Mike Huckabee -- with a bit of dodging -- refused to recant his 1992 comments that we should "isolate" AIDS patients. Notably, by 1992 it was well established that AIDS was not transmitted through casual contact. But AIDS still carried with it an unbelievable amount of stigma, and Huckabee was playing into that. I have to admit that I am surprised he didn't repudiate those words though. It seemed like a no-brainer.
This seems to me to be the grand Huckabee paradox. He does have a lot of personal charm and charisma. To counteract that, he has a lot of positions that are -- bluntly -- crazy. This can be a winning combination (it won in 2000 and 2004), but unlike its current poster boy, Huckabee seems to lack the instincts of a true politician. He doesn't know when and how to spin, when to hold the line and when to break. In this, he's a bit refreshing, actually. But it's a flaw as a candidate, and if it prevents someone with his retrograde views on all manner of issues from taking office, so much the better.
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It's not necessarily a no-brainer given that he's running for much-contested the Republican nomination as a Religious Right poster-boy. Maybe he runs the risk of a brouhaha in the general election, but he needs to get that far first. This is the kind of thing his supporters can take to the GOP base and say "LIEK omg he stood up to teh lie-beral M3dia!"
I would also note that Huckabee is pretty deft at dodging the tough questions with an aw-schucks smile and quip when he really needs to. (Such as when asked, "Would Jesus support the death penalty?")
Huckabee has to gang up on the LGBT community to show us what real man he is. If he has to pick on a group of American citizens why doesn't he pick a group that has the same rights, benefits & protections as he has?
I hope someone asks Huckabee what his plan for dealing with the AIDS epidemic in Africa is. Isolating 25 million people and telling them they must have got it from The Gay should work wonders.
It's moments like these when I realize that it's possible for Bush's successor, if a Republican, to come up with even stupider policies than Bush's.
Democrats and Repulicans have been in control for a long time now and what do we have to show for it. We got the Dems wanting to attack the wealthy to support the idiots in American with no skills-except for putting their hand out. Then we got the Repubs attacking the world. At least the repubs will fight for something instead of whining. Anyway all of idiots in both parties only care about stuffing their wallets. America needs a third party.
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