Monday, October 18, 2010
Huckabee's clemency revisited
Posted by Max Brantley on Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 6:39 AM
Maurice Clemmons, the former Arkansas prison inmate who gunned down four police officers in Washington is back in the news, and it's not the kind of news good for potential presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.
Seattle Times reporters have completed a new book on Clemmons and it illustrates even more graphically how thoroughly unsuited for clemency Clemmons was when Huckabee extended it — without consulting prosecutors first. Even as he was writing letters proclaiming his rehabilitation, Clemmons was extorting other inmates, assaulting them and participating in gang rapes. There's more, lots more. Paired with Wayne Dumond, he makes a matching set of trophies to poor judgment.
Here's the link to the Seattle Times article. His eight felonies, his violent prison behavior, his refusal to take a plea bargain — it all puts the lie to Huckabee and his defenders who depict the clemency as an act of grace for a young black man treated unfairly by the system.
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Comments (10)
Showing 1-10 of 10
The clemency issue has been a TOTAL unforced error on the part of Huckabee. How is it EVER a good idea to grant clemency to people like Clemmons and Dumond if you have greater political aspirations than Saye McIntosh?
If he gets anywhere near the nomination we'll almost certainly be seeing the equivalent of Willie Horton ads except this time against a Republican.
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Too bad he wasn't retarded and on death row. Bill Clinton showed how frying the mentally handicapped was political gold. Huckabee chose to show a little kindness to a young man of color who had a ridiculously long sentence. Funny how all Arkansans who don't support Obama are racists, but it's A-OK to rag on Huckabee for commuting 90-something years.
We made it over 2 hours before the "but what about Clinton?" invocation came in. What marvelous restraint!
Well Prouster, aka Jason Brady, the ultimate Huckabee apologist, don't you think the families of the slain policeman wish that Clemmons would have served more of his "ridiculously long sentence"? Poor, poor Huckabee. Nothing is ever his fault in your eyes.
If Clinton were running against Huckabee in 2012, his record might be relevant. But you'd search without success for Clinton clemency beneficiaries who went on to murder multiple times. The issue with Huckabee here and in the Dumond case -- and several other notable cases reported elsewhere -- is the lack of study, the refusal to talk with victims or prosecutors and the ease with which Huck could be sold a load of conversion crapola. Clemmons spun such a letter while he was in the midst of one-man crime wave in the prison. A careful review would have -- should have -- raised alarms.
Still beating a dead horse. Huckabee granted neither pardon nor parole. The BOARD set the man free. http://www.pardonpower.com/2010/10/post-be…
The parole board could never have made the decision if (1) Huckabuck hadn't reduced the sentence and (2) made it known to them that he felt the man should be freed to a parole board made up of Huckabuck appointees.
As long as Huckabuck and Sarah One-Shot are the Republicant leaders (?) for 2012, they are fair game and deserve all the review they can get. We had 8 years with an playboy who never succeeded in any job he ever did and was bailed out constantly by his daddy's friends.
>>8 years with an playboy who never succeeded in any job he ever did <<
Whoa there a minute. He succeeded in doing just what Richard Nixon wanted to do but failed...screwing America, "getting even."
One thing I have found, seems relevant to the debate, is how Huck will grant clemency to a man who finds God, but if someone finds Buddha, speed up the execution date. Frankie Parker, guy who didn't want clemency because in his conversion, he wanted to take responsibility had his date moved forward.
I always though if a guy found God, he would want ot be closer to him quicker, so why avoid the consequence? Well, you always have rubes like Huck and Dukakis to bail you out.
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