Mike Huckabee, who stills polls well in many demographics, hasn't indicated that he's running for president. He's sitting in a comfy spot as a FoxNews commentator and would have to give that up. Also, it's not clear that he really wants to run again.
I would say that his latest gaffes may be a sly strategy to rev up his support among the right fringe group. Here are the gaffes and what I'm thinking:
1. He referred to Obama having grown up in Kenya and would certainly be influenced by his "Kenyan boyhood" experiences and also made reference to the Mau Mau rebellion. Then he released a statement saying he had meant to refer to Obama's Indonesia boyhood. Yes, but what about the Mau Mau stuff? That would not have sprung to mind in connection with Indonesia.
2. He criticized Natalie Portman for having a baby "out of wedlock." He then said he had merely used this to lead into a discussion of the difficult economic issues of most single mothers who struggle to make it on their own. Portman obviously doesn't have those economic problems. Also she's not a single mother; she and her partner simply are not married. All the other aspects of "single parent" do not apply to her.
3. He has revived the infamous "death panel" jab at health care reform, despite its having been thoroughly debunked when Sarah Palin tried to use it. He says -- but there are things in the reform that will lead to rationing of health care and denying it to the aged.
So -- why is Huck doing this? He's not dumb. He's not uninformed. He's not someone prone to stumble over his facts. Well, sometimes, but not from out of left field, like the Obama/Kenya thing.
My guess is that it's part of a strategic plan to appeal to the conservative "social values" crowd that could form his largest base. It gets at anti-Obama feeling, it bespeaks "family values," and it plays the health care card. Comedians may make jokes, progressives may grit their teeth; but his conservative base either won't care -- or will like him better for it.
Dumb like a fox . . . that's Huck.
Ralph
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Similarly, Michele Bachmann is pondering a run for the presidency. For some time, I've been looking for soft signs to indicate her intentions, and I have noticed that the pictures of her have changed. In the past, they were consistent with her off the wall statements -- she had a sort of goofiness and looseness -- lots of smiling or exaggerated facial gestures.
ReplyDeleteLately, she has appreared more serious, even with a tone of gravity and somberness at times. And I'm talking about just the candid shots of her speaking in public or in informal places. So, this must reflect a real change in her public persona, if not in fact a change in her attitude and mind-set.
I'm not saying this changes my low opinion of her as presidential material -- but I'm beginning to think she might be able to pick up the Sarah Palin crowd -- without all of Palin's baggage.
And she is the darling of the Tea Party crowd, as well as the head of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress. In short, she can't be just dismissed any longer as a harmless airhead.
Well, maybe I spoke too soon about Michele's makeover. She just made a dumb mistake and failed to correct it in a subsequent speech later the same day.
ReplyDeleteIn New Hampshire, she was praising the state for its love of liberty and referred to it as: "You're the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord. And you put a marker in the ground and paid with the blood of your ancestors . . . ."
Nice recognition to give to the place the American revolution began. Trouble is, it wasn't in New Hampshire. Lexington and Concord are in Massachusetts, as any smart 6th grader could tell you.
I doubt that went over too well with the New Hampshireans -- unless, as I said about Huckabee, his base likes people not to be too smart; makes them feel better about their own lack of smarts.