"Mitt Romney will never be President -- I won't be surprised if Mitt Romney wins the Iowa Caucus. I will be surprised, however, if he's still in the race when the South Carolina primary comes around. Even if the impending scandal that has been rumored for weeks doesn’t derail his campaign (I can't say what it is but you should hear about it before Jan. 8)..." -- Blogger & Former Huckabee staffer Joe Carter
PS #1: I have no idea how much credence to put into this, but I thought I'd share it.
PS #2: It would be unethical, but highly effective for the Huckabee campaign to release something like this via a blogger who was leaving their campaign. However, from what I have seen of them, they're way too unorganized to plan and execute something like that.
PS #3: Carter's whole article about working for the Huckabee campaign for 30 days presents an interesting perspective.
Update #1: I've got sources in every Republican campaign except Ron Paul's and I've started reaching out to some of them on this story. Here's what one of them, who would like to remain anonymous, told me,
I think I know what the story is, but I don't have any information I can leak. And, really, I don't know if the story has legs or not. That said, it's not a story that's coming from us. I wish I could tell you more, but that's really all I can say.
Update #2: Another source of mine, which is not with the Huckabee campaign or the same campaign as my previous source, told me that they are hearing that the story is going to be that Romney was behind the "anti-Mormon" push polling that got so much attention in Iowa.
Intriguingly, these allegations were made previously and the Romney campaign strongly denied that they had anything to do with the polling.
If that turned out not to be the case, it would be a damaging story indeed -- but, it remains to be seen whether this is the specific allegation Carter was referring to and whether the Romney campaign had anything to do with it.
I will be continuing to look into the story this afternoon.
Update #3: I went back to my first source and asked if this was the story he was thinking about. He told me that it was.
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If this is true, Huckabee's rapidly showing himself to be a pretty unethical campaigner, despite being a minister and all.
Posted by CavalierX
January 3, 2008 1:22 PM |
...shades of "I wouldn't sink so low as to run the advertisement I'm about to show you..."
What a sleaze Huckabee is.
Posted by CoolCzech
January 3, 2008 1:25 PM |
Rule of thumb is that anytime someone references a big, unknown scandal that's supposedly going to become the asteroid that wipes out their leading competitor - but doesn't say what that scandal is - they're making it up. It's slander without actually making an accusation. Watch:
"Mike Huckabee will never be President -- I won't be surprised if Mike Huckabee wins the Iowa Caucus. I will be surprised, however, if he's still in the race when the South Carolina primary comes around. Even if the impending scandal that has been rumored for weeks doesn’t derail his campaign (I can't say what it is but you should hear about it before Jan. 8)..." -- ."
See how easy that is? Huckabee's a dirtbag.
Posted by maledicta
January 3, 2008 1:46 PM |
I am truly at the point where I cannot even look at "aw shucks" face anymore. He literally makes me want to puke. The absolute lowest form of life there is. Makes my skin crawl.
Did I mention I don't like him?
Posted by jewells45
January 3, 2008 1:52 PM |
What gets me is... at first, I honestly found him very likeable. But man, looks can be deceiving...
Posted by CoolCzech
January 3, 2008 2:01 PM |
That's the brilliance of such underhanded tactics, maledicta; they allow the listener's own imagination to do the dirty work for them.
Posted by Good_Ol_Boy
January 3, 2008 2:10 PM |
Question: Who are the Fred Lovers who populate RWN going to throw their support behind, if Fred drops out or fades?
Huck? Apparent sleazeball who will LOSE to the Dem nominee?
McCain? Open borders, McCain Feingold guy? And who is also what - 70 something years old?
Rudy? Mitt? The posters and the hosts here have have been spending the better part of the past three months sliming both of them. So are we going to see a 180 degree change of heart if one of them wins? Or, instead are we going to see people advocating that we all sit at home and just let Hildabeast take the WH?
Beating the drum for Fred is fine. I'll vote for Fred too, if/when I get the chance. But beating the drum for Fred while in the process sliming everyone else kind of puts those who have been doing so, in an awkward position, now doesn't it, if Fred fails to win.
Posted by FloridaJames
January 3, 2008 2:23 PM |
Same here. At first, when I saw him the debates I was impressed by him. I mentioned to my husband several times how I thought he came out on top in some of them. Then I read somewhere where he would favor a nationwide ban on smoking. That did it for me. He's been on me and my husbands sh*t list since then. Geez, I just can't that excited over anyone except Hunter who I know isn't gonna be around much longer. How sad.
Posted by jewells45
January 3, 2008 2:24 PM |
Sounds like cheap theatrics to me. If someone had dirt on Romney, it would have made the most sense to release it before now. With as heavily as Romney is invested in the first few primaries anything that damaged his campaign could prove fatal.
More likely is the Huckabee campaign blowing smoke to try and chase people away from The Mormon. The Man from Hope, indeed.
Posted by Mike_M
January 3, 2008 2:34 PM |
Somebody needs to give Huck a taste of his own medicine. I wonder if he thinks pulling crap like this is "doing God's Work"?
Posted by friese
January 3, 2008 2:51 PM |
"Who are the Fred Lovers who populate RWN going to throw their support behind, if Fred drops out or fades?"
I am leaning towards McCain if Fred drops out, but here's the simple truth: If Fred drops out or looses, I will be about as enthusiastic about the Republican candidate as I would be about getting a colonoscopy. In the general election, I'll go out and vote for any of the GOP candidates except Huckabee, but as far as really supporting a candidate and trying to convince other people they should support him too, it is Fred or bust for me. None of the others excite me the least bit.
Posted by President_Friedman
January 3, 2008 2:52 PM |
Huckabee has demonstrated he loves this kind of backhanded attack. I won't run this ad here, you run it for free, for me! Why, I heard a rumor that Mormons think Jesus and Satan are brothers, can you believe that? It's like a particularly bitter old woman trying to play tricks to manipulate people who watch and shake their heads at how obvious it is.
The sad thing is, I bet it works.
Posted by Christopher_Taylor
January 3, 2008 3:00 PM |
Posted by maledicta
January 3, 2008 1:46 PM |
Good call!
Posted by President_Friedman
January 3, 2008 2:52 PM
Personally, I cannot support rudy regardless if it means a shrillary presidency or not. If Fred goes down, I will hold my nose and vote for Romney if I have to, maybe even mcaineddy (God forbid), or (shreik) huckabee. I may have to write Newt in.
Posted by wyo_os_con
January 3, 2008 3:06 PM |