Huckabee - Not Ready for Prime Time & Starts to Show His Thin Skin

Analysis: Huckabee's spotlight heats up
By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press Writer
Fri Dec 7, 6:03 PM ET

Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, unaccustomed to the national spotlight, is squirming under the glare.

With his bare-bones campaign, the former Arkansas governor has been considered an also-ran until recently, when he surged to a share of the lead in Iowa GOP surveys. Now he is in second place nationally among Republicans, behind Rudy Giuliani, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll on Friday.

The added scrutiny and pressure have resulted in a series of what look like beginner's mistakes:

• Huckabee made a joke of his skimpy foreign policy experience, telling radio host Don Imus, "I may not be the expert as some people on foreign policy, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night," a play on the hotel chain's commercials.

A spokesman for rival Fred Thompson sniffed that people want a commander in chief, not a court jester.

• Questioned by reporters this week, Huckabee was unaware of a report released by the White House saying Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program. President Bush had held a news conference about the report, and Democrats had focused on it in a debate.

Huckabee said he'd been campaigning so hard in Iowa, he hadn't had time to read the newspaper or be briefed. And he said that probably would happen again.

Thompson told reporters in Ohio on Friday: "For a presidential candidate not to know that or not to keep up with that I think is very surprising."

• Huckabee understated his role in the release of a rapist, Wayne DuMond, who murdered a woman after being paroled. Huckabee blames former Arkansas Govs. Bill Clinton and Jim Guy Tucker for making the rapist eligible for parole.

Yet Huckabee had questioned whether DuMond was guilty, had met with DuMond's wife before and after becoming governor and had written DuMond, on the day the state parole board freed him: "Dear Wayne ... My desire is that you be released from prison." ...

To stay at the top level, Huckabee needs to be a quick study, learning to be more judicious with his humor. Expanding his staff and getting daily briefings on the issues of the day — as other candidates do — would seem wise.

And he needs to find concise, accurate answers to criticism. Huckabee spent more than six minutes describing the intricacies of the DuMond case when asked about it at a news conference Tuesday, and his answer implied that he opposed the rapist's release all along when he did not.

Huckabee's rivals are combing through his Arkansas record, which includes ethics complaints, tax increases and support for children of illegal immigrants, among other things.

On occasion, Huckabee has grown testy under the increased scrutiny, as when Thompson criticized his foreign policy joke. Huckabee, who is known for sometimes being thin-skinned, got personal, making cracks about Thompson being lazy and not regularly attending church.

"The most activity we've seen out of the Fred Thompson campaign are the relentless press releases coming from his campaign about me. There were six before 10 o'clock Sunday morning," Huckabee said at the news conference, where he was surrounded by pastors.

"Most of us were in church. He was cranking out press releases that morning," Huckabee said as the pastors chuckled.

And he flared when a reporter asked about schools teaching evolution rather than creationism. He insisted his belief in creationism was beside the point. "That's an irrelevant question to ask me," he admonished. ...

- http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071207/ap_po/huckabee_spotlight;_ylt=Ao6hw4GV11Da0njPIcarCzys0NUE

 

When a person runs for president, everything needs to be laid bare to the voters who will pass judgment on him/her.

Besides, I didn't write this news story nor contribute to it. Even if I didn't post it here it is available for viewing on the Internet.

I'll make you Huckabee supporters a deal - ya'll stop posting pro-Huckabee posts and I'll stop posting anti-Huckabee posts. Deal?

Or at least confine your pro-Huckabee posts to a single thread and I'll do the same with my anti-Huckabee posts.

 

Hey, you're welcome to post your anti-Ron Paul posts in a thread I start or a thread you or anyone starts.

To quote President Bush, "Bring it on!"

 

That's not how it works in real life politics. If you don't understand that, then you will by the end of February.

As the old saying goes - if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

And as another old saying goes - if you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch.