Huckabee: Republican attacks on Obama 'deplorable'

He could go down as the first Republican to spar with conservative icon Rush Limbaugh and live to talk about it.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told the Hudson Union Society some weeks ago that Republican attacks on President Obama for everything from visiting Dover Air Force Base to opening the White House to local trick-or-treaters on Halloween are hurting the country.

Now, his comments are circulating on the net, posing a direct counter to Limbaugh, who has criticized Obama's Dover visit as a photo op.

Said Huckabee:

When he was at Dover the other day, and went there to pay respect for soldiers, I heard a lot of people on the right say, "Aw, that's just a cheap photo-op." No, I think it was the commander-in-chief of our military paying respect to a dead soldier, and I'm grateful that he did that, and I was proud of him for doing that. And I think we all -- as Americans -- should give him credit for doing that.

Perhaps cognizant of public opinion polls that show Obama personally popular with most Americans, even those who disagree with his policies, Huckabee added: "When he and Michele hosted the trick-or-treaters on Halloween, quit finding something wrong with that. Say. 'Good, I'm glad that he and the first lady are treating children to an experience at the White House.' And I just find it deplorable that some people on my end of the aisle want to find everything wrong and nothing right about the man as a man."

Finally, recalling that liberals regularly reviled George W. Bush no matter what he did, Huckabee, a former pastor, pleaded for comity.

I hated it when people did that to George Bush. They couldn't even laugh at the man's jokes. They found something wrong with everything and if we do that to Barack Obama, then shame on us, shame on us. No wonder our country is so divided when that happens.

Huckabee made the comments while on book tour for "A Simple Christmas." Republican insiders, mindful of all the attention focused on former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue," are calling Huckabee's "the other book tour."

-- Johanna Neuman

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Fox News rolls wrong video of Palin 'crowds.' Will heads roll too?

A few weeks ago, Fox News had the White House on the defensive. Network anchors were scoring political points by ridiculing President Obama for ignoring the largest news cable audience in television. Glenn Beck pounded green-jobs czar Van Jones, who eventually resigned.

Today, it's Fox News that's on the defensive, after anchor Gregg Jarrett waxed on about the crowds former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had been getting on her book tour. Except it turned out the footage Fox was using at the time was from the 2008 campaign.

Fox executives, embarrassed by the flap, are considering "serious disciplinary action" against someone in the control room, according to our friends at the Swamp.

Small wonder.

Last week, Comedy Central's Jon Stewart called out Fox's Sean Hannity for running video of a huge tea party protest in Washington last September -- as he was discussing a rally by the same causes outside the Capitol this month -- where far fewer protesters showed up.

Hannity apologized on air for what he called an inadvertent error. 

-- Johanna Neuman

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Palin to Biden: 'Drill, baby, drill' not that complicated

(UPDATE: 1:28 p.m. An additional quote from the program and a link to the full transcript has been added below.)

Rush Limbaugh has said of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's new book, "Going Rogue," that it is "truly one of the most substantive policy books I've read."

So the conservative icon was determined not to follow the media herd. In a half-hour interview with the Republican Party's hottest commodity, Limbaugh did not ask Palin about her quarrels with John McCain's presidential campaign, her interview with CBS' Katie Couric, her clothes, her husband or her ambitions.

Instead, he offered her a platform for policy, a chance to burnish her credentials, to add gravitas to the resume.

On the green revolution: "A lot of snake-oil science. ... Somebody's making an awful lot of money" from the fear of global warming.

On healthcare: "There are lots of common-sense solutions before we get the federal government involved."

And, finally, on the "drill, baby, drill" chant that defined her appearance before the Republican National Convention last summer: "What is complicated about tapping into safe supplies" of oil?

Responding to Vice President Biden's recent comment that addressing environmental issues is more complicated then just drilling, Palin said, "It's not that complicated, it's political."

(UPDATE: The full Limbaugh-Palin transcript is now available here. He also asked Palin about the loss of her endorsed Conservative Party candidate, Doug Hoffman, in New York's 23d District:

Well, I think what you saw there is -- and of course it's not just the Republican machine, it's the Democrat machine, too.  You know, if you're not the anointed one within the machine, sometimes you have a much tougher row to hoe and that's what Hoffman faced. He was the underdog. 

I think great timing for him, though, to stand strong on his conservative credentials and essentially come out of nowhere and prove that an American without that resume, without that machine backing can truly make a difference in an election like this.

RUSH:  Well, now, you used the term, "If you're not the anointed one by the party machine, you're the underdog and you have a tough row to hoe."  Based on things that I read, the Republican establishment would not anoint you to be a nominee of their party should you choose to go that way. 

Palin, who upset the entrenched GOP establishment in Alaska to win the gubernatorial primary, chuckled.

-- Johanna Neuman

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Palin's book sparks attack on vegetarians

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has never made any bones, if you will, about her culinary preferences. She's a carnivore, a hunter and proud of both.

So it's not really a surprise that her book, "Going Rogue," published today, extols the virtues of eating meat.

"If any vegans came over for dinner, I could whip them up a salad, then explain my philosophy on being a carnivore," she wrote. "If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?”

But the former Republican vice presidential candidate did not stop there.

“I love meat," she writes. "I eat pork chops, thick bacon burgers, and the seared fatty edges of a medium-well-done steak. But I especially love moose and caribou. I always remind people from outside our state that there's plenty of room for all Alaska's animals -- right next to the mashed potatoes.”

A vegetarian from Cleveland took issue with Palin. In a blog on the Examiner, Daelyn Fourtney wrote that Palin's remarks "will surely receive a chuckle and thumbs up from many avid hunters and steak house patrons. It is a sad statement on our society when we applaud those who refer to animals as the centerpiece of their dinner plate."

Now, Fourtney is reporting that she has received a lot of hostile e-mails from conservatives assuming her to be a left-wing pinko. A sampling of her inbox:

* “The liberal/socialist media elites are terrified of America's new Reagan and it's so much fun to see their PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome) on display...including this Fortney writer.” –freeperjim

“Politicizing Food now?...is nothing sacred? ... off, Alinksy Vegan Radicals.” – Tyler

“You liberals and militant vegs. apparently need a humor transplant.” –Keith

The Cleveland food writer -- in some quarters now known as the "Rogue Vegetarian" -- said her politics are separate from her eating habits.

"I have chosen to live a vegetarian lifestyle because I believe in the sanctity of life for all creatures," she said. "Assuming that one is left or right based on what they choose to eat is a dangerous road to travel."

Still, she said, she's not counting on a Christmas card from the Republican Party this year.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Sarah Palin with a caribou she shot in Alaska. Credit: Associated Press

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Oprah's Sarah Palin interview incites 'perky' reactions

Sarah Palin's rogue book tour made a pre-taped stop in Chicago today for the former Alaska governor's much-hyped appearance on "Oprah."

Palin dropped some doggone fascinating tidbits during the interview. She said she has no plans to run for president in 2012. Well, actually she said it's "not on my radar," which is Politician for "It might be over the horizon."

That might ease the worries of conspiracy theorists convinced that the adorable political celebrity could ring in the 2012 apocalypse. On second thought, no, it won't convince the "anti-" crowd of anything.

Oprah Winfrey, who supported her hometown senator, Barack Obama, in the election, questioned Palin about her unintentionally hilarious interviews with Katie Couric. Palin refused to refer to Couric by name, instead calling her "the perky one." Gosh!

Don't worry, plenty more to come after the book's official release tomorrow. There's a five-part Barbara Walters chat on ABC and a long radio conversation with Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern.

As entertaining as the Oprah chat was, we also like to watch the comments from fans and haters. Did Oprah go too easy on Palin? Some said, You betcha. But others admitted that Palin is starting to grow on them.

We grabbed some of the best we found on Twitter. Here they are (unedited):

George W. Bush warns about too much government without naming gee-who-could-it-possibly-be?

Speaking of politicians' books, it looks like we'll have to wait for next fall to discover what exactly former President George W. Bush meant Thursday when he spoke, seemingly regretfully, about the $700-billion Wall Street bailout decision he made near the end of his term. He said:

I went against my free-market instincts and approved a temporary government intervention to unfreeze the credit markets so that we could avoid a major global depression.

Bush was speaking in Dallas at the formal unveiling of plans for a $300-million presidential library and think tank at Southern Methodist University, his wife's alma mater. Sources said fundraisers have already assembled more than $200 million in donations to begin construction next year.

Besides housing his presidential archives and memorabilia such as the bullhorn the 43rd president used atop the World Trade Center rubble after 9/11, the presidential center will focus, he said, on four policy areas: education, global health, political freedoms and economic growth.

Appearing refreshed and energized before a friendly crowd of about 1,000, the 63-year-old said he was retired, not tired. He covered a broad array of subjects in his remarks.

But Bush kept to his promise from earlier this year not to comment on specific policies or decisions of his successor, something his former vice president, Dick Cheney, has not felt obliged to do. Oh, and he's writing a book too. Who isn't these days?

In fact, Bush did not mention Barack Obama's name, nor the Democrat's policy moves into the banking, financial, automobile, healthcare and insurance industries.

But some might interpret an oblique warning when Bush said:

The role of government is not to create wealth but to create the conditions that allow entrepreneurs and innovators to thrive.

As the world recovers, we will face a temptation to replace the risk-and-reward model of the private sector with the blunt instruments of government spending and control. History shows that the greater threat to prosperity is not too little government involvement, but too much.

Whomever could he possibly be talking about?

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo credit: ABC News

Palin book tour will look a lot like a presidential bid launch ... Hmmm, a coincidence?

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin plans to launch her book tour next week with an appearance on "Oprah" and a book signing at a Barnes & Noble in Grand Rapids, Mich.

With a memoir called "Going Rogue," Palin returns to the place where she earned that title, parting company with the decision by Republican John McCain's presidential campaign to write off Michigan, conceding the economically depressed state to Democrat Barack Obama.

Like any good presidential campaign, Palin's book tour will be conducted from a bus painted with the cover of the book and will be making two to three stops a day.

The rest of the book tour mimics an announcement schedule for a presidential candidate, taking Palin to places she is likely to attract friendly book buyers -- and voters. The highlight reel: Roanoke, Va.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; Sioux City, Iowa; Noblesville, Ind.; Washington, Pa. and Ft. Bragg, N.C.

Big city voters? Forgetaboutit. No L.A., no N.Y., no Chicago, no D.C.

"From Michigan, the 'Going Rogue' tour will cover as much of the country as possible," Palin said this week on her Facebook page. "I've decided to stop in cities that are not usually included in a typical book tour." Translation: places with pockets of red-state voters, oops, make that readers.

"These are the places where she had her biggest fans and where we think we will sell the most books," said Tina Andreadis of HarperCollins, owned by conservative Rupert Murdoch..

Speaking of presidential campaigns, the Detroit News reports that Palin could just miss crossing paths with another candidate for the 2012 Republican nomination, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. The day before Palin's book signing, Huckabee will also be in Grand Rapids, at rival Schuler Books, pitching his book, "A Simple Christmas."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo credit: HarperCollins

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Lou Dobbs abruptly quits CNN on the air -- video

CNN's outspoken and controversial anchor/commentator Lou Dobbs suddenly announced his retirement during his program today, effective immediately.

See the video below.

Dobbs, who's been particularly outspoken on the issue of illegal immigration, said the country's current problems require rigorous discussion based less on partisanship than empirical evidence. He said he'd been under pressure to take a new direction in his life (politics) and he was going to do so in an effort to help save what he called the country's beleaguered system of capitalism.

Over the past six months, it’s become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country and affecting all of us.

And some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond my role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem-solving, as well as to contribute positively to a better understanding of the great issues of our day. And to continue to do so in the most direct and honest language possible.

CNN, which isn't doing all that well in recent ratings anyway, has also been under pressure to....

Dick Armey, ex-congressman and now Tea Party activist, targets 2010 elections

Once, when Republicans ran the House, he was majority leader, coauthor of the party's 1994 "Contract With America," second only to Speaker Newt Gingrich in ushering in what was called at the time the Republican "revolution."

Nowadays, former Texas congressman Dick Armey is out on the hustings again, this time inspiring Tea Party activism against a Washington run by Democrats. As chairman of FreedomWorks, an advocacy group that promotes lower taxes and less government, he was one of the first Republicans to endorse conservative Doug Hoffman in that controversial New York District 23 congressional race. His current mission: Stretch the political map to empower more conservative candidates like Hoffman in the 2010 elections.

In a recent speech in North Carolina reported by the New York Times, the 69-year-old Armey said, “Nearly every important office in Washington, D.C., today is occupied by someone with an aggressive dislike for our heritage, our freedom, our history and our Constitution.”

Today on MSBNC's "Morning Meeting," Armey said President Obama's healthcare proposal is about "power and political control, not healthcare." If the Democrats were serious about healthcare, he said, they would enact tort reform, allow purchase of insurance across state lines and reduce government mandates.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo credit: Max Whittaker / Getty Images

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Obama communications director steps down -- another win for Fox News?

First, Van Jones resigned as the Obama administration's green jobs czar after taking a pounding from Fox News' Glenn Beck. The charge: Jones signed a petition seeking an inquiry into whether the Bush administration was complicit in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Now comes word that Anita Dunn, under fire from Beck for saying in a speech to high schoolers that Mao Tse-tung and Mother Teresa were two of her favorite political philosophers, is leaving her post as communications director.

Dunn, handing over the reins to her assistant, Dan Pfeiffer, has led the White House charge against Fox, saying the network is not a news organization but essentially part of the Republican Party. She also said her remarks to the high school students were meant as irony.

Insiders insist Dunn is not a casualty of the Beck offensive, noting that she had never planned to stay in the role permanently, and will remain at the White House as a consultant.

Some bloggers have their doubts. Niall O'Dowd writes in Irish Central that Dunn's departure is "a victory for Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Fox News."

But Michelle Malkin thinks that the story is much ado about nothing. As she put it, "Don’t get excited: Anita Dunn is not being thrown under the bus."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Obama political guru David Axelrod confers with Dunn at a White House swearing-in ceremony May 1. Credit: Getty Images

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