Clemency For Huckabee

Washington Post ^ | 12/9/09 | Michael Gerson

[steve-b]

If it weren't for bad luck, Mike Huckabee would have no luck at all. Of all the deranged criminals in the country, it was Maurice Clemmons -- granted clemency by then-Gov. Huckabee of Arkansas almost a decade ago -- who recently murdered four police officers in Washington state. Seldom has an act of mercy been more publicly or horribly betrayed.

Some of Huckabee's potential rivals for the 2012 Republican nomination responded, not merely by criticizing this specific act of clemency but by rejecting the very idea. "In Minnesota," said Gov. Tim Pawlenty, "I don't think I've ever voted for clemency." "My conclusion," argues former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, "was if somebody has been convicted by a jury of their peers, and they have been prosecuted and the police were able to get the evidence necessary to put them behind bars, why in the world would I step in and reverse that sentence?"...

Some professions involve decisions about life and death. When treatment by a doctor results in death and suffering -- as treatments sometimes do -- we ask whether the initial choices were reasonable or negligent. The standard applied to governors making clemency decisions should be the same. Huckabee's choice allowed a tragedy. But that does not make it unreasonable.

[icwhatudo]

They act like this was the first time this has happened. They want to protect huck to divide the GOP. Huck was always a spoiler that took away votes from real conservatives.

[icwhatudo]

[pnh102]

The whole reason that the power of pardons and clemency is granted to a governor or president is that it provides a check on the power of the judicial system. It is there so that if there is a grievious miscarriage of justice, it can be corrected.

Mike Huckabee on the other hand used this power to impose his personal type of "social justice" on the people of Arkansas without having to bother with the legislature on that state voting on the issue.

[nmh]

“My conclusion,” argues former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, “was if somebody has been convicted by a jury of their peers, and they have been prosecuted and the police were able to get the evidence necessary to put them behind bars, why in the world would I step in and reverse that sentence?”...

Thank you!

What a pity that FR has stooped so low as to put an OLD video on Mitt’s former position on abortion. That video is OVER 10 years old and clearly recanted. Yet FR would have you believe he was never against abortion and isn’t sure of his position. How disgusting and deceptive of FR to keep the lie alive.

[padre35]

Didn’t mind Huck, really did not wish him to be the Republican Nominee either.

what I despise about these stories is 4 officers are dead, and yet instead of that tragedy being dealt with, it becomes a political tombstone.

[nmh]

COrrect!

The Huckster is a lying weasel that refuses to accept PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

[Joe Boucher]

Very good icwhatudo.
Huckster combined with McLame or someone else would have had a chance.
And I don’t think together they are worth a bucket of horse piss.

[icwhatudo]

During a decade as governor of Arkansas, Huckabee commuted 163 sentences, a pace greater than that of most governors.

Where is this guy coming up with his info?

From 1996 through July 2004, Arkansas had more clemencies than all neighboring states combined. Other posters have said the actual number is above 1,000. Yet this guy says only 163???

Some of Huckabee's commutations turned out to be wise. This one had a terrible human cost. In hindsight, the families of the dead have every right to their anger.

This one? ONE????

Anyone remember this other one:

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

What a pity that Mitt Romney appointed a judge who freed a convicted killer and killed again.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312743,00.html

[SaraJohnson]

He has not recanted saddling Mass. with socialized medicine. He thinks it is something to brag about - the socialist state under-reimbursing hospitals and running them out of business. He wrecked one of the largest medical hubs in the world to please his pinko friends across the aisle. We need someone who can stand up to socialism and defeat it. Not someone who goes along so he can tweak it.

[Alberta's Child]

But there is a serious argument for clemency that reaches back to the Founders. In Federalist 74, Alexander Hamilton writes: "Humanity and good policy conspire to dictate, that the benign prerogative of pardoning should be as little as possible fettered or embarrassed. The criminal code of every country partakes so much of necessary severity, that without an easy access to exceptions in favor of unfortunate guilt, justice would wear a countenance too sanguinary and cruel."

Hamilton contended that strict laws, while necessary, must occasionally be set aside for humanitarian reasons that the "rigor of the law" does not foresee -- a view embodied in the U.S. Constitution and most state constitutions. In Hamilton's time -- with a variety of petty crimes punishable by death -- mercy by the executive was an essential part of a working legal order.

The fact that Michael Gerson would never even consider using the same logic to recommend the cessation of prosecution efforts against U.S. military personnel serving in active combat zones is all I need to confirm that he's an enormous @sshole who is fabricating excuses for no other reason than to maintain the credibility of an inept, lackluster "Republican" on the national stage.

I never thought I'd see the day when the Washington Post was quoting the Federalist Papers to support a legal/political argument. LOL.

[carton253]

It wasn’t a clemency... It was a commutation of sentence. Still wrong, knowing what we do now. But the Washington Post needs to report the most basic of facts correct.

[spectre]

Huckabee is finished. It's over.

Put a fork in him, he dug his own grave.

sw

[dps.inspect]

The Huckster tries so hard to be likable and to be liked that watching him makes me ill... and that need to be liked is probably why he granted clemency for that murderer. It is my bet that political correctness was a motivating force for the Huckster, i.e. the need to show the black community that HE meant them no harm and was willing to prove it by setting some of “their kind” free... in his mind, I’m just sayin’. Hope he realizes that he has no chance to move ahead politically... and what happened to all that weight he lost that he was so proud of during the election, whuz up wid-at?

[Josh Painter]

Gerson and other “compassionate conservatives” in Bush’s White House really worked out well for the country, didn’t they? Now socialists own the federal government and the country is going to hell in a handbasket.

- JP

[Finalapproach29er]

Did any of you notice Huckabee was on Fox yesterday afternoon defending himself while the funeral was taking place?

Amazing.

[Hamilcar_Barca]

I've try to be understanding, governors have to make a lot of decisions (unlike community organizers) and some of them turn out badly. But Huckabee had enough of these questionable pardons to start questioning his judgment

[Oldpuppymax]

Unbelievable. Leave it to the Washington Post to grieve for poor, unfortunate Huckabe. Apparently the four murdered cops were of little significance. After all, Mikey would have been a WaPo FAVORITE as the republican nominee in 2012, as his demise at the hands of the MSM would have been child’s play for these hypocritical, shameless criminals.

[LibLieSlayer]

Bullsh!t! huckster let hundreds of these demons out into society... I despise him and will never support anything he taints with his endorsement or presence.

LLS