<http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/12/a_huckabee_ally_on_el_rushbo.php>
> "Honestly, because Rush doesn't think for himself. That's not
> necessarily a slap because he's not paid to be a thinker -- he's an
> entertainer. I can't remember the last time that he has veered from the
> talking points from the DC/Manhattan chattering class. If they were
> praising Huckabee, he would be too."
The second answer to the subject line question (that Clinton would be good for Rush's business) is more amusing, but this is really the key one. I think in our knee-jerk outrage at Huckabee, and our quickness to second each denunciation from other right wingers, we're missing the real fun here.
Huckabee drives the WSJ/Free Republic wing of the Republican party nuts. Why? Because he's fracturing the party. And why is he doing that? Because he is exactly the candidate that evangelicals have always wanted: a real evangelical minister who is also a seasoned professional politician, and not a purely nutball amateur like Robertson or Gary Bauer.
For me, the thing about all these examples of how he's a crazy Ayatollah is how mild and slippery they are compared to the things Robertson or Bauer toss off on a regular basis. The non-evangelical Repugs really have to dig here to find something that befits the ardor with which they want to denounce him. And dig they are doing, because they can't believe the evangelicals are rising again. They can't understand it. Weren't they discredited by this last administration?
The irony of course is that the things that discredited this administration -- the war in Iraq, the budget broken by rich bastard tax cuts, the incompetence born of corruption -- actually none of those are the fault of the evangelicals. Those are all the fault of the WSJ/Free Republic wing. They brought the evangelicals along, who support whatever Their Father does. But those ideas didn't originate in evangelicalism.
So it's hilarious that Republican secular types, who think Republicanism should be founded on pure rational selfishness, think it's the evangelicals fault that they're behind the eight ball. And it's hilarious that they thought this was going to be their turn -- as if last time wasn't their turn.
But most of all it's hilarious and wonderful to see the two sides of the Republican party facing each other in a mutual firing squad.
So rather than outrage at Huckabee, at this stage I personally am full mainly of glee. Every attack on him from Republicans makes me smile one more time. It couldn't happen to two nicer groups of people. This is the first think that's made me happy this primary season is so long.
Michael