Brumment - Huckabee’s deserved typecast 

So we had another Republican presidential debate. We beheld another glib performance by Mike Huckabee that was deemed impressive by the pundits. Then we received another morning-after news report that mentioned Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney, but not Huckabee.

There are typecasts in our presidential campaigns. Among the Republican presidential hopefuls, they are these: Giuliani, McCain and Romney are the clashing front-runners, flawed but favored; Fred Thompson is the wild card; Ron Paul is the Libertarian oddball foil mixing some truth with greater impracticality; Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo ought to have quit months ago; and Huckabee is a swell talker and seeming nice guy who might make one of those first three a decent running mate.

Perhaps I reflect merely the ennui that familiarity breeds, but commentators continue to compliment performances by Huckabee that I find superficial, silly and tiresome.

First, enough with the metaphors. In the Fox debate Wednesday, the guy who once called Arkansas a “banana republic” insulted George Jones, only the greatest country song stylist ever.

Given an opportunity to crack wise about Thompson’s declaring his candidacy, but not participating in the debate, Huckabee pointed out that Thompson hails from Nashville - like George Jones, who came for a while to be called “No Show” for failing to appear at concerts. Huckabee suggested Thompson might deserve the same sobriquet.

Two things: George Jones was known to have drinking and drug demons. Was Huckabee suggesting the same of Thompson? Of course not. He merely was yielding to his own weakness for favoring a good if reckless line over fairness and precision.

Huckabee could have gone all day without disparaging a musical legend to try to make political hay against an opponent. I resented it, frankly, and I’m not all that much a Jones fan. I’m more a Haggard man, since Merle writes his own stuff and reflects an attitude, whereas George is mostly about the voice.

Then Huckabee got into the spotlighted direct debate exchange with Paul over the war in Iraq.