For those not in the know, a man walked into a restaurant in Washington and murdered four police officers in cold blood. The killer’s name was Maurice Clemmons. He’s now dead.
He also had his sentence commuted by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who is now lashing out at judges, prosecutors, bloggers and even playing the race card.
Huckabee defended his choice to grant the Arkansas felon clemency by insisting that Clemmons original sentence went too far.
“If he were a white kid from an upper middle class family he would have gotten a lawyer and some counseling,” Huckabee said. “But because he was a young black kid he got 108 years.”
Huckabee said the sentence was “far disproportionate from any other punishment in Arkansas at the time for a similar crime.”
Granted Huckabee wasn’t the only party involved. There was a judge, as well as the parole board which released him. Still, Huckabee’s response to critics is a little absurd. Pinning direct results on a politician’s behavior and policies is difficult, but one such circumstance is letting criminals back on the street – judges and politicians should feel a direct responsibility in protecting the populace from criminals. That “compassionate conservative” Huckabee couldn’t understand that as governor is telling.
Print
Digg
StumbleUpon
del.icio.us
Facebook
Yahoo! Buzz
Twitter
Google Bookmarks
Google Buzz
LinkedIn
MSN Reporter
MySpace
Orkut
Ping.fm
Reddit
RSS
Slashdot
Technorati
Tumblr
Webnews.de
Boo frickety hoooooooo. If any so called “conservative” comes to me and defends this bs I will eat their livers. Just sayin…..
Stephanie,it shows exactly why Huck Thin is unfit to even be considered for President:his complete lack of judgment.Mike Huckabee is spooked seeing all the corpses being laid at his feet.
Fine, bring it on, Huckabee, rip your critics. We don’t need your so-called compassion and we don’t need you. Keep doing your self-aggrandizing book tours on your bus with your fake conservatism.
I’ve been warning people off Huckabee since 2008 and I hope they’re paying attention now.
Remember your Shakespeare,CW? Lady MacHuckabee,drenched in blood:”Out damned spot!Out I say!”
Huckabee is one of those folks who sees everything in emotional abstract, without the details. Kid of seventeen being sent away forever. Maybe he could have talked to the judge and prosecutor, who clearly thought, “if we don’t put this fellow away forever, we’re gonna have the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” And frankly, it does look like Huckabee’s mercy extended only to those who could fake being born again, no Catholics or Jews or Mormons or Buddhists allowed.
What really bothers me is not even so much that Huckabee made a mistake. It’s the tone of his comments about it. A clear expression of remorse would seem more appropriate than all the finger-pointing.
Yeah, good point, Mike. For a guy who’s supposedly filled with gentle empathy, he seems less interested in expressing sympathy for the victims and their families, and more interested in covering his own ass.
I’m with you on Huckabee’s cold demeanor and utter lack of sympathy. His response was completely CYA. I don’t think any reasonable person would say Huckabee is personally responsible for the deaths or any of the other crimes committed by Clemmons. His defensive reaction says volumes about his character.
Here’s something I’ve never understood, from a legal standpoint: why is it that whenever someone is arrested and a minor mistake is made (for example, by the police in collecting evidence, or in Clemmons’ case by the prosecution in presenting the evidence), why does the solution always seem to be for the judge or politician to immediately put the suspect back out on the street? Why not simply throw out the tainted evidence, punish the people who made the mistake, and continue with the trial?
They throw out the evidence and continue if the prosecution can make a case without the evidence. If the evidence is vital to the case, the state has no choice but to drop the matter.
As far as the exclusionary rule goes, I wonder if it wouldn’t be a more effective check on unconstitutional searches and seizures, to treat those as criminal acts and prosecute police who engage in them—while still allowing the evidence thus obtained to be used in the original case.
(Don’t get all up in my grill, Floyd. I’m just wondering, is all.)