Subtle Huck

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As you've likely heard, Huck came out with an ad for IA & SC (where 87.5%-95% of his support are Evangelicals) wishing everyone a merry Christmas. The ad has Huck in a cuddly sweater talking about the true meaning of Christmas (Christ) and a hovering cross over his right shoulder.

The cross: Very difficult to tell what it is in the commercial (Huckabee says it was a bookshelf), but the light, camera angle, etc. shows two very clear objects: Huckabee and the image of a cross above his right shoulder. That's it.

The worst part is Huck's deception. Huckabee now implies that the fact the bookshelf formed the shape of a cross is coincidence--we're simply failing a Rorchach test of sorts. He states, "That was a book shelf behind me, a book shelf," suggesting the image of the cross was never intended... totally random.

My response: If random, why are you off-center on the camera, making up just enough room to make your bookshelf a symmetrical cross? If random why is it set up so the light shines off it brilliantly while the rest of the background is in shadow? (Look at the picture above to see what I'm talking about.) The suggestion of randomness is not believable for anyone who's picked up a camera, but is similar to his past cop-outs... And you didn't know "Jesus and Satan are brothers" is a common anti-Mormon smear? Yea, sure. And you didn't see "Christian Leader" as religiously devicive when your target audience is Evangelicals and your opponent is a Mormon? Again, yea, sure. How bout when you prodded your "unaffiliated" groups to use push polls to scare Evangelicals from voting for a Mormon? Sure, I know. You told the media that you don't approve and that you wish they would stop (specifically because you said it hurts you -- always the victim), but you don't demand that they stop and you refuse to rebuke those that are doing it in any way.

The Obvious: Huckabee placed this ad knowing the cross would create a little controversy, which he welcomes. Why? To get people to stop talking about his record and the issues and deal with whether or not they approve of a cross in the background of a political ad. He's betting his base (Evangelicals) won't be offended.

Huck is not bright, but he knows how to present a message (after all, he does have a BA in Speech and Communications). He's running a despicable negative campaign, but it's all through whispers and indirect connections. It's cowardly, but it allows some media outlets to give him a pass and call Mitt (the guy running direct contrast ads for which he takes full responsibility) the negative campaigner. Fortunately, for those that understand the complex issues of the day, this feeble ploy is easily identified. But for the knuckledragging identity voters, Huckabee's ploy works. I'll add Subtle Huck to Duckabee, Clemency Huck, Huckleberry, etc.

Now that we've talked about Huck's deception on the "cross issue," let's get back to his abysmal record as Governor and his obsession with issue avoidance...