Four Errors in the War Against Huckabee
Many conservatives have made a concerted effort to bury Mike Huckabee over his decision nine years ago to grant clemency to Maurice Clemmons, who became a cop killer and child rapist before being killed by police. Being a former Huck-basher turned Huck-backer, I watched the blog sniping of the past week with some sadness. My support of Huckabee isn’t exactly mainstream in the blogosphere. What I witnessed this past week was several people I respect making fools of themselves.
I see four errors made in the war on Huckabee:
1. The Rush to Judgment
Michelle Malkin wrote her first post on the killing before the bodies were even cold and got several facts wrong. The prosecutors did not object to the commutation. The only information Huckabee received was in favor of the commutation. As of this writing, Malkin has yet to correct her post. To rush into this with incomplete facts and never to bother to correct the record shows the kind of diligence we might expect from MSNBC.
While some are genuinely upset by the clemency, overall, the deaths of four police officers have taken a back seat to the desires of Huckabee’s political opponents to destroy his presidential chances in 2012. One would be hard-pressed to imagine any other former governor taking so much blame for having made a prisoner eligible for parole, the parole board then granting parole, a prosecutor’s incompetence leading to him walking despite a parole violation, and two judges in another state letting Clemmons out on bail despite him facing eight felony charges including child rape. The four police officers’ deaths should not have been used as a political prop in an intramural feud.
2. The Strategic Bungle
Many bloggers cite this as a “Willie Horton” moment for Huckabee, comparing it to the issue that hurt the 1988 presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis. One blogger who fears that a Huckabee nomination will be forced on the GOP if people don’t become active has called this nonsense, saying, “Dukakis let Horton, a murderer sentenced to life without parole, out of prison for a weekend furlough. Horton never returned and months later committed another set of violent crimes.”
The political landscape has changed quite a bit since 1988. In 1992, Bill Clinton ran as a tough-on-crime Democrat and crime rates fell during the 1990s, which has led to less salience for the issue. In a January Pew survey, the issue of crime ranked 12th in importance among the general public.
Any ability this issue had to harm Huckabee is diminished by the decision to use this issue now. Had they let the issue lie dormant and not touched it, should Huckabee run in 2012, they could have brought this issue up for the first time at an opportune moment in the campaign. This was the lesson of the 2008 campaign, when embarrassing revelations about Obama’s ties to William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright came when Obama had plenty of time to recover and change the subject.
3. Dividing Conservatives
With opportunity knocking, and the right apparently hopelessly divided before the 2010 elections, the decision to gang up on a leading potential presidential candidate helped President Obama and the Democrats.
There’s nothing like the smell of conservative fratricide in the morning.
The point you seem to be missing here is that Huck is NOT a conservative. Fare from it. He is a Born-Again RINO. About the only point where Huck is a conservative is on Abortion and that is from his religious principals, not conservative ones.
Huck would be a good candidate for the Left. He is religious enough to scare off the center and not conservative enough to attract the right. If the Socialists hadn’t taken over the Democratic Party and driven out the Scoop Jackson Democrats, then Huck would be running as a Democrat.
That makes him a RINO.
The donks have been selecting the Republican candidates for the last two cycles now. They use the MSM to do so. That is why the only Conservative running in ’08 was ignored. The MSM pushed thier favorite Democrat on a Republican suit to the front and wouldn’t let anyone pass him. They won’t do that in ’12, since there won’t be enough of the MSM to leverage their candidates into power. Unless of course, there is a bail-out of the MSM.
Hummmm, ok… you’ve given me food for thought. I have always liked the Huck on a personal level, feeling that he is an American loving patriot. I am one of those that feel that this was a Willie Horton moment and that this would do him in whether fairly or unfairly.
Prior to or early in last years campaign, Huckabee made the statement that our treatment of illegals was tantamount to slavery which I thought was a foolish statement of concern. He did subsequently modify that position which I accepted, good people can change. George Bush senior was pro-choice in 1980, later adopted Reagan’s position and from that day forward was a great defender of the unborn.
The greatest concern I have about Huckabee, is that when he was a church pastor, he refused to get involved when the new conservative (at that time) Bible believing leadership (Adrian Rogers, et al) of the Southern Baptist Convention purged the convention of the liberalism that dominated the convention. I would like to know more of his actual theological beliefs.
Stick a fork in ‘im . . . just like Jindal . . and Sanford . . . and Ensign . . live by arrogant hypocritical self-righteousness, die by by arrogant hypocritical self-righteousness
If the GOP is ever going to be relevant again being led by RHINO preachers isn’t the way.
“”Many conservatives have made a concerted effort to bury Huckabee (Finn) …”"
It’s true. Many have. We don’t like socialists in RINO suits.
(Especially those, who, with their eyes on their own advantage, run as spoilers for other RINOs and who’ve turned evil men loose who’ve then murdered policemen)
Bugger off, Huckabee Finn, your fifteen minutes is up.
And take Thompson Sawyer AND McRainman and Newt and every other East-coast cocktail-party social climber with you.
Make as many excuses as you like. He put a guy on the street that later killed 4 cops. Had he not done it, they would still would be alive now. It’s like with a goalie: You really don’t want to listen to his excuses about why the other team scores, you just want him to keep the the goal clean. Huckabee might not be personally at fault. That’s fine but he’s still not gonna get the job.
You had to go back to 1983 and the Beruit suicide attack in order to justify your defense of Huck. That is not only apples to oranges but desparate.
AG, Huck is a nitwit pol. He has no hard-core conservative principles-as was said above even his anti-abortion tact is religious and not conservative. He comes from the same lineage as McLame, Hatch-”my friends across the isle”, Grahmnesty, and the New England twins. Huck is a distraction to our party-the conservative party. He is closet progressive. He sees nothing wrong with big government.
The quicker we drop him the better we will be as a party fighting to unseat the messiah in the next presidential election; I bet this will haunt us in the 2010 elections….
Adam, you seem to have good intentions, but seem to be taking Huckabee’s explanation without looking into his lo-o-o-ng record of being compassionate toward criminals. Huckabee might be a good minister, but he is not a good political leader. Maybe he should have an in-prison ministry (but with NO say over commutations).
And does anybody else hate his show as much as I do? Gosh, I’m all for conservative culture, but why do we put up with that pap? They can’t even play good music. Huckabee playing the guitar is about as obnoxious as Garrison Keillor singing. It’s just all so ni-i-ice–and flat.
I think it’s good that this came to light now. We don’t want another Spector. And this willingness to hold our candidates to our own principles distinguishes us from the Left.
I was willing to give former Governor Huckabee the benefit of the doubt on the Maurice Clemmons’ murders until I read his explanation of the matter. I was then so struck by his self-promoting, finger-pointing, “It’s-not-my-fault” reflex that I felt the man should never hold public office again.
Huckabee failed to take any degree of responsibility (even if others shared that responsibility) for the problem. He failed to talk honestly about the complex balance of extending mercy and giving felons another chance versus protecting society, and how the inherently error-prone pardoning process must be respected.
He could have said, “I’m sorry, I made a grievous mistake. Every governor considering a pardon faces gut-wrenching decisions based on imperfect information. I honestly thought Clemmons had reformed and needed a second chance. I did my best but was sadly wrong in this case.”
He also missed an opportunity to talk about how governments in different states need to do a better job coordinating and communicating on paroled and pardoned felons.
Instead, all Huckabee talked about was himself — how he had no responsibility whatsoever for the Clemmons pardon and subsequent murders. In Huckabee’s eyes, it was the prosecutor’s fault. It was the state of Washington’s fault. Speaking as pure, 100% policitian, Mike Huckabee said it was anybody and everybody else’s fault. How about we change the subject and talk about the faults of Mitt Romney?
Dodging responsibility is not a quality I look for in a Presidential candidate.
3. Now and Then.
“Stick a fork in ‘im . . . just like Jindal . . and Sanford . . . and Ensign . . live by arrogant hypocritical self-righteousness, die by by arrogant hypocritical self-righteousness”
“Blistering in its simplicity. Hilarious in its cadence and rhythm. Keep up the good work.”
Dec 7, 2009 – 7:45 pm
Turkey oh Turkey you Handsome Mixed European – American Arrogant Hypocritical Turkey With a touch of Black, Huck’s got a TV show. What do you have? A pile of eggs and an empty baster. And Christmas on the horizon! All those people you mentioned have a life. And with so many “conservatives” with votes and guns clogging up the planet and eating Turkeys too, well, no wonder you need all the Bast a Turkey stimulus help from Mr. President you can get. Maybe you hook up with Mr. Soros. That would be quite the score.
“Her” name was missing. Did you say this too?
“Not everybody wants to piggyback Palin (though I must admit I’d take the opportunity if given it.)”
Dec 9, 2009 – 6:51 pm
With her bestseller, it looks like you might be just in it for the corn. That’s ok, it’s right in line with the reason why Modern Liberal Turkeys keep the capitalists around. Careful though, Palin might just bast you!
I hear “The Scientists” got the Parallel Modern Liberal Turkey Universe wrong too, the data was made up and such a thing does not really exist. Are you there… still? Still? One gobble for yes and two gobbles for no will do.
Does that explain Anvil Johnson as well? “Stick a fork in ‘im…” Anvil talk?
Merry Christmas!
Gobble gobble Goebbles.
As a native “Puget Sounder”, I can only state that Huckabee should try offering his lame excuses to the families of the four dead police officers. I’m sure his whinings would be of great comfort to them.
Maybe he made an honest mistake in this matter.
But the real “beef” against him is his insane religious pretension
that, because he once uttered some manmade prayer, he will live in heaven, in perfect happiness forever, even if he lives a life of robbery, rape, torture and murder.
He will deny that, of course, but it is the necessary consequence of his false “salvation by faith alone” doctrine.If he is saved by “faith alone”, his behavior does not matter, because “alone” means alone; nothing else. If he admits that his doings, his works, have an effect on his salvation, then he must come out of his denominational affiliation, and lose his base.
The fact is, that no sane, literate person believes that a mental acquiescience or verbal attestation saves an evil person who refuses to obey the Lord, Jesus Christ. The New Testament makes it plain that obedience to His commands is required, eg, Heb.5.9.
OMG!! Find us a junk yard dog candidate to run against Obama. Someone that not only barks but isn’t afraid to bite the weewe outta the left and the MSM
Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.:(
I ask too much I suppose.
@#.10…thanks for the laugh.
…MERRY CHRISTMAS Y’ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fact of the matter is there are nine kids without a parent due to his action. No excuses, no pandering, no analysis will give them their parent back. He acted intentionally. No mistake. No accident. No slip up. Acted of his own free will. A first time might, just might, be forgivable. This was not the first time for him with violent criminals.
Don’t ever let him have the opportunity to do this again. Let him go save souls in prison as a prison minister and leave the secular world alone. We’ll all feel better and be much safer.
From my understanding, the guy he commuted was a violent guy in prison and was written up in prison for sexual assault. This is something that Huchabee failed to mention when he was defending himself. Also, what was this guys record like before he was sent away for 90 years. I have a feeling that Huchabee is being disengenuous in saying he was sent away for 90 years for just one offense. From my understanding the guy was a three time convicted felon before his sentence. Also, as soon as Huchabee pulled the race card about a black kid not getting the same justice as a rich white guy I knew he was a fake republican, besides being a fake conservative. I am sick and tired of the other side using the race card let alone one of our potential presidential candidates.
Huck gave me the creeps during the primaries, almost as much as obummer gave me the creeps. Despite being a Native Puget Sounder, I didn’t need the Clemmen’s case to have a low opinion of the man.
I held my nose, and voted for RINO McCain. If it had been huck vs. obummer, I would probably have flipped a coin.
Okay. You are a governor who is responsible for dealing with thousands of appeals for clemency throughout the year. You can do the politically expedient thing and just deny ‘em all without even examining them. Nobody will ever accuse you have having a “Willie Horton” moment.
Or you can take responsibility for being part of a system which recognizes our justice system can make mistakes and give careful consideration to each one. (That is called “doing the right thing”–Hm-m-m, sounds familiar, that.)
So if the case of a teenager who has been sentenced to over 100 years for simple theft–with no weapon nor violence involved–comes before your desk, and all the input from other officials recommends you use your power to change the sentence to a more equitable 40-some years, allowing for parole at some date, you do it.
If you are considering a veteran who wants to go into law enforcement even though he shot someone with a bb gun when he was 13 years old, you might take a minute or two to examine his case as well–but that’s another (shudder) governor’s problem.
There is NOBODY in today’s political arena I would trust more to make the right decision in light of all available evidence than Mike Huckabee.
Sorry about the plain English amongst all the rant and blather. I don’t do newspeak.
Huckabee is a typical power player. As someone that is Christian and conservative (by his description) he used power to trump others decisions. The judge, jury, and lawyers had decided that this man was extremely dangerous and shouldn’t be on the streets were ignored.
I like the fact that Huckabee is compassionate. But he was not compassionate with others of lesser crimes, and he thumbed his nose at all the people that made the tough decision to put this guy away for years.
Huckabee placed himself as the decision maker above all others. Makes me wonder why he decided that this specific scumbag should be given leniency.
Huck is someone that should not be a leader of any kind.
I have no problem with Huckabee, Dukakis, or any other bureaucrat or politician paroling, commuting, or furloughing criminals as long as when the criminals strike again, said bureaucrat or politician serves out the remainder of the original sentence. That’d put Huckabee away for, what, 90 years. Seems right: 20+ years for each murder caused by his poor judgment. Let him suffer for his errors.
Adam,
This may be one of the best articles I have had the pleasure in reading for sometime. I sure do like this Mike Huckabee and my feelings are that if Huckabee does indeed decide to run in 2012, that in the end, many like yourself, will convert from being Hucka-basher to Hucka-backer. Lastly, many of the errors you spoke of were made again based on the comments left by some comments on here…. makes me wonder if they read the article…..makes the bashing a little less credible too, don’t you think…Merry Christmas
#17:
And one of his decisions put a man on the street who killed four cops.
Let us not forget to consider those victims, and their families, while you’re busily making Clemmons the victim.
Huck is done, for the clemency issue and many others. But on the clemency issue, he is guilty because he was doing many times more than anyone else. When confronted with his errors, he tried to dodge responsibility.
Look, the guy couldn’t even carry S. Carolina in the last 2008 primaries. If an evangelical who claims to be a conservative (he isn’t) can’t carry that state then he has no chance anywhere else. His corn pone humor gets old after about 30 seconds and he comes off as a pandering phony. There is no substance to this guy. He would get destroyed in a general election. I would take Pence, Pawlenty, Palin or even Mitt over this moron.
During his tenure as governor of Arkansas, Huckabee issued more clemencies than the governore of six surrounding states (Texas, Louisiana, Missiaaippi, Tennessee,Oklahoma and Missouri COMBINED.
Ther last thing we need is another “compassionate conservative.”
When Republican state senators in Arkansas proposed legislation modeled after Arizona’s Proposition 200 [to require proof of citizenship for voting and public benefits], “Huckabee described it as ‘inflammatory … race-baiting … demagoguery.’ He said the bill, which seeks to forbid public assistance and voting rights to illegal immigrants, ‘inflames those who are racist and bigots and makes them think there’s a real problem. But there’s not.’” (Governor says anti-illegals measure could scare off companies like Toyota,” Associated Press, 2/3/05)
“One of the great challenges facing us is that we do not commit the same mistakes with our growing Hispanic population that we did with African Americans 150 years ago and beyond. We’re still paying the price for the pathetic manner in which This country handled that.”
“I think frankly the Lord is giving us a second chance to do better than we did before.”
“Pretty soon, Southern white guys like me may be in the minority,” Huckabee said jokingly as the[Hispanic] crowd roared in laughter.
———
I happen to agree that Huckabee is the least to blame for this shooting, the most blame belongs to the Washington state legal system. Don’t hate Huckabee because of this incident, hate him because he’s a knucklehead. Among other things he has internalized the white-hating racism of political correctness, because it pays him personally to do so. Besides, he has a lot of nerve asking for fairness when he has never doled any out to his supporters, basically calling anyone who opposes his support for amnesty Nazis. That’s the way it is with these Republican/Establishment Conservative elitists, loyalty is a one way street.
WRONG…As a citizen of Arkansas, I have seen first hand the former Governor’s penchant for releasing criminals from jail/prison early – often without an explanation as is required by state law. And, the Pulaski County Prosecutor DID object to Clemmon’s commutation and early release.
Huckabee’s record of commuting sentences, et al, of more convicts in Arkansas than the all of the surrounding states combined should be proof of his “compassion” overruling a Judge and Jury. “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s”…
12. What the New Testament says is that faith that doesn’t affect your actions is no faith at all. So yes, you are saved by faith alone, but those whose hearts deny Him, He will judge to be hypocrites and unbelievers.
15. The sexual assault charge was in Washington this year, and Clemmons committed this atrocity while out on $150,000 bond. What judge in his right mind sets bail that low for an accused child rapist with a rap sheet a mile long? Fact is, Huckabee commuted the sentence of a man in jail for life for property crimes, and not of the “scammed old people out their life savings” variety of property crimes at that. 47 years, which is what Huckabee commuted the sentence to, is more than enough for property crimes. What Huckabee did was justice, something the court system failed to do.
That Clemmons squandered this mercy is Clemmons’ fault, and no one else’s. That the legal system didn’t incarcerate him for a long time when he did begin committing violent crimes is an indictment of the legal system equally egregious as locking up a teenager for life for a property crime. I hate it when the race card is played, but in this case it is appropriate- the judge and jury who sentenced Clemmons to 108 years was racist- a white kid in the same situation would’ve gotten 20 years, and that would be appropriate.
Another thing I’d like to throw in the faces of Huckabee’s detractors- Huckabee’s poll numbers are actually up since the murders, and Huckabee is still in the lead for among potential Republican candidates, and is now in a statistical dead heat with Obama, with Obama falling fast.
17:
It’s “thinking” like yours that caused us to become a society of “victims”, where we’re supposted to bleed and show compassion for violent criminals who claim to have reformed. I, for one, ain’t buying it. You do the crime, you serve the time. Huckabee would serve time for his clemency towards Clemmons, if I were judge and jury.
Huckaboob made his bed, now let him lie in it. Your boy, and the rest of the enablers down the line, saw fit to commute Clemmens’ justly imposed sentence and released from prison a convicted felon with violent tendencies. Huckabonehead’s sole regret is over how his ties to a cop-killer have upset his Presidential ambitions. He’s a self serving, holier-than-thou POS just like that other former governor of AK, the one with the two-legged humidor.
Don’t let the door hit you on the a$$ Huck …
Anyone who starts throwing around poll numbers nearly 3 years before the next Presidential election is illustrating their own lack of political understanding far better than I ever could.
I have a long enough memory that I will not forget why I do not like Huck. First is his religion, not Christianity, but the way he tries to use it to justify social programs that the government should be providing for the people, forced giving is not charity, and when the government takes over the responsibility of citizens to take care of each other, the government takes away some of gods tests on individuals, compassion, generosity and charity. Along with those tests, it also takes away the test of forgiveness, because many times the people who need help the most are those whose sins have caused them to be in the bad position that they are in, and in order for gods creatures to come to the aid of this person, they are forced to face one of the hardest tests god has for us, and that is forgiving. Huck is not conservative at all and he has a very liberal progressive idea about what Christianity is.
Then there is this cop killer episode where he refused to take the responsibility that he earned, and instead tried to say there were many others who failed after he reduced his sentence. He even refuses to take responsibility for his actual release, saying that the parole board could have kept him in prison, despite Huck’s reduction of sentencing to make him immediately eligible for parole. Huck will likely not be able to earn my trust and respect as a political leader. I can forgive him his sins here, and there are many on just the cop killer episode, but I will not forget them.
Someone brought up a point on another blog, which may have some relevance here, even if it does raise the ire of some conservatives. Huckabee seems to have been influenced at least somewhat by evidence that Clemmons had repented of his sins and converted to Christianity. I read another article commenting on Haley Barbour, in Mississippi, pardoning prisoners in that state, and seeming to similarly focus on those who had found Christ in jail, instead of (in the case the article was focusing on) looking for a case where justice at best seemed to have been stretched.
The whole thing comes down to judgment. We’ve all heard how insane the guy was (apparently he was upset because President Obama hadn’t recognized him as the Messiah) and we’ve all heard his criminal history. Prior to the killing of the four police officers, there wasn’t anything in his history to suggest he might be capable of this sort of violence…but it would be a rare criminal who manifested such behavior and was still free. Maybe Huck should have freed fewer criminals, or at least used some other criteria.
It looks like someone Rahmmed Gov. Huckabee out of the peicture for 2010!
Now we only have the Gov. of Alaska and Massachussetts..
How convinient, the Nomemklature at work.
Ironically, if not for Huckabee, not only would the 4 officers still be alive, but the killer Clemmons himself would still be alive.
#17
does that include support for a governor who granted clemency to over 1000 (yes, 1000, more than all the governors around him – COMBINED) felons during his stint in office? These were not cases of “the guy was innocent and someone screwed up”, but bleeding heart liberal in the case of clemmons. Oh, poor little 17 year old black kid sentenced to 108 years. Must have been *quite* the crime to get such an exceptional sentence in the first place.
It should be noted this is the SECOND case of a criminal he’s granted clemency to MURDERING someone.
It is also worthy of mentioning that much of the antipathy towards Huckabee among Palin’s fans (like myself, for example) was generated by Huckabee’s ridiculous and dishonest jabs directed at the former Governor.
In that case it is Huckabee who is much more responsible for dividing GOP than his defractors.
Appart from this, what kind of a justice system is that which senences a small time crook to a life in prison and then allows him to go free and commit a million times more horrible crime?
Even more. If someone gets, let’s say ten years, that criminal should serve the ENTIRE TERM, provided that he behaves in prison correctly.
If the convict misbehaves or commits another crimes while incarcerated, he should have his sentence extended until he is capable of proving beyond ANY DOUBTS that he will no longer consist a danger to other people.
Otherwise the entire sentencing policy is a SHAM!
It is simple as that.
I think Mike Huckabee is a fine human being but I think his pardons may be a problem for him and any political aspirations he may have. According to the National Review he pardoned well over 1000 criminals while he was the governor. This would be like blood in the shark infested waters of 2012 politics. It might finish him. Maybe it should
I was cleaning out my car this morning, and I found my copy of the program from the memorial service I attended Tuesday. Huckabee’s inexcusable lapse of judgment gashed a huge hole in our community.
He wanted to be Governor; with power comes responsibility. Personal responsibility is, in fact, a core conservative value.
Watching Huckabee tapdance and blame shift while we mourned the deaths of four heroes – rage does not begin to describe the feelings I have for Huckabee.
Mr. Graham, what he did is indefensible. Please consider that word – “indefensible.” So stop trying to defend him.
No.26: Your statement is internally contradictory.
Alone means alone; all by itself; nothing else involved.
You stipulate that works of love and obedience are required for salvation; so “faith alone” is a lie. Jas.2.24.
Simply trusting, or muttering a prayer will not save. Yet all evangelicals and almost all who ordain themselves “christians” mistakenly indulge themselves in your contradiction/error. Why?
The problem for Republicans though is exactly Willie Horton. No matter the facts Huck will be bludeoned with this. I also am not Huck fan for President, his Aransas time makes think Clinton lite without the zipper and wife problem. He stands for way too much government involvement. I think in the end that will be his biggest problem.
Wow – I never thought I’d see such incompetence and incoherence in a PJM post. Two examples (examples abound in a post as poorly thought out as this, but these ought to be enough to argue for the proposition that Adam Graham is not PJM material):
Graham takes Michelle Malkin to task for saying prosecutors objected to the clemency of the cop-killer, and his evidence is a prosecutor in the county in question saying that, although it is unusual, his office was never asked, so it never objected, but it would have if asked. So, the Huckabee administration arbitrarily denying prosecutors the chance to register their objections reflects more favorably on the Huckster than if they had simply ignored such objections? Ridiculous, and I’m afraid I’ll need to see more than that article to doubt Michelle Malkin – perhaps she has not reacted to the article because it is not reliable.
Graham tells us that the right-wing critics of the Huckster are using the sad loss of the police officers to hurt his chances in 2012, and also that these critics are stupid, because if they had waited to use this loss to attack Huckabee until the 2012 campaign, the attacks would be more damaging to Huckabee. There is no sign that Graham understands that this constitutes evidence that the outrage is genuine, that the critics are heartbroken over the loss of these officers and livid that someone who claims to be a conservative is actually a serial violator of conservative principles who constantly presents his violations as a politically smart tempering of nasty conservative extremism and among whose violations of these sacred principles is the misdirection of compassion away from the innocent to the benefit of the guilty.
Adam Graham, you are the ideal Huck supporter, and a hack of the lowest order who insults the intelligence of your readers.
Great post Adam I couldn’t agree more with it, the facts will always win out over the fiction the Michelle Malkin spews out.
Governor Huckabee has 11 years of executive experience. Honesty and integrity. Leadership requires making decision that are not always popular but are well reasoned and judicious based on the facts and circumstances that you have at hand. (16 yr old sentenced to over 100 years for a property crime that did not involve a weapon) Come on now, you do not think that is unjust? No one can see the future. Governor Huckabee did take responsibility for his part in the horrible out come but there were plenty of mistakes made by plenty of people before this horrific crime was committed.
Adam,
This is absolutely the best article I have read on this subject! Obviously, there will always be those who will exploit these horrible tragedies to make a political statement.
It is also obvious that the Huckabee bashers are more focused on the 2012 election than the 2010 elections else why would these people be trying to stiffle the strongest voice for a possible clean sweep of the Congress in these elections. I could never begin to count the many telephone calls that were made for various conservative candidates by Huck Pac, (Bob McDonnell for example) and this is what conservatives really need to be focused on more so than 2012–there is absolutely no evidence that any of the potential candidates will run for POTUS, so why try to strike them all out at the plate and pave the way for another four years of President Obama?
“The lack of context in the study of Huckabee’s clemencies and pardons is a pivotal issue. The figure of 1,030 pardons and clemencies is often used to paint a picture of Governor Huckabee letting someone out of jail every three days. However, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette indicates only 163 of these actions led to actual reduction of sentences. The rest were issued to people who had left prison and who needed a pardon or commutation to be eligible for a job.”
So only 163 clemencies of 1030 led to actual reduction of sentences. That is something I did not know. Thanks for doing the research instead of spewing lies like so many are doing. Huck is definitely no RINO and I can’t wait to support him in 2012.
Honestly I’m not sure how to react to this whole thing. Because on the one hand yeah, Huck let him out. Removed the whole sentance down to basically time served. He then went out and killed 4 cops.
Yeah that sounds horrible but then we add in the details in between the clemency and the killings and things just go from bad to worse for our justice system.
How many other crimes did this guy commit after being let go? How many other judges, police forces, and the like have a chance to nail this guy and didn’t? I honestly don’t know but I do know that the “Catch and Release” system did come into play here.
Is Hucky wholey free of blame? No and he should admit to such, but at the same time should the buck stop there? No. Because obviously others also allowed this to happen.
TPP @ 46:
Are you saying, then, that if the GOP doesn’t make a complete clean sweep of Congress… that is, if they can’t even unseat Democrats from such lefty strongholds as San Francisco, then it must be because we’re bashing someone who’s never been in Congress, has never run for Congress, and has shown no evidence of ever wanting to run for Congress?
In short, you’re setting up to blame a group of people within the GOP when something that is all but impossible doesn’t happen.
Now, tell me… if 2012 is so far off, why are you seeking to demonize opponents of your preferred candidate and defend said candidate now?
In short, if one applies a little bit of logic, your argument falls apart.
Honestly I’m not sure how to react to this whole thing. Because on the one hand yeah, Huck let him out. Removed the whole sentance down to basically time served. He then went out and killed 4 cops.
To clarify. Huckabee commutted 110 year Sentence to 47 years, making the guy elligible for parole. It was up to the Parole Board to release him.
It takes a lot of guts to LEAD, govern and do the right thing without trying to be self-serving. Governor Huckabee did the job he was elected to do. ANYONE with half a brain could see 108 yrs. sentence was extreme for a 16 yr. old for robbery with NO weapon. I mean, get real here. Governor Huckabee is great, but EVEN HE can’t see into the future to predict this man would, 9 yrs. later have a mental breakdown and commit these horrible murders. A tragedy yes. Huck’s fault, certainly not. Governor Huckabee is the finest politician in my lifetime and the way he has handled this gross mistreatment by the media has only made my respect for him grow.
36. Except it wasn’t. You’re engaging in circular thinking (i.e. the extreme sentence proves that it was a heinous crime, therefore the extreme sentence is justified). Instead of jumping to conclusions, judge the case based on the facts, which are that this boy was sentenced to over 100 years for a property crime. Twenty years would have been appropriate for his crimes, 100 years certainly was not.
29. What time? How much time is just? This has nothing to do with Clemmons claiming to have been reformed, and it has everything to do with the fact that property crimes short of rendering the victim destitute don’t merit a life sentence. Huckabee wasn’t saying this man didn’t belong in jail; he was just saying that the punishment did not fit the crime, so he lowered it to a much more reasonable duration. Since Clemmons had not done anything to that point to deserve a life sentence, imposing one on him was cruel, properly, a violation of his 8th Amendment rights. Following your logic, we’d prosecute military officers for manslaughter every time they made a mistake that got someone killed, even if it wasn’t foreseeable, and then we’d lose our entire military, because people can’t operate under conditions where their job demands making life and death decisions, and then they’ll be subject to a jury second guessing their judgment.
48. Actually, Huckabee knocked the sentence down to 47 years; it was the parole board that let him out, and it was the prosecutor who failed to lock him up for the balance of the 47 years after he violated the terms of the parole.
I am surprised at the religious intolerance on display here. Many of the Huck-bashers are obviously motivated by thinly-veiled animosity towards his Christianity. If it were any other religion, this would be “bigotry,” and therefore taboo. Of course, many conservatives claim the Christian religion, so what is different in this case? I think the answer is that the “conservative” establishment, which is closely tied to Wall Street and big money interests, is worried that Huck might actually believe that you can’t worship both God and money. Since they worship money, Huck must be eliminated.
These “conservative” bigshots have supported governors who appoint liberal judges, who hand out thousands of weak sentences for child-predators and the like. They pretend to be economic conservatives, but support candidates who supported the bailout, since the money went to their Wall Street friends and employers. It’s the same crowd who piled on Huck last election, and I can guarantee you they don’t care about crime. They care about money.
Very well said. This is the impression I had when I read about the big to-do about Huckabee’s pardon. I agree with everything except the point about Obama loving to see conservatives disagree. We, unlike the left-wing, are not mind numbed robots who blindly adhere to one way of thinking. Yes, most of Obama’s supporters are such blind ideologues that he could give a speech that was an English translation of one of Hitler’s and they would not care even after being informed. It is far better for conservatives to take our own to task for their missteps, than to pretend like nothing is wrong. If the Republicans want us to be their base, they need to do what we say, all the time, not just when they want votes. That said, Huckabee has not failed on this front, or become a Dukakis, but it is good that we are reminding him and other politicians, that a Dukakis won’t cut it with us.
I don’t know what piece of magic turned you from a basher to a booster but I am in the same camp as most all the commenters here.
Huck is not a conservative, except on some hot button social issues. For many that’s enough and that’s the reason we are in the boat we are in. For the last couple of decades, increasingly, as long as they sing the right song and dance on abortion and gay marriage, we’ll allow them to pass as conservatives. Give them our votes and money. Worse than that, allow them to stay in office and make excuses for them when they’re failing to live up to those oh so important other social issues while stuffing their pockets with graft.
I would be happy to see the party move back to fiscal conservative positions of smaller government, less taxes and spending, as the most important issues in the plank. Let much of the social conservative issues become secondary or non existent from a policy position. Yes, I understand that makes me more of a libertarian than a republican, and that would be correct. But republicans used to hold views closer to my own… now, not so much.
” 48. Actually, Huckabee knocked the sentence down to 47 years; it was the parole board that let him out, and it was the prosecutor who failed to lock him up for the balance of the 47 years after he violated the terms of the parole. ”
I don’t know why as a kid Clemmens received 108 yrs. Perhaps he had a particularly brutal string of crimes as a juvenile and they finally got the chance to put him away as a repeat offender, at 17, before he hurt someone.
However if I wanted to let him out of jail, but did not want to take the hit for an outright pardon of him, I’d knock the sentence down so the parole board (whom it’s said Huck pressured) released him with time served.
I’d fail to have an open transparent process which included the DA, victim(s), etc, which is also rumored to be how he as a rule handled pardon and parole decisions.
It’s been pointed out that 1 in 10 of the people he paroled/pardoned reoffended (we know of at least 2) and that he in many cases he approved the P/P not because of the parole board, DA or Judge’s recommendations, but because these people had found God in prison and he took the advice of those ministering to them that they had reformed, sometimes over the objections of others. One DA had to go to court to keep him from commuting/pardoning the sentence of a man in jail for life, after being convicted of bludgeoning someone to death.
As to the prosecutor locking him up for the balance of his 47 years. I don’t think the prosecutor can just sign a document and bingo he’s back in prison. The DA files the appropriate paperwork with the court. Once the defendant is arrested, if he is arrested, the judge, at least here, decides if they go back to jail for parole violations or not. Not the DA, but he would have to be arrested and brought back to court. If the parole violations are minor and especially if not frequent, judges are not often inclined to send them back, especially if budgeting and or overcrowding are already issues.
As I understand this case Clemmens had moved and Washington had taken over his probation. There does seem to be some issue of if the outstanding Arkansas warrant/hold was put into the correct data base or not, after it had been withdrawn and then reissued.
I don’t know why it was withdrawn, but I’m guessing it’s because Washington had him on the child rape charges. Once he bonded out (which Arkansas wasn’t expecting to happen given the charges and his history????), Arkansas perhaps was trying to lock him up again so they could extradite.
Don’t get me wrong. There is plenty of blame to go around and everyone is pointing fingers at everyone else. I’m not letting Washington state off… but the Huckster needs to own up to his part.
Hey, Ben @ 54…
Come to my non-denominational Christian church some day when I am preaching and tell me that to my face.
Just because a man is Christian doesn’t mean he can’t make mistakes… in fact, if one closely reads the New Testament, one can see many Christians making mistakes, especially in the Pauline Epistles, many of which were written to correct mistakes in the early church.
It’s also not written anywhere in Scripture that one must support a politician just because he is a Christian. Many Democrats are Christians, does that mean we have to vote for them over an atheist Republican?
Your argument is so full of gaping holes that it’s practically nonsensical, Ben, and you’re not doing your preferred candidate any good by coming here and spewing such nonsense.
Very insightful essay. Thank you for it.
Nice try pal, but a no-go from us in the hinterland.
Two issues:
1. Huckabee is not a conservative, far from it. In fact, he is a moderate, not so fiscally conservative politician. Leaning right of center on some issues, he is a little more center left in some others. Imagine Clinton in Republican clothing without the radical wife. We just finished eight years of “Compassionate Conservatism” with GW and found it lacking in real world application. Big government, even compassionately applied, is still big government. Huckabee doesn’t get that.
2. I heard some of Huckabee’s comments on why he commuted Clemmons. The one that sealed it for me was his patronizing comment about race, saying that a white kid would get less or maybe nothing compared to the black offender. What is he saying about his state and its legal system? The one he actually presided over! If you are black in Arkansas you butt is going to jail for nothing?? But, it was a real insight into Huckabee’s own vision of himself and how he views the world around him. He’d be a great neighbor, but he would be a poor choice for President. In a country filled with three hundred and ten million people we can’t find one a little better?
Keep looking.
The jest of this article is how unfocused the Federalists are. Here is all this energy spent on who will be the headmaster in 2012, when the Nation hangs in balance at the 2010 elections. RINOs are Nationalists who claim small government, but it is a small Nationalist Government, not the Union of Sovereign Nations called the United States of America. We must be about educating the lost Citizens to register to vote and to know that the GOP is under a revolutionary civil war, to retake the Party for the Constitution and all of our future generations sake.
Note that the being a Governor is under a different Constitution then is the President. Being President, per the Constitution has much to do about defense and nothing to do about social order. A good conservative will spend a buck at the State level collectively if the return on the tax provides a return worth more then what was spent.
Pardons, clemency, parole, all ahs to do with the character of American Justice. Shall we all be has rigid as the Torah, before Jesus? Or be like the Qur’an, and eye for an eye? Thank God there are those who can measure our Justice with Grace and Mercy as well as with capital punishment finality.
As Adam has so eloquently stated, it is time to unite for our Quest, not be knocking each other to the ground. Find the common Federal denominator, the Constitution, and fiscal repair, FairTax. Add to our numeration, not subtract. Your liberty and Freedom depends on it. Let ego and self pride not be our stumbling block, but fight for your purpose and for your Children, not for any one Human.
To the adequacy of presidential candidates, see you in 2011.
Huckabee – seems like a nice guy. Great. Now go join McCain, Dole and the rest of the Rino losers and get out of the way for real Conservatives to run.
Huckabee likely pardoned this creep to curry favor with the black voters. There was no other reason! As a result, many people have been hurt or killed. Yet this is what we expect of our modern politicians, win at any cost.
I don’t care who is president as long as they make a pledge to honor two principles:
1. Reduce the federal government by 50% or more.
2. Get out of our lives.
It’s been pointed out that 1 in 10 of the people he paroled/pardoned reoffended (we know of at least 2)
This is where the figures get misleading. We’re told about 1030 pardons/commutations and we assume on that number 103 re-offended. In reality, it is 10% of those people who were released from jail, so around 15 or 16 people.
Friends, may I ask a few questions please? Do any of you have a crystal ball or some other way of telling the future? I am betting you don’t, for if you did those of you on the “left” would have known that there is no free lunch, and those on the “right” would have know that they had to work together and not divide their support allowing the fox in the hen house. As for this nonsensical diatribe about what Governor Huckabee did, how on earth could he have known what would happen? He did what he thought was right at the time, but if he had know of course he would not have granted clemency. My feeling here is that the Romney pack is at it again to divide the us, so that we end up with two terms from the current president . . . . does that seem right to you? Additional food for thought, I heard from Chuck Woolery . . . Why is it that the closer you are to the constitution the more you are considered “right” and the further you are considered “left”? Shouldn’t the constitution be the middle?
There is a lot of emotionalism demonstrated by Mike Huckabee’s bashers. It is really easy to call someone a RINO, to say he is for big government, and that he is not a conservative on the internet where he can’t answer for himself.
There are plenty of people from Arkansas who have come forward to say how their state was improved in the ten years Huckabee was governor. Some of you gave yourself away by criticizing Huckabee and totally disregarding facts set forth in this article. Without facts your claims are baseless.
I’m with the writer of the article in realizing that we will never find a perfect candidate. If you are trying to magnify the imperfections of potential candidates, please get the facts straight. Then choose someone who will be worthy of the challenging task of leading our country.
57. Except that that’s unconstitutional. You can’t lock someone up as a preventative measure; you have to base the sentence on crimes that the individual in question has actually been convicted of, not some theoretical crimes he may commit in the future if allowed back on the streets. Recidivism is a valid argument for a child rapist, because the original crime is heinous enough to justify a life sentence anyway, but you can’t say the same about a property criminal.
63. David, you are out of line! Who are you to impute motives to a man’s decision? Any man not blinded by self-righteous indignation would have done the same thing in that scenario.
61. And here’s the kicker- Huckabee knows the difference, and he is a Federalist. Would a RINO refer to DC’s role in education as that of a clearing house? Would a RINO call for shutting down the IRS?
MB @ 68:
You are aware, of course, that with your comment about “any man not blinded…” you are doing exactly what you’re berating David for, “imput[ing] motives to a man’s decision.”
But, you also seem to have overlooked other Huck-fans doing the same thing, MB… such as Ben @ 54.
Your outrage, in other words, seems decidedly one-sided. Save it for fertilizing your garden, will ya?
we need new hopefuls,
the GOP must renew the party
and we are far from election day
Gov. Huckabee is the most perfect conservative presidential candidate that we have ever had.. I really hope he runs for President in 2012.. He has always been against bigger government… He is for less taxes, and is pushing for , The Fair Tax…. He is against abortion, and is for passing The Marraige Admendment…
He did accept the responsibility for his part in reducing Clemmons sentence.. He is very truthfull.. He is very fair minded and thought the 100 yr. sentence for a 16 yr. old crime , with no weapons , and no one hurt , was excessive.. He did not parole the man.. He did not set a cop killer or a child rapist free, he just reduced the sentence of a young robber.. The judges set Clemmons free, with a small bail amount, but it is not their fault ,either.. The crime was done by Clemmons, and he is the one that should be blamed.. Clemmons is the one that God will judge for the crime..
I think if some of you Huck bashers would bother to find out about the man , you would be Huck backers, too…..
Huckabee 2012
Huckabee lost me when this pastor held a pres conference to tell the media he would not be running the add everyone had already seen. During this press conference he fuly described the content of the ad.
To smarmy by half.
Some have suggested that Gov. Huckabee has commuted sentences of those who have claimed to have found Jesus, but if these prisoners had really found Jesus, then no need for a commutation or pardon as they have already been set free.
Mythbuster: We are on the same page. But, many states have three time loser statutes which require life imprisonment for career criminals, whatever the nature of their crimes. The fact is that a small percentage of the population commits the vast majority of serious crimes. If we locked these yoyos up for keeps the crime rate would drop drastically.
Governor Huckabee appeared on the View (anyone here catch it?) and he was asked if a prisoner’s claimed conversion experience would influence his decision–he said any criminal who claimed “I found Jesus, now let me out” would find that “playing the religion card” would work against his likely release. I’m scratching my head over those who post as if all those years ago Governor Huckabee had pardoned a rapist/murderer instead of giving a 40 plus year sentence to a kid who stole some stuff. What are you guys using for brains????
I don’t know if it is worthwhile posting here–so many commenters appear 1) not even to have read the article and 2) not even to have taken the time to look at the facts. You guys are a real credit to the power of our wonderful public school stultification system and the power of the main stream media to prevent any actual thought. Sleep tight in your parents’ basement and wake to blather on.
I’ve been carefully researching the situation with Huckabee and Clemmons since the story broke. It was hard, at first, to get to the facts & actual documents, because so much of the news coverage (not to mention the blogosphere) was full of rumors, falsehoods, and just plain bad reporting.
To sum up what I’ve found: Huckabee tried, with the noblest of intentions, to make the Arkansas justice system more JUST.
Apologies to everyone here from Arkansas, but…the racism and good-ole-boy networks in Arkansas are just appalling. (Speaking of Wayne Dumond, did you know that after Dumond was mutilated by vigilantes, the sheriff proudly displayed Dumond’s testicles in a jar on his desk?)
[I'll never forget visiting a relative in Little Rock, in 1978. We ate at a cafeteria, and watched as a black teenager cleared the tables. After he walked back to the kitchen, this dear lady said, "I think it's wonderful how they let those folks have jobs, so they can try to better themselves."]
It appears that Huckabee believed in people overcoming their past, and making a fresh start.
He was governor for 10+ years (re-elected twice) and reviewed thousands of cases. If he gave even a small % of them some form of clemency, I think it’s remarkable that only two of those ex-cons went bad. I’d argue that he was a pretty good judge of character. The normal recidivism rate is 50% or more.
As for whether or not Huckabee has taken enough responsibility, I’d argue that he has. He has said on more than one occasion, “I take FULL responsibility.” (This, even though the responsibility is clearly NOT all his.)
I have YET to hear anyone from the AR parole board get on camera and accept any responsibility. They had the same information that Huckabee was working with, and voted unanimously to parole Clemmons. Where are they?
When Huckabee prepared to grant clemency, the governor’s office notified several public departments, and gave them 30 days to object. This included the prosecutor’s office, the victim’s families, and the trial judges, among others. Not one of them lodged any objection. Where are these people, who had a chance to protest?
I have yet to hear anyone from the AR prosecutor’s office take any blame for bungling the routine paperwork that would have kept Clemmons behind bars after he was re-arrested for violating parole. Clemmons was freed because the arrest warrants weren’t filed by the prosecutors (including the nice Democrat who’s only too happy to savage Huckabee’s role, failing to mention his own total failure to do the basics of his own job.) Where’s the outrage??
I haven’t seen anyone from WA state — especially the judges who allowed Clemmons to make bail — take any responsibility whatsoever, even though Clemmons’ mental illness was clearly in ugly evidence this past year.
In this entire mess, Huckabee is the ONLY one to ‘man up’ and face the public over his role. Frankly, I was impressed that he didn’t just hide and issue some vaguely worded statement.
The responsibility for the Clemmons tragedy lies with MANY public servants. Huckabee is the only one who’s accepted any.
Gingrich . . . oops
McCain . . . oops
Jindal . . . oops
Ensign . . . oops
Sanford . . oops
Huckabee . . . oops
No wonder you like Palin so much. She’s all you got left . . . oops
@78……..And your point is?
Huckabee lowered the sentence of Clemmens from over 100 years to around 50 years… over 100 years for stealing a purse and a cell phone is ridiculous and if anybody thinks Huckabee made a bad choice after realizing the facts then they are insane.
You can tell much about a man by who his enemies are. Rush Limbuagh, Sean Hannity, Ann Colter, Tony Perkins, Club For Growth, and others has literaly lied for Willard Romney. They covered up Romney’s record and exaggerated Huckabee’s. You know Romney…
1) the man that supported abortion, gave money to planned parenthood
2) bankrupted Massachusetts with state run health care including $50 co-pay abortions
3) told the boy scouts they should allow gay scout masters to be in charge of boys
4) supported gun control
5) raised taxes in Massachusetts by nearly $1 bill
The truth is, we can’t trust our so called leaders anymore and I’m tired of being scammed by these lowlifes who I consider to be more evil than any MSNBC liberal.
By the way, Palin isn’t much of a pro-lifer either since she nominated a pro-abortion &*^%$ from hell to the Alaska supreme court last year
Huck also raised lots of taxes… FactCheck has a lot of good info but here’s a lowlight of The Huckster’s taxes and his prevarications on same:
Gotta look at the whole picture, folks. Huck is far from a rampant tax-cutter.
70. Yes I’m accusing him of being self-righteous. I submit that his words testify against him when he would impose a life sentence for mere property crime. I submit that someone who demands that a teenager be locked up for life for a property crime is a Pharisee, outwardly appearing righteous but in their hearts arrogant enough to demand a capital sentence for a low or mid-grade felony. Now I make no excuse for criminals, but neither do I have any patience for self-righteous, ruthless Pharisees who accuse others of malice for showing common sense and a hint of mercy. Such people don’t belong anywhere near command because they believe they are fit to make such decisions.
It’s real easy to sit here and criticize when you’re not the one sitting in the Mercy Seat. The fact is, one of the first things you learn when in command is that you are not qualified to be in command, but you do it anyway because it’s your job and people are counting on you. In other words, a good leader has the humility to realize he is unworthy of the office to which he has been entrusted, and only after admitting such can he rise to the occasion and lead wisely. King Solomon is a perfect illustration- young King Solomon realized his inadequacy and prayed for wisdom, and his reward was a just and prosperous kingdom; middle aged King Solomon became complacent and fostered an entitlement mentality in his own heart, leading him and his kingdom to corruption because he had forgotten the wisdom and the God of his youth; old King Solomon realized what a fool he’d been and devoted his twilight years to prayer and to recording the wisdom he had accumulated, including what he learned from his folly at great price (his death set up a civil war, so his son’s kingdom was much smaller than his own).
Eeeek! Forgot to close the hyperlink tag on my previous comment.
Sorry about that, gang.
Very good, MB. You just proved my point.
Before you complain about the mote in someone else’s eye, MB, ya might wanna do something about the plank in your own.
The facts are that Huckabee wrote a letter saying he wanted this guy freed, and then he had a significant role in making that happen. Huckster has tried to spin this tale by bringing out all the other players, but…the guy would not have gotten such a long sentence if there were not extenuating circumstances. Huck got caught and did a good job of defending himself, but the facts of his case speak for themselves: he is soft on crime because he allowed his religious fervor, his compassionate, weak, want to believe, side to overtake his pragmatic side – it’s the pragmatism for which he was voted into office. If Huck wanted to be compassionate, the best way would have been for him to visit inmates and mentor or pastor to them behind bars, not wish them to be freed on the citizens who he was to protect.
79. Tea Party Patriot:
“@78……..And your point is?”
Well, I thought that was clear before, but since you want it again, here you go, ready?
“No wonder you like Palin so much. She’s all you got left . . . oops”
No charge. But next time I’m afraid I won’t serve you if you insist on wearing capri pants
77. Megan:
“I’ve been carefully researching the situation with Huckabee and Clemmons since the story broke. It was hard, at first, to get to the facts & actual documents, because so much of the news coverage (not to mention the blogosphere) was full of rumors, falsehoods, and just plain bad reporting.
To sum up what I’ve found: ”
Two things, first you really need to get a life. Second, Why should we care what you “sum up” when the blogosphere is so full of rumors, falsehoods, and just plain bad reporting. if you want to ply that game you have to begin everything you say ow write according to Rupert Murdoch’s Rules for Sheep, thus thusly . . . “Some people say . . . ” That oughta cover it.
@88 Now and Then–I still don’t understand your point. Oh!! I get it, all those political figures that you named are trying to compete with Bill Clinton.
88. Now and Then.
“… you really need to get a life.”
Handsome Mixed European – American Turkey With a Touch of Black are you a teenaged, girl, Turkey?
“…Rules for Sheep, thus thusly . . . ”
Did you lay this on Pee Wee moho – Anon – Shawn Ondeen Whatever in the Pre – Baster Agreement? “…thus thusly…???” Oh, tick, tic! Boom goes the baster! Too bad about Pakistan and Alice. Anyway, “Amen, brother!”
“It will sound like Jimi Hendrix playing the Star Bangled Banner.”
Just “sound like”? What are you going to be doing, Gobble Karaoke?
I don’t think so. That song makes Modern Liberals break out in hives, no matter what Jimi did to it. “Bombs bursting in air”? Isn’t that not P.C.? For Marx sake, you Handsome Mixed European – American Turkey With a Touch of Black Hives, you could have picked Manic Depression. Much more in tune with, Mr. President Won, and Now he’s at 44%. Even the High Priests are dissing him on their late night Modern Liberal Be Like Us Mind Meld Ceremonies.
You got a joke for Mr. President? You should, with that near miss at the White House Turkey ceremony, and those dreadful poll results. Humor him. Mr. President needs positive reinforcement. You know, the teleprompter and Greek columns. He’ll make sure you get by Christmas. Chop chop!
Don’t get in any fisticuffs with new flame vivo. He is not aware that you took the Kevin Jennings seminar.
Some inspirational words for your Anvil Johnson genes! “Amen, brother!”
Merry Christmas! And…
Tick, tick, tick, gobble, gobble Goebbels.
90. Mr Lucky:
Days arriving bereft of sensical manipulations tarry not for the weak of somnambulistic opinionation rationed out on the hellish heels of hellions rendered nugatory next to the merest semblance of constitutional weather held on forward lurking remote controls of synaptic pleasure opportunities set aside by the Marxist prototypical terriers – Scottish or not!!!!! – by others who would be themselves with one another. But nooooooooooooooo!
Well no matter which way you try to spin this, it’s bad news for a guy trying to run on a conservative platform if he pardons a vile criminal and that thug re-offends in terrible fashion. It’s potentially backbreaking bad news if it happens twice.
We see stories of liberal authorities releasing dangerous prisoners to the streets every day in the media and a big reason people vote for conservatives in the first place is that they want safe streets and no pardons because a thug had a tough childhood and the like. If you try to win that vote, you can’t pull a Huckabee. Plain and simple.
Jesus will judge whether or not my statement was hypocritical. Even so, I stand by it. It is ruthless and self-righteous to willfully condemn a boy to die in prison for non-violent crimes. To come to any other conclusion but that this was a travesty of justice requires either ignorance of the facts or a nigh idolatrous faith in the infallibility of juries. It is precisely because of this that anyone who believes he deserves to be placed in command has no business being in command.
Myles 65:
“….the Romney pack is at it again to divide us”. Some of these may be Romney people, but most of them are Ron Paul people. I lived in Arkansas 25 years and know Mike Huckabee very well. We have been friends for many years. The Ron Paul people are the ones trying to divide us. I saw it two years at the OK State Republican Convention and Frances Rice said the same thing happened at the Florida State Republican Convention. They tried to disrupt the Convention and take it over although they were a small minority of Libertarians, whose candidate doesn’t want to run as a Libertarian because he wouldn’t get any votes, but they want to stop the Republicans from winning. Mike Huckabee is the most Conservative Republican to run in years and the ONLY one I trust with my 2nd Amendment rights.