Puff, Puff, Give In

I've always found Mike Huckabee's anti-obesity for-your-health crusade sort of endearing, mostly because I don't think he'll be president and because it reminds me of everyone 's favorite musical fatty Brian Wilson. He really believes in this stuff: Huckabee even supports a national smoking ban and says he'd sign one into law!

That's clear enough, isn't it?

In its statement to The Hill, the campaign stated, "At a Lance Armstrong cancer forum last August, Governor Huckabee said that if Congress presented him with legislation banning smoking in public places, he would sign it, because he would not oppose the overwhelming public support that such a congressional vote would reflect. However, since such sentiment for federal legislation doesn't exist at this time, and since he has said that the responsibility for regulating smoking initially lies with the states, the governor believes that this issue is best addressed at the local and state levels."

Obviously, that's not what Huckabee said. He wanted the executive to take the lead on this. He's flipped on the issue because it was hurting him with conservatives. I'm curious to see how much of this stuff Huckabee "evolves" as his profile grows. Even if he loses the nomination he's going to be the most prominent political evangelical in America, and he's sorting out which of his gooier policy stances he can keep and which he can't if he wants to keep that role. (Being anti-smoking is perfectly popular with evangelicals, but being for the state telling businesses what to do is different.)

Kerry Howley wrote the definitive profile of Huckabee and his heath nut heart for Politics—it's available here.

(Hat tip: Sommer Mathis.)

UPDATE: Cleaner explanation: He's trying to win tobacco-happy South Carolina.

Comments

[P Brooks]

the overwhelming public support that such a congressional vote would reflect.

Error! Error! Analyyyyyze!

[Lamar]

“the responsibility for regulating smoking initially lies with the states,”

It sounds like a states rights argument, but it smells more like a threat.

[P Brooks]

which of his gooier policy stances

Ummm, Dave? It works both ways, but is “gooier” by any chance missing an ef?

[Dave Weigel]

No, I mean the stances that are “gooey.”

[Episiarch]

which of his gooier policy stances

Would these be the “stances” he shares with Larry Craig?

[Pig Mannix]

If you think his position on smoking is nuts, wait until you see this…

[P Brooks]

Gooey works quite nicely, also.
thanx

[sage]

Hopefully enough smokers can wheeze their way to the polls on super tuesday to send this theocrat nanny state tax loving Jared-wannabe home.

[Bingo]

Does Huckabee have much traction outside of Evangelical circles? He’s obviously very popular with them, but I don’t think he draws many non-evangelicals. It seems to me that he is setting himself up as the evangelical voting bloc leader.

[Reinmoose]

If you think his position on smoking is nuts, wait until you see this…

*vomits*

[dhex]

dude it’s totally easy to change the word of god.

step 1: have a revelation

“god wants me to do this thing that i wanted to do in the first place and ps you all have to come along.”

step 2: nail your followers teenage daughters (or sons if you’re into that, or wives if they’ve got it going on)

“it’s what the lord would want you to do.”

step 3: get killed in a totally awesome way and become a martyr

“it’s what dhex would have wanted!”

step 4: victoly!

[kinnath]

Does Huckabee have much traction outside of Evangelical circles?

The exit polls yesterday showed Romney getting more votes from the evangicals that Huckabee.

[Rick H.]

Huckabee and his heath nut heart

It’s both gooier and more nougaty.

[Brett]

If you think his position on smoking is nuts, wait until you see this…

Can’t believe he was dumb enough to say that. Hopefully he gets hell for it. Just wow.

[smartass sob]

If you think his position on smoking is nuts, wait until you see this…

If Huckafuck gets elected, you’ll long for the days when Bush was president as the “good ol’ days! Amend the Constitution to bring it into line with the word of the “living God”? Yeah? As interpreted by whom? And which “living God” might that be? Huckabee makes me feel the same way I felt once when I accidentally stepped on a slug in the dark, barefoot. That man makes my flesh crawl.

[Matthew]

I’m curious to see how much of this stuff Huckabee “evolves” as his profile grows.

Um… Huckabee doesn’t evolve. Evolution is nonsense. His positions were predetermined by God, and planted in his head shortly after puberty.

[J sub D]

If you think his position on smoking is nuts, wait until you see this…

“[Some of my opponents] do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it’s a lot easier to change the constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that’s what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards,” Huckabee said, referring to the need for a constitutional human life amendment and an amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

Yeah, I’d vote for Hillary if this ignorant, hillbilly, yahoo, preacher got the GOP nomination. I’d campaign for her.

[Tom Walls]

In a discussion about “push polling” on NPR this morning Hucklebuck said that any ads mentioning a a candidate’s name should be outlawed.

Is McCain even that insane?

[J sub D]

In case y’all don’t know, I despise Hillary Clinton with every fiber of my being. Still …

[The Democratic Republican]

I don’t pay much attention to the Huckster, but surely he doesn’t conflate his anti-obesity campaign with his anti-smoking campaign, given that nicotine is an appetite suppresant….

[Pig Mannix]

@J sub D

Yeah, I’d vote for Hillary if this ignorant, hillbilly, yahoo, preacher got the GOP nomination. I’d campaign for her.

Hilary, nothing – if that’s what I’m contending with, even Nader looks good…

@Brett

If you think it looks bad in print, the video is downright terrifying. Follow the linky, and look under the story…

[brotherben]

Mrs. brotherben has been listening in at her work in a local florist to owners, workers and customers. They tend to be middle and upper class caucasian church goers. This is what she is hearing:
1)Obama is a muslim
2)Hillary is the devil in a dress
3)Romney is a MORMON
4)Rudy is a adulterous CATHOLIC

5)Bother Huckabee is a God fearing christian. He is so obviously chosen of God to be the next potus. He will singlehandedly make this country get back in line with the will of the one true God. He is to be followed without question.

This is not snark at all. I am dead serious.
south Alabama in case you don’t know.

[brotherben]

should be bRother huckabee above

[P Brooks]

Hucklebuck said that any ads mentioning a a candidate’s name should be outlawed.

Git thee to thy place of polling, Brother, and trust GOD to fill out thy ballot!

[military libertarian]

I am in the Navy, stationed in Norfolk, Virginia … My wife works at a local church in day-care, and the women she works with fit the profile mentioned by brotherben above. My wife reports the same line of nonsense coming from the mouths of her fellow day-care workers … in their mind, Huck can do no wrong, and has been foreordained as the next POTUS according to God’s will. Scary stuff …

[Pig Mannix]

should be bRother huckabee above

I think you had it right the first time…

[J sub D]

A short note to the Republican Party,

Sirs and Madams,

I know you have resigned to the Democrat’s getting the African American vote. Youu’ll get single digits of that whoever you nominate. This is just to warn you that if that ignorant, hillbilly, yahoo preacher gets the nomination, the larger demographic of secular humanists, agnostics and atheists will also give you single digit support. I guarantee it.

BTW, we have more money than the African American community. A lot more. Consider this a shot across the bow.

[brotherben]

IT’S HOPELESS. GOD IS ON HIS SIDE!

[R C Dean]

step 4: victoly!

After that, I was waiting for a Kim Jong Il punchline.

[Lamar]

Huckabee’s theme song:

God’s gonna get ‘cha for that
God’s gonna get ‘cha for that
There’s no place to run and hide
For He knows where you’re at

It’s even better hearing George Jones and Tammy Wynette sing it.

[Brandybuck]

A lot of evangelicals on the right would rather thump their Bibles than actually read them. Jesus soundly condemned the Pharisees and Huckabees of his day.

Huckabee: The Pharisee Candidate.

[crimethink]

brotherben,

On the bright side, maybe if Huckabee doesn’t win, they’ll try seceding again (no offense).

[economist]

Don’t be so cruel to poor Huck! Maybe his parents dropped him on his head as a child.

[LarryA]

and that’s what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards,

Jesus Christ with a SWAT team. “Behold, I stand at the door with a no-knock warrant.”

“Christian government” has been around since Constantine converted in 300 AD. Over the past 1700 years it’s the only form of government that has been tried more often, in greater variety, with disasterous results, than communism and socialism combined.

And I say that as a life-long Christian.

[JohnL]

Please don’t compare The Huckster to Brian Wilson. Brian’s no longer fat, he’s keeping his psychoses under control and, as every fan of melodic pop music knows, Brian Wilson IS god.

[Cactus Jack]

Brian Wilson is my favorite.