Quoted in the NYTimes, but…
Bill Kristol’s new column in the New York Times–which is causing the Left countless conniption fits–takes a very positive look at Mike Huckabee. He includes this quote:
After the last two elections, featuring the well-born George Bush and Al Gore and John Kerry, Americans — even Republicans! — are ready for a likable regular guy. Huckabee seems to be that. He came up from modest origins. He served as governor of Arkansas for more than a decade. He fought a successful battle against being overweight. These may not be utterly compelling qualifications for the presidency. I’m certainly not ready to sign up.
Still, as the conservative writer Michelle Malkin put it, “For the work-hard-to-get-ahead strivers who represent the heart and soul of the G.O.P., there are obvious, powerful points of identification.”
Since I never usually appear on the New York Times op-ed page unless someone’s calling me a fascist, I was pleasantly surprised to see the quote. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), I didn’t write what Kristol attributed to me. A different MM–Michael Medved–was the author:
Common Misconception: He’s a one dimensional Bible-thumper who can appeal only to Evangelicals in the South and Midwest
Truth: In an election in which the term “elitist” has become a dirty word, Huckabee enjoys a serious advantage as the least elitist candidate of them all: a humble, witty, soft-spoken guy who became the first male in family history to graduate from high school. Romney’s the son of a Governor and auto executive and he studied at Harvard and Stanford (and BYU), McCain’s the son and grandson of prominent Navy admirals; Rudy’s been part of Manhattan high life and the legal power elite for so many years that he’s disconnected from his Brooklyn roots, and Fred’s more associated with Hollywood (and his glamorous young wife) than his hardscrabble upbringing in Tennessee. Huckabee, however, comes across like the ultimate underdog and an ordinary guy – so ordinary, that he even battled (and conquered) a serious weight problem that most Americans can understand. It’s not just Christian zealots who recognize Huckabee as “one of us”; I’ve spoken to non-religious Russian immigrant Jews who love him because he’s down-to-earth, plain-spoken and unpretentious non-celebrity. For the work-hard-to-get-ahead strivers who represent the heart and soul of the GOP, there are obvious, powerful points of identification. In this context, his embarrassing fumbles in reacting to Benazir Bhutto’s assassination haven’t destroyed his campaign: anyone who wanted a candidate with foreign policy credentials would have turned away from Huckabee long ago.
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Trackbacks
- Think Progress » Kristol misattributes quote in 1st NYT column.
- Radio Left
- Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator
- The Big 2008 Sigh « Obi’s Sister
- Kristol Clear « The Grand Panjandrum
- Michelle Malkin » Selective moral outrage at the NYTimes
- In defense of intelligent debate « tangents and digressions
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Huckabee likable? Pathetic. The only decent guy, who at least had a real job helping other, is Dr. Paul.
lol @ Ron Paul
Huckabee is very likeable. Illegal aliens, Middle-east dictators, and “born again” murderers seeking pardons like him very much.
Conditioned response, Pavlov’s newspaper, the NY Times sees MM and immediately begin to salivate.
Ron Paul should run for the Emperor of the Moon. When will this guy go away?
By the way, I met Huckabee about ten years ago when he was Governor of Arkansas. I was an intern for the RGA at the time. He is a really nice guy in person.
I still like Romney
Naturally, the Best of The Best will be quoted, our dear Michelle!
I like Malkin. But it’s typical of the NY Slimes to be “fake but accurate.” In this case, accurate quote of the wrong MM. Paper of record, indeed.
That’s rich…lol
i thought the sentence sounded a little awkward to be our MM….she don’t need no stinking hyphens to make an adjective!
Question for our MM: would you have been more emotional about the mistake if it had been made by, say, Paul Krugman rather than one of your own? I’ve seen your reaction to minor errors from the NYTimes in the past, and they were not this kind.
Hmmmm, so in the pages of the NYT, Michelle, you’re fine … only as long as you’re not you?? Or is the author simply ’stalking’ you by using your name even where it’s not applicable?
Well, even as one of what most of the MSM “put-everyone-in-their-proper-boxes” folks would call an evagelical, I’m no fan of the Huckster, and I certainly prefer your angle on him to Mr Medved’s.
Me too, must be a Bob thing. I also think he has the best chance to be elected President of all the Repubs.
well, lgm…your question lacks context.
clearly Kristol’s error was not an attempt to defame Michelle. if anything, it’s a flattering mistake. had the NYT’s mistake been favorable, i do not think Michelle would have gotten ‘emotional.’
the NYT’s ‘mistakes’ tend to mold conservative opinions to fit a preconceived stereotype, which is where the ire come from. not the mistake itsself.
I don’t care if he’s a nice guy. Can he beat whoever the Dems run???? Obama is a nice guy but would be a catastrophic disaster in every possible way.
I just don’t believe Huckabee would stand a chance. This country is just not going to elect another southern governor….especially not from the same state as Clinton. “Change” is the buzz word so the candidate has to be perceived as different.
bloghooligan said:
clearly Kristol’s error was not an attempt to defame Michelle.
I agree, in fact, i think it’s the first time I’ve seen the pretentious old G-Lady refer to MMr as anything other than a “right wing blogger” or something to that effect…it’s almost as if they’re actually admitting that blogging is (heaven forfend!)”writing.”
Huckabee should step aside for the good of the country. We need a candidate who can win in November, not one who can win between now and then.
I’m sure he’s a nice guy but nice guy’s are NOT what we need. We need a winner.
I tend to agree trinitytim, Don;t think Huck can take the ge…
just recalling “Nixon’s the One”….
and wondering “is Mitt it?”
Mitt is It!
Get with Mitt!
Catch Mitt!
I’m really not on board with him, but catchy slogan-wise (though not evidenced by the above suggestions I admit), there is potential?
“Can you dig Mitt?”
Huckabee is not my preferred candidate. I’m not really sure who is, yet. I feel like I must resign myself to picking the lesser of several evils at this juncture, again. *sigh*
But, I do agree with Kristol on one thing. Huckabee is affable. He does seem to be the kind of guy that came from humble beginnings, like me. But, that is not enough for me to think he can be POTUS. Of course, there is also the problem with our differings on key issues, like immigration, or, at least, my belief of border control and his record on catering to illegal immigrants.
You mean his treasonous statements like 19 thugs hit the WTC and Pentagon and they attacked us up because we invaded their countries. Make up your mind Dr. Paul. They either blew up the WTC and Pentagon or they didn’t. Who is Dr. Paul helping there?
Oh, and I forgot, he is going to fix the tax system. What a crock.
Huck is not the man – sorry (coming from a Christian). Huck is a Liberal in sheep’s clothing. Same for Rudy. It is good to see Rudy’s numbers tank!
You didn’t really weigh in on the misattributed quote, Michelle. What do you think of the idea that Huckabee might play to identity politics?
The hysteria about Huck is hysterical.
Romney is always at about a constant secound while the other guys soar and fall. He seems to be the best choice.
Get a grip, get Mitt…
I think Huckabee has as much of a chance in the general election as any of the R candidates. Huckabee would certainly carry the South which is something other R candidates would have trouble with.
I don’t agree with Huckabee on everything, but I really don’t understand why people HATE him. What has he done to you? He turned a deficit into a surplus in 10 years as Governor in Arkansas. He’s pro-life, pro-gun, anti gay marriage. I don’t like his immigration stance, and I am weary of his fiscal policy. But he’s hardly worthy of the hatred that he seems to get merely because he says he’s a Christian.
The Houston Chronicle references you quite a bit today on illegal immigrants.
http://blogs.chron.com/immigration/archives/2008/01/illegal_immigra_1.html
That weight loss thing could appeal to the country a whole lot more than people know. There are a lot of fat people in this country who could look up to what he has accomplished. They could say, ‘if he can do it, I can do it’, and they’ll lose weight and be healthier too.
ROFL @ hooligan. Seriously.
Ron Paul for Moon Emperor 08!
“Ron Paul for Moon Emperor 08!”
LOL! Yep. And he has a much better chance of achieving the above then he does of ever being elected president.
As much as I usually agree with Bill Kristol, how on earth could be make a factual mistake in his very first column? But if it will make the real Michelle happy to be quoted for something she actually said, I used an MM quote in a term paper that I submitted for a grad school class I am taking (one class per semester). To tweak the prof even further, I put it in a footnote!!!!!!!!! I can’t wait till he reads it. The prof is a really nice guy but a fierce 1960s liberal and he had a holiday party for our class (nice guy that he is) and he actually served brie and chablis!!!!!!!!!!!!
In real life I am also an MM (I use my nickname on the blog). As MMs we have Mickey Mantle, Mighty Mouse, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse so we are in good company. Show me any other initials that even close to MM!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s early.
You’re front page news to us MM (Michelle that is)
I love MM, MM and M&M’s.
I think, as far as the MMs are concerned, it’s really rather meaningless who said it, as it wouldn’t change Bill’s column if corrected. I doubt Michelle would express the sentiment that’s in the quote, but since it’s not really a value comment, I don’t think that matters much either.
However, it’s a little disturbing to see an error such as that in a column.
Does anyone know why the other MM (Michael Medved) has become such a spin master for the Huckabee and McCain campaigns? Is it just the Open-Borders, Path-to-Citizen issue that Medved is so hot for? Or is it something else that has caused him to lose all objectivity on his talk show?
I was listening to his radio program when he got hopping mad at an ad Romney did in Iowa. The ad pointed out that Huckabee supported in-state tuition and scholarships for illegals. Medved called Romney a negative campaigner and a liar. FactCheck.org could find nothing unfactual in Romney’s ad. So who is lying?
Medved is silient about Huckabee’s personal attacks on Romney and President Bush. He said that Romney is unfit to be president because he is dishonest and can’t be trusted. He also attacked Bush’s arrogant bunker mentality.
I guess name calling and ad hominin attacks are OK to Mr. Medved but pointing out differences in policies is out of bounds. If you are proud of your past actions and statements, how can it be negative when someone points them out? Its only negative if you are ashamed of what you did and you don’t want anyone to find out about it.
Medved and Kristol are cut from the same neocon cloth. They follow the writings and philosopy of Bill’s father, Irving Kristol.
Watch the BBC documentary (which is not from a Liberal point of view) and wake up to what’s going on people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAUDcmaJNWQ
I can’t make this stuff up…do your homework.
Only Ron Paul stands in the way of the establishment. I’ll debate that with any of you that continually criticize Paul (soap box, bogtrotter, reppac122, bloghooligan).
Remember one thing…garbage in, garbage out (and the dollar keeps falling while you keep playing their game).
Peace,
Fed Up
Fed Up, I watched the first 10 min. video but I was too fed-up to watch the rest. So some Muslim came to our country and didn’t like our music, our dances, and the way we spend too much time cutting our lawns. Does that make us responsible for 911?
The only sure way to prevent a permissive culture is to limit freedom and to use Moral Police like they do in Iran. Is that what Ron Paul is for? I don’t get why you provided the link to an hour’s worth of videos. Maybe you could summarize the main points for us if they’re that important to you.
You can read my book when it comes out called “Fed Up!”
In the meantime, you can find a review of the 3 hour documenatary here: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050620/bergen
I do recommend you watch the entire film before jumping to conclusions and asking questions that have nothing to do with the message of the film.
Fed Up
On-my-soap-box said:
I think he meant helping others in that he was a practicing physician in his prior career. The Republican party and the country in general would benefit with him returning to his previous occupation as a healer.
Yeah… more of that NYT stellar fact-checking…
On January 7th, 2008 at 5:27 pm, GaijinBob said:
Point taken and I did gather what he meant. I just get tired of Dr. Paul being touted as a serious candidate at all. Bad for defense and full of bull claiming he can fix the tax system the latter of which is just old fashioned pandering – PERIOD.
Dr. Paul is sucking people in who the old “the income tax was never ratified” crowd and are just tired of the IRS. Next he tries to align himself with the anti-war crowd by claiming we were not attacked by terrorists but we were because we occupy their country (talk about covering your bases).
Finally, he is running as a Republican (and he is not). He is not a conservative he may be green party at best.
News flash for those of you who are Ron Paul fans:
Most of the conservative base wants a conservative – duh. That leaves out “Rudy-I-am the-only-one-who-has-had-a-terrorist-attack” (ummm it was against us all Rudy) and “Huck-I-have-no-clue-what-immigration-is” as well.
Soap,
I suggest you read Rothbard’s “Betrayal of the American Right” before you claim to know what a conservative is and isn’t.
Ron Paul is more of what the Old Republican Party stood for than any other candidate. Even GW ran on a humble foreign policy in 2000.
Contrast that to the “New” Republican party with its Islamofacism, warmongering battle cry, uncontrolable spending, Patirot Act – taking away our freedoms and 2006 losses to the liberals of both the house and the senate and you can see where they have gone wrong.
You don’t deny this do you Soap?
(and don’t run away from answering this question by attacking Ron Paul, the issue here is what is a conservative.
The Republican Party changed. Ron Paul didn’t.
Fed Up
Soap,
You could just read this (but I still recommend the book):
http://www.lewrockwell.com/french/french70.html
Fed Up
and this one Soap….
http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_real_american_right_part_i/
Fed Up
Fed Up said:
The Patriot Act did not take away any of my freedoms to do anything, only my expectation of privacy for what I do. McCain-Feingold stripped our fundamental freedoms as McCain helped establish an unassailable incumbent aristocracy, which is why, if McCain gets the nomination, I’ll be voting Libertarian this year.
Should have said “privacy” there Gaijin Bob…I stand corrected…
May I ask what you don’t like about Ron Paul (since you are considering voting Libertarian)?
Fed Up