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

[soulsangels]

sexism, run on sentence, class bias, an um, you know, media elite, an um if you will, bored blooogers, um you know, mean willed poor journalism, run on paragraph, journalist not checking facts, here again, Couric, non sence-acle jabbering

[MichelleDenise64]

WOW!!!!

[trisha08]

He was soft on her at the end saying that she was "overprepared". But, he doesn't need to hit her full force yet. Doing so now would make him look bad, so he will save that for the campaign trail.

I think he made his point.

[JN Ky77]

I don't always agree with what Huckabee says, but he's plain spoken, and I admire that.

Predictions:

1. Palin will run in 2012.
2. So will Huckabee.
3. Romney probably will, and he'll get his ass handed to him much as he did in '08.
4. Huckabee will clean Palin's clock. Repeatedly.
5. Palin will -- again -- exploit her next pregnant teenage kid (like you don't know it's going to happen again), and any and all journalists who happen to be handy at that particular moment.

[trisha08]

Wow. I'm starting to really see the value in the GOP paying big bucks for Hollywood hair and makeup artists. I'm just not seeing the "hotness" when Sarah is left to her small town beauty shop stlylin'.

.

[LMKay66]

I never did see the "hotness" even with the Hollywood hair and makeup. Her ugliness inside canceled out the outside.

[NewDem08]

Thanks, LMKay. I never did see it, either. Just a snarky, mean-spirited, fading pageant contestant.

[unite4change]

Trisiha08, I feel you. I'm having those same thoughts. It's amazing what makeup can do.

[max]

huck is a good guy.....smart but the evolution belief shows hes stupid

[Leatherhelmet]

Huckabee, how did you do in the presidential race?

[steveinohio]

Seems kinda mean-spirited...he basically was the runner-up for the GOP nomination...not too many people get that close...ever.

Unless you're asking an honest question and you don't know how well he did. In that case: He finished roughly tied for 2nd for the GOP nomination.

[trisha08]

mean spirited? The mean spirited one is Palin.

[steveinohio]

I actually think the over-preparation thing might be true, if you think about it in conjunction with her being an intellectual lightweight. Remember the VP debate where she had like 5 answers down pat, and not much else? I think she may have been given so much information on "Say this, don't say that" that she got nervous when she heard a question she didn't have an easy answer for. Rather than say "Time Magazine and the NY Times" or "The Wasilla Post (or whatever)", she got caught up thinking about what was the "right" answer and it was mental shutdown time. Overloaded processors.

[myfatherschild]

But on the other hand.......if she had any type of depth of knowledge about government and world affairs, there would have been no need to "over prepare" her.

[steveinohio]

I'm sure even Barack "prepares" for interviews...lol it's just a lot harder to start from scratch!

[amaycatbaker]

Not remembering "The Frontiersman" the home town paper showed she did not read it.

[steveinohio]

Or maybe she thought of it first, but then thought she might be chastised for only reading the local paper in Alaska and that all the mainlanders would make fun of her...I imagine her prep folks probably put a lot of those kinds of ideas in her head. Everything was being way over-analyzed.

[Giada]

Good point ....

The entire situation appeared to be a rush without thinking. "We need to find a woman who will surprise and appeal to America ....ok a hockey mom, unknown will do."

The Pubs are disjointed and this was reflected throughout the campaign.

Sarah, however, is not off the hook. She's simply not accountable.

[baseballmom]

You know, if Palin had simply answered the question about newspapers by smiling and saying something like "The Wasilla Post of course" I think most people would have accepted that and that would have been the end. I'd guess that part of her preparation was how to detect "trick" questions, and rather than answering this question as the softball that it was she thought it was some kind of a trap and just froze.

I would have thought that her beauty pageant training would have covered how to handle questions like this in a poised manner.

[unite4change]

Steveinohio, you might be right in you assessment of overload; however, Palin was not or is not prepared for the national stage. Her horizon is not broad enough and she lacked curiosity. If you watch any of her post campaign interviews, it's apparent, she is not very intelligent.

[protagonia]

Sarah Palin is a gift to America.

With every word from her mouth, she is helping to rid us of the Republican Party, whether she knows it or not.

[KJennings]

Wow. "Rid us of the Republican Party"? Do you really think that would be a truly valuable thing to do? Wouldn't that go completely against what this country was supposedly founded on? Your comment just seems a little extreme and rather shortsighted. As much as the two different sides of the aisle don't agree, don't you think America is actually better off because the whole country doesn't slide one way or the other? Theoretically we're supposed to be somewhat "balanced" by having both sides represented. Because even in this very, very interesting past election here, the end result still wasn't 90/10 or 80/20 Obama, despite the Republican Party's ridiculous attempt at getting their party elected...At the very least, it would be unhealthy for the other party to be completely ELIMINATED...

[one4obama]

I totally disagree with you.

There really are a lot of good Republican politicians out there. They are simply overshadowed by the corrupt ignorant ones.

For the Republican party to be demolished, then those good Republicans can start a new party.

So, we would not be left with a one party system. Just a newly created 2nd party.

[srobert]

The Republican party did not exist when this country was founded. If it ceased to be a viable party. Another political party would replace it, likely Libertarian. More likely, the existing Republican party would adopt many of the views of another party, such as the Libertarians, until they became viable again, before any third party got the chance to take their place.

[trisha08]

Maybe Palin should run for President in a country that doesn't allow the press or citizens to scrutinize the leaders..............like N. Korea. Seems more her style since she seems to feel that she is entitled to be free from scrutiny.

Maybe that's why she has done well in Alaska. It seems that she is queen of the kingdom in Alaska.
They don't hold her accountable, nor do they dare question the queen. Just the way Palin likes it.

[ConfuciusSay-]

Frankly 2012 cannot come soon enough. Palin will be labeling her other Repubs as non-American Americans, from pro-American parts of also America.

[cjk002]

I sincerely hope it goes that way, Obama won the district where Palin made those comments by 10 points.

[Raybee]

Hey Guys! PLEEEEEEZE let the hefer fade into oblivion. JUST QUIT TALKING ABOUT HER.

[hollybork]

Overpreparation? That is rich.

[soulsangels]

But Charlie,, Charlie Charlie, Charlie was the same with Obama.

[LaurieLee]

I don't agree with most of Huckabee's political views, but he seems quite likable. On the Daily Show he and John Stewart didn't agree on gay marriage, but it never degraded into the Palin/Coulter ignorant name calling. He seems rather civil.

[shirleyfeeney]

agreed...and i loved him on SNL.

[jedonspring]

Yes. Huckabee is not polarizing. ....or at least not when we saw the most of him. Now Sarah Palin, she's offensive. Actually, not unlike Hillary.

[BlackYowe]

She really is yesterdays news now. It finally hit me who she reminds me of, Tonya Harding that skater.

[speakyourmind]

PERFECT analogy.

[wndrwrthg]

Please, Tonya has class.

[one4obama]

Actually, I never thought that Tonya had class, but when you compare her with Sarah, yup, Tonya does have class!

[NewDem08]

Fabulous comparison.

[steelerchicken]

When will Palin pull a Geraldine Ferraro and disappear? Oh, wait ... that will not happen since she is the Paris Hilton of politics and media can't get enough of her

[hollybork]

Ha. That is a good one.

[megacephalus]

some might say because Palin is better looking... but that is a matter of taste... I for one was never enamored of the 'cheerleader' type... preferring a modicum of intelligence... the brain lasts longer than the soon-to-be-sagging body parts [cheeks, he, he... :-) ]