Huckabee, Schmuckabee

It's surprising how revealing just 10 questions can be.

Take presidential apsirant Mike Huckabee, the recently former Governor of Arkansas, who is most famous for shedding 100 pounds and fighting obesity (pictured here in his heftier days, on the right).

Time Magazine let readers ask Huckabee 10 questions as part of its regular "10 Questions" feature. Huckabee bombed his responses, clearly revealing a candidate unqualified to be President.

The first question was "why should I vote for you?"--a sure softball. With a great opportunity to distinguish himself, all the Huckster could come up with was "Because I believe that America's greatness is not in its government but in ordinary people. I know what it is like to start at the bottom, and I am very mindful of how hard people have to work to make it." Hunh?

So what?

Then Huckabee tries to explain his statement that America is "currently in a world war." He says we're "fighting against a perversion of the Muslim faith" in which "radical clerics have convinced a growing number of adherents that their purpose on earth is to kill, dismember and destroy as many people as possible." That certainly isn't the purpose of Al Queda and other radical muslim groups. His thinking is, remarkably, even more simplistic than W's.

Then, after denouncing the radical religious beliefs of some Muslims, Huckabee says, in response to a question about why he is "so fixated on unimportant topics such as gay marriage and abortion", that he "would disagree that protection of innocent life is insignificant. It is what separates us as a civilization from the very jihadists we are fighting." Are Muslim fundamentalists in favor of abortion? We don't think so. When we kill innocent civilians while tracking down jihadists, are we excused simply because we call it "collateral damage?" Not really.

Then there's this--for prospective members of the Huckaliban: when it comes to marriage, "the rules are one man, one woman for life." What does he mean by "for life"--no divorce? [Guiliani, McCain and Gingrich might want to ask him about that in a debate.]

The Huckmeister also bristles at the notion that the poultry industry in Arkansas is "wantonly" hiring illegal aliens, saying that he "would expect companies to take every step possible to ensure that their workers are legal." C'mon Governor, you KNOW those poultry operations would fail without illegals. Did you, as Governor, take every step possible to ensure that the companies were ensuring that their workers were legal? No.

We think Mr. Huckabee should go back to his trailer, er, we mean "manufactured housing," at the Arkansas Governor's mansion.