Mika to Huck's Rescue on Harsh Bush Criticism

"But Mika Brzezinski agrees with me!" might not be Mike Huckabee's best pitch to Republican primary voters in defending his harsh criticism of the Bush administration on foreign policy. But the fact is that Mika has done her best to throw Mike a lifeline on the matter.

In a "Foreign Policy" magazine article, an excerpt of which appears below, Huckabee had famously written of "the Bush administration's arrogant bunker mentality."

Interviewing Huckabee on today's Morning Joe, Mika teed up some recent news as supporting evidence for the "arrogant bunker mentality" allegation -- and the candidate was only too happy to take a swing.

View video here.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Governor, you've been criticized for calling the Bush administration for having an arrogant bunker mentality, and I'm looking at some of the headlines today including the fact that apparently for two years lawyers in the Bush administration discussed what to do with the CIA tapes of the harsh interrogation methods being used on potential terrorists. I want to know what you think of the destruction of those tapes, and what you think should be done now.

MIKE HUCKABEE: Let me clarify. I did not criticize the president. I like the president. But I did criticize the policies of the administration. And I don't apologize for that . . .

In fact, Huckabee criticized the Bush administration's "mentality," a more personal barb than criticism of "policies." And then . . .

HUCKABEE: These CIA tapes, the destruction of them, is very troubling, and I think we need to be asking some hard questions.

Thanks, Mika!

Note: Although Mika expressed solidarity with Huckabee on his criticism of Bush foreign policy, earlier in the interview she was skeptical of his claim that what looked like a cross in his Christmas ad was just a bookshelf: "I don't know about that, governor. It's a cross to me; it's a cross to me." Mika later mockingly exclaimed that she felt "blessed" to have watched the ad.