Soft on crime conservatism
Mike Huckabee and demise of a political career
Soft on crime conservatism
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
Just for the sport of it, let us conjure this alternative universe:
Imagine, if you will, that the Democrats are out of power in 2009, and anxious to recapture the White House in 2012. One of their prospective candidates is a smooth-talking former governor who hosts a cable news show. He is polling very well among Democrats; according to the latest USA Today-Gallup survey, 71 percent of his party brethren say they would "seriously consider" supporting a 2012 candidacy - the best showing of any prospective party candidate.
On the other hand, let us imagine that this selfsame Democrat is hardly perfect. He unsuccessfully sought the nomination in 2008, flaming out early just as a troublesome issue arose: it turned out that, as governor, he had successfully lobbied to parole a convicted rapist who, one year after being freed, wound up murdering a woman in another state. Shades of Mike Dukakis, the '88 Democrat who presided over a furlough program that freed a rapist. Now flash forward to 2009, where it turns out, in our scenario, that this same Democratic presidential hopeful had, as governor, commuted the sentence of another dirtbag, thus paving the way for parole...and this dirtbag winds up in another state, where he apparently shoots and kills four police officers, execution-style, as they sip their morning coffee.
Care to guess how viable this Democrat's presidential candidacy would be, in the wake of these two incidents? The guy would already be buried under six feet of fresh topsoil. Meanwhile, the Republicans would be gleefully trucking a cement mixer to the burial site, and declaring that such a typically soft-on-crime, bleeding-heart liberal Democrat should never be permitted to rise again.
But now, back to reality. We're actually talking here about that heretofore popular Republican hopeful, conservative talk show host and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.
Given the mounting evidence that Huckabee was pivotal in freeing two future murderers - one of them, apparently, a cop killer - we can presumably assume that his 71 percent rating among Republicans (yes, that Gallup figure was real) will plummet in the days ahead, and that, in terms of elective politics, he is now and forever a dead man. It's inconceivable that the Republicans would tolerate and elevate their own Dukakis.
But this is not the end of the story. Most fascinating is the interplay between Huckabee's decision-making and his evangelical Christian faith. (He was a pastor and Baptist leader prior to becoming governor.) Devout Christianity has long been a staple of the GOP's "family values" agenda; at the same time, the party has long prided itself as being tough on crime, all the while insisting that wimp emotions such as "empathy" and "compassion" were liberal criminal-coddling concepts.
Yet here we have evidence that a conservative Republican's Christian faith prompted him to go soft on some dangerous criminals. Exhibit A was his move to free Wayne DuMond back in 1996. DuMond was serving a life sentence in Arkansas for kidnapping and raping a teenage cheerleader, but Huckabee, the new governor, was impressed that DuMond prayed and read the Bible. Huckabee was also swayed toward leniancy by one of his close friends, a pastor who insisted to Huckabee that DuMond was "born again." Ultimately, Huckabee leaned on the parole board to set DuMond free; three board members later said that Huckabee "pressured" them. Result? One year after release, DuMond suffocated a mother of three in Missouri.
Now comes Maurice Clemmons, newly dead after a Monday evening shootout with police in Washington state, where he was the prime suspect in the execution-style murders of four Seattle area cops. Clemmons at one time was serving a virtual life sentence in Arkansas, after having racked up an endless string of felonies. In 1999, however, Clemmons sought to have his sentence radically shortened, so that he could be made eligible for parole. In his appeals to Huckabee, he smartly played the religion card:
"I come from a very good Christian family....I've never done anything good for God, but I've prayed for him to grant me in his compassion the Grace to make a new start....I pray you will be compassionate to my situation....It is so prayed!"
The prosecutors vehemently opposed commutation of sentence. Huckabee defied the prosecutors and signed the commutation in March 2000. Thus eligible for parole, Clemmons soon got it. He subsequently slipped through a lot of cracks in the system, but all those missteps flowed from Huckabee's decision. The results are now clear to the families of those four dead cops. One of the Arkansas prosecutors told The Seattle Times, "This is the day I've been dreading for a long time."
Granted, any governor can make a decision that looks like a mistake in retrospect. But consider these stats: When Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas, he issued 426 pardons and commutations over a span of 13 years. Mike Huckabee issued 1033 in 10 years.
Is it unfair to suggest that his Christian faith made him soft on crime? Not according to Joe Carter, who served as Huckabee's research director during the 2008 presidential primary season campaign, and who studied Huckabee's gubernatorial record as part of his job. Now website editor at the conservative First Things magazine, Carter wrote yesterday that Huckabee "must bear a sufficient measure of responsibility" for what happened this weekend in Washington state - and argued that Huckabee's "naivete" was directly traceable to his evangelical sensibility:
"Huckabee was - and likely remains - a true believer in the concept of restorative justice...The governor seemed to put a lot weight on conversion stories - a common trait among evangelicals, who believe the gospel is sufficient for restoration and redemption of character. The opinion of the clergy appears to have carried a great deal of weight in the decision-making process...His experiences and intuitions that served him well as a minister of the gospel were not always applicable as governor of a state."
Then Carter delivered his funeral euology for Huckabee's political career, albeit in gentle terms: "Ironically, what makes Huckabee such an appealing presidential candidate - his empathy for all people and genuine belief in the individual - is also the trait that will prevent him from ever reaching the White House."
In other words, Huckabee would be well advised to seek an extended contract from Fox News, and remain within its friendly confines. And the next time religious and social conservatives are tempted to deride Democrats as soft-on-crime purveyors of "empathy" and "compassion," they'd be well advised to ponder the downfall of one of their own.
swedesboromike: "I guess my question is when Al Gore says Katrina was a product of global warming is he being a meteoroligists or climatologits or he is just full of hot air? " Neither. He is a bloviating windbag. He has probably done far more harm then good. However, you nicely avoid answering the question/challenge. There were no "climate people" that predicted a heavy storm season. yes, I know to you that doesn't matter. Climatologist - meteorologist. Cardiologist - Dentist. same thing... Seriously, do you read back what write nefore hitting "Submit"? Someone says name a climatologist that predicted a heavy storm season and you come up with - Al Gore?— still_independent- SPIN BORO MIKE: I know who Glenn Beck is. He's the biggest bloviator on your side of the aisle. Mr. Tea Party, Project 9-12. The 9 principles and the 12 something or others. He's the guy who decided America needed to start over after 1 month of Obama, but was in silent agreement with Bush. FEMA concentration camps for Conse 'Pubs.— Talvenada
- Still Independent- Yes I mentioned Al Gore in relation to our squabble over Global Warming. Is that wrong? He's only the "head honcho gasbag" of all this nonsense. You see Al Gore wants you to live a mud hut and grow your own sustanance so as to protect the enviroment. Al's still going to be jet setting around the world and living the high life so long as you buy into his theories. What did you think of the weather today? I thought it was seasonable. This morning was chilly and my tie was blowing backwards but this afternoon was delightful. But it will be 64 on Thursday- oh! horrors- is this December? Oh don't fear Glenn Swartz( who does do speaking engagements prosletizing Global Warming theories) says we might have snow on Saturday!
- I for one and all for global warming. I would like to grow some Coconut Palms on my South Jersey property. Think of the money I will save not to mention the carbon footprint. I won't have to fly to St. John this winter.
- If NBC10's Glen " Hurricane " Swartz does speeches on Global Warming is he being a meterologist or a climatalogist? so long as he suscribes to the lefts view I am sure he is totally credible. Unless of course he disagrees then he's just a meteorologist. I wish the " warmers" would ge their story straight.
- swedesboromike : you really are a broken record. YES, there has been a spending problem since Reagan. However, Reagan's tax cuts did NOT pay for themselves. Period. Nor did Bush's. Second, why is it that "congress controls the purse strings", but "Reagan lower [sic] taxes"? Sorry, but congress controls the tax rates. Can't have it both ways. The congress in the 80's raised spending. Reagan "only" signed off on it. CONGRESS lowered the tax rates. Reagan "only" signed off on it. ... swmike, go to page 16 of "REVENUE EFFECTS OF MAJOR TAX BILLS", put out in 2006 by the dept of treasury. Look for the tax cuts. On the whole, they LOWERED the revenue brought in by the government. Please explain this to me, as it can't possibly be true .... http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/tax-policy/library/ota81.pdf— still_independent
- SPIN BORO MIKE: Toro Bora was quite a success, and anybody who says not getting bin Laden is being political? Who says 2 wars could have been avoided is being political? And you're being what? Bush, Cheney and Rummy had 6 weeks to work with on a decision that should have been a no brainer. If there was some reason we don't know of, Cheney should come out and say it. According to a poll 1 out of 804 'Pubs believe he's the leader of the Grand Old Party. He's in the news a lot.— Talvenada
- Still Independent- This is from the Sun Sentinal- "Two climatologists from Colorado State University, both scorned and respected for their hurricane season forecasts, took to the podium Wednesday to discuss their prediction for 2009: 12 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes of Category 3 or worse."....... And as it turns out this was the lighests season in 12 years. Now the article calls them climatologists but I suspect that's only correct if their predictions are correct. No?
- Tal, so let me get this straight. You were for the increase in troops to Afghanistan before you were against them? You believed, as Obama stated, that Afghanistan was the war of necessity before you believed it wasn't? You believed, as Obama said in his speech back in March of 2009, that this was a just cause before it wasn't? I just want to be clear.— tom - wilmington, de
- Can't find a word about it on msnbc.com or cnn.com, what gives? ***LONDON (AP) - Britain's University of East Anglia says the director of its prestigious Climatic Research Unit is stepping down pending an investigation into allegations that he overstated the case for man-made climate change. The university says Phil Jones will relinquish his position until the completion of an independent review into allegations that he worked to alter the way in which global temperature data was presented. The allegations were made after more than a decade of correspondence between leading British and U.S. scientists were posted to the Web following the security breach last month.*** http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9CAM0VG0&show_article=1— NEPhilly
- Still Independent- Revenue to the treasury went up, not down under Reagan. so yes the tax cuts paid for themselves. Or at the very least the citizens were allowed to keep more of their hard earned money. Spend Spend Spend is what politicians do. I just don't give them a pass for it. You do. Unless they keep spending in line with inflation I will never listen to anyone who says we need a tax increase. It is utter non-sense. If these politicans had proper compensation packages this issue would be solved.
- swedesoboromike: I'm actually having a problem finding out what their degrees are in. However, it is ironinc that the more notable of the two gentlemen, William Gray (who's been issuing the forecasts for CSU for 25 years), nearly severed his relationship with CSU in 2008. the reason? he felt that they didn't want him to speak to the media. why? "This is obviously a flimsy excuse and seems to me to be a cover for the Department's capitulation to the desires of some (in their own interest) who want to reign (sic) in my global warming and global warming-hurricane criticisms, ... " "You see, so many people in our department make a living off the global warming threat," . Still not sure if he's a climatologist or not, but I'm not sure you want to hang your hat on a major global warming skeptic being wrong in his forecasts.— still_independent
- TOM: I said I was for it a year ago, but now I want to hear the choices. Things changed on the ground, like corruption, which would be a reason to reconsider. Here, now savage this to praise yourself, and slime me!— Talvenada
- swedesboromike: William Gray has a Masters in Meteorology, and a doctorate in Geophysical Sciences (a.k.a Geophysics). I'm not sure what those degrees would make him, a meteorologist or a geologist, but seeing as he heads the Tropical METEOROLOGY Project at CSU, I think it's safe to call him a meteorologist.— still_independent
Comment removed.
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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