Politics

Mike Huckabee Slams Politico For Inventing Sexist Anti-Fox News Quote

Alex Griswold Media Reporter
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The top-read story on Politico has quite the catchy headline: “Mike Huckabee complains of ‘trashy’ women at Fox News.” The problem, as critics such as Hot Air’s Noah Rothman have pointed out, is that the former Arkansas governor never said anything of the sort.

Here is the actual Huckabee quote, from an interview with Des Moines radio host Jan Mickelson about a chapter in his new book “God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy“:

“I was shocked that you go into New York meetings… it’s one of those thing where in a business meetings that you might have in the South, or in the Midwest, there in Iowa, you would not have people who would just throw the F-bomb or use gratuitous profanity in a professional setting. In New York, not only do the men do it, but the women do it. You’re just looking saying, ‘My gosh, this is worse than locker-room talk.’ This would be considered totally inappropriate to say these things in front of a women, and for a women to say them in a professional setting… as we would say in the South, that’s just trashy.”

Zero mention of Fox News. Huckabee says its “trashy” to use profanity in a professional setting, but makes it clear that it’s inappropriate for both men and women. (RELATED: Politico’s Mike Allen Apologized To Bill Clinton For Asking Tough Questions)

In a statement provided to The Daily Caller, Huckabee is hitting back at Politico for its inaccurate reporting:

“…Politico carried a story with a screaming headline alleging that I said the ‘women of Fox News are trashy.’ Not only have I said the exact opposite both in print and in interviews, but it’s apparent that the writer of the story was unable to find any evidence of such a thing. I spoke of the profanity used in normal conversations in business settings in New York, but neither in the book nor in interviews said or even intimated that I was speaking about the ‘women of Fox News.’ To say that is either the result of wishful thinking as to what they hoped I said or just plain inability to read and comprehend.

Frankly, I never conducted ‘business meetings’ at Fox News. I wasn’t there to do business, but to host a show. I conducted a lot of actual business in New York for several of my various companies that had nothing to do with Fox News. I am proud of my 6 1/2 years there, and could only hope that the writers for Politico had the journalistic competence that I witnessed at Fox. They would not have created a non-story and pretended they “had a headline.

It would be nice if reporters are going to write about a book, they would actually read it. But until then, I am confident the people who do read it will come to have the same disdain for the ‘reports’ that I have had.”

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