Careful With That ‘We Like the Simple Life’ Routine, Governor Huckabee
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Morning Jolt January 29, 2015 Careful With That 'We Like the Simple Life' Routine, Governor Huckabee Our Charlie Cooke is getting tired of Mike Huckabee's homespun schtick: Huckabee is essentially attempting to become to the Right what the likes of Neil deGrasse Tyson have become to the Left: namely, a proxy figure who can be used as shorthand by the lazy and the lost to signify their allegiance to a set of cherished cultural values. "We like the simple life," Huckabee announces in his book. "Status is a Ford 150 truck; luxury is crawfish étouffée and slaw on your pulled-pork sandwich; and privilege is front-row seats at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert." And unlike those "misfortunate" souls in "Manhattan, the Washington Beltway, or in Beverly Hills," we know the joy that one can get from wading "in chest-deep water to hunt mallards." Insofar as it goes, there is nothing wrong with this. Indeed, I like many of these things too. But the self-conscious spinning of local tradition into a national political aesthetic is invariably irritating, and, typically, electorally counterproductive. There are many wonderful things about the world Huckabee is attempting to represent. But surely, just surely, it is possible for a southerner to run for high office without dressing up as Forrest Gump? A quick point about that line, "Status is a Ford 150 truck; luxury is crawfish étouffée and slaw on your pulled-pork sandwich . . . " Governor, I think you have to be a little careful about suggesting that you're all about the "simple life" with a more humble definition of luxury than all those coastal elites. For starters, your three-story beachfront house in Florida -- with 8,224 square feet of living space, and 2,969 square feet of porch and deck space -- is worth $2.8 million. It's a nice house, with a built-in radio studio. And he's flown quite a bit on private planes in recent years. Huckabee had a $500,000 per year contract with Fox News. His speaking fee is listed at $50,000 and above.
And then there's all the money that's gone to his PAC… Over the last six years, the Fox News host's political action committee, which was created to raise money for GOP candidates, has paid nearly $400,000 to members of Huckabee's extended family, while spending just a fraction of its multimillion-dollar fundraising haul on the Republican contenders . . . Since its inception, Huck PAC has never spent more than 12 percent of its funds on candidates or other PACs. It gave only 5 percent of its revenues—that is $47,000 of $1,063,142—to candidates during the 2012 cycle. He's welcome to enjoy all that; to contradict our president, he built that. But I'm not so sure that fits most people's definition of "the simple life."
Why Jay-Z Has a Good Reason to Be Mad at Mike Huckabee While we're picking on Mike Huckabee, a quick point about this section of his book: My reaction: Why? Beyoncé is incredibly talented -- gifted, in fact. She has an exceptional set of pipes and can actually sing. She is a terrific dancer -- without the explicit moves best left for the privacy of her bedroom. Jay-Z is a very shrewd businessman, but I wonder: Does it occur to him that he is arguably crossing the line from husband to pimp by exploiting his wife as a sex object? Would anyone dispute that the above statement, suggesting Jay-Z is Beyoncé's "pimp", implies Beyoncé is a whore, or dresses like a whore? As noted on the pop-culture podcast . . . gentlemen, if another guy came up to you and called your wife a whore . . . wouldn't you knock his teeth out? Ladies, if a man called you a whore and said your husband was your pimp, would you or would your husband knock the guy's teeth out first? I'm not endorsing bare-knuckle dental work on those who call married women whores, per se . . . I'm just saying I can understand. Separately, I'm sure this is the sort of statement that plays terrifically among the 120,000 or so Republicans who participate in the Iowa caucuses. It also plays terribly among the millions of Beyoncé fans out there. There's a really legitimate discussion to be had about sexually-explicit images and behavior in pop culture, particularly about whether these images, intended for adults, are permeating the culture of America's pre-teens and adolescents. But suggesting that Jay-Z is pimping out his wife -- as if Beyoncé wears anything she doesn't want to wear! -- is precisely the wrong way to have that conversation. Now, in Huckabee's defense . . . here's her with her backup dancers at the Video Music Awards last year. No, I'm not putting that photo in the e-mail, you'll have to click-through. Hillary Clinton May Launch Message-Free Campaign Later than Expected Over in Politico, Mike Allen reports: Hillary Clinton, expecting no major challenge for the Democratic nomination, is strongly considering delaying the formal launch of her presidential campaign until July, three months later than originally planned, top Democrats tell POLITICO. The delay from the original April target will give her more time to develop her message, policy and organization, without the chaos and spotlight of a public campaign. It's the end of January 2015. She's been out of public office since 2013. The book tour was a year ago. She's been in the public eye since 1992. If she doesn't have a message yet, how likely is it that there's a better message coming? It's not like she hasn't been thinking about running for president for a long, long time. Her unspoken message is, "It's my turn." And that's a pretty bad one. Even David Axelrod feels compelled to point out that "Ready for Hillary" doesn't really mean anything. What he could have added is that "Ready for Hillary" is about her, not about the people she wants to vote for her. And in a time of real problems and real crises threatening American lives and tearing at the national fabric, rectifying the mistake of the Democratic primary voters in 2008 just isn't a real priority. ADDENDA: I'm scheduled to appear on the panel of Greta Van Susteren's On the Record tonight. Peyton's Head envisions what happens when the least-talkative NFL star gets a chance to say one of the iconic victory lines: "Marshawn Lynch, you just won the Super Bowl. What are you going to do now?" "I'm going to Disney World. Just so I don't get fined."
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