# The Huckster's out! **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 15, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952 "2011-05-15T01:38:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/21 "2011-05-15T15:26:55Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > He can’t haz cheezburger? > > No, he can’t. Ed Rollins, I think, in laying out his case why Huckabee wouldn’t run, cited the thirty or forty pounds Huckabee had put on as evidence that he wasn’t going to run. There seems to be some thinking that voters won’t accept a fat candidate–too personallly undisciplined to serve as CinC, perhaps? “What’s that you say? A plane just crashed into the WTC? Mmmm, that piece of cake looks tasty, must have a bite…” Bad news for Chris Christie? Huckabee’s weight-loss was part of how he sold himself last election (I think he wrote a book about it), so gaining weight would probably be more damaging for him then it would be for other candidates who hadn’t made a big deal out of their self-discipline in saying no to cheeseburgers. > [@MandaJO](#): > > It’s not the same “wilderness” anymore, though: between book tours, TV shows, spots on other people’s TV shows, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and speaking engagements you can stay much more in people’s minds. Maybe, though I’m not sure the public is going to take a candidate seriously that they know primarily through eight years or more of “Obama is a jerk” Twitters and appearances on reality shows. I imagine we’ll see more people try in the next couple cycles though (this year we already have Newt and Gary Johnson), so I guess we’ll find out. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/22 "2011-05-15T17:48:08Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > He’s only 55. He can take a run in 2016, easy, or even 2020. How beatable Obama is depends greatly on the economy, which is hard to predict right now. The Repubs know that. That is why they will do everything they can to stifle the economy and increase the debt. Then they will blame Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/23 "2011-05-15T19:41:41Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > … > Deep thought for the day: The GOP had built up a pretty impressive infrastructure of well funded think-tanks, publishing outfiits and media outlets for getting their message out… I think this needs a but of tweaking. My version: Rich conservatives have built up a pretty impressive infrastructure of well funded think tanks, media outlets, and Republican elected officials/candidates. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/24 "2011-05-15T20:13:34Z")
I actually got a robo-call from Huckabee a few weeks ago. Robo-Huckabee wanted my support in his efforts to repeal Obamacare. I feel he does not really know me as well as he seems to think. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/25 "2011-05-16T17:47:39Z")
I’m almost certainly going to vote for Obama again, but Huck was easily my favorite Republican despite a couple of flaws. I probably would have voted for him in the Republican primary (probably no point in voting in the Democratic primary next year). I doubt it had to do with his poll numbers, which were actually very good. But he likes what he’s doing now and recognizes that Obama would be tough to beat. Plus I don’t think he likes raising money for campaigns, and he would need a LOT to race against Obama. I believe him when he said he feels called by God to do what he’s doing now. Good for him. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/26 "2011-05-16T17:57:11Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Plus I don’t think he likes raising money for campaigns, and he would need a LOT to race against Obama He runs his own PAC to raise money for GOP campaigns even when he isn’t himself running, so I don’t think he has any problem with fundraising (see **njtt’s** post). Or at least, he doesn’t dislike it enough to forgo the perks that come with having money to distribute to GOP candidates. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/27 "2011-05-16T17:59:44Z")
He should try to convince Stephen Colbert to use his new Super PAC to fund him. It would certainly be a sound investment in comedy gold. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/28 "2011-05-16T19:40:12Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > He seemed like such a personable guy but the talk about his links to Reconstructionist and Dominionist types scared me. Again, any proof? Anyway Huckabee was after Romney and perhaps Pawlenty one of my favoured candidates. Sad to see him not run. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/29 "2011-05-16T19:54:08Z")
Proof of what, exactly? [He said every young person in America should be forced at gunpoint](http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/31/mike-huckabee-david-barton/) if necessary to pay attention to David Barton. David Barton is a revisionist of history. [Here is a NY Times article about him.](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/us/politics/05barton.html) One of the more telling passages is : > [@](#): > > “The problem with David Barton is that there’s a lot of truth in what he says,” said Derek H. Davis, director of church-state studies at Baylor University, a Baptist institution in Waco, Tex. “But the end product is a lot of distortions, half-truths and twisted history.” ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/30 "2011-05-16T20:10:36Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Again, any proof? > > Anyway Huckabee was after Romney and perhaps Pawlenty one of my favoured candidates. Sad to see him not run. [Proof that there is talk that Huck has ties to Dominionism](http://www.google.com/search?sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&site=&source=hp&q=Huckabee+dominionist&btnG=Google+Search) [Proof that there is talk that Huck has ties to Reconstructionism](http://www.google.com/search?sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&site=&source=hp&q=Huckabee+dominionist&btnG=Google+Search#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&source=hp&q=Huckabee+Reconstructionist&aq=&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&fp=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&cad=b) ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/31 "2011-05-17T00:09:49Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > [Proof that there is talk that Huck has ties to Dominionism](http://www.google.com/search?sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&site=&source=hp&q=Huckabee+dominionist&btnG=Google+Search) > > [Proof that there is talk that Huck has ties to Reconstructionism](http://www.google.com/search?sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&site=&source=hp&q=Huckabee+dominionist&btnG=Google+Search#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&source=hp&q=Huckabee+Reconstructionist&aq=&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&fp=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&cad=b) I don’t find this much of a concern since our current President has associated with a terrorist and was the member of a church whose preacher spoke treason. _Shrugs_ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/32 "2011-05-17T00:11:19Z")
You forgot to mention that he’s Kenyan. Or Indonesian, depending on what day you asked Huckabee. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/33 "2011-05-17T00:12:10Z")
You have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/34 "2011-05-17T00:14:02Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > I don’t find this much of a concern since our current President has associated with a terrorist and was the member of a church whose preacher spoke treason. _Shrugs_ You asked for evidence. So what that someone else does something that you think is bad? Are you denying the validity of the evidence? ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/35 "2011-05-17T00:17:17Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > You asked for evidence. So what that someone else does something that you think is bad? > > Are you denying the validity of the evidence? So, yes, he associates with Christian Reconstructionists and perhaps is sympathetic to their ideas. What’s so wrong with that-Obama has not put the far more insane ideas of Ayres into practice, neither will Huckabee should he be elected-he did not when he was governor of Arkansas. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/36 "2011-05-17T00:43:13Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > the far more insane ideas of Ayres I’m not sure what ideas you’re you’re talking about here, but I’m not at all persuaded that they’re “far more insane” than the ideas of Christian reconstructionists. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/37 "2011-05-17T00:52:16Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > I’m not sure what ideas you’re you’re talking about here, but I’m not at all persuaded that they’re “far more insane” than the ideas of Christian reconstructionists. Ayers has no economic sense, no concept of real social order, while Reconstructionism would mean a return to the days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/38 "2011-05-17T00:52:47Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > So, yes, he associates with Christian Reconstructionists and perhaps is sympathetic to their ideas. What’s so wrong with that-Obama has not put the far more insane ideas of Ayres into practice, neither will Huckabee should he be elected-he did not when he was governor of Arkansas. First of all, writing a book with one of them is quite a bit more than “associating” with some of them, and WAY more than going to some cocktail party with a leftist academic. Second, virtually EVERYONE who sit in a church listen to preachers preach is listening to big lies, because that’s what priests do. And Obama has at the least pulled away from the preacher, Huckabee continues to embrace his set of madmen. Last, you ASKED for evidence, and two of went to the trouble of finding it for you. And then you dismiss it because you don’t care in the first place. That is just plain rude. Next time, if you don’t care about evidence, don’t ask for it. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/39 "2011-05-17T00:57:31Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Ayers has no economic sense, no concept of real social order, while Reconstructionism would mean a return to the days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Is that not insane? Tell me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t we all have to be members of their church? Wouldn’t there be witch burnings? Women who couldn’t vote? You find this reasonable? ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952/40 "2011-05-17T01:10:45Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Is that not insane? Tell me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t we all have to be members of their church? On the contrary church membership percentage-wise was actually lower than to-day because they wished to make sure you were saved before you became a church member. > [@](#): > > Wouldn’t there be witch burnings? Which was condemned by all major clergymen and politicians within months. > [@](#): > > Women who couldn’t vote? That is a debated point within such circles. > [@](#): > > You find this reasonable? Not my ideal society, but better then Ayers’ version of utopia. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hucksters-out/581952.md?page=3)