It wasn’t very long ago that former presidential candidate and Fox News host Mike Huckabee said that women want birth control because they can’t control their “libido” and that they’re looking for a handout from their sugar daddy, the federal taxpayer.
During an interview this week, however, Huckabee described himself as a chivalrous man who treats women with “respect.”
“I’ve twice run against women opponents, and it’s a very different approach,” Huckabee said. “For those of us who have some chivalry left, there’s a level of respect.”
“You treat some things as a special treasure; you treat other things as common.”
Huckabee defended and elaborated on his comments in an additional statement to Salon.
“I believe in equality, and I have a record of transforming that belief into action,” he said. “However, equality doesn’t mean sameness.”
Equality doesn’t mean sameness?
That explains a lot.
If equality meant sameness that would mean birth control would be covered without controversy in the way Viagra and penis pumps are.
From where I come from, respect doesn’t mean treating women like idiots who can’t control themselves. Opening the door for them or putting them in the center of the photograph, as Huckabee is wont to do, is not a free pass to treat women as subhumans; it’s a common courtesy that you may provide to anyone.
Being a nice guy does not entitle you to special privilege over women, and if that’s the only reason you’re being nice — to receive something in return — you’re a schmuck, not a chivalrous gentleman. And now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go barf.