The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Huckabee: ‘Hey, Maybe I Shouldn’t Have Trash-Talked Luke Skywalker’s Mom’

Posted on | March 4, 2011 | 45 Comments

We’ve finally found a Republican dumber than Dan Quayle:

Mike Huckabee walked back his criticisms of actress Natalie Portman for “glamorizing” out-of-wedlock pregnancies Friday, with a statement insisting he was only talking about society and that he’s glad the Oscar winner plans to wed her baby’s father. . . .
“I was asked about Oscar-winner Natalie Portman’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy,” he added. “Natalie is an extraordinary actor, very deserving of her recent Oscar and I am glad she will marry her baby’s father.
“However, contrary to what the Hollywood media reported, I did not ‘slam’ or ‘attack’ Natalie Portman, nor did I criticize the hardworking single mothers in our country,” he said.

History rather vindicated Quayle’s famous criticism of Murphy Brown (see “Dan Quayle Was Right,” by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead) but here’s the difference between that incident and this: Murphy Brown was a fictional TV series. The unwed preganancy of Candace Bergen’s character was one of those “push-the-envelope” stunts of the sort made famous by Norman Lear (“All in the Family,” “Maude,” “The Jeffersons,” etc.). Whereas, by contrast, Natalie Portman is a real person whose unwed pregnancy is not intentionally controversial.

We have no reason to believe that Natalie Portman became pregnant with any intention of “making a statement” or “pushing the envelope.” If Huckabee, the former Baptist minister, wishes to condemn fornication and bastardy, or to talk about the societal impact of our nation’s epidemic of fatherlessness, OK. But why drag the Star Wars star into this argument? Portman was already catching grief from the feminist ax-grinders for having declared motherhood “the most important role of my life.”

Good rule of thumb in politics: Find out what side of the issue feminists are on, and get on the other side. (If feminists ever bothered to denounce Islam’s brutal oppression of women, I might have to consider joining the Taliban. But feminists are too busy whining about “pay equity” to notice that Muslims are still stoning women to death under sharia law and forcing girls into arranged marriages.)

If Huckabee wanted to weigh in on Hollywood decadence, he could have swung his stick at the Charlie Sheen pinata and no one would have complained. As it is, I suspect Huck was trying to aim a carom shot at a certain Republican woman whose daughter is a single mom.

This his shot ricocheted badly and hit Huckabee between the eyes is one of those  results that makes you think God’s got a wicked sense of irony.

And yet another reminder, as if we needed reminding, that you can’t spell “Huckabee” without an “F.”

Category: Celebrities, Election 2012, Marriage, Mike Huckabee

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