Duggar Interview Sends Supporters Running For The Hills

That Duggar interview with Megyn Kelly might not have been the best idea. For several days after the Josh Duggar molestation scandal hit the headlines, it looked like the Duggar family could count on getting plenty of support from the politicians and public figures that had always been there for them.

But this is a national election season. When it comes to getting votes and appeasing squeamish donors, even the best of allies can turn into fair weather friends. A bad interview can cause that to happen fast.

And so it was that Mike Huckabee — formerly a fierce advocate for the Duggar family — was seen slowly backing toward the door after the interview. In the days immediately after the scandal broke, Huckabee had proudly claimed the moral high ground in a Facebook post that lambasted all critics of the Duggar family.

“Let others run from them. We will run to them with our support.”

After the Megyn Kelly much-hyped Duggar interview, he ran away.

The Inquisitr looked into Mike Huckabee’s campaign website and found an interesting edit to the site. While the Duggar parents had been featured as supporters of Huckabee as recently as June 1, their pictures have now been removed from the site.

Voices on Fox News have even been heard expressing disgust and disappointment with how the Duggar interview was handled. When the chance came to tell the rest of the world what their own advocates had been saying for them, the Duggar parents blew it. Even psychologist Dr. Keith Ablow, normally a critic of President Obama in his appearances on Fox and Friends, was fierce in his analysis of the Duggar interview.

“This family in my opinion isn’t very much keyed in to empathy and the feelings of others.”

The Huffington Post reported that now-candidate for president, Rick Santorum, told George Stephanopoulos that he was “sickened by it, just sickened by it,” when asked about the molesting scandal. Even Rick Santorum did something that should have been a central feature of the Duggar interview. Days before their interview, he set the example. He focused on the victims, not minimizing the crime.

“I pray for those girls, in particular. To have gone through that is just hard to think about.”

A Twitter campaign around the hashtag #IStandWithTheDuggars has been getting fewer and fewer adherents since the Duggar interview. The campaign originally started as a way for Duggar fans and backers to express support.

#istandwiththeduggars Christian, conservative, I would figured the media would find something to get them on.

— Gambit Sanchez (@gambitpup) June 2, 2015

Now there are few such posts. More comments seem to be calling out those who still stand stubbornly behind the disgraced family.

#TeamDuggar #IStandWithTheDuggars #19kids #19kidsandcancelled #19kidsandcounting #DuggarScandal #DuggarTruth pic.twitter.com/ikTII5Zq5J

— ThirtyBirdy (@ThirtyBirdy) June 4, 2015

There are certainly still those who will use the Duggar family as a rallying cry for their own political purposes. Sarah Palin is late to the party, dragging out the now-long-debunked comparison to Lena Dunham. Many have already pointed out that Lena Dunham was only seven-years-old when she fondled her little sister. Josh Duggar was 15.

The Duggar family waited for days to respond in any in-depth way to the scandal. Everyone presumed they were consulting, crafting a well-balanced message. But the Duggar interview may not be seen as a good delivery of that message. Their friends seem to be headed for the hills, especially those with campaigns to run.

[Image courtesy of Fox News]