Throughout the Republican primary season, Rush Limbaugh repeatedly berated, made fun of, and otherwise demeaned the candidacy of Mike Huckabee for President. I can’t tell you the number of times I wished Huckabee would be able to go onto the program and defend himself, but Rush would have none of it. To be fair to Rush, he very seldom has a live guest on his program, probably to make sure no one steals his thunder. A lot of speculation has been going around as to the reason he had Mike Huckabee on his program, but it really doesn’t matter the reason. Huckabee finally got the chance to set the record straight with Limbaugh, especially about the slur he supposedly made about Mitt Romney’s religion, and although I was unable to hear the program live, the transcript leads me to believe even Rush realizes he may have missed some things about Huckabee. It’s good to see Rush admit he may have been wrong about Mike Huckabee. You can read the full transcript below.

Mike Huckabee Denies Mormon Slur

RUSH: We welcome to the EIB Network Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who is in New York at this hour. Governor, welcome to the program.

HUCKABEE: Thank you very much, Rush. It’s been a long time, and I’ve been listening to you for many years. You’re a great American.

RUSH: Thank you. So are you, sir. Now let’s get right to the chase here. I said something a couple weeks ago, maybe ten days ago, about you and Governor Romney that you strenuously objected to. What was it that I said that was incorrect?

HUCKABEE: Well, that I had made an issue out of his religion and had sort of poisoned him with evangelicals and that’s simply not true. You know, one of the things that I’ve been very adamant about is that I don’t think his religion has one thing to do with whether people should support him. Some of my favorite public servants in America happen to be the same religion he is, the Morman religion. That would be people like Mike Leavitt, Orrin Hatch, Jon Huntsman, the current governor of Utah. Great people. It has nothing to do with it.

RUSH: Yeah, but they’re not running for president nor running against you for the nomination. I guess I track this back to at one point you talking about what Romney believes, that Christ and Lucifer were brothers.

HUCKABEE: It was a question that I actually asked of the New York Times Magazine writer, because he knew a lot more about Mormonism than I did. It appeared as 11 words in about a 10,000-word story, and that got all the play. I personally apologized to Mitt because it did come across wrong and it’s simply not the way I feel and it isn’t, and I don’t think Mitt Romney’s religion has a thing to do with it. I think, you know, a record has to do with it, but not his religion. And frankly, my attitude is, the primary’s over, we need to get behind John McCain, support him, He’s our best chance, right now, our only chance to beat Barack Obama, and Barack Obama will destroy small business, his plans for higher taxes would be abominable, and his absolutely frankly deplorable view about when life begins is nothing short of frightening.

RUSH: Well, he’s got a Pelosi problem on that. You know, she’s been denounced by as many Catholic Church leaders as have chosen to speak out on it and she’s standing by it. You know, these people are sitting ducks I think if the Republican campaign is run the right way. Are you on the vice presidential short list?

HUCKABEE: I don’t even think I’m on the long list. I have not been asked to pack a bag to go to Dayton on Friday so I don’t think there’s any illusion. If he’s looking for a female, the closest I would get is if they would ask me to maybe dress in drag and run that way but I don’t think that’s going to happen, so, no, I don’t think I’m on the list at all.

RUSH: Who do you think is going to be named? Do you have any inside information?

HUCKABEE: No. Nothing inside. I don’t have a clue. I mean he may throw the long ball and pick somebody like a Frank Keating, somebody that hadn’t even been talked about because everybody’s focused on a handful of names and, you know, McCain just might shock the daylights out of all of us.

RUSH: What do you think he needs to accomplish with his vice presidential pick?

HUCKABEE: He’s got to get somebody who can rally the base and make people want to go out and nail yard signs, make phone calls, walk streets, and drink warm cokes and eat cold pizza for about a month to get out the vote.

RUSH: Okay, can Tom Ridge do that, you think?

HUCKABEE: I love Tom Ridge. Good friend. I would support him. I wish he were pro-life. But Tom Ridge won’t rally the base. You gotta have a pro-life person who is unapologetically fired up about believing that life begins at conception, and it’s an important issue. And for many of us this is not a peripheral political issue, this is an issue of principle upon which we think the country was founded, that all of us are created equal, that every life has worth and value and that once you decide that some lives aren’t worth as much as other lives, you make a sharp left turn toward a direction that this country can ill afford to go.

RUSH: Speaking here with Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. I guess then you would have to rule out, from your preference list, Senator Lieberman and Mayor Giuliani?

HUCKABEE: Well, Lieberman would be a disaster from my perspective because Republicans want to elect a Republican. And how would you have a debate between Lieberman and Biden when they essentially would sit down there and drink a cup of coffee and agree with each other during the vice presidential debate. And you’ve got to have somebody that, when that person goes up against Joe Biden, takes it to him and can go right to his face and put a little elbow in there underneath the basket. I was surprised by the Biden pick in a way. That to me was like going to Baskin-Robbins and picking vanilla, and I could not understand what he was thinking, and I think the polls are now reflecting that it shows a lack of judgment and capacity to think about the playing field out there.

RUSH: Well, the general consensus opinion on this in terms of punditry analysis is that Obama just did horribly in Pennsylvania, and that’s why during their joint appearance, they mentioned Scranton, Pennsylvania, as Biden’s hometown five times, they’re trying to convince Democrats that Biden is a Pennsylvanian. If they lose Pennsylvania, they’re done, and I think this pick was wrong in so many ways. There’s nothing change oriented, there’s nothing outside, there’s nothing universally unique about Biden, and here’s a guy in two presidential runs has never gotten more than 5% in Iowa. The idea that he’s going to bring votes to the Democrat ticket is puzzling, and maybe it’s an acknowledgement of Obama’s weaknesses in foreign policy and the presumed strength that Biden has on it.

HUCKABEE: Well, if Biden were a great vote-getter he would have done better than the two or three thousand votes he got during the entire Democratic primary. I think that sort of sums it all up. I mean the obvious choice if you wanted to unite the Democratic Party and to get them all electrified would have been to pick Hillary, and that would have fired them up and brought them together.

RUSH: Yeah, but if he picks Hillary that means he’s gotta have somebody taste his food every day and start his car for him.

HUCKABEE: (laughing)

RUSH: What about Rudy?

HUCKABEE: You know Rudy has a lot of pluses in terms of his perception as a strong, strong guy on terror. But that’s McCain’s strength. So, you know, you’d have two guys who are essentially going to have the same strength going into the race, but –

RUSH: You know, Rudy is pro-choice, too.

HUCKABEE: Yeah, and I think for many people that’s going to be a problem. My attitude is, John McCain is pro-life, he’s clear about that, and I’m going to support him because he’s certainly got a much clearer understanding of when life begins than Barack Obama, who, after 47 years of life, says it’s above his pay grade. Well, you know, quite frankly, if you’re 47 and you hadn’t thought about that human life is valuable and it begins at conception, for all the talk liberals have about their love of science and how much they embrace it and how much they depend upon it to believe in global warming and to deny the existence of creation, you know, it’s interesting to me that the most irrefutable part of science is that when 23 chromosomes from male and female unite and create 46 unique chromosomes and a DNA schedule, that’s not only a life, but it’s a human life. It’s not a stalk of broccoli; it’s not a golden retriever. It’s a human life and that’s irrefutable science.

RUSH: Peggy Noonan has one of the best ways to explain this I’ve ever heard. She said, “If life doesn’t begin at conception then why are people buying condoms by the package?” Why are they taking a birth control pill? What about Tim Pawlenty?

HUCKABEE: I like Tim. Tim and I were governors together. He’s a very, very sharp person. He’s been a reform-focused governor in Minnesota. You know, the only thing that will be somewhat problematic is not many people know him, and he’s never had the experience at that level on the national stage. But I think he’s got the capacity and simply the intellect to be able to be a good choice.

RUSH: Yeah, but one thing that recommends him, he’s a governor. We don’t need four senators running for president and vice president. That’s one thing that’s attractive to him. Now, Romney, I know your problem with Romney is you don’t trust his record, you think he’s flip-flopped on too many things and so you don’t know who the real Romney is, but what do you think of him on the vice presidential ticket?

HUCKABEE: Well, I mean if McCain picks him I’m still going to support McCain. Again, as I’ve said many times, my problem with Romney was that Romney beat the rest of us up issues where we had a real strength of record. I’ve been a tax cutter; I built roads; I had an incredible pro-life record. You know, during the primary Romney attacked McCain, he attacked me. One of the problems that I think McCain would have, if he picked Romney was that it takes the Joe Biden issue off the table where Biden is saying great things about McCain and terrible things about Obama, you know, they’ll be running those tapes back over and over during the debates where Romney was attacking McCain and saying, “Which time do we trust you, then or now?”

RUSH: Well, but wait a minute, that’s true for both parties. And McCain’s running ads right now featuring Hillary endorsing him. There is a gold mine of Hillary audio and video that McCain can make an ad of. Those things happen in primaries. I mean you guys were ganging up on Romney, too. That’s what politics is. I mean you and McCain joined together in West Virginia on the second or third ballot to take the state for McCain. That’s hardball.

HUCKABEE: No, it really wasn’t us. The truth is it was the Ron Paul people who got with our delegates, and there really wasn’t a deal cut with the McCain people in West Virginia.

RUSH: Really?

HUCKABEE: It was the Ron Paul people who said, “We just want a little bit of respect, and if our guy doesn’t win on the first ballot, we’ll vote for you.”

RUSH: Really. That is not the way it was explained to me.

HUCKABEE: That’s what happened. I was there.

RUSH: I know. (laughing)

HUCKABEE: (laughing) I was there.

RUSH: I know. Okay, well, look, governor, I appreciate you giving me the chance here to have the record corrected, the way I mischaracterized your opposition to Romney. It’s great to have you on the program and all the best to you. Since I do have you, what do you want to do next? I hear you’ve done a pilot for Fox?

HUCKABEE: We’re working on a program, haven’t done a pilot yet but hopefully will have something. I’m doing some Fox contributing things. I’ve got a book coming out in November, and, you know, I failed the auditions for Dancing With the Stars and didn’t make the cut on American Idol so, you know, I’m looking for something else to fill in the gaps.

RUSH: Well, good luck to you, and I hope you find something you love.

HUCKABEE: Well, I’m sure I will. I love this country. I love our party, and I love the principles we stand for. I want to get John McCain elected so we don’t lose the greatness of this nation.

RUSH: Are you going to St. Paul?

HUCKABEE: Oh, yeah.

RUSH: Let me ask you a question, I’m serious about this. This hurricane down there is brewing, and if they’re right, and this is very early, their range of error is 300 miles four and five days out, but the models are starting to coalesce on the Mobile, Alabama, New Orleans area, early Monday morning, two, eight a.m. If this hurricane and a cat three, cat four, bears down New Orleans while the Republicans are in St. Paul, I can just see Obama and Biden in New Orleans, sandbags going down and bottled water. What would the Republican Party do, do you think? You know, half the media would decamp St. Paul for New Orleans. Is there anybody that you’ve talked to planning this convention that’s putting together some way to deal with this?

HUCKABEE: I think they’ve called in Pat Robertson to pray it off the coast. (laughing)

RUSH: (laughing) Like Fidel Castro does down in Cuba.

HUCKABEE: That’s right.

RUSH: Something to think about because, you know, they’re going to start calling this thing Katrina 2 and the Democrats, the Drive-By Media has successfully made natural disasters Republican issues, as though we’re responsible for them and we don’t care who gets hurt in them and so forth, and people are watching that. Governor, thanks again for your time, and I’ll speak to you soon.

HUCKABEE: Look forward to it, Rush. Thanks.

RUSH: Governor Mike Huckabee in New York.

That’s my take!

Larry

Tags: Barack Obama, EIB Network, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Mormon, Rudy Guiliani, Rush Limbaugh, Tim Pawlenty, Vice-Pres

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 5:52 pm and is filed under News/Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.