Huckabee: ‘I’m clearly a Washington outsider’

Throughout his second campaign for the presidency, the former Arkansas governor and affable social conservative has seen his outsider mantle claimed by other candidates with less political experience. He’s clearly not happy about it.

Huckabee sat down with the Washington Examiner for a wide-ranging exclusive interview.

Examiner: Here in the D.C., it’s been the news of the past week, the news about Speaker Boehner’s surprising announcement last Friday. What did you think of that? And what is the No. 1 thing the new speaker must do no matter who it is?

Huckabee: I think it caught everybody off guard — certainly the timing. I think the key thing for the next speaker is going to be trying to bring people together and show that the Republicans are willing to exert some real constitutional authority over the overreach of the executive branch.

Examiner: Do you support Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to take his post?

Huckabee: I don’t have a vote in it. And so, I know Kevin. I like him. Good guy. But as far as me venturing into the race, I don’t know that that’s really appropriate for me to say that’s who they should elect. That’s for the members to decide. The only person that I know of that’s in the race is Rep. Dan Webster, who is a very good personal friend of mine and was my Florida co-chairman back in 2008 along with Marco Rubio. He’s a great guy, and he was also Speaker of the House in Florida and was an incredibly effective speaker there … I don’t discount him. I just don’t venture to say that I have a point-of … a vote or anything like that. I just don’t.

While Huckabee does not endorse Rep. Daniel Webster for speaker of the House, he doesn’t “discount” him and considers the Florida Republican to be a “close friend.” (AP Photo)

Examiner: Obviously, a lot of conservatives right now are turning their fire on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the Senate. Do you think he should be next to follow Speaker Boehner out the door?

Huckabee: Again, that’s going to be for the senators to decide. The one thing I do hope Republicans will do, both in the House and Senate, is to really show the muscle that they now have. I realize they can’t do something unless — if the president vetoes it, but I think a lot of people are wanting them to at least put the effort forth and to make it very clear — let me give you an example. On the Planned Parenthood thing, the president decided this was a hill worth dying on.

When I think about that, I mean, it’s pretty bizarre. He is willing to potentially shut the government down for [$500 million] that doesn’t even go to a government entity. We’re not talking about shutting down the VA or the Department of Defense. We’re talking about a private organization, and he’s willing to let the whole government shut down because he’s just so defensive of an organization that sells baby parts for a profit. I just find that utterly bizarre, and I hope the Republicans will make sure they frame that issue just like it really is.

Examiner: When you look at the race, it seems as though some candidates have found their niche. You have Sen. Rubio going off talking about how he’s the generational type. You have Sen. Cruz talking about how he’s the conservative favorite and has a lot of people coalescing. Then, obviously, you have the outsiders who are doing really well right now. What is your theme? What is driving your candidacy and how’s it going to carry you over the other candidates?

Huckabee: You know, I find it a little interesting that some of these guys say they’re outsiders. They live in Washington most of the time. They have a Washington address. They get their paycheck from Washington. I’m not sure how that makes them an outsider …

Examiner: I was mostly talking about Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina, but what’s your theme though going forward here?

Huckabee: Well, I’m clearly a Washington outsider. Never lived there, never worked there, never got a paycheck there. But what I have done is fought the Clinton political machine all my political life, which I think is a pretty significant fight. I hear people saying they need a fighter, well nobody’s had to fight harder, not only to get into office, but once there, fight just to get things done and to stay afloat because I had the most lopsided legislature in America — more than Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Oregon, New Jersey, New York, and nobody had more Democrats and fewer Republicans in the legislature than me.

I’m the fourth Republican elected in over 150 years, and I think when people look at that in the context and understand that if there ever was a guy who came into the political environment as an outsider — and as far as Washington goes, still very much is, but at the same time who has a very clear consistent and longstanding record of accomplishing things against headwinds.

One of the things we’ve talked about of late, and I spoke about in my speech in Washington [at Values Voter Summit] — there’s a lot of sentiment that people just want to burn the place down. They’re so angry, and I get that. But I don’t think there’s much skill in taking a can of gas and book of matches and burning something down. A 12-year-old can do that. But if you’re going to build it back and make it functional, then that requires some very serious skills.

And while I understand the rage and anger of people, I think as people get closer to the election, they’re going to start asking themselves, ‘who has the requisite skills to actually govern.’ What people are mad at is the disfunction of government. They don’t hate the Constitution. They hate the fact that all three branches are ignoring it. They don’t hate the Tenth Amendment, they hate the fact that the states are getting rolled over by an ever-growing federal government that is out of control. They don’t even hate taxes. Nobody likes them, but what they hate is to see them wasted on things like Planned Parenthood that kills babies and hacks up their parts and sells them.

Or just like the VA basically be responsible for the deaths of 300,000 veterans. And the contrast of that — you’ve got Obama fighting so hard to fight for Planned Parenthood. Why isn’t he fighting for the veterans? Why isn’t he fighting to clean up the VA. I mean, that would be a hill to die on. Not Planned Parenthood. And it’s that level of pure disfunction and disconnect that people feel that I think drives so much of the sentiment.

Examiner: I want to go back to the outsiders since they’re having such a big influence on the race right now. They’re all over 50 percent if you combine them all in most of the polls. One thing I feel like the electorate they’re looking for is something fresh. Do you worry about being labeled a retread or stale or something like that? I mean, you saw Gov. Perry. He just dropped out, and he was one of — the three of you, Sen. Santorum and him who have run before. Do you worry about that at all?

Huckabee: Not at this point, I don’t. I mean, Scott Walker was fresh and he didn’t make it. He was very fresh. He was going to be the guy to save the day, and in the end it didn’t work. It’s hard to gauge exactly what it is that people are looking for, and I don’t think that it’s a disqualifier to say, you know, I’ve had some experience. I mean, I can’t imagine somebody would allow a doctor to do surgery on them who had zero experience and, in fact, had never been to medical school.

Huckabee says Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker “was going to be the guy to save the day, and in the end it didn’t work.” (AP Photo)

I can’t imagine that somebody would let them pilot the airplane they’re in if they’ve never been in the cockpit, but have played some video games and that’s their only experience. If you look at all the ways in which one qualifies for any job in this country, this would be the first time in history that people would say, ‘Yeah, we’re looking to hire you for a job, but the more capable, experienced and competent you are, the less we’re likely to hire you. We want to hire someone who has never ever done this job, who has never done anything like this job, is completely unprepared for what they’re about to take part in. We want a true, honest to god amateur stepping into the Oval Office and being the leader of the free world.’ Think about how irrational that is put in that context.

If I was hiring you to work at the Examiner, I would say, ‘Where have you worked? Can you show me some of your writing samples? Can you tell me some of the people you worked with and the stories you’ve done?’

I wouldn’t say, ‘Have you written anything?’ And if you said, ‘Oh yes, I’ve written hundreds and hundreds of pieces,’ and I’d say, ‘Well, we can’t use you. We want someone that’s never written anything. We want the first thing they write to be for us.’ Now that’s laughable. You chuckled yourself because of how ridiculous that is. Think of how ridiculous it is to think that the main qualifier is ‘I have no idea what I’m getting into.’ I think people are going to start thinking about that as we get closer to voting.

Examiner: Do you think the outsiders are a flash in the pan or do you think they are here for the long haul?

Huckabee: That’s hard to say. I think they could be along for a while. I mean part of what happens, and let’s be frank — the more media attention that a candidate gets, the more the public tends to think, ‘Oh, this must be the person I should be for.’ I mean, if you give me as much helium in my balloon as the front-runners have, I bet I’m polling higher.

I mean, it’s just the way it works. And I do think this is a great reminder of how manipulative the media can be in determining who is going to be on the stage, who’s going to get any air time. I mean, it’s really hard to say it’s a competitive race when, for example, between the dates — this is very specific, between the dates of of August 24th and Sept. 4th, in primetime CNN devoted 580 minutes to Donald Trump. They devoted six seconds to me. Six seconds vs. 580 minutes.

So are we really surprised that Donald Trump is leading? Is it only because he’s a phenomenon? I recognize he’s captured the imagination of a lot of people. But I also believe that if you ran every speech I’ve gave live as it happens and did that consistently — put me on the air every evening and led every story, even if it was an interview with a candidate. If the first question you ask was, ‘Hey, Mike Huckabee today said X. Would you like to comment on it?’ I mean, come on. It’s a very different environment we’re living in and I do think a lot of it is being manipulated by the media.

Examiner: Actually that’s a good segue to my next question. “Meet The Press” moderator Chuck Todd hinted the other day that in the CNBC debate next month, they’re going to potentially be looking at limiting the podiums on the stage. One of the people that could be affected is you, if you look at the polling right now. Do you think CNBC should be in the business of paring down the number of debate podiums?

Huckabee: I absolutely don’t. And if the RNC allows that, then I think the RNC has completely ceded over the authority of the Republican primary to NBC. I mean, I cannot imagine that the RNC would surrender their process of selecting the presidential candidates to a television network that has been incredibly unseemly to Republicans — even hostile. That makes no sense whatsoever. And if they do that, God help us all. I think Republicans ought to be outraged.

Examiner: RNC Chairman Reince Priebus made a bit of news yesterday when he told National Journal that Iowa and New Hampshire’s spots as the first voting states in the GOP primary process might be in peril in 2020. Do you agree with Chairman Priebus? Should they lose that status?

Huckabee: Well, now having gone through this process for the second time, and actually having been through it since going back into the early 90s when I was campaigning people in the Iowa Caucuses and the straw polls. So I’ve been involved in 25 years of this process, personally being there. And here’s what I’ve told people: There’s a real value to the process we have now, and I know it might seem unfair to some people in the country, but having Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina — these are states that are used to having early presidential primaries. The net effect is that if a person’s running for president, and you’re tromping through Iowa, South Carolina, New Hampshire, people aren’t starstruck because you’re running for president. So you’re going to have to earn your way through those states. You’re going to have to answer questions. You can’t just parachute your way into an arena, make a big speech, work the rope lines, shake 20 hands of people that are happy to be up at the front, sign a few signs, hop on your plane and fly off, and then go to cocktail parties in Manhattan. You’re going to have to get out there and work the town halls, answer tough questions, be prepared for follow-ups, be there prepared to stand there on your feet for a long time answering questions. I think that’s a valuable service that these states provide to the rest of the country because I think it would be a terrible, terrible system if the person could become president and only hang out in Georgetown, Manhattan and Hollywood raking in big dollars, making television spots, and never talking to an unemployed factory worker, a truck driver, a single mom or a farmer. I think that would be a tragedy of great proportion, and the loss of part of the process that makes a president more accountable to the people.

Examiner: The big news lately for you has been involving Kim Davis. I was wondering what you thought in two ways. What did you think about her changing parties and coming over to the Republican side, and also, do you think the media was unfair to her, especially now that it’s come out that [Pope Francis] talked to her as well?

Huckabee: Well, I think it’s very significant that the pope had a private meeting with her, and that he affirmed her, not only as a person but that he affirmed her actions as conscientious objection. I’m anxious to see if some of the media on the Left will be as thrilled about reporting the content of that meeting as when they thought the pope was being critical of capitalism or advocating for climate change legislation. I’m just really anxious to see if it will be a consistency of that. I thought it was very powerful and significant. My gosh. I think there are millions of Catholics all over America that would like to meet the pope, so why did he choose to meet with her privately? Because he has great respect that she followed her conscience, and that she represents a person that was actually criminalized because of her Christian faith.

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, with Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee at her side, greets the crowd after being released from the Carter County Detention Center, in Grayson, Ky. (AP Photo)

Examiner: I want to talk about the Democrats for a quick second … yesterday Cecile Richards, the head of Planned Parenthood, testified before Congress, and one of the things she said that was noteworthy was that she said that Planned Parenthood is “proud” of their involvement in provided aborted fetal tissue for medical research. Give me your take on that? What do you think should happen from here?

Huckabee: Well it’s amazing to me that that people would defend Planned Parenthood. I mean, it’s just stunning because Planned Parenthood has been caught red-handed with their people taking, really what ought to be a very sensitive and traumatic for a mother, and it’s hard enough that she goes through an abortion. But unbeknownst to her, they take that unborn child that they described to the mother as just a blob of tissue.

Turns out it’s got lungs and a heart and a brain and arms and legs and toes. And they negotiate the price of selling those parts for money. I mean, I just find that — it just makes a person want to go and vomit. I mean, my gosh how can anyone defend that. And why the president would make this a cause — why would the Democrats make this a cause. If this is the most important thing in front of them is to protect an organization that dismembers and then sells the organs and parts of a human baby, and that’s what they’re most proud of? It sure makes our process in the next election much easier.

Examiner: You’ve been around the Clinton’s for a long time. What is the biggest difference between Hillary Clinton then and now?

Huckabee: Well there’s really not a lot of difference that I’ve noticed in Hillary before and now. She’s a very focused and laser-like ideological person. Nothing like Bill in terms of how affable he is, and also how he’s a very pragmatic kind of person when it comes to governing. He’s willing to bend and mold and negotiate and compromise because he was a governor a long time. He understand that, ultimately, you have to bring things to a conclusion.

The plane has to land — in other words, you can’t leave it in the air forever. He understands that, and that’s why I think he was an effective president in many ways. She, on the other hand, has not had that kind of experience. She’s much more the ideologue. Much more rigid. I think the only thing I’ve seen change in her is that she’s become much more political. Her willingness to bend is based on politics. For example, for her to come out against the Keystone Pipeline, but make it under the shadow of the pope’s visit was just bizarre. Her inability to ever come to grips with her email situation.

Her unwillingness to speak very clearly about what happened in Benghazi, and I know that’s a point of just contempt for people on the left. I mean, four Americans were murdered. And the stories that were told were clearly lies — you know, that it was a spontaneous uprising and it was about a video, and even as they were saying that, they knew it wasn’t true. And repeatedly, four different times [Ambassador Chris Stevens] was calling out and begging for help and saying they needed additional security. It was denied. There’s some real issues that have never been resolved, and I know the Democrats want to say, ‘Oh the Republicans just can’t let that go.’ By gosh, we shouldn’t let that go.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives to speak at the State Department in Washington Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012, on the recent deaths of Americans in Libya. (AP Photo)

Four Americans were murdered, and nobody went to save them and rescue them, and for nine hours there were folks who were fighting for their lives and the 173rd Airborne based in Italy was never even activated to go and at least make an attempt to intervene.

Examiner: What do you think of the state of the Democratic Party right now?

Huckabee: I think they are really struggling. That their only identity is a person who can’t keep up with her emails, they defend Lois Lerner and the IRS, and their biggest call is to protect the slaughter and selling of baby parts. That ain’t much of a platform. Their foreign policy has caused us to be in the most dangerous place we’ve ever been. We have no respect for the other leaders of the world. They roll all over us. It’s hardly a record of success and achievement that I’d want to defend.

This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity.