Should we call him Mike "Huck-a-unbeatable"?
As noted here, on Monday David Shuster predicted that Mike Huckabee would win the White House if matched up against Hillary Clinton. Appearing on Morning Joe today at 6:05 AM ET, the MSNBC correspondent took his optimism about Huckabee's prospects a quantum leap further, saying the former Arkansas governor would defeat any Dem opponent.
View video here.
Normally a panelist, Willie Geist is hosting the show today in Joe Scarborough's absence.
DAVID SHUSTER: And I would go even further. And that is, if Mike Huckabee is the Republican nominee, he would be the next president regardless of who the Democratic nominee is.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI [incredulously]: What??
GEIST: Wow.
SHUSTER: And here's why: in Iowa they're discovering that Mike Huckabee is more personable, is more engaging, is more well-liked -- nevermind the experience stuff -- is more well-liked than the rest of the field combined. Luckily, voters are thinking about policies and positions, so that's going to be a factor, at least in Iowa.
But the fact of the matter is, if Mike Huckabee is in a general election against Edwards, against Obama, against Hillary, that race will turn into a personality contest and Mike Huckabee will win it hands-down. If the Republican nominee is somebody like John McCain, who's got a sort of an engaging personality but not like Huckabee, then it will be more of an election about policy differences and positions and about the issues.
So, as I wondered Monday, is Shuster speaking sincerely or is he trying to gull Republicans into nominating a vulnerable candidate? I'm tending to think Shuster means what he says -- but might well simply be mistaken. First, when it comes to likability, Obama is certainly no slouch. And any Dem campaign would be devoted to dismantling Huck's likability with a strategy blending the personal and political, along the lines "there's nothing likable about a man who would [fill in the policy position]."
Note: In contrast, Shuster is no Ron Paul fan, repeatedly labelling the libertarian a "crackpot," largely because of his view that Lincoln was wrong to wage the Civil War.
UPDATE | 12-26 10:10 AM ET: Appearing in a later segment, Chris Matthews suggested that Huckabee, far from being a sure winner, is being promoted by the MSM because they believe he'd be easy to beat.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: The establishment media has made him a mascot, and you know that, Willie. The liberal media guys who write for the New Yorker and magazines like that think that have treated him as cute -- and not very dangerous. And you gotta wonder whether it's all a conspiracy . . . and they want him because he's the sterotypical right-winger. You don't believe in evolution, you don't believe in abortion rights. You believe in guns to protect you from the government. This is whack-job. Hey, isn't it great? And then they get him nominated and then they get "anybody get beat Huckabee!"
