Huckabee 'slip' on Kenya was more like a slide

By Jonathan Capehart

Sorry, Steve, but I'm going to have to disagree with your "Freudian slip" pass given to Mike Huckabee. A slip would be saying "Osama" instead of "Obama" when referring to the president. What the former Arkansas governor, who is reportedly thinking about running for the Republican presidential nomination again in 2012, did was inexplicably slide head-first into the far right's nether world of conspiracy and paranoia.



I would love to know more. What I know is troubling enough. And one thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, [is] very different than the average American. ...if you think about it, his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather.

Huckabee's spokesperson tried to clear things up.

Governor Huckabee simply misspoke when he alluded to President Obama growing up in "Kenya." The Governor meant to say the President grew up in Indonesia.

So, then, what about all that stuff about the British and Kenya and Obama's father and grandfather? Oh, nevermind.

Everyone's a little mystified by what Huckabee said. He's supposed to be the reasonable, rationale and principled one among conservative leaders. Perhaps he's not really running for president, as John Heilemann, who recently interviewed Huckabee for New York magazine, suggested on "Morning Joe" today. That very well may be. Fox News announced today that it suspended the contributor contracts of Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum because the "have signaled possible runs for the Presidency." No mention of Huckabee or a certain former governor from Alaska. After yesterday's slip, er, slide, I don't think we have to worry about Huckabee leaving Fox anytime soon.