Tuned In

Huckabee: I Support Striking Writers, Just Not Enough to, Like, Support Them

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Buried in the NY Times’ Wednesday Iowa campaign roundup:

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas on Wednesday professed his support for the striking television writers union just a few hours before he was expected to board a plane for a taping of the “Tonight Show” with Jay Leno where he will face a vocal picket line of striking writers.

Mr. Leno’s program is returning to the air for the first time since the strike began on Nov. 5. Speaking to reporters, Mr. Huckabee said he was unaware that he would be crossing a picket line and believed that he the program had reached a special agreement with the union.

Although crossing picket lines might not be unusual for most Republican candidates, Mr. Huckabee has waged an unusual populist campaign on economic issues, stressing his empathy with the anxieties of working people. On Wednesday, he said he identified with the striking television workers as an author himself and believed they deserved a share of the proceeds from the sale of their work.

Given my rough guesstimate of the politics of the striking writers generally, I doubt this loses Huckabee many votes he had to begin with. (As for the larger electorate, I guess it depends on how much solidarity blue-collar factory workers feel with staff writers of 30 Rock.) And as misinformation goes, I suppose it’s not up there with bumbling facts about Pakistan.

But somebody should note, and it may as well be me, that (1) Huckabee’s support for the writers and (2) his eventual learning that they are in fact striking against the Tonight Show is apparently not preventing him from (3) going ahead and doing the show anyway. I suppose he can say that he’s just keeping his word, but that’s awfully convenient at minimum. I think we’ve moved from plausible deniability to plausible ignorance.