Marc Ambinder, blogging at The Atlantic, sparked a firestorm when he reported that an “ally” of the Huckabee campaign in DC was accusing Rush Limbaugh of not thinking for himself and following the Wall Street-DC axis of power in their contempt of Gov. Huckabee. Anxious to turn this into a controversy, people such as Michelle Malkin jumped on the bandwagon and accused Gov. Huckabee of having his “Howard Dean” moment by taking on the king of talk radio. Unfortunately, even the Maha Rushy, perhaps disturbed that any of the GOP candidates would deign to say anything negative about him, said the following:
RUSH: Huckabee forces are attacking me, ladies and gentlemen. Yes siree, Bob, the Hucksters are on the warpath!
…Special circumstance. You had a two-man race, and what was happening in South Carolina, McCain was going so far off the conservative reservation, so far off of it, that it was necessary to step in. Huckabee is getting close, I’m going to have to tell you. Huckabee’s getting close to the same stuff. Huckabee is using his devout Christianity to mask some other things that are distinctively not conservative. He is against free trade. He’s really doesn’t believe in free market. Well, let me read what George Will wrote today. This is when I go along with “the DC-New York axis.” But I just want to read from George Will’s column, a paragraph today. “Huckabee’s campaign actually is what Rudy Giuliani’s candidacy is misdescribed as being — a comprehensive apostasy against core Republican beliefs. Giuliani departs from recent Republican stances regarding two issues — abortion and the recognition by the law of same-sex couples. Huckabee’s radical candidacy broadly repudiates core Republican policies such as free trade, low taxes, the essential legitimacy of America’s corporate entities and the market system allocating wealth and opportunity. [C]onsider New Hampshire’s chapter of the National Education Association, the teachers union that is a crucial component of the Democratic Party’s base. In 2004, New Hampshire’s chapter endorsed Howard Dean in the Democratic primary and no one in the Republican primary. Last week it endorsed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary — and Huckabee in the Republican primary.” It likes Huckabee on education.
So now, El Rushbo, sends a threat to the Huckabee campaign and the Huckabee forces. First of all, the person interviewed for The Atlantic blog post was not an official Huckabee campaign spokesman. Here’s what the blog author, Marc Ambinder, later wrote:
The person quoted was not a campaign spokesman.
…The truth is that Limbaugh does not want to see Huckabee nominated, and it’s not terribly surprising, or terribly newsworthy, that folks who think Huckabee should be nominated have developed a theory or theory to explain his opposition.
Notice an interesting trend? A supporter (not spokesman) of the Huckabee campaign says something that potentially can be viewed as negative against Rush Limbaugh and the GOP establishment immediately make this out to be a picture of Huckabee himself assaulting the supreme Limbaugh. Does anyone else view this as a ridiculous attempt to once again chip away at Gov. Huckabee’s increasing support among the GOP base? To take a random quote from a supporter of Huckabee’s campaign and use it to smear Gov. Huckabee is absurd and shows the depth of the irrational hatred that these folks have against Huckabee and those of us supporting his campaign.
I am most disappointed in Rush. I have followed his career since he was nationally syndicated. I have subscribed to his newsletter, bought merchandise from his sponsors, bought merchandise from him and turned on a number of friends, family and colleagues to his show. During his drug rehab I stood firmly behind him and decried the insensitive media manipulations of that story. I pointed out the blind hypocrisy of the media in trashing Rush while making other painkiller addicts who went into recovery out to be heroes. I did this because I believed in Rush. Now, when the rubber meets the road and we have a candidate unlike any other since Reagan, Rush joins the anti-Huckabee crowd and irrationally attacks his campaign. Those of us who support Huckabee have been called “Hucksters” by Limbaugh. Really, Rush? We, the folks who paved the way for your present level of success, influence, and prestige are now just a bunch of “Hucksters” because we won’t be quiet and just follow the Weekly Standard and National Review party line? Perhaps you and the GOP don’t need us. Neither of you would have gotten anywhere near where you are today without us. You sent a not-so-veiled threat to Gov. Huckabee when you said you were getting close to treating him as you did John McCain in the 2000 South Carolina primary. Well, Rush, you don’t have to worry about social conservatives making baseless threats. We show our resolve with our voice, our votes, our spending and our listening habits. You, my friend, may be on the verge of the lost generation of Rush babies.
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THAT was the attack?
I’ve heard that there was some kind of Huckabee attack on Limbaugh, but I assumed that there was some kind of substance to it.
THAT was it? Some nameless supporter said something?
Wow … that suggests that Limbaugh was looking for an excuse. This way, he gets to attack Huckabee and still pretend that he didn’t start it.
It is no secret that about six months ago Rupert Mrudoch threw a huge fundraiser for Senator Clinton. Unless you`re in a cave in the wilderness you have probably noticed the way Fox News and Rush Limbaugh are savaging Mike Huckabee. I`m sure most of you know that Rupert Murdoch owns Fox News. and as you know Rupert gets what Rupert wants and in this instance what Rupert wants is for Hillary to square off against either Mitt or Rudy. heres why. Simple. she can easily defeat either of them because social conservatives will not vote for either of them, They won`t vote for the democrats either but they will stay at home, All of a sudden out of nowhere comes this guy Mike Huckabee who is heavily backed by the social conservative wing of the party, yes the wing of the party that has been responsiable for every republican voctory since Reagan and Rupert certainly not looking for a republican victory so he unleashes Fox News on Huckabee and what a pounding they have been giving the guy. Enter Roger Ales, Mr. Ales is the President and CEO of Fox news and works for Mr. Murdoch but heres a little more interesting history on Ales, He is Rush Limbaughs mentor, the guy who gave him his start and the guy that made Rush what he is today, Even Rush would never deny this. he has acknowledged this publicly too many times. Ales sics Rush on Huckabee which is easy enough to do and now poor Huck has Fox and Rush eating him alive, Can you imagine what it must be like to be a republican candidate and have both of these bastians of conservatism blasting you twenty four seven. Well thats the facts folks you do what you want with them and I guess the moral of the story is nominate Rudy or Mitt and help guarantee a democratic victory.
Huck, Hannity, Fred Barnes, the National Review….all former social conservatives. They just nod their heads at social conservatives to get their votes. Rush was looking for an excuse to dis Huck and ramp up Mitt so they created one, so to speak, searching for a slight offense to make it a big deal. Rush has gone too far and is extremely embarassing at this point.
[...] If you’ve read my previous post on this subject you know that this wasn’t a campaign advisor it was a supporter of Gov. Huckabee’s campaign. This is a crucial difference that Rush refuses to acknowledge. It just doesn’t play as well in trying to do damage to Huckabee’s campaign if the person who allegedly makes the anti-Limbaugh comments is just a supporter rather than an official part of the campaign. Then on Christmas Eve — by the way, I did not reply to Governor Huckabee’s e-mail — I thought long and hard about it, and I’ll tell you why I didn’t reply. [...]
I think we can all agree that Huckabee is a social conservative, but that doesn’t make him a true conservative. If Huckabee really wants to see what a true conservative is, he should take a long look at Tom Coburn. Huckabee has a clear and documented record of increasing the size of the Arkansas government via tax increases, as well as supporting socialist-type laws and mandates. No thanks.