Mike Huckabee Shameless Huckster Scams Low Information Social Conservative Dimwits With Bogus Diabetes "Cure"

The secret of being a top-notch con man is being able to know what the mark wants, and how to make him think he's getting it ~ Ken Kesey (9/17/1935 to 11/10/2001) an American author. Quote from his his 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Have you heard that 2016 Presidential Candidate and Religious Right nutjob hypocrite [1] Mike Huckabee shamelessly huckstered an unproven diabetes "reversal system" that includes "dietary supplements" consisting of cinnamon and chromium picolinate in order to fund his campaign? (Huckabee Pursues Unconventional Ways to Fund a Campaign by Trip Gabriel. The NYT 3/15/2015).

So what's the problem? I'll tell you. "Both the American Diabetes Association and the Canadian Diabetes Association warn that dietary and herbal supplements are ineffective for treating diabetes".

Anyway.... cinnamon? Does it have any medically beneficial properties? WebMD says "some research has found that a particular type of cinnamon, cassia cinnamon, may lower blood sugar in people with diabetes. However, other studies have not found a benefit".

Sounds unproven. Also, Medical News Today notes that "some people who are sensitive to cinnamon may be at an increased risk of liver damage after consuming cinnamon-flavored foods".

What about chromium picolinate?

[According to Wikipedia] there are claims that the picolinate form of chromium supplementation aids in reducing insulin resistance, particularly in type 2 diabetics, but a meta-analysis of chromium (III) supplementation studies showed... inconclusive results for diabetics.

Inclusive? I guess that means the experts aren't really sure if a supplement made of cinnamon and chromium picolinate can do squat for someone with diabetes. Which is why it's being sold as a "supplement" instead of a medicine. Because supplements are unregulated.

Unregulated? This reminds me of the Last Week Tonight segment in which host John Oliver (formerly of the Daily Show) slammed Dr. Oz for his huckstering of another snake oily "miracle product".

...Mehmet Oz... was recently called to testify before a Senate subcommittee over his promotion of weight loss and dietary supplements that have no proven health benefits. "Dr. Oz is just a symptom of the problem", Oliver said. "The disease is that dietary supplements in the U.S. are shockingly unregulated". [Oliver] went on to explain our inefficient and confusing regulatory system, which lets supplements operate independent from almost any oversight. The Federal Trade Commission is supposed to manage the marketing of dietary supplements, but that agency defers to the Food and Drug Administration to determine whether a health claim is accurate. The problem, Oliver explained, is that the FDA can't investigate supplements unless people have already fallen sick. That lack of regulation means that... supplements that have not been shown to be either safe or effective can be sold in U.S. stores. "None of this is likely to change," Oliver conceded, "because companies have access to the one genuinely truly effective wonder drug. "It's called lobbying". (John Oliver Hilariously Shows Why Dr. Oz Is A Symptom Of A Much Larger Problem by Katie Jennings. Business Insider, 6/23/2014).

So, like Dr. Oz with his weight loss products, the Hucksterbee is hawking an unproven "supplement". This supplement contains ingredients that some people believe might maybe be effective if you have diabetes... although the American Diabetes Association and the Canadian Diabetes Association both say N-O.

Seems to me like the con men behind these supplements are using lack of regulation as an excuse to jump on a "cure" that might not be much of a cure at all... and as a way to make money and not be held accountable for promising the moon and the stars when there is scant evidence their product will have any effect at all.

And they're tricking gullible dimwits into shelling out their cash by hiring spokespersons (like Oz and Hucky) who people trust... which is the most smarmy aspect of these kind of pitches. They're hinging the pitch on a potential customer's eagerness to believe someone they look up to. Instead of using actual facts or studies to back up the claims they can (or can't) present.

If they were honest about the inconclusive studies maybe they'd get some sales. But surely not as many as when a "trusted" spokesperson exaggerates, leaves out information, and lies by claiming the "system" can "cure" "reverse" diabetes.

Why "reverse" instead of "cure"? Is there a difference between "reversing" and "curing"? The "reversing" is 100 percent says the narrator of the video advertising the "system".

That's strange. Is the word "reverse" being used to trick people into thinking this is a cure when they're not actually claiming it's a cure? Is it some kind of legal trick to avoid prosecution (they'll claim they never promised a "cure")?

No.

I watched the video, and a short while into it the narrator DOES use the word "cure". First he says the product offers the "freedom of cure" for your diabetes. Later he says "you can be cured of your diabetes". Those are the EXACT words used in the video (and the word "cure" is used multiple times thereafter).

But there is no cure for diabetes!

WebMD: With all the research on diabetes and advances in diabetes treatments, it's tempting to think someone has surely found a diabetes cure by now. But the reality is that there is no cure for diabetes - neither type 1 diabetes nor type 2 diabetes. ...Supplements don't cure diabetes, either. Some natural supplements may interact dangerously with your diabetes medication. Others have been shown to help improve your diabetes, but always check with your doctor before taking any supplement.

MAYBE the supplement could help lessen your diabetes symptoms, but it can NOT cure the disease! I'd say shame on Huck, but I do not think he's capable of it (being ashamed of any of his idiocy). I mean, he's for throwing people off insurance (or not giving it to them at all) if they have pre-existing conditions (Huckabee Says No To Insurance For People With Pre-Existing Conditions by Rick Ungar. Forbes 9/17/2010)... and this a-hole is a minister!

Or, he's a Baptist minister turned Right-wing politician turned Fox Noozer turned "miracle cure" pitchman/Social Conservative GOPer base-appealing POTUS candidate who advocates for (basically) transforming American into a Christian theocracy where women [2], LGBT people [3], the Poors [4], and Muslims [5] are discriminated against. (Mike Huckabee Pushes for an American Theocracy by David Atkins. Washington Monthly's Political Animal blog 1/24/2015).

God help us if, somehow, this Talibanish fundy con man [6] were elected preznit!

(The video selling the "diabetes reversal system" can be viewed here. It does not look as though there is a embeddable version of it, so you'll have to follow the link if you don't believe me that the word "cure" is used. Although the narrator of the video warns that it might be taken down at any time. I don't know why. Maybe they think they'll have to take it down if someone files a lawsuit because they realize they were lied to? I don't know. In any case, I did find the Huckster's intro to this video on Youtube... see Video3 below).

Footnotes
[1] Huckabee is another RR hypocrite. An example of this being his "support for the ultra-Christian Duggar family of TLC's 19 Kids and Counting reality show after the 27-year-old Duggar son, Josh, admitted to alleged child molestation charges as a teenager". (Mike Huckabee is beyond gross: The sick hypocrisy of a man who slimes Obama's parenting, but defends Josh Duggar, admitted sexual molester by Bob Cesca. Salon 5/22/2015). Note that the Duggars are "devout Independent Baptists" and Huckabee is a Baptist. Wikipedia says "the Independent Baptist tradition began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among local denominational Baptist congregations concerned about the perceived advancement of modernism and liberalism into national Baptist denominations". So... the Dugars are more fundy than the fundy Huckster?
[2] The Huck is strongly anti-choice, believing that abortion should be outlawed even in cases of rape or incest. In regards to Huck's offensive war on woman "Uncle Sugar" remarks, Cecile Richards of CNN notes that "women use birth control for a whole host of medical reasons - and that's their business, not Mike Huckabee's. In Huckabee's vision, every boss in America would be empowered to decide whether his or her female employees should have access to birth control the way they do for any other prescription medication". (Huckabee's libido comment chilling for women 1/24/2014).
[3] In regards to the LGBT rights movement, Huck says it "is... really a page out of 1984, when what things mean are the opposite of what they really are. And that's what I'm seeing here is that in the name of tolerance, there's intolerance. ...In the name of acceptance, there's true discrimination". (Mike Huckabee's Latest Anti-Gay Comments Prove How Delusional He's Become by Allen Clifton. Forward Progressives 4/4/2015). This is Hucky crying "victim" when it's the RR who discriminates. Disgusting.
[4] Huckabee supports the FairTax, which eliminates progressive taxation. In the article Five Things Mike Huckabee Doesn't Want You to Know About Him, John Gorenfeld writes "to boost his tax cred... Huckabee has eagerly signed onto FairTax, a proposal to abolish the IRS touted by [Libertarian] Neal Boortz... Boortz would end the income tax. Instead you'd pay a federal sales tax, and to offset resulting problems, the government would write you checks every month. How much you get depends on the number of people are in your household. And nothing else". (AlterNet, 11/21/2007). In regards to the so-called "fair tax"... Pat Regnier, writing for CNN Money, notes that "the trouble with a pure consumption tax is that it can put a hideous burden on poor and middle-class people". (Just how fair is the 'FairTax'? 9/7/2005).
[5] In an The Atlantic article Peter Beinart writes "...the most naked bigot in the emerging Republican field is Mike Huckabee. Earlier this week, Huckabee said that Everything he [Obama] does is against what Christians stand for, and he's against the Jews in Israel. The one group of people that can know they have his undying, unfailing support would be the Muslim community. There's no artifice here. Huckabee's not condemning Obama for being soft on ISIS or even radical Islam. He's condemning Obama for caring about Muslims". (The GOP's Islamophobia Problem 2/13/2015). Not to mention the fact that this is pure BS given the fact that Obama is a Christian. Dumbass.
[6] Huckstering fake diabetes cures isn't the only flim flam Mike has going. Unbelievably this minister is linked to a scam in which the pigeons are told that Bible passages can cure cancer! Huck defends himself by saying he rented his email list out. So, that means these renters are the ones responsible for the sacrilege? He only said they could use his name and he didn't care what they sold using it. So long as he got paid. (Mike Huckabee defends Bible cancer cure scam: It's like selling "catheters or adult diapers" by David Edwards. RawStory 5/6/2915).

Video1: Last Week Tonight's John Oliver outlines what he finds problematic about Dr. Oz and the nutrition supplement industry. Published 6/22/2014 (16:26).

Video2: Mike Huckabee, defending his diabetes infomercial, says "I don't have to defend everything I've done" (why the hell not?), then lies about the nature of what he was hawking, saying the program focuses on healthy living. Note that Bob Schieffer refers to a "diabetes CURE" (at the start of the interview) and Huckabee NEVER disputes that the product is marketed as a "cure". And near the end of the video he says we need to be looking for cures. Tapdancing dissembler. Also, Schieffer notes Hucky speaks as a "blue collar populist" which is just more huckstering. Published 5/10/2015 (2:29).

Video3: Mike Huckabee into to the diabetes solution infomercial. Published 5/14/2015 (1:55).

SWTD #286