Posted on 12/21/2007 10:46:22 PM PST by FocusNexus
Democratic voters face two challenges heading into 2008. The first is deciding which Democratic candidate to support. The second is agreeing on which Republican candidate they'd most like to run against.
It was hard to believe anybody could be easier to beat than one of the original three frontrunners, until the spotlight turned on Mike Huckabee and the media started swooning over a "Huckaboom."
First, there's that messy matter of an Arkansas state pardon for convicted rapist Wayne Dumond - who went on to rape and murder another woman, maybe two, after his release from prison.
In 1998, for example, Gov. Huckabee was one of 131 signatories on a full-page USA Today ad endorsing a controversial position on the role of women in marriage adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC policy declared: "A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ." In turn, the ad Huckabee signed congratulated the SBC: "You are right because you called wives to graciously submit to their husband's sacrificial leadership."
The more we learn about the former governor of Arkansas, the more he becomes the candidate Democrats would be most eager to run against in 2008. Mike Huckabee is just what Democrats were hoping to find under the Christmas tree: an unelectable Republican frontrunner.
(Excerpt) Read more at bgdailynews.com ...
One slight problem with that: Wayne DuMond was not pardoned. Huckabee turned down the pardon request.
Clarence is going to be trashed by his liberal friends for giving away the Dem strategy.
Since Page is Democratic liberal, why is he warning us?
Mike Huckabee governed against the grain
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/5398615.html
Against the political advice of his party and his aides, he pardoned or commuted the sentences of hundreds of convicts, including murderers, sometimes over the heated objections of prosecutors and victims.
Months after being sworn in, Huckabee announced his intention to cut Dumond’s prison sentence, prompting furious public protests from Dumond’s victim and from prosecutors.
As it turned out, Huckabee did not grant clemency to Dumond; the state Parole Board released him instead, and several former members of the board have since told reporters that they acted under pressure from Huckabee, a charge he has repeatedly denied.
There were several other cases of convicts who won clemency from Huckabee and then went on to commit more crimes, including Wade Stewart, whose life sentence for murder was commuted in 2004. Stewart was arrested this year, charged with carrying a concealed revolver. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette found that nearly one in 10 who received clemency from Huckabee were later sentenced to prison. Huckabee eventually did bend, if slightly, to criticism and scrutiny. He proved less willing to grant clemency in his second term, especially for violent offenses.
“He would grab a lot of independents”
You’ve gotta be kidding — do you think independents will vote fo someone who is trying to turn the US into a theocracy and want women to obey their husbands?!
After the Rollins' bashing of Rush, which must have been approved by Huckabee, I will NEVER, NEVER , NEVER support him. He's a bs artist and the only thing I would trust him for is his weight loss strategy. His Christianity is just a little too in-your-face and "marketed". Nobody really has my interest, but this guy going negative against Bush on international policy (after all, what experience has Huckabee had other than luring Mexicans across the border?) and dissing Rush just doesn't sit right.
I know Rush dissed Mike, I guess that’s ok? Of course Rush governed a state for 10 years, so he can trash anybody he wants, right?
I've seen a few of these articles, and they don't provide any of the data about the cases. Some of the falsely claim that Huckabee granted a pardon to DuMond.
How many were pardons, and how many were other forms of clemency (reduction of sentence, etc.)?
Who got pardons and clemencies? A list should be produced, giving their names, the crime they committed, the date of the offense, any subsequent arrests after the clemency, etc.
When that data becomes available, it will be possible to make an informed judgement on Huckabee's record.
At least one of the pardons - for Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards - was for a long-forgotten offense. How many of the other pardons were of a similar nature? Some of the pardons may have been intended to allow former felons to own firearms and go hunting again.
Seems like he gave clemency to violent criminals over the objections of prosecutors and victims.
“There were several other cases of convicts who won clemency from Huckabee and then went on to commit more crimes, including Wade Stewart, whose life sentence for murder was commuted in 2004. Stewart was arrested this year, charged with carrying a concealed revolver. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette found that nearly one in 10 who received clemency from Huckabee were later sentenced to prison.”
I disagreed with some of his clemency decisions, but there is no evidence that he abused his constitutional authority. He made a few bad judgement calls - then he learned his lesson and did a better job during his later years in office.
Independent women would gladly drop to their knees and give Clinton a lewinsky for supporting abortion, but they aren’t gonna vote GOP anyway.
I’m not a Huckabee supporter, but he was merely noting the husband’s leadership responsibilities in the family. There’s nothing theocratic about that.
I heard a little of Rush yesterday, his comparison of Huckabee with Perot. He said he tried to convince people not to vote for perot, but people didn’t care what perot’s positions were, his voters were like a cult, and you can’t change their minds, and Huckabee’s fans seem the same. That is how I understood it anyway.
It is incredible that Rollins dissed Rush,especially doing it just like a democrat. I remain hopeful that Huckabee won’t make it. I personally could never support him after he called me racist for being against illegal amnesty.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Huckabee appears to be a Trojan Horse candidate....just enough attractive features to get him inside the gates.
This will backfire against the Libtards, imo!
While Huckabee's campaign attempts to appeal to the evangelical vote, it ignores, and even disagrees with, those aspects of "conservatism" which the libertarian camp cherishes. Mercy and remorseless pursuit of justice do not go hand in hand very well.
The establishment conservatives love the evangelical base of the party for their votes, but when they dare to say more than just "Amen" to some of the core principles of "conservatism" embraced the the New York-Washington establishment, then they need to be destroyed. God and church have been abused by the conservative movement for thirty years; someone came along, and decided to take all that blustering seriously.
Now, what would happen if the Republican party lost its evangelical base? Can you say "minority party for Eternity?"
HEEHAW, HEEHAW
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