Huckabee defends selling email list to advertisers

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) pushed back Wednesday against criticism of his presidential campaign for selling its email list to advertisers of a cancer cure, arguing that it’s no different than television shows airing commercials.

“My gosh, that’s like saying, ‘You run some ads on CNN. Do you personally agree with all the ads that run on CNN?’ ” Huckabee asked host Jake Tapper on CNN’s “The Lead.”

{mosads}”I doubt you do. I’m sure there are some for maybe, I don’t know, catheters or adult diapers. They’re not products that you use or that you necessarily believe in.”

The White House hopeful added that he didn’t control the part of his company that sold the email addresses and that he doesn’t believe people hold him responsible.

“I don’t think that people that understand how advertising works would hold me responsible for something that I didn’t personally sign up for or endorse.”

Huckabee has faced questions about people on his email list receiving spam from a variety of sources, including a diabetes cure, survival food kits, and booklets on homeopathic medicine, according to The New York Times. A Times reporter ordered one of those booklets and found he had been charged $67 for an additional video he never requested.