For those of you unfamiliar with the late Andy Kaufman’s comedy, Kaufman had one of the most unique comedy acts ever seen.  Watching him perform, it was often hard to see the line between which of his antics were part of his act or whether he was honestly out of his mind.  People close to him reported that much of the time, they honestly could not tell.  In one of Andy’s most famous “acts,” he went to Tennessee to wrestle women in public matches.  He generated a firestorm of controversy among females in Tennessee by making all kinds of sexist remarks, making himself into a misogynistic villain who women lined up to challenge in the ring.  Here is some video documenting this event.

Look at the women at points 1:35, 5:13, and 6:34 of the video. They form what people consider to be Kaufman’s comedic genius- his ability to make a crowd of people part of his act by making them look hilarious in their outrage. He went to Tennessee for this because he knew that female wrestling fans in Tennessee are a funny demographic in themselves, and they could be reliably exploited to provide images the rest of us would find funny. I readily admit that this comedy is not for everyone, but I happen to find it hilarious.

Keep those images of outraged Tennessee women in your mind as you read this statement from Mike Huckabee in Sunday’s NYT Magazine:

“Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?”

In asking that question with a tone of feigned ignorance about what we believe, Huckabee is exploiting the very same demographic Andy Kaufman did; you can just see millions of old evangelical ladies saying “they believe what?!!!” and resolving that Romney must be defeated, for the sake of The Children, or something along those lines.

Ironically, in making that breathtakingly dishonest remark, Huckabee just eliminated himself as a viable contender for the Presidency. Nevada, Colorado, and Idaho have Mormon populations that are large enough to swing their state electoral votes to Democrats, and several other states become up for grabs if Mormons stay home or write in Mitt Romney.  It’s also safe to say that if Huckabee is chosen in the primary, Utah will swing democratic for the first time, probably ever.

It’s sad that Huckabee just couldn’t help himself. I was actually liking him until this remark, where he showed his contempt for me and millions of other reasonable, decent people who simply believe differently than he does.