Good line from Huckabee on The Tonight Show. Asked what's behind his remarkable rise in the polls, Huckabee decided to stop calling it divine intervention and try out a populist response. "I think it's because people want to vote for someone who reminds them of the guy they work with rather than the guy who laid them off." Take that, Mitt Romney!As per usual, Huckabee is staggeringly charming. He's not as gorgeous a speaker as Obama or Edwards, but is possibly a better talker than both combined. He mixes off-the-cuff eloquence with easy humor and evident compassion. His jokes are a serious advantage: It's a bit unnoticed, as the media reports all funny candidates as funny in the same way, but there's a political difference between folksy humor and wry, ironic, or observant humor. Folksy wins, and Huckabee's humor is always folksy.Plus, he's such a good liar. Good enough that you're never really sure if he's lying, or simply uninformed on his own policies. For instance: He sells his massively regressive tax system as "very progressive" and the only one that will make "pimps and dealers pay just like the rest of us." He offers a compelling example of a guy working a second shift to pay for his daughter's college education, who takes a second job, and who could do more to help his daughter by dropping both jobs and letting her qualify for federal assistance. Of course, Huckabee's tax plan would not end educational assistance for the children of low-income workers, but that doesn't matter, as it all sounds so good! He comes off as more bleeding heart than any Democrat, including Edwards. And his invocation of his faith makes him seem more like a social worker than a theocrat. He mentions the church in terms of the "social pathologies" it exposed him to, rather than his desire to be a "true soldier" for the Christian Right movement. Of course, sometimes he does exactly the opposite. It just depends on the audience. That's a very powerful, and very dangerous, political talent. This guy is very good. It's easy to forget, as I tend to not hear Huckabee, but rather read about his gaffes. But he's very, very good.Image used under a Creative Commons license from IowaPolitics.com. I FEAR HUCKABEE.
Good line from Huckabee on The Tonight Show. Asked what's behind his remarkable rise in the polls, Huckabee decided to stop calling it divine intervention and try out a populist response. "I think it's because people want to vote for someone who reminds them of the guy they work with rather than the guy who laid them off." Take that, Mitt Romney!As per usual, Huckabee is staggeringly charming. He's not as gorgeous a speaker as Obama or Edwards, but is possibly a better talker than both combined. He mixes off-the-cuff eloquence with easy humor and evident compassion. His jokes are a serious advantage: It's a bit unnoticed, as the media reports all funny candidates as funny in the same way, but there's a political difference between folksy humor and wry, ironic, or observant humor. Folksy wins, and Huckabee's humor is always folksy.Plus, he's such a good liar. Good enough that you're never really sure if he's lying, or simply uninformed on his own policies. For instance: He sells his massively regressive tax system as "very progressive" and the only one that will make "pimps and dealers pay just like the rest of us." He offers a compelling example of a guy working a second shift to pay for his daughter's college education, who takes a second job, and who could do more to help his daughter by dropping both jobs and letting her qualify for federal assistance. Of course, Huckabee's tax plan would not end educational assistance for the children of low-income workers, but that doesn't matter, as it all sounds so good! He comes off as more bleeding heart than any Democrat, including Edwards. And his invocation of his faith makes him seem more like a social worker than a theocrat. He mentions the church in terms of the "social pathologies" it exposed him to, rather than his desire to be a "true soldier" for the Christian Right movement. Of course, sometimes he does exactly the opposite. It just depends on the audience. That's a very powerful, and very dangerous, political talent. This guy is very good. It's easy to forget, as I tend to not hear Huckabee, but rather read about his gaffes. But he's very, very good.Image used under a Creative Commons license from IowaPolitics.com. 
