Contradictions that I love

Even if I still don't think he'll win the Republican nomination or that he'd be a good president, David Brooks convinces me that Mike Huckabee is the most interesting person in either party's primary field:

He is part of the new generation of evangelical leaders. Huckabee was a Baptist minister. But unlike the first generation of politically engaged Christian conservatives, Huckabee is not at war with mainstream America. As a teenager, he loved Jimi Hendrix, and he’s now the bass player in a rock band that has opened for Willie Nelson and Grand Funk Railroad.

Jimi Hendrix, as most of you must be well aware, may have been the most sinful man in American history. Which is, of course, a big part of what made him so awesome. (That and his wicked guitar skillz.) But it's also the main reason I doubt the significance of statements like this from Brooks about a Baptist man who grooves to acid rock.

Though you wouldn’t know it from the past few years, the white working class is the backbone of the G.O.P. Huckabee is most in tune with these voters.

I'm willing to believe that Mike Huckabee understands white people who lack college degrees better than anybody else in Republican field... maybe even in all of politics. But it's the inverse question that matters more, and winning on that score requires fame and pandering--two attributes Huckabee lacks but Fred Thompson has in droves.