Courtesy Mary Katherine Ham, I learn that Mike Huckabee has charmed… REM’s Michael Stipe?
Said the R.E.M. frontman, “I’ve never seen the guy [Huckabee] talk, not even online. I have never seen him talk for 30 seconds…[and] he’s really charming. I instantly wanted to call [Generation X author] Doug Coupland and say ‘OK, project one year into the future for me: what the hell does this mean?’ Because he’s a creationist, he’s a Baptist minister. I can’t think of probably a single issue in which I am even remotely in the same universe as that guy.and yet, he was kind of charming and.self-deprecating. He was actually kind of a good sport, and funny, and I don’t know what that means. Maybe it’s a good thing that’s he’s being lauded right now by the right. He’s an evangelical. May God bless all living creatures but my god, how weird.”
Couldn’t say it better myself.
Actually, as much as Huckabee may grate on some righties from time to time — you know, the tax hikes, or the Obama-esque talk of raising hope, or the ugly portrait of American businessmen painted with the broadest of brushes, or the national workplace smoking ban, or the vague generalities when talking foreign policy, or the ten millionth homespun anecdote in response to a question about a complicated problem… where was I?
Ah, yes – we’ve witnessed about two decades of all-out political warfare, and Mike Huckabee appears on the horizon as a guy who, through good humor and charm, can defuse a lot of the explosive tension and furious tempers that have come to dominate our political discourse. It’s a real gift, and even as some folks say they don’t want Huckabee to be their nominee, they ought to recognize he’s a gifted communicator who could do great things for the Republican party.