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The Spectacle Blog
So the idea is an old one.
If one has a rep as Not Rush, or worse, as a Moderate Not Rush, try to be More Conservative Than Rush.
Governor Mike Huckabee, whose much ballyhooed moderate talk radio show challenge to Rush Limbaugh was widely presented as the “safe, non-dangerous alternative” to Rush, has apparently had some ratings trouble. Or, as we have noted, his success would be promoted everywhere. This ratings problem, one suspects, is something along the lines of the same way the Titanic had an ice problem.
So… if the moderate, safe approach to Rush isn’t working — and as noted in the link above there has been radio silence about the Huck’s ratings — bailing faster while steering away from the iceberg might appear as an alternative. To wit: Suddenly become “non-safe” and “dangerous.”
In this case, Huckabee has abruptly changed course to stake all by identifying with Chick-fil-A. The Chick-fil-A folks have run afoul of the same-sex marriage supporters.
The Huck has suddenly jumped into the fray. Calling for everybody to eat at Chick-fil-A on August 1. And what happened in response?
Yesssirrrreee. The Governor has found out just how faithful his liberal fans are when he’s under fire. Here’s a take down from the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank
What is…ahhhh…curious here?
What is at issue in the Chick-fil-A dust up? Right — gays. The company is being pictured as hostile to gays because of its stance on gay marriage. So The Huck noisily jumps in to defend them.
But wait!
What about that New York Times Magazine interview with the Huck and Timsester Andrew Goldman that we cited in our July 12th piece that is linked above?
While we focused on the section of the interview that was relevant to the Huckabee challenge to Rush, there was something else said in that interview that looks mighty curious in light of the sudden Huckabee defense of Chick-fil-A. Here it is, from the transcript, word for word:
Goldman: During the Republican primary debates, audience members booed a question from an active serviceman who was gay and shouted, “Let him die,” about a hypothetical gravely ill patient without insurance. Is this different from the party that you know and love?
Huckabee: Very much. It’s one of the reasons that I did not think this was a good time to run. The atmosphere was so toxic that it would not be an atmosphere in which I would breathe well. There is almost a hyperorthodoxy that is gripping the party that you have to go out and prove that you can be tougher, meaner, more hard-line than anybody else on the stage. It may lead to effective campaigning if the goal is to be the most ideological puritan on the platform, but the ultimate goal is more of what I’d call a true Reagan model. Not the Reagan model that has been invoked — but Ronald Reagan who understood that governing is an art.
Catch it?
Reporter Goldman paints a picture of the Republican Party as viciously anti-gay. The predictable left-wing portrait of a group of gay-baiting thugs. Precisely the image that is now being painted of Chick-fil-A by its left-wing opponents.
And what was The Huck’s response? Did he rebuke the reporter? Was there a staunch defense of the GOP as not anti-gay but simply principled on the marriage issue? Did he defend the GOP and conservatives as he is suddenly, loudly and on-air defending Chick-fil-A?
Ah…um…no. Nope. Nada. Not a word.
Instead The Huck couldn’t agree fast enough to the question of whether the GOP’s stance on same-sex marriage made the GOP “different from the party that you know and love?” Again, he said:
Very much. It’s one of the reasons that I did not think this was a good time to run. The atmosphere was so toxic that it would not be an atmosphere in which I would breathe well. There is almost a hyperorthodoxy that is gripping the party that you have to go out and prove that you can be tougher, meaner, more hard-line than anybody else on the stage.
So.
The GOP — for opposing same-sex marriage — has a “toxic” atmosphere. It is in the grip of a “hyperorthodoxy.” It takes the stance it does to prove it can be “tougher, meaner, more hard-line.”
But Chick-fil-A, for taking the exact same view as the GOP, is now worthy of an all-out radio-noisy demand for support?
What is this?
Yes yes yes. It’s the old double-standard, sure.
But you know what I think?
I think the water is rapidly rising in the good talk radio ship of the moderate Mike Huckabee.
And what this whole loud defense of Chick-fil-A is really all about is a way, in the Huck mindset, to try and boost his ratings with conservatives in his challenge to Rush.
He wouldn’t defend the GOP it when it would offend the Times. But, the water rising on his radio show, he’ll do it now for Chick-fil-A.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a small case study of just how moderate Republicanism works.
And why millions of Americans listen to Rush Limbaugh — and not Mike Huckabee.
Enough said.
View all comments (11) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Jeffrey Lord
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/07/25/huckabees-radio-ratings-gambit
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RCV| 7.25.12 @ 12:41PM
You know, Mr. Lord, Rush is capable of running his own business. He doesn't need you to fill the pages of TAS with your advertising for him. Give everybody a break.
Jeff| 7.25.12 @ 2:45PM
RCV....
You're a liberal. You don't like to hear about Rush. Alas for you, some 20 million Americans a week do. Therefore, the moderate challenge to the conservative Rush is always newsworthy to conservatives.
And while this is not on the same thread, seeeing that you jumped in on the Huma sory...I fail to see that the sam standards applied to me when I as in the White House in serms of security clearnances shouldn't be applied to Huma Abedin.
While Alger Hiss may have been the first Cold War American to infiltrate the US government, he wasn't the last. This went on for decades with all manner of Americans doing this. The idea that Members of Congress cannot raise normal questions about this when they are routinely asked of others is absurd. No one is accusing her of anything. But asking if she was submitting to the same standards as everyone else - and exploring her role in a Department that ha changed American policy - is completely normal. Unless, of course, she gets a special privilege the rest of us do not have.
DRed| 7.25.12 @ 3:01PM
Is Jeff Lord the next Msgr. William J. Lynn? I'm not saying Jeff Lord is an enabler of pedophiles. . .but he has written numerous articles defending the Catholic Church. . .this behavior in the church has gone on for decades with all manner of Americans doing this. . .why hasn't Jeff Lord publicly denounced pedophilia. . .I'm not accusing Jeff of anything, I'm just asking questions.
Vasu Murti | 7.25.12 @ 12:44PM
Attacking others for being gay is wrong, period!
My friend John Antypas, a moderate Republican, said when we were roommates in college in the spring of 1985 that his father was worried he might be gay because he was 21 and there weren't any women in his life.
(John got his first girlfriend at 22.)
A few years later, John, half-Jewish, took a class in Modern Jewish Thought at UC Riverside, where John related that the professor insinuated Jesus might have been gay, because he wasn't married at age 13, as was the custom in first century Judaism.
I've wondered if John's lack of opportunity with the opposite sex contributed to his cynicism. As my friend Greg commented about John in the spring of 1985, "That guy seems to have a chip against the whole world."
Taking it out on Jesus really isn't a solution, but it should cause conservative Christians to think: if it's hurtful and wrong to insinuate that Jesus might have been gay, then perhaps it's hurtful and wrong to attack anyone for being gay.
The Bible condemns fornication as well as homosexuality. Will conservative Christians attack fornicators, too?
lsudolemite| 7.25.12 @ 12:51PM
Remind me how Chick-Fil-A "attacked" gays again? Last I checked they eat chicken sandwiches, too.
Derek Leaberry| 7.25.12 @ 5:00PM
They prefer tapas, finger food, foie gras, and other small plates with wine pairings. Chick-Fil-A appeals to therural rednecks they so heartily despise.
Tom Kyba| 7.25.12 @ 2:21PM
Give it a rest RCV. The underlying idea you are pushing, that this site is Rush Rush all the time doesn't pass muster. Like any other business, TAS isn't going to spend all day promoting a competitor, but respect for another conservative pundit now and again does not mean they are his personal cheerleaders.
Derek Leaberry| 7.25.12 @ 2:22PM
I don't like Huckabee. Like a lot of Republicans, he yaps about supporting "small government" yet spent like a liberal when governor. When the money's flush, Republicans spend without compunction, no different than the Democrats. As governor, he kowtowed to Walmart, the Tysons and La Raza and expressed joy over a majority-Third World USA at a La Raza conference. Also, I don't trust Southerners who speak in Yankee accents. He's more Indiana than Arkansas.
As for his current career, Huck is a bore like most radio talk hosts, Hannity and Limbaugh included. It is hard to be interesting when you know so little and are afraid of offending Democratic demographic groups. But at least Huckabee looks like he might take on social issues, unlike Hannity, Limbaugh and Levin who cowardly avoid social issues like the plague. So perhaps ole' Huck might find himself a niche after all.
mike 3/505| 7.25.12 @ 3:08PM
"But at least Huckabee looks like he might take on social issues, unlike Hannity, Limbaugh and Levin who cowardly avoid social issues like the plague."
It appears that the current brouhaha notwithstanding, you have it exactly backwards when it comes to your analysis of Hannity, Limbaugh & Levin vs Huckabee...which was kinda the whole point of the article.
Derek Leaberry| 7.25.12 @ 3:41PM
When do Limbaugh, Hannity or Levin talk social issues? They all fear to tread on social issues when I listen. And I usually listen to Levin the whole ride home. That said, Huckabee will likely fail. He's about as interesting as watching a janitor sweep a broom.
Ventura Capitalist| 7.26.12 @ 11:55AM
Chick-fil-A
For lunch today