{"id":717,"date":"2007-10-24T21:13:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-24T21:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arkansasfreedom.net\/?p=717"},"modified":"2007-10-24T21:13:00","modified_gmt":"2007-10-24T21:13:00","slug":"why-cant-huckabee-just-tell-the-truth-and-why-cant-folks-look-at-facts-before-believing-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/?p=717","title":{"rendered":"Why can’t Huckabee just tell the truth? And why can’t folks look at facts before believing words?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

http:\/\/swtimes.com\/articles\/2007\/10\/24\/columns\/david_sanders\/sanders01.txt <\/p>\n

wednesday, October 24, 2007 9:22 AM CDT<\/font><\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nHuckabee His Own Speechwriter? No<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\n It was … well, an interesting paragraph in Rich Lowry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s syndicated column about Mike Huckabee.<\/p>\n

Lowry,
\nthe editor of The National Review, touched on Huckabee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dynamic
\npersonality and rhetorical prowess. Personality has endeared the former
\nArkansas governor to the national political press, he said, and his
\nrhetoric, while at times powerful and worthy of style points in the
\ncampaign, is somewhat lacking in direction and substance.<\/p>\n

But, here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the paragraph \u00e2\u20ac\u201d particularly the fourth sentence \u00e2\u20ac\u201d that caught my eye:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153With
\nalmost no organization, Huckabee lives off his words. In oratorical
\ntalent, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something of a cross between Billy Sunday and Ronald
\nReagan. He rose to the leadership of the Arkansas State Baptist
\nConvention on his speaking ability. As governor, he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a
\nspeechwriter, and there was no such thing as an advance text. His staff
\ngot reporters copies of his annual state of the state addresses by
\ndoing a quick transcription of his off-the-cuff remarks.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

No
\nspeechwriter? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure where Lowry picked that up, but it was
\nsomething I had heard from the governor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office over the years.<\/p>\n

The
\nidea was that Huckabee, a gifted speaker, was different from other
\npoliticians; he knew what he wanted to say and how to say it, which
\nmeant that he wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t require the services of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153speechwriter.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It was
\na point of pride, a line often repeated by his staff and even by
\nHuckabee from time to time. The problem is that it is completely false.<\/p>\n

On
\nMonday, I e-mailed one of Huckabee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s campaign press aides to ask if the
\ncampaign and\/or Huckabee was claiming that he never had a speechwriter
\nor speechwriters while governor. And, if so, what exactly did several
\nformer staff members who filled the post of speechwriter \u00e2\u20ac\u201d some in
\npractice and others with the title \u00e2\u20ac\u201d actually do?<\/p>\n

Now-state Rep.
\nDan Greenberg, R-Little Rock, was with Huckabee in the early years and
\nwrote prepared texts and numerous talking points. Steve Brawner, who
\nlater served as a press aide to the late Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller, did
\nthe same thing.<\/p>\n

Douglas Baker was added to Huckabee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s
\ngubernatorial staff for the expressed purpose of helping shape message,
\nwhere he \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you guessed it \u00e2\u20ac\u201d wrote speeches. Baker recently graduated
\nfrom Johns Hopkins University with an advanced degree and now lives in
\nWashington, where he works as a freelance communications professional.<\/p>\n

DeWayne
\nHayes held the title \u00e2\u20ac\u0153special assistant to the governor\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and spent much
\nof his time drafting speeches. Hayes is now living in Phoenix, where he
\nworks as a corporate communications executive and speechwriter for one
\nof the country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largest utilities.<\/p>\n

Chris Pyle left his post as
\nthe governor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family policy adviser to write speeches and was allowed
\nto use the title speechwriter. He is now a governmental affairs
\nprofessional with Delta Dental.<\/p>\n

Keith Peterson also carried the
\ntitle of gubernatorial speechwriter. He left the governor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s staff to
\nwork for the state Department of Workforce Education, where last April,
\nin its internal newsletter, the department said Peterson \u00e2\u20ac\u0153started his
\ncareer teaching speech on the college level. That path led him to the
\nGovernor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Office, where he wrote speeches for Gov. Mike Huckabee.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

At this writing, there has been no response from the campaign.<\/p>\n

There
\nis a possibility that Lowry wrote the line about Huckabee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s
\nspeechwriter-less staff after reviewing old press clips, but it is also
\ncompletely possible that an overzealous campaign aide, caught up in the
\nmoment, threw the line out to attempt to make Huckabee out to be
\nsomething of a polymath.<\/p>\n

The truth is that while Huckabee was
\ngovernor, he was served by many talented and accomplished
\nspeechwriters. After reading Lowry, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear he thinks the popular
\npresidential candidate could use more rhetorical direction and
\nsubstance from the likes of them.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/swtimes.com\/articles\/2007\/10\/24\/columns\/david_sanders\/sanders01.txt wednesday, October 24, 2007 9:22 AM CDT Huckabee His Own Speechwriter? No It was … well, an interesting paragraph in Rich Lowry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s syndicated column about Mike Huckabee. Lowry, the editor of The National Review, touched on Huckabee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dynamic personality and rhetorical prowess. Personality has endeared the former Arkansas governor to the national political press, … Continue reading Why can’t Huckabee just tell the truth? And why can’t folks look at facts before believing words?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-huckabee-shameful-record","category-presidential-candidates"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}