There was an endearing article by Trip Gabriel in yesterday's paper on "rube in chief" and perennial "possible presidential candidate" Mike Huckabee.
In "Huckabee Pursues Unconventional Ways to Fund a Campaign," Gabriel outlines how the former Governor of Arkansas, who recently stepped down as a talk-show host for FOX to ready himself for the campaign trail, fronts for a quack diabetes cure:
In a wood-paneled study lined with books and framed family photos, the prospective presidential candidate looks into the camera. “I’m Mike Huckabee,” he says with all the folksy charm that propelled a career as a preacher, politician and broadcaster.
But this is no campaign ad. It is an Internet infomercial for a dubious diabetes treatment, in which Mr. Huckabee, who is contemplating a run for the Republican nomination in 2016, tells viewers to ignore “Big Pharma” and instead points them to a “weird spice, kitchen-cabinet cure,” consisting of dietary supplements.
“Let me tell you, diabetes can be reversed,” Mr. Huckabee says. “I should know because I did it. Today you can, too.”I have no quibble with Huckabee's critique of the pharmaceutical industry or the idea that “Most big pharma companies don’t know squat about how to reverse your diabetes.” What bothers me is that Huckabee, who got his professional start working as a staffer for televangelist James Robison, is just fleecing his fellow rubes:
Mr. Huckabee, who lost more than 100 pounds after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2003, says in the video, “Techniques just like you’re going to find in this kit worked for me.”
Asked this month at an appearance in Iowa if he had used cinnamon and chromium picolinate to reverse his diabetes, he said he had not. “No, I reversed it by taking better care of my health,” he said. Pressed about the dietary supplements promoted by the company he endorses, for which he was paid an undisclosed fee, he said: “I’ll do anything that promotes good health. Yes, sir.”
Mr. Huckabee’s spokeswoman, Alice Stewart, said his contract to promote the diabetes cure ended the first week in March. “It was something created several months ago, back in 2014, but due to possible future plans, they have concluded the relationship,” Ms. Stewart said.
Yet, as of this week, the maker of the Diabetes Solution Kit, Barton Publishing of Brandon, S.D., still prominently featured Mr. Huckabee’s endorsement on its website. Its chief executive, Joe Barton, seemed to contradict the statement that his deal with Mr. Huckabee had ended. “We are abiding by all terms set forth in the contract which is confidential in nature,” he said in an email message.
He disputed that there was a scientific consensus that cinnamon, a spice, and chromium picolinate, a mineral, were ineffective in lowering blood sugar levels associated with diabetes. “It flat-out works for people!” he wrote.
Although supplements line the shelves of pharmacies and supermarkets, scientific organizations say the evidence for their help in treating diabetes, the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, comes up short.
The American Diabetes Association advises, “Research has not been able to prove that dietary or herbal supplements (including omega-3 supplements, cinnamon and other herbs) help to manage diabetes.”
David Schardt, senior nutritionist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said: “When you look at good studies, cinnamon and chromium don’t have an effect. There are some crumby studies that show they have some effect.” The poor research, he added, largely was done in China, Iran and Turkey.
Mr. Barton does not appear to sell dietary supplements directly, only booklets about “natural remedies” for a range of ailments, including acid reflux and low testosterone.
A number of customers of Barton Publishing have complained online about exorbitant and unauthorized charges to credit and debit cards. This reporter ordered the 95-page booklet promoted by Mr. Huckabee, for an advertised $19.97 for a downloadable copy and $19.95, plus shipping, for a printed copy, and found a $120.08 charge to his Visa card, which included a $67 coaching video that was not ordered. Mr. Barton said fewer than 1 percent of customers complained about overcharges, which he said were the result of user error.
Mr. Huckabee, who earlier this year released a book, “God, Guns, Grits and Gravy,” celebrates the populist culture and values in the “flyover” states, the political identity he is preparing to run on. His manifesto appeared before he endorsed the diabetes cure, which includes numerous foods to cut from one’s diet. One of those on the list: grits.All in all, a delightful piece of journalism, one that makes the Gray Lady's urban, elite audience feel elevated and enlightened. Nonetheless, Gabriel's story raises interesting issues: rampant Type 2 diabetes in the United States due to an obesity epidemic, and the persistence of a paranoid, "old, weird America" that believes in junk science delivered by a Southern Baptist televangelist type whose past is dotted by so many lies the screen should be opaque.
The problem with a Huckabee candidacy from a political point of view is that for every “God, Guns, Grits and Gravy” boob he brings to the polls, he will drive three suburban "soccer moms" to the voting booth to support Jeb Bush in the primary. Soccer moms are threatened by hayseeds who wave the Holy Bible.
