• Mike Huckabee, Haley Barbour, Rick Santorum defend Michelle Obama's anti-obesity campaign
    21 replies, posted
[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/29/AR2010122901940.html?hpid=topnews[/url] [release]Some Republicans watching the cluttered 2012 presidential field may have found an unlikely point of disagreement: the first lady and flab. Sarah Palin has taken to assailing Michelle Obama's anti-obesity initiative on her reality show and elsewhere, while former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, the Republican Party's resident authority on obesity and a potential Palin rival, has been defending it from Palin's salvos. Two other possible GOP presidential contenders, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.), have also praised Obama's efforts. In a recent broadcast of "Sarah Palin's Alaska," the former governor, high school basketball player and avid runner prepared s'mores (ingredients: marshmallows, Hershey's chocolate bars and graham crackers) and said the treat was "in honor of Michelle Obama, who said the other day we should not have dessert." In fact, the first lady has never suggested that sweets be banned from the dinner table, cafeteria or campground. She says she tells her daughters, Sasha and Malia, that "dessert is not a right" and that meals should be balanced with fruits and vegetables. In a recent interview with conservative radio host Laura Ingraham to promote her latest book, Palin again dismissed Obama's anti-obesity effort as "some politician or politician's wife's priorities," which amount to what she has in the past called a "nanny state run amok." She told Ingraham that the first lady should "get off our back and allow us as individuals to exercise our own God-given rights to make our own decisions." And, apparently, to make as many s'mores as they want. Palin's criticism tracks closely with those of many other conservatives who have complained of government overreach and consider Obama's initiative and the recently passed child nutrition law as intrusions into the school cafeteria. When asked about Palin's comments, Obama told Barbara Walters in an interview last month that the issue "transcends politics." "We've always said throughout this campaign that this, solving this problem, is going to take all of us," Obama said. "Parents, families, communities have the largest impact on how kids think about anything, particularly what they eat. But ultimately it requires all of us." To the White House's probable delight, some of Palin's possible competitors in the coming GOP primary seized the opportunity to lend a hand, exposing possible divisions among Republicans about where to draw the line between government power and private choices. Conservative broadcast hosts Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have also criticized Obama's efforts, as has commentator Michelle Malkin, who named Obama to her list of "Big Nannies of the Year." But Huckabee, who famously shed more than 100 pounds in part by cutting out processed sugar and white flour, quickly came to the first lady's defense. In an interview with New York radio personality Curtis Sliwa, Huckabee said, "With all due respect to my colleague and friend Sarah Palin, I think she's misunderstood what Michelle Obama is trying to do." He said the first lady is "stating the obvious: that we do have an obesity crisis in this country." He added: "The first lady's campaign is on target. It's not saying that you can't or should never eat a dessert." Huckabee also made Malkin's "Nannies" list. Barbour offered praise for Obama's efforts in March, when the first lady toured Mississippi, the nation's fattest state for the fifth straight year and one that has its own statewide efforts to fight fat. "As Mrs. Obama takes this campaign nationally, she'll be a catalyst. . . . She'll be a fantastic spokesman, leader," he said. And Santorum said Wednesday that it is "a proper role for the first lady to highlight something as important as childhood nutrition and what parents can do." "This is just basic good health and we as parents can sympathize with what she's doing," he added. Yet Santorum also said that there are legitimate concerns about the intrusiveness of government - in curbing junk food at schools, for instance. The opinion page of the Wall Street Journal on Monday quoted Palin's own past health-centric comments and said, "Mrs. Obama's campaign is grounded in similar sentiments." It then offered this rare shot at Palin: "Mrs. Palin would be more effective if she made some distinctions among the Obama policies that really are worth opposing."[/release] Good. Nice to see some Republicans are willing to buck the most visible Tea Party supporter. /waits for the [url=http://www.facepunch.com/members/136593-Glaber]Michelle "Obum" Obama Hate Squad[/url]
Nice one Huckabee. Guess it's that time of the day for the broken clock to be correct.
But most of america is obese being anti-obese is being anti american socialism!
What ever they do so long as it isn't forced, It's their choice to get help or stay obese.
lol Santorum
I'm fat. :(
So I guess Huckabee isn't entirely bad. Granted, he's a massive idiot about everything else, but at least not about this.
congratulations on huckabee for having commmon bloody sense
[QUOTE=Lambeth;27077574]congratulations on huckabee for having commmon bloody sense[/QUOTE] maybe he had to want julian assange to be hung for treason in order to balance out his diet of crazy
[QUOTE=Lambeth;27077574]congratulations on huckabee for having commmon bloody sense[/QUOTE] i wouldn't go that far
an anti-obesity campaign is all well and good, but until it accepts the truth that the cause of obesity isn't dietary fat, but refined carbohydrates, it's not gonna get anywhere :colbert:
[QUOTE=Sigma-Lambda;27079836]an anti-obesity campaign is all well and good, but until it accepts the truth that the cause of obesity isn't dietary fat, but refined carbohydrates, it's not gonna get anywhere :colbert:[/QUOTE] And lack of exercise.
Michelle Obama's heart is in the right place, but she goes a bit far with the idea of the outright banning of certain kinds of foods.
[QUOTE=zombieslaya;27084353]Michelle Obama's heart is in the right place, but she goes a bit far with the idea of the outright banning of certain kinds of foods.[/QUOTE] If I understand correctly she wants to make sure that schools serve healthy foods, not ban certain foods altogether. I could be wrong though..
[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;27077635]maybe he had to want julian assange to be hung for treason in order to balance out his diet of crazy[/QUOTE] He said the soldier who leaked the materials is the one who should be charged with treason (and in his opinion, executed). Julian assange is not an american citizen and can't be charged with treason in the US.
[QUOTE=zombieslaya;27084353]Michelle Obama's heart is in the right place, but she goes a bit far with the idea of the outright banning of certain kinds of foods.[/QUOTE] Clearly didn't even read the article in question... She only, and this is ALL she wanted, was to provide healthy foods for kids in schools year round for those kids that could not afford healthy food, or any food at all. Where the fuck do you guys get your shit from
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;27086792]Clearly didn't even read the article in question... She only, and this is ALL she wanted, was to provide healthy foods for kids in schools year round for those kids that could not afford healthy food, or any food at all. Where the fuck do you guys get your shit from[/QUOTE] They don't read the article and probably got their info from snip-its on the Media News channels.
[quote]Sarah Palin has taken to assailing Michelle Obama's anti-obesity initiative on her reality show[/quote] wait what
[QUOTE=Jiyoon;27077074]But most of america is obese being anti-obese is being anti american socialism![/QUOTE] It's funny because it's true. The part about most of America being obese, that is.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;27086792]Clearly didn't even read the article in question... She only, and this is ALL she wanted, was to provide healthy foods for kids in schools year round for those kids that could not afford healthy food, or any food at all. Where the fuck do you guys get your shit from[/QUOTE] Is that it? We stopped having horribly unhealthy things in school canteens ages ago. It's not banning anything, just giving things better than the slurry of fat to kids for school lunches. Not banning anything, just changing the menu to accommodate healthy eating habits. We did have some resistance because kids didn't get their junk food but who cares, it's just changing what is provided and they can bring whatever they want with them.
At least some republicans won't attack her ideas. The other 3, well, they are either trolls, only care to make the Pres and his wife look bad, or completely fucking retarded. And I thought Palin would be smarter than this. Wait, no, she made a stupid comment. Sorry, I mean an even stupider comment.
modern politics are becoming very ugly; you've got democrats, who won't make a stand for anything, and then you've got these dumbass republicans, who won't accept anything that the democrats bring up.
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