Mike Huckabee fumbles gay marriage question

February 02, 2015

WRITER

Mike Huckabee has eyes set on the 2016 GOP nomination but likely isn’t too happy with an early misstep. Of course the media begins by trying to paint Huckabee as a hate monger, but he didn’t do himself any favors by completely dropping the ball on a question about gay marriage. How should he have answered?

Below is a rough transcript of this segment:

GLENN: Mike Huckabee is not off to a good start on his campaign. He was on CNN this weekend and he was asked a question, and in fairness, nobody on the left is going to be asked, but he was asked how he feels about gay friends.

VOICE: Given that, how do you square that religious conviction with being open to having gay friends?

HUCKABEE: Well, people can be my friends who have a lifestyles that are not necessarily my lifestyles. I don't shut people out of my circle or out of my life because they have a different point of view. I don't drink alcohol, but gosh, a lot of my friends, maybe most of them do. You know, I don't use profanity, but believe me, I've got at lot of friends who do. Some people really like Classical music and ballet and opera. It is not my cup of tea. I would like to think there's room in America for people to have different points of view without screaming and shouting and wanting to shut their businesses down.

PAT: All right so he's got friend who are gay, some who drink, some who swear and some actually watch ballet?

GLENN: What are the odds that Mike Huckabee has one friend that swears, drinks, watches ballet and is gay?

PAT: It's probably pretty good. I think I probably know someone like that.

GLENN: When I'm thinking about a presidential campaign, I'm my thinking to myself this is the way I want it to start.

PAT: It's hard, though, because they consider him to be this deeply Christian guy. He's going to run into all kind of this stuff and they are going to ask him questions that they won't ask anybody else, like you said. And they know the hottest topic there is that could burn somebody who isn't on board with gay marriage necessarily is to ask them about gay marriage. And they are going to do it repeatedly.

GLENN: Over and over and over again.

PAT: Last year, Hillary Clinton was still not in favor of gay marriage.

GLENN: May I just suggest that's the way to answer this. You know the president had -- was against gay marriage four years ago. Hillary Clinton last year came out and said she was for gay marriage. Last year. The country is moving in one direction and I'm not quite there yet. Maybe that's what you say. Maybe that's how you say it. If you're Mike Huckabee, that's what you say. Me, I say you want to get married, go get married. Why is the state involved in gay marriage.

Out of all the things that we have to talk about, why is the state involved in this? I'll tell you why, because it's a way to control and manipulate things. Let people decide. Let this all be decided in the churches, let it be decided in your local communities. Why is the state involved at all?

PAT: I will say every year on our anniversary, the governor of Utah who was in office at the time my wife and I were married comes and celebrates with us on our anniversary?

GLENN: Really?

PAT: Yeah. Kind of special. Norm Bangerter. He comes down, no matter where we live, just because -- he does it with everybody who got married in that state at that time. Yeah. Kind of cool. I think that's added a lot to our marriage.

GLENN: I think so too. I look at the marriage certificate we have from the state. Oh, my gosh, I cherish that.

PAT: Do you?

GLENN: I do. I have keep it handy and there someplace --

PAT: It adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the marriage.

GLENN: I look forward to it. I'm not married until I get the official declaration from the state. When the state says I'm married --

PAT: Then you are married. You aren't married until the people taking half of your salary from your paycheck --

GLENN: So you could answer it that way or you could say I have friend who like ballet.

PAT: And some of those are gay as well.

GLENN: Maybe. Maybe not. I have friends who are gay, some of them swear. I think that makes you so relevant.

PAT: That's a weird answer.

GLENN: Can I tell you something Daddy-O? It makes you today. So now here's some more from the hipster, Mike Huckabee, when he's on radio. 24 you thought the I have friends who like ballet was a good answer listen to this. He's on radio, and he's talking about the decay of our society.

VOICE: Given that, how do you kind of square --

GLENN: No. Not that one.

VOICE: I was shocked that you go into New York -- it's one of those things, you are in a business meeting you might have in the south or in the Midwest there in Iowa, you would not have people who would just throw the F bomb and use gratuitous profanity in a professional setting. In New York, not only do the men do it, the women do it. You say my gosh, this is worse than locker room talk. This would be considered totally inappropriate to say these things in front of a woman. And for a woman to say them in a professional setting, we would only assume this is a very, as we'd say in the south, that's just trashy.

PAT: Where does this -- where has this guy lived the last 50 years? What he's saying, all of us should have better language than we do right?

GLENN: I agree with --

PAT: Where have you been since 1938?

GLENN: Well, that's just trashy. I've never heard that said in the south. I live in the south.

PAT: Women have sworn in the south in a long time, in business settings too.

GLENN: I have had really nice southern belles tell me off, using some really trashy words, and it just sounds so sweet, like the tea they're making. I will tell you that this is not the winning -- not a winning strategy.

PAT: No, it is not.

GLENN: He's never heard women swear before, and you go up into New York, and wind say things that they don't say in the south.

PAT: And I saw one of them smoking a cigarette, and it wasn't a Virginia Slims. It wasn't one of her own cigarettes. It was a man's cigarette. I was aghast.

GLENN: Now, again, I agree with his desire for us --

PAT: Yes. To be a more gentile society?

GLENN: We should be. I would like for us to be a less trashy society, but this shows him as really Mr. 1956. I don't know where he's living. What America is he living in? You are stunned by this? It's not like -- and I was in a part of New York and a guy came in with a gun and just blew his head off after killing four other people.

Even that, you are kind of like yeah, okay, I have seen that. Yeah all right. Not everybody has seen that, but I have seen that a couple of times. It's not like she said the F word and S word. I was horrified.

PAT: Horrifying. What kind of freak would say something like that?

GLENN: I don't know. So there's Mike Huckabee, your choice for 1956. It's not going to go well.

PAT: I don't think it is. I hope it doesn't. I have don't want the guy --

GLENN: He's a Progressive.

PAT: He is, on political issues. Yes, he's a social conservative but he's a social conservative who was in favor of Common Core?

GLENN: This is, again, why conservatives get a bad name, why I don't want to be known as a conservative, because I have those same values but I am not Mike Huckabee. I don't want to live in that world, but I'm not Mike Huckabee and what is Mike Huckabee? He has those values then will institutionalize those values. He will try to regulate through law, he always does. He's a huge fan of a lot of the things that this president has done. I'm not interested. Thank you.

PAT: He's an interesting conundrum. He will be in favor of some policies like, as he did when he was governor, granting amnesty to prisoners, then the Michelle Obama dictates on lunch for the government telling our kids what they can and can't eat at school. What conservative is in favor of that? And then there's Common Core. And people always call and say no, he was in favor of Common Core, but then he said he's not. He said change the name of it. Don't backtrack on it, but change the name.

GLENN: That is the progressive answer. That's what Progressives do for everything. Change the name.

PAT: And it works for them.

GLENN: It does.

PAT: They changed pro-abortion to pro-choice. That's a much nicer feel, right? You are not pro-death.

GLENN: You change classic liberalism, which means freedom, means the opportunity to chart your own course, to be your own man, to stand up on your own two feet, to be free. Classic liberalism, you change that to progressivism. When progressivism dies, you have now erased what classic liberalism means and you become liberals, so you just take away that choice. That's what they do. They always just change names.

Featured image courtesy of the AP

Washington Post EXPOSED: How Watergate editors almost published a fake Pulitzer Prize-winning story

Episode 6 of Glenn’s new history podcast series The Beck Story releases this Saturday.

This latest installment explores the history of Left-wing bias in mainstream media. Like every episode of this series, episode 6 is jam-packed with historical detail, but you can’t squeeze in every story, so some inevitably get cut from the final version. Part of this episode involves the late Ben Bradlee, who was the legendary editor of the Washington Post. Bradlee is legendary mostly because of the Watergate investigation that was conducted on his watch by two young reporters named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Bradlee, Woodward, and Bernstein became celebrities after the release of the book and movie based on their investigation called All the President’s Men.

But there is another true story about the Washington Post that you probably won’t see any time soon at a theater near you.

In 1980, Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee wanted to expand the Post’s readership in the black community. The paper made an effort to hire more minority journalists, like Janet Cooke, a black female reporter from Ohio. Cooke was an aggressive reporter and a good writer. She was a fast-rising star on a staff already full of stars. The Post had a very competitive environment and Cooke desperately wanted to win a Pulitzer Prize.

Readers were hooked. And outraged.

When Cooke was asked to work on a story about the D.C. area’s growing heroin problem, she saw her chance to win that Pulitzer. As she interviewed people in black neighborhoods that were hardest hit by the heroin epidemic, she was appalled to learn that even some children were heroin addicts. When she learned about an eight-year-old heroin addict named Jimmy, she knew she had her hook. His heartbreaking story would surely be her ticket to a Pulitzer.

Cooke wrote her feature story, titling it, “Jimmy’s World.” It blew away her editors at the Post, including Bob Woodward, who by then was Assistant Managing Editor. “Jimmy’s World” would be a front-page story:

'Jimmy is 8 years old and a third-generation heroin addict,' Cooke’s story began, 'a precocious little boy with sandy hair, velvety brown eyes and needle marks freckling the baby-smooth skin of his thin brown arms. He nestles in a large, beige reclining chair in the living room of his comfortably furnished home in Southeast Washington. There is an almost cherubic expression on his small, round face as he talks about life – clothes, money, the Baltimore Orioles and heroin. He has been an addict since the age of 5.'

Readers were hooked. And outraged. The mayor’s office instructed the police to immediately search for Jimmy and get him medical treatment. But no one was able to locate Jimmy. Cooke wasn’t surprised. She told her editors at the Post that she had only been able to interview Jimmy and his mother by promising them anonymity. She also revealed that the mother’s boyfriend had threatened Cooke’s life if the police discovered Jimmy’s whereabouts.

A few months later, Cooke’s hard work paid off and her dream came true – her story was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. Cooke had to submit some autobiographical information to the Prize committee, but there was a slight snag. The committee contacted the Post when they couldn’t verify that Cooke had graduated magna cum laude from Vassar College. Turns out she only attended Vassar her freshman year. She actually graduated from the University of Toledo with a B.A. degree, not with a master’s degree as she told the Pulitzer committee.

Cooke’s editors summoned her for an explanation. Unfortunately for Cooke and the Washington Post, her resume flubs were the least of her lies. After hours of grilling, Cooke finally confessed that “Jimmy’s World” was entirely made up. Jimmy did not exist.

The Pulitzer committee withdrew its prize and Cooke resigned in shame. The Washington Post, the paper that uncovered Watergate – the biggest political scandal in American history – failed to even vet Cooke’s resume. Then it published a front-page, Pulitzer Prize-winning feature story that was 100 percent made up.

Remarkably, neither Ben Bradlee nor Bob Woodward resigned over the incident. It was a different time, but also, the halo of All the President’s Men probably saved them.

Don’t miss the first five episodes of The Beck Story, which are available now. And look for Episode 6 this Saturday, wherever you get your podcasts.

5 Democrats who have endorsed Kamala (and two who haven't)

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With Biden removed from the 2024 election and only a month to find a replacement before the DNC, Democrats continue to fall in line and back Vice President Kamala Harris to headline the party's ticket. Her proximity and familiarity with the Biden campaign along with an endorsement from Biden sets Harris up to step into Biden's shoes and preserve the momentum from his campaign.

Glenn doesn't think Kamala Harris is likely to survive as the assumed Democratic nominee, and once the DNC starts, anything could happen. Plenty of powerful and important Democrats have rallied around Harris over the last few days, but there have been some crucial exemptions. Here are five democrats that have thrown their name behind Harris, and two SHOCKING names that didn't...

Sen. Dick Durbin: ENDORSED

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High-ranking Senate Democrat Dick Durbin officially put in his support for Harris in a statement that came out the day after Biden stepped down: “I’m proud to endorse my former Senate colleague and good friend, Vice President Kamala Harris . . . our nation needs to continue moving forward with unity and not MAGA chaos. Vice President Harris was a critical partner in building the Biden record over the past four years . . . Count me in with Kamala Harris for President.”

Michigan Gov. Whitmer: ENDORSED

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The Monday after Biden stepped down from the presidential VP hopeful, Gretchen Whitmer released the following statement on X: “Today, I am fired up to endorse Kamala Harris for president of the United States [...] In Vice President Harris, Michigan voters have a presidential candidate they can count on to focus on lowering their costs, restoring their freedoms, bringing jobs and supply chains back home from overseas, and building an economy that works for working people.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: ENDORSED

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Mere hours after Joe Biden made his announcement, AOC hopped on X and made the following post showing her support: "Kamala Harris will be the next President of the United States. I pledge my full support to ensure her victory in November. Now more than ever, it is crucial that our party and country swiftly unite to defeat Donald Trump and the threat to American democracy. Let’s get to work."

Rep. Nancy Pelosi: ENDORSED

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Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is arguably one of the most influential democrats, backed Harris's campaign with the following statement given the day after Biden's decision: “I have full confidence she will lead us to victory in November . . . My enthusiastic support for Kamala Harris for President is official, personal, and political.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: ENDORSED

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Massasschesets Senator Elizabeth Warren was quick to endorse Kamala, releasing the following statement shortly after Harris placed her presidential bid: "I endorse Kamala Harris for President. She is a proven fighter who has been a national leader in safeguarding consumers and protecting access to abortion. As a former prosecutor, she can press a forceful case against allowing Donald Trump to regain the White House. We have many talented people in our party, but Vice President Harris is the person who was chosen by the voters to succeed Joe Biden if needed. She can unite our party, take on Donald Trump, and win in November."

Former President Barack Obama: DID NOT ENDORSE

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Former President Barack Obama wasted no time releasing the following statement which glaringly omits any support for Harris or any other candidate. Instead, he suggests someone will be chosen at the DNC in August: "We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead. But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges. I believe that Joe Biden's vision of a generous, prosperous, and united America that provides opportunity for everyone will be on full display at the Democratic Convention in August. And I expect that every single one of us are prepared to carry that message of hope and progress forward into November and beyond."

Prominent Democratic Donor John Morgan: DID NOT ENDORSE

AP Photo/John Raoux

Prominent and wealthy Florida lawyer and democrat donor John Morgan was clearly very pessimistic about Kamala's odds aginst Trump when he gave the following statement: “You have to be enthusiastic or hoping for a political appointment to be asking friends for money. I am neither. It’s others turn now . . . The donors holding the 90 million can release those funds in the morning. It’s all yours. You can keep my million. And good luck . . . [Harris] would not be my first choice, but it’s a done deal.”

How did Trump's would-be assassin get past Secret Service?

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Editor's Note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday was targeted in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. It occurred just after 6:10 p.m. while Trump was delivering his speech.

Here are the details of the “official” story. The shooter was Thomas Matthew Crooks. He was 20 years old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. He used an AR-15 rifle and managed to reach the rooftop of a nearby building unnoticed. The Secret Service's counter-response team responded swiftly, according to "the facts," killing Crooks and preventing further harm.

Did it though? That’s what the official story says, so far, but calling this a mere lapse in security by Secret Service doesn't add up. There are some glaring questions that need to be answered.

If Trump had been killed on Saturday, we would be in a civil war today. We would have seen for the first time the president's brains splattered on live television, and because of the details of this, I have a hard time thinking it wouldn't have been viewed as JFK 2.0.

How does someone sneak a rifle onto the rally grounds? How does someone even know that that building is there? How is it that Thomas Matthew Crooks was acting so weird and pacing in front of the metal detectors, and no one seemed to notice? People tried to follow him, but, oops, he got away.

How could the kid possibly even think that the highest ground at the venue wouldn't be watched? If I were Crooks, my first guess would be, "That’s the one place I shouldn't crawl up to with a rifle because there's most definitely going to be Secret Service there." Why wasn't anyone there? Why wasn't anyone watching it? Nobody except the shooter decided that the highest ground with the best view of the rally would be the greatest vulnerability to Trump’s safety.

Moreover, a handy ladder just happened to be there. Are we supposed to believe that nobody in the Secret Service, none of the drones, none of the things we pay millions of dollars for caught him? How did he get a ladder there? If the ladder was there, was it always there? Why was the ladder there? Secret Service welds manhole covers closed when a president drives down a road. How was there a ladder sitting around, ready to climb up to the highest ground at the venue, and the Secret Service failed to take it away?

There is plenty of video of eyewitnesses yelling that there was a guy with a rifle climbing up on a ladder to the roof for at least 120 seconds before the first shot was fired. Why were the police looking for him while Secret Service wasn't? Why did the sniper have him in his sights for over a minute before he took a shot? Why did a cop climb up the ladder to look around? When Thomas Matthew Cooks pointed a gun at him, he then ducked and came down off the ladder. Did he call anyone to warn that this young man had a rifle within range of the president?

How is it the Secret Service has a female bodyguard who doesn't even reach Trump's nipples? How was she going to guard the president's body with hers? How is it another female Secret Service agent pulled her gun out a good four minutes too late, then looked around, apparently not knowing what to do? She then couldn't even get the pistol back into the holster because she's a Melissa McCarthy body double. I don't think it's a good idea to have Melissa McCarthy guarding the president.

Here’s the critical question now: Who trusts the FBI with the shooter’s computer? Will his hard drive get filed with the Nashville manifesto? How is it that the Secret Service almost didn't have snipers at all but decided to supply them only one day before the rally because all the local resources were going to be put on Jill Biden? I want Jill Biden safe, of course. I want Jill Biden to have what the first lady should have for security, but you can’t hire a few extra guys to make sure our candidates are safe?

How is it that we have a Secret Service director, Kimberly Cheatle, whose experience is literally guarding two liters of Squirt and spicy Doritos? Did you know that's her background? She's in charge of the United States Secret Service, and her last job was as the head of security for Pepsi.

This is a game, and that's what makes this sick. This is a joke. There are people in our country who thought it was OK to post themselves screaming about the shooter’s incompetence: “How do you miss that shot?” Do you realize how close we came to another JFK? If the president hadn't turned his head at the exact moment he did, it would have gone into the center of his head, and we would be a different country today.

Now, Joe Biden is also saying that we shouldn't make assumptions about the motive of the shooter. Well, I think we can assume one thing: He wanted to kill the Republican presidential candidate. Can we agree on that at least? Can we assume that much?

How can the media even think of blaming Trump for the rhetoric when the Democrats and the media constantly call him literally worse than Hitler who must be stopped at all costs?

These questions need to be answered if we want to know the truth behind what could have been one of the most consequential days in U.S. history. Yet, the FBI has its hands clasped on all the sources that could point to the truth. There must be an independent investigation to get to the bottom of these glaring “mistakes.”

POLL: Do you think Trump is going to win the election?

Kevin Dietsch / Staff, Chip Somodevilla / Staff, Kevin Dietsch / Staff | Getty Image

It feels like all of the tension that has been building over the last four years has finally burst to the surface over the past month. Many predicted 2024 was going to be one of the most important and tumultuous elections in our lifetimes, but the last two weeks will go down in the history books. And it's not over yet.

The Democratic National Convention is in August, and while Kamala seems to be the likely candidate to replace Biden, anything could happen in Chicago. And if Biden is too old to campaign, isn't he too old to be president? Glenn doesn't think he'll make it as President through January, but who knows?

There is a lot of uncertainty that surrounds the current political landscape. Trump came out of the attempted assassination, and the RNC is looking stronger than ever, but who knows what tricks the Democrats have up their sleeves? Let us know your predictions in the poll below:

Glenn's Show Prep

Mike Huckabee fumbles gay marriage question

Washington Post EXPOSED: How Watergate editors almost published a fake Pulitzer Prize-winning story

Readers were hooked. And outraged.

5 Democrats who have endorsed Kamala (and two who haven't)

Sen. Dick Durbin: ENDORSED

Michigan Gov. Whitmer: ENDORSED

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: ENDORSED

Rep. Nancy Pelosi: ENDORSED

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: ENDORSED

Former President Barack Obama: DID NOT ENDORSE

Prominent Democratic Donor John Morgan: DID NOT ENDORSE

How did Trump's would-be assassin get past Secret Service?

POLL: Do you think Trump is going to win the election?

Is Trump going to win the election?

Did the assassination attempt increase Trump's chances at winning in November?

Did Trump's pick of J.D. Vance help his odds?

Did the Trump-Biden debate in June help Trump's chances?

Did Biden's resignation from the election hand Trump a victory in November?

Do the Democrats have any chance of winning this election?