Huckabee trips on his own hypocrisy

For a guy who has made a comfortable living criticizing the parenting skills of the Obamas for allowing their children to listen to the music of Beyonce',  Mike Huckabee just skated out over ice too thin.

Mike Huckabee with two child molesters, see a pattern here? pic.twitter.com/MlW1ghy5KV

— philip harris (@pharris830) May 22, 2015

Some review.

Josh Duggar, the eldest of the "19 and Counting" children of the TV family, resigned from his post at the Family Research Council (an extremist Christian conservative organization founded by James Dobson, led by Tony Perkins, and labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center) after it was revealed that he had sexually molested five young girls -- including some of his sisters -- in 2006, when he was 14 years old.

That was enough controversy and 'do as I say, not as I do' irony for everyone to use the entire Memorial Day weekend to digest, without having to look at the selfies of Duggar with Huckabee -- and Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz; roughly half of the GOP presidential field.  But Huck went on and threw some gasoline on the coals in the grill, posting a lengthy Facebook status update affirming his "support for the Duggar family," and saying that Duggar was being attacked by "blood-thirsty media" and deserves "our support."

That appears to have been a bridge too far for Huckabee's Facebook 'friends', who are tearing him to shreds on his own page.  A few of those "you've lost my vote" reactions are posted here, with a link to whatever Huckabee's FB page monitors have left up (I did not click over to check).

Media reaction, as you might imagine, has been swift and harsh.  Not quite 'bloodthirsty'.

Huckabee praised the Duggar family, who took over a year to bring the matter to law enforcement, saying that they “dealt with it and were honest and open about it with the victims and the authorities.”

He adds that Josh is a good person who “confessed his sins to those he harmed [and] sought help,” despite the fact that, according to reports, Josh did not receive counseling and was only sent to live with a family friend who worked in the home remodeling business.

The former Arkansas governor saved his anger for the people who have cited the case to point out the disingenuousness of the reality TV stars and the conservative political activists who hold them up as a paragon of moral virtue, or as Josh referred to his family, “the epitome of conservative values.” They also have a record of depicting LGBT people as threats to children.

Coincidentally, Huckabee had just received the endorsement of his 2016 presidential bid from Jim Bob Duggar -- who was himself running for political office at the time of the molestations by his teenage son -- and wife Michelle.

(Huckabee's own son killed a dog at Boy Scout camp in 1998, when he was 17.  Later, David Huckabee became an Eagle Scout.  But that's a digression.)

Yeah, the schadenfreude would be delicious... if it weren't so sickening.

As the picture at the top demonstrates, Huckabee has enjoyed the company of a variety of child molesters recently without being called to account.  Until this week, and by his own hand.

Some people might point out that he has not just immolated his own presidential aspirations, but that he has done considerable damage to the other candidates like him, and to the segment of the electorate that demands a Christian conservative in the White House.  A development that plays directly into the hands of the corporate caucus of the GOP and its preferred choice(s).  That's probably a stretch.

After all, there's still Rick Perry, the perfect marriage of Christian conservative and crony capitalist.  But even he's got some explaining and a little scrubbing to do.