Former Arkansas Governor and perpetual presidential-loser Mike Huckabee has been trying out some real-knee slappers lately. In addition to his notoriously loathed attempted-jokes on Twitter, he just crafted some queer-baiting innuendo about his colleague Lindsey Graham, implying that Graham has some sort of secret when it comes to gender.
It happened during a long conversation with fellow conservative radio host Laura Ingraham about intelligence leaks. Earlier, Lindsey Graham had compared House Intel Chair Devin Nunes to the bumbling “Pink Panther” character Inspector Clouseau.
“He’s gone off on a lark by himself, and Inspector Clouseau investigation here,” Graham said.
Huckabee’s response: “I sometimes wonder what uniform he puts on each morning when goes out to the field to play, and I’m not just talking about the partisan uniform.”
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What could Huckabee possibly be talking about here? He didn’t follow-up on his comments, and Ingraham didn’t ask him.
But Graham has long been followed by rumors about his sexuality. A lifelong bachelor, he’s vocally denied that he’s gay. But other South Carolina politicians have gone so far as to call him “ambiguously gay” and to publicly identify him as being in the closet.
Ordinarily, a person’s sexuality is no business but their own, but Graham’s legislative history reveals a pattern of hostility toward queer Americans that has done real harm. He cosponsored a bill to ban marriage equality in the U.S. Constitution, he said that the freedom to marry would lead to polygamy, and opposed LGBTQ-inclusive Violence Against Women Act and immigration reform.
As a person with great political power, it’s relevant to ask whether Lindsey Graham is a closeted hypocrite. But Huckabee’s innuendo skirted just at the edges of those questions, signaling the rumor to those who were familiar without actually accusing Graham of anything specific.
Huckabee’s tone-deafness when it comes to jokes has long been a subject of bafflement. Earlier this month he tweeted, “Breaking News! Jimmy Dean Sausage Co will be renamed Gorsuch Sausage because he’s grinding up some Democrat Senators into Pure Pork Sausage!”
Breaking News! Jimmy Dean Sausage Co will be renamed GORSUCH SAUSAGE because he's grinding up some Democrat Senators into PURE PORK SAUSAGE!
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) March 21, 2017
He also wrote, “Only English speaking TV I get at Norway is BBC-oh my! It stands for Biased Boring Crap. It’s more effective than Ambien as sleep inducer:”
Only English speaking TV I get at Norway is BBC-oh my! It stands for BIASED BORING CRAP. It's more effective than Ambien as sleep inducer.
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) March 6, 2017
And later “Poop Dogg has nephew named Bow Wow; both bad dogs who advocate murder and sex slavery for @POTUS and First Lady; Who let the dogs out?”
Poop Dogg has nephew named Bow Wow; both bad dogs who advocate murder and sex slavery for @POTUS and First Lady;Who let the dogs out?
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) March 17, 2017
None of Huckabee’s jokes make much sense, but the animus behind them is clear — and never clearer now that he’s made snide insinuations about his colleague’s “uniform.”
