As part of its role as the media mouthpiece for the religious rights, Fox News has now become the media defender of Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson who, in a GQ interview, made very disparaging and vile comments about gays and displayed an extraordinary ignorance of the realities of Jim Crow. So it's not surprising that Fox host, possible presidential candidate, professional Christian, and radical right wing homophobe Mike Huckabee would be leading the Fox cheerleading squad that is not only defending Robertson but claiming that it's really the gays who are bigoted. On Monday, Huckabee, once again, pimped his Facebook petition in support of Robertson and in so doing articulated the standard Fox argument that Robertson was just stating his faith and, according to the aw shucks Huckabee, saying the same things that lots of Jesus loving, Southern Christians say. 

On Tuesday, Eric Bolling, in filling in for Neil Cavuto, asked Huckabee about whether A&E reacted appropriately in suspending Robertson. This question provided Huckabee with a platform from which to preach the gospel according to Phil Robertson. Huckabee, who claims that straight people who live in states with gay marriage equality have lost their rights, asserted that what Robertson said was "out of the convictions of his heart."  Huckabee is grateful that Robinson hasn't capitulated because all Robertson is saying is "this is who I am...this is the way we talk in the duckwoods of Louisiana."

Huckabee acknowledged A&E had the right to suspend Robertson but it's not smart from a business perspective. He added that what Phil said was not directed toward an individual, unlike Martin Bashir's "hate speech" because it was targeted towards a person. (Funny, when Rush Limbaugh disparaged Sandra Fluke, Huckabee, as far as I know, didn't think that was hate speech.) He asserted that Robertson's comments were "a matter of his opinion based on scripture which is not really that off the wall of an opinion." (Homosexuality is like bestiality?)

He said that the Robertson flap is similar to the Chick-fil-A situation because Christians "don't really like to be against something but they're willing to be for something and in both cases, what Christians are reacting to is not being against, they're not boycotting so much as they're standing with someone that they think has taken a stand that reflects their own views and their own values" which is why there has been a huge reaction. (Uh, aren't Christians are against abortion and gays) He speculated that A&E wished they had never "waded off into this deep water.

So it appears that Huckabee doesn't have a problem with Robertson's belief that gays are disgusting sinners who aren't normal. Isn't that just ducky.(!) Oh well, if he does run for president this should assure him the vote of his fellow "Christians." Once again we see that it's just not the Westboro Baptist Church that preaches that God hates fags but a major news network. Fox News - America's heterosexual and Christian newsroom!