I Hate Huckabee

Mike Huckabee came very close to winning the Republican presidential nomination in the last election. The "Huck-a-boom" as it was called happened too early in the race to lead to victory but certainly raised his political capital enough to be a front-runner for 2012.

All that evaporated the Sunday after Thanksgiving. On November 29th, Maurice Clemmons walked into a cafe in Washington state and killed four police officers. Clemmons received a reduced sentence that lead to his parole from Huckabee, his original sentence was 95 years in prison. This is not the first time Huckabee has been embarrassed by a pardon. A convicted rapist, Wayne Dumond, went on to commit rape once again after a Huckabee clemency. In fact, Huckabee granted more than 1,000 clemencies during a 10 year period as governor of Arkansas.

The forgiving governor's law-and-order bona fides are nonexistent. We have trials for a reason. It is laid out in the Constitution that a panel of one's peers after hearing the charges and evidence against one is in the best place to pass judgment. When a governor or President commutes or pardons a criminal, that system's verdict is ignored.

Huckabee's clemencies are too numerous to be the result of poor judgment, it is a pattern for the governor. This pattern of government knows best is exemplified by his positions on such issues as trans fat bans, SCHIP, smoking bans and the environment.

There should be no place for progressives like Huckabee in the Republican party. Yet, Huckabee led in the straw poll for 2012 candidates just months ago. His status as a Baptist minister seems to have created a die-hard religious-right base that is willing to overlook his stance on the issues for his personality. However, after last Sunday it will be much harder for the evangelicals to stand by their man with the specter that maybe four cops would still be walking around today if Huckabee had held to the conservative law-and-order values that his party is known for.

Note: The title of this column is a parody of the movie "I Heart Huckabee." I do not hate Mike Huckabee although I think he is unfit to be elected dogcatcher. He would probably release the hounds that had previously bitten old ladies.