Honor, Duty, Country: Huckabee

David Weigel | September 7, 2007

Speaking of lightweight-but-likeable presidential candidates, Justin Raimondo takes another whack at Mike Huckabee over the former governor's tiff with Ron Paul. The conventional wisdom is that Huckabee won the exchange: Pollster Frank Luntz said Huckabee sounded principled. Here's what we're talking about:

Here's Raimondo, taking special exception to Huckabee's "you break it you buy it" metaphor.

I'm sure the Iraqi people would be very interested to learn that they have been bought: does that mean they'll all get green cards and engraved invitations to emigrate once we leave?
...
Notice that there are few, if any, facts... Just a cute little anecdote about him and his mom, and, furthermore, one that we have heard before, which simulates the warm fuzziness of folksy wisdom and yet has no real content. A personal anecdote and a rather odd analogy – comparing a country of 30 million living persons, with a history that predates the dawn of civilization, to an item sitting on a shelf in a store, an object to be examined, priced, bought, and sold, says more about the wrongness of this war of conquest, and more eloquently, than any of its critics have so far managed. Honor – is there any honor in this war? Most Americans think the cost of this conflict isn't worth it – that it was a mistake to go in, and it's a mistake to stay in. That's what Ron Paul believes, too, but not the Huckster, who appeals to the heart, not the head, and who's selling the "surge" and the war aims of this administration with an emotional demagoguery that belies his mild persona.

I see what Raimondo's getting at, but it's useless. Huckabee is the Colbert Nation candidate: He thinks with the brain in his gut.