In a great, new Q&A with Time Magazine, Mike Huckabee takes up Olympia Snowe, Obama's peace prize, and Sarah Palin.
Re: the latter.
What do you think about the fact that Sarah Palin left her governorship?
That surprised me, mainly because being governor is a terrific job and it's one at which you can accomplish significant things. She didn't consult me about that, so I can't attest as to why she did it or what her thoughts were, but it caught me off guard.
I understood that she would not run again. That was one decision. But the decision to step down after 2½ years or two years in office, or whatever it was, that was a surprise.
Do you see her as your rival? Your constituency is somewhat the same.
Not at all. I feel that any time somebody has views on issues that are similar, that doesn't make them a rival. That makes them a colleague.
As an aside, on July 5 (two days after Palin's bombshell), Mike Huckabee showed up on Fox News Sunday and was a bit more opinionated.
CHRIS WALLACE: Governor Huckabee, look, almost every politician is on the firing line. You may not have been to the degree as Governor of Arkansas that Sarah Palin was, once she achieved national prominence, but what about this argument "I'm doing this for my state because the attacks against me are getting in the way"?
MIKE HUCKABEE: Well, if that had been the case for me, I'd have quit about my first month, because I was a Republican governor in a state where 89% of my legislature were Democrats.
I had constant ethics complaints filed against me, even by newspaper editors. And a lot of it was because if they can't attack you on policy, they absolutely bombard you with personal attacks and keep you tied up in court.... Arkansas was a tough political environment, period -- even tougher for a Republican.
And one of the things you have to do is just decide "look, they're not gonna chase me out".... the danger that Sarah Palin faces, and let me be very quick to tell you -- in the way of full disclosure -- I am a Sarah Palin fan. I like her personally. I like her points of view. I think she's right on the issues. The challenge that she's going to have is that there will be people who say "Well, look if they chase you out of this, it won't get any easier for you at other levels of the stage."
