As I have pointed out again and again, prejudice against Huck is rampant even, or especially among, conservative bloggers and pundits. Here is another example:
HotAir.com has posted another omnibus slam at the Gov. This one features clips from Huck's interview with George Stephanopolus yesterday. I'm going to put what they said above each clip. You tell me if you see the same thing they do:
"...but credit Stephanopoulos for calling Huck out on his dishonesty. Steph zeroes in on the fact that what Huckabee keeps touting as a merit scholarship program ended up being a simple in-state tuition break."
"The second clip is of the obvious follow-up question. I’ve never seen Huckabee speechless but darned if Steph doesn’t stump the band; it looks as though Huck hasn’t even thought about what his policy on this would be as president, which is amazing given the heat he’s taken for it and his many sonorous pronouncements about what his soul won’t let him do."
"...third clip to get an inkling of how he’s likely to settle on the issue. Because immigration is a federal, not state, issue (or so proponents of non-enforcement always remind us vis-a-vis sanctuary cities), he’ll likely end up claiming he’s obliged to take a harder line on illegals as president than he did as governor — a federalist distinction, irony of ironies. Where that leaves his soul, I don’t know."
These guys go on to implicate the Gov. in the phone call nonsense I reported earlier on this blog. And by risible extension, suggest that Huck might have had something to do with the anti-Romney calls last month. All this with exactly no evidence, just a willing suspension of disbelief, if I can borrow a phrase from Hillary.
Leaving no attack unlaunched, there is also a subtle suggestion of campaign shenanegans in the mention that Huck is appearing at the Iowa Renewal Project dinner held by Donald Wildmon, a Huck supporter. It is a pastor's policy briefing "...which aims, in the words of an e-mail Don Wildmon sent to pastors, to 'encourage pastors and their congregations to take a stand for morality in their daily lives.'" Also speaking is Newt Gingrich, who I thought the clowns at Hot Air liked. The implication here is that as Wildmon is a declared supporter for Huckabee, that this is an end around campaign restrictions by using the church as a political tool.
Unbelievable. But don't say I haven't been warning you all about this stuff.
Update:
Seems one of the bloggers at Huck's site did a little sleuthing and dug up a changed WHOIS on the site where the push poll calls came from. Looks like it might be a Giuliani associated thing. Pretty wild. I sent an e-mail to Allah at HotAir, but I'm not holding my breath for a correction on their slam at the Gov.
Update:
This just keeps getting better. They've posted something at HotAir about the push poll website, but now it's a big conspiracy theory. Apparently, Rudy and Huck are in cahoots with one another to knock off Mitt. Once that's accomplished, Huck will gleefully accept a VP nod from Rudy, and they'll ride off into the sunset together. Now let me crawl back through the looking glass to chase that big rabbit. idiots
As spotlighted at politico.com, a site that has been less than friendly to Huck, there is some knucklehead making attack phone calls in Iowa to support the Gov. The calls, while correctly pointing out policy differences between the other candidates and Huck, are usually viewed with distaste by those who receive them and can often backfire when it comes to voting.
The website that is doing this, trusthuckabee.com is not affiliated with the Gov's campaign, and states on its homepage that it is a grassroots support site. Look, I'm all for supporting the man's campaign, but let's do it properly and with a little class. Okay? Make a donation, encourage others to do the same. Surf the net when you have time and watch for derogatory posts about Huck on various sites and try to post counter opinions. I'm all for aggressive use of the net, which you've heard me say repeatedly on this blog, but let's not sink to the level of distasteful tactics.
I posted a rebuttal on sayanything.com this morning. They posted a bit on how some Arkansas newspaper claimed that Huck was a bigger taxer than Bill Clinton. The article, from a paper that appears to be an opponent of Huck based on other editorials, cherry-picked tax data to support their claim. Say Anything has been, as far as I have seen, quite vocal in their attempt to derail the Gov's campaign. I made a simple statement about the Gov's tax record and left it at that. That is what I'm talking about. We can support the Gov. without going to Ron Paul extremes.
First off, I'd like to point out that the Gov. reached his fund raising goal for November. I made a donation late Friday, and the system was jammed, so that was nice to see that so many supporters were reaching into their pockets to help Huck's campaign. If you were one of those, thanks. My next question is why you didn't use my widget thingy? You guys are killing me here.
If you haven't noticed, Huck has moved solidly into first place in the Iowa polls. This brings joy to us supporters and anguish to the many detractors, especially those in our own party. Hot Air is virtually groaning over Huck's success, and doing everything in their power to torpedo him. Post after post, dredging up every possible negative comment, flat out insulting the man and his faith at every opportunity. And this is no small thing, these guys claim they are one of the most influential and most read conservative websites out there. They wield influence and help form opinion.
This week on the O'Reilly Factor, Bill opined that the mainstream media was pushing for Huck because they knew he could not beat Hillary in a one on one race for President. Clearly he had not read the poll results that showed the top four Rep candidates all out polling Hill. Bill has steadfastly refused to acknowledge Huck's growing candidacy and still seeks to blunt his ascention to top candidate. Rudy is Bill's guy, despite his anti-gun, pro-illegal-immigration stances. And exactly how is Rudy the War on Terror expert? Because he was mayor of NY on 9/11? It's not like Rudy was in the streets between the towers, firing his pearl-handled revolver at the incoming planes ala George Patton! He just happened to be mayor of a city that was attacked by terrorists. He has no more foreign policy experience than Huck.
Free Republic, Say Anything, Lonewacko, and other conservative sites are virulently anti-Huck. Peruse their blogs and associated comments and you'll be shocked by the prejudice against the man. And the pig-headedness of their convictions. I went back and forth the other day with a guy named Bill at Free Republic over polling. After this guy used Rasmussen's polls to argue his claim about Mitt being the top guy, I mentioned that Rasmussen showed Mitt and Huck tied in Iowa. This clown responds with an insulting bit about how polls don't count in primary elections. I quoted his earlier post and again stated that he presented as evidence a poll to bolster his claim and that the same poll supported my claim. I simply pointed out his hypocrisy. Bill never answered. But that's what we face in this race.
As I've said before, we, as supporters of Mike Huckabee, have to be active in the blogosphere. Monitor these blogs/sites and stick up for the Gov. Not all allow comments, but for those that do, get in there and show Huck some love. Drop me an e-mail and I'll get your back if needs be. E-mail others for support, help create a network of supporters. We need to take a page out of the Ronbots playbook. Use the web to our advantage.
And donate to the campaign. Even if it's only a dollar. "A buck for Huck!" I'll still match any donation until I reach my donation target of $250. This is the most politically involved I've been in my entire life. And there's a reason. This is the most dangerous election we've had in my life. The world, and this country, are at a crossroads. We need a leader who has strength of conviction, strength of character, and the will to lead. That leader is Mike Huckabee. This is not the time for on the job training or opinion poll governance.
All in all, I thought Huck did a great job in the debate on the few questions he fielded. I thought his answer to the sarcastic jerk about the Bible was probably his best. Followed closely by his answers about the death penalty and clever rebuttal to the charge of favoring illegal immigrants that led to his mention of the Veteran's Bill of Rights that he has proposed.
A few other random thoughts:
Mitt Romney stammering and stuttering when caught unprepared in a question did not seem presidential to me. That it happened so many times during the debate was even more troubling.
The discovery after the fact of so many of the questioners as being either workers for democratic campaigns [Hillary] or decided supporters for dem candidates [Obama, Edwards] or most troubling [a CAIR intern] only confirms the bias of CNN and other main stream media outlets.
As most sources agreed that Huck did the best in the debate, the usual suspects are ramping up their attacks on the Gov. Hot Air is trying to link Huck with Bill Clinton and is replaying Fred?'s video in long form and re-hashing the debunked nonsense about the Gov's tax record in their featured blog area. pitiful
Charles Krauthammer, who I thoroughly enjoy, went on FOX last night during their All-Stars segment of Brit Hume's show and gave a condescending dismissal of Huck as a lightweight. Romney is clearly Chuck's guy, despite the serial flip-flops on every issue the man has faced. go figure
At least Fred Barnes, who as recently as a week ago claimed a vote for Huck was a thrown away vote, admitted he underestimated the Gov. and his campaign.
Did the best I could on my first attempt at live-blogging. If you checked in, thanks. I'll do a better job the next time. Don't forget to make a donation to Huck's campaign, every little bit helps. Even "a buck for Huck" is appreciated and will be matched by yours truly.
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