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Huckabee: NY Times Slam 'Best Thing That Could Happen'
February 25, 2008 4:14 PM
ABC News' Kevin Chupka Reports: During an impromptu press conference in Providence, Rhode Island, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee talked a bit more about last week's New York Times article that suggested rival John McCain had been party to an inappropriate relationship with a Washington lobbyist.
Up until now, Huckabee has said only that McCain is a man of great integrity and refused to comment further on the allegations, despite a chorus of criticism from conservative talk radio and others.
But on Monday, Huckabee was asked if this was McCain's "macaca" moment, referring to the infamous incident in which then-Senator George Allen, R-Va., referred to a Democratic operative in an otherwise supportive crowd by the offensive term.
"It's something that could be like that," Huckabee said, "Obviously, that one didn't seem to make a big difference. In fact, if anything it's helped John McCain and I'm kind of hoping the New York Times will take me on and run a nasty front page story -- may be the best thing that could happen to me, certainly was to him."
Huckabee has suggested recently that such a moment could be his ticket to the nomination.
"One word can end a guy's political career, one word, and it's over," Huckabee elaborated. "So when people say I can't be the nominee, until we get to the convention in Minneapolis this fall in September, we don't know absolutely, positively who that nominee is."
To read all the latest from the 2008 campaign trail every day, read The Note, exclusively on ABCNews.com
February 25, 2008 in Giuliani, Rudy, Hunter, Duncan, Thompson, Fred | Permalink | User Comments (224)
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The convention's in St. Paul, Huck.
Posted by: Mark | Feb 25, 2008 5:40:28 PM
Huckster has to learn his schtick doesn't play beyond the Bible Belt. Snake Oil's a dime a dozen above the Mason-Dixon line.
Posted by: Gene | Feb 25, 2008 5:41:06 PM
Hey Gene, Iowa isn't exactly the Bible belt and Huck won Iowa handily, even though Mitt Romney the fake conservative outspent him 20 to 1.
Posted by: Sally | Feb 25, 2008 5:49:06 PM
The thing I don't understand is why the Republicans are so fond of the taste of purple Kool-aid this year.
John McCain is a hothead, according to other senators who have worked with him. He has used vulgarity with other senators before and his irrationality will scare away the voters.
He was heavily involved in the Keating Five scandal.
He sponsored the McCain-Feingold law which complicated the political process by trying to deprive critics of incumbents of their free speech rights.
According to Gun Owners of America, he received an F- for his failure to protect gun owner's rights and his outright hostility to the second amendment.
He's in bed with the illegal alien lobby for his support for amnesty for illegals.
He even chanted, "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" at some function recently. Did he think that's funny?
The American people are fed up with this war in Iraq and they sure as hell don't want another one with Iran. Iran is not a pushover. They haven't been weakened by years of sanctions.
We're going bankrupt as it is from the war with Iraq. I don't want anyone who jokes about war anywhere near the White House. That suggests mental instability to me.
John McCain is a RINO. He is Republican in name only. If he ends up on the ballot for the Republican party, you might as well just hand the keys to Obama bin Marxist and let him move in to the White House now, because the rank-and-file Republicans will just stay home this November.
Posted by: Tim Miley | Feb 25, 2008 5:49:45 PM
Huckabee: Please go away...you're delusional.
Posted by: chillgal | Feb 25, 2008 5:50:16 PM
Hey Commander Guy.
I noticed that you said that Huckabee is Reagans mold. Not made in the mold of reagan (which would sound like a replica of Reagan). Nope, you said he is Reagans mold. He is. He represents the leftovers and rotting incompetence of the Republican party. He is what will be left behind.
When I eat dinner tonight, I want to eat something in the same mold as Papa Johns Pizza, not mold from Papa Johns Pizza.
Huckabee is a loser. He doesn't have skeletons in his closet because he is so blatantly criminal in his political activities.
If people decide that he is worth remembering, he will go down as the candidate who was too dumb to quit.
In Hucks favor, at least he admits he isn't very smart. He majored in Miracles.
Posted by: Travis | Feb 25, 2008 5:51:54 PM
QUOTE: "But anyone who thinks we should 'change the Constitution' to bring it more in line with the Bible is going to alienate a significant portion of GOP voters."
The only two amendments Huckabee is supporting are the Human Life Amendment and the Marriage Amendment. Both of these are fully in line with GOP political philosophies. The Human Life Amendment has been part of the GOP platform since the '80s and traditional marriage is certainly something Republicans wouldn't deny supporting. Huckabee has admitted to a somewhat awkward phrasing with the "change the constitution to bring it in line with God's word" line, but his point was simply that it's easier to amend the Constitution (we already have) than it is to amend the word of God (there are 10 commandments, not 9, not 11). If we actually listen to what Governor Huckabee says instead of listening to the media accounts of what they say he said, it's amazing how much sense it makes.
Posted by: Chris | Feb 25, 2008 6:02:09 PM
Huckabee's got the best sense of humor of any of the candidates.
Obama, Hillary, McCain are all humorless.
Posted by: Jill | Feb 25, 2008 6:12:33 PM
A lot of peeps are going to vote for Huckabee on March 4th. It can't hurt and it might help.
Posted by: luce_sociator | Feb 25, 2008 6:20:25 PM
Huckabee, please stop beating the dead horse. Really Huck, we promise its dead. Get back to selling your anti-mormon books again so you can make a living.
Posted by: American Patriot | Feb 25, 2008 6:22:00 PM
Secularism is a religion. Ask any athiest. Their veins explode, which is evidence that you've offended their god. Agnostics are just people who can't make up their mind, kind of like a shopper at wal-mart who takes 20 minutes to park because he refuses to park anywhere other than the spot closest to the store. America's new "golden calf" is money and socialistic crusades. And America will go down with it, just like Rome. Good riddance.
Posted by: Dan | Feb 25, 2008 6:23:00 PM
How did we ever let Mitt Romney slip through our fingers?
Posted by: Mike | Feb 25, 2008 6:23:16 PM
Mitt took your money and departed.
Good riddance.
Posted by: Jill | Feb 25, 2008 6:24:44 PM
One poster was concerned that Huckabee "thinks we should 'change the Constitution' to bring it more in line with the Bible".
Huh? He never said that, implied that, and conservative Christians do NOT want that.
The Constitution was derived from Scriptural principles and applied civilly. The Founders, most of whom were Christian, did not want another theocracy or state church affecting government. Any effect that religion has on the US government must come solely through individual citizens applying their beliefs in a civil society.
Please, be honest enough about your dislike of Huckabee to stick to issues and his record, not make up blatantly false stories.
Posted by: JD | Feb 25, 2008 6:25:13 PM
My issue with Huckabee is that he comes across like a pyscho ex-girlfriend that won't go away. Otherwise, I do like his position on the FairTax and wish that other Republicans would adopt his position. I think that people mistakenly believe that Huckabee is only getting the evangelical vote. I agree that he does get a significant number, but I think alot of his base is FairTax supporters who may not all be evangelicals.
Posted by: Jared | Feb 25, 2008 6:28:57 PM
That would be, "vein", weeone. In context, you would be in the "vein" of those who highlight the innocent slips of others as your own heel hits the banana peel.
Posted by: Ted | Feb 25, 2008 6:29:18 PM
I don't know about Huck having a good sense of humor or not, but the rest of us are getting a good laugh at him.
Posted by: Jon | Feb 25, 2008 6:30:45 PM
I was a George Allen supporter big-time, but that macaca thing was stupid on his part. Calling people names is something third graders do and calling people derogatory names based on their ancestry is something bigots and mean, angry people do. We've got enough of that garbage in the Democratic Party with people like Hillary and Biden saying derogatory things about Pakistanis and Indians. We certainly don't need that in the Republican Party!
Posted by: Scott | Feb 25, 2008 6:31:41 PM
A well balanced candidate can laugh at himself, just like Huck did on SNL. I noticed that the actor who was portraying Obama in the first skit didn't crack a smile once. He hit on something about Obama's personality that I've noticed about a lot of liberals and leftists like him: they can't laugh with people, they can't laugh at themselves, they take themselves far too seriously.
What a breath of fresh air it would be to have a president who wouldn't need to read from a teleprompter to come up with a good joke.
Posted by: Jill | Feb 25, 2008 6:37:13 PM
Huckabee doesn't even know where his own party's convention is. It is not in Minneapolis, but St. Paul. Although the two cities are often collectively known as the Twin Cities, they are two separate cities each with separate and unique histories.
Posted by: Chris | Feb 25, 2008 6:37:50 PM
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