Most Defend Huckabee After Reading "Mike Huckabee Blows His Chances with Racist Remark"
Most of the reader comments defended Huckabee and were critical of Hopwood's conclusion that Huckabee had made a racist comment concerning Democratic presidential hopeful, Barack Obama. While addressing the National Rifle Association, according to Hopwood, "hearing a sound from backstage while giving his speech to the N.R.A. faithful, Huckabee, who has been noted for his wit by a generally fawning press, quipped, 'That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He's getting ready to speak.' The audience began laughing at Huckabee's remark, and continued when he made the extraordinarily insensitive remark, 'Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.' " The incident was reported in a brief story in the L.A. Times on May 17.
Sunday, Huckabee appeared on NBC's Meet the Press telling the moderator, Tim Russett, that, "it was a dumb, off-the-cuff remark." Huckabee also issued a statement on his website www.huckpac.com, saying, "I made an off-hand remark that was in no way intended to offend or disparage Sen. Obama. I apologize that my comments were offensive; that was never my intention."
Based on the many readers comments to Hopwood's article, most agreed that Huckabee had put his foot in his mouth; readers generally agreed that Huckabee's comments were inappropriate. It was Hopwood's characterization of Huckabee's remarks towards Obama as racist that most readers have taken exception to.
At Huckabee's website, one supporter, Lisa Camp, left her comment, "Governor Huckabee, obviously it was meant to be a joke and anyone who knows Obama's relationship with the NRA would have got the joke."
And that is the difficulty many are having with the conclusion that the remarks are necessarily racist. Even if you don't support the N.R.A., Mike Huckabee or Republicans in general, to most, the remarks were of a political nature and looking closely at the remarks and the context, Huckabee's remarks do appear to be more political than anything else. Apparently at least, this is how the public sees it and arguably the public is never wrong.
Huckabee's Christian right political positions kept him from a Republican presidential nomination that he might have won on the strength of his personality and honest sense of humor. He was the most human of any of any recent presidential runner from either party. His familiar sense of wit drew voters in numbers far out of proportion to what his campaign finances indicated he should have gotten.
What's likable about Mike Huckabee is when he makes an error, he has personal resources to draw on. A quick apologizer. Huckabee told Meet The Press, "And, you know, it wasn't the first dumb thing I've ever said, and let me go ahead and announce on this program, it won't be the last dumb thing I've ever said. This wasn't funny, I'll be the first to tell you that. Shouldn't have said it. I apologize. I don't know what else I can do."
As apologies go it is hard to deny that's as good as it gets for a politician.
Published by AC LAW
A. C. Law is a free lance writer/artist/photographer living in Ogden Dunes. Ogden Dunes is the best beach village on Lake Michigan. Come visit some time! View profile
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8 Comments
Post a CommentI think Huck may have been trying to think in a strategic way, that while Obama is certainly a high caliber political leader his color is a risk to his presidency. Its the kind of humor SNL has done for years, "black" humor. But, I'm certain that he a minister felt convicted by his own words. I am an African American by the way and I think he would still make a great President.
Eurotas, I have the same feeling about this as you. That is not the type of comment the President of the United States should ever make regardless of circumstances. I don't however feel he is a racist, he was just trying to get a quick laugh from the audience and it was a bad attempt. It seems the American public is becoming more and more "sensitive" on these types of topics.
Definitely a misspeak . . . . but I seriously don't think Mike Huckabee is racist. Having met him, and having had my family acquainted with him . . . I beg to differ.
Whether the comment is racist or not, it demonstrates that Huckabee lacks the judgment required for a President or Vice President. Bush has made plenty of unintelligent/non-sensical statements, but he would never make a mistake like this.
I am a black Huckabee supporter. The joke wasn't funny and Mike was right to quickly apologize. But to suggest in any way that Mike is racist - I've got two words. Get real! Mike Huckabee has done more to attempt to reach out to black voters and black people in general than most politicians in America. He did more to attempt to heal the four-generation rift between the GOP and black voters than any other single Republican politician that I can remember.
My blog (http://thevaluesvoter.spaces.live.com) is full of lots of pro-Huckabee posts. I am a die-hard Huckabee supporter and, trust me, I would never support someone who I thought had even a major inner struggle with racism. This guy is quite comfortable around black folks and has remarkable insight and concern about a lot of issues that affect African Americans.
Mike is the furthest thing that an American politican can be from being a racist. And he was smart enough to offer a quick and simple apology to a dumb remark - without
good report
Someone in Hopwood's story commented that Huckabee had a good heart. I think I would agree with that assessment. In fact I think Huckabee has a lot of it. I'm not necessarily endorsing his positions.
I agree with your assessment. I was one of those readers that posted in the comments of that story and have since posted in several more. I am simply amazed at how some people are either calling this racist or insinuating that Huckabee was actually calling for the assassination of Obama. While it was a very poor choice of words, it was nothing more than a bad attempt at a joke. The sad part is, 50% of the negative stories are from so called Conservatives that know better but they are so in love with Romney that they can not see the truth anymore. Besides, if Huckabee was racist, he would not have won 48% of the African-American vote in a very Democratic Arkansas, nor would he have taken in more than 75,000 Katrina victims while his own house was flooded. Really makes me sick at just how corrupt our media is these days. Everyone has their own agenda and will do whatever it takes to further it along.