Last night this column entered in a single criteria for Meet The Press's Mike Huckabee interview (refer to previous post). In short, injecting God's word into the Constitution was not discussed. Mr. Russert did ask tough questions about Gov. Huckabee's association with the Texas Tele-evangelist Kenneth Copeland whose finances are being investigated by Congress. During this portion of the interview, Mr. Russert touched on points such as Gov. Huckabee supporting Mr. Copeland in defiance of Congress, but he never arrived at Gov. Huckabee's position on the Consitution, much more important. Discussing the improprieties of this relationship is a smearing and simply lines up people to either side. Gov. Huckabee's position on changing the Constitution to be in line with God's law is philosophy that contradicts one of this country's prime pillars - namely, freedom of religion. Anyone with a single secular bone within should be concerned about his position.
So this interview did not cut it. There's no other analysis required. But there is just one another observation the column has about Gov. Huckabee. As he said, he's one who believes he has a shot where ever he goes. He does... because he doesn't take cheap shots, at least not in television interviews that garner single audiences and people consciously or unconsciously respond that. The likeability factor plays best with Gov. Huckabee, but not to the extent of lowest common denominator criteria such as who you would rather have a beer with.
The panel discussion obviously centered around the primary contests. If you read this column and of course watch Meet The Press, we will presume that you know the score in both. What's worth of discussion in terms of the panel is this Democratic party superdelegate problem... and it is a problem. Do these superdelegates go against the voters of the states they represent? Do they broker a backroom deal? Etc. Many people are wondering where the whole superdelegate business came from in the first place and why are we suddenly debating over them now. Even without looking at the numbers, having superdelegates in play is the work of the most savvy of political slicers and that is the Clintons. It reeks of them, anything to shoot down the competition. And the lobbying of these superdelegates on both sides doesn't pass the smell test, to borrow Gwen Ifill's phrase. And the kicker is that if they go to the backroom, Howard Dean, the chair of the DNC, doesn't have the clout to broker a deal, as stated by David Broder. That's not comforting.
Chuck Todd, unlike the other journalists on the panel, started as a blogger and understands the role of the internet better than most and was quick to point out something significant, which was once the list of superdelegates goes up on the internet, there will be e-mail campaigns hitting people who least expect it. And there should be.
Lastly, because of all of this talk of delegates, super and mediocre, Michigan and Florida now are demanding back into the decision making process with the DNC. This column believes that they should have never been excluded in the first place. This was the DNC flexing muscle without the larger concern for the Democratic constituents of those states. Do-overs were fodder for conversation today. Do-overs?! The has mess written all over it and lawsuits as far as the eye can see if the delegate numbers count. Plainly, the responsibility for this is on the shoulders of the DNC.
As of this writing, the top four candidates still all have a shot at the nomination, but it won't come without dodging a barrage of bullets from all sides.
Guests:
Gov. Mike Huckabee
Gwen Ifill
David Broder
Chuck Todd
David Brody
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