When I analyze all the events of the last couple of weeks, these are some things I can see:
Mike Huckabee is one slick guy. He has a hypnotic charm that is befitting of Baptist preacher and snake-oil salesman. His polished one-liners, paused delivery and complete lack of substance are representative of a true populist. These Evangelical-based caucus voters are so entranced in the Huck & Chuck show that they have sacrificed any intellectual scrutiny of what they are pledging their allegiance to. Is Chuck jockeying for VP? Watching MSN, it was quite clear where he stood.
What is so striking is how the spin of the MSM against Gov Romney was suffocating. They even mentioned that they don’t even like to cover him because he is too “safe”. Interesting choice of words. Even after watching for several hours, Gov. Romney has been given less than one minute of air time, if even that. What has been given is plenty of air time for McCain to bash Gov Romney. I’d also like to note, that Mike Huckabee’s acceptance speech had chords taken straight from Gov. Romney’s “Faith in America” given in Texas last month.
A possible bad move was that Gov. Romney came out to speak at the same time as Mike Huckabee. I can’t say I can blame him. There is a calculating vengeance being waged against him from Mike Huckabee and John McCain. There is a look of vendetta in McCain’s eyes. He has unresolved fury that is capable of anything. The push polling and liberal newspaper endorsements – and let’s don’t forget the insulting phony Christmas cards with flagrant Mormon-hating, Romney-hating saturation in New Hampshire is unreal. There was the “acclaimed” war hero claiming that “negative campaigns don’t win” with a gleam in his eye that can only be interpreted one way.
There’s been a change in the Huckabee camp. The marketing of Huckabee has become very polished. The website has taken a very “connecting” trend. They are calling him the “intimacy” campaign. The caucus preparation video showed a staging where the campaign manager for Iowa was focused in on very closely, his face taking up the entire screen.
Contrast that to Mitt’s and you see a wide shot, with Ann and Mitt looking tired, removed, outdated. Checking the Huckabee website now and you already see a very catchy update, with slick graphics highlighting the Iowa win. Also, you see the 700 blogs listed down the side. The Huckabee camp did all they could to caress and massage the bloggers which can be viewed over at Race42008.
Gov. Romney appears to have made a mistake by giving his speech at the same time as Mike Huckabee. I have to say though that once I saw his address, I felt comforted. It’s like a splash in the face after falling into the Huckabee trance. I don’t want a bass guitar playing, Leno-schmoozing populist as my President. If I’m going to be forced to vote for a Democrat, I might just as well vote for Obama – which I actually thought did quite well tonight.
Running the United States of America is not a game, it’s not a laughing matter. The MSNBC guys even laughed that “well, at least know, Huckabee’s going to have to start reading the headlines now”. But I have to say, these Hardball guys were mesmerized. There is something about Huckabee that appeals to your emotions and shuts off the blood flow to your brain.
Here’s a few comments that express some of my sentiments very well from Jonathon Martin’s blog at Politico:
Timotheus says:
By the way, I will confess now that if Huckabee is nominated, I am starting a group to raise money to defeat him. I would rather have a Democrat in name ruin our country than a Democrat that says he is a Republican.
Anonymous says:
CNN admitted the obivous. Evangelical Christians are hostile to Mormons and that motivated them to come out against Romney. If you even pretend you voted for Huckabee on any issue you are a liar. You voted against your own fear of Mormons have any positive pubilcity. You sold your country out. It isn’t here where the judgement counts though is it?
Right now, MSNBC is now finally getting to the meat of Huckabee. They are doing an all out slam of his positions and the nuclear hit he would be to the Republican party. They are citing the Club for Growth economic issues, among other things. The problem is they are claiming Romney is done for out of one side of their mouth but then considering him on the other. Pat Robertson, surprisingly, is defending Romney, even if only a little.
They are talking about how the GOP will rally around someone to be the anti-Huckabee. They lightly touch on the idea that Romney might be the guy, but they are deeply concerned about how Huckabee is so disarming. They suspect that he will be able to seduce the rest of the GOP over the next few weeks so that the entire Republican party will be under his spell. Pat Robertson pointed out that the GOP definitely doesn’t care for Rudy Giuliani, but also have an aversion to John McCain.
When I finally did catch Mitt’s speech I was reassured. He is professional, stately, and Presidential. I just don’t want this rot of the “me” generation playing to be “cool” to the MSM and to a standard-less America. Unfortunately tonight spoke that even the Evangelical base of our party has sold out and left the party. The vanity and ego of this “me” generation is what we are up against. It’s all about what feels good. They’ve made it clear, they are divorcing their brand of social conservatives from the fiscal and foreign policy conservatives and in their words, they don’t care.
It’s time to outwit and outlast. There is still no doubt in my mind that Mitt Romney is still our best candidate for our party. He appeals to the establishment that will guarantee the success and future of our party. He is sound in judgment, values, and intelligence. He is steady and can be relied on in whatever storms this country will face just as he has weathered these political storms as a gentleman that far exceeds my expectations. We’ll just see if reason and intellect don’t have a victory over hypnotic, feel-good populism.
I think Huckabee’s victory is going to be short-lived.
The reality is that Romney will more likely win the bigger, more popular states like Florida and New Hampshire and New York. Huckabee has a Midwest following, which never really catapults anyone off the ground.
No worries. I’m also going to vote Obama at this rate since none of the Republican candidates have any real brains or morals at this point.