On the heels of his gaffe about President Obama growing up in Kenya, Mike Huckabee is in the news again, this time for bringing the smack down on Natalie Portman for her unmarried pregnancy. Huckabee told conservative radio host Michael Medved that the Galliano-denouncing Portman is glamorizing "the idea of children out of wedlock." Portman, of course, is pregnant with her first child with fiance Benjamin Millipied, whose name makes me fear that their offspring will have a thousand legs.

Huckabee, who may be considering another presidential run in 2012, and perhaps just lost the Black Swan vote, said "One of the things that's troubling is that people see a Natalie Portman or some other Hollywood starlet who boasts of, 'Hey look, you know, we're having children, we're not married, but we're having these children and they're doing just fine. But there aren't really a lot of single moms out there who are making millions of dollars every year for being in a movie."

Huckabee may have a point, but he's not doing himself any favors by poking his nose in the private life of a popular Oscar-winner. He went on:

"And I think it gives a distorted image that yes, not everybody hires nannies, and caretakers, and nurses. Most single moms are very poor, uneducated, can't get a job, and if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care. And that's the story that we're not seeing, and it's unfortunate that we glorify and glamorize the idea of [out-of-wedlock children]."

Let's be honest, it's 2011, Portman happens to be pregnant, and she's not "glamorizing" or proselytizing about unwed babymaking. I'm surprised the once 300-pound Huckabee didn't lay into her for being fat.

Commentarium (15 Comments)

Mar 04 11 - 10:29am
FT

Yes, because politicians have the right to cast stones. How many have mistresses, are accused of fraud, etc.?

Mar 04 11 - 11:03am
WithAnInotAnE

"...if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care"?

Single mothers = babies starving to death!

Mar 05 11 - 2:17am
agreed

That's the outrageous part of this, the assumption that regular single mothers are obviously all completely unable to take care of their children.

Mar 04 11 - 11:11am
Bill

Nah, Huck can't call her out for being fat. He's gained quite a bit of weight, himself, again. Saw him at a book signing... I guess working at FNC has been good for his refrigerator.

Mar 04 11 - 11:14am
Anon

Guess she should have had an abortion.

Mar 04 11 - 2:28pm
Fan of Anon

Comment of the Week.

Mar 04 11 - 11:18am
lysol

Wait, did a Republican just say "...if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care"?

I'm not certain, but I think the last time I checked, Mr. Huckabee's party was cutting government assistance to people like single moms, the hungry, the poor, the uneducated, and those in need of family planning all while making it impossible to get decent healthcare without paying out the ass.

Mar 04 11 - 11:44am
sdeetee

Anon beat me to it. In the case of Ms. Portman, I didn't know she was even pregnant until a month ago. Oh well.

Mar 04 11 - 2:29pm
Fan of Anon

Its perfectly acceptable for Huckabee to condemn Portman, just he did when Bristol Palin got pregn...oh wait.

Mar 04 11 - 2:51pm
anon

I'll add, "there aren't really a lot of married couples out there making millions of dollars every year either." So, that has nothing to do with anything, and I think we're all intelligent enough to know that when a person can't win an argument they often try to confuse the folks they're talking to by changing the focus.

Mar 04 11 - 4:10pm
Judah

Actually, his problem with Natalie Portman's pregnancy stems from the fact she's a very smart, highly educated woman who has the means to support herself and her child very well whether or not her fiancee stays in the picture.

The woman has an Ivy League education and an incredible career. Huckabee doesn't think a woman should have either one.

Mar 04 11 - 4:29pm
ThatDudeIsAJackass

You know what else is funny? That most single moms AREN'T poor or "uneducated" and that plenty of them have at least one job, if not two. "If it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care" is just bigotry. Yeah, there are single moms for whom that is true. But there are TONS of single moms who are otherwise, simply because the divorce rate in this country is at about 50% and fathers tend to check out when they only have weekends and holidays. So, from a child of a single mother who never went hungry, who wasn't on government assistance, and whose mother may not have gone to college but does not in any other way qualify as "uneducated", FUCK YOU, Mike Huckabee. Go back to the fucking cave you live in.

Mar 07 11 - 11:26am
thinkywritey

As the child of a single mother who DID go hungry, even with assistance, I suggest everyone look at some numbers before they go flying off the handle. If not for government assistance, we would probably have been living on the street. Huckabee HAD to say something about this situation, because it's one of his main philosophical pushes.

Mar 04 11 - 9:17pm
imjeffp

Mike Huckabee, on Jamie Lynn Spears in 2007, unmarried and pregnant:
"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."

"But at the same time I'm not going to condem her. There'll be plenty of people in line to do that and I always look for the shortest lines. I just hope that she will make another right decision and that's to give that child all the love and kindness and care that she can."

Mar 07 11 - 5:42am
Jail them all

How do you know a politician is full of shit?

His lips are moving.