Okay, so about Huckleberry Twit

[Chovexani]

The Michael Stipe story has me thinking about the whole "Huckabee is charming" thing, and I confess to being baffled. I've heard a lot of people on DU warn that if Huckleberry did get the GOP nod we should be worried because it'd be like Bush all over again because unlike the Chimperor he really IS someone you'd "want to have a beer with" and all that nonsense. I don't dispute that that sort of thing is very dangerous and something we need to be mindful of, at all. But where I have to call a time out for a huddle is in this "Huckleberry is charming" sentence.

:wtf:

No, really, help me out here y'all. I understand this is purely subjective, but whenever I hear people talking about how charming Huckleberry is, my WTF comes out. Because Huckleberry isn't at all charming to me. He's about three time zones and an international red eye flight away from charming. I've read articles, I've seen him on TV, and he consistently comes across as a slack-jawed goober who may or may not have issues tying his shoes and maybe needs to crack a book besides the Good one once in a while. And before someone accuses me of being a latte-sipping Southerner basher, it has very little to do with his accent or the fact he's from Arkansas. I know plenty of charming "down home" folks, I'm related to quite a few. Al Gore is charming as hell in person, I saw him speak once. I KNOW from charming: Obama is charming, despite what the press and her bashers say, HRC is quite charming in person, and pages and pages have been written about the Big Dog's 25 charisma stat. Huckleberry? He comes on TV, I want to slap him. Every. Single. Time. It's actually the exact same physical twitching response I get with Dimson, now that I think about it.

Am I just too much of a jaded New Yorker to think the "aw, shucks" shit is cute? I'm reminded of one of Bill Maher's standup acts when he was talking about how he knew he wasn't mainstream, when the press was cooing about Unka Dick and Lynne Cheney being high school sweethearts and it did nothing for him. With Huckleberry I feel like running around screaming, "IT'S A COOKBOOK!"

[zanne]

1. It's a cookbook!

:rofl: We could have used that phrase during Bush's "Aw shucks" campaigning, too. I think Huckleberry can be witty, but anyone who stands in the way of women's and GLBT rights in general doesn't amuse me. It's funny how Republicans always fall for that "I'd like to have a beer with him" routine, as if he's in the same socio-economic class they are.

[cynatnite]

2. I think his demeanor comes across as nice and easy-going...

he's likeable, IMO.

Doesn't change the fact of what he is, but I think he puts out a persona that has a 'aw shucks' factor which can appeal to a hell of a lot of people. This is who we should be worried about, IMO. If he gets the nom, we'll be in for a hell of a fight...especially if Hillary gets the dem nomination.

Now, I'm a Hillary supporter and even I recognize that she'd have a tough time against him...more so than McCain. That 'Mr. Nice Guy' image of his could cause her problems if she got the nomination.

I think he's a guy to watch out for.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. I know. Which is essentially the same thing Stipe said, and is getting blasted for.

Bush's "reg'lar guy" act always seemed forced to me.. Huckabee, for all his flaws, isn't a prep school frat boy pretending to be a Texas brush-cutter, he really is what he says he is.

What he is, of course, is a creationist loon who wants to outlaw contraception. That's bad enough.

But his strength is, he comes off as personable on the surface. That's the truth, and that's what Stipe was saying.

[Chovexani]

4. See, that's what I don't understand

He's NOT personable to me at all. He reminds me of every smarmy Bible thumper I know. He comes off like a moron and that's about as instant a turn-off there is for me.

FWIW I don't think it's an act, the way Shrub's is, but it's equally repulsive to me.

[AlCzervik]

5. he gives a case of the icky. i see him and i think, campaigned to get Dumond freed

and imo based solely on who the victim was, covenant marriage(creepy) and the registering for gifts(tacky) said creepy vow renewal, creationism, anti choice, pro death penalty, really, really pro death penalty*, Fair tax bs and his utter lack of knowledge of foreign affairs.

































*not applicable to Dumond.

[AndyTiedye]

6. But The People Who See Him On TV Won't Know Any of That, Because the MSM Won't Tell Them

[cynatnite]

9. Exactly...

If he gets the nomination a lot of work will need to be done to make sure people know what he's about.

[Chovexani]

7. He's TOTALLY creepy!

I'm so with you on the "ick" factor. I keep waiting for him to tear his human suit off. :scared:

[AlCzervik]

11. the one other thing i forgot to mention which i think is important-the so called innocent

remark he made about Mormons, that imo is the mark of a professional and not some nice guy political naif. That one comment summed up who the real Huckabee is.

"Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"

[Warren DeMontague]

8. I find his views repulsive, but I can see how he comes off as self-deprecating, etc.

Bill Maher, speaking of Bill Maher, had him on several months ago- and that was really the first time I saw much of him. Maher laughed and joked with him, and Maher has no patience for creationists or the religious right.

I think he's got some serious flaws as a candidate- #1 being his positions- but I can see how- purely on the surface- he grates less, personality wise, than some of the other GOP contenders.

[AndyTiedye]

12. Reagan Did Not Get Elected Twice Because the American People Agreed with His Positions

They didn't. They voted for him anyway.

[monmouth]

10. I remember his announcement on Imus on MSNBC and Imus let him

have a lot of time. Before I knew anything about him I have to say I thought he was so nice, okay, charming, very down to earth, etc. It was hard for me to equate his actions with his personality. Of course, I then concluded he's just plain stupid. He must be, or someone's pulling his strings. He loves the spotlight and cameras and responds well to them. You're not a jaded New Yorker, I'm from Jersey, I question everything. He just has the ability to ooze the charm. I dated a couple of guys like that then after getting to know them, buh-bye..

[sendero]

13. "slack jawed goober"..

... I swear I explect him to blurt out "golly!" or "surprise, surprise, surprise" every time I see him.

For those under about 50, I'm talking Gomer Pyle.

There is a kind of folksy charm there, but it looks 100% manufactured to me.

[Chovexani]

14. Gomer Pyle was way before my time

But that's exactly who I think of every time I see him.

There's a difference between that and genuine folksy charm, which is something say, Jimmy Carter has.

Maybe I just feel his evil through the TV set. :rofl:

[Rob H.]

15. I don't trust him OR the people he associates with

The Senate Finance Committee is investigating, among other televangelists, Kenneth Copeland for how he's spending contributions to his church. A few weeks ago, a week or two after the news of the SFC investigation came out, I'm flipping channels on a Sunday morning and what do I see? Mike Huckabee on Copeland's TV show in an episode called, "The Need for Character and Integrity." I marveled for a moment at the tiny objects orbiting Copeland's enormous noggin--some paper clips, an orange, a 1974 Honda Civic hatchback--and surfed on, feeling more than a little sickened by the hypocrisy of it all.

Any charm he might have (and I just don't see it) is also more than offset by the fact that he's an anti-science, right-wing fundagelical nutjob.


Edit: missing word