Huckabee is a showman. “Hopefully this is an add you will not see, except in this one room,” he says, within 2 minutes of telling everyone he is giving them a copy.
When asked why he did he show the commercial any way he says, “If you we told you we were going to run an add, then not run ad, you would ask. “Where’s the ad?’”
The obvious answer at that hypothetical point would have been “I told you i am not going to run it.”
Does he think we are fools?
“Jason, You are being too harsh!”
Really? Explain this:
“Huckabee said the ad — which attacks Romney for being too dishonest to be president — was sent to television and radio stations yesterday but will not be broadcast. He said he had made the decision 10 minutes before his [12:00pm CST] news conference, surprising even his top staff. ‘I pulled the ad. I do not want it to be run at all,’ he said.” Wapo
and then this…
“An official at KCRG-TV9 TV9 in Cedar Rapids confirmed that the station received the 30-second spot from the Huckabee campaign shortly after 6 a.m. today but was told at 10:01 a.m. not to air the commercial and the station did not show the paid advertisement.” link
Why does much of Huck’s showboating remind me of this (1:46):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHboMLW-Zn0[/youtube]
Seriously people.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Iowans are so awesome at rooting out phonies.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:09 pm
The Huck’s ill-advised maneuver will go down in history as one of the most blatantly desperate, dirty and unchristian acts ever perpetrated in a Presidential primary. It not only breaks the 11th Commandment but also the 2nd and 9th as well. Today’s stunt was deceitful, deceptive, transparent, and stinky.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:10 pm
Heads up people, the new DMR poll (their last before the caucus) will come out at 9 PM.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:11 pm
JA Pruce, deceptive, transparent, and even…stinky? That last one is going too far, man!
December 31st, 2007 at 6:11 pm
I AM SO PEEVED!
December 31st, 2007 at 6:13 pm
I actually approved an attack ad before cancelling said attack ad. Paging Howard Dean!
December 31st, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Why is everyone in such an uproar? Isn’t this the same as McCain releasing an pre-production ad on the Web the other day, but not on TV?
I guess it’s slightly more transparent to do it in person. Is that the only difference?
December 31st, 2007 at 6:16 pm
How bizarre of Huckabee — he’s shaping up to be a real creep.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Of course we can trust Romney’s henchmen like Jason to be objective when they talk about Huckabee.
http://www.catholicsforhuckabee.blogspot.com
December 31st, 2007 at 6:17 pm
#6 asparagus,
Lol, would it be fair to say that Huckabee was for the ad before he was against the ad?
December 31st, 2007 at 6:18 pm
This is the wierdest attack on Huckabee yet. What a non-issue. Looks like he’s on track to win Iowa bigtime, and people are desperately throwing mud at him for anything that he does.
Do you know what a showstopper is?
Romney’s support of ENDA
December 31st, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Peter, this has nothing to do with Jason.
I should try that with you Christians: “Oh, of course we can trust Jesus to be objective when he talks about Satan!”
December 31st, 2007 at 6:20 pm
WiseGuy — Somehow, I don’t think that’ll be a showstopper.
It’s a stupid law, but a showstopper? Oh, please.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:20 pm
WiseGuy, sadly, anyone who wants to be a viable general election candidate must support the ENDA. It’s political suicide not to.
Even though I support the right to private discrimination, I would not advise any candidate for President to take that position.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Even though I support the right to private discrimination, I would not advise any candidate for President to take that position.
Right.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:23 pm
now I am an evil henchman!
December 31st, 2007 at 6:24 pm
The problem here is that he just made himself a laughing stock with the press corp. He had that advantage over Mitt, now it is probably even.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:27 pm
huck’s turning himself into a jackass
December 31st, 2007 at 6:38 pm
When asked why the campaign hadn’t removed the oppo posters and easels, his excuse was that his staff didn’t have enough time. That is one screwed up organization that can’t figure out how to remove a half dozen easels in two hours, in order to present an authentic picture of their candidate. But, then maybe we got a precise picture of the real Gov. Huckabee.
I want to feed anti-Mormon lines to a NYT reporter, but didn’t want them coming out of his own mouth. He apologized to Gov. Romney for it, then ran as quickly as he could to Wolf Blitzer to tell the world what a pious man he is. (He was more interested in getting credit for the apolgy than in apologizing.) Now, he wants to get credit for not going negative, while he has been calling Gov. Romney a liar for two weeks.
I once received this wise counsel, “you can’t talk your way out of a problem you acted your way into.” Even Gov. Huckabee isn’t that accomplished a communicator. I’m glad we found that out before the caucus.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:41 pm
BTW, the candidate did nothing to prevent a copy of the pulled ad from being shot by the press and disemminated to the world within an hour of the press conference. And this is the man we want in charge of national security? No wonder he is worried about all those Pakistanis coming across the border.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:42 pm
I seriously enjoyed the clip from Pete’s Dragon, I got to bust that VHS cassette out & watch that one.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Tips on IA caucus
December 31st, 2007 at 6:46 pm
He’s a one trick pony and the press finally catches on.
- christian leader add – Huck: “not little ol’ me”
- jesus lucifer comment – Huck: “not little ol’ me”
- The cross ad – Huck: “not little ol’ me”
- Runs an attack ad – Huck: “not little ol’ me”
Hes a weeny that cant stand up like a man.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:46 pm
This is especially awful given that the Cedar Rapids station confirmed the ad was pulled hours before the presser, not the 10 mins before that Huck claimed. You can never tell whether the media is the mood for propping up, but under any normal circumstances this would sink Huckabee dead. He’d be crawling back to Arkansas on January 4th.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:48 pm
#18 – “huck’s turning himself into a jackass”
I would word it a little differently. I would say that rather than turning himself into a jackass, he is simply revealing to everyone the jackass he has always been! Good riddance Huck-A-Jackass.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Pete’s Magic Dragon?
I think they ought to put up a clip of Puff the Magic Dragon for FDT.
My wife and I used to love that as kids.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Here’s the Fred Thompson campaign weighing in on the Huckabee sleazeball!
http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/rep.-king-questions-huckabee-move-thompson-said-he-had-a-nice-laugh-2007-12-31.html
December 31st, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Fox News is tearing the huckster apart. It’s 6:55pm and the huckster is getting torn apart. They all agree this definitively hurts the huckster.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:55 pm
I agree with the commenter that suggested that this could be Huckabee’s ‘Dean Moment.’
Matthew has accurately pointed the passive aggressive tactic Huckabee deploys when attacking his opponents. That is both childish and immature. Planting anti-Mormon talking points to an NYC reporter now this, how transparent can he be? What a colossal screw up!
Huckabee is so not ready for prime-time. He’d be the dream candidate against the Clinton Machine.
December 31st, 2007 at 6:58 pm
And here is Jonathan Martin at Politico. The consensus is that Huckabee mocked the intelligence of the reporters there, and he is going to get crucified tonight and tomorrow in the press.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/1207/Hucks_instant_classic.html
December 31st, 2007 at 6:58 pm
#22, did you see the stats I posted the other day for how far off the final polls were for the Iowa GOP caucus in 2000? and farther still in 1996?
Here you go: http://race42008.com/2007/12/30/steve-forbes-interview-with-wolf-blitzer/
December 31st, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Pete’s Dragon is a classic. Have not seen it in a long time, but I’ll be watching it with the kids tonight.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Huck’s true colors. This is who the man is.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Nowandlater – if the ‘fairtax’ is really that good, don’t you think that just possibly Romney will be smart enough to figure that out? Welcome aboard brother!
December 31st, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Word is that the Romney campaign contacted him and let him know that if the ads were run, they would turn loose a barrage of very damaging ads they are just sitting on. If Huckabee wanted to go the route of personal attacks, Romney was armed for the possibility.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Krauthaumer really nailed huck tonight over this and other things
December 31st, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Romney, Guiliani, McCain, and Thompson (especially Thompson) are all superior than Hillary or Obama. I just think Huckabee is more politically viable in the upcoming November hostile to Republicans environment.
Maybe due to the New Year this won’t get any play? I can only hope.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:07 pm
#31. Yes, Metro, I did respond,but the thread faded.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:08 pm
nowandlater:
This will be playing for several news cycles till caucus date.
Think about it, Huckabee just royally insulted the intelligence of the press, most of which did not really care too much for him in the first place.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:18 pm
I hope not. I hope it is forgotten fast.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:24 pm
By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 55 minutes ago
DES MOINES, Iowa – Mike Huckabee may have finally gone too far.
After running an unconventional, surprisingly strong and sometimes strange race to the top tier of the Republican presidential campaign, the former Arkansas governor topped himself Monday with a campaign stunt that smacked of hypocrisy.
He called a news conference to unveil a negative ad that he had just withdrawn from Iowa television stations because, he told a room full of journalists recording the ad, he had a sudden aversion to negative politics. Quite a convenient epiphany.
“If people want to be cynical about it,†Huckabee said, “they can be cynical about it.â€
If he loses Iowa’s caucuses, New Year’s Eve will forever mark the day Huckabee blew it — the day a crowd stopped laughing with the witty Republican and laughed at him.
MEET THE REAL MIKE HUCKABEE.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Attacking Huckabee for showing his negative ad to the press, but canceling the negative ad on stations? This is the best attack you have against him? This is going to backfire even more than the floating cross controversy.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:33 pm
I have to post some of Romney’s response:
“Mitt Romney in Iowa outside Bill’s pizza responds:
“The press conference which Gov. Huckabee had today, I think, is confusing to the people of Iowa. On the one hand, he wants to run a positive campaign; and on the other hand, he shows a negative campaign ad and hopes that people promote it and provide it to the public through the earned media. And I think that’s a very confusing and puzzling message. With that, who wants a slice of pizza?â€
December 31st, 2007 at 7:37 pm
You know what, pizza sounds good. I’m going to order some pizza while I watch Pete’s Dragon tonight.
That sounds like fun..
December 31st, 2007 at 7:43 pm
WiseGuy:
Can you say “love is blind”?
December 31st, 2007 at 7:48 pm
I’ve been overwhelmingly amazed at how long it has taken so many people to see through this guy. Are the media people really that gullible? Some of the people on here seem pretty darn bright, but for whatever reason they seemed to not be willing to let this guys true colors come through. To me, he’s been one of the easiest guys to read as a husckster of anyone I’ve ever known or watched.
December 31st, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Illinois,
#46 is how I feel about Romney. The guy is as phoney as a $3 bill and would throw his grandmother under the campaign bus to get traction. Why don’t people see that?
December 31st, 2007 at 9:15 pm
very sad. this guy is going down in flames and knows it. his last made decision was teh wrong one and it is going to make him look stupid.
to call someone dishonest and a liar is below the belt. why not respond to teh specific policy points that romney is attacking him on.
romney si too smart for this stooge. he jsut outplayed him. if huck can’t easily sail to vicotry where most of the voters are evangelcals against a mormon, he can’t win anything.
mccain is doing the same thing. romney hits them with relevant and important policy issues jabs and they hit back, with, hey hey, hey, he is dumb and a liar, look he is s flip flopper, he is dishonest.. wha wha wha. no response, no rational debate, just ad hominem i am too stupid attacks.