We Don't Like Huckabee

National Review and The New Republic can agree on that

Folksy musician and 2008 Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has brought people together. From the staid conservative thought-leader National Review to snarky DC gossip site Wonkette, from right-wing blogger Dan Riehl to liberal bastion The New Republic, everyone is a little disenchanted with Huckabee:

• Ramesh Ponnuru: The National Review writer surveys Huckabee quotes from a recent Politico story, and notices he accuses the "Wall Street-backed Club for Growth, which had attacked him during the 2008 campaign" of being "pay for play," in Huckabee's words, "and they do it anonymously on behalf of people who don't want to be known as the funders of these hit operations." Ponnuru says he's "not sure what Huckabee means by 'pay for play.'" He also responds to Huckabee's declaration of media injustice, in which he alleged some smiled on Sarah Palin while attacking him. "Is this true?" Asks Ponnuru. "I want names."

• Christopher Orr: At The New Republic, Orr isn't impressed with the Club for Growth story either. "That Huckabee would feel this way," he writes, "is of course no surprise at all. But given that his primary barrier to winning the GOP nomination is the distrust of economic conservatives ... making these comments on the record seems borderline insane--the functional equivalent of Mitt Romney trashing evangelicals."
  

• Jim Newell: Wonkette only features the headline of the Politico Huckabee piece: "Mike Huckabee says he's 'very serious.'" Says Newell: "Yes, Mike, we know, that's fine."

• Dan Riehl: This blogger's beef is more with the Palin double-standard accusations of the Huckabee piece. "The dude should shave his legs and see how he looks in a skirt," writes Riehl, unimpressed. "Maybe he can compete, maybe not." Either way, says Riehl, "I doubt any swipes he takes at Palin are going to win him any new fans. And that's just fine and dandy as far as I'm concerned."