Huckabee redux, or trying to do the right thing

Among other things, the fact that HE was asking THE REPORTER questions shows that he is either disingenuous or blindingly naive. I don't think he is naive. But, agreed, we should let it drop.

I find it interesting in the transcript of the Hewitt radio interview that Huckabee doesn't recall phoning Romney to congratulate him after Romney's Ames straw poll victory. Huckabee complains loudly in his book that Mitt didn't bother to call to congratulate him after the Iowa caucuses, taking it as some form of slight, but so it turns out he didn't bother to call Romney after Romney's big straw poll victory. I think Mike Huckabee is big hypocrite!

This guy, Huckabee, is not to be trusted. He's only saying kind words at the moment because he's in hot water for recent comments. The rehashed bitter comments against Mitt Romney made him(Huckabee) more appaent as a loser. As soon as the heat is off him, he'll take back those nice comments about mormons in turn for some more bashing.

The only thing Huckabee has is a slick mouth.

I consider a flip flopper as someone who goes back and forth on issues. Mitt Romney has not gone back and forth as far as I know.

Huckabee has had a constant obsession with Mitt. It seems the obsession and bitterness stems from Mitt's wealth. Huckabee uses the flip flopper label as an excuse to mask his jealosy.

I wouldn't hold past positions on Mitt Romney because others like Ronald Reagan once supported abortion, too. The way Mitt Romney has live his personal life is more indicative to me of who he is than anything else.

Huckabee has gotten what he wanted in even running for President, that is, to keep a very qualified Romney from being able to legitimize the Mormon church by virtue of his position.

You'll note that his original push in Iowa was almost exclusively directed at the religious community, having prayer breakfasts with pastors, urging evangelicals to fire up the church bus to bring people to the polls, repeatedly casting himself as "the Christian" candidate, producing a Christmas ad with a deliberate, but supposedly subtle cross image. This strategy might work in a few states' Republican primaries but is not going to get anyone near the Presidency in a national campaign.

Couple this with Huckabee's almost exclusive focus being on downgrading Romney and in making offhand comments intended to stir up anti-Mormon suspicions, such as his "Jesus and Satan / brothers" comment. In the south, it is well known that Southern Baptists deliberately spread misinformation about the Mormons. My local Baptist church hired a guy from Dallas to come in and preach against the Mormon faith -- it's a cottage industry. Huckabee is a former head of the Arkansas Baptist Convention and one of the keynote speakers at the annual convention meeting of the Southern Baptists in 1998 when the decision was made to hold the convention in Salt Lake City. One of the efforts of that conference was specifically to "witness to Mormons". Besides all of that, the "Jesus and Satan / brothers" comment is an old dig that's been in circulation for a l-o-n-g time, calculated to raise the eyebrows of non-LDS Christians.

Now are we to believe Huckabee, in the campaign interview with Zev Chafets of the New York Times Magazine, was so genuinely interested in expanding his knowledge of Mormon doctrine that he would ask the reporter such an offhand question, and in the gratuitous offhand way described by Mr. Chafets?

Still not convinced? Why did Huckabee continue to pummel Romney at every turn even after McCain had assumed frontrunner status, while giving McCain a pass? Why did the Huckabee-for-President Team become the Anybody-But-Romney-For-Vice-President Team after McCain got the nomination?

At this juncture, Huckabee recognizes that his actions might have nearly exposed his bigotry to the general population, so he's backing off a little. Plus, he needs to cover his rear-end if the issue of a Romney presidency surfaces for 2012. He's got to have something to point to to ward off criticism when he brings out the religion card again.