Huckabee missed the NIE brouhaha
posted at 7:59 am on December 5, 2007 by Bryan
Share on Facebook | regular view
For a candidate who may have already stepped on a landmine called Gitmo, this isn’t going to help.
Kuhn: I don’t know to what extent you have been briefed or been able to take a look at the NIE report that came out yesterday …
Huckabee: I’m sorry?
Kuhn: The NIE report, the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran. Have you been briefed or been able to take a look at it —
Huckabee: No.
Kuhn: Have you heard of the finding?
Huckabee: No.
Read the rest. This isn’t a “who is the president of Uzbekistan” kind of gotcha question. It’s not even a Sunni/Shia level gotcha. The NIE has dominated a couple of news cycles in a row now. Yet Huckabee hadn’t heard about it. And once it was explained to him, Huckabee didn’t seem to completely grasp its significance.
I heard yesterday from someone who was until recently in close contact with the Huckabee campaign, who stressed that Huckabee’s Guantanamo answer might be evidence that he needs campaign advisers. He doesn’t have any, really, and is mostly campaigning by instinct. After this, I’d recommend he hire a few advisers, step away from the campaign for a few minutes each day, and take in the day’s events.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages:
Good lord!
This dolt must exist in some parallel universe.
rplat on December 5, 2007 at 8:02 AM
w00psy
trailortrash on December 5, 2007 at 8:03 AM
Oh, but it’s cool, he and God are, like, tight, yo.
Mark V. on December 5, 2007 at 8:06 AM
It’s not like it’s important or anything.
TheBigOldDog on December 5, 2007 at 8:15 AM
Who’s Huckabee?
Limerick on December 5, 2007 at 8:16 AM
I’ve heard the name… I think he’s running for Pope.
Lehosh on December 5, 2007 at 8:21 AM
Huckabee’s foreign policy interests extend only to open borders with Mexico.
Valiant on December 5, 2007 at 8:34 AM
Thank you, Huck, for your honest candor.
maverick muse on December 5, 2007 at 8:51 AM
The ONE Republican candidate with absolutely no chance to beat Hillary in the general. For goodness sakes, why do you think the MSM are playing the guy up? Do you notice that 99% of the negative things being brought up about the Huckster are from conservatives? This guy is the surest way to give the White House back to the Clintonistas.
Sugar Land on December 5, 2007 at 8:59 AM
You know, Bryan, this is where everybody plays gotcha. What is the governor supposed to do? He is dealing with a serious problem.
saint kansas on December 5, 2007 at 9:02 AM
I guess that the Huckster doesnt feel he needs to be informed about intelligence concerns, just like the other schmuck from Hope….
Go home Huck… there’s no hope for you
mrfixit on December 5, 2007 at 9:06 AM
P.S.
Last I knew, even Holiday Inn Express slipped a free USA Today under the door each morning.
saint kansas on December 5, 2007 at 9:06 AM
There may be more truth to this than you might think. I’m defending him at all. With all the crap flying around at Langley who knows if they dreamed this mess up.
Definitely a problem for the Huckster…nothing compared to the whole gardener thing for Mitt.
Heh. I wasn’t aware that Senator Clinton had been nominated just yet but also…based solely on their campaigns and debate performances…who CAN beat her? Sorry folks, I’m just pretty disenchanted with the whole mess of them on both sides. I’m not sure any of them “get it” just yet.
Pilgrim on December 5, 2007 at 9:08 AM
Make that I’m **NOT** defending him…geesh…where’s my coffee.
Pilgrim on December 5, 2007 at 9:09 AM
Kick the boob to the curb. We need to rally behind an alternative, and quick. McCain, Mitt, or Fred, who is it gonna be? Rudy and Hillary are two peas in a pod, anyway.
RW Wacko on December 5, 2007 at 9:18 AM
Hey fellow fretheads, is that a Dean bass the Huck is playing?
If I can’t endorse the candidate (and I can’t), maybe I could at least admire his bass.
saint kansas on December 5, 2007 at 9:30 AM
Wha? Foreign policy? Who cares–he ain’t mormon and he’s an evangelical just like me. He’s got my vote!
/melancholy sarc
Patriot33 on December 5, 2007 at 9:49 AM
The whole “foreign policy experience” case for or against a candidate is probably the stupidest thing that I ever hear discussed by ostensibly intelligent people. With very, VERY few exceptions, nobody is going to have the sort of “foreign policy experience” that is at all similar to what the President has to deal with.
In the end, “foreign policy experience” is absolutely nothing more than being able to do business with potentially adversarial entities in a congenial manner, while advancing interests that are determined pretty much by common sense, guided by a broader philosophical outlook. In other words, if you thrive in a political environment, you have plenty of “foreign policy experience”.
Can we drop the retarded “he doesn’t have foreign policy experience” canard, please?
DaveS on December 5, 2007 at 10:09 AM
I tend to agree with what you said about foreign policy experience, but Huckabee made a mistake in not keeping up on world events and I think Bryan’s criticism is entirely legitimate.
Slublog on December 5, 2007 at 10:13 AM
Reporter: What’s your take on the NIE?
Huck: Who?
Reporter: The NIE. It’s been in the news lately.
Huck: Well, we’ll treat them like any other terrorist organization– firmly, resolutely, and with faith in the Lord.
Reporter: Um. The NIE isn’t a terrorist organization.
Huck: (leans in, whispering) Is that one of those weird Arab nations?
Reporter: No, that’s the UAE.
Huck: (leans back, exhaling) Whew! That could’ve been embarrassing!
Nethicus on December 5, 2007 at 10:20 AM
Slublog on December 5, 2007 at 10:13 AM
Sure he made a mistake, but it isn’t a substantive one. Everyone has to hear about it for the first time. If he were president he would have heard been briefed about it immediately.
I agree, though, that he needs to get advisers to brief him on these things. It’s embarrassing slip, but not really anything more, in my opinion. If it happened a week after the reports release it would be a different story… the next day? Not so much.
DaveS on December 5, 2007 at 10:28 AM
Don’t like his make of bass guitar, either.
Schnook.
profitsbeard on December 5, 2007 at 10:42 AM
I don’t think Huckabee is retarded. He just needs to keep up with the news about the job that he’s applying to take over.
Bryan on December 5, 2007 at 10:45 AM
I think one reason Huck is doing well is because he really believes in himself and what he’s doing.
Its just not hard to do that, when you’re clueless.
Speakup on December 5, 2007 at 11:29 AM
Ha! Touche.
CP on December 5, 2007 at 11:31 AM
While this is a gaffe, a big one… The truth is, that with a 5 minute briefing, he will still sound more articulate on the issue than our president did yesterday.
hashman on December 5, 2007 at 11:52 AM
Hi-freakin’-larious!
Frozen Tex on December 5, 2007 at 11:53 AM
Domestic policy: bad.
Foreign policy: bad.
Tzetzes on December 5, 2007 at 12:04 PM
Maybe he had his phone on “vibrate” and his missed God’s call about the NIE. :-)
Mark Jaquith on December 5, 2007 at 12:50 PM
LOL… Thanks.
Great job, Bryan and AP. I find myself hardly ever using the Matt Report anymore. You guys deserve at least half his traffic.
silverfox on December 5, 2007 at 7:23 PM
I prefer him being honest and saying he hadn’t heard about it, being he’s on the campaign trail with no big money handlers, than to give a BS non-answer that tries to confuse like Hillary would. Of course with all her money and that big politico machine she has, this probably wouldn’t happen to her.
CCRWM on December 5, 2007 at 9:50 PM
Comment pages: