Huckabee brings civil attitude to Fox News
Former governor is having fun with his TV show
“I’m probably the craziest man who’s lived,” says former Arkansas governor and GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, “to try to do 56 cities in 2z weeks. It’s really pretty bizarre.”
On the day of this interview just before Thanksgiving, Huckabee is somewhere in Texas on a whirlwind tour of appearances for “Do the Right Thing,” the latest of several books he’s authored or co-authored on subjects as diverse as conservative politics, children who kill and weight-loss tips (he lost 110 pounds).
He’s also a Southern Baptist minister, a public speaker and a bass player — and now he’s added TV talk show host to that resume. In late September, Fox News Channel premiered “Huckabee,” a one-hour weekly show airing in prime time on Sundays.
According to Nielsen, it’s averaging almost 2 million viewers.
“It’s an experience that takes me full circle,” Huckabee says. “I don’t know if you know that I started in radio when I was 14 years old. My first job was working at the local daytime radio station, then I worked my way not only through high school doing that, but also through college and grad school.”
In each episode, Huckabee interviews show-business types, newsmakers and ordinary people, then ends the hour with a performance by his house band, the Little Rockers.
With Huckabee on bass, the band features various Fox News staffers — including religion correspondent Lauren Green on keyboards — and such guest musicians as members of Yes and Ricky Skaggs.
“This is different than anything I’ve done,” Huckabee says, “but it’s absolutely been wonderful. I have had a blast.”
One might expect Huckabee to take the easy road and have on only guests whose cultural, religious and political views jibe with his. But that hasn’t been the case. Among those who’ve appeared so far are actor Richard Dreyfuss, who discussed Americans’ civic involvement; Bill Maher (“Real Time With Bill Maher”), talking about his film “Religulous,” which satirized organized religion; and filmmaker Oliver Stone, whose recent film, “W.,” is a profile (with poetic license) of President Bush.
In particular, Dreyfuss and Maher mentioned they came on the show because they respected Huckabee and anticipated having a civil conversation.
Huckabee also went on ABC’s daytime talk show “The View,” not known as a safe zone for conservatives, and says, “I went on there with fear and trembling, not knowing what to expect, but not exactly thinking that the whole couch of ladies is going to love me.
“But as it turned out, Joy Behar turned to me and said, ‘I want you to know you’re my favorite Republican,’ which I thought was wonderful. I was sitting on the couch beside her, so I reached over and gave her a big kiss and told her, ‘Thank you.’
“I think it’s because, she disagrees with me on so many issues, but I really do attempt to have a civil tone, and I’m not combative. I take my views seriously, but I don’t take myself so seriously that I can’t laugh and have a good time.
“One of the things that I hope she recognizes is that people can have very different points of view without being angry about it. As I’ve often said, I’m a conservative, but I’m not mad at anybody over that.”
Despite being a minister, Huckabee says he’s not interested in just preaching to the choir.
“I feel like my views aren’t threatened by somebody who has a very different point of view,” he says. “In fact, it only gives me an opportunity to strengthen my own perspective, if it’s really put to the toughest test it can be put to.
“For a long time, I’ve felt that sometimes in broadcasting today, there’s such a confrontational spirit, it’s more about seeing whose volume can get the loudest rather than who can actually engage in a thoughtful perspective.
“The words ‘host’ and ‘guest’ imply something to me. They imply that the host is extending hospitality to those whom he invites, and that the guest will be treated with dignity and respect and hopefully, in turn, will act like a guest.”
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