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Merged Huckabee going down? / Huckabee & Clemmons

Alferd_Packer

Philosopher
Alferd_Packer
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Jul 3, 2007
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Apparently Mike Huckabee commuted the sentence of the suspect in the Washington Police shooting.

Countdown to CTs calling it an Obama plot, 5. . . 4. . . 3. .
 
I remember the fondness of the GOP for Willie Horton...it will be interesting to see how the story line plays on that side of the aisle for a change.
 
headscratcher4 said:
I remember the fondness of the GOP for Willie Horton...it will be interesting to see how the story line plays on that side of the aisle for a change.
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He leads the polls in Iowa, but I'm pretty sure that this will kill any primary hopes. Which (IMHO as a likely GOP primary voter) is a good thing, and likely the only good thing to come from this horrible mess.
 
carlitos said:
He leads the polls in Iowa, but I'm pretty sure that this will kill any primary hopes. Which (IMHO as a likely GOP primary voter) is a good thing, and likely the only good thing to come from this horrible mess.
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I would'nt bet on that. Huckabee will play the "I was just trying to do the Will of Jeebus" card,and it will go over big with the Born Again Voters.
 
The same thing happened to Mike Huckabee before the last election, when it was pointed out that Huckabee had paroled Wayne DuMond.
 
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Ok, am I missing something here.

The story I heard about this on the radio seemed to indicate that the parole was done at least several years ago, and the suspect lived a relatively crime-free life for most of that time until recently.

While I am no huge fan of Huckabee, I don't really see how this is related to him.

Yes, I know how politics work and that any opponents he his in either primaries or general elections will try to use this, but this seems a bit of stretch to me just to score political points.
 
cwalner said:
Ok, am I missing something here.

The story I heard about this on the radio seemed to indicate that the parole was done at least several years ago, and the suspect lived a relatively crime-free life for most of that time until recently.
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Incorrect. The sentence was commuted in 2000 and he was back in jail a year later. This is from the Arkansas Leader in 2004:

Jegley cites numerous examples of Huckabee's freeing felons who go on committing more crimes and wind up back in prison.

Maurice Clemmons received a 35-year sentence in the early 1990s for armed robbery and theft. His sentence was commuted in May 2000, and he was let out three months later.

The following March, Clemmons committed two armed robberies and other crimes and was sentenced to 10 years. You'd think they'd keep him locked up after that, but no: He was paroled last March and is now wanted for aggravated robbery.
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How he was out on the street goes way beyond Huckabee, but the fact the guy would've been in jail for the rest of his life without him pretty much dooms his political future, and for good reason.
 
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Drudgewire said:
Incorrect. The sentence was commuted in 2000 and he was back in jail a year later. This is from the Arkansas Leader in 2004:

How he was out on the street goes way beyond Huckabee, but the fact the guy would've been in jail for the rest of his life without him pretty much dooms his political future, and for good reason.
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Thanks, though I am dissapointed. I expected better from NPR. While some may mark this as liberal bias, I don't see how that is the case, since Huckabee is conservative. It just seems they didn't check thier facts well enough.
 
Huckabee going down?

Wow, it looks as if the shootings in Seattle by Maurice Clemmons could be Mike Huckabee's political undoing...

Conservatives hammer Mike Huckabee over shooting
The conservative blogosphere unleashed a torrent of criticism against Mike Huckabee Monday after a man whose sentence he commuted as Arkansas governor was suspected of gunning down four police officers in Washington state over the weekend.

Maurice Clemmons, whom Huckabee granted clemency to nine years ago, remained at large after local police in Lakewood, Wash. mistakenly thought they had him trapped in a house early Monday. Clemmons is reported to have shot the officers as they were sitting at a table in a local coffee shop.

While many details of the murders were still unclear Monday, leading online conservative voices were quick to pass judgment on Huckabee, whose 2008 presidential campaign was forced to respond to accusations that he was too lenient with violent criminals during his years as governor. ...
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I wonder if this brings Palin, someone who would compete for a lot of the social conservatives who like Huckabee, one step closer to the 2012 GOP nod?
 
I still doubt Palin will run but this is definitely bad for Huckabee. We'll see whenever they do another type of straw poll if he still wins like he has the last few. If he loses I think it will be for this reason alone. I don't see anyone else on the R side doing anything that would make them more popular (well maybe Palin with the book) so logically they would only beat Huckabee if this incident tarnished his name.
 
Huck had said just before this erupted that he probably wasn't going to run in 2012, that he was having too much fun doing his show.
 
I'm not a big fan of Huckabee (because of his social views) but I'd hate to see a politician go down in flames because a calculated risk went bad. But I'm not all that well-versed about how bad a mistake this might have been.
 
I don't think it reflects negatively on a governor if he commutes a sentence and the ex-con goes out and commits another crime. Mistakes like this will happen. In Huckabee's situation, I think he will have no chance of winning a Republican primary at this point. Republicans pride themselves on being tough on crime and the fact that Huckabee pardoned or commuted more sentences than all of his predecessors will be a debate point for his Republican adversaries.

No, his Presidential aspirations have just gone up in smoke. By the way, he was on O'Reilly last night doing damage control and pointing at everyone else but himself.
 
Anyone remember the "Willey Horton" adds by the GOP??? What goes around comes around.
 
Let me point out as well that Huckabee's taking the flak mostly from conservatives on this; the first one that Politico notes is Michelle Malkin. It is often claimed that the theocons have taken over the GOP, and yet Huckabee got almost no support from the major conservative bloggers in 2008. Indeed, they were actively hostile to his candidacy, even though he was the evangelical candidate in the race.
 
It should also be noted that Huckabee commuted his sentence to something like 47 years after Clemmons had served around 16 years. The Arkansas parole board still had to approve his release, which they did with a 5-0 vote. Washington State also allowed him out on a $15,000 bail, knowing his past convictions. There is plenty of blame to be spread about here.
 
Tmy said:
Anyone remember the "Willey Horton" adds by the GOP??? What goes around comes around.
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Aye. Huckabee's Horton just killed four white cops. I realize I may be jumping the gun here, but it is my opinion that this attack was racially motivated.

I accept that I may be wrong.

DR
 
Or perhaps there is no blame at all to go around. The system is designed with certain assumptions in mind -- that (usually) rehabilitation is possible, that mitigating circumstances should be taken into account, that sometimes sentences are poorly selected, etc. Failures are expected, and as we skeptics know, when something is expected, we shouldn't automatically consider it miraculous when it happens.

I'll admit a little shadenfreude when bad things befall politicians I don't like, but I consider myself to be principled and would never hold this against Huckabee. That his own party is, is, well, perhaps evidence of something else. ;-)

As for Washington... maybe. I've never quite understood the bail thing. It seems like someone should either be held in jail or they shouldn't. Bail just seems like a money-making scheme, one that simultaneously punishes people just because they're poor and gives the rich a privelidge they haven't earned.
 
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