Don't you just love those religious conservatives when they talk about their religious convictions one day and dupe people the next?

Media Matters:

On two Fox News shows, Fox host Mike Huckabee directed viewers to "go to balancecutsave.com," urging them to sign a petition telling Congress to "balance the budget," "cut their spending," and "save American families"; however, balancecutsave.com redirects visitors to a web page soliciting donations for Huckabee's political action committee, which financially supports Republican candidates and also pays Huckabee's daughter's salary. Huckabee is the latest Fox News personality to ask viewers to visit PAC websites without disclosing the website's nature or whether they stand to gain financially from viewers' donations

Myabe the FTC can apply the same standards to these creeps as they do to bloggers. Huckabee should be required to disclose his own PAC to his viewers.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, I documented 10, then 10 more and yet another 10 moments in the extremism of Mike Huckabee. Now, fresh off his victory in the straw poll at the so-called Values Voters Summit, the one-time Baptist minister and former Arkansas governor turned Fox News host called for the United States to leave the United Nations. Following his use of the late Ted Kennedy to fight mythical "death panels" and his tacit endorsement of ethic cleansing in the Middle East, the 2012 White House hopeful's latest statements can mean only one thing.

It's time for still another 10 moments in the extremism of Mike Huckabee:

31. Huckabee Calls for the U.S. to Leave the UN
32. Huckabee Uses Ted Kennedy to Push Death Panels Myth
33. Huckabee Warns of "Union of American Socialist Republics"
34. Huckabee Says Governors Should Ignore Court Rulings
35. Huckabee Sees "Hand of God" in Prop 8 Victory
36. Huckabee Claims Civil Rights of Gays Not Being Violated
37. Huckabee Opposes Two-State Solution in Middle East
38. Huckabee Calls for Abolition of IRS and Putting Politics in the Pulpit
39. Huckabee Parrots GOP's "Club Gitmo" Talking Point
40. Huckabee Headlines Electromagnetic Pulse Conference

31. Huckabee Calls for the U.S. to Leave the UN
The United Nations has been a favorite right-wing punching bag for generations, the bogeyman of Birchers and Birthers alike. At this weekend's "How to Take Back America" shindig (an event which featured sessions such as "How to Recognize Living under Nazis & Communists"), Mike Huckabee added his name to the list.

Looking to top John Bolton's hypothetical about lopping off 10 floors of the United Nations building, Huckabee called for casting the whole institution into the sea. To a standing ovation, Huckabee declared:

"It's time to get a jackhammer and to simply chip that part of New York City. Let it float into the East River, never to be seen again."

32. Huckabee Uses Ted Kennedy to Push Death Panels Myth
In their ever-escalating effort to derail health care reform, Republicans from former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to Obama's ersatz negotiating partner Chuck Grassley warned of mythical government "death panels" which would "pull the plug on grandma."

To make his version of the case, Governor Huckabee turned to the example of the late Senator Kennedy. Just moments after criticizing Democrats for defying "good taste" by claiming "Congress must hurry and pass the health care reform bill and do it in his memory," Huckabee announced:

"It was President Obama himself who suggested that seniors who don't have as long to live might want to just consider taking a pain pill instead of getting an expensive operation to cure them. Yet when Sen. Kennedy was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at 77, did he give up on life and go home to take pain pills and die? Of course not. He freely did what most of us would do. He chose an expensive operation and painful follow up treatments."

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On the very day President Obama signed an executive order calling for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention center within one year, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) regurgitated one of the GOP's tried and untrue talking points in its defense. Claiming the facility "has more comforts than a lot of Americans get," Boehner is just the latest Republican to present that blight on America's international standing as "Club Gitmo."

At a press conference today, Boehner rejected the notion that Guantanamo had given the United States a black eye. To Boehner, the accommodations at Gitmo are figuratively, if not literally, to die for:

"I don't know that there's a terrorist treated better anywhere in the world than what has happened at Guantanamo. It is - we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build a facility that has more comforts than a lot of Americans get."

That sound bite made its first appearance in June 2005 in the wake of revelations regarding the torture of Gitmo prisoner Mohammed al-Qahtani. On June 12, Time published details of an 84-page document spelling out the abuse of Qahtani, treatment including sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, which left him in a "life-threatening condition." The result, as Americans learned last week from military commission chief Susan Crawford, is that Qahtani's case could not be referred for prosecution because, "his treatment met the legal definition of torture."

The abuse of Qahtani, however, did not meet the Republican definition of torture. As John Boehner, Dick Cheney, Duncan Hunter, Mel Martinez and Mike Huckabee alike attest, Gitmo is more country club than detention center.

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In this the season of their discontent, Republican leaders are pointing the finger of blame, all the while positioning themselves to take over their battered and bruised party in 2012. So it is with Mike Huckabee. In his new book, the former Arkansas Governor, Baptist minister and Fox News host skewers presidential rival Mitt Romney and castigates leaders of the religious right who cast their lot with someone else. But while Huckabee looks forward to the future battle for the soul of the Republican Party in his latest book, it is worth remembering the culture war he advocated in past ones. And apparently, he will have soon have company in author Sarah Palin.

As Time describes, Huckabee's tome (Do The Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America) is part political memoir, part policy prescription - and part payback. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, his rival in courting the GOP's religious right base during the primaries, is mocked as "anything but conservative until he changed the light bulbs in his chandelier in time to run for president." Aggravating matters still, Huckabee "took as a sign of total disrespect" Mitt's refusal to call and congratulate him on his victory in the Iowa caucus which ultimately derailed Romney's campaign.

According to Time, much of Huckabee's venom is directed at his ersatz Christian conservative allies who backed other candidates during the Republican primaries. He blasts Pat Robertson and Bob Jones for backing Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, respectively. Huckabee pans Gary Bauer for his "ever-changing reason to deny me his support." Lamenting "that so many people of faith had moved from being prophetic voices," Governor Huckabee unleashed his fury at the End Times Pastor John Hagee who ultimately backed McCain:

"I asked if he had prayed about this and believed this was what the Lord wanted him to do," Huckabee writes of his conversation with Hagee. "I didn't get a straight answer."

Huckabee's evident feelings of betrayal towards his fellow culture warriors on display in this new book are understandable. After all, among the first of his six books was everything they could have asked for.

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Every time I turn on the TV and watch CNN and FOX (my hotel doesn't get MSNBC) every Republican operative controls the dialog and direction of the panel discussion and it's disgusting. Just one example---Hillary Clinton gave a brilliant speech last night, but every Amy Holmes-type talking head throws as much cold water on the speech as he or she can. The result is that the Dem talkers spend the rest of the time disputing the outrageous claims made and thus the GOP controls the entire framing and the entire segment. It's shameful that the networks are allowing this to happen. I saw Jeffrey Toobin tell Amy that she was out of her mind with some of her comments and the discussion continues to that end. Soledad O'Brien comes back and says "well, that was a lively discussion." Oh, no it was not. It's a calculated ratf&@k. This is going on all day and all night.

Why is the Democratic Convention being ruined by these creeps? And why do all the networks allow it to happen? Why do we need them on in force to counter what is supposed to be our event?

I'm in Denver and it's a completely different atmosphere. Party unison abounds, but you'd never know it from watching TV. Karl Rove acts like the biggest troll known to man---making sure to point out every little detail he dislikes. Well, his mission is to get McCain in the White House. But he's the expert that Chris Wallace goes to for his "unbiased" take.

Will the Democratic talkers be allowed to do the same to the Republican Convention? I think not. It will be viewed as being an incredible event.

As unsuccessful presidential candidates go, Mike Huckabee has done a fine job of keeping himself in the spotlight. He’s a Fox News contributor; he’s formed a new political vehicle for himself; he raised a few eyebrows with his bashing of Libertarians; and he even defended Barack Obama once his former pastor starting drawing media attention.

And now, Huckabee’s a blogger — with some advice for his party on how to approach the general election.

What I am saying is that we need to challenge Obama on the basis that his ideas are the wrong ones — not attacking him personally. If people spend their time repeating a bunch of internet driven drivel about his middle name (he didn’t choose his anymore than I chose mine), or his race (I do sincerely celebrate that our country has moved to a place where a person’s race doesn’t limit him from aspiring to the highest office in our land, but I just believe that due to his proposals and lack of substantive experience, he’s gone far enough — not because of his race, but because of his sincere, but misguided proposals), or his church (there are far more important reasons for us to elect Senator McCain than where Obama went to church).

Politics ought to be VERTICAL and Obama’s ideas will not take this country UP, but DOWN. I think he is a sincere and obviously a very intelligent and charismatic person. For us to deny that is foolish. Our focus should be to logically and systematically explain why ideas really do matter and why some are bad for those struggling as it is to pay the rent.

I have to admit, all of this sounds quite nice. Huckabee thinks Obama’s just wrong. That’s fine; given Huckabee’s ideology, he’s supposed to think Obama’s wrong. Huckabee doesn’t much seem to care about identity politics and nonsensical email chains. He thinks Republicans are offering one set of ideas, Democrats are offering another set of ideas, and Republicans’ pitch is superior. That, and nothing else, is what matters.

I find all of this quite endearing, even though I’m certain there’s no way on earth Republicans will follow Huckabee’s advice.

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Tim Russert asked Huckabee about the very dangerous joke he he told about Barack Obama at the NRA dinner in Kentucky. The one where Obama gets assassinated.

“That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he’s getting ready to speak,” said the former Arkansas governor, to audience laughter. “Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

He responds by bringing up Bobby Knight---saying he'll say stupid things again and he thought John McCain's "bomb, bomb Iran song parody was a hoot.

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Huckabee: There was a Bobby Knight incident going on back stage with a chair that fell and made a terrible noise, distracted the crowd.

I apologized for it immediately. I would never ever try to inject something like that to create an endangered moment for any candidate. I don't care who it is. And ah...you know, it wasn't the first dumb thing I've ever said and let me go and announce it on this program, it won't be the last dumb thing I've ever said. We all in politics do, Ronald Reagan had an open mic and said "I'm gonna launch a nuclear attack against Russia." I remember John McCain sing "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran." I thought that was funny, but I mean a lot of people didn't.

Didn't Bobby Knight get fired from Indiana for his horrible behavior? I think that's a bad starting off point, Hucky, comparing yourself to Bobby Knight, who choked a student too. Maybe you should be fired off NBC and start over on Glenn Beck's show---you know, something well-regarded. Then he says that McCain singing "bomb, bomb Iran" was funny. Sure, McBush singing that he wants to bomb a country that has already been targeted with sour rhetoric like Bush and Cheney do despite little to no evidence of what they're being accused is something we should all laugh at. I'm sure the leaders of Iran thought it was well done too.

John Cole:

During Huckabee’s concession speech, it appeared to me that he is really enjoying himself, which is kind of sick. He is starting to look like the Mayor in BTVS. I mean, no one enjoys this crap. And anyone who does has to be evil. Like the mayor.

Ahhh, Mayor Richard Wilkins III from season 3 of Buffy.....

Don't answer that, Mister Huckabee. And the pandering is on both sides of the aisle. This video from The Interfaith Alliance proves what I said in December of 2006, that athiest author "Sam Harris and company will have to hold their noses when Obama gives his acceptance speech in Denver..."

The most glaring example has to be Tim Russert's "favorite Bible verse" debate question. I would have answered, "Why Tim! It's John 11:35! You know, "Jesus wept." And if he heard your stupid, pandering question, he's weeping again today."

On topic are Bruce Wilson's excellent article, "How Fake American History Feeds Christian Nationalism," and The Reverend Barry Lynn's editorial, "Thou Shalt Not Mix Religion and Politics."

While I was watching and transcribing Mike Huckabee's appearance on SNL this weekend, I kept thinking he is so good at being likeable that if you don't have a clear sense of what he really stands for, it would be easy to be swayed by Huckabee. But then a story like this comes down the wires and you realize that it is really, really important to know EXACTLY what candidates do stand for. Denver Post:

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Monday endorsed a proposed Colorado Human Life Amendment that would define personhood as a fertilized egg.

The former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister also supports a human-life amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Huckabee spoke favorably about the Colorado ballot initiative, sponsored by 20-year-old Kristi Burton and her Colorado for Equal Rights group, during his Friday visit to Colorado Springs.

On Monday, Huckabee lent official support to the measure.

"This proposed constitutional amendment will define a person as a human being from the moment life begins at conception," Huckabee said in a statement.

"With this amendment, Colorado has an opportunity to send a clear message that every human life has value," Huckabee said. "Passing this amendment will mean the people of Colorado will protect the sanctity of life from conception until natural death occurs."

Well, it's actually a little stickier than that, Huckabee. After all, would we consider a woman who had a miscarriage (also known medically as a "spontaneous abortion" *gasp*) a murderer? What if she conceives ectopically? Would the doctor who operates on her to remove the pregnancy so that the mother will not die also a murderer? Michael Froomkin points out another issue: citizenship.

Aside from the not-so-small point that citizenship is a federal issue and it is not clear from first principles whether the federal rule should or would follow the state rule, there’s obviously something powerful about this logic especially if the Colorado model were ever to be adopted on a national basis.

In that case, if a noncitizen female conceives a child in the US, presumably it would be wrong to deport the blastocyte or fetus. And that means we can’t deport the mother either. At least until the kid is born after which we are, as news reports from all over show, perfectly willing to deport mothers of small citizens if the mothers lack proper documentation.

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Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee explains to Weekend Update anchor Seth Meyers why he's still in the race.

MEYERS: So, Governor, you remain in the race, despite the fact that it’s a mathematical impossibility that you can win. And our question is: why?

HUCKABEE: Well, Seth, the media loves to throw around the term “mathematical impossibility” but no one can ever explain exactly what that means to me.

MEYERS: Well, let me give that a shot: basically, it takes 1,191 delegates to clinch your party’s nomination and even if you won every remaining unpledged delegate, you would still fall 200 delegates short.

HUCKABEE: Wow. Seth, that was an excellent explanation. But I’m afraid that you overlook the all-important Super Delegates. Don’t forget about them.

MEYERS: Well, I won’t forget about them, but the Super Delegates are only in the Democratic primaries.

HUCKABEE: Ah…they can vote in the Republican primary?

MEYERS: They cannot.

HUCKABEE: Uh oh. That’s not good news. You know, Seth, I was …I was counting on those Super Delegates.

MEYERS: Sorry to break that to you. Now does this mean that now you know that, you’re going to drop out of the race?

HUCKABEE: Well, fortunately, Seth, I’m not a math guy. I’m more of a miracle guy. So at this point, I’m going to focus on the miracle part. But if that miracle doesn’t happen, let me assure the American people that Mike Huckabee does not overstay his welcome. When it’s time for me to go, I’ll know. And I’ll exit out with class and grace.

Think Progress: (h/t MBH)

This morning, CNN ran a story “tracking the strain furious campaigning puts on the human body” for the presidential candidates. During the segment, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee joked that his campaign schedule is not providing enough time to sleep and that, for him, is “like being waterboarded”:

HUCKABEE: I’m finding just out how long I can go sleep deprived. You know, running for office is sort of like being waterboarded, I think.

Really? That's what we've become, when a person seeking to be the leader of this country can joke about an illegal torture method? What is wrong with these people?

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The Daily Show takes a look at Chuck Norris and his support of Huckabee, the anti-evolution candidate---Chuck, the incredible action hero endorsement if there ever was one...Do you have a partial gym in your house?

The first 90 seconds of this Youtube worth a click.... and a revealing comment from Huckabee, quoted in The Hill:

“Republicans are not going to be elected because they carried Delaware, Connecticut, New York and California,” Huckabee said, referring to some of the states McCain has won.

That's okay Mike, I think Howard Dean will be happy to have those 95 electoral votes, thanks.

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee appeared on this morning's Meet The Press and proved beyond a doubt that if elected, he would turn this country into a theocracy. Huckabee has gone on record as taking sides with a televangelist over Congressional investigation and this morning he stood firm on his stance.

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Tim Russert pressed Huckabee about his association with Kenneth Copeland, a wealthy, predatory televangelist who is currently refusing to cooperate with an investigation by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee for serious violations, including using his ministry to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Huckabee's campaign. Russert asks Huckabee if he's impeding a federal investigation by saying he sides with Copeland against Congress, to which the Huckster scoffs.

Huckabee claims to be a man of god - a man of the people, but when it comes right down to it, if it means money in his pocket, he sides with a wealthy charlatan who preys on the elderly, the sick and the poor to amass immense wealth and influence. That's not a very Christian thing to do, now is it, Mr. Huckabee? To further deflect from his disgraceful defense of Copeland, Mike takes a cheap shot at MoveOn and says they need to be investigated as well as all non-profit organizations.