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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGOP’s “scam artist” problem: Mike Huckabee & the right’s tradition of organized theft
Mike Huckabee is a grifter and charlatan. Here's why he represents the worst qualities of modern conservatismSIMON MALOY
Last month, Right Wing News put together a report examining the financial data for 17 conservative and tea party political action committees and breaking down how those groups spent the considerable amount of money they collected in donations. What they found was a widespread and lucrative scam operation. The report ranked the groups by the amounts they spent during the 2014 election cycle, and found that the bottom 10 PACs spent a combined $54 million overall, but just over $3.5 million was actually spent on candidates running for office. The rest was pocketed by consultants or vendors, and it was all (probably) legal, owing to our grossly complex and loophole-ridden campaign finance laws.
What the report did was to spell out in quantifiable terms one of the defining characteristics of the modern conservative movement it is a lucrative moneymaking machine for scam artists and hucksters. If youre a politically engaged conservative, youre being inundated by radio hosts, right-wing publications, think tanks, and all manner of unscrupulous activists who purchased your email address and want to exploit your love of Ronald Reagan or Ted Cruz to squeeze a few dollars out of you. And theres at least one 2016 presidential candidate whos in on the grift: Mike Huckabee.
The New York Times reported yesterday that Huckabee, who is entertaining another presidential bid, was until recently a pitchman for a shady company that claims it can reverse diabetes with cinnamon and chromium picolinate. Huckabees also lent his name, face, and reputation to people claiming to have natural methods to reverse the progression of Alzheimers disease, financial firms that perpetrate blatant fraud upon their customers, and a group that claims to have found the cure for cancer in the Book of Matthew.
Thats bad enough, but its made even worse by the fact that part of Huckabees public image is that of a person who took control of his own health and transformed his life for the better. He testifies for the efficacy of the cinnamon cure for diabetes by claiming that similar techniques worked to treat his own diabetes. Hes abusing that image to sell people with life-threatening health problem bottles of dodgy herbal supplements and cockamamie Bible-based cancer cures. At best hes a scam artist; at worst hes a monster.
Huckabees people know that this doesnt make him look good, which is why theyre adamant in pointing out that the former governor isnt in the cinnamon-and-insulin business anymore. Per the Times: Mr. Huckabees spokeswoman, Alice Stewart, said his contract to promote the diabetes cure ended the first week in March. It was something created several months ago, back in 2014, but due to possible future plans, they have concluded the relationship. If Huckabee does run, this shady business will follow him around.
more
http://www.salon.com/2015/03/17/gops_scam_artist_problem_mike_huckabee_the_rights_tradition_of_organized_theft/
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GOP’s “scam artist” problem: Mike Huckabee & the right’s tradition of organized theft (Original Post)
DonViejo
Mar 2015
OP
You mean his Biblical cure for cancer found on page 897 of the Bible is bullshit?
JaneyVee
Mar 2015
#3
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)1. Aptly named.
Wonder if the huckster part is genetic.
Segami
(14,923 posts)2. Huckster's know their marks well...
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)3. You mean his Biblical cure for cancer found on page 897 of the Bible is bullshit?
I'M SHOCKED! SHOCKED I TELL YA!
rickford66
(5,523 posts)4. Fine. Let them waste their money.
Gothmog
(145,086 posts)5. The Huckster is a good name for Huckabee
Enrique
(27,461 posts)6. i heard his diabetes commercial recently
i could hardly believe it, even for Mike Huckabee.