New York Times Death Spiral Watch: Michael Luo and David Kirkpatrick
Outsourced to The Revealer:
The Revealer: Huckabee Makes the NYT Nervous: The NYT's explanation for why Huck won Iowa is a perfect example of what many evangelicals are talking about when they say that the NYT just doesn't get them. Noting that Huck drew a third more evangelicals to the polls -- 60% of the Republican turnout -- than in years past, Michael Luo and David D. Kirkpatrick fail to quote any of them. Instead, they echo establishment G.O.P. talking points by pointing out that Huck's "natural allies among Christian conservative leaders" don't like him. By this, they mean Paul Weyrich, Jim Dobson, and Pat Robertson -- precisely the people so many evangelicals have been saying don't represent them anymore. But social movements make the NYT nervous -- they need "leaders" to talk to, "opinion-makers." That same mistake leads them to reproduce the talking points of economic royalists who falsely accuse Huck--an establishment outsider--of populist pandering. Only, that mistake plays in Huckabee's favor -- he may sound like William Jennings Bryan, but he's proposing an economic program that in practice will be to the right of Ronald Reagan's.
And, indeed, The Revealer is correct. Here's how the story opens and sources itself:
At Huckabee Central, Cheers for Evangelical Base - New York Times: Just as the Republican caucuses began on Thursday at 6:30 p.m., a small group of women and children joined hands in the middle of the ballroom at Mike Huckabee’s headquarters here and began to pray for his election. Mr. Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, rode a crest of evangelical Christian support to victory on Thursday over his rival Mitt Romney, capping a remarkable ascent over the last two months from near the bottom of the Republican field. A poll of people entering the Republican caucuses on Thursday showed more than 8 in 10 of his supporters identified themselves as evangelicals. The same surveys showed extraordinary turnout among evangelicals, who represented some 60 percent of Republican caucusgoers. In years past, Republican Party leaders in Iowa put evangelical turnout at about 40 percent.
[Mr. Romney’s advisers] had been saying....
[Unsourced] Mr. Huckabee struck a chord among Iowa Republicans with a distinctive mixture of humor, Christian conservatism and economic populism. His stump speeches evoked comparisons to the prairie populism of William Jennings Bryan....
[Huckabee] He told voters to pick a candidate who was “consistent” and “authentic”...
[Unsourced] The centerpiece of his economic policies is the Fair Tax, a proposal to replace all payroll and income taxes with the combination of a national sales tax and cash rebates for the poor. Enthusiasts like Mr. Huckabee describe it as a way to jump-start the nation’s economy and diminish inequality. Critics call it regressive and unworkable....
[Unsourced] Mr. Huckabee’s success has startled and unnerved many in his own party. His campaign has met derision and doubt from all three factions of the coalition that has made up the Republican Party since the election of President Ronald Reagan: antitax, foreign policy and social conservatives....
[Unsourced] Even his natural allies among Christian conservative leaders have been slow to embrace Mr. Huckabee...
