Oh, Yes, the Huckster is Running

And he gets a tongue-bath to start the campaign. Sorry for the graphic imagery first thing in the morning, but there's nothing else to call this profile in the New Yorker. Read it for yourself, but here are the takeaways.

First, he's running in 2012. Evidence? He just bought a house in Florida and he's lining up 8,000 word "Meet the Candidate" pieces in the New Yorker that cast him as "the wayward Republican" "best hope" for the GOP. Don't be a fool.

Second, most importantly for consideration when it comes to your primary vote in two years, all you really need to know is that he's being pimped by none other than superdouche Palin-basher and former McCain campaign advisor Steve Schmidt. Of the rotund television personality, Schmidt writes: "There's no one who really provides a better contrast to Sarah Palin, showing her as an entertainer instead of a serious thinker—and there’s not enough oxygen for both of them."

Third, he's carrying a helluva chip on his shoulder. You know who was graceful in the face of poor treatment from commentators? George W. Bush. You know who won't be so graceful? Certain Effin' Doomabee:

"What bothered me more than anything was the disdain that I experienced from the élites: 'Oohhhh, who does Huckabee think he is, speaking about the economy,'" he said, in an accent meant to suggest aristocracy. "They treated me like a total hick," he added. "A complete, uneducated, unprepared hick."

Fourth, if you thought he was riding the populist shtick before the Great Recession, you ain't seen nothing yet. Making appearances in this article: a child, "choking with asthma" that Huck says demonstrates why government must provide healthcare.

There's more, but it's Huckabee, so it's not like he's anyone's first choice here at the HQ. I will note this unintentionally hilarious hypothetical, given the press obsession with Obama's "eleven-dimensional chess."

"He's incredibly competitive," Rex Nelson [Huckabee's Communications Director] told me. "Never overlook that. If Mike Huckabee were to sit down at this table and play me in a game of checkers, he would beat my brains out. He’s really, really, really competitive, to the point of competing against his staff, competing against his wife."

Lovely.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 11:13 AM

| Access Comments