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Huck on Leno


Appearing on the Tonight Show, Mike Huckabee said that one of the reasons he entered politics is that he did not think those making policy decisions really understood problems like hunger and disease.  Me: Yes, apparently not enough people understood the nature of the AIDS epidemic.

All snark aside, Huck’s appearance on Leno highlighted his appeal: He is a smooth talking, charismatic guy, who naturally appeals when compared to some of his more plastic competitors (and that bit of bass-playing didn’t hurt, even if it did remind me of Clinton’s turn on the sax).  The problem with Huck is not his style, but his substance, but Leno didn’t press much here.

An interesting bit came when Leno asked Huck about the almost-aired anti-Romney ad.  Huck told the tale without claiming the ad was pulled at the last minute.  When specifically asked about why he showed it to the press, Huck’s answer was a bit defensive (in substance, but not style) as he said that they had to show it to the media, because if they hadn’t, the press would not have believed the ad was ever made (assuming, that is, they had to tell the media about it at all), and that “if” he’d wanted to be disingenuous, he would have run the ad for a few days before pulling it.

Huckabee also compared himself to Obama, for pushing a non-ideological, “vertical” politics, that gets beyond “left-right” disputes.  I think Huck was on to something there.  As a pro-life liberal, Huck defies the traditional left-right divide.