Mike Huckabee's "Willie Horton"

Robert Bidinotto writes, “it appears that Huckabee is about to confront his own version of the ‘Willie’ Horton scandal”:

Back in July 1988, my article “Getting Away With Murder” in Reader’s Digest exposed the practice by former Mass. governor Michael Dukakis of commuting the sentences of convicted criminals sentenced to “life without the possibility of parole.” It chronicled the subsequent crimes of commuted thugs — most infamously, the story of murderer William R. Horton, Jr. (whom the Republicans nicknamed “Willie” during the presidential campaign). Once commuted and freed from prison [on a weekend furlough], Horton went on to savagely attack a couple in Maryland.

Pundits say that my article cost Dukakis the presidency.

Now, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is climbing in the GOP primary polls, especially in Iowa. Huckabee’s “compassionate conservatism” softly echoes the liberalism of Dukakis. It includes, apparently, compassion for convicted thugs.

More here.