海角大神

Former Arkansas governor and 2016 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has courted controversy so many times 鈥� as when he , said , and 鈥� he's made it clear outrageousness isn't a gaffe, it's his trademark.

Now, with transgender issues in the spotlight, he's at it again.

鈥淣ow I wish that someone told me that when I was in high school that I could have felt like a woman when it came time to take showers in PE [physical education],鈥� Mr. Huckabee said at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville, Tenn., in February. 鈥淚鈥檓 pretty sure that I would have found my feminine side and said: 鈥楥oach, I think I鈥檇 rather shower with the girls today.鈥� You鈥檙e laughing because it sounds so ridiculous, doesn鈥檛 it?鈥�

The 2016 GOP candidate was discussing religious liberty at the Nashville convention earlier this year. Though the event occurred months ago, the video became public after it was uploaded to WorldNetDaily this past weekend and picked up by .

Huckabee continued, 鈥淔or those who do not think that we are under threat, simply recognize the fact that we are now, in city after city, watching ordinances say that your seven-year-old daughter, if she goes into the restroom, cannot be offended and you can鈥檛 be offended if she鈥檚 greeted there by a 42-year-old man who feels more like a woman than he does a man."

Thanks in part to former Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner鈥檚 transition to a female identity, publicized on the latest cover of Vanity Fair magazine, transgender rights are having their moment in the sun.

But Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor, has never shied away from attacking controversial topics. In his 2008 presidential run, he attracted the support of religious conservatives for his stance on gay rights. (When asked on his views, he famously said that asking 海角大神s to accept same-sex marriage is "like asking someone who's Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped shrimp in their deli.")

And he doesn't appear to be backing off this time around.

In his February comments, Huckabee said that 海角大神s and conservatives are scorned for their views.

鈥淎nd yet today, we鈥檙e the ones who are ridiculed and scorned because we point out the obvious," Huckabee said. "That there鈥檚 something inherently wrong with forcing little children to be a part of this social experiment."

By and large, Huckabee's comments have been portrayed as out of touch and out of date.

Tuesday night, late night host Conan O'Brien quipped, "Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said he wishes he could've been transgender in high school so he could've showered with girls. It鈥檚 all in keeping with Huckabee鈥檚 new slogan, 'If this were 1954, I鈥檇 be hilarious.' 鈥�

The Washington Post headlined its piece,

A recent Gallup poll shows the number of Americans who , while another poll showed the idea that government should be in the business of "traditional values" .

Even Rick Santorum, conservative culture warrior, appears to have accepted Caitlyn Jenner 鈥� at least publicly.

鈥淚f he says he鈥檚 a woman, then he鈥檚 a woman,鈥� Santorum said Saturday聽during聽a roundtable with聽reporters at the South Carolina Republican Party鈥檚 convention. 鈥淢y responsibility as a human being is to love and accept everybody."

Yet, despite the apparent tide of opinion seeming to shift in favor of transgender rights, there's a sizable, mostly silent, contingent uncomfortable with the issue. It is these Americans 鈥� Gen Xers and baby boomers in Middle America, the Bible Belt, and the conservative West 鈥� that represent Huckabee's audience.

found that about 40 percent of Americans show discomfort with a transgender person supervising children, and more than a third say they鈥檇 feel discomfort playing on a sports team that included a transgender athlete. The poll showed higher levels of discomfort in the South on nearly every LGBT issue.

For those respondents, Huckabee is a spokesman willing to give voice to their views and go where few other politicians would.

there's support, and perhaps a counterintuitive wisdom, behind some of Huckabee's seemingly inane comments. "After Huckabee made some similarly questionable comments accusing聽Beyonc茅 essentially of allowing Jay-Z to pimp her out, comments that were widely panned,

"It鈥檚 the kind of aw-shucks, flyover-country-versus-the freaky-coasts politics," Huckabee excels at, writes the Post. "That dynamic amounted to a central theme in Huckabee鈥檚 book, and it seems to be a real part of Huckabee鈥檚 2016 GOP primary campaign strategy."

In other words, stay tuned for more headline-making Huckabee zingers in the months ahead.