Huckabee Is Too Busy Keeping Up With Spears Sisters Gossip to Follow Foreign Policy

Posted by Amanda Terkel, Think Progress at 4:54 AM on January 2, 2008.

In an interview with the Quad-City Times yesterday, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee tried to make excuses for his lack of foreign policy knowledge and his ignorance on the most recent National Intelligence Estimate on Iran. He compared the NIE to gossip about Britney Spears, saying he just can't "keep up with every single thing":

The point I'm trying to make is that, on the campaign trail, nobody's going to be able, if they've been campaigning as hard as we have been, to keep up with every single thing, from what happened to Britney last night to who won "Dancing with the Stars."

Presumably, presidential candidates are supposed to keep track of foreign policy developments more closely than celebrity gossip. But when asked about the NIE on Dec. 4 -- a day after the report was released -- Huckabee said he wasn't even aware of it. Days later, Huckabee defended his gaffe by misrepresenting the timeline of his mistake, quipping that the "report was released at 10:00 in the morning, the president hadn't seen it in four years and I'm supposed to see it four hours later."

In fact, despite his lament that he is too busy to follow with current events, Huckabee seems to have had no trouble following the events of Britney Spears and her family. When asked on Dec. 20 about the pregnancy of Britney's sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, Huckabee had no trouble in quickly giving a response:

It's a tragedy when a 16-year-old who is not really prepared for all the responsibilities of adult life is going to be now faced with all the responsibilities of honest-to-goodness adult life. I respect it.

Apparently, she's going to have the child and I think that is the right decision, a good decision, and I respect that and appreciate it. I hope it is not an encouragement to other 16-year-olds who think that is the best course of action.

Oops, he did it again.

Tagged as: huckabee, iran, foreign policy, spears

Amanda Terkel is Deputy Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Deputy Editor for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.