I’ve been hard on Mike Huckabee regarding his decision not to endorse Doug Hoffman in the New York 23rd Congressional District Race. Last night in a “round-up” I did on the race, I updated with information received from Erick Erickson at RedState.
I’ve known this for a couple of weeks and hoped it wasn’t true. But based on more conversations over the last few days and today, I have to report that denials to the contrary I know why Mike Huckabee will not endorse Doug Hoffman despite agreeing with pretty much everything Doug Hoffman says.
The Club for Growth and Fred Thompson endorsed Doug Hoffman.
Huckabee and the Club do not get along and Huckabee is still bitter about Thompson hanging on after Iowa in 2008.
I added last night:
I asked him if this was speculation or if he was hearing this from people close to Huckabee. Erick said that it wasn’t speculation:
“Heard it from multiple sources connected to various parties involved, including him.”
Very disappointing.
I was confronted about referencing anonymous sources, and I followed up with Erick to clarify who exactly he heard this from… who this “including him” is. I learned from Chris Maiorana, who is very connected to HuckPAC, that there isn’t a close aide with knowledge of HuckPAC endorsements saying this to Erick.
Upon learning this I emailed Erick again to ask him for clarification, and my email was deleted without being read (I requested a read receipt). So either Erick is unable or unwilling to provide clarification.
So I am retracting my comment from the previous post. I was wrong to reference it. I should not have passed on what is unverified speculation from anonymous sources. I have spoken out against anonymous sources when Sarah Palin was concerned, and should have held the same standards with Mike Huckabee.
So Governor Huckabee, if you read this, I apologize. I should never have given credence to anonymous sources. While I don’t agree with your decision not to endorse Doug Hoffman I have no right to assign a motive without proof to do so. I hope that you can forgive me.
I will commit from here on out not to publish anything based on anonymous sources.