June 11, 2007

Mike Huckabee's blog linked to the Bloggingheads segment where Annie and I say some nice things about him.

But linking to the whole segment means his supporters will get immersed in our idiosyncratic free-flowing discussion that includes the gelatinous blob diet pill, pro-anorexia websites, the creative ways kids find to get high, and so forth. And then there's the part where I criticize him for linking dieting and religion and for presenting weight loss as a qualification for the Presidency (and say "Why'd you get fat in the first place?"). And Annie says he looks like Nixon....

12 comments:

Tim said...

That's not all bad. For him or you.

Huckabee is running uphill, and he knows it.

Despite the NY Times' cartoonish view of Republican primary voters as rural rednecks missing teeth and holding benighted views of (illegal) immigrants, Republicans are far more diverse than that, and he knows it, and he knows he needs their votes.

So while he linked to you, you should consider it an endorsement, as he acknowledges he needs Republicans who like your blog.

Not that he'll be getting my vote.

Ann Althouse said...

I'm not really saying it's bad. I think it gives him some hip cool edge.

Balfegor said...

And Annie says he looks like Nixon....

Oh gee, he kind of does. With googlier eyes.

Christy said...

It's all good. While listening to you and Annie, I decided to look harder at Huckabee. I'd paid him no nevermind before.

Sean Hackbarth said...

Any publicity is good publicity. It shows he's not afraid of some jabs at himself. It complements his approach in the debates. He looks very comfortable with himself.

Unknown said...

The man is an idiot:

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says: "most of our prisoners would love to be in a facility more like Guantanamo and less like the state prisons that people are in in the United States."

Contrary to: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell condemned the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay yesterday, calling it "a major problem for America's perception" and charging, "if it was up to me, I would close Guantanamo -- not tomorrow, this afternoon."

Tim said...

While very few across the globe are better qualified to judge idiots than LOS, those same qualities diminish any observations made by the idiot himself.

A simple understanding of relative matters and a reading of Powell's remarks would render the idiot's comparison, unsurprisingly, inapt.

Few in America know prisons better than governors for obvious reasons; regardless, Powell's comment address the international public relations aspect of GITMO, not its relative merits of comfort, safety, etc., things that Huckabee would know.

Emy L. Nosti said...

I have to agree...at worst, he generates negative buzz, and people might actually start associating "Huckabee" with a presidential candidate rather than a movie. I think he should take what he can get.

Thorley Winston said...

The man is an idiot:

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says: "most of our prisoners would love to be in a facility more like Guantanamo and less like the state prisons that people are in in the United States."


He’s probably right about that. I don’t doubt that the conditions and treatment afforded to detainees in Gitmo is probably better than your average State prison.

Contrary to: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell condemned the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay yesterday, calling it "a major problem for America's perception" and charging, "if it was up to me, I would close Guantanamo -- not tomorrow, this afternoon."

Unless Powell preceded or followed up this comment with “and here’s where I think they should be held instead” then he’s the idiot.

Unknown said...

Thorley Winston,
as a matter of fact powell did recommend they be held HERE.

and you actually think powell, versus the "huck" is an idiot??

gitmo will be remembered forever a one of america's most disgusting and shameful events.

Unknown said...

so...timmy...you also think the "huck" is more qualifies to comment on gitmo...than colin powell?

based on what? his VAST experience versus that of general powell??

you're even dumber than i thought...and that takes some doing.

*maybe if you were to read something instead of listening to rush, sean the other gurus you worship.

Balfegor said...

He’s probably right about that. I don’t doubt that the conditions and treatment afforded to detainees in Gitmo is probably better than your average State prison.

Yes . . . I don't think Luckyoldsen really groks quite how awful many of America's domestic prisons are. Excessive beatings, electroshock torture, sexual abuse (incl. rape) of female prisoners by guards, staging fights between prisoners, prisoner-prisoner rape. The usual Abu Ghraib-type stuff. These are widely reported in many large state prison systems, both (to address a point raised earlier in a different thread) in the state prison systems and the county jail systems. California and Florida come up often as having particularly ghoulish state prison systems. Gitmo is a model of civilisation by comparison.

Amnesty International is actually a decent source just for aggregating all the various species of abuses committed in state prisons over the past year, even though they group a lot of things that are not particularly objectionable into the overall heading of prison abuse. They also put out a more detailed report on abuse of women in state prison systems in the 90s a few years ago -- no reason to think it's been improved particularly since then. For more details, though, you usually have to go to other sources.