Here’s an interesting interview with Mike Huckabee in the D.C. Examiner, a relatively new free daily in the Washington area. It’s backed by right-wing money and stocked up with writers of that ilk, including the reporter of this article, but the point of view makes this interesting reading because it produces a focus on contentious issues within the Republican Party.

Huckabee defends himself against criticism from the anti-tax Club for Growth, suggests there’s something to the notion that the Republicans tend to favor the rich in tax policy and and also suggests a bad mid-term election could be good for him. Coldly prgamatic and also true, even if the statement  fairly nakedly places  his own interests above those of the party. (Don’t they all do that?)

Advertisement

Gov. Mike Huckabee says his prospects for winning the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 might actually improve if his own party takes a beating in the 2006 midterm elections.

“Will it be a wake-up call to our party, that we’re going to have to retool the message — not the principles — but the message?” Huckabee muses in an interview with The Examiner. “And will the party start looking for new voices, the ones that aren’t so already established?

Advertisement

“If so, then a guy like me may have a moment,” he adds. “If they say, ‘Well, it’s just McCain’s turn,’ well OK. But I don’t think we’re going to go there.”

Although some polls suggest Sen. John McCain is the early front-runner in the GOP presidential sweepstakes, Huckabee says the Arizona maverick should not start measuring the Oval Office for drapes just yet.

Advertisement

“I have a hard time seeing him being elected president, just because I think, at times, some of his views have alienated very important segments of the Republican Party,” Huckabee says. “I’m not sure he can mend the fences with the evangelical wing of the party, the pro-life part of the party.”

I guess we can safely assume John McCain wasn’t in town to visit The Huckster when he was spotted in LR on Labor Day.

Advertisement

UPDATE: The same reader who tipped us to the Examiner interview notes a link to Washington Monthly, where a roster of unhappy Republican conservatives write about unhappiness with the current direction of their party and the salubrious effect of a mid-term defeat.

Be a Part of the Fight

Step up and make a difference by subscribing or donating to the Arkansas Times, the progressive, alternative newspaper in Little Rock that's been fighting for truth for 50 years. Our tough, determined, and feisty journalism has earned us over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, all of whom value our commitment to holding the powerful accountable. But we need your help to do even more. By subscribing or donating, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be supporting our efforts to hire more writers and expand our coverage. Join us in the fight for truth by subscribing or donating to the Arkansas Times today.

Previous article Review: Eddie Spaghetti and Supersuckers Next article Making music