And Here, I Thought That Mike Huckabee Was a Nice Guy

Photo from 4president.us

Well, aside from his anti-gay views, and anti-anybody but his brand of religion, he comes off as genial and thoughtful. He even seems to have a great sense of humor, and often directs that humor at himself. That's what worried me about his candidacy so many months ago: he sounded reasonable while being utterly wrong. To my way of thinking, of course.

But in general, I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy, in his own way. Then, in an ill-advised channel stop on channel 21--FOX "News"--I landed on Huckabee. I've previously seen this show a couple of times, and have commented here that it was "part politics, part folksy discussion, part Hee-Haw." But tonight's show, at the very opening, promised mean spiritedness.
What would make me say that? Well, first that a mention of Al Franken--soon-to-be Senator--was accompanied by a PhotoShopped picture that was in extremely poor taste. The picture (which I'll only display "below the fold" after the word CONTINUED at the bottom of this post) shows Franken in an adult diaper and bunny ears, holding a stuffed animal. It's a good edit job, but an extremely puzzling one. Everyone knows that it is Republicans that are closet plushie/furry/adult baby fetishists. And as far as I know, Franken has never even been rumored to have some sort of debauched, kinky sex life. Also, while Franken may have been buff back in the 70s, there's no way he's got legs that good today!

Anyway, in addition to using a bogus photo without explaining it, Huckabee immediately followed that "teaser" with one for his guest for tonight: Ann Coulter. He did not disparage her, and in fact played her up. Now, I'll be honest and say that my brother called during her appearance, and I heard nothing she said. But all she ever says is hateful. By extension, Mike Huckabee is not a nice guy. I'll gladly update this post once video is available, upon my return from dinner.

UPDATE: Well, I tried to find some video of Mike Huckabee's interview with Ann Coulter, but was unsuccessful. I'm pretty sure I'm still right, that she wasn't any nicer than usual, though I'm sure that Huckabee came off as genial as ever, and that he managed to temper Coulter's fire-breathing a bit. Still, the picture after CONTINUED remains, and while it's possible that some time during the show he acknowledged its fraudulence, I seriously doubt it. If you have something to refute what I've said here, feel free to respond in the comments section.