During MSNBC's January 3 coverage of the Iowa caucuses, NBC News Washington bureau chief Tim Russert told MSNBC host Keith Olbermann that the “headline” he would use to describe Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's victory in the Iowa Republican caucuses would be about “the Republicans embracing someone whose message was populist, and in terms of foreign policy, anti-George W. Bush.” In fact, just two days earlier on Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Huckabee had said to co-host Alan Colmes: “I love the president. I've been with him on the war. I've been with him on the surge when Mitt Romney wasn't. So it's absurd to say that I'm against the president.” Huckabee also asserted that he has “probably been one of his staunchest defenders.”

Huckabee wrote an article for the January/February edition of Foreign Affairs magazine, saying that "[t]he Bush administration's arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad." However, on the December 21 edition of Fox News' Special Report, Fox News chief political correspondent Carl Cameron aired footage of Huckabee saying of the “arrogant bunker mentality,” “I don't remember if that was -- if I wrote them or not. I'll take responsibility for them.” After airing Huckabee's statement, Cameron reported: “Mike Huckabee, in September of this year in Washington, D.C., delivered a speech to the Center for Strategic [and] International Studies, in which he said the administration's bunker mentality has been counterproductive both at home and abroad, and he went on to say they've done a bad job of communicating internationally, as well as to the American people.”

On the January 1 edition of Hannity & Colmes, Huckabee also addressed questions of whether he was attacking Bush:

COLMES: Mitt Romney says he's disappointed that you attacked the president by suggesting that he was not well-versed enough in foreign policy affairs. He said: “It's not a time to be mocking our president. It was in bad taste. We should come together and recognize the great work that President Bush has done.” Is that a fair evaluation of your position on President Bush? And can that hurt you with the Republicans?

HUCKABEE: It's ridiculous. I never said that. In fact, I was the one who supported the Bush tax cuts in '02 when Mitt Romney didn't. I was the one who supported Ronald Reagan and his father George Bush when Mitt Romney was on national television saying that I'm not a part of that Bush/Reagan thing; I'm an independent. I never supported [former Sen.] Paul Tsongas [D-MA] for president [in 1992].

And Mitt Romney was the one who, earlier this year on 60 Minutes, made the statement that the president had left the war in a mess. You know, I'm not running for Bush's third term. I love the president. I've been with him on the war. I've been with him on the surge when Mitt Romney wasn't. So it's absurd to say that I'm against the president. I think I've probably been one of his staunchest defenders.

But, at the same time, if I think there are areas with which I disagree, then I express that. As far as this allegation of mocking him, that's nonsense. I haven't mocked the president. I have great respect for him and have known him a long time. I was a co-governor with him and campaigned all over America for him in about 35 states. So, if I didn't like him, I wouldn't have worked that hard for him to be president.

COLMES: Given what you just said about supporting the president, will you continue the Bush Iraq war policy if you're president of the United States?

HUCKABEE: I'm going to make sure we win in Iraq. I believe that that's what --

COLMES: What does that mean?

HUCKABEE: -- we have to do in order, not only for the perseverance of our nation, but it's the perseverance of peace in the Middle East. It means that the Iraqis can self-govern. It means that our military can come home with victory and with honor. Nothing less than that is acceptable.

I think in the future, if we engage in conflicts like this, we will go in with an attitude that we will do whatever the generals give us indication is necessary to win early. He told us we needed 400,000 troops; we only went in with 180. Now we're going in with a surge, and it is working and it's working masterfully, and a lot of credit goes to, I think, not only General [David] Petraeus, but [Defense] Secretary [Robert] Gates, who has given us good leadership at the Defense Department.

HANNITY: Hey, Governor, I've mentioned earlier that you're up in the Des Moines Register poll by six points right now. How important is it for you to win Iowa at this point?

HUCKABEE: If we win, it's a seismic moment on the political Richter scale.

From the December 21 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

CAMERON: Hi, [guest anchor] Bret [Baier]. Yeah, could be. Mitt Romney has been the chief antagonist of Mike Huckabee on foreign policy, and for this Foreign Affairs article in which he used the words “arrogant bunker mentality,” attributing it to the Bush administration. And today, Secretary [of State Condoleezza] Rice took issue with those comments suggesting that anybody who would make them has to be all but crazy. Here is what she had to say.

RICE [video clip]: The idea that somehow this is a go-it-alone policy is just simply ludicrous, and one would only have to be not observing the facts, let me say that, to say that this is now a go-it-alone foreign policy.

CAMERON: Well, Mike Huckabee was quizzed about it aboard his Hucka-bus touring Iowa today. He sat down with reporters for quite some time, and he tried to react to Condoleezza Rice's remarks by suggesting that perhaps she hadn't read his article.

HUCKABEE [video clip]: I'm hoping that she's reacting to what she heard about the article rather than having read it -- and again, I don't know. I would need to know, did she actually read the article, or is she reacting as others have to the headlines and to the synopsis that has been printed?

CAMERON: There's been something of a relentless attack on Huckabee from some national security hawks who say that it's sort of an amateurish approach. And today, he said that, while the speech was written not just entirely by himself but in fact by a number of foreign policy advisers, and on those words -- “arrogant bunker mentality” -- he said he wasn't quite sure if he remembered whether he wrote them or not. Here's how he put it.

HUCKABEE [video clip]: I don't remember if that was -- if I wrote them or not. I'll take responsibility for them.

CAMERON: Well, it isn't the first time he's used the word “bunker mentality.” Mike Huckabee, in September of this year in Washington, D.C., delivered a speech to the Center for Strategic [and] International Studies, in which he said the administration's bunker mentality has been counterproductive both at home and abroad, and he went on to say they've done a bad job of communicating internationally, as well as to the American people.

It raises questions about whether or not Huckabee's foreign policy experience is going to be considered lacking amongst the Republican field. He's actually joked about it and said, “Well, yeah, I don't have very much, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.” Good line, but Mitt Romney has been pounding him for days saying it's no laughing matter.

From the 10 p.m. ET hour of MSNBC's January 3 coverage of the Iowa caucuses:

OLBERMANN: Let's go back to NBC's Brian Williams and Tim Russert in Des Moines. And we've got so many separate headlines. Leaving aside the victories by Huckabee and [Sen. Barack] Obama [D-IL] tonight, Tim, what is your headline? That Democratic turnout? Some of those interior numbers? What is it?

RUSSERT: Yes, enormous, huge Democratic turnout. It looks like more than double what the Republicans turned out, Keith -- and the embracing of Barack Obama by Iowa Democrats and a considerable number of independents. And I think to underscore what [former NBC News anchor] Tom [Brokaw] said about Huckabee, the Republicans embracing someone whose message was populist, and in terms of foreign policy, anti-George W. Bush.

The other thing, Keith, I saw Bill Clinton the other night in Carlisle, Iowa, and he said, “You know, people are surprised about Mike Huckabee's success within the Republican Party.” He said, “I'm not. Not just because he's from my hometown of Hope, Arkansas, but he's the only Republican candidate who can give a speech and tell a joke.” He meant it in all seriousness as a respectful nod towards Huckabee in terms of the art form. But all that being said, headline is: “Massive Democratic Turnout in a Red State for Change.”