Due Credit to Mike Huckabee; Fred Thompson shenanigans

Many on the left, including Kos himself, have previously said that Mike Huckabee would be a formidable opponent for Democrats were he to get the GOP nomination. Certainly there's really no chance I'd vote for him over a Democrat. I'd say he's a little too inclined to play to the evangelical right. And he did say at one of the Republican debates that he does not believe in evolution. But to his credit he has recently made some statements which would tend to bolster his credibility. First, although it was a backhanded slap at some of his rivals for the nomination, he gave props to the Clintons for the fact that they made it through their marital difficulties still married. Considering the hypocrisy on the Right to try to stand for something like traditional family values, Huckabee seems to be walking the walk if he can give credit to the Right's Democratic punching bags (the Clintons) for having some of those values.

And then today I saw an article that Huckabee would support giving D.C. a vote in Congress for the very rational reason of

it "doesn't seem right" that citizens should pay taxes without representation and that its political impact on the parties' balance in the House "doesn't change whether it is right or wrong."

Almost makes me scared that he could be on the ticket in '08. But we are talking about the Republicans here, right? The ones holding out hopes that Fred Thompson, who is scared to debate in New Hampshire on September 5 and who is delaying his candidacy announcement until 12:01 a.m. on September 6 so that he can effectively avoid the requirement to be open about his finances until January 31, 2008. Real upstanding.

Based on the juxtaposition of these points, I'm much less worried about going against Thompson (especially with Clinton as the nominee) than I am with Huckabee.