Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Mike Huckabee's Statement regarding WOR Radio Interview

Mike Huckabee issued a statement on both Huck PAC and Facebook regarding the Kenyan comments referred to in his WOR radio interview.

Statement From Mike Huckabee Regarding WOR Radio Interview
by Web Team

On Monday, while on Steve Malzberg's radio show on New York's WOR Radio, I was asked about the President Obama's birth certificate issue. In my answer, I simply misspoke when I alluded to President Obama growing up in 'Kenya' and meant to say Indonesia.

As I have stated on page 1 of my new book 'A Simple Government' and in numerous interviews with dozens of reporters - I don't believe there is an issue with Barack Obama's birth certificate. However, I do believe there are serious issues with the President's policies, and I have been openly opposed to the President's world view.

I'm not surprised the NY Times chose to sensationalize this story. In fact, the New York Times, the AP, and other news organizations ran with the "sensationalized story" despite being specifically told by Steve Malzberg himself that they were incorrect in their assessment of the sound bite. You just can't help but laugh when my simple slip of the tongue, becomes a huge story - and a certain Presidential candidate claiming to visit all 57 states, gets widely ignored.

10 comments:

Right Wingnut said...

No sale. Replace Kenya with Indonesia in the quotes and let me know if it makes sense to you. He spoke of the British persecution and the Mau Mau Revolution...very Kenyan specific. He must think we're fools. TC, do you actually believe his explanation?

"One thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, (is) very different than the average American,"

"The bust of Winston Churchill, a great insult to the British," Mr Huckabee said. "But then if you think about it, his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather. He probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather."


Another report...

...Mr. Huckabee’s comments were prompted by the conservative radio host Steve Malzberg, who asked Mr. Huckabee: “How come we don’t have a health record, we don’t have a college record, we don’t have a birth certificate — why, Mr. Obama, did you spend millions of dollars in courts all over this country to defend against having to present a birth certificate?”

The former governor responded: “I would love to know more. What I know is troubling enough.” Mr. Huckabee, who is now a Fox News host, then talked repeatedly about his concerns that Mr. Obama was raised in Kenya. (The audio of the entire interview with Mr. Huckabee was posted on the WOR Web site.)
“If you think about it, his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather,” Mr. Huckabee said....

Anonymous said...

Mike Huckabee is Not a Birther


Let’s call this off right now. I don’t hear birtherism anywhere in Mike Huckabee’s interview with Steve Malzberg.*

1) Barack Obama spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, with his Indonesian stepfather Lolo Soetoro.

2) His father was, of course, Kenyan, and Obama returned to Kenya in his 20s to understand his roots and inheritance. Obama never lived with him.

3) One of the conservative literary hits of 2010, like it or not, was Dinesh D’Souza’s The Roots of Obama’s Rage — you know, the one about how “Kenyan anti-colonial thinking” informs Obama’s worldview.

I’ll give Huckabee the benefit of the doubt and say he put a few different ideas in the blender. So he’s not a birther; he does reveal an odd ignorance of the biography of the man he occasionally out-polls in the 2012 presidential election.

That said, I’m not sure if Obama could pass a pop quiz on the early years of Mike Huckabee.

*The number of conservative radio hosts who are birthers or birtherish is impressive, and will be a recurring annoyance for 2012 candidates as more reporters track every one of their media hits.

http://www.slate.com/BLOGS/blogs/weigel/archive/2011/03/01/mike-huckabee-is-not-a-birther.aspx

hamaca said...

I wasn't bothered with Huck thinking Obama grew up in Kenya--no big deal.

It's this attempt to convince everyone that it was just a Kenya vs. Indonesia slip that is troublesome. Misspoke? Please. He got it completely wrong. Why the need to try and pull the wool over everyone's eyes?

Anonymous said...

RW you nailed it on the head "He must think we're fools."

Anonymous said...

Nearly every day I call my younger child by her older sister's name. If Huck's mistake were that simple this would not be newsworthy. But he tied in British imperialism and the Mau Mau revolution to his fairy tale about where Obama grew up. Furthermore, the quotes that RW has provided in this thread and in mine clearly indicate that Huck was trying to stir up support for himself from amongst the birther movement.

He just thinks we are all so stupid that he can engage in spurious attacks then use his tried and true "who me/mr innocent" routine.

Anonymous said...

This was not a gaffe. He got the country wrong? Or, he was playing to the birther base.

I'm calling bull blank. He was playing to the birther base.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Texas, I'm with RW--No sale on the Indonesia excuse.

Honestly, why does Huck care about where Obama grew up anyway? I'm really tired of people on our side trying to divine some mysterious reasons for Obama's policies, and attributing motives where none exist. We look like fools when we do this. Newt, Sarah, and now Huck are all doing it.

Why should we play to the WORST elements in our base? We shouldn't, and I'm glad people like Romney, Christie, Daniels, don't.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

Heaven knows, we have enough material in the actual policies of Obama--without having to go after him, and his wife, personally.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

Here's another odd thing he said:

"The only reason I'm not as confident that there's something about the birth certificate is because I know the Clintons and, believe me, they have lots of investigators out on him, and I'm convinced if there was anything that they could have found on that, they would have found it, and I promise they would have used it," Mr Huckabee said.

Really, Huck? That's the ONLY reason you don't buy into the birther conspiracy?

Herein lies the problem with Huckabee. He tends to be a very shallow thinker, and put's his foot in his mouth far too often. He's good at being folksy and rattling off some good sound bites, but he's not circumspect or serious.

-Martha

Lori said...

Yeah, I'm not buying it either. Was no slip of the tongue. When he goes on to discuss the Mau Mau revolt, its clear he really meant Kenya. And obviously, he was misinformed.

But his defense is so overblown that its clear he cannot admit to a mistake but prefers to blame the media. He distracts and tries to deflect by saying Obama said worse.

Huckabee clearly has character flaw and proves it every time he responds to any personal criticism by blaming others. Huck, my friend, you would do well to acquire some humility.