Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee’s comments in Mason on Friday have gained national attention and are now ‘blowing up’ say Democratic and liberal groups.
As reported by the Enquirer’s Politics Extra blog, the story has been picked up in Politico, which noted: ’Huckabee didn’t say he was joking, though the laughter suggests his audience knew he was; a similar riff in Virginia in 2009 drew criticism from Democrats.’
The Huffington Post wrote about it today, and quoted We Are Ohio’s Melissa Fazekas: “These comments reflect an entire campaign of deceit from Issue 2 supporters. They are willing to go to any extremes to keep Ohioans from letting their voices be heard…Enough is enough.”
Liberal Mother Jones picked it up too, adding: “Given that the fight over SB 5 has been a front line in the national clash over union rights, what happens on November 8 will hardly be a joke.”
Comedy Central’s Indecision blog noted that, “…maybe voter disenfranchisement is not the best subject for jocularity considering the accusations that Ohio Republicans are currently engaging in active attempts to disenfranchise voters via the state’s legislative body…”
All that prompted a blast email from Ohio AFL-CIO spokesman Andy Richards:
It is blowing up Nationally now… The question still remains will Building a Better Ohio denounce these comments since they happened at one of their events and will they finally apologize to Marlene Quinn for their ad twisting her words? Jason Mauk has some answering to do.
UPDATE, 6:23 p.m.: Jason Mauk, spokesman for Build a Better Ohio, which sponsored the event on Friday, says Issue 2 opponents are “doing a phony soccer flip” over Huckabee’s comments.
“Huckabee has clearly been using the voting joke for years, and no one takes it seriously, except the Democrats who immediately cry voter suppression,” he said. “He should probably get a better joke, but opponents of Issue 2 can stop the phony outrage and get back to the real debate.”
Update, 10:37 p.m.: MSNBC’s Ed Schultz played MasonBuzz’s audio recording of Huckabee’s comments on The Ed Schultz show this evening. “Republicans are playing dirty” by making it harder for people to vote,” said Schultz. “Republicans aren’t confident about the issues so they’re trying to suppress the vote. For Mike Huckabee to joke about voter suppression when his party is actively trying to prevent people from voting is sleazy psycho talk.”
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Update, Oct. 18: MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews also played MasonBuzz’s audio recording of Huckabee’s SB 5 comments in Mason. “Need proof some Republicans want to try and keep you from voting?” Matthews asked in the lead-in. “These guys love to say ‘I was just joking’ after they make their right-wing points. It sounds like he was going for the laughs there, but you do get the point.”
MasonBuzz will continue to monitor this story and will update the blog.