Mike Huckabee picks an unnecessary fight with Glenn...loses badly

 Earlier this week, Glenn said that he was not excited about the possibility of a Mike Huckabee presidency and said that he felt that politically, Huckabee was a progressive. Mike Huckabee did not take kindly to the comments, and responded to Glenn on Huckabee’s website. Glenn addressed those comments on radio this morning, and explained why he said what he said.

Glenn explained that during a discussion of Trump and possible GOP candidates, “I brought up Mike Huckabee, a guy I believe is probably going to be the early favorite for the Republican nominee.”

“I shared this because that’s what I do.  I share my thoughts on politics.  That’s kind of in my job description.”

“First of all, I said that I don’t have a problem with Mike Huckabee as a person.  I don’t know him all that well personally.  I have met him once or twice.  We’ve had a couple of conversations, maybe one long conversation, and that one was on air.  You witnessed it.  I spent an hour with him.  He seems like a decent guy, a sincere guy. I have many friends who have friends of his. He is a spiritual guy.”

“I also happen to think that he is a big government guy.  He’s a progressive.  And I’ve been telling you for how long now, three years, there are progressives in both parties.”

“Well, Mike Huckabee obviously didn’t take kindly to that critique, to say the least.  He sent me late one night, I think it was maybe Tuesday night, a nasty e-mail saying in part that I should have come to him and not talked about these things publicly.  The problem is I have a publicly broadcast national radio show and I don’t really do a show for a private audience of one on a telephone.”

“But as I said, I don’t have anything against Mike Huckabee. I just don’t want him to be our next President, although I did point out on Tuesday, he is absolutely, positively no Barack Obama. Very few are.”

When Glenn went to respond to Huckabee’s email and invite him on the show to talk about the issues, he saw that Huckabee had posted comments to his website and broadcast his anger out to the AP and his nationally broadcast ABC radio show.

First, a primer if you don’t know this story:
1.  Gov. Huckabee supports federal intervention in local issues like school lunch nutrition.
2. Glenn calls out the Governor for being a big government progressive.
3. The Gov. responds publicly to glenn with righteous indignation and great manufactured outrage.

Ok, so now let’s look at one simple aspect of this story: whether or not the Governor is being honest.  Here is the fact pattern:

Michelle Obama is heading up an effort to combat childhood obesity.  One of the first major initiatives of this campaign was the “Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010.” Here is whatHuckabee said about it at the time: “By passing a bill that addresses the nutritional quality of school lunches, an important step is being taken to give children choices that will make them healthier and more productive.”

Ok, great, so he likes the law…but what does that law actually do?  Well, according to USA Today: “it gives the USDA the authority to set nutritional standards for all foods regularly sold in schools during the school day, including vending machines…”

To translate, the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT will have DIRECT CONTROL over whether or not certain foods–say a Milky Way bar–can be put into a vending machine at a public school.

With me so far?

Ok, so now for the big reveal…the Huckabee Lie.  In his public statement attacking Glenn, here’s what he claims:

“I’m no fan of [Michelle Obama's] husband’s policies for sure, but I have appreciated her efforts that Beck misrepresented—either out of ignorance or out of a deliberate attempt to distort them to create yet another ‘boogey man’ hiding in the closet that he and only he can see. The First Lady’s approach is about personal responsibility—not the government literally taking candy from a baby’s mouth.”

Actually, Governor, no. I know you‘re so immune to political spin that you probably don’t even recognize it anymore, but THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT THIS ACT THAT YOU SUPPORT DOES.

If you want to be mad that Glenn called you out for being something that you are, fine…snap back at him that you guys see the world differently and you think this is an instance where the federal government can help.  But pretending that this effort by the government is only about “personal responsibility” is absolutely insulting and proves exactly what you are (in addition to a progressive): a typical politician.