The coded language of class: Huckabee forces GOP to face "Wal-Mart shoppers" they take advantage of

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: January 2, 2008
Two-Buck Huck
Timothy Egan

The rap against Mike Huckabee, the Baptist preacher and ex-Arkansas governor now doing for the Republican Party establishment what three-alarm chili does for an afternoon nap, is that he’s too inexperienced to be president, too naïve — a rube straight out of Dogpatch. Few of Huckabee’s critics have actually come out and said what many of them think. The language is coded, as it usually is with class and race in this country. The Wall Street Journal, the anti-tax jihadists at the Club For Growth, the National Review – these pillars of Old School Republicanism have signaled that Huckabee is Not One of Ours. But they’re careful to say it’s not about class, because, of course – it is!

Class war is forbidden in the Republican playbook. But Huckabee, despite an inept last week of campaigning, has forced the Republican party to face the Wal-Mart shoppers that they have long taken advantage of. He’s here. He’s Gomer. And he’s not going away....

Huckabee has been telling people in Iowa that Republican higher-ups would never let him become the nominee because he “has a hick last name.” Wow. I’d like to be in on that focus group. “For my family, summer was never a verb,” he says. Take that, Mitt Romney and your perfect family, costumed in Ralph Lauren casual wear down by the shore. And this: “Wall Street types are afraid to death of a guy like me.” You mean, a guy who lost 110 pounds and cooks squirrels in his popcorn popper?...

At the root of all the sniping at Huckabee, he sees a common cause. Some powerful Republicans dislike him, he said on the “Today Show,” because “I’m not one of them.” It’s okay to have faux rubes, a la Bush senior and his pork rinds, or George W. and his Midland malapropisms. But when something that looks like the real thing comes along, the Republican royalists get apoplectic. They were appalled at the recent YouTube debate because it looked like a parody of one faction of their party – complete with Bible-waving wackos, trigger-happy gun nuts and Confederate-flag enthusiasts.

Among fellow Republican candidates, Huckabee is certainly “not one of them” in the bottom-line sense. All the other leading contenders would be comfortable on the massage table at a Trump seaside resort, in between seminars on how to keep poor people from getting health care. Romney, with a net worth estimated by Money magazine at upwards of $250 million, made his pile with an investment firm. Rudolph Giuliani is close to the $50 million club, enriched by such heavy-lifting as trying to help the makers of OxyContin stay out of jail. Huckabee tells audiences that he is one generation removed from folks who slept on a dirt floor, and that he’s the first person in his family to graduate from high school. It’s a terrific narrative, as American as they come....

http://egan.blogs.nytimes.com/

[TwilightGardener]

1. I'm so sick of his stupid BS. He'd LOVE to be supported by the establishment

and Wall Street, but they know a walking disaster when they see one.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. I actually like this article more for what it says about the GOP...

than for what it says about Huckabee. The party has won too many elections by fooling folks into voting against their own interests.

[JackintheGreen]

4. I have to agree with you

It says volumes about the GOP and their utter inability to represent "the common man," because none of them are. And yet, somehow, they get rural, working-class people to support them as if they all have the same agenda.

I, for one, am sick to death of the notion that you have to be wealthy to run for president, or any other office. Huckabee is a huckster, but he offers a sense of class (in the economic sense) that is typically missing entirely from high-level politics.

[begin_within]

5. He's kind of a breath of fresh air, after the endless parade of funeral directors that they send out

[MADem]

8. The reason people LIKE rich people in office is for one main reason.

They aren't tempted to STEAL.

And that's the truth.

It's why FDR and JFK were so admired. People knew, or thought they knew, that they didn't have their paw in the till.

Huckabee doesn't have any class. He has a greasy surface charm that, when wiped away, reveals a craven soul.

Don't be conned by folksy bullshit. It's a mile wide and a centimeter deep.

[JackintheGreen]

16. I thought I had made myself clear...

I most certainly do NOT mean that Huckabee has class, in the sense that he is a "classy guy." His argument is based on placing his ECONOMIC class in opposition to that of the other candidates: Mitt's 250 million, the Ghoul's 20 million (or whatever it is...). Huck's schtick is that he's just "a regular guy" trying to serve the people. He's putting the havenots right back into the base of the GOP. Genuine or not, nobody else is doing that.

As for rich people keeping their mitts out of the till...have you seen the lists of things the Ghoul took with him out of office? And how do these kinds of people usually get rich?

But I will say this: if you have manged to *acquire* wealth, you have already demonstrated that you possess a certain kind of managerial ability. Maybe not an entirely ethical ability, but an ability.

[MADem]

17. You made my point. The Ghoul wasn't RICH when he entered public life.

He wasn't FROM money. He was a prosecutor, and he likely started out with law school loans to pay off.

He used his public service to enrich himself. And he used his name and office after leaving public service to continue the looting.

See, people who are ALREADY rich, people who already HAVE serious money, aren't as tempted to steal...unless they're trying to prove something to their "deddy" about how they can do 'whatever' better than Paw did...and even THAT family didn't have "real" money like the Roosevelts--the Walkers did, but the Bushes were poor, but with 'name.' For what litle that is worth.

[JackintheGreen]

20. Ah...touche

I hadn't thought that far back with the Ghoul, but of course you're likely correct.

Still, my original point was about what Huck brings to the party. Mitt's got the Dom, Ghoul hase the caviar, but Huck's got the Miller Lite and nobody really like caviar.

[MADem]

21. He's also got a resume of graft and corruption from his time as governor

His wife made up a little "gift list" for the Huckster's supporters to purchase for them after they left the governor's mansion. It included MAJOR furnishings!!!

Now, here's a gem from our "friends" at Judicial Watch (you remember them, they made Bill Clinton's life miserable). They fuck with the Dems, as they ALWAYS do, but they don't like the Huckster much, either:

6. Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR): Governor Huckabee enjoyed a meteoric rise in the polls in December 2007, which prompted a more thorough review of his ethics record. According to The Associated Press: “ career has also been colored by 14 ethics complaints and a volley of questions about his integrity, ranging from his management of campaign cash to his use of a nonprofit organization to subsidize his income to his destruction of state computer files on his way out of the governor’s office.” And what was Governor Huckabee’s response to these ethics allegations? Rather than cooperating with investigators, Huckabee sued the state ethics commission twice and attempted to shut the ethics process down.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/judicial-watch-announces-list-washington-s-ten-most-wanted-corrupt-politicians-2007

He may seem like a breath of fresh air, but get up close and it's the same fetid stink of rot and scum that has stunk up the White House for the last seven years.

[DCKit]

15. As reverse class-warfare, from someone a little closer to MY perspective...

and well written. It's a good read when you don't consider (and are terrified by) his fundamentalist beliefs.

But I fail to see what the Republics have to offer this election cycle besides wild-eyed, serial adulterant, fiscally abusive, Constitution shredding, chickenhawk/warmongering, flag waving, drag wearing, bible thumping, gun nuts. Every single one of them is tragically and drastically flawed.

Is it simply that no "responsible" Republican wants to get any closer to the WH right now than the Capitol building? If they know how bad a mess the current maladministration is leaving behind, why are they doing nothing to contain it?

[begin_within]

3. Class warfare is forbidden in the Republican playbook UNLESS it benefits the upper class

The republicans denounce class warfare whenever they detect it happening in the Democrats or any group other than the Republicans, and claim that it's "not allowed" and that America is a "classless society" where class warfare has no place. Yet at the same time, nearly everything the Republicans do is class warfare, for their upper class - that segment of society which makes its living by "ownership" or exertion of power, rather than by actually making something or doing something that is beneficial to other people. Nearly everything the Reagan-Bush-Cheney brigade has done is class warfare for that particular class. But if anyone else ever tries to fight for the middle class or even the poor, the republicans denounce that as "class warfare" and imply that it's somehow "out of bounds" or against the rules.

[amandabeech]

18. There are those who think that economic class warfare is the same in the Dem party.

Economic populism doesn't play with because it takes so much money to run a campaign. It is addictive.

It is much easier to argue about social issues. There's no money riding on it.

[MADem]

6. It ain't about "class"--we TOTALLY got over that shit with Trailer Bill, really.

And those sorts of "who we are" issues transcend party lines. A Republican Catholic, for example, CAN run for the Presidency, thanks to JFK.

Hell, Ronald Reagan came from NUTHIN'--he married a B actress with a rich stepdaddy, but his "pedigree" was Poor Democratic Stock. "Summer" was never a verb for him either--it's when he made money lifeguarding.

That class thing in itself is CODE.

It's really about RELIGION.

See, some religions are "better" than others. Snake handling, Scientology, Mormons, they've got a high hurdle. Anything that isn't 'liturgical' in some sense has a fence to jump, too.

Mainline religions, anything you saw in old black and white movies from the thirties and forties, on the other hand, heck, they aren't even worth mentioning. Catholic, Protestant, no biggie--even Jews are almost "mainstream enough," (I-P issues are the main sticking point, still, regrettably) due to Holy Joe (and that's a political sales achievement considering their small numbers, relative to the overall population).

With Huckabee, the bar is so high you really need a pole to get over it, because it's about a potential President who acknowledges that he thinks that Barney, Fred, Wilma, Betty, Pebbles and Bam-Bam coexisted with Dino and a host of other dinosaurs a scant few thousand years before a Star Shone Over Bethlehem and Baby Jeeeeeeesus changed all our lives.

THAT's what it's about. Class? My ass. Class is Code for "Not Quite Good Enough" Religion. Class is code for "I Spit In The Face of Basic Science, and Proudly, Too!!! I REVEL in My Ignorance!! In the Name of JEEEESUS!" followers.

And THAT, my friends and neighbors, is why "Two Buck Huck" is pushing the "class" theme. He's using it as a DEFLECTOR to prevent discussion of the real issue--the "storefront religion" theme...because that's the REAL elephant in the room.

Mister Egan shoulda pulled that string--he didn't take his little thesis quite far enough.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. Thanks for this post, MADem! nt

[MADem]

12. This Egan clown is carrying Huckabee's water. Just because people SAY SOMETHING does not make it

true!

I'm astounded at the overeagerness to jump on, and agree to, this guy's bullshit theme. Like I said, the real Elephant in the room is "Nutty Religion that Defies Elementary Science." "Class" is just the shield they're hiding behind.

[Jim__]

7. I think the last paragraph of the article gets it right.

Namely:

Republicans in the three-home set should relax. Huckabee may occasionally lack class, but he’s no class warrior. You can have him over for dinner. Honest. Just hide the popcorn popper.

Republicans have the poor members of their party so bullshitted that they'd vote to cut their own salaries and give the money to the over-payed bosses. Working class republicans are beyond hope.

[MADem]

10. Oi vey--another asshole you can "have a beer with." I don't want a beer buddy.

I want a fucking leader who is no stranger to the fourteen hour day. Someone who THINKS about what's happening in the world. Someone with a sense of purpose.

[Virginia Dare]

13. Except having Hucky over for a beer is like..

inviting your minister over for a beer. It's not something you're comfortable with.

I think most Americans would rather be preached at in church and not on the teevee by their President, whether they would admit it or not.

Religious doctrine might make sense when it's being told to you from behind the pulpit and you're sitting there half asleep in the pews, but once it's discussed in a national forum where it can be parsed by rational people, things fall apart.

If Hucky is the eventual nominee, once most Americans grasp where he's actually coming from, they'll run screaming.

[amandabeech]

Huck probably is a tee-totaler.

You invite him over for coffee.

[Virginia Dare]

30. Being a Baptist minister, I would imagine so..

I guess that was my point, unless you are a fellow southern baptist or christian fundie of some ilk, you're not going to be totally on board with his holier than thou message.

[Justitia]

19. Southern Baptists don't do beer, so I guess it's squirrels - LMAO!

Note upthread about cooking squirrels in his corn popper - it's killing me! HAHAHAHAHAHA

[DeepModem Mom]

11. That's important, Jim -- thanks for highlighting it. nt

[Cobalt-60]

28. they do seem to come from the shallow end of the gene pool

Regrettably, as long as they can get a daily supercharge of ignorance from
Hannity or Limbaugh there's no dealing with them.
they'll have to be swamped at the polls.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Hmm hucky might be a good, and rather interesting person to have over

for a beer and an interview... but President? NOPE.

And it has noting to do with the fact that he comes from Hope, and has the classic American story (wait, we saw this movie before), but because he is a man who would love to get this country into that faux christian path.. since we are a Christian nation :sarcasm: doncha know?

[amandabeech]

22. He is a Southern Baptist minister.

He probably does not drink alcohol. It would be polite to invite him for coffee.

Bush was an Episcopalian who apparently has attended a Methodist church since he married his wife, who is a Methodist. Episcopalians drink alcohol, as do many Methodists.

[nonconformist]

23. And do cocaine, apparently....

[amandabeech]

25. I hadn't heard that.

Before or after he found Jesus?

If he backslid, did he beg forgiveness?

[western mass]

24. Not buying it.

I'm sure this is the stealth campaign being waged to convince Joe Average that the Huckster is an anti-establishment everyman. If there's one thing we've learned to expect from right-wing fundies, it's hypocrisy. There's no doubt in my mind Huckabee will give corporate america everything it wants and more, just with a little less convenience than utterly souless automatons like Giuliani/Romney.

[Swamp Rat]

26. St. Huckabee's America

[Naturyl]

27. It's ALWAYS class, folks.

Rational adults ought to understand that everything revolves around MONEY, especially in a thoroughly capitalist culture. That isn't a complaint, it's just a plain fact. Personally, I hate it, but that's life.

And, just for the record, plenty of Dems aren't as progressive when it comes to class issues as they might think they are. Too many heads are firmly planted in the sand, because this issue cuts deeper than most.

[Raine]

29. Bwahahaha now the repukes are going to have to reap

what they have sown. With their "faux hicks" that between themselves it was always wink wink nudge nudge. Now they got a guy who actually is one when all they really want are fake ones to fool their followers with. :rofl: Not that the guy isn't the creepiest of the creepy. There is always the fear he could actually get into the Whitehouse but it's still delicious that the joke is on the GOP elite.

[readmoreoften]

31. Huckabee is so fucking charming that he wants to put me in a camp and I still think so.

He is as slick as a used car salesman with the face of a pastor. What I think will kill him is his vile family. Those sons of his: YEESH.