Carol Platt Liebau: 2008's "Dean Scream"?

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

2008's "Dean Scream"?

Mike Huckabee's lead has been decreasing in the Iowa polls, and if he loses, this little debacle may be the reason why.

No one could fault Huckabee for running a negative ad. Politics ain't beanbag, after all, and Mitt Romney is a big boy. What's sort of distasteful, though, is Huckabee's efforts to have it both ways -- to come off as guy who's "too good" to run the negative ad he just spent a bunch of time and money preparing . . . and then to screen it for journalists anyway, in the hopes that its message will seep out nonetheless.

The tactic is reminiscent of his attack on Romney when Huckabee "innocently" asked a designed-to-be-damning question about Mormonism. Huckabee appears to be one of the type of people who wants to launch broadside attacks but is either too cowardly or too sneaky to be willing to stand up and do it openly.

No doubt there are more problems for Huckabee than for other candidates in simply going negative. But that's a problem he created for himself by labeling himself a "Christian leader," thereby implicitly inviting voters to hold him to a higher standard.

It will be interesting to see if Iowa voters are beginning to catch on that the Huckster may not quite be all he's been touting himself to be -- and the extent to which gaffes like this one contribute to that conclusion.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Starting the new year with a new Huckabee negative post. I have been surprised by the degree to which establishment Republicans such as yourself have attacked Mike Huckabee.

Apparently Mike Huckabee is more appreciated by main street heartland conservatives as opposed to the Republican party's bi-coastal elites.

10:32 AM  
Blogger Greg said...

"Bi-Coastal Elites"

A classic case of projection.

6:14 AM  

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