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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) on Wednesday strongly criticized his party establishment, arguing that they have lost touch with their base. “Republicans have decided that elections are a messy thing, and anointings and coronations are much better,” Huckabee said on MSNBC. “It’s that kind of attitude that is going to be the death of the Republican Party in this country.” He added that the GOP is almost at a point where it wants no dissent in politics and instead, “We just want everybody to line up on the stage, let’s build a campfire, toast marshmallows, sing ‘Kumbaya’ together.”Despite pressure from party leaders to drop out, Huckabee is continuing to compete in GOP primaries even though he is far behind Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the de facto Republican nominee, in the delegate count. The former governor said he remains in the race “because some of us care very deeply about issues that we know leave the table if some of us aren’t out there to keep them going …” He listed changes to the tax system and immigration, and protecting human life, among those issues. “These are issues that keep us going 20 hours a day, because we care deeply about whether our party is going to stand for something — or if all we’re going to do is just a say, ‘We want to be elected and not those guys.’” Huckabee argued that the Republicans “have lost touch in many cases with the common, ordinary people out there driving trucks, handling the freight, lifting heavy things.” He noted that it is the members of the base who are the ones needed when it comes to the general election. “You alienate that strong base of the party, and you’re going to find it very difficult to beat Democrats,” Huckabee said. |
