On CBS’ Face the Nation , Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said he hopes to get attacked by another candidate during Thursday’s upcoming Republican presidential debate, so he can get more camera time.
“The format only allows for 1-minute responses and 30-second responses if you are attacked by name. So, probably a lot of us are sitting there hoping that we get attacked by name so we get a little more time. The challenge for the moderator of the debate is to divvy this up fairly and make it even. You know I know a lot of times where I hear commenters and pundits will say, ‘This is a reality show, this is a clown car, its a game show.’ But for those of us who have stuck our necks out on the line to run for president, it is a very serious business of believing that our country is in real trouble.”
“And we don’t stand on that stage because we are looking for an opportunity to be on TV, heck I’ve had my own television show before I elected to come do this. So, this isn’t about ego, it isn’t a vanity project, this is because we think this country is in real big trouble. And I would say, I think every one of my other Republican colleagues on stage think exactly the same way. I’m not going to disparage why they’re there, they’re there the same reason I’m there; to make America a truly great country again.”
Huckabee was then asked about why he’s courting labor voters, even though labor unions traditionally vote for the Democratic Party.
“Well, because, I want to be president of all America not just the part that agrees with me. One of the things I did in Arkansas when I was facing a 90 percent opposition when the state had the political winds of Democrats — I had to work with them. I got 48 percent of the African-American vote — not because they originally voted for me — but because I went to them the day after the election, not the day before. I worked to become their governor, too, and after a while it worked. Here’s what a lot of people don’t know: 35 to 40 percent of the members of labor are actually Republican, and I fight hard for working men and women, whether they are in a union or not.”
Watch the clip of Huckabee on Face the Nation below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlTEYymG66w
[Image via Scott Olson/Getty Images]