A pattern is emerging as the countdown to the Iowa caucuses brings out the desperation in presidential candidates: slam your opponent under the guise of playing devil’s advocate, then profess, “My bad!” and claim you’re really about the politics of hope.
Mike Huckabee and Hillary Clinton are the latest to fall into the “Whoops” category. Huckabee is apologizing in advance for an article to be published in the New York Times Magazine this weekend. Possibly after watching the YouTube video which makes Mormonism look even wackier than conventional religions by explaining its foundation, Huckabee asked a question, just purely wondering, you understand, about Mitt Romney’s chosen faith.
“Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?”
…Huckabee said he offered the question to the reporter during a conversation about Mormonism, not as a statement or a backhanded way of raising Romney’s religion as a campaign issue.
“I asked the question because I had heard that, and I asked it not to create something,” he said. “I never thought it would make the story.”
Yeah, who would have thunk that?
Meanwhile, Clinton is expressing remorse for one of her supporters musing about how the other side, not them of course, might question Barack Obama’s past drug use.
Billy Shaheen…told The Washington Post that should Obama get the Democratic nomination, “one of the things Republicans are certainly going to jump on is his drug use.”
In his 1996 memoir, “Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance,” Obama wrote candidly about his high school-era drug use: “Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though.”
Shaheen said Obama’s having been so open…will “open the door to further queries on the matter.
“It’ll be, ‘When was the last time? Did you ever give drugs to anyone? Did you sell them to anyone?’” Shaheen said. “There are so many openings for Republican dirty tricks. It’s hard to overcome.”
I’m sure Barack appreciates Billy’s concern and that of the Clinton camp. No doubt a thank you note is already in the mail.
Such widespread “I’m just sayin’” negativity is a new tactic in politics. We’re betting it will be more effective than the old school open attack strategies of the past.
