Conservative opposition to Mike Huckabee’s campaign has been solidifying in recent weeks, to the point of near movement-wide panic. He’s come under fire from leading conservative magazines (National Review, Weekly Standard), leading conservative pundits (Noonan, Krauthammer, Lowry), and leading conservative bloggers (Reynolds, Malkin, et al).
But in nearly all of those instances, Huckabee supporters could argue that the criticism was coming from the right’s inside-the-beltway elite — and that real far-right activists in fly-over country don’t much care what those folks say.
It’s much tougher to say this about Rush Limbaugh, who unloaded on Huckabee yesterday.
Before today, radio host Rush Limbaugh has — in his own words — “studiously avoided” attacking presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. That silence ended [yesterday], after an anonymous Huckabee “ally” was quoted trashing Rush as a DC insider who is secretly rooting for a President Hillary Clinton.
“The Huckabee campaign is trying to dumb down conservatism in order to get it to conform with his record,” Limbaugh said today, during an extended session of Huckabee-bashing.
In this case, Huckabee’s campaign apparently pushed Limbaugh over the edge. One Huckabee insider told Marc Ambinder, “Rush doesn’t think for himself. That’s not necessarily a slap because he’s not paid to be a thinker — he’s an entertainer. I can’t remember the last time that he has veered from the talking points from the DC/Manhattan chattering class. If they were praising Huckabee, he would be too…. Bill Clinton made Rush a megastar. Having another Clinton back in power would make him the Leading Voice of the Opposition once again.”
That, apparently, was all Limbaugh needed to hear.
These quotables from Rush will give you a flavor:
“Who is this campaign to decide who is and who is not conservative? I hadn’t heard of Huckabee in any serious manner before this campaign began. Believe me, I know who the conservatives are and aren’t.”
“Stop with this Clintonian spin.”
“McCain’s starting to look better to than this guy, and that’s saying something.”
Unlike some of Huckabee’s conservative critics, the campaign is actually scrambling to make up with Limbaugh, insisting how much they “respect” the right-wing blowhard.
It’s likely a good-news/bad-news situation for the former governor. The bad news is, the most widely heard right-wing voice in the country just trashed Huckabee on the air, and his voice carries more weight with Republican voters than practically anyone in the country. The good news is, Limbaugh has signed off for the holidays, and won’t be on the air again until after the Iowa caucuses.
On a related note, National Review’s Mark Hemingway, who, like Limbaugh, has been reluctant to go after Huckabee, apparently can’t help himself anymore.
I had (largely) refrained from piling on Huckabee because I wanted to give him a fair shake. I’ve now read his last two books (you can read my piece about them on NRO today) and am here to tell you they were terribly written and totally insubstantial. Thought his Foreign Affairs piece was bad? Read his chapter in From Hope to Higher Ground on how to “STOP the Loss of America’s Prestige at Home and Abroad.” His relentless use of folksy aphorisms and corny rhetorical sleight of hand provokes visceral objections — but the criticism isn’t merely superficial. In the TNR I piece I linked to yesterday a member of the Arkansas press corps observed, “He thinks and speaks in metaphors. And, often, they’re not right.” That, well, hits the nail on the head. […] I don’t think I’m being uncharitable when I say that’s disturbingly authoritarian. Huckabee should probably start answering some critics instead of dismissing this all as “The Establishment” trying to keep a good ol’ boy down.
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out within the Republican base. Tom Edsall had an interesting report exploring what’s going to happen with Huckabee’s base of support as the freak-out continues: “First, that it serves to reinforce Huckabee’s claim to represent regular folks in opposition to Washington poobahs; and second, that Huckabee’s supporters will be so angered when he is defeated that they will not support the eventual nominee.”
Stay tuned.