Mike Huckabee tells The Brody File that this "big tent" philosophy within the GOP has its limits. Huckabee spoke with me this morning in our D.C. studios. Watch his comments below and get the transcription after that.
BRODY:There's been a lot of talk about how the GOP's now at a crossroads. This big tent philosophy and can a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage type GOP candidate welcome within the Republican Party? What's the answer to that?
HUCKABEE: It's okay for the tent to be big, but the tent shouldn't have holes in the ceiling. And what the party bosses -- those 11 people who picked Dede Scozzafava did was put somebody in place who was more liberal than 80 percent of Congress. And that didn't make any sense.
She really wasn't philosophically even close to being a Republican. This was an ACORN-backed, union-backed, pro-same sex marriage, pro-abortion person who just didn't look like even a semblance of the Republican Party.
It was, I think, not so much a defeat for the Republican Party. It was an affirmation that the conservative movement is really the only home for Republicans.
And that doesn't mean they have to be in lockstep on every issue. But they have to have at least one or two things that give them some connection with the Republicans. Dede did not.