I heard the interview of Huckabee on Hannity radio and thought it was very good. Gov. Huckabee is the nicest of men, obviously a godly and good man. He really by contrast puts to shame those who have entered the politics of personal destruction. It is quite evident he believes in his heart the "vertical politics" he has talked about. And that he is distressed by the way Republicans and/or conservatives seem bent on ripping each other apart, instead of uniting. And the way the media is promoting that disunity and destruction.
To that end of being vertical, Huckabee praised each of the Republicans entering the race, saying that the field is full of talented contenders, whose ideas need to be heard. What we do not need is the instant analysis of every comment or going back to 1993 to dig up some controversial statement. It is attack and counter attack, and the tragedy is that real issues are not debated for the American voters.
I got the feeling that one of the deep things Mike has struggled with is the present process. He called it a Demolition Derby, where each of the candidates is made to crash, and whoever is left at the end of the meet is declared the winner. It may not be the person with the best qualifications or ideas.
Mike praised Newt Gingrich as a good friend and thought that the media was absolutely savage toward his statement on Meet the Press. "Let's listen to his ideas," Huckabee said. He also defended McCain as well as Santorum. "Anybody who knows Rick...would know this is ridiculous (that he was accusing McCain unfairly for being less than patriotic because McCain opposes waterboarding, etc.) Palin, on Wednesday's interview on Hannity television, gave a much harsher assessment, saying that Newt should not apologize to the "lame-stream media" for his statement but stick by it.
Governor Huckabee does not think the debate forum is working, either, as an effective way to decide the best candidate. When there are seven or eight people debating in a ninety minute debate, each may get only about thirty seconds to summarize their beliefs or plans. And even worse, it is demeaning, he said, to ask them to raise their hands in agreement with a certain statement. That gives no opportunity to qualify their position. (My thought here: It's sort of like asking, "Raise your hand if you have stopped beating your wife.")
Huckabee left the radio interview with Hannity with some good advice for Republicans: to quit beating up each other and to listen to each candidate. Consider what part you like best about each.
I left hearing this interview amazed again at the humble and godly man Huckabee is. He will not be understood by many because of this. But deep down, he will be admired.
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