Huckabee Slams Natalie Portman

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It's interesting that Mike Huckabee's focus isn't the economy or jobs, but rather it's on social issues, as evidenced by his attack on recent Academy Award winner Natalie Portman.

Politico quotes Huckee as follows:

"And I think it gives a distorted image that yes, not everybody hires nannies, and caretakers, and nurses. Most single moms are very poor, uneducated, can't get a job, and if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care. And that's the story that we're not seeing, and it's unfortunate that we glorify and glamorize the idea of out-of-wedlock children."

 "You know, right now, 75 percent of black kids in this country are born out of wedlock. 61 percent of Hispanic kids — across the board, 41 percent of all live births in America are out-of-wedlock births. And the cost of that is simply staggering."

While Huckabee didn't state the per cent of white births out of wedlock, I don't know if the per centages he quoted are true.  He might have "misspoke". Let's not forget the Republican anti-abortion position or that Bristol Palin is making a living based on her out-of-wedlock pregnancy.  But, The First Casualty blog makes a cogent economic point not to be missed.

For someone occupying the more extreme fringe of the conservative movement, it seems a bit ideologically blasphemous for Huckabee to concede that, without government, disadvantaged children would not only be malnourished but would also not receive health care. Even excluding the very poor families that are eligible for Medicaid, this leaves plenty of financially struggling families, often unemployed due to the recession, who would have no health care at all under the (Republican-approved) old system.

After Huckabee "misspoke" about President Obama's being raised in Kenya, once again he endears himself to the right wing fringe with his attack on Natalie Portman's pregnancy.  He makes me think of "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Wiz" where the scarecrow say "if I only had a brain".  If he had a brain, Huckabee could outline his plans to address the serious economic issues facing the country instead of talking himself into one hole after another.

Related articles

• Mike Huckabee Rips Natalie Portman For "Glamorizing" Single Motherhood (outsidethebeltway.com)
• Mike Huckabee Slams Natalie Portman For 'Child Out Of Wedlock' (huffingtonpost.com)
• Mike Huckabee Slams Natalie Portman's Out-Of-Wedlock Pregnancy (mediaite.com)
• Natalie Portman Dissed by Mike Huckabee for Being Pregnant and "Not Married" (eonline.com)