Huckabee Hearts Criminals

December 12, 2007 joe 18 comments

Investigative reporters are digging into the Huckster’s record, and it’s looking like they’re hitting the mother lode.

The notion that Mike Huckabee is a softie should be the big story of the next couple weeks.

Here is tonight’s excellent work by Philip Klein:

Over the course of his 10 and a half years as governor, Huckabee granted a staggering 1,033 clemencies, according to the Associated Press. That was more than double the combined 507 that were granted during the 17 and a half years of his three predecessors: Bill Clinton, Frank White, and Jim Guy Tucker.

In many cases, Huckabee’s actions set loose savage criminals convicted of grizzly murders over the passionate objections of prosecutors and victims’ families.

That “turn the other cheek” concept is less compelling when it’s a chief executive turning his constituents’ cheeks.

Campaign 2008, Politics Huckabee, quisling

Comments

Written by stay puft marshmallow man about 5 years ago.

why’d he do it?
Written by Joe Budzinski about 5 years ago.

A little soft in the head, mos’ likely.
Written by jacob about 5 years ago.

This is the result of try to be “nice”. “Nice” along with good intentions paves the road to hell.

Nice is what leads to little Johnny graduating from highschool, while illiterate. Each of his teachers was “nice” and so they all cut him some slack. How nice!! The end result was he was not forced to learn and his poor performance had no consequences until it was too late.

So here is John, the bumn who can’t read. Fill in the rest of John’s story yourself.
Written by zimzo about 5 years ago.

I completely agree, Jacob. Being nice is a bed thing. It’s un-Christian and un-American. And the next time I’m being mean to you and make you cry, I hope you’ll remember that.
Written by Lovisa aka Nitpicker about 5 years ago.

I agree, zimzo, “being nice is a BED thing.” One should always try to bed nice in bed.
Written by Lovisa aka Nitpicker about 5 years ago.

sorry “try to BE …”
Written by Jack about 5 years ago.

Oy.
Written by ACTivist about 5 years ago.

Perfect.
Written by stay puft marshmallow man about 5 years ago.

yeah! we need more assholes. I only hope little Johnny got beaten by his drunken dad once he got home to make up for the treatment he received form his “nice” teacher. That kind of stuff can really screw a kid up. Time was everyone was an asshole, and we were damn proud of it. They used to give out blue ribbons at the county fair to the biggest asshole. Too few of us can remember a time when you couldn’t wait in line at the supermarket without someone cutting in front of you or spitting in your eye. Things were better then. What’s happening to this country? People trying to be nice to each other, and this during the holidays, too. It’s Christmas time, people! Step on someone’s toes! Or keep at it with the niceness, and the next thing you know our kids will be learning farsi in schools made of lead, which were built by gay mexicans. Is that what you want?
Written by Lovisa aka Nitpicker about 5 years ago.

spmm – Time to clean up your language in case some innocent eyes start to stare at your comments.
Written by Joe Budzinski about 5 years ago.

Maybe Puft is leading us to the cutting edge. How about “the AH word” as a euphemism going forward?
Written by stay puft marshmallow man about 5 years ago.

oh, so now you’re a schoolmarm AND the FCC? as if some kid looking for $#!+$ and giggles on the internets is going to waste his time looking at the AH word, Seriously. I like how you weren’t offended by the imagery of a schoolboy being beaten up by his alcoholic father. No, it’s the AH word that’s disturbing. OMFG.
Written by Jack about 5 years ago.

Yup, definitely off your medicine.
Written by jacob about 5 years ago.

zimzo,
When I start crying as opposed to laughing at you comments I will let you know.

As usual you miss the point. Tough love, and setting high standards is not “nice”, but in the end it is better for both the individual and society.
Written by jacob about 5 years ago.

Marshmallow,
Whoa there big fella; you are off the reservation. First of all where did anyone talk about Johnny’s dad giving him a drunken beating. As for tge rest of it …
Did someone pee in your eggnog?
Written by stay puft marshmallow man about 5 years ago.

you missed the whole thing.
Written by jacob about 5 years ago.

If the joke went over my head, OK, I wondered. Salute! You did it well
Written by Brian Withnell about 5 years ago.

This is going to be a little edgy. First, if adults cannot talk without resorting to name calling and foul language, they certainly don’t deserve to be leading the next generation. Both sides of this (in best teacher command voice) STOP IT.

Second, being “nice” is not what I would think a governor is doing when he allows clemency for a convicted criminal. What I would think he is doing is saying that there is enough evidence that the convicted person should receive mercy. Hind sight being 20-20 means any “misuse” of clemency would be easily pointed out. It is not wrong in and of itself to be merciful — if it were, we should remove all possibility of clemency and have no freedom in sentencing (lest a “merciful” judge allows circumstances to cloud Justice’s pure scales). That has not been and never was the case in this country. I do not reject the idea completely — it may in fact be something of a wrong — while “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” was instituted as judicial law in Israel, and so is not binding, it does set forth the concept of not showing favoritism to one defendant over another. So I would not object to clemency and pardon being removed from the law books — but I would expect that jail terms be eliminated as well (jail does nothing as “correction”, and nothing for restitution).

That Huckabee exercise executive authority more than others is a question of was it wise. The result of those clemencies should be looked at, not just in specific cases, but in all cases. Was the rate of recidivism higher or lower than his predecessors? If the rate was the same, it just points to the exact same level of quality, but shows an increase in the quantity of work he did. If the rates were higher, then it does point to lower quality. If the rate of recidivism was in fact lower, then he increased both the quality and quantity of his work over his predecessors. The data here does not show enough to make a reasoned conclusion. If you show clemency to more than a couple of convicts, you will make mistakes. The rate of mistakes is what is important.