Monday, December 22, 2014

Conservative dismisses Huckabee as presidential contender

Posted By Max Brantley on Mon, Dec 22, 2014 at 5:01 AM

Mike Huckabee is making a serious exploration of a presidential bid — all the while keeping his Fox News checks flowing — but here's one conservative writer at the National Review who thinks he's not a serious contender.

Peter Spillakos thinks Huckabee has talent, a base and a personality that seems (seems) to be attractive to a broader spectrum of voters. But ….

But it turns out that Huckabee isn’t all that serious about running a presidential campaign. His speech to this year’s CPAC was a series of conservative Christian identity politics gestures. He is still in favor of the politically suicidal FairTax.

Well, the FairTax is suicidal for a presidential candidate. It is just fine for a political entertainer. Huckabee just seems to occasionally hint that he is running for president as a way of refreshing his entertainment industry brand. It is reasonable (and maybe even admirable) that he is reticent to run for president. But normal people have a limited appetite for politics and for disappointment. Huckabee’s cynical flirting with the presidential campaign is toying with the emotions of real people who are being badly served by our politics.

The Huckster in it just for the bucks? What a cynical thing to say.

Tags: Mike Huckabee, president 2016

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