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Huckabee’s Baby Talk

Mike Huckabee is not having a good week.

First, he asserts that President Obama was raised in Kenya (he spent part of his childhood in Indonesia). Then he goes after a pregnant woman.

To be precise, Huckabee criticized actress Natalie Portman while appearing on Michael Medved’s radio show earlier this week. Portman, of course, received an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Black Swan on Sunday.

Huckabee stated, “One of the things that’s troubling is that people see a Natalie Portman or some other Hollywood starlit who boasts “Look, we’re having children. We’re not married, but we’re having these children and they’re doing just fine.”

Except that Portman never actually made any such statement. And if that weren’t enough Portman is actually engaged to be married. Oops!!!

Now for his part, Huckabee has walked back his statement - sort of. Huckabee insists he did not “slam” or “attack” Portman. Of course he did. Huckabee attributed statements to Portman she never made and misrepresented her marital intentions. If Huckabee is a gentleman he will apologize to Portman.

Besides if Huckabee so virulently objects to out-of-wedlock children then why didn’t he admonish Bristol Palin? I’ll tell you why. Because The Mama Grizzly would have torn Huckabee to shreds. And if there was anything left of him I would have added my two cents.

I also think Huckabee miscalculated. Remember Huckabee made reference to “Natalie Portman or some other Hollywood starlit.” Except that Natalie Portman isn’t Britney Spears. Portman’s public behavior has been exemplary and it makes Huckabee’s remarks that much more cheap.

But let’s assume for a moment that Huckabee was being 100% sincere in his comments. Assuming Huckabee is going to make another bid for the White House does he intend to turn his personal views into public policy? Do we really want the federal government telling pregnant women they have to be married?

View all comments (69) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

PhilTheCapitalistPig| 3.4.11 @ 3:14PM

Huckabee comes off so fake to me. Really don't like his show too much anymore. Seems too much like a jerry lewis telethon or something. He's an actor.

Handy| 3.5.11 @ 12:03PM

Phil, there really is something phony about the Huckster. Can't put my finger on it, but I just don't trust him.

In the same vein, this fellow Goldstein is a bit weird. He chooses marginal issues that really have no importance, and he always seems to side with the Lefties.

I suspect Aaron is probably gay.

Ken (Old Texican)| 3.4.11 @ 3:18PM

Aw, hell, Aaron, Huck is just fighting to stay semi-relevant.
In the final analysis, he is a man with very short arms...........(to get around issues).

Michael L. Hauschild| 3.4.11 @ 8:28PM

There are two kind of liars about using arm extentions, those that say that they have never used them, and those that say they have quit using them completely.

Rogue Elephant| 3.4.11 @ 3:25PM

Thank goodness! Huckabee is a big-government Republican who is running for George W. Bush's Third Term.

It's good that Huck's campaign is limping off the launching pad and crashing back to Earth, like a NASA global warming satellite.

simon templar| 3.4.11 @ 3:30PM

His remarks were not cheap..they represent his beliefs and values regarding the best family structure and his beliefs about marriage and the role of two parents in a family. His opinion is valued and respected by the majority of this country and should not be presented by you as cheap, subversive, or repressive. Sure you are a conservative? He made his mistake in personalizing his remarks by mentioning a particicular real person. He made some statements about this person that were not exactly correct. Yes, he should apologize to that person for that not his personal views or the overall point he was trying to make. Yeah, we certainly hope he trys to promote these shared values into policy..is that not what politics and elective government is about? Do not be ridiculous, he is not going to create policy telling pregnant people that they have to be married! You hate the values and moral position that he is taking and you want him to shut up and feel intimidated to the point that he fears expressing himself. I am getting a feeling that you are being somewhat reactionary and that you hold some irrational fear about all of this.

WillyP | 3.4.11 @ 6:41PM

Moral views have nothing to do with government.

simon templar| 3.4.11 @ 11:36PM

Well, then you are in disagreement with most of our founders. Religion and morality are the foundations of a free Republic.

Kris Lepine| 3.7.11 @ 9:24AM

And that view is what gives us the lying, cheating, stealing crooks that are supposedly representing us in government. They are valueless and amoral.
I bet you've heard the adage "you can't legislate morality". That's totally false and we have prisons bursting at the seams to prove it. And some hold our goverment officials and more of them probably deserve to be there. Ever heard the name Charlie Rangel?

simon templar| 3.4.11 @ 3:36PM

If you think he would not be a good candidate or you think he is really not for real but just another RINO or huckster th stick to his record and the facts surrounding that record. Let me point out that I am not one of his supporters. Just like to see that our criticism of other conservatives and Republicans are grounded in facts, their records, and logical arguments.

Ken (Old Texican)| 3.4.11 @ 3:48PM

Simon, you are one of the good guys here.
The problem is, Huck has screwed up AWFULLY,

...for years!
He made some truly terrible decisions/choices as Governor.
I'll let some of our Arkansas contributors fill you in, but I was blown away when they told me.

simon templar| 3.4.11 @ 5:36PM

Thank you Ken. Yes, I would like to know more about his record as Governor as it seems a bit shrouded in mystery..not much seems to be written about it. All you hear is he lost a lot of weight, is very religious, host an interesting TV show, and has played in a band. He seems like a nice guy that you would like to hang out with at your local steak house, that is a great TV host, and someone with good values but not much more is known. Hey, Aaron, how about you help us out here with an article review of Huckabee's political history and background?

WillyP | 3.4.11 @ 6:42PM

I second that!

Real American| 3.4.11 @ 3:45PM

being engaged = being married? No. It doesn't. The belief that people should be married before having children (or conceiving them) is not out of the mainstream. It's a legit family value.

Ken (Old Texican)| 3.4.11 @ 3:51PM

Well, Real American,
I must confess something; over forty years ago, after a year's engagement, my fiance and I had full fledged glorious swinging from the chandelier intercourse...one week from our marriage date.

...I can't cast the first stone.

Truth to Power| 3.4.11 @ 6:06PM

Nobody wanted to stone Portman. Does the morality of the Old Texican really come down to, if it feels good do it? Maybe so and you definitely gave too much information. Is the Old Texican really crippled from taking a stand on right or wrong when he has committed that sin? I guess so. Yikes. I expect this kind of sophistry from the morally bankrupt Goldstein but not from the Old Texican. Goldstein apparently thinks that marriage is only appropriate for those who can't make babies. With regard to Palin and Portman, there is a difference between those who advocate sin and those who commit sin. There are things worse than hypocrisy. Calling good evil and evil good are examples. Goldstein illustrates the moral hole he has fell into by trying to eliminate discussion of a horrible behavior that leads to tremendous number of social problems. Thirty percent of American children are born into these conditions and there are consequences. Goldstein's attitude are typical of homosexuals and societies that accept homosexuality. Marriage will become less common and children will suffer. We have been moving that way and Europe is a long way down that road.

After saying this I must make clear that I agree that Huckabee was a terrible governor and doesn't deserve anybody's support for President. That does not make him always wrong or Portman and Goldstein any less morally repugnant.

Tina Trent | 3.6.11 @ 12:59PM

30%? Nope, it's closer to 40%. And around 70% in the black community and probably close to 50% among Hispanics (presuming a rise from the 2007 45% number).

But none of this has anything to do with the author's alleged sexual persuasion.

You simply can't blame the collapse of marriage on homosexuals. When a 16-year old decides to have a baby in order to get away from her mother and start collecting her own welfare check, she's not doing it because her uncle is gay. Blame lies exclusively with a welfare state that rewards single motherhood and male abandonment of children.

The most common arrangement I've seem among welfare families is a woman and her children siphoning multiple resources to maintain perfectly comfortable households (never seen one without cable tv) while allowing one or more of the fathers free access to those resources, while lying to the state about her involvement with him/them.

And frankly, you can blame religious leaders for running cover on this scandal. Over the last 40 years, churches and synagogues have quietly accepted more and more government funding to be deliverers of massive taxpayer-funded services to their constituencies and other people. So while they're thundering from the pulpit about marriage, they're quietly ignoring and even assisting in welfare fraud through their large, profitable "social services" arms. They're also not particularly upfront with their own faithful about this arrangement.

I really don't care what Huckabee says about any of this because Huckabee's a sick apologist for particularly violent sexual predators; he clearly gets off on the special status such activism gave him in both liberal and certain conservative circles. The social reward system is similarly high for loudly expressing empathy for "misunderstood" rapists and killers, too.

Truth to Power| 3.6.11 @ 5:05PM

The connection between the acceptance of gay marriage and the death of heterosexual marriage has been studied and there is a connection whether it makes you feel uncomfortable or not. Europe has been a great laboratory and we are not far behind. For what it is worth, I don't blame the collapse of marriage on homosexuals. I blame it on heterosexuals who have adopted the same empty relationships dedicated and defined by pointless sexuality. After all their pointless sex can lead to babies as well as all sorts of venereal diseases. The model in front of us is that of Mark Sanford or the shepherds in Brokeback Mountain. We must follow our passions and the children come in a very distant second place.

I don't know about the author's sexual preference. I just know what he advocates. I don't think it is coincidental that he advocates gay marriage and dislikes discussions about illegitimacy or abortion. It fits nicely into the pretend world of consequent-less sex. We all suffer from that mistaken vision.

Tina Trent | 3.6.11 @ 7:07PM

I don't feel uncomfortable about this discussion. I think defending the institution of marriage in an historical context is important -- and its socially cohesive role is crucial. I fear the consequences of opening the door to polygamy and other utterly destructive lifestyles.

But I want nothing less than the blessing of lifetime commitment for my homosexual friends. It's a joy and a social stabilizer. In all seriousness, wouldn't that be a positive good?

Gold BC| 3.4.11 @ 4:16PM

Putting my political hat on, Mike Huckabee has fired the first shot in a cultural war against liberals specifically Hollywood left-wing Jews. His goal to revive the 2008 winning coalition in Iowa and boost his standing in southern GOP primaries.

Boston12GS| 3.4.11 @ 7:28PM

"Hollywood left-wing Jews"

Brilliant. Where exactly do you think that's going to take you? You really think the problems with out country are because of "Jews"?

Idiot.

bill reynolds| 3.5.11 @ 4:13PM

Not only our USA, but the entire bloody world! Facts are facts. Too bad your too myopic and brainwashed to "get it"! In terms of your name calling ... Go look in the mirror!

Chuck| 3.4.11 @ 4:34PM

Natalie Portman takes pride in the fact that she is a role model for girls and choses roles that are positive so that they will have a positive role model to look up to. In the real world sex outside of marriage and having children out of wedlock is not a good role model for anyone especially young girls, kinda simple Natalie.

Boston12GS| 3.4.11 @ 7:29PM

"Natalie Portman takes pride in the fact that she is a role model for girls and choses roles that are positive so that they will have a positive role model to look up to."

Please provide quote from Natalie Portman in which she states this.

Thought so.

Joseph Brown| 3.4.11 @ 4:40PM

Huck's quotes, except the part about Duhwon living in Kenya all those years came from the book The Roots of Obama's rage. Nowhere did the author, D'nesh D'souza say that he'd lived in Kenya more than a short while. I thought it was a good book that explained alot about Duwon. I'm afraid Huck stepped on an important part of his anatomy, personally.

Occam's Tool| 3.4.11 @ 5:03PM

Huckabee was opposed to The Club For Growth. Not the best.

Michael L. Hauschild| 3.5.11 @ 6:01AM

When an Arkansas governor passes from his statehouse office he is awarded a musical instrument. It can be a saxophone, a base guitar or a kazoo. (The kazoo is reserved for chief executives that have not raised taxes.) On this instrument, which they must learn to play badly, is engraved the governor’s motto, “Rubicus demeanus jesabellus.” Now before you Latin scholars jump in here please become aware of the fact that the Honourus Lingua of Arkansas is Moonshine Gallic, not Latin. The last Latin phrase heard in the state was “Regnat Populus” and it was uttered on the gallows by a black robed priest. They were hanging him, not for the pedophilia one would suspect, but due to the contrary nature of his clothing. It still, however, remains traditional for the good old boys to lynch anyone speaking Latin because they are simply confused, they think it is Yiddish. But I digress. “Rubicus demeanus jesabellus” roughly translated means “Rube who hates women.”
Now this tale might not meet old man Oakham’s test for parsimony or succinctness but it does accurately depict the behavior of the Bubba and the rhetoric of the Huck.

Occam's Tool| 3.5.11 @ 2:24PM

I had a boss once who was head of Arkansas Mental Health under Gov. Clinton. His Clinton stories were interesting.

This is all a lot of fun, and I don't really care for Huckabee, but...marriage as an institution among the American middle class is under attack. Marriage does two good things: it serves as the most useful societal set up to raise children in (I'm a State hospital psychiatrist with 17 years experience in practice after residency; please don;'t argue with me, you would be wrong.), and it allows for accumulation of wealth over singletons.

Therefore, attacks on the marriage and the family should be combatted. Please look at The State of Our Unions by the University of Virginia.

Michael L. Hauschild| 3.5.11 @ 7:27PM

Ms. Portman is still a young woman in her twenties, I doubt whether she has any of the clinical training or experience you exhibit. You will get no "argument" from me, since your statement is qualified by “middle class” and I am certain that you will concede that she does not exhibit in any way shape or form “middle class.” She is obviously capable of reproduction even while being the most accomplished actress in the world. Many of our own society’s elderly chose to sans the difficulty imposed by marriage, they also choose and elect to live together for economic reasons. It is very likely that her upcoming marriage will fail; why inflict on her the dogma of Huckabee’s fundamentalism. Prenuptial agreements, the scheduling and conflicts of the trade she exemplifies, in fact most of her life is probably handled by a legal team. I do not begrudge her the millions; and while I do not envy her station, I do not want to interfere with her life. The SoCon’s look to her pregnancy, not out of concern of cultural dysfunction, but instead as proof of “sin” arising from her out of wedlock behavior. I simple perceive it as a blessed event. This thread has produced numerous “don’t cast” comments to which I concur, Reverend Huckabee gave a sermon, but it was not representative of the Charitable Christian, to me at least, it smacked of political self interest. His statement was a backhand slap at a truly loving and caring Christian from Alaska, one who walks the walk and spares the talk. His sojourn into public scorn will not pay off in either the short or long run.

Edward Cropper | 3.4.11 @ 5:09PM

Elmer Gantry Jr is making an early start on trying to tie up the evangelicals. Elmer is so shallow he will do anything to get his name in the press or getan interview on TV. Watch how the press will either cut him to shreds if they see him stumble or build him up if they think he can get an early lead in the polls. They really think he is dead meat so they want him to be Oblunders opponent.

JmsA| 3.4.11 @ 5:42PM

I love the Elmer Gantry allusion.

ml| 3.4.11 @ 5:18PM

I hope that Huckabee doesn't run for President. We don't need him at the White House in 2012. He does like to talk and joke a lot. Beside Huckabee, it won't be Romney, Palin, Gingrich, Paul, Daniels, Bachmann, Trump, Huntsman, Cain, Rudy G., Pataki, and Bolton.

Jake| 3.4.11 @ 5:22PM

Huckabee made the legitimate point that unwed Hollywood celebrities send the wrong message to young people.
They have nannies and baby nurses and the financial resources to support a child on their own. They present an unrealistic image of what it's like to be young , unwed and pregnant. They make it look like a breeze.
Unlike most unwed mothers who are undereducated and unemployed and require government assistance like food stamps and welfare.
While Huckabee didn't slam Natalie Portman , the fact remains that she is unwed and pregnant . Being an unwed mother to be didn't hinder her from looking glamorous and being rewarded.
The illegitimacy rate in our country is skyrocketing among all races and the children of unwed mothers often suffer economically and socially.
Huckabee did not say anything wrong , in fact, he had more courage than most politicians who know full well how illegitimacy is devastating huge swaths of our country, but, are afraid to discuss the lifelong socioeconomic implications for both the mothers and children.
Any honest discussion of unwed mothers in the public eye would also have to include Bristol Palin. Unlike most young and unwed mothers, she had an intact and financially stable family to help her with her child.
And unlike most unwed and young mothers she has had a prosperous and glamorous career post baby.
From Dancing With The Stars and multiple magazine covers to interviews on tabloid tv shows and appearances on FOX News.
Bristol recently took E! on a tour of her new home in Arizona.
She will obviously make a lot of money when her autobiography comes out in the summer .
Palin and Portman are well known and well publicized unwed young mothers who will be the exception to the hardscrabble lifestyle that generally awaits young and unwed mothers and their children.
Hopefully impressionable young girls will realize that.
That's all Huckabee was saying.

Boston12GS| 3.4.11 @ 7:30PM

"Huckabee made the legitimate point that unwed Hollywood celebrities send the wrong message to young people.
They have nannies and baby nurses and the financial resources to support a child on their own. They present an unrealistic image of what it's like to be young , unwed and pregnant. They make it look like a breeze.
Unlike most unwed mothers who are undereducated and unemployed and require government assistance like food stamps and welfare."

Jake nails it.

Claypoole| 3.5.11 @ 10:07AM

This same issue came up several years ago when Candace (sp?) Bergen's character on the eponymous sitcom "Murphy Brown" became pregnant out of wedlock. Murphy Brown was a successful, affluent professional like the unmarried Hollywood stars who show up on the tabloid covers
with a "baby bump." Murphy got along just fine, as Natalie Portman will. The unhappy fact of the matter is that unwed pregnancy is still the surest route to poverty for a young woman who foolishly believes that if Natalie can do it, so can she.

Paul McGrath| 3.4.11 @ 5:49PM

You're never going to get a date with her Goldstein, whatever you say. Stop dreaming.

greenfairie| 3.4.11 @ 6:01PM

I'm troubled that social conservativism or any kind of discussion about values and how they affect society has suddenly become taboo among conservatives. I don't think what was said was untrue or unreasonable. That we're praising an actress as "exemplary" simply because she is engaged and pregnant (which is not the same thing as being married) shows me just how far we've dropped our standards just so we can show those coastal liberals that we're with it too. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad these glamour gals chose life. But I've also found it very tacky how so many of them treat marriage as just some other publicity blow-out they need to schedule whenever they have time and they have their pre-baby body back. It's not just Miss Portman. Look at Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes waiting a year after their daughter's birth to stage a big, publicity-grabbing wedding. Same deal with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas.

In real life, children of single/co-habitating parents don't get photo spreads or adoring praise from marginal conservatives. They're more likely to be poor and exposed to both physical and sexual abuse. The dumb girls who gush over starlet baby bumps or the Teen Moms gracing mag covers don't know that.

TruthSpeakerTn| 3.4.11 @ 6:20PM

The writer actually states that Portman is engaged. Well, guess that makes pregnancy out of wedlock just great! For crying out loud, are the writers of AT conservatives or what ? The proper order of events should be married & then kids. Engaged or not she is setting a bad example for girls. And oh yes, they do pay attention. Come on AT get with the program. It is morally unacceptable to be pregnant or have a child if you are not married at the time you get pregnant.

Occam's Tool| 3.5.11 @ 2:26PM

That's an interesting point. Are you familiar with the practice of bundling in Colonial New England? The point is that the child be raised in wedlock. They need to get married before the kid is born.

Tina B| 3.4.11 @ 6:56PM

Easy guys,

"Let he who is without, sin cast the first stone. . ."
John 8: 7

Paul McGrath| 3.4.11 @ 7:27PM

I agree with everybody but can we please balance the goddamn budget first?

Michael L. Hauschild| 3.4.11 @ 9:31PM

Thank you, Paul. Thank you.

Lisa| 3.4.11 @ 8:37PM

"Except that Portman never actually made any such statement. And if that weren't enough Portman is actually engaged to be married. Oops!!!"

Uh, Huckabee wasn't claiming that Portman ever said that. He was being rhetorical. Do humanity a favor, and have Mommy look up "rhetorical" for you in the dictionary.

Fisher Ames| 3.7.11 @ 10:13AM

From the OED:

“1. a. Expressed in terms intended to persuade or impress; spec. composed or expressed in extravagant and grandiloquent language, as opposed to being soberly stated or argued. Freq. somewhat depreciative.”

Not sure how that proves your point, but I think we can all agree that Huckabee was speaking extravagantly rather than soberly.

Sue| 3.5.11 @ 9:13AM

Children and teenagers absorb values from the culture. Natalie Portman could chose to be married in a 10 minute ceremony, but has deliberately chose not to. That send s a message. Wealthy elites who become pregnant do not have the same problems and concerns and lack of support systems that the average young woman her age has.

Children born to unmarried mothers have higher rates of drug use, lower levels of academic achievement, higher rates of out of wedlock pregnancy themselves as teenagers. It is not a nice present to the child to start off life in this fashion. Marriage is for the stability of the family, and the culture pays a price with the alternative is flaunted.

Mike| 3.5.11 @ 9:25AM

Mike| 3.5.11 @ 9:11AM

Say what one will about the Reverend Mike Huckabee, we all know that he is appealing to a sizable percentage of people who make up the base of the GOP, he isn't contributing anything to the debate about how to address our deficits and the debt without sending our economy back into recession and he is a commentator, along with Glenn Beck, for Fox (motto: we make stuff up; you decide).

I applaud Mr. Goldstein for calling it like it is.

LestWeForget| 3.5.11 @ 9:33AM

Did we forget about the always lovely Ms. Bristol Palin who was so shameless paraded across the stage with a visibly pregnant belly, then applauded for being so brave and keeping her child?

If anyone is setting an improper role to model for young ladies it's an unwed teenage mother, living at home with her parents who never had a real job and is elevated to celebrity status for......being an unwed teenage mother. Natalie Portman is at least an adult with a successful career and a fiancee. If we're going to vilify her for being pregnant, let us all gather an ample amount of stones.

Mike Rogers| 3.5.11 @ 10:27AM

Bye Bye Huckster!
He's fun on Fox, and not even close to presidential.
Palin would be much better!
(Set cat amongst pigeons and stand back to watch the fun.)

Dan| 3.5.11 @ 12:03PM

The Huck is being typical for his type, --------------------------- pushy, strident, tone-deaf.

But let's not going exonerating Princess Amadala {sp?} here.

We're talking about a woman who about a year ago glorified lesbianism, and said that if she "fell in love" with another woman who was lesbian, she would both open herself mentally to that, as well as open her legs for the carpet muncher to go munching on. Now we could attribute her statements to the typical nonsense that starlets now have to utter just to maintain their place within a Hollywood aristocracy that requires a crushing mental, social and political conformity. She could have just uttered that nonsense because had she done otherwise, had she taken umbrage at the question, she would have never received consideration for a leading role for the rest of her life. There may have been that to it.

BUT she nonetheless glorified lesbianism, {which despite the turn-on factor which I certainly concede as a red-blooded American man} STILL is pathological.

Same sex sexual activity is demonstrably pathological, as all psych textbooks used to note, before political correctness crushed them into getting with the program.

Portman isn't any "exemplary," -------------- she's just some bimbette from Hollywood, who subscribes to all of the typical liberal nonsense. And I've little doubt that within half a decade, she'll be divorced and jumping different cock like the rest of 'em out there. That might seem to some a brutal assessment. But she's in teh industry, and we've all seen how that drama unfolds.

Dan| 3.5.11 @ 12:07PM

And for the record, I didn't like how Palin's daughter was trotted out like the prize bull in some 4H contest.

That was tasteless and tacky.

And as for that little snot that the junior Palin hooked up, ------------------ that guy deserved to be horse-whipped.

We're talking a real piece of work.

The tale of the Palin daughter ought to be used by those parents of daughters as a CAUTIONARY tale, about the importance of CHARACTER, about the value of CAUTION before hooking up.

ole red| 3.5.11 @ 1:31PM

Huckabee is a bush-league, bible thumping, not particularly well-informed man who represents the main reason "conservatives" have trouble gaining the White House. Sarah Palin is another. Both make more intelligent people who despise the furits of liberalism ashamed to call themselves "conservative". Fortunately, Huckabee won't get to first base as a Presidential candidate. Unfortunately, his ilk will interfere with the propsects of conservatives who might.

richard mcenroe | 3.5.11 @ 2:14PM

Huckabee makes Palin look like William F. Buckley, Jr.

richard mcenroe | 3.5.11 @ 2:51PM

To quote a great American: Huck acted stupidly.

http://tinyurl.com/5wu8mg3

WJ| 3.5.11 @ 3:56PM

Portman is a dopey little actress who makes an obscene amount of money pretending to be other people in movies that I will never see. Who cares what she does?

Why did Mr. Goldstein feel compelled to defend her? Why is he wasting space on a non-issue?

bill reynolds| 3.5.11 @ 4:05PM

Aaron Goldstein/Natalie Portman ... regarding your attack on Huckabee ... Your spin is typical of your backgrounds ... "church" affiliations! Actions SPEAK louder than words. Facts are she is single and pregnant ... period. The legal part is just an after thought. I stand corrected ... earlier I meant to say synagogue.

Pecos| 3.5.11 @ 5:56PM

I don't care for Huckabee. I find his show on Fox awful and rarely relevant.
I had never heard of Portman until this controversy but can agree with the Gov. and several of the posters here that marriage comes before children.
The issue of the budget is not that far off the subject as it might seem at first glance.
Couples that wait until after the birth of the first child to marry, frequently do so to take advantage of MediCare. This burden on the taxpayer must be ended.

Dee See| 3.6.11 @ 12:28AM

----Great!

NOW, back to that HUAC meets NUREMBERG
project.

BACK--------------------------

Mimi| 3.6.11 @ 7:42AM

HUCKABEE= He's clergy...knows his stuff and his STUFF is Right! But he miissed something about Portman.
PORTMAN = She's QUEEN fot the DAY , in my book...She's having a child...She's PROLIFE.! Let that example go forth in the "DEN" of Hollywood. may she have a wonderful delivery and GLORY in giving birth to the best GIFT she could give to the WORLD !
HEH..guys knock it off!

Richard Baker| 3.6.11 @ 12:40PM

Saw him on Fox last night playing bass guitar with Def Leppard. Maybe he should consider a career as a session player or something in music because he's sorta all over the map politically. Not sure exactly WHAT he believes but he sho ain't a Conservative.

SirMagpieDeCrow| 3.6.11 @ 1:55PM

I tend to have my doubts on Huckabee's skills as a morality teacher given that his son did this:

"... an anonymous fax that summer alleging that David Huckabee and another youth had been involved in the hanging of a stray dog at the camp on July 11 (1998). A local animal-rights activist, Joyce Hillard, later contacted the camp director. Notes of Hillard's report to the defense fund read, "Boys confessed & were fired. Dir. is making excuses, saying dog was sic & boys were putting him out of his misery." (The director told NEWSWEEK only that a stray dog was "put down" and that the counselors were fired for violating the Scout credo to be "kind.") The father of the other counselor was quoted by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in August 1998 as saying that his son found the dog "hung over a limb and choking." His father told NEWSWEEK that his son did not engage in "intentional torture."

Real Michael Vick type-stuff.

And then there was that pardon that resulted in 4 dead cops... well you all get the picture.

Jim Hlavac | 3.6.11 @ 3:00PM

You ask: "Do we really want the federal government telling pregnant women they have to be married?"

Well, the federal government and a whole lot of other people around here seem to be quite sure and ready to tell folks who can't get pregnant they can't be married based on a moral position held by only about 1/2 the nation now. So there's no logical reason that the federal government can't tell pregnant woman they have to get married for a moral reason. Indeed, it seems the nation is quite insistent that all the gay guys go out and find a woman to marry -- and look, there's scads of them, all gleefully abandoned to some degree by their menfolk. And thankfully pregnant so we don't have to do icky part. Though I often wonder if we all went "ex-gay" tomorrow if we'd be welcomed into the fold after all. Maybe it would be seen as some nefarious new plan by the "homosexual lobby."

And while they're at it, the federal government should tell married people not to get divorced, to really "defend" marriage. For adultery and divorce is morally wrong according to the same source used to deny gay folks relationships a shred of legitimacy.

So I would think that yes, the federal government ought to tell the ladies-expecting to marry the men who did the honors. It's only fair.

tonypal| 3.6.11 @ 3:20PM

This is very simple: every bad week for Huckabee is a good week for conservatives.

mzk1| 3.6.11 @ 4:41PM

He completely lost me with the last sentence.

Yes! I want politicians, and anyone else, telling pregnant women to get married. Not forcing them, but saying they shoul, or even more, that they sohuld have been.

I am disgusted at the, "so-and-so and his "whatever" from Hollywood. Sleeping with someone does not a relationship make. Stop nomalizing this stuff.

SirMagpieDeCrow| 3.6.11 @ 5:35PM

Yes mzk1, we must stop normalizing all sexual acts that inevitably occur when two members of the opposite sex encounter each other for an extended period of time... because that is a goal that is clearly feasible and rational. I think it is just absurd how normal biology is becoming fashionable with the youth! In other relevant news, I will continue to teach my goldfish to breath air. Don't worry folks, he'll figure it out.

Kris Lepine| 3.7.11 @ 9:30AM

I paid attention to gov Huckabee the last time. I don't know him but imagine he is a wonderful person. However, I was not impressed as he seems to speak before thinking things through. And then has to mop up the messes afterward. I see him as thin skinned and immature. Don't run Governor.

MacDaddy| 3.7.11 @ 11:10AM

I am surprised that you all don't recognize Mr. Huckabee's verbal shorthand. He did not mean that Ms. Portman LITERALLY was saying, "Look we are having a baby and I am not married and I am just fine." He was speaking of the unspoken message given by the actions of this actress who is, by default by nature of her celebrity, a role model for many young women. It is the same point that Dan Quayle made about the Murphy Brown program years ago, and it is TRUE. Our American society was founded upon, and would demonstrably function better with, the ideals of a family coming as a result of marriage between a man and woman. This is God's plan for us, the design of the nuclear family. Mr. Huckabee is saying, perhaps not as clearly as he should, that anything that damages or demeans this ideal, damages or demeans the entire country. I for one agree with him. We now live in a country where nearly 50% of the children are born out of wedlock, and the consequences of that are well known: poverty, crime, substance abuse, poor academic performance and the resulting "dependency" on government for the basic needs of life. This should not be taken lightly but is, to the detriment of our country. As the Doobie Brothers once famously stated in an album title, "What were once vices are now habits." The way they become habits is that people shrug their shoulders instead of scolding. I am so sick of the PC stance that we are not to judge. But if we don't have the courage to judge, our society goes toddling off to hell in the handbasket of our own stupid self-gratification, consequences be damned. Thank, Mr. Huckabee for having the courage to say the things that ought to be said.

Casey Abell| 3.7.11 @ 1:05PM

Aaron apparently wants to be the house liberal around here. Okay, seems like an odd ambition, but who am I to argue?

Still, I'd find a better issue than defending an actress who got pregnant before she bothered to get married. This won't fly too well with most of the Spectator readership (wink).

Maybe if (or when) Natalie's been married happily for fifteen or twenty years to the kid's father, we can revisit this.

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