Category: News & Pop Culture

GetReligion.com has an interesting look at Huckabee as the hipster.

In many ways, the news coverage of GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee reminds me of the type that would be given to a city’s new young, hip youth pastor. He’s got all the right moves, says all the right things, draws praise from nearly everyone, including his opponents, and — guess what? — he strums the guitar. One more thing: he’s got a great personal story of losing nearly enough weight to make up another person.
The focus on the new guy is primarily on how different he is from the typical image people have of pastors. To those writing profiles of him, it’s somehow shocking that a pastor could be, like, normal.
Huckabee’s media coverage has all these elements, and he’s a pastor nonetheless. The news profiles give off a tone of amazement as they describe what could be the new face of the religious right.

Still loving this interview on the Daily Show:
“I’m a conservative but I’m not mad at everybody over it.”
“I’m pro-life and I believe life begins at conception but it doesn’t end at birth..”

Huckabee is getting some unusual coverage from many different media outlets. His humor and religion are mixing together in a not-so-unusual way, at least outside of politics in the last couple of decades, and the media’s picking up on it. Is Huckabee, in his efforts to be the evangelical right’s new political leader, changing the image of the group? Or is he some kind of exception to the rule in the eyes of the media?

Digg the story here

From NPR:

This week, President Bush and members of Congress have been focused on the war in Iraq and how well it is — or is not — succeeding. Both sides have made a lot of sometimes competing claims about the situation there. On Thursday night, it was President Bush’s turn, as he addressed the nation from the Oval Office. NPR has this analysis of some of the president’s assertions.

Read the analysis and listen to the story.
Think they were one sided? Think the missed something vital? Let me know.

I haven’t seen this covered anywhere else, but just noticed an article on Booman Tribune (thanks to Digg) suggests the latest bin Laden video is a fake after the video freezes from 1:58 to 12:30, while the audio continues.

Osama Bin Laden’s widely publicized video address to the American people has a peculiarity that casts serious doubt on its authenticity: the video freezes at about 1 minute and 36 58 seconds, and motion only resumes again at 12:30. The video then freezes again at 14:02 remains frozen until the end. All references to current events, such as the 62nd anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Japan, and Sarkozy and Brown being the leaders of France and the UK, respectively, occur when the video is frozen! The words spoken when the video is in motion contain no references to contemporary events and could have been (and likely were) made before the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Wonder why ABC News, the CIA and others either refused to report his, ignored it or if someone else produced a different video with the video frozen.
You can download the entire video here

In what might be an odd twist, Mike Huckabee gained the support of a national trade union this week, along with Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.
Both Huckabee and Clinton received endorsements from The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and Edwards picked up a nod from the carpenter’s union.

The Machinists union has 700,000 members and estimates a third of the membership votes Republican. It is the first time the union has done a dual endorsement. It chose to do so this year to encourage all members to participate in the election…
“Mike Huckabee was the only Republican candidate with the guts to meet with our members and the only one willing to figure out where and how we might work together,” said Buffenbarger. “He is entitled to serious consideration from our members voting in the upcoming Republican primaries.”

Read the full story from the AP and Houston Chronicle

In other news, it appears the candidate list for the Texas GOP Straw Poll in Fort Worth will be mighty slim this weekend.
Huckabee just announced he would not be attending the event, which will leave “only two” GOP candidates making an appearance.

While the GOP hoped for a star-studded event featuring all the candidates, just two will appear, diminishing the poll’s importance in the early stages of the presidential race. But party officials predict thousands of delegates will still attend, making for a big political show in Cowtown.

Now I am confused by the article in the DMN. It says (as written above) that only two candidates will appear – but then later in the story it lists five candidates who are appearing:

Ron Paul: The Lake Jackson congressman, the only anti-war Republican running, is making the biggest push, providing buses from Houston, Austin and San Antonio. A former Libertarian nominee for president, he’s emphasizing gun rights, opposition to abortion and a call to dismantle the IRS.

Duncan Hunter: The California congressman emphasizes his role in building border fences, and he chaired the powerful Armed Services committee until this year but has had trouble gaining traction.

Hugh Cort: A homeland security expert and self-described Christian conservative, he warns that Osama bin Laden is smuggling weapons across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Raymond McKinney: The Savannah, Ga., Republican emphasizes a shift toward nuclear power to cut pollution and reduce dependence on foreign oil.

John Cox: An Illinois businessman and former county GOP official.

Did I miss some special/fuzzy math somewhere? Either way, being his home state, this is Ron Paul’s chance to show he’s worthy of a nomination. If he can’t win in his home state (especially with the top dogs not attending) his campaign could be in trouble for sure. If you were lucky enough to get an invite and want to pay the $50 for a ballot ($75 at the door), I hope you enjoy your time and vote Huckabee. For the rest of us we’ll just stand around and watch the results from home.

Finally, Huckabee has a scheduled blogger’s conference call this afternoon. I’d love to be a part but my regular job kinda keeps that from happening. We’ll try and get a link to the audio of the call as soon as it’s available. Maybe they’ll hold a call on Saturday or Sunday one of these days.