If there's a candidates for "most bizarre moment of the campaign so far," it's got to be Huckabee's Televised Turnabout.
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee gathered scores of reporters in a room to unveil an attack ad against rival Mitt Romney, then suddenly changed course and renounced the ad he had produced -- but not before playing it for the dozens of television cameras.
Yesterday, I asked whether Huckabee was clueless or crazy. Today, I ask whether Huckabee is another word that starts with a "c" -- clever. Based on the reaction of reporters (disbelieving laughter) in the audience for Huckabee's press conference, as well as many of the blog comments I've seen (typical headline: "Huckabee nobly cancels attack ad on Romney - then plays it for reporters"), it appears that the Huck-ster was only clever in the "too clever by HALF" sense. Utterly bizarre.
Now, knowing that Ed Rollins is his guy, it is quite possible that everything was set up precisely to MAKE IT LOOK like Huckabee responded to his own inner voice, his conscience.
But until we see how it is played out in Iowa and on national news, you won't really know.
it is quite possible that everything was set up precisely to MAKE IT LOOK like Huckabee responded to his own inner voice, his conscience.
I have no way of determining. I know Rollins is a sleazebag. I also know he has been looking for another horse for sometime, but when he tried with Perot the big-eared one did not want to use the kind of ads he put together,including with the participation of Hal Rainey.
So who knows? I don't.
Seriously, Ken.
Either way, the bizarre news conference was the latest twist in a campaign that has given new meaning to the word paradox. Huckabee is an immensely talented communicator and successful former governor who is nonetheless a flawed candidate.
• He is mistake prone, particularly when it comes to commenting about foreign policy.
• He can be thin-skinned and rash. Two of his advisers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said privately Monday that the production of the ad was fueled by Huckabee's white-hot anger with Romney, and that his change of mind was jarring to the campaign staff.
• He has a paltry political organization in a state that values the ground game, according to an informal survey of GOP county chairs and co-chairs. "I haven't seen much of a sign of him or his people," said Jim Conklin, chairman of the Linn County GOP.
The "thin skinned and rash" statement is the Huckabee I remember from the time I lived in the state. He's very vengeful, despite his sweet ole boy demeanor. What was Ed Rollins thinking when he jumped on this loser's bandwagon?
I dare say he could be very dangerous. I have said it before and I will say it again. He has a weird unhinged look in his eye, like he isn't all here in the present.
This stunt was a bad move poorly executed.
In fact, the poor execution was the most painful part of it.
So Huckie wants to pull the rhetorical trick of, "I could call my opponent a perverted man with no moral, but I won't do it." Fine. But at least do it well.
He should have got on platform and start playing the video. Then after it was done, pretend that he had an on-the-stop change of heart and refuse to give journalist a copy. Then go on and on about how we should run a clean campaign. Even give a false apology for making this add.
Instead he starts with the speech about how it is terrible to attack other candidates. Once you do that, you can't go ahead an attack. Sorry. You are just proving what a bad liar you are.
And the worst part of this train wreck was that his campaign is so bad that they can't play a dvd.
They had to play it again and again, and you hear someone--Huckabee?--saying, "did you get the sound?" And then playing it again, and again, and again, until they gave up.
Pa-the-tic.
http://alternet.org/story/68057/
Mike Huckabee, the latest it girl of the Republican presidential race, tells a hell of a story. Let your guard down anywhere near the former Arkansas governor and he'll pod you, Body Snatchers-style -- you'll wake up drooling, your brain gone, riding a back seat on the bandwagon that suddenly has him charging toward the lead in the GOP race.
It almost happened to me a few months ago at a fundraiser in Great Falls, Virginia. I'd come to get my first up-close glimpse of the man Arkansans call Huck, about whom I knew very little -- beyond the fact that he was far behind in the polls and was said to be very religious. In an impromptu address to a small crowd, Huckabee muttered some stay-the-course nonsense about Iraq and then, when he was finished, sought me out, apparently having been briefed beforehand that Rolling Stone was in the house.