Another note on the upside-down nature of Mike Huckabee’s candidacy. The liberal Hendrik Hertzberg of the New Yorker has a lead Talk of the Town piece coming that will speak favorably of the former Arkansas governor. That will tie neatly into the disfavor with which Huckabee is being received in some ultra-conservative circles, such as Jonah Goldberg in today’s NY Post. Goldberg finds him scarier than Ron Paul for his economic populism.
Indeed, Huckabee represents the latest attempt to make conservatism more popular. Contrary to the conventional belief that Republicans need to drop their opposition to abortion, gay marriage and the like in order to be popular, Huckabee understands that the unpopular stuff is the economic libertarianism: free trade and smaller government. That’s why we’re seeing a rise in economic populism on the right married to a culturally conservative populism. Huckabee is the bastard child of Lou Dobbs and Pat Robertson.
As I”ve said before, Huckabee is, in many ways, a better Democratic candidate than Republican, particularly in Southern states.