# Is Huckabee a genuinely nice, sincere guy, or is it an act? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 20, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357 "2007-10-20T00:14:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/41 "2007-10-21T18:04:19Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] He accepted gifts from a wealthy Arkansan by the name of Osborne and denied that doing so even appeared to be wrong. He vetoed an insurance bill designed to protect consumers because it contained the phrase “Acts of God”. He accepted gifts for the Governor’s Mansion and took them as his own when he left office. He ridiculed those wishing to raise the Arkansas minimum wage without explanation, sarcastically asking, “When don’t we make it $20.00 an hour?” Joked about being in a concentration camp and did not apologize when it became obvious that he had offended many people. [/QUOTE] Do we still do the cite thing? Cuz I heard that he hand strangled puppies with big eyes. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/42 "2007-10-21T18:31:28Z")
[QUOTE=PatriotX] Cuz I heard that he hand strangled puppies with big eyes. [/QUOTE] If he strangles Tom Tancredo during a debate, I’ll vote for him! (When I first read that I thought it said he strangled puppies with his big eyes. That would’ve been cool. I mean, poor puppy, but still cool.) ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/43 "2007-10-21T19:08:23Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] When I first read that I thought it said he strangled puppies with his big eyes. That would’ve been cool. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I noticed teh ambiguity but I decided to leave it. Did you know that Huckabee am burning your dog w/ his 1920’s style death ray eyes? It’s true. I heard it from a FOAF. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/44 "2007-10-21T19:13:07Z")
> [@](#): > > But you didn’t address my point. You said you don’t care what they think, only what they do. That’s fine. But the only way you know whether to vote for such a guy in the first place is based on what he says in the campaign. You’re assuming he will do what he says in the campaign, which is what we often call character. I’ll admit from a distance it can look like character but it isn’t necessarily so. The only person who really knows what a person’s character is is that person himself. All the rest of us can only guess based on what we see and hear. Personally, I have my suspicions about some of the old conservative southerners who late in life denounced the racism of their youth. Look at George Wallace. In the fifties and sixties he was a major opponent of black civil rights. In the seventies and eighties, he said he realized he had been wrong and apologized for his earlier views and appointed many blacks to government office. Did George Wallace really change his views or did he just adjust to the reality that Alabama now had a substantial number of black voters? For that matter, had he really been a racist in the first place? Some people who knew him all his life said he hadn’t been particularly anti-black before running for office and Wallace hinted that the reason he was so anti-black in the fifties and sixties was because that’s what white voters in Alabama wanted then. So who can judge the real character of a man like that? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/45 "2007-10-21T20:41:32Z")
Remember the last nice and sincere person who was elected to the White House? What a great success Carter was! ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/46 "2007-10-21T20:49:40Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > I’ll admit from a distance it can look like character but it isn’t necessarily so. The only person who really knows what a person’s character is is that person himself. All the rest of us can only guess based on what we see and hear. > > Personally, I have my suspicions about some of the old conservative southerners who late in life denounced the racism of their youth. Look at George Wallace. In the fifties and sixties he was a major opponent of black civil rights. In the seventies and eighties, he said he realized he had been wrong and apologized for his earlier views and appointed many blacks to government office. Did George Wallace really change his views or did he just adjust to the reality that Alabama now had a substantial number of black voters? For that matter, had he really been a racist in the first place? Some people who knew him all his life said he hadn’t been particularly anti-black before running for office and Wallace hinted that the reason he was so anti-black in the fifties and sixties was because that’s what white voters in Alabama wanted then. So who can judge the real character of a man like that? Fair enough. So your answer to the OP question would be simply, “we cannot know,” yes? [QUOTE=Quartz] Remember the last nice and sincere person who was elected to the White House? What a great success Carter was! [/QUOTE] I just want to point out, for the third time, that this thread is not about whether Huckabee would make a good President. I think “nice” would be a terribly low and probably unnecessary threshold. The question is merely whether Huckabee, with whom I vehemently disagree, is an act or the real deal wrt his sincerity and general friendliness. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/47 "2007-10-21T21:43:39Z")
[QUOTE=PatriotX] Do we still do the cite thing? [/QUOTE] Difficult to cite radio and TV news over the period he’s been Governor. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/48 "2007-10-21T22:08:32Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] Difficult to cite radio and TV news over the period he’s been Governor. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Maybe you should try to cite something else. Perhaps one of them internets? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/49 "2007-10-21T22:16:46Z")
[QUOTE=PatriotX] Maybe you should try to cite something else. Perhaps one of them internets? [/QUOTE] Nah, we won’t convince each other, anyway. Hey, is “one of them” a crack because I’m from Arkansas? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/50 "2007-10-21T23:23:22Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] Nah, we won’t convince each other, anyway. Hey, is “one of them” a crack because I’m from Arkansas? 🙂 [/QUOTE] Maybe Do you know where Fayettenam is? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/51 "2007-10-21T23:33:55Z")
[QUOTE=PatriotX] Maybe Do you know where Fayettenam is? [/QUOTE] > **[Urban Dictionary: Fayettenam](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Fayettenam)** > > Fayettenam: Fayettenam refers only to Fayetteville NC . Nam referring to Vietnam because of the very close military base. Locals did not want the military... ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/52 "2007-10-21T23:38:14Z")
[QUOTE=PatriotX] Do you know where Fayettenam is? [/QUOTE] Not a clue. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/53 "2007-10-22T02:05:06Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] Not a clue. [/QUOTE] Then I have trouble believing that you are actually from Arkansas ETA unless you’re a young’n WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! PIG! SOOIE! Home of the Hogs ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/54 "2007-10-22T02:23:23Z")
[QUOTE=PatriotX] Home of the Hogs [/QUOTE] My Master’s is from GIT, run from UA Fayetteville but at UALR when I graduated. Do try and keep that, er, “Hog calling” to a minumum, will you? It’s rather embarrassing that adults can become that excited over children playing a game. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/55 "2007-10-22T02:34:20Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] My Master’s is from GIT, run from UA Fayetteville but at UALR when I graduated. Do try and keep that, er, “Hog calling” to a minumum, will you? It’s rather embarrassing that adults can become that excited over children playing a game. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Maybe after “[half a century](http://users.wildblue.net/cwmorrow/index.htm)” it’s Central Arkansas’ turn to embarrass you ---
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/56 "2007-10-22T02:36:40Z")
I was going to post a link to the story **Valgard** is talking about, but it seems to have already been done. All the accounts I’ve read seem to indicate that he really is a nice, personable guy. It just happens that he’s a nice, personable guy who believe the word of God trumps the constitution and that the latter should be brought into line with the former. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/57 "2007-10-22T02:47:58Z")
[QUOTE=PatriotX] Maybe after “[half a century](http://users.wildblue.net/cwmorrow/index.htm)” it’s Central Arkansas’ turn to embarrass you [/QUOTE] Perhaps so. Huckabee certainly does, with his gifts, creationism and marginal [anti-semitisim.](http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=140x938) So look, a cite! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/58 "2007-10-22T03:01:01Z")
Well, I just saw my first obvious Huckabee lie/untruth with my very own eyes. In tonight’s debate on Fox, he said that most of the signors of the Declaration of Independence were clergymen. No idea where he got that one, but it bears little resemblance to the truth. Maybe he’ll retract it when he learns he misspoke. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/59 "2007-10-22T03:42:03Z")
[QUOTE=Richard Parker] Well, I just saw my first obvious Huckabee lie/untruth with my very own eyes. In tonight’s debate on Fox, he said that most of the signors of the Declaration of Independence were clergymen. No idea where he got that one, but it bears little resemblance to the truth. Maybe he’ll retract it when he learns he misspoke. 😃 [/QUOTE] I don’t think he’s that bright. I suspect he has a forwarded email that contained this factoid ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357/60 "2007-10-22T17:42:44Z")
Doesn’t matter anymore. [He’s won the election already.](http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58255) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-huckabee-a-genuinely-nice-sincere-guy-or-is-it-an-act/423357.md?page=4)