PrintDecember 23, 2007
Huckaboost my baby with a media melody
This is true love. It's gotta be. What else could account for these adoring words from Dan Payne in the Boston Globe?
"THEY'VE found him! The punditocracy believes it has spied a rare species: a moderate Republican who's candid, funny, charming, and doesn't think the earth is flat or Bush has a clue. Eight years ago, it was John McCain. This time, it's Mike Huckabee." (Contrary to pundits, not everybody loves Huckabee/Boston Globe ^ | Dec. 13, 200
The Boston Globe is owned, of course, by the New York Times.
The New York Times itself just headlined Huckabee, "Charming and Aloof, Huckabee Changed State."
The liberal Houston Chronicle praises Huckabee for "governing against the grain," meaning as a liberal.
"...beginning in 1996 he drove through a series of changes that transformed education and health insurance in Arkansas, achievements that were never tried by most of his predecessors, including Bill Clinton. Republicans in Arkansas, a beleaguered minority, gleefully greeted his ascendancy but wound up embittered, in many cases, over a governor who 'sided with liberal Democrats,' as one put it."
Or, as George Will just put it,
"Huckabee's campaign actually is ... a comprehensive apostasy against core Republican beliefs,"
And Ann Coulter calls him "The Republican Jimmy Carter."
Rush Limbaugh compares Huckabee to H. Ross Perot. You remember Perot -- he's the guy who brought Bill Clinton into power in 1992 by siphoning off the Reagan Democrat vote?
John McCain must be green with envy. For years he was the darling of the liberal media. Who gave the WaPo 'campaign finance reform'? Who is the only Republican the NYT Editorial Board can stand? And here it's pay-off time, and look who's getting winkie-winkie goo-goo eyes now? Is this nice? Is this loyalty?
So why is Huckabee doing so well? He's a good campaigner, he used to be a Baptist pastor, and all that. But one main reason he's doing so well is that his name recognition has suddenly shot up -- that's something the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the TV networks can still do for you.
As Clarence Page just wrote,
"Democratic voters face two challenges heading into 2008. The first is deciding which Democratic candidate to support. The second is agreeing on which Republican candidate they'd most like to run against."
A NYT-approved blogger just called Huck "amazingly unconservative". Huckabee is a Southern liberal-populist in the tradition of Hewey Long, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. He's a class envy demagogue.
That's why Huckabee Huckaboomed. Once the media boost somebody's name recognition, the polls shoot up because it now sounds familiar. Most of the people who are enticed by Huckabee only see the headlines. Then you headline your own polls that you boosted in the first place, and their name recognition goes even higher. So it's a media and poll-driven boom cycle, and Governor Huckabee has played right into it. He knows how the media game is played.
Republican voters are being suckered by the city slicker press.
Rush nailed it:
RUSH: A montage of Drive-By journalists and their reaction.JOHN HARWOOD: ...a stroke of genius.JOE SCARBOROUGH: This is the genius of him.RUSH: Yeah. Why the Drive-Bys like this. Normally, the Drive-Bys, you start mentioning Christ -- it's bad enough to say you're a Christian, but you start mentioning Christ, the birth of Christ -- the Drive-Bys and the liberals run for the hills. "Separation of church and state!" But in this case? It's brilliant, brilliant. I know why. I know why. They hope Huckabee gets the nomination. They can't wait! (laughing) They just cannot wait. "Then we get him, then we get rid of all this evangelical stuff once and for all!"
You can know Huckabee by the company he keeps.
James Lewis blogs at dangeroustimes.wordpress.com/
