Outside the Beltway

Mike Huckabee: There Might Be More Freedom In North Korea Than The United States

Doug Mataconis
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Facepalm

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee appears to be making an effort to appeal to the most extreme wing of the Republican Party, or perhaps to join Dennis Rodman’s next basketball trip to Pyongyang:

One day after questioning President Barack Obama’s “Christian convictions” on Fox News, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has delivered another quote that this time appears to riling up both the left and the right. During his speech at Saturday’s New Hampshire Freedom Summit, Huckabee reporting said, “I’m beginning to think theres more freedom in North korea sometimes than there is in the United States.”

The quote was reported on Twitter by MSNBC reporter Benjy Sarlin:

And the Concord Monitor’s Kathleen Ronyane:

 

Huckabee’s remarks are, of course, stupid, ignorant, and offensive to both Americans and to the people who have been tortured and killed by the Kim regime over the past seven decades. However, he probably does deserve some credit for originality. Usually, conservatives just equate the Obama Administration with Hitler, Stalin, or Mao.

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57 responses to “Mike Huckabee: There Might Be More Freedom In North Korea Than The United States”

  1. Mark Ivey Avatar
    Mark Ivey

    WooT

  2. DC Loser Avatar
    DC Loser

    So move there.

  3. DrDaveT Avatar
    DrDaveT

    I urge Mr. Huckabee to go investigate this personally and in-depth. He could do no greater service to his country.

  4. Jonathan Avatar
    Jonathan

    LOL
    Your right Doug, what Huckabee said was quite original

  5. Jonathan Avatar
    Jonathan

    How often to politicians compare others to the Korean dictator? I have to say, I’ve not heard that before. Its probably because familiarity and name recognition is less than that of Hitler and Mao.

  6. steve s Avatar
    steve s

    To be fair, Huckabee’s entire family and descendants Will now immediately be put in a hellish torture prison, so I can kinda see his point.

  7. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    Not to mention, Huck’s due for his “Dear Leader” hair style session.

    FYI the countdown just started until someone shows up to explain how we’re not getting what Mike Huckabee really meant.

  8. ernieyeball Avatar
    ernieyeball

    Huckleberry states “…there is more freedom in North Korea…” noting United States airport security. Then in the next breath mocks the freedom US Citizens have to vote.
    Maybe he should fly into Pyongyang on Air Koryo (…it is the only airline in the world to have a one-star rating on review site Skytrax. USA Today). He can then apply for N. Korean citizenship and vote in “elections” over there.

  9. ernieyeball Avatar
    ernieyeball

    @Matt Bernius: FYI the countdown just started until someone shows up to explain how we’re not getting what Mike Huckabee really meant.

    …someone???
    Come on Pinky, give it your best shot.

  10. dan Avatar
    dan

    Do you really believe conservative just believe Obama is Hitler of course there is rush and others like them but both parties have their nut jobs like Harry Reid who very hypocritically voted to remove the filibuster and Obama extremely hypocritically signed into law. Huckabee was being satirical he doesn’t believe America is north korea and you shouldn’t be so irresponsible when reporting these things you have to report the news in an unbias way you clearly don’t you should be very ashamed for defamating people don’t you have any journalistic principles? Report the news fairly dont say the republicans think Obama is Hitler that’s offensive. If any one is seriously offended by what he say you must be one morose S.O.B this isn’t offensive to any one with a brain you want people to be if your a left wing loon that’s fine at least be fair have some principles man

  11. Tillman Avatar
    Tillman

    Like water over a duck’s back. I can’t foster any emotion after watching the video of him saying it.

    I just don’t care, guys. He’s gone so overboard with his hyperbole that it has shot straight past my experience, my imagination, and gone into undiscovered realms of abstract thought. I’d need a crack team of ‘pataphysicians to figure out how I should care, if at all, beyond a vague sense of ennui.

  12. Tillman Avatar
    Tillman

    @dan:

    but both parties have their nut jobs like Harry Reid who very hypocritically voted to remove the filibuster and Obama extremely hypocritically signed into law

    Correct me if I’m wrong, political scientists, but does the president need to sign into law the rules of the Senate? That seems ass-backwards.

    Huckabee was being satirical he doesn’t believe America is north korea and you shouldn’t be so irresponsible when reporting these things you have to report the news in an unbias way you clearly don’t you should be very ashamed for defamating people don’t you have any journalistic principles?

    I mean, you say it’s satire, but I can’t grok it. I’m trying to, I really am, but satire — effective satire — should provoke some sort of emotional response. I’m getting nothing from this. There’s a void where I should be feeling outrage or self-righteousness or humility or ambivalence, and there’s nothing. He’s said the equivalent of a bag of hot air: different than normal air, but otherwise nothing interesting.

    And I don’t think Doug and the rest of our hosts have journalistic principles, nor should they necessarily be beholden to them, since they are not, in fact, journalists.

  13. dan Avatar
    dan

    @Tillman: sorry I didn’tdn’t mean to say thatbut he didn’t speak out against it he didn’t say it was wrong while he himself said it was unconstitutional to do so as did Harry. Obama just let it happen you really think they would of done it if he had said something he didn’t because he doesn’t care about the constitution and has no principles.

  14. Tillman Avatar
    Tillman

    @dan: But it’s in the Constitution that the House and Senate will set their own rules. Article One, Section Five:

    Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.

    Filibuster falls under the rules of the proceedings of the Senate, so…no, it’s not unconstitutional to change those rules.

  15. beth Avatar
    beth

    @Tillman: There’s your problem. You’re using the lamestream dictionary definition of unconstitutional. The official wingnut definition is “anything I don’t like”.

  16. labman57 Avatar
    labman57

    This is what happens when your primary sources of information are the Bible and the right wing blogosphere.

  17. ernieyeball Avatar
    ernieyeball

    @dan: Do you really believe conservative just believe Obama is Hitler…

    See
    http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/pages/obama/obama-and-hitler-similarities.htm
    Be sure to click on the About Us tab and note where they extol the vitues of
    Mr. Conservative Republican former President Ronald Reagan.

  18. dan Avatar
    dan

    @beth:that’s what Obama said in 2004 he said I this is unconstitutional I taught the constitution for 10 years so I know something like that im paraphrasing and Harry Reid thought it was spitting in the face of America both clearly are Hippocrates who don’t care about about the law but thats at least half of Washington to be honest on both parties im just saying call it like it is. Now Huckabee is an evangelical and every time he talks about the religion he says a lot of stupid stuff hes not a bad guy but just believes too heavily in the bible which he has ever right to do but clearly its ridiculous. Hes not stupid though he was being satirical don’t take things out of context its not good journalism.

  19. dan Avatar
    dan

    @ernieyeball: You can’t judge all republicans by what the extreme wing of the party nor democrats if I judged the democrats by the extreme left then they would be socialist that advocates drug use for all people prison sentences would be a year max for any crime the country would be broke taxes would be well over 50% for all people religion is illegal and the state is the highest authority and more important than your on faimly now isn’t ridiculous to blanket the whole party like that and there are a few similarities between hitler and Obama both advocate gov’t control over select industries and both had little experience when they took office but really Obama is nothing like Hitler.

  20. DrDaveT Avatar
    DrDaveT

    @dan:

    Huckabee was being satirical

    Who had 19 minutes in the pool, @Matt Bernius?

  21. Franklin Avatar
    Franklin

    I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and see if anything in a statement has a hint of truth to it. So, okay, I’ll assume you don’t get security pat downs in North Korean airports. But, is just anybody allowed to fly there? Is anybody allowed to fly out of the country? Can anybody afford to fly?

    I hate the TSA as much as the next guy, but this may have been the stupidest statement attacking it that I’ve ever seen.

  22. ernieyeball Avatar
    ernieyeball

    @DrDaveT:..Who had 19 minutes in the pool, @Matt Bernius?

    I hear in Las Vegas they are taking bets on how many words he can cram into a sentence..

  23. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @dan:

    sorry I didn’tdn’t mean to say thatbut he didn’t speak out against it he didn’t say it was wrong while he himself said it was unconstitutional to do so as did Harry.

    Source please.

    that’s what Obama said in 2004 he said I this is unconstitutional I taught the constitution for 10 years so I know something like that im paraphrasing and Harry Reid thought it was spitting in the face of America both clearly are Hippocrates who don’t care about about the law but thats at least half of Washington to be honest on both parties im just saying call it like it is.

    No offense, but given your complete lack of understanding of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure in general, I’m having a real hard time imagining that you “taught the constitution for 10 years” in any sort of education setting.

    I’d suggest you ask someone to lend you some money so you can buy a couple commas and a period, but good grammar costs nothing (and goes a long way to trying to establish your bonafides as someone who knows something about the Constitution).

  24. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @dan:

    You can’t judge all republicans by what the extreme wing of the party

    Given that Mr Huckabee was a viable presidential candidate, and is being floated as one for 2016, how exactly does he represent the “extreme wing” of the party.

    Or, to put it a different way, find me one Democratic whose gotten anywhere in the primaries who espoused anything close to the positions you’re suggesting.

    [but, for extra points, where I broke your quote is where you should have ended the first sentence. Seriously, sprinkle some periods and commas in there. It’ll make your rants make far more sense.]

  25. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @dan:

    [Obama and Reid] clearly are Hippocrates who don’t care about about the law

    I don’t think either of them are doctors. And for that matter, Hippocrates has been dead for a couple millennia. And for that matter, his gig was more about oaths than it specifically was about laws.

  26. Stonetools Avatar
    Stonetools

    And down goes the number of possible Republican presidential nominees….

  27. dan Avatar
    dan

    @Matt Bernius: sorry about the grammatical errors im doing this from my phone and this website is very glitchy. Im not saying Huckabee is the right wing of the party I was talking about how he claimed that usually republicans just call Obama hitler which is biased and irresponsible. Also your about second point is missing the point. Im not saying thats what democrats are im saying that is the exreme end of liberal thinking that is it at its most radical basically communism. No major American politicians are communist clearly but I making a point that you don’t judge an entire party by what its loons say. I was blanketing the democrats in order tomake the point thats its unfair and stupid.

  28. dan Avatar
    dan

    @Matt Bernius:Auto correct is a bitch for starters. Secondly I don’t really know what your talking about your grammar could use some work too you dont punctuate then start a sentence with “And”,that’s basic grammar buddy. Im not using commas or worrying about grammar because I have a lot to type and its not easy to do on a phone this isn’t worth getting on the computer for. Obama said he taught the constitution for 10 years and in 2006 when the republicans were voting to remove it the filibuster he and many senators were upset then they didn’t care because they had power that’s hypocritical.

    1. Matt Bernius Avatar
      Matt Bernius

      Grammar aside, I challenge you to find any source suggesting that obama ever said that “removing the filibuster was unconstitutional.” Or where he said that the GOP didn’t have the constitutional power to enact such a measure.

      I just did a bunch of googling and couldn’t find a single reference to it. Cause it seems like the actual facts don’t back up your recollection of them.

      It’s one thing to say the Dems (including Obama) were against filibuster reform when they were the minority party. That was true. But that isn’t what you are saying my friend.

      —

      BTW, I get how tough it is to respond via phone. But seriously, the lack of punctuation is really making it hard to figure out what you are trying to write.

  29. anjin-san Avatar
    anjin-san

    The stupider your statements, the more money conservatives send you. He knows how the game is played.

  30. anjin-san Avatar
    anjin-san

    @ dan

    Tell us who belongs to the moderate mainstream of the GOP that you seem to think exists. I will stand by…

  31. dan Avatar
    dan

    That’s funny considering that democrats out raise epublicans almost 2-1 every year.maybe your right the stupidier the things you say the more money you get.

  32. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @dan:

    making a point that you don’t judge an entire party by what its loons say.

    So is Huckabee a “loon” in your opinion?

  33. dan Avatar
    dan

    http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3to8e64tjT4 there is harry ried ill find Obama. Huckabee isn’t a loon im talking about the writer of this article claimed that republicans usually just call Obama hitler which is biased and untrue. Of course some republicans will call him hitler but they are loons.

    1. Matt Bernius Avatar
      Matt Bernius

      Dan, I just watched that entire video. Reid discusses the history of the filibuster, and makes an argument to keep it. But at no point does he ever say removing the filibuster is *unconstitutional.* Which is what *you* said he said.

      The only thing he says, in regards to the Constitution, is that the filibuster has it’s roots in the Constitution (at 2:35).

      Here’s the deal on filibuster reform — if you look at what the Republicans were saying at the same time as Reid was making these comments, you’ll find countless arguments for doing away with the filibuster.

      The fact is that this is a topic where the parties flipped positions based on which one was majority and which one was minority. So if the Dems are hypocrites on this topic, then so too are the Republicans.

      But the fact remains, unless you’ve got a magic link, neither Obama or Reid have ever said that changing the Filibuster rules is unconstitutional.

  34. Liberal Capitalist Avatar
    Liberal Capitalist

    “I’m beginning to think theres more freedom in North korea sometimes than there is in the United States.”

    And… if the current republican Zeitgeist is taken to its illogical extreme, they he is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT in his statement.

    There is the top, and the rest are the takers.

    I an sure that Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has just an unbelievable unlimited amount of freedom.

    But here in socialist America, with Bammy Obummer as “president” (even though he doesn’t even have a birth certificate), with this pesky voting, and giving the godless 47% the right to have a voice… Well, what kind of freedom can you EXPECT to have !!??!?

  35. dan Avatar
    dan

    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/11/21/Harry-Reid-Hillary-Clinton-Barack-Obama-Joe-Biden-all-opposed-Reid-s-Senate-nuclear-option-eight-years-agoMatt Bernius: here is Obama

    1. Matt Bernius Avatar
      Matt Bernius

      Dan,

      Let me be completely clear.

      I am not objecting to the claim that Obama and Reid opposed filibuster reform when the Dems were the minority party. I don’t think anyone here is.

      What we are saying is that neither Obama or Reid ever said such reform was “unconsitutional” — which is what you claimed a few posts ago. In fact, you went so far as to write the following:

      [Obama] didn’t say it was wrong while [Obama] himself said it was unconstitutional to do so as did Harry.

      and later

      that’s what Obama said in 2004[,] [Obama] said I [“]this is unconstitutional[,] I taught the constitution for 10 years so I know something like that[“] im paraphrasing

      Again, in the link you provided, neither Obama or Reid or anyone for that matter mentioned such reform being “Unconstitutional.”

      Look, just admit you are wrong on this particular point. Because, you are.

  36. dan Avatar
    dan

    @Matt Bernius: that’s not the point to whether they said it was unconstitutional or not I was experiencing that they were opposed to it and then just decide its okay to remove it when they have power. Speaking about Huckabee he was talking another time about the removal of the firefox CEO for having the same view as Obama on gay marriage before 2012, he then referenced when Obama ran office in 2008 he said he was against gay marriage because of his Christian beliefs but then he changes his opinion when it becomes popular to support gay marriage. It doesn’t show very much principle. Im.going to end on this note republicans and democrats are not evil hustlers some on both sides are but them as a whole are not. Politicians are liars, scumbags, and generally dishonest by nature I don’t care about ethier side I just want fair journalism.

  37. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @dan:

    that’s not the point to whether they said it was unconstitutional or not I was experiencing that they were opposed to it and then just decide its okay to remove it when they have power.

    It’s the point because you made it the point — you repeatedly claimed that they *did* call it unconstitutional.

    Beyond that, you are also missing the fact that the Republicans did the exact same thing — threaten to get rid of the filibuster when they were in power, objected to its removal when they were out of power.

    If the Dems are hypocrites on this issue, then so too are the Republicans.

    What is the proverb about people in glass houses?

    No one here was trying to claim the high ground on this issue until you started talking about it and claiming a bunch of crap that isn’t true (and then saying we shouldn’t care about what you wrote in the first place).

    Seriously, if you are going to argue something, be consistent and use facts that back up what you are saying.

    Politicians are liars, scumbags, and generally dishonest by nature I don’t care about ethier side I just want fair journalism.

    I’m guessing that the irony of writing this based on your last few posts (not to mention relying on Breitbart sources) goes completely over your head.

  38. dennis Avatar
    dennis

    @Matt Bernius:

    Matt … Matt … stop. Just back away from the keyboard, take three deep breaths. Click your heels together and repeat, “I will not argue with trolls … I will not argue with trolls …”

    There. All better? It was killing me to watch you waste good brain cells trying to set straight someone who obviously has no intention of being so.

  39. wr Avatar
    wr

    @beth: “There’s your problem. You’re using the lamestream dictionary definition of unconstitutional. The official wingnut definition is “anything I don’t like”.”

    Wait a minute — I thought that’s what “socialism” meant.

  40. wr Avatar
    wr

    @Matt Bernius: “No offense, but given your complete lack of understanding of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure in general, I’m having a real hard time imagining that you “taught the constitution for 10 years” in any sort of education setting.”

    That was my thought, too, but after rereading the “sentence” a few times I came to the conclusion he was still paraphrasing Obama there…

  41. Kylopod Avatar
    Kylopod

    @Tillman

    Some right-wingers have come to use the word “satire” as some catch-all defense of anyone in their camp who says outrageous or ridiculous things. For example, that was David Horowitz’s defense of Ann Coulter. They know they can’t defend the statements on the merits, so calling it “satire” gives them the simultaneous ability to praise the offending people, give themselves plausible deniability that they literally believe the crazy statements, and imply that liberals who took offense are humorless scolds.

    I do actually think that Coulter (and similar figures like Glenn Beck) don’t literally believe a lot of the things they say, but I’d use the term trolling more than satire to describe it. For one things, satire has to have an object. You satirize something, you don’t just satirize. When Ann Coulter says that the 9/11 widows are enjoying their husbands’ deaths, or Huckabee says that North Korea has more freedom than the U.S., whom or what are they satirizing?

    Presumably David Horowitz, and commenter Dan, aren’t suggesting that Coulter or Huckabee are in fact closet liberals doing a Colbert-like backhanded putdown of conservatives. Presumably they would argue that liberals are their target. The problem is that you don’t satirize something just by doing a straight attack on it. If I said “Mike Huckabee is a retarded midget,” I might not mean it literally, but there would be little doubt that I’m expressing hatred for him, and it wouldn’t qualify as “satire,” nor would it free me from criticism of making an offensive analogy.

    The right doesn’t even know what satire means because (apart from a few good libertarian humorists like Trey Parker and Matt Stone) they’ve got so little of it on their side. So they just use “satire” as if it’s somehow a defense of any dumb thing that comes out of a conservative’s mouth.

    @dan

    I share your frustration in typing messages from a phone, but I’ve managed to do it without significant errors in grammar or punctuation. For example, this message here was typed from my iPhone. It was tricky getting that blockquote in, but I managed. I have made errors while texting, sometimes very humorous ones, but when preparing a serious post on a political blog, I tend to be a little more careful. It is possible to avoid these errors, and if you can’t, maybe you should wait till you’re sitting at a PC before composing your thoughts.

  42. gVOR08 Avatar
    gVOR08

    @dan: @dan: @dan: @dan: @dan: @dan: @dan: @dan: @dan: @dan: I know they’re mysterious, but capitalization and paragraphs make things so much more readable.

  43. just nutha Avatar
    just nutha

    @Matt Bernius: And Dan is the winner with a time of only 19 minutes and “Huckabee is only being satirical.”

    I only wish Dan knew how punctuation works to help make a message easy to read.

  44. rachel Avatar
    rachel

    @ernieyeball: Those are not sentences. They are are not even close to being sentences. And he claims to have “taught the constitution for 10 years”? God help his students.

    (I did get a laugh out of his calling Obama and Reid “Hippocrates”, though. I think the father of western medicine would approve of many provisions in the ACA.)

  45. ernieyeball Avatar
    ernieyeball

    @rachel:..Those are not sentences.

    You must have been an English Major. Tell me, is this a sentence?

    “a way a lone a last a loved a long the / riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.”

  46. rachel Avatar
    rachel

    @ernieyeball: No. However, since James Joyce was playing with words, as poets have license to do, I’m fine with that. Are you suggesting that dan is an artist of some kind rather than some dude trying to make an actual argument and citing his experience as an “educator” to do it?

  47. ernieyeball Avatar
    ernieyeball

    @rachel:..Are you suggesting that dan is an artist of some kind…

    Not hardly.
    Don’t know why but his prattle reminded me of the late night sessions my college room mates had about “stream of consciousness” and such.
    It was a long time ago. It is getting late in my time zone and these days I am easily confused.

  48. M. Bouffant Avatar
    M. Bouffant

    In all fairness, I a) thought Dan was kidding at first (apparently not) b) “Hippocrates” is probably the demon Spell-Check as he’s on his ‘phone.

    That’s it for fairness.

  49. bob Avatar
    bob

    Hey Mike, in 1998 you put your name to a full page ad in USA Today proclaiming your religious belief that women should be subservient. If elected, can we religious men count on you for some legislation in this area?

  50. al-Ameda Avatar
    al-Ameda

    Mike would know, North Korea is his beloved homeland.

  51. grumpy realist Avatar
    grumpy realist

    @dan: Yeah–Huck puts his foot in his mouth, so he’s obviously “being satirical.” Since when did Huck have a reputation for saying satirical things?

    Reminds me of people who say racist or sexist things and then when called on it, say “hey, I’m just KIDDING!”

    You say it, you’re responsible for it.

  52. Grewgills Avatar
    Grewgills

    My first thought was that it was just a bit of hyperbole about airport security, but then I watched the video. It wasn’t just a throw away line, it was the segue between implied fascism of PC that doesn’t allow any conservative dissent, airport security that unfairly inconveniences obviously safe white Christian men, and rampant left win voter fraud. He has fallen completely down the rabbit hole.

  53. Nick Ellis Avatar
    Nick Ellis

    @DC Loser: The fact that he hasn’t been arrested, and that his comment has been repeated on TV, internet and newspapers can be taken as proof that it isn’t true

  54. KansasMom Avatar
    KansasMom

    I think Dan the Troll may have been the best troll ever. You all fell for it.

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