The Other Nurse Mike*

David Weigel | August 29, 2007

Andrew Breitbart has the video of Mike Huckabee endorsing a national ban on all indoor smoking. It's classic Huck: He adopts all the right nannyish frames (likening smoking to pouring toxic gas into a room), slings a demogogic one-liner ("cigarettes are the only product that, if used correctly, will kill you") and slaps himself on the back for his political courage.

Phil Klein comments:

Even Hillary Clinton (despite the misleading headline in this story) was savvy enough to say that though she supports smoking bans, she doesn't believe in a nationwide ban imposed by the federal government. As if his tax hikes and atrocious spending record as governor weren't already enough, here we have another issue that demonstrates Huckabee is big government conservative of the worst sort.

It's not really hard to imagine a Vice President Huckabee, left with lots of idle time by President Giuliani or Romney, taking this cause up. Like Al Gore did with "reforming government" or Dick Cheney did with "thinking of ways to kill you."

*The original "Nurse Mike" being Mike Bloomberg.

Comments

Episiarch|8.29.07 @ 11:11AM|#

Well, he lost my vote that he never even had.

I wonder if, when he was a fatty, he objected in any way to proposals to ban the foods he liked to stuff in his gaping maw?

D. Greene|8.29.07 @ 11:15AM|#

Huckabees? More like FUCKABEES!

highnumber|8.29.07 @ 11:17AM|#

Like [...] Dick Cheney did with "thinking of ways to kill you."

Good show, Mr Weigel. Very good show.

SxCx|8.29.07 @ 12:08PM|#

"Two Day Forum For Candidates To Explain Plan To Defeat Cancer"

Russell|8.29.07 @ 12:26PM|#

With Hizzoner & Huckabee running for First Nanny, the Second Hand Cheney party deserves a place in the smoking section of Tammany Hall.

|8.29.07 @ 12:28PM|#

"Two Day Forum For Candidates To Explain Plan To Defeat Cancer"

Hosted by Lance Armstrong. Gee, Lance, you think you got cancer because you used steroids? Naw....its the chemicals in our food!

|8.29.07 @ 12:28PM|#

*smacks head* preview!! Damn tags.

Rhywun|8.29.07 @ 12:58PM|#

Mmmm... Fuddruckers...

Brian Sorgatz|8.29.07 @ 1:19PM|#

How long will Nurse Ratched be America's Darth Sidious, secretly setting the whole agenda?

|8.29.07 @ 3:11PM|#

It's not really hard to imagine a Vice President Huckabee

Never before has that position's name sung more true.

|8.29.07 @ 3:34PM|#

cigarettes are the only product that, if used correctly, will kill you.

What about hemlock? It's not the toxicity that ticks politicians off. It's that not everyone agrees with the politician's determination of acceptable risk levels.

|8.30.07 @ 10:36AM|#

"cigarettes are the only product that, if used correctly, will kill you"

Hmm. I smoked one last night and I'm still alive. Does that mean I wasn't using it properly?