Beware the Huckster

Via Alternet and yet another Loyal Reader^TM comes a story that's basically fallen on deaf ears outside the blogosphere. Apparently, Huckabee told a crowd of Evangelicals in Michigan that we need to heavily amend the Constitution to bring it more in line with, to use his term, "God's standards".

As soon as you've reassembled the scattered bits of your exploded head (it took me about two days, personally), think about this: the quote itself is proof positive (not like we need any) that the Huckster is a grade-A loon. It is also proof that he's a scary-good politician.

The Loyal Reader^TM who pointed this li'l tidbit out to me (by the way, y'all can actually use the comment function - share your wisdom with the masses!) was properly aghast that the public at large didn't jump all over this. They should've. But they didn't. Because they weren't there to hear it.

Huckabee knows exactly what he can get away with saying, and when he can get away with saying it. On Leno or in a widely broadcast debate, he's Mr. Regular Guy, not wanting to cram his religion down the public's throat. In front of his base, it's another story. It's like that with most politicians, of course, but the Huckster seems to have a much more finely tuned sense than most of how his particular words in a particular setting will play with the wider public.

Witness his odd press conference in Iowa, where he swore off negative campaigning and then showed everyone the anti-Romney hit piece he'd just said he wasn't going to show. The press laughed, called it a gaffe and a major mistake, figured his candidacy was doomed. He went up several points in the polls instead.

I'm serious, the folksy, self-effacing demeanor scares the crap out of me. He's much, much better at this than most are giving him credit for.

But maybe that's what happens when you spend your college years eating squirrel.