misspoken" words were really, really, really unfortunate if they were, in fact, misspoken.

He said he misspoke by saying Kenya instead of Indonesia. But his main point both times was that Obama wasn't raised in the US (which isn't true) and thus does not share traditional American experiences or worldview. He's firmly put himself in the "Obama is unAmerican" camp.

Will is right. Anyone who espouses the birther argument is embarrassing themselves.

He said he misspoke by saying Kenya instead of Indonesia. But his main point both times was that Obama wasn't raised in the US (which isn't true) and thus does not share traditional American experiences or worldview. He's firmly put himself in the "Obama is unAmerican" camp.

That's true and probably the more important part of the argument. Obama did live in Indonesia for 5 of his first 18 years, but I don't know why those 5 are more important to Huckabee than the other 13.