Events have vindicated him after being savaged during his presidential campaign by the “so-called intellectual journals of the conservative movement,” former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said during an hour-long radio interview on WHO 1040 Monday.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Des Moines last month.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Des Moines last month.

Appearing on Christian conservative Steve Deace’s drive-time program, Huckabee said though he was criticized by “establishment Republicans” during his unsuccessful bid for the GOP presidential nomination, he has been proven right time and again.

“When I said the economy was beginning to sputter, I was absolutely pilloried by the Wall Street Journal and the National Review and all the other snobbish folks who thought that I was just a dumb hick from Arkansas who didn’t have a clue,” he said.

Huckabee kicked off a promotional tour for his latest book, “Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That’s Bringing Common Sense Back to America,”in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines last month, fueling speculation that he is laying the ground work for another presidential run in 2012. His appearance on Des Moines’ largest radio station has further stoked that theory, but Huckabee insists he has not made up his mind.

“But I’m not ruling anything out,” he told Deace.

Huckabee’s book has gotten a lot of attention, mainly due to the portions that discuss his fellow Republicans. He was particularly hard on Gary Bauer, the conservative Christian leader and former presidential candidate, whom he described in the book as having an “ever-changing reason to deny me his support.” He also accuses Bauer of putting national security before social issues like the sanctity of life and traditional marriage.

Deace seemed to share his opinion of Bauer.

“The phrase ‘Better for one man to die than the whole nation to perish’ comes to mind,” Deace said.

Huckabee said he couldn’t pull any punches with the book because if he did he would lose credibility with his supporters.

“I want people to know the truth. I got a reputation during the campaign as someone who was plain spoken, who didn’t try to sugar coat or frost things over,” he said. “I would have lost credibility if I had written this book and not told some of the things that I try to at least bring forth.”

But the passages that discuss his fellow Republicans are just a small portion of the book, and the attention they are getting is disappointing, he said.

“Shouldn’t be surprised that people would take a few passages out of a 240-page book and act like that’s all that’s there,” Huckabee said. “This book lays out not just what’s happened and why we’ve had the problems we’ve had in the conservative movement, but it also lays out how we get our groove back.”

Huckabee’s book reached No. 5 on the New York Times best seller list.