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Huckabee's Gun Joke Backfires

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 21, 2008

When he was running for president, Mike Huckabee had a reputation as a jokester on the campaign trail, especially during the Republican debates. A joke he told last week before about 6,000 members of the National Rifle Association, however, was not funny at all. Indeed, the quip was borderline incendiary.

Appearing at an NRA convention in Louisville, Huckabee gave a speech that was interrupted by a loud noise. The former Arkansas governor joked, "That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He's getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he - he dove for the floor."

Not funny.

His joke came a week after three of Obama's campaign offices in Indiana had to be evacuated because of bomb threats. Someone spray-painted racial slurs at one office, and many of his canvassers report they've been threatened and called names.

There is a reason Obama received Secret Service protection earlier than the rest of the presidential candidates. His safety is a worry.

Huckabee apologized right away but, still, he should know that jokes about assassinations are never funny, regardless of the venue.

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