“I think that she’s not anywhere near the person that sometimes she’s been portrayed to be –- as completely lacking of any intellectual capacity.”

–Mike Huckabee, subtly putting the stress on the word “completely.”

Is this emerging as the new party line on Palin among other top Republican politicians? Last week, Haley Barbour told Chris Matthews that Palin is “a lot brighter than she gets credit for,” and on yesterday’s @katiecouric, Fox News Channel host and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee trotted out a similar-sounding soundbite.

Huckabee did go with the ‘Palin has more executive experience than Obama’ line, which was defensible on some grounds during the 2008 election, but sounds increasingly like a stretch now that Obama has been president for almost a year. He said definitively that he’d vote for her over Obama in 2012 — though declined to say who he’d pick for the Republican primary, which may have something to do with the fact that he’s a frontrunner for the party nomination at this admittedly very early date. Elsewhere in the interview, Huckabee said that he was offended by Obama’s bow to the emperor of Japan.

Republicans who are not Sarah Palin are currently in the tricky position of not wanting to come across as either too critical of or too enthusiastic about her. Huckabee largely pulled it off, though the soundbite came across as an obvious hedge. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Huckabee and Palin are frenemies in book sales?

From the Birmingham News:

About 500 people packed the Books-A-Million store at Colonial Brookwood Village this afternoon to get an autographed copy of 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s book, “A Simple Christmas: Twelve Stories that Celebrate the True Holiday Spirit.”

Some in the crowd had been to the store earlier to get wristbands to get a place in line for Monday’s book signing by Sarah Palin for her book, “Going Rogue.”

More than 1,800 people showed up to try to get one of the 1,000 wristbands to meet Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

(via Breitbart.tv)

It’s the weekend, which means it’s time to separate the chumps from the champs in Mediaite’s Winners and Losers, our scorecard of who rocked and who flopped in the headlines.

This week, Sean Hannity gets bruised, Larry King gets tough and Levi Johnston gets naked: 

The Bronze Winner: Levi Johnston

The self-proclaimed “f*cking redneck” kept it classy this week. Wednesday the Wasilla teen was honored with a prestigious Fleshbot award for his highly anticipated Playgirl spread, which he insists is “art,” not porn. Yes, the full frontal nudie pics were done “tastefully” because Levi doesn’t want to be seen as “getting naked for money.” And staying above the fray, he says he won’t reveal the “damning” dirt he’s got on former future mother-in-law Sarah Palin (but she was smart not to trash him to Oprah, because he could always change his mind.) It’s the high road all the way for this kid!

The Bronze Loser: Sesame Street

For 40 years the program has indoctrinated America’s youth with leftist propoganda, and the conspiracy has gone largely undetected. Well, the jig is up, Sesame Street! But seriously, hyper-sensitive conservatives are outraged over a 2-year-old parody in which a puppet calls “Pox” News “trashy.” And that hurt Fox News’ whiddle feelings! So now, ridiculous as it is, PBS is forced address the viewer outrage. You’d think after 4 decades of catering to children, Sesame Street producers would know better than to pick fights with crybabies.

The Silver Winner: Lou Dobbs

With anti-immigration hysteria waning (and subsequently his ratings) it was no shock when the cable blowhard announced he was dumping his primetime show to pursue “other opportunities.” He may have gone out sans bang, but it looks like Dobbs jumped ship just in time! On his last night the network sunk to 5th place for the night in total primetime viewers. (Yes, that means trailing CNBC.) And in handing straight-arrow John King the 7pm slot, it’s clear CNN is hellbent on sticking with this losing, albeit noble, nonpartisan strategy. And if that’s the deal, Dobbs is better off pretty much anywhere!

The Silver Loser: Mike Huckabee

You may find yourself asking “Hucka-who?” But once upon a time, the folksy former governor was the conservative media darling and beloved prince of the values voters. But that was before pretty pretty Palin came along and ripped his gimmick. Now nobody hearts Huckabee, and boy is he bitter about it! He tells Politico the mean Republicans who called him a “populist” and “ignaramus” are “defensive and laudatory to” the former Alaska governor because she’s better looking! On the brightside, Huckabee does have a top-rated cable show. So what if he can’t even get Palin to appear?

The Gold Winner: Larry King

Larry King Live is a favorite PR pitstop among scandal-ridden celebs because they think he’s an easy interview. (Remember when he asked Chris Brown if he remembered hitting Rihanna?) Well no more! Larry shed his reputation for softball pitches this week, relentlessly grilling embattled beauty queen Carrie Prejean until she tried (and failed) to walk off the set! That’s right, Larry raked the former Miss California over the coals with questions about why she settled her lawsuit (but not what the lawsuit was about). And then “Inapropriate King” had the audacity to take a viewer phone call! This guy is brutal!

The Gold Loser: Sean Hannity

What a sucky week for Sean Hannity. First Jon Stewart busts the Fox host for passing off footage of a heavily-attended 9/12 protest as B-roll from Michelle Bachmann‘s smaller anti-health reform rally. Then, after Hannity smugly apologized for the “inadvertent mistake“ and thanked The Daily Show team for watching, Stewart hit him again, this time with an entire skit! The take away: seeing him apologize was not worth suffering through an entire hour of Hannity’s America. Snap!