Mike Huckabee On Sarah Palin: Katie Couric Was "Extraordinarily Gentle" With Her

Unlike John McCain's daughter Meghan, former GOP Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee doesn't have a policy against talking about Sarah Palin. In an interview with A.J. Jacobs from Esquire released Tuesday, Huckabee refused to join Palin's cabal against Katie Couric, saying the anchor was "extraordinarily gentle, even helpful" to the candidate. Read the excerpt on Palin below from the article.

I ask him if she was treated fairly by the media. "There were a lot of unfair things. Sexist things that would never have been asked of a male candidate." He pauses. "Now I must say I did not think that either the Charlie Gibson interview or the Katie Couric interviews were unfair. In fact, if anything, Katie Couric was extraordinarily gentle, even helpful. [Palin] just...I don't know what happened. I can't explain it. It was not a good interview. I'm being charitable."

He pauses. "I think it was overpreparation. She'd been hammered by McCain's aides, 'Say this, don't say that.' "

Huckabee has met Palin a few times and talked to her backstage at the Republican National Convention.

"Did you give her any advice?"

"I didn't figure that she was shopping for my advice."

"But she sure was shopping."

"Yeah," chuckles Huckabee. Then stays quiet. I set him up for an easy spike, but he holds his tongue.

Comments

[solarian]

what is her IQ hopefully it is above double digits

[hortonhearsawho2]

1/8

[indypete]

If it were 2 points higher she'd be a potato.

[NoMoreFreepers]

LOLOL

[CaliTLC]

In her next interview, SP will beat up on Mike Huckabee. Once again, she will wear the victim coat.

[newleaf]

I do agree with Huckabee, Katie was gentle and encouraging. Palin pissed it all away.

second point, anyone who needs that much handling that they get completely confused, maybe they're not ready for the big league yet, eh?

[Quiv]

Let the GOP catfighting and feeding frenzy begin!

[rhondadavis28]

Huckabee is right. Couric was only trying to introduce Palin to the country with her questions. It was Palin's ineptitude then (and now) that are landing these new blows to Palin's credibility. Alaskans are up in arms about her inordinate attention to her own career when they'd prefer her to be paying attention to the deficit state budget and major social issues. What a narcissist. With luck, the March issue of Esquire will be the last interview she EVER feels like giving.

[DinkyP]

Check out www.themudflats.com site. It is a blogger from Alaska. Posted an article today about Bob Poe. Poe is running for Gov. in 2010. The blogger from mudflats emailed Poe a question regarding the natives problem right now with fuel. Poe repsonded immediately.

In the meantime the www.adn.com has an article about how Sarah Palin and the state of Alaska are spending money to sue the US because they do not want to put the white whales on the endangered list. So Gov Palin is spending alot of money on legal fees to kill whales. Instead she could have used that money to help the native Alaskans not FREEZE this winter!

The Gov of Alaska just likes destroying.

[TommyObama]

So does Huckabee. He needs her out of the way if he has any hope for nomination in 2012. But it looks like it might just be poor Alaskans who take her down.

[PWM]

I doubt the GOP will even take Palin seriously in 2012.

[Axekick]

Mike Huckabee and myself are nearly political opposites. That said I find him to be as authentic and straight forward as you will find on the republican parties national stage. Prior to McCain winning the nomination, Huckabee was the republican I least wanted the Democratic candidate to face off against.

[shockmagog]

The American people would have been served a load of Huckabee just as they were introduced to the steaming pile that was McCain/Palin.

Part of Huckabee's Populist Evangelism platform was pushing the Fair Tax idea:

'One aspect of the fair tax is that it would dramatically shift the national tax burden. The richest fifth of taxpayers would see their tax rate fall by about 20 percent, and the bottom 80 percent would all pay more. This is a strange aspiration for somebody like Huckabee who denounces the "growing disparity between the top and the bottom."'
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=c2629ba4-609c-4575-aa12-27dde47d411e&p=2

'Governor Won't Sign an 'Acts of God' Bill'
Published: March 21, 1997
'The Arkansas Legislature scrambled today to rewrite a bill intended to protect storm victims after Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, objected to language describing such natural phenomena as tornadoes and floods as ''acts of God.'''
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE0DB173BF932A15750C0A961958260&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/H/Huckabee,%20Mike

[Skye1er]

What is all of this complaining about Democrats dissing Palin? What about McCain's own staff dissing her?

[lincolnwalt]

McCain staffers were poor loosers who had to blame somebody so they lied about Palin - stupid petty lies. Same as Colin Powell playing the race card and jumping ship because he wanted to be on the winning team. Keep track of how many of the campaign promises that BO keeps. Some people were intelligent enough to do the research and find that MANY of BO's campaign promises can not be kept because the math doesn't work!!!!

[PWM]

Was it McCain's fault Palin went on a spending spree with RNC money?

[Riker]

Yes, Huckabee comes off as an affable and humorous person, but his politics are appalling; extremely anti-gay and anti-choice, ask any gay person or non-Republican woman in Arkansas. All the limits of civil rights down there (witness the horrible anti-gay adoption laws just voted in down there) are directly attributed to Huckabee and his draconian, "Christian" belief system.

[sonomarc]

I can't wait for the disemboweling of the Republican Party in the 2012 primaries. Huck ripping Palin, Palin spreading slander. It'll be a real field dressing party.

[TommyObama]

True dat! Don't anybody wear white! (actually, I think some of Huckabee's supporters wear white robes, but that's another venue!)

[PWM]

I don't recall anyone at a Huckabee rally calling for murder.

[sippewissett]

Hilarious. Palin complains that the McCain campaign should have given her more latitude and more exposure in handling herself during the campaign so her current round of interviews is apparently her journalistic attempt to right that wrong and show that she knows how to handle her own destiny -- only to be side-swiped by one of her own (i.e., on the Right).

Huckabee is right. Couric was only trying to introduce Palin to the country with her questions. It was Palin's ineptitude then (and now) that are landing these new blows to Palin's credibility. Alaskans are up in arms about her inordinate attention to her own career when they'd prefer her to be paying attention to the deficit state budget and major social issues. What a narcissist. With luck, the March issue of Esquire will be the last interview she EVER feels like giving.

[LittleJimmieG]

Anyone who can play Rock and Roll bass is a hell of a lot more talented than anyone who can shoot a Moose.

[swo68]

She's never shot a moose.

[minty68]

No just wild wolfes, and then she put up a bounty for their paw.

[lunchlady]

Guess Mike wants The Base back all to himself. He recently said that the only thing different between himself and Palin was the heels and the hair. I think Mike is a more feasible candidate than Palin. He would have been able to answer a few simple questions without looking like a nimrod and then whining about it later.

[lincolnwalt]

Nimrod....­as Barack Obama stating that he had been to 57 states and had one to go, or Biden's numerous Hoof-n-Mouth disease diarrhea? Those boys were teflon during the campaign, no matterwhat crap fell on them, it was ignored by the media AND their supporters. NONE of the candidates are perfect, WHY they are even human, imagine that! The reporting of the important issues should be the the very same for all candidates. Anybody who says it was equal is ignorant of the issues and dangerous in the voting booth. It will be interesting in 2012, when the base can proudly display their bumper stickers that say "Don't blame me, I didn't vote for him."

[swo68]

Couldn't agree more.

[L3ftofC3nter]

yawn...

[SusanStoHelit]

Nice to see a Republican be honest about the Couric interview, for once. She gave Palin softballs - and Palin couldn't handle them - I mean, come on now - what papers do you read? Where do you get your news? Talk about the gentlest of softball questions. My 12 year old niece could answer that question!

[sippewissett]

Yes, but your 12-year-old niece can read, write and think, probably all at once.

[me again]

Why defend the indefensible?

[munki]

Honestly..­. be a good looser...
Blaming everyone else... gee...

I really thought Katie was extremely polite and gentle...
gave SP queue for answer, but SP just don't get it...
Nothing disgusts me more than...
finger pointing others while SP should blame herself...

[weatherwaxx]

loser.

cue.

[munki]

ooops... ur rite