Althouse: Huckabee...

May 17, 2008

Huckabee...

... idiot.

You know, there is a big problem with believing you're a comedian.

36 comments:

Bob said...: Or even believing yourself to be intelligent, for that matter.; 5/17/08, 11:00 AM
vbspurs said...: If he's chosen for Veep, I dunno. I just don't know.

I would never -not- vote, but I would be close.

Cheers,
Victoria; 5/17/08, 11:04 AM
michael farris said...: Will this disqualify him from being McC's running mate? Or will it earn him extra points?; 5/17/08, 11:05 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Didn't one of the candidates -- was it Huckabee -- get into trouble for pointing a gun at someone as a joke a while back? I don't think NRA types think it's funny to point a gun at someone to see if it scares them. Isn't it a basic gun safety rule that you never do that?; 5/17/08, 11:09 AM
rcocean said...: Arguments for Huckabee:

-Attracts Evangelicals
-Huck and McCain like each other & Huck would be a loyal McCainiac
-Huck is a good campaigner
-Huck cares about domestic policy, unlike McCain
-Huck believes in bi-partisanship
and reaching across the aisle
-Payback for Huck winning McCain nomination.
-Huck supports Amnesty, AA, compassionate conservatism etc, just like McCain.; 5/17/08, 11:17 AM
Michael J. Mathias said...: Actually, I think NRA types find this kind of humor to be hilarious--it's no doubt similar to many such jokes they've told each other in private.; 5/17/08, 11:18 AM
George M. Spencer said...: Odd how of all the candidates, the one who was a minister seemed to be the one with a penchant for tasteless remarks.; 5/17/08, 11:23 AM
Automatic_Wing said...: Actually, I think NRA types find this kind of humor to be hilarious--it's no doubt similar to many such jokes they've told each other in private.

And - apart from your own prejudice - what do you base this assumption on? Perhaps some of your best friends are "NRA types"?Do tell.; 5/17/08, 11:24 AM
vbspurs said...: Breaking news. Ted Kennedy suffers a possible stroke.

He went via plane or was airlifted to Mass General in Boston. Since he allegedly spent 2 hours at the local Cape Cod hospital, he must've been stabilised and judged better able to be treated over there. So good news, and bad news in one.

Cheers,
Victoria; 5/17/08, 11:28 AM
1775OGG said...: Coffee is coffee! There's good coffee and there's better coffee!; 5/17/08, 11:30 AM
Jim Hu said...: Besides, if you're going to make a joke about Democratic candidates and guns, the obvious choice is to say it was Hillary worried about sniper fire, and to leave out the notion that anyone pointed a gun.; 5/17/08, 11:36 AM
Bob said...: No intelligent NRA member will wish death via gunshot on a politician, especially a black politician, since it feeds into the liberal stereotype of NRA members. Having said that, there are fringe loonies in the NRA that are happy to use photos of those they hate for target practice.; 5/17/08, 11:44 AM
Michael J. Mathias said...: Maguro--My observation is based pretty much on a life lived in America.; 5/17/08, 11:45 AM
rcocean said...: Lighten up folks, its a joke. Huck wasn't wishing death on anyone. Talk about hysterical.

I'll have to go over to Hot Air to see how much canned outrage "Captain Ed" is expressing over this.; 5/17/08, 11:51 AM
rhhardin said...: There's lots of things you pretend to take very very seriously.

This is one of that genre.; 5/17/08, 12:06 PM
Anonymous said...: Who

Freaking

Cares.

Enough with the media driven stories. He tried to make a joke and it wasn't funny.

Can we PLEASE discuss some real issues. You know there is a war gong on. The economy is booming and inflation is low - perhaps we should discuss that.; 5/17/08, 12:40 PM
William said...: Well, it's pretty far along in the campaign, and this is the first certifiably idiotic comment he's made. Definitely a clunker, but after he has apologized can't we all just must along to the real issues and not be distracted from our true goals of a better America for all.; 5/17/08, 12:53 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: If he's chosen for Veep, I dunno. I just don't know.

I don't think that is going to happen.

Can we PLEASE discuss some real issues. You know there is a war gong on. The economy is booming and inflation is low - perhaps we should discuss that.

Discuss what? The war has been going on for 5 years now. McCain said he'll win it by 2012 and Bambi will have us out in his first 100 days so there's nothing to discuss. The economy runs in cycles, always has. Right now its in a down cycle. Given time, it will be back in an up cycle.

There. Thus endeth the discussion.; 5/17/08, 12:59 PM
John Stodder said...: Michael J. Mathias said...

Maguro--My observation is based pretty much on a life lived in America.

11:45 AM

That exact line was in a Robert Redford movie from the 70s, but he told the writer to cut it because, even for him, it was too insufferably pompous.; 5/17/08, 1:01 PM
Michael J. Mathias said...: Sorry to be such a disappointment to you, John, but I've heard these kinds of jokes for years. They're offensive and idiotic and, in my observation, told more often by NRA types than anyone else.; 5/17/08, 1:22 PM
reader_iam said...: "Huckabee ..."

... idiot.

Amen!; 5/17/08, 2:01 PM
Paddy O said...: Huckabee needs to stay away from the NRA meetings. Last year he said, "I’m pretty sure there will be duck-hunting in heaven and I can’t wait!”

Leading John Stewart to give the great response, “Are you saying that our heaven is duck hell?"

It was this moment that I became very anti-Huckabee. Not about the hunting. It shows how much he panders to an extreme and how much he'd make even his theology into a tool and a joke.

Huckabee needs to disappear.

I am actually really glad about the recent comment from him, as hopefully it'll make him even less likely to not only be a VP pick but less likely to have any kind of public speaking role on behalf of Evangelicals.

We need more of this and less of him.; 5/17/08, 2:11 PM
dbp said...: "They're offensive and idiotic and, in my observation, told more often by NRA types than anyone else."

...and since any jerk who makes a joke like this is defined by you to be "an NRA type"...therefore the "observation" is always confirmed.

Got it.; 5/17/08, 2:32 PM
Revenant said...: Isn't it a basic gun safety rule that you never do that?

It is THE basic rule of gun safety. Rule number one.; 5/17/08, 2:34 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: My observation is based pretty much on a life lived in America.

I just find it odd that you're able to get these benighted gun nuts to open up around you and make offensive jokes. You seem like sort of a prim schoolteacher type so it is a bit surprising.; 5/17/08, 3:12 PM
Anonymous said...: Only point a gun at someone if you are prepared to pull the trigger. Doing so is therefore a very strong statement, and never a joke.

The Huckster reminds me of nothing so much as a stereotypical used car salesman, with apologies to used car salesmen (salespersons?) for demeaning your group. He's a nasty piece of ambitious trash who continues to prove his lack of class with his treatment of Romney and the Mormon religion, among other things.

Hiding behind a pastorage doesn't cut it any more for Huck than it does for Sharpton or Jackson.; 5/17/08, 4:13 PM
Kirby Olson said...: One of the problems with humor is that you have to go to the very limit of what can be said, and say something. Huckabee can be very funny. This joke failed.

But every act of humor is an experiment, and experiments often fail.

The right to experiment includes the right to failure.

At least he's not a sanctimonious twit. He does dare to joke, and I think that's very refreshing.

It's not the kind of super-safe jokes that most politicians make, but who cares?

I find it very very valuable to have a humorous politician around, but obviously this joke showed poor judgment, and didn't get any laughs at all (it was extemporaneous, and a little bit crazy -- if someone pointed a gun at me, I would dive for the floor, too).

I just think that this joke failed.

So what.

Joking is a matter of percentages. Carson failed quite often. Leno fails quite often. All comedians bomb.

But the point is to try. At some points I've seen Huckabee give speeches that had me really chuckling away like a squirrel who's gone nuts.; 5/17/08, 4:14 PM
Joe said...: Unless you are a soldier, seems to me that diving for the floor when a gun is aimed at you is pretty damn good advice (not being around assholes who point guns at you is even better advise.); 5/17/08, 4:34 PM
al said...: Rule #1 - never point a gun at anything you are not willing to destroy.

Whats an "NRA type"?

My fellow NRA members are doctors and lawyers, teachers and geeks, truck drivers and carpenters, millionaires and those just getting by. We are men and women, young and old, black and white (and every color in between), conservatives and liberals, R's and D's, etc. The only things we have in common is ownership and responsible use of firearms.

So how does one identify a "NRA type"?; 5/17/08, 4:36 PM
reader_iam said...: Al: To add to your list, my father is a retired music professor and still an active musician. He's also a decades-long member of the NRA (as is my mother, also a musician, though she can't play or shoot anymore).

By the way, neither of them would think Huckabee's "quip" is funny.; 5/17/08, 4:46 PM
Trumpit said...: "So how does one identify a "NRA type"?"

By that late great senile baboon, Chuck Heston, who was their dear leader. That's how. And don't give me that We're America, we're the NRA crap. You and Hucksterflea make me wanna puke.; 5/17/08, 5:49 PM
Anonymous said...: What a dopey thing to say! People who are sort of funny should be funny...occasionally.

That's it for him for VP, with McCain courting Democrats. (Thank goodness for that.); 5/17/08, 6:48 PM
reader_iam said...: Good grief, Trumpit. It seems to me that almost no one here's defending Huckabee's remark, and most are even criticizing or even outright condemning it. What's with the full-court hostility this time?; 5/17/08, 6:56 PM
Kirby Olson said...: I defended the remark, and I defend the right of those who try to be funny to not always be funny. Failure is itself kind of funny.

At least he's not a sanctimonious communist with no feelings except the right ones that have been pre-formatted by the party.; 5/17/08, 7:06 PM
Revenant said...: By that late great senile baboon, Chuck Heston, who was their dear leader.

So the identifying characteristics of an "NRA type" are wealth, fame, success, and a strong personal commitment to the Civil Rights movement? :); 5/17/08, 7:39 PM
Anonymous said...: "Actually, I think NRA types find this kind of humor to be hilarious--it's no doubt similar to many such jokes they've told each other in private."

That no doubt explains the dead silence he got after that comment.; 5/18/08, 5:25 AM