Huckabee Tells His Bloggers, "God Wants You To Clog The Net, Prevent Press From Filing Bad Stories About Me"

Yesterday in Des Moines, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee hosted an event thanking roughly 700 bloggers who, he said, were responsible for keeping his campaign alive.

Calling them his secret weapon, Huckabee urged the bloggers to clog up the wireless system in Des Moines so that reporters couldnt file any more bad stories about him. He added that by blocking the free press from doing their jobs, bloggers were doing the Lords work:

The New York Times-blog reports:

Mike Huckabee held a little event here on Tuesday to thank the roughly 700 bloggers who, he said, were responsible for keeping his campaign alive. Because he had no money and initially got very little media attention, he said, he could not have kept going without their dedication.

He said the bloggers, whom he called his “secret weapon,” spent their days “pounding their keyboards and hitting ‘send’ in the middle of the night.” Ed Rollins, his campaign consultant, said none of the bloggers were on Mr. Huckabee’s payroll, chuckling at the idea of a payroll.

At one point, Chuck Norris, Mr. Huckabee’s most famous supporter, wandered into the small meeting room where the event was being held. Mr. Norris, the martial artist and action actor, confessed to being “computer illiterate” himself, but thanked the bloggers for getting him and Mr. Huckabee together.

Mr. Norris proposed holding a fundraiser for Mr. Huckabee with a “virtual barbeque” at his Texas ranch on Jan. 20. He said he would take the blogosphere on a virtual tour of the ranch, including his 2,000-square-foot gym, and perhaps Mr. Huckabee would sing with his band. One blogger proposed that all bloggers hold actual barbeques in their home towns at the same time to raise money. The bloggers applauded their approval.

“Pork across America!” Mr. Huckabee proclaimed.

About a dozen or so bloggers had set up their laptops to take notes and blog as Mr. Huckabee and Mr. Norris spoke; the mainstream media was allowed to observe but not ask questions.

Mr. Huckabee had a rough time yesterday at the hands of the media when he announced he was canceling a negative ad against Mitt Romney and then showed the ad to the assembled reporters, who burst out laughing. Today, he turned the tables. He noted that the mainstream media might be “filing a bad story” right now, and if the bloggers were relying on the same wireless system at the hotel, they might be “clogging up the lines” and preventing them from filing.

If that’s the case, “thank you,” he said. “You’re doing the Lord’s work.”

Mr. Huckabee was asked if he became president whether he would hold an event like this one in the White House. He said he would. “You gotta dance with the one that brought you,” he said.

Afterwards, Anthony Bonna, 20, a blogger from Florida who is a student at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., said he supported Mr. Huckabee because he is “the authentic conservative” in the race. His Web site, www.huckamania.com, is devoted to him.