Why the Media Helped Huckabee

RUSH: Rick in Charlotte, North Carolina — I want to grab a phone call quickly. Great to have you with us, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Oh, my friend, Rush. My friend, Rush, you have really picked a pretty interesting way to fight this situation regarding Huckabee. About two weeks ago, starting on the Monday that you left, Mike Huckabee has been subjected to the biggest… job you could imagine among all of these candidates, among Republicans. He’s going to go in bloodied, beaten, brutalized, and hobbled because you and other guys — and your big pulpit here over the microphone — have just been running him through the mill.

RUSH: Rick? Now, Rick, be very careful here. Do not rewrite history to the man with the perfect memory: me.

CALLER: All right.

RUSH: I was sitting here minding my own business bothering nobody, not endorsing anyone, when somebody on Huckabee’s staff lashed out in such a way that I was unable to ignore it and avoid it, because it had seminal meaning as to who Huckabee is and what his campaign is, and what they are. I simply responded to it.

CALLER: Well, if you responded, that’s okay. I can understand you defending yourself and they have to defend themselves, too, but what I’m trying to say is that he’s been held up to a standard that no other Republican candidate has been subjected to, namely his words have been parsed just… If you remember, of course, with your Donovan McNabb myth that they tried to… They parsed your words and wrongly did to you, and same thing with —

RUSH: Yeah, yeah, right.

CALLER: — Michael J. Fox —

RUSH: It’s the big leagues. I don’t know who you’re talking about parsing Huckabee’s words. While he was in the lead, the Drive-By Media was promoting this guy left and right. Now they’ve moved off of Huckabee. They wanted Huckabee to win Iowa. They want Huckabee (or wanted Huckabee) to get the nomination, for reasons not in any way related to the fact that they love Huckabee. The reason that the Drive-Bys and Democrats are so excited about Huckabee is because — and I’m telling you this from their perspective, folks. This is not my opinion. It is my opinion of what liberals think and the Drive-By Media. But they hate the religious right. They despise activist evangelical Christians, because activist evangelical Christians frighten the bejeezus out of liberals — and, of course, there’s no bejeezus in liberals, and so they’re empty after they’re frightened. So here comes Huckabee, and they’ve been looking for ways, folks, to get rid of the influence of the Christian right for years in the Democrat Party and in the Drive-By Media. So here comes Huckabee. He’s running as an evangelical. He is running using identity politics.

Identity politics is: ‘Vote for me, I’m an evangelical! Forget everything else you know about me. Forget what my issue stands are. Forget my record. Forget my past. I’m a Christian!’ That’s identity politics, and usually the left does that: ‘Vote for me, I’m the black guy!’ ‘Vote for me, I’m the gay guy!’ ‘Vote for me, I’m the lesbo!’ ‘Vote for me, I’m the woman!’ Mrs. Clinton has tried identity politics in playing the gender card, for example. Now, we Republicans and conservatives generally don’t do that, but Huckabee did. So the Drive-Bys, the media said, ‘Whoa! Here’s a chance. We build this guy up; we get him the nomination, and then in the general election we destroy him, and in the process of destroying Huckabee…’ See, they were not parsing his words. They were ignoring his words, Rick. They weren’t paying attention to his record or anything. They were helping him along with the identity politics business. Their intention was to destroy him — and, in their minds, the entire Christian right once and for all if they could get him the nomination. Now they’re promoting McCain.