Here’s the deal.  Team Newt has an ad that’s plastered the airwaves titled, “What Kind of Man”:

Here’s the transcript from the ad:

Governor Huckabee: “If a man’s dishonest to get a job, he’ll be dishonest on the job.”

Narrator: What kind of man would mislead, distort, and deceive just to win an election?

This man would. Mitt Romney. Romney said he has always voted Republican when he had the opportunity.

But in the 1992 Massachusetts Primary, Romney had the chance to vote for George H.W. Bush or Pat Buchanan, but he voted for a liberal Democrat instead.

Romney said his investments in Fannie and Freddie were in a blind trust.

But as reported in the National Journal, Romney earned tens of thousands of dollars from investments NOT in a blind trust.

Romney denied seeing a false ad his campaign used to attack Newt Gingrich. But Romney’s own campaign paid for the ad…and Romney’s own voice is on the ad approving the content.

If we can’t trust what Mitt Romney says about his own record, how can we trust him on anything?

As you can see, the ad is pretty hard-hitting, highlighting (or lowlighting) various things from Romney’s life in out out of office.  However, there’s one part of this ad that’s being thrown into question.  Can you guess what it is?

If you said the quote from Huckabee, you’d be spot on.

H/T LegalInsurrection:

Huckabee: Gingrich should pull “Deceptive” Ad:

Former GOP presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee “would love for” Newt Gingrich to pull a political campaign ad that features a comment he made during the 2008 campaign that appears to slam Mitt Romney for being “dishonest.”

“I know Newt Gingrich at the end of the ad says I approved this message, well let me just say, I didn’t approve that message,” Huckabee said in an interview Friday on Fox News.

The former governor of Arkansas said his words were “taken out of context” and were also ” deceptive” because he was not referring to Romney, one of his 2008 primary rivals.

“ That spot, which was back in December of 2007, never mentioned Mitt Romney by name, it never said anything about Mitt Romney. It was a general statement,” Huckabee, has not endorsed anyone so far in the 2012 presidential race, and says he doesn’t plan to do so.

Permit me to join Professor Jacobson in my incredulity.  Really Mike?  You’re going to hitch your wagon to Team Mitt on this ad, of all things?

As Jacobson points out, the ad was famous.  Some may not remember why though.  Do you?  Well, here’s the scoop:

Huckabee, and frankly all the other GOP contenders back then, were fed up with Mitt’s dishonest campaigning techniques.  Unfortunately he didn’t have the money to run the particular ad in question…but he did know how to make a splash.  And make it he did by having a press conference to announce the ad … that he wasn’t going to run.  A very clever move on his part since it garnered the press he wanted without laying out the money for the ad buy itself.

Huckabee now says the ad never mentioned him by name and that the quote Gingrich used was a general one.  He called it “deceptive” and “out of context.”

But…here’s the thing, Governor Huckabee.

We have Youtube and can see for ourselves what the original context was:

The transcript:

Governor Huckabee:  I’m Mike Huckabee and I approve this message because Iowans have a right to know the truth about Mitt Romney’s dishonest attacks on me and even an American hero, John McCain.

Narrator:  Romney’s record?

Over $700 in new taxes.

Left office with a deficit.

No executions.

Supported gun control.

And Romney’s government mandated health plan provided a $50 co-pay for abortion.

Governor Huckabee:  If a man’s dishonest to obtain a job, he’ll be dishonest on the job.  Iowans deserve better.

So you tell me.  Was Huckabee taken out of context?  Was he or was he not referring specifically and directly to Mitt Romney’s behavior?  Did he or did he not call out Mitt Romney by name?

The answer is clear.  You can see and hear for yourself.

But now, Huckabee is saying that it’s a lie.  He wasn’t referring to Mitt.  It wasn’t about him.  And that Newt is being dishonest for saying that it was.

Riiiiiiiiiight.

Oh what an amazing, and yes, disturbing irony this is.  Here we have an ad that highlights Mitt’s dishonesty by referencing Huckabee’s own ad highlighting Mitt’s dishonesty.  And Huckabee is lying about it.

Why?

What is going on?

Huckabee has to know that the original ad was available and that sooner or later someone would call him out on it.  And yet, in a campaign where he’s supposedly neutral, he has aligned himself with someone he’s called dishonest by being dishonest himself.

I’m sure he’s aware the headlines will make it look like Newt lied, when in fact he is the one lying.  Oh sure, after a day or so, there will be a correction; but the damage will have been done.  He knows that too.

So what is at the heart of this?

Governor Palin said it best.  This really isn’t about Newt versus Mitt.  Not really.  Newt has become the face of the anti-establishment wing of the GOP.  As unlikely as that may seem, that is the reality.  Conversely, Mitt is the face of the establishment and they have proven that there is nothing too low that they won’t do to get their way:

But this whole thing isn’t really about Newt Gingrich vs. Mitt Romney. It is about the GOP establishment vs. the Tea Party grassroots and independent Americans who are sick of the politics of personal destruction used now by both parties’ operatives with a complicit media egging it on.

I can’t for the life of me figure out why Huckabee, who I like personally (though I never supported him for President), is aligning at least strategically with those who seek to undermine the influence of the Tea Party and commonsense conservatives who are calling for a serious, thorough and continued vetting process.

I mean if he wants to support Mitt, that’s fine and that’s entirely up to him.

Just don’t rewrite history to do it.

Don’t tell me the ad I watched from Huckabee didn’t say what it so obviously did.

Because at the end of the day, if I have to choose behind Huckabee’s blatantly dishonest ploy and my lying eyes, I’m going to go with my lying eyes every time.

Sorry Huck.