God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy

December 22, 2014
Anyone who has enjoyed any of the previous books by Huckabee—former governor, one-time presidential candidate, and Fox News host—will be more than satisfied with this examination of the differences between “Bubbleville” (New York, L.A., and D.C.) and “Bubbaville” (the rest of America). In clichéd prose, he describes New York as “not completely Sodom and Gomorrah” and himself as “a catfish and corn bread kind of guy, not a caviar and crab salad connoisseur.” Huckabee offers a laundry list of grievances and discusses his stances on guns, religion, gay marriage, Obama, and Hollywood: he believes that American Christians are “cultural lepers,” marriage “is not merely a secular institution,” the IRS “is a criminal enterprise,” reality TV’s Duck Dynasty and Jim Bob Duggar “reflect all that is good and decent about family,” and poverty relief is “about perpetuating government programs.” Huckabee’s leavens his musings on the state of the union with a sense of humor (“I prefer boots over Birkenstocks. Does that make me weird?”) that makes him enjoyable to read.

November 15, 2014
More chuckly preaching from the former Arkansas governor and Fox News weekly show host.Having run for president in 2008 and lost the Republican nomination to Mitt Romney, Huckabee (Dear Chandler, Dear Scarlett: A Grandfather's Thoughts on Faith, Family, and the Things that Matter Most, 2012, etc.) sounds like he is going to try again, and he presents his clear delineation in ideology between the views of "Bubble-ville" (the "nerve centers" of New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles) and "Bubba-ville"-the rest of the country. While residents of the former are among his best friends, of course, even if they hate guns, eat kale and embrace gay marriage, the latter group includes his homegrown buddies, those who cherish their guns for hunting and self-defense, attend church and find Miley Cyrus' contortions shocking. In the name of "decency," Huckabee sees the country going down the tubes with the politically correct thought police stifling free expression (e.g., "illegal aliens" have become nonoffensive "dreamers"), former New York City Mayor Michael Blumberg trying to take away the Big Gulp, National Security Agency revelations that demonstrate how we are becoming more like China in terms of surveillance and rights' suppression (while China is becoming more like us in terms of capitalist acquisition), TSA officials patting down toddlers in airports, and the general Democrat-driven overloading of regulation and taxation that is, for example, sending California's small-business owners to Texas. While the author is fond of declaring that people just want to be left alone, he has to admit that certain members of his own party are ruining it for the rest of them-e.g., conservatives attacking other conservatives for not being conservative enough. Huckabee also skewers the Republicans who supported the TARP bailout of banks and offers a populist, bottom-up economic approach to empowering the regular, God-centered folk. More of the same from the outspoken Southerner.

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February 1, 2015

Huckabee, former Arkansas governor, Republican presidential candidate, and Fox News talk show host, explains his conservative faith-based values--and those of other good ol' folks who live in "fly-over" country. Taking jabs at liberal elites, he defends hardworking and humble people from America's heartland whom he portrays as sensible, resourceful, compassionate, and self-reliant. With folksy, straightforward, pointed sarcasm, Huckabee objects to bureaucratic overreach, wasteful and irrational regulations, intrusive government, and contradictory politically correct speak. He defends Southern gun culture; supports traditional marriage and family, personal liberty, and the sanctity of life; expresses his dismay over government bailouts and environmentalist hypocrisy; and decries what he sees as the increasing dehumanization, crudeness, and salacity of American culture. Huckabee steadfastly defends the free-speech rights of those on all sides of these and other issues. He includes some criticism of the Republican Party which, he says, has failed "to respect and reach out to" industrious Americans. VERDICT Huckabee might be preparing for a 2016 Republican presidential run. In this precampaign work, he strives to encourage his heartland base and to introduce those folks to those who regard them with disdain. His own derisive style, however, might not win over many Manhattan, L.A., or DC liberals. For general readers. [See Prepub Alert, 7/28/14.]--Margaret Kappanadze, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY

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