NOTE: Due to an error the original version of this story referred to Mike Huckabee as former Arizona Gov. It is former Arkansas Gov. We regret the error.
Our politics has now gotten so over-the-top with its rhetoric that it goes beyond recklessness. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has now come up with what has to be the most outrageous political line of the year.
But let’s be blunt.
There seems to be a race to the bottom in American political rhetoric now. And who are feverishly in this race seek sound bytes that try and appeal to the very worst in Americans. Their real target is thoughtful reason. Their goal is to stir up fear and emotion.
They’re in effect working to trigger a “fight or flight” mechanism in voters that they want to win over, or keep competitors for getting.
The danger is that with comments such as Huckbee’s latest on the Obama administration’s Iran deal it again raises a danger that I predict will come to sad fruition. Not that it might, but that it eventually will unless the trending of our political “discussion” changes.
Sometime in the next few years we are likely to see a major political figure of a political party assassinated because by someone at least partly motivated by over-the-top rhetoric that makes some nutcase think that his or her survival, or their country’s or their group’s survival is threatened by someone who simply has a different world view that they believe is the correct one.
Huckaee’s statement is a political obscenity and those defending him and it no matter what lawyerly defenses they provide aren’t worth listening to, reading, or linking to. But suspect Huckabee and those who propagate this kind of bilge on a serious issue where there is plenty of room for SERIOUS criticism of the administration’s deal (or defense of it) will get their hits, air time — and Huckabee will win votes. it’s all about making political opposition as extreme and borderline hysterical as you can make it so people are whipped up to go to the polls to vote for you, read you, listen to you, or view you.
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, talking about the Iran nuclear deal, said President Barack Obama will march Israelis “to the door of the oven.”
Huckabee, in an interview Saturday with Breitbart News, evoked Holocaust images of the ovens used to dispose of the bodies of Jews gassed in Nazi concentration camps.
“This president’s foreign policy is the most feckless in American history,” the former Arkansas governor said. “It is so naive that he would trust the Iranians. By doing so, he will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven.”
The Democrats were quick to respond to this early Christmas/Chanuka gift:
The Democratic National Committee took issue with Huckabee’s analogy to the Holocaust, saying such rhetoric “has no place in American politics.”
“Cavalier analogies to the Holocaust are unacceptable,” said the DNC’s chair, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, in a statement issued Sunday. “Mike Huckabee must apologize to the Jewish community and to the American people for this grossly irresponsible statement.”
Yes. But the larger issue is that the seeds are being planted now by irresponsible partisans and politicians who apparently feel it takes too much work to seriously, thoughtfully argue against a policy than it takes to trigger a fight or flight mechanism in the voters they seek. It’s all framed in life-and-death, a threat-to-our-way-of-life terms.
Saying that Obama is going to march Israel to the ovens: demeans, belittles and cheapens those whose lives were snuffed out in Adolf Hitler’s ovens and is an insult to those whose relatives (like almost the entire side of my mother’s family) died at the hand of the Nazis. Plus, it could plant the seed in the mind of someone who then feels he needs to act to physically remove someone who is a such a huge physical threat to others.
You CAN debate serious issues passionately, seriously, aggressively without going where Huckabee has gone. On the other hand, they say Presidential candidacies are about character. Now we see it in Mr. Huckabee; the “huck” seems more like the huck in “huckster” and less the huck in “Huckleberry Finn.”
Who does Huckabee think he is? Someone leaving a comment on a Facebook page or a blog?
Presumably he is a serious person.
Clearly, that’s a flawed presumption.
It seems he’s actually running for….troll.
UPDATE: Yes. This is who Mike Huckabee is. The latest via The Huffington Post:
However, Huckabee and his aides appeared to be trumpeting the remarks on Sunday afternoon. The interview appeared on the candidate’s Twitter account and that of his campaign spokeswoman.
Now the way American politics works: this line will be picked up by some bloggers, defended by some bloggers, and talk show hosts will pick up this line and defend it and explain why it’s accurate starting Monday morning. Then the White House will be asked to respond to it.
Bloomberg Politics has a great round up of quotes opposing the deal by other GOP Presidential hopefuls and notes: “By invoking the specter of the Nazi death camps, Huckabee arguably set a new bar for slamming the Obama administration’s deal with the Islamic Republic…
OTHER REACTION:
—On Politics:
Democrats quickly condemned Huckabee for the “oven” comment.
“This rhetoric, while commonplace in today’s Republican presidential primary, has no place in American politics,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who chairs the Democratic National Committee. “Cavalier analogies to the Holocaust are unacceptable. Mike Huckabee must apologize to the Jewish community and to the American people for this grossly irresponsible statement.”
All things being equal in partisan politics, President Barack Obama, his staff and several Democratic supporters are very supportive of the Iran Deal. Therefore, the GOP mostly hates it — especially the 2016 presidential hopefuls currently campaigning for the White House. And the deal’s loudest, most sound bite-savvy opponent is none other than former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
In a fluff piece of an interview with Breitbart, Huckabee skipped way ahead of the rest of the line when he equated the Iran Deal to being a member of the Nazi SS and finding, capturing and taking Jews to the doors of places like Auschwitz.
Seriously, I’m not kidding..
Craziest part about Huckabee's "Israelis to the ovens" quote over a deal w/Iran is HE WANTED A DEAL WITH IRAN IN '08 pic.twitter.com/igsuer9Yrg
— Adam Weinstein (@AdamWeinstein) July 26, 2015
Huckabee has just become a craven buffoon hasn't he? The ovens? Sad.
— Bigshotprof (@thebigshotprof) July 26, 2015
In Huckabee's defense, he didn't say Obama will put Jews in ovens. Obama will just lead them to the oven door. Hillary will put them in.
— Speaker Cruz (@HavanaTed) July 26, 2015
Huckabee comment about Jews & ovens not a gaffe – apparently how he's decided to force his way into the conversation pic.twitter.com/xNn4ropHyy
— Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) July 26, 2015
Now if Huckabee wants to talk about pizza ovens, that's a topic I have better reason to believe he's familiar with.
— David Waldman (@KagroX) July 26, 2015
So Mike Huckabee thinks the entire world is marching the Jews to the ovens, since UN Sec Council voted yes 2 Iran Deal. #Disgusting
— cynthia pope (@cindypope) July 26, 2015
So, Trump issues daily insults, blatant lies, other madness. Huckabee using "ovens" reference re Israel. What's next, GOP? Dead baby jokes?
— AverageChirps (@AverageChirps) July 26, 2015
I defended Mike Huckabee a few years ago as wrong but well meaning. But his "ovens" comment is like reverse-BEING THERE levels of tone deaf.
— Joe Uchill (@JoeUchill) July 26, 2015
Between Huckabee's "ovens" statement and NRO calling for impeachment, the right losing it totally on Iran tells me it's historically good.
— Zandar'sInternDidIt (@ZandarVTS) July 26, 2015
This is *at least* as horrid as anything Donald Trump has said in recent weeks: http://t.co/RQndrvAiwa
— Greg Minton (@gregminton) July 26, 2015
Totally thought Huckabee was supposed to be a man of God, not an offensive, divisive sensationalist.
http://t.co/UyqD1tSouW
— Eric Wolfson (@EricWolfson) July 26, 2015
How is this guy still allowed to run for President?
http://t.co/Vy9ifoG2E3? pic.twitter.com/wgn6gzsqNZ
— Imraan Siddiqi (@imraansiddiqi) July 26, 2015
Mike Huckabee is a dangerous demagogue of a politician – willing to use religion to tear Americans apart. #IranDeal http://t.co/cz5y0pqsim
— Rev.Dr. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) July 26, 2015
Just when you thought GOP couldn't sink further
Huckabee says Obama leading Israelis to the ovens through #IranDeal
http://t.co/1EAPhE2c0q
— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) July 26, 2015
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.