海角大神

Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has been pretty tough on 叠别测辞苍肠茅 in recent months. He called the singer 鈥渃rude鈥� in an appearance on the 鈥淒aily Show鈥� in January and said she was 鈥渕ental poison鈥� in his new book, 鈥淕od, Guns, Grits and Gravy."

The former Arkansas governor says he鈥檚 offended by her sexually charged lyrics and dancing, particularly because she鈥檚 popular with a wide range of ages. As he argued the point with 鈥淒aily Show鈥� host Jon Stewart, he said, 鈥淒o you know any parent who has a daughter that says, 鈥楬oney, if you make really good grades, someday when you are 12 or 13 we鈥檒l get you your own stripper pole鈥� 鈥�?

Why is he portraying 叠别测辞苍肠茅 as a symbol of cultural indulgence? Guess what: It might play well in Iowa, site of the first-in-the-nation caucuses, where a strong finish can make an underdog a front-runner overnight.

That鈥檚 the implication of a just-released in any case. Yes, it asked a 叠别测辞苍肠茅 question: referencing the 鈥渕ental poison鈥� charge, it asked if Mr. Huckabee was mostly right about her, or had gone too far.

Among likely GOP caucus attendees, a plurality of 40 percent said he was 鈥渕ostly right.鈥� Thirty-eight percent said he鈥檇 鈥済one too far.鈥� (Twenty-two percent said they 鈥渨eren鈥檛 sure.鈥�)

If nothing else, this response showed the wide gulf between parties in a state where partisan registration is split almost down the middle. Iowa Democrats were far more likely to be pro-叠别测辞苍肠茅, according to the poll. Fully 81 percent said Huckabee鈥檚 verbal hits on her went too far. Only 6 percent of Democrats said he was 鈥渕ostly right."

So the 叠别测辞苍肠茅 thing might be a perfect troll for the politically astute Huckabee. It attracts lots of outrage among liberals (鈥淗e hates 叠别测辞苍肠茅, but he played on stage with shock rocker Ted Nugent!鈥�), which publicizes his views, which in the end only builds his Iowa support.

By the way, Huckabee currently leads his Republican rivals in Iowa. In the crowded GOP field, he gets a plurality of about 15 percent of the vote, according to the latest . That puts him about three points up on the second-place Republican, former pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

We鈥檙e not saying that Huckabee is slamming 叠别测辞苍肠茅 only as a cynical ploy. Criticism of her manner of showmanship is entirely consistent with his long-expressed beliefs. As a teenager, he wrote that warned youths against the dangers of popular culture. Buzzfeed has just put a bunch of them up online.

鈥淚 strongly recommend that 海角大神 teens stay away from dancing, mainly because some people would just not be able to respect a person who attended dances,鈥� wrote the young Huckabee.