I’d vote for Huckabee in a heartbeat over ANY Democrat, but he’s not my #1 pick by a long shot. That said, I don’t know why some here ridicule the man. He’s a decent man who shares a lot of conservative ideology with the rest of us. In other words, he’s an ally. He may not be a slick, sophisticated big city politician, but since when is that a bad thing?
RE: I don’t know why some here ridicule the man.
Many could not forgive him for his clemency controversies when he was governor of Arkansas.
Take Maurice Clemmons for example.
Clemmons had committed burglary without a weapon, and his 60-year sentence was commuted by Huckabee to 47 years, making him eligible for parole if approved by the parole board. The prosecuting attorney of Pulaski County, Arkansas vehemently objected to the commutation. As factors in his decision, Huckabee cited the unusually long sentence of 108 years for Clemmons, who was 17 at the time, that Clemmons had already served 11 years of jail time, the unanimous decision by the bipartisan state pardon board in Clemmons’s favor, and the original trial judge’s support for clemency.
When Clemmons received the 60-year sentence, he already was serving 48 years on five felony convictions and facing up to 95 more years on charges of robbery, theft and possessing a handgun on school property.
After his release in 2000 Clemmons was arrested a number of times for multiple offenses including child molestation and aggravated assault, but was released after prosecutors declined to file charges. On November 29, 2009, four police officers were murdered in Lakewood, Washington, and Clemmons was named by witnesses as the only suspect. After a two-day manhunt that spanned several cities in the Puget Sound region, the armed Clemmons was shot and killed by a Seattle Police Department officer in south Seattle after refusing police orders to stop charging the office.
Here’s another... In 2003, Eugene Fields received a six-year prison sentence after his fourth conviction of driving while intoxicated in five years.
Gov. Huckabee granted clemency over the objections of the local prosecutor and sheriff, the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorneys Association and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). A spokeswoman for Mr. Huckabee, Charmaine Yoest, said that Mr. Fields’ political donations [to the Arkansas Republican Party] and connections played no role in his clemency. About two years after Mr. Fields’ sentence was cut to 11 months, he was arrested again for driving while intoxicated as his truck crossed the center line directly into the path of an oncoming police car.
As governor, Huckabee commuted and accepted recommendations for pardon for twice as many sentences as his three predecessors combined; in total: 1,033 prisoners.
Twelve of those had previously been convicted of murder.