Mike Huckabee: Natalie Portman I Didn't Bring Up 'At All' (AUDIO)

In the wake of making perceivably critical remarks about actress Natalie Portman's pregnancy, Mike Huckabee addressed the comments on Tuesday.

"I didn't bring Natalie Portman up at all," said the potential presidential contender on Sirius XM station POTUS. He suggested that conservative radio host Michael Medved was the one responsible for dragging Portman into the exchange in question.

Mediaite relays what Huckabee went on to say:

In the context of the first chapter of my book, and that's how he kind of got into it, because I talk about the importance of the family as being the most fundamental unit of government. So in the course of that, he asked me about her acceptance speech. I used that as a segue, not to talk about Natalie Portman, but to talk about the economic realities of unwed mothers.

Huckabee also reiterated a compliment he paid to Portman last week in attempting to do damage control on the reception of his initial remarks. He called her a "great actress" and added that she deserved the Best Actress Oscar she accepted at this year's Academy Awards.

Here's what Huckabee initially said that sparked backlash:

You know Michael, one of the things that's troubling is that people see a Natalie Portman or some other Hollywood starlet who boasts of, 'Hey look, you know, we're having children, we're not married, but we're having these children, and they're doing just fine.' But there aren't really a lot of single moms out there who are making millions of dollars every year for being in a movie. And I think it gives a distorted image that yes, not everybody hires nannies, and caretakers, and nurses. Most single moms are very poor, uneducated, can't get a job, and if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care. And that's the story that we're not seeing, and it's unfortunate that we glorify and glamorize the idea of out of children wedlock.

You know, right now, 75 percent of black kids in this country are born out of wedlock. 61 percent of Hispanic kids -- across the board, 41 percent of all live births in America are out of wedlock births. And the cost of that is simply staggering.

Facing criticism on the heels of the comments, Huckabee asserted that he did not "slam" or "attack" the Oscar-winning actress.

Via Mediaite comes audio of Huckabee's latest remarks:

Comments

[diamonds61]

07:46 PM on 03/20/2011

So if Huckabee thinks being an unwed mother is not good; then he needs to talk to Bristol Palin and give her a lecture for being a high school drop-out, not having a job and still living off the donations her mother Sarah gets. Since Bristol knows how to google, she can apply to Harvard and get a degree just like Natalie Portman so she can have a career and a real job and become a good role model for her child. I guess since Bristol is neither hispanic or black, being a white unwed teenage mother is very, very rare in our country - according to Huckabee. The Huck needs to get his facts checked out; he and Palin share the same ignorant method in reaching their OWN conclusions about everything they talk about.

[Dis Gust]

02:08 PM on 03/10/2011

Just didn't know when to stop talking. And it's looking like he forgot when to stop eating. Sorry Mike, but in the real world, tapes and videos don't let you disavow things that you said or did. And if you don't know that yet, you aren't smarter than a fifth grader and should never even consider being president of the United States.

[kimbanyc]

02:52 PM on 03/10/2011

Thanks for the encouraging words.

I've been where you are quite a bit lately...

love the new name

backatcha from nyc

[LittleMittens]

11:52 PM on 03/09/2011

Well then redeem yourself and start railing on about Bristol palin...

[lah007743]

06:31 PM on 03/09/2011

Alright already, move on! Enough is enough.

[caterpol]

06:27 PM on 03/09/2011

Gee. I wonder what makes mother's "single" parents. Surely, Huck, it can't have anything to do with men.

[kimbanyc]

06:26 PM on 03/09/2011

Huck keeps digging the hole wider and deeper

[Dis Gust]

02:12 PM on 03/10/2011

I fanned you before I got so disgusted with the HP that I left. But I'm back (with a new identity) and I see you are still posting. I applaud your control of your temper. And I've now fanned and faved you again. Keep up your good work!

[happiness333]

05:32 PM on 03/09/2011

Do you know the meaning of: "Quit while you're ahead??!!" Guess not!

[Dan Kreutzer]

05:00 PM on 03/09/2011

Mike Hukabee to self: Look up meaning of "let sleeping dogs lie."

[Kansas1]

03:56 PM on 03/09/2011

I find it so entertaining how Republicans somehow believe that everything they say on air is never recorded and all they have to do is deny, deny and deny it it will magically go away....so naive. Que the Daily Show team, it's time to put Huckabee against Huckabee using his own video clips to prove he's lyning yet again.

[conscioushope]

05:45 PM on 03/09/2011

Ain't it the truth?

faved, since a fan!

[TedCollins]

03:43 PM on 03/09/2011

Hay, look at the bright side Governor Huckabee.

At least no one is talking about how you thought President Obama is from Kenya, anymore.

[REDSTATEREFUGEE]

02:47 PM on 03/09/2011

Once more, no matter how intense and draining the Central California heat becomes in 2012, the Rethuglican national convention in Tampa will energize me, thanks to the likely POTUS candidates now appearing on our national stage, including Huckabee. Their almost daily "walk backs" or pathetic explanations of statements which they wholeheartedly meant, but which met with public disapproval, will be great fun to watch, especially as the stakes grow higher as we near August 2012....

[david sarro]

02:23 PM on 03/09/2011

So Huck says, "I Didn't Bring [Natalie] up at all'. Yeah, right. More likely, Natalie's naughtiness, at least as perceived by him, brought him "up."

[Belle Starr]

03:36 PM on 03/09/2011

eeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwww

[david sarro]

04:41 PM on 03/09/2011

My sentiment, exactly!

[GraceNotes]

05:50 PM on 03/09/2011

I am still wondering what Michael Medved said to get Huckabee started. Medved is rather conservative himself.

[david sarro]

06:20 PM on 03/09/2011

I've seen Michael Medved many times on MSNBC's Ed show. You're right: he's conservative, certainly not my political soul-mate. Yet he also seems a decent fellow. So I can't imagine what Medved would have said to trigger Huckabee's Pleistocene remark about Portman. If I had to guess, I'd say he said nothing at all and that Huck simply lied.

[been2there]

02:23 PM on 03/09/2011

I call semantic BS! He may not have "brought up" her name, but he sure as heck did level criticism at her.

[conscioushope]

05:47 PM on 03/09/2011

Right, and what actual difference does it make anyway.

He makes me ill!

faved, since a fan!

[Decipherer]

02:15 PM on 03/09/2011

Hey Huckster! Dude.

When you've dug yourself a deep hole you're in already, the best thing to do is stop digging.

[conscioushope]

05:48 PM on 03/09/2011

You'll have to speak up!

He can't hear. He's dug himself almost to China!

faved, since a fan!

[nastybastard]

02:12 PM on 03/09/2011

He did remark that most single moms are poor - -and their children would be starving if it weren't for gov't assistance.
Um - - isn't he against gov't assistance unless it is the form of corporate welfare?
So - -hhhmmmmm
Huckabee and his ilk are into cutting all social programs helping the poor- is he for the children of single moms - -and poor children in general - starving?

[DiscordantlyUrs]

12:23 PM on 03/16/2011

I did a quick check on some of his "numbers" and they don't match up. http://www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/p60-237.pdf

a couple of examples. of the women w/ custody only 34.2% have never been married. but that doesn't mean they don't have help. the number of unmarried parents is increasing but they are cohabiting.

again of the women (because he's obsessed with single mothers) 79.5% of custodial single mothers are gainfully employed.

and only 27% of custodial single mothers and their children live in poverty.

Marriage as we know it may soon become a dead language but that is not necessarily a bad thing. lastly I think I know where he got some of his numbers from; he sits on it most of the time.