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Thu Jan 3, 1:00 AM ET
 
The Nation -- Mike Huckabee’s foray onto secular television -- via an Iowa-caucus eve appearance with Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show” -- seemed like a smart political move. Iowa Republicans who are leaning toward backing the former governor of Arkansas Thursday want to know that they are not going too far out onto a limb, so an appearance on a top national talk show on the night it returns to the air provides some necessary reassurance for folks who like Huckabee but want to be sure they are backing a winner.

Unfortunately for Huckabee, who has worked hard to position himself as a Republican who actually respects unions and their members, he had to cross a picket line to make the appearance.

Huckabee, the one Republican contender who has regularly appeared at national union conventions and forums and who actually won an endorsement from the Machinists union, says he’s 100 percent behind the Writers Guild of America members who have gone on strike in an effort to secure a fair share of the money reaped by the producers of the programs they create.

“I support the writers, by the way, unequivocally, absolutely,” chirped Huckabee. “They’re dead right on this one. And they ought to get royalties off the residuals and the long-term contracts.”

But right does not trump political opportunity for the man who claims to embrace higher moral standards than his foes.

So Huckabee crossed the line, walking right past striking writers who held signs reading, “Huckabee is a Scab.”