Matt Drudge's Crusade Against Mike Huckabee
Something to keep in mind as Matt Drudge continues his effort to take down Mike Huckabee: Huckabee poses the most immediate and serious threat to Mitt Romney.
As John Harris of the Washington Post first reported in October 2006, Drudge has an unusually close relationship with a senior Romney strategist, Matt Rhodes:
Last year, a delegation of RNC officials flew to Miami Beach, where Drudge lives, for a dinner at the Forge steakhouse to introduce the Internet maven to Matt Rhodes, the party's new opposition research director.
During his time at the RNC, Harris suggests, Rhodes was the G.O.P.'s main conduit for funneling potentially damaging research on Democrats to Drudge.
A year ago, Rhodes signed on to Romney's campaign. Since then, Drudge-watchers have noted Drudge's consistent refusal to hype--and in many cases to even mention--negative stories about Romney. But now Huckabee threatens to blow Romney's nomination strategy. Since last week, Drudge has unleashed a torrent of screaming, anti-Huckabee headlines, culminating in today's "exclusive" (which cites one unnamed Democrat) about the Democrats' supposed hope that Huckabee will emerge as the G.O.P. nominee.
- Poll
- Obama (D)
- McCain(R)
- Spread
- RCP Average
- 49.8
- 43.6
- Obama +6.2
- Candidate
- Favorable
- Unfavorable
- Spread
- Obama
- 54.9
- 36.1
- +18.8
- McCain
- 50.7
- 39.6
- +11.1
Most of the media has some sort of bias but Drudge seems to be the worst as he seems to be endorsing a candidate through his article selections. Drudge should be looked at as an editorial collage of articles. I actually found this article on www.polijam.com which is a similar style to Drudge but I have yet to determine which candidate they endorse.
Coincidence that the headline Huckabee story is right now followed by a red-letter Romney endorsement from the National Review?
Given the persistent rumors about Mr. Drudge's sexuality, I thought the phrase "unusually close relationship" might be suggesting something else. In light of Mr. Rhodes serving as the conduit of information between Mr. Drudge and Ken Mehlman (another prominent GOP-er rumored to be gay), perhaps there is something there?
Whether or not someone is or is not gay has nothing to do with this. The point is there is some type of relationship between Drudge and the Romney camp. It definitely sounds fishy to me and discredits what Drudge says. Drudge is the internet version of the Enquirer.. sensationalized headlines with nothing really to support their claims. For instance in this latest headline from Drudge... he received information from a "top source" but doesn't site someone specificly. This is not reporting. Anyone can make something up and just say oh ya i received it from some nameless source.
HUCKABEE'S INCOMPLETE IMMIGRATION PLAN - NO GUEST WORKER REQUIREMENTS
1. Worker Quotas for All Latin American Countries?
2. Worker Selection Criteria?
3. Worker Occupation Restriction?
4. Contract Duration Restriction?
5. Dates of Arrival and Departure?
With no provisions for quotas, selection, employment, and duration of stay in the U.S., the Huckabee plan fails to solve the fundamental problem causing the illegal immigration problem: how to get economically advantageous seasonal agricultural labor, without again causing corruption and economically disadvantageous competition for citizen benefits and jobs.
Before any candidate can be trusted to solve complex problems, they must first demonstrate the mental capacity to solve simple problems.
I have wondered this same thing over the last few months. While some bias is to be expected from people, Drudge seems to be very bold faced in his actions.
Politics can be dirty as we are all reminded of again.
In response to Jeugenen:
Huckabee Gets Minuteman Head's Backing
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h7WTOd-wBlFAVzWa0bkfRWaHiSdwD8TFDO200
I only post this off-topic tidbit since some idiot had to jump in with the usual "Huckabee is soft on immigration non-sense"...
Is Huckabee soft on immigration? NumbersUSA, a leading anti-immigration, group doesn't think so. They rank him about even with Thompson and well ahead of Romney, Giuliani, and McCain.
http://www.betterimmigration.com/candidates/2006/prez08_gop1.html
Huckabee soft on immigration, now way. Did you not see who endorsed him today? The founder of the Minuteman Project
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=880
Jeugenen you must be a slick Mitt supporter, I guess you think it is great that Mitt is using different media outlets to sling mud at other campaigns even if it's not true. It really doesn't matter because the American people are starting to see through flip flop Mitt, and his new ad will backfire because the head of the Minuteman have endorsed Mike. So if mike is so weak on immigration why would he receive this type of endorsement?
GO HUCKABEE
Great job Kornacki. It is so nice to see someone in the MSM pick up on this story.
The only "crime" here, Steve, is that folks expect Drudge to abide by the same standards as a serious journalist.
Drudge is what he is -- which is basically a tabloid. A cut-and-paste (from other sources) tabloid. Of course, he's biased. He's ALWAYS been biased (he hates the Clintons). If he skews his story selection on a topic, so what?
The Romney-Drudge Report needs to be exposed... thank you for reporting this.
The media has been letting Drudge misguide their reporting for far too long. To all those in the MEDIA: Please stop letting this tabloid artist direct your steps!
nancy sinatra...this latest story though is a Drudge story, not some cut and paste link.
I get it.
Mitt Romney is easy on the eyes. He's getting a bit older but he's still easy on the eyes.
Mike Huckabee is an ex-fatso, not so easy on the eyes, and has zero charisma.
Drudge is no dummy. He's probably saved every issue of GQ and can discern a good-looking dude from a not so good-looking dude. South Beach is all about good-looking dudes. No duds in South Beach. Only dudes.
Drudge must be related to Roy Cohn. He enjoys being nasty. I wonder if Drudge drinks orange juice and has dinner with Anita Bryant when she's in town. Her bankruptcy status may make Miami visits a no go these days. So sad! No doubt Drudge is helping her out financially. Drudge is a real credit to the gay community.
Nancy Sinatra,
These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do. One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over Matt Drudge.
I'm no Huckabee supporter, but how the heck can someone say that he has no charisma?
Note that Drudge also likes to whail on McCain, Romney's main rival in New Hampshire.
I suppose charisma is hard to define, but Huckabee is more than a few quarts low. Zero is a low figure, but I fail to see charisma.
Huckabee insults mormons is not going to get him the nomination. Do you want a nut running this country when he boasts about his religion and calls others out on theirs? This is all we need here in America when we are dealing with eastern country and most being muslims.Yea,not the choice for America I will tell you that.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8TFL9B81&show_article=1
It's funny to see the Hickabee whiners on this when the rest of the MSM has been in the tank for him the last 2 months. Drudge had a Huckaboom headline on his page the other day. How can that be anti-Huck? Every Huck story you read has the word "surge" in it. This is to imply there'sa huge wave of support Huck. Huck's rise in the polls has ben media driven just like Obama. The MSM want to remain relavant,so it's trying to coronate the candidates. This is what has this writer upset. They don't want any interference to the brainwashing job the media is trying to do to get Huck the nom.
I thought the GOP, let alone America, had had enough of the evangelical president living at 1600. Apparently not! Another evangelical president? Ha!
Yes, Huckabee's religious dogma isn't what America needs. Eight years of religious right dogma is enough. Eight is enough.
There are plenty of reasons why Huckleberry Hounds should NOT be the President of the United States, and one of the primary reasons was his proclivity as Governor of Arkansas to pardon dangerous killers and rapists back into society, over the objections and pleas of both prosecutors and victims, his apologists defend him as being 'compassionate', now where have we heard that word before?
It's the Mike Huckabee 'No Felon Left Behind' initiative, coming soon to a formerly safe neighborhood like *yours* !!!
It's about time someone is exposing the Drudge-Romney connection. Romney wants to seem like the nice clean-cut guy, but no one has slung more mud them Romney. Even worse, he doesn't even want to do the job himself so he does it through back-door connections (Drudge). Dirty politics is what Romney stands for.
RE: Drudge Report - Dem’s hold fire on Huckabee…see easy kill
What a joke! The tactic is so transparent I can’t believe the partisan media shills buy into this crap. If the Dem’s truly wanted to face Huckabee in the general, they are not so stupid to MAKE PUBLIC a “don’t criticize” mandate. They just wouldn’t criticize.
“Easy kill,” that’s not a criticism? The tactic is meant to hurt Huckabee, so that he won’t make it to the general, where he would cause real problems for the Dems. Remember Bill Clinton’s comment in September – “Huckabee’s the only Dark Horse with a chance…”?
The general public’s desire to put an end to partisan politics with a candidate like Huckabee (or Obama) is also a direct threat to the partisan media shills, who ultimately will and should be rejected.
CNN, Hannity, Drudge...
People see this stuff for what it is. I have no respect for these people. Not because they are biased but because they think their readers are so stupid that they don't even attempt to mask it.
Kudos to Zach for remembering my big hit. You are a man of fine musical tastes!
The Governor of Arkansas does not have the power to pardon people.
I read that some of the commuted sentences Huck handed out were for people who were to serve 180 years. He cut it down to 100 years so that's not really letting the guy go. Also he has no control in pardons. Huck also had numerous executions so I don't think he's soft on crime. Regardless of who your vote is going to, everyone should at least look up all their websites and there is a link that disputes allegations. Read those for all canidates then decide.
According to the Constitution of the State of Arkansas, Article 6, subsection 18, "In all criminal and penal cases, except in those of treason and impeachment, the Governor shall have power to grant reprieves, commutations of sentence, and pardons..."
So Huck *does* have the power to pardon people, grant clemency, etc.
That being said, Huck has had a hand in more pardons and commutations of sentences than the three governors before him - a large number of which had a personal connection to him, had a recommendation from their church, or a handful who worked at the governor's mansion.
In his 10.5 years as governor, he granted 1033 pardons and commutations - including the stepson of a staff member, murderers who worked at the governor's mansion, and a variety of inmates who received good words from their pastors.
In contrast, in the 17.5 combined years that Frank White, Bill Clinton and Jim Guy Tucker served as governor of Arkansas, combined they only granted 507 pardons and commutations.
I'm not saying that Drudge has or doesn't have a Romney bias (I tend to think for myself and do research without looking to one site for my information), but I am saying that I have distinct reservations about Governor Huckabee, his record on a number of things, and his ultimate ability in a general to beat the candidate the Dems prop up.
Huckabee on crime. Response to Sean Hannity:
HUCKABEE: Sean, I did something that governors ought to do. I took my job seriously. If I had acted in my own political interest, do you know how many clemencies I would have given? Zero. Because no governor is ever in trouble for denying one. You only get in trouble for actually granting it. But it's part of your job. And if people want a person elected president who looks after his own political interests rather than taking that job seriously and looking at each case with responsibility, I'm sure there's somebody else that will play politics with the lives of other people.
Let me mention two things — let me tell you why this isn't going to be an issue when it comes down to the presidential race. In the first place, crime went down in my state during my tenure as governor, not up. The second reason is I had to do something — and I did it — that no other candidate, Democrat or Republican, has done. And that's — I had to carry out the executions of 16 different people.
Now, you don't call a guy soft on crime when you carry out executions. So the whole idea that somehow I'm a soft guy
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316425,00.html
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