Posted on 12/14/2007 4:49:09 AM PST by dano1
A Missouri woman who says Mike Huckabee is partly to blame for her daughter’s murder now stars in a YouTube video designed by a Fayetteville Republican to derail the former Arkansas governor’s presidential campaign.
For more than a week, Lois Davidson of Adrian, Mo., has appeared in the news to criticize Huckabee’s role in freeing rapist Wayne DuMond from prison. About a year after his 1999 release, DuMond raped and killed Davidson’s daughter, Carol Sue Shields.
The story about her criticism began making national headlines as Huckabee passed the rest of the Republican field in the polls in Iowa. That state’s Jan. 3 caucus begins the 2008 voting season.
Starting early Thursday, Davidson appeared in an Internet video saying that if Huckabee hadn’t advocated for the rapist’s release, “Wayne DuMond would’ve been in prison, and Carol Sue would’ve been with us this year for Christmas.” The video is posted on youtube. com and at huckabeefacts. com.
The professional-quality video features footage of Davidson hanging a Christmas ornament honoring her daughter. It also includes side-by-side pictures of DuMond and Huckabee and freezes for eight seconds on an excerpt from a letter Huckabee wrote DuMond after the state Parole Board voted in January 1997 to free him “Dear Wayne...
“ My desire is that you be released from prison. I feel now that parole is the best way for your reintegration into society.” The board voted four months after a closed meeting in which Huckabee expressed his feeling that DuMond should be out of prison.
Keith Emis of Fayetteville produced the piece, “Lois Davidson tells her story,” which by late afternoon had a YouTube view count of about 12, 400.
Emis, a sales representative for the Fayetteville branch of Data Forms Inc., said he was inspired by Davidson’s “powerful story.” Emis has worked on the Republican U. S. Senate campaigns of the late Fay Boozman and Tim Hutchinson. He said Thursday that he is not affiliated with any presidential campaign and is not working for any consulting firm that is.
“Mrs. Davidson’s story is important,” he said in an e-mailed statement. “It’s one that anyone voting in the Republican primaries should hear.” Huckabee has criticized the use of Davidson’s grief to score political points. And he’s often sought to defend his role in the DuMond release by noting that while he advocated for DuMond’s freedom, he never discussed his potential parole.
The release of Emis’ video and its subsequent discussion in political blogs coincided with other Arkansas Republicans appearing on a Des Moines radio program to debate Huckabee’s record.
Former state legislators Jim Holt and Randy Minton are in Iowa this week to try to deflate Huckabee’s rise. During the Jan Mickelson in the Morning show on WHO Radio, they sparred with Arkansas Senate Minority Leader Gilbert Baker and former state representative Doug Matayo. Their discussion largely focused on Huckabee’s tax record and his views of how to combat illegal immigration.
Republican rival Ron Paul’s campaign said Thursday that it was paying Holt and Minton about $ 5, 000 each to go to Iowa for a series of radio interviews criticizing Huckabee’s 10 1 / 2 years as Arkansas governor.
“We just want to make sure Iowans get the full picture of what Gov. Huckabee did when he was in office,” said Paul’s campaign spokesman, Jesse Benton. “There hasn’t been a whole lot of information going out to Iowans, and we want to make sure they get the full picture.” Even as the media and his political opponents have increasingly scrutinized Huckabee’s record, the former governor continues to lead former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in surveys of likely Iowa voters.
Huckabee hopes a good finish will slingshot his low-budget campaign to victory in later primary contests. Information for this article was contributed by Andrew DeMillo and Mike Glover of The Associated Press.
It is truly beyond me why any politician would encourage the parole of a rapist, much less 11 murderers.
It’s beyond the pale why Bush, Hukcabee and others continually release these monsters back out into our neighborhoods. They’re in prison for a reason.
Just think if there existed in America a cable news network that didn’t parrot the leftist pap of all the other networks. Just think if there was a cable news network that was a little bit fair, even a little bit balanced, then this story of Huckabee’s huge number of pardons (this one is not the only one, not by a long shot) would be forced into the mainstream media.
Huckabee should be thankful that there’s not a single broadcast or cable network that fails to toe the line of absolute conformity on all issues, including this one. And the line on this issue in the MSM is: ignore it. Pretend it doesn’t exist.
Maybe I don’t understand the role of the governor, but it sure seems that Huckabee intervened in the judicial process much more than is normal or prudent. This one blew up in his face. If he gets the nomination, this woman Davidson will be at a press conference with Bill and Hillary, saying, “the Clintons had the good judgement to keep this monster in jail, blah, blah, blah....” Book it.
Well good for you, posting the dark side about your candidate.
“It’s beyond the pale why Bush, Hukcabee and others continually release these monsters back out into our neighborhoods. They’re in prison for a reason.”
Liberals and Nutty Globalists are very weak on crime and criminals.
Bet you cannot name an international group (nonUS) that supports the death penalty..
They (Bush, Hillarybee) value the rights of criminals over the rights of victims. It is a sick value system
It called I'm a preacher and I know better than anyone else, syndrome! Huckster is a one man kook brigade.
Stories about the man you support for President being a totally incompetent Governor ARE NOT GOOD FOR HIM.
ROFL! Just goes to show he's paid by number of words/posts, rather than the content.
Anyone seen a breakdown for the rest of the 1,021 perps Huck pardoned?
Bush? What are you talking about?
That's easy. It's about illegals (criminals) that Bush refuses to deport coupled with his lack of will on the border allowing hundreds of thousands of criminals from south of the border into the U.S.
Have I got that right?
Ooooh! Let's play strawman!
At least he could try. But, he doesn't. He WANTS them here.
He's building a "new America". (His words, not mine)
| We are now one of the largest Spanish-speaking nations in the world. We're a major source of Latin music, journalism and culture. Just go to Miami, or San Antonio, Los Angeles, Chicago or West New York, New Jersey ... and close your eyes and listen. You could just as easily be in Santo Domingo or Santiago, or San Miguel de Allende. For years our nation has debated this change -- some have praised it and others have resented it. By nominating me, my party has made a choice to welcome the new America. Our future cannot be separated from the future of Latin America. As I speak, we are celebrating the success of democracy in Mexico. George Bush from a campaign speech in Miami, August 2000. |
Here is an excerpt of a good critique of that speech:
In equating our intimate historic bonds to our mother country and to Canada with our ties to Mexico, W. shows a staggering ignorance of the civilizational facts of life. The reason we are so close to Britain and Canada is that we share with them a common historical culture, language, literature, and legal system, as well as similar standards of behavior, expectations of public officials, and so on. My Bush Epiphany By Lawrence Auster
Nonetheless, the comparison of a President that has inherited a problem that has existed for dozens of years to a Governor that likes to pardon convicted murderers is preposterous.
Not in my eyes. Bush's indifference to the deaths caused by illegals that have come here over the past seven years is comparable. His indifference to the illegals already here since he took office is comparable.
His tacit invitations (amnesty after amnesty) are what brings them here.
No, not preposterous but rather parallel.
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