Posted on 12/01/2009 10:49:21 AM PST by Mount Athos
Under fire for commuting the sentence of suspected cop-killer Maurice Clemmons, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Tuesday called some of the criticisms “disgusting” and suggested they were attempts to score political points.
“It really does show how sick our society has become that people are more concerned about a campaign three years from now than those grieving families in Washington,” Huckabee said during an interview on Joe Scarborough’s radio show. “It is disgusting, but people use anything as a political weapon.”
Huckabee granted Clemmons, a suspect in the killings of four police officers in Washington state over the weekend, clemency in 2001. He had served 11 years in prison after being sentenced at the age of 18 to 60 years in prison for burglary and theft and was set to serve the 60 years, in addition to the 48 years he was already serving on five felony counts.
After his sentence was commuted, Clemmons was paroled by an Arkansas board and moved to Washington in 2004, where he was charged with eight felonies prior to gunning down the police officers in a coffee shop.
Clemmons was shot and killed Tuesday morning by an officer investigating a stolen car.
Huckabee has been thrashed in the right-wing blogosphere by leading online conservative voices who have criticized his commutation of Clemmons’ sentence.
In addition, Minnesota GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty – one of Huckabee’s potential challengers for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012– said Tuesday that he would not have granted Clemmons clemency if he had been in Huckabee’s position.
“I don't think I've ever voted for clemency,” Pawlenty told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham. “We’ve given out pardons for things after everybody has served out their term, but again, usually for more minor offenses. But clemency? Certainly not. Commutation of sentence? Certainly not.
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.”
“It’s a lot easier to be a pundit or a commentator or a blogger than to govern the state and have to make tough decisions,” he said. “People are talking about this from a political standpoint, but what they need to be asking is how did the system break down?”
Huckabee’s political career is over.
Forget the folksy country preacher act.
You went into show biz.
Now take responsibility for your actions.
” See me, feel me, touch me, heel me.
See me, feel me, touch me, heel me.”
And I find his clemency for rapists disgusting. In fact, I find him disgusting.
In an odd way, I agree with you. He isn’t a bad guy, he is a nice guy that has made the wrong decisions because he wants everyone to like him.
That is downright dangerous.
How is he conservative?
Huckabee is a typical politician who wants zero accountability for his liberal positions. Personally immune from the jeopardy that normal people face from revolving door prisoners, he can’t understand why the uproar.
O’Reilly is the same. He found 7 ways to rationalize the unforgivable last night with his kissy-face interview. Left unstated was the question: why are ANY of these prison psychos EVER let loose under ANY circumstances?
So the judge, the jury and the prosecuting attorney were all a bunch of red-necked racists and Hucakbee saved this poor black boy from the clutches of the racist Arkansas justice system?
That statement alone should preclude Huckabee from ever running again for any office.
He may be right but it seems like it’s a no-win situation for him. He’d have been better off to just have left it lie than to try to pick this turd up by the clean end.
Thanks God...GONE. About Huck?... Gone as well... sorry pal.
That’s a fair question, i’ll let someone else more knowledgable answer. I never followed him before seeing his show a few times. I can only say the talks he gave on the show were certainly articulating conservative philosophy and critiques. The educational quality of the show impressed me.
I’m not familiar with his record
Sorry, I meant sending it to ALL.
Huckabee displays a Leftist trait so brazenly, and that trait is the lack of ability to accept upon oneself the responsibility for screwing up.
Always pointing the finger at someone else, always focused upon finding a means to dodge responsibility for ones actions, decisions, etc. is as Leftist a trait as they come.
Unfortunately there are many like him running around with BIG TENT shaped umbrellas with depictions of Elephants on them, and that has to change stop.
Stick a fork in Huckabilly. He's done.
People around here WILL use something like this to discredit a politician they don’t like. Huck is right about that. It’s just there isn’t any way to make that point without sounding whiny. It’s the same problem Palin has - she has valid complaints but it’s impossible to make them without sounding whiny.
This is insulting.
Guess what Huck? The criminal justice system was right when they gave him 108 years, and you were dead wrong in commuting the sentence.
If anything, this shows the absolute lack of judgement on your part, and instead shows you are tied to racialist thinking that led to the murder of 4 police officers("black", "disproportionate sentencing", blah, blah).
We don't need another politician, let alone President of the United States, that thinks this way.
I hope this puts an end to your political career, once and for all.
Well, other than that he never met a tax & spending increase he didn’t like. And never missed a chance to pander to illegal aliens (on the tax payer dime). He’s an affable character but soft on criminals and liberal programs. We need hard as nails, no nonsense, small government, constitution defending conservatives in office! I like him personally, but Huckabee fails to measure up to the task. Hope he stays in the entertainment field.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.