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

[Carsy]

"I didn't think she was shopping for my advice", I think that is Huckabee's why of saying she was arrogant. I cheered Jon Stewart after he nailed Mike on gay marriage, but I think he isn't stupid. He has the ability to access the situation, adapt, perhaps tolerate and learn from it.

[Carsy]

Sorry, misquoted Huckabee, " I didn't figure that she was shopping for my advice"

[cutesky]

It wasn't advice she was shopping for...It was a new wardrobe.

[progressivelady]

Take that with your Whine sarah p.

[Quotidien]

Is Huckabee the Republican Lieberman???

[PoliticalAmazon]

No. He's going to run for pres in 2012 and wants Palin out of the way.

She can out-crackpot him, and that makes her a threat.

[Carsy]

I think you give her a little too much credit.

[LibKitty]

Huckabee doesn't want to split the "Righteous Right" vote with Palin. He wants them all to himself.

[CTA]

I don't agree with Huckabee on much, and clearly this is a shot at a potential for the next nomination, but I have to agree with him on this one.

I can't imagine if Couric or Gibson had interviewed the male candidates that their questions would have been as soft

[NoSillyName]

They gave her enough rope. Spalin is ignorant and can never shut up once she starts talking. Couric was kind to her; she could have asked follow-up questions and made mincemeat of her. And I'm no Couric fan.

[PhilipTaylor]

Is Huckabee the next Republican leader?

That would be GREAT!

[jtmoney]

not so fast!

[kylennblack]

No. He's as big of a crackpot as she is.

[TheNovak]

Huckabee's an extremely likeable, dorky guy, and I think he'd make a decent President if he wasn't so damn fundie.

Good ol' religion, ruining an otherwise perfectly serviceable candidate.

[tobyjack]

Great if you like jingoism, racism and alleged christians whe enjoy casting the first stone.

[Psychodelic]

This Huckabee guy aint that bad. Keep it comin Mike, were dying to see politicians with a backbone.

[jtmoney]

He's not at all. I disagree with about 100% of his policy, but it's okay to disagree with a person and still like them. I don't at all think of him as a bad person, we only have different views of what is best for our country. I actually appreciate Huckabee's honesty and dead panned sense of humor. He always cracks me up. I really think he is the most likeable Republican there is.

[kylennblack]

He's another Jesus gave pony rides on dinosaurs creationist nutcase. He shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the White House.

[ButtercupNugget]

Even if they also are extrem!st bible-thumpers? Those are the kind to worry about.

[SodamY]

A list of republican canidates that could wipe the floor with Sarah Palin

1. Bobby Jindal
2. Mike Huckabee
3. Mitt Romney
4. Ron Paul
5. (God help me) Jeb Bush
6. (Once again god help me) Rudy Giuliani
7. That Hunter guy from Utah.
8. Anything with brain cells

With that said watching her get her butt handed to her by Bobby Jindal is going to be awesome.

[bastalready]

I agree with most but #8 is going to be difficult to find.

[Felicty]

They can be found, but they would not be republicans.

[Chubbster]

Jindal is more of an extremist nut than she is.

[MaximMaximus]

Gov. Palin should realize that she's the only person responsible for her stupidity, bigotry, ignorance, lack of principles, and incapability to speak her own first language properly (note: This is only a short list of her fundamental shortcomings). It's as if Gov. Palin was placed on this earth to represent the work "inept" in its truest sense. Under such circumstances, her badmouthing of the press and media makes her look not only silly, but also mentally retarded. But her level of self absorption is at such a level which requires clinical intervention for she is incapable to realize that she's be wrong all along despite a plethora of rational commentary against her personality and political persona. While people do have the right to pursue a life which can categorically be classified as a white trash soap opera, they have not right whatsoever to expect the American people to play along to their satisfaction.

[gayla7]

Very well said but I'm sure Palin didn't understand any of the big words used here.

[slipthalo]

Agree - she can barely get by 'and' 'the' 'it' 'we' but did conquer 'mavericky' rather quickly.

[koban]

Agreed. I love that she is trying to blame the media, as if they were responsible for her personality and character flaws and distorted vision of reality. Maybe this can be an eye opener for her to reexamine what type of person she would like to be in life, but considering what type of person she already is I doubt she self-reflects at all. Nobody in the media portrayed her as being a bimbo, she did that all on her own. Just like Bush, she's delusional. She thinks she should be seen in a way that people just don't see her. I imagine that's a huge blow to one's ego upon that realization.

[Scooter60660]

Too bad this was reporrted in a print magazine. It gives Huck the chance to say that he was misquoted in the article.

[medici]

In the couple interviews she was allowed to go on, Sarah displayed her one digit IQ.

[southwindow]

To defend Palin once again, the American people elected someone every bit as dumb and ill prepared for the presidency twice- he just had a famous last name. So who is really a disgrace?

[XLintLuvR]

Fool me once...sha­me on....sham­e on you...if you fool me you can't get fooled again.

[Mugzi]

Again, King jeb gave the 2000 election to gw through the court here in Florida. 2004 the election was rigged in gw's favor through Diebold and Ken Blackwell in Ohio...hop­efully a practice never to be repeated!!!

[TruthAndTheory]

Someitmes I feel he's more genuine than other Reps, but then again, he thinks the Earth is flat, so that takes care of that.

[Shashi0224]

And he believes in creationism and thinks that dinosours and people roamed the earth at the same time.
Frightening.

[Kevin Casey]

Flat, as in global economics? Or the actual topography of the globe?

[AgathaX]

Somebody sign Huck up for some science classes. Or perhaps not. If it weren't for his own willful blindness he'd be a powerful adversary.

[slowtono]

Huck is another Republican that needs to leave! You'll never get my vote your whimpy and unfaithful!

[Mike169]

Mike is feeling the heat from the overheated pile of rubble known as the republican base. Their interest in this woman is believable only in light of what has become of the repubs. They ought to put their heads together and maybe they'd be able to come up with something akin to a brain.

[one4obama]

Only if you are referring to the other head, cause the head that actually contains a brain is pretty much lost on Republicans.

[Mike169]

What's the other head?