Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Huckabee Undone?

"Governor Huckabee? Chuck Norris called, he wants his fist back."

Wow. If this shit came down against a Democratic governor, they'd be finished in their pursuit of the White House. The GOP and the media would have a field day with this...
Documents Expose Huckabee's Role In Serial Rapist's Release
December 4, 2007 11:18 PM

Little Rock, Ark -- As governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee aggressively pushed for the early release of a convicted rapist despite being warned by numerous women that the convict had sexually assaulted them or their family members, and would likely strike again. The convict went on to rape and murder at least one other woman.

Now, by all accounts, Mike Huckabee seems to be a nice guy. A Republican I could live with. Sure his rejection of evolution makes him intelectually unqualified for office, but he's not the guy I wanted to see hoisted like this. And in general I don't necessarily like holding governors accountable for the actions of more or less anonymous, unrelated criminals...

But this one is a bit different that the classic examples of the past (ie: Dukakis).

First, there was little question about this guy's danger to the public. He was a serial rapist, and had even been involved in a prior murder. Huckabee's office had been warned repeatedly by the victims of this rapist, Wayne Dumond, that he would not leave witnesses next time.

He didn't. Twice.

That's bad enough, but what makes it worse is that Huckabee is actively lying about the course of events now, and his staff has engaged in covering up his involvement and knowledge for years.

But the kicker? It all comes down to the Clintons. Yes, that's right. Back in the nineties the GOP was so fucking obsessed with Bill Clinton, that when one of his distant relatives, a 17 year old girl, was raped at knifepoint by Dumond the right wing machine leapt into action:
In 1996, as a newly elected governor who had received strong support from the Christian right, Huckabee was under intense pressure from conservative activists to pardon Dumond or commute his sentence. The activists claimed that Dumond's initial imprisonment and various other travails were due to the fact that Ashley Stevens, the high school cheerleader he had raped, was a distant cousin of Bill Clinton, and the daughter of a major Clinton campaign contributor.

And Huckabee complied. Fucking disgraceful. Huckabee recieved written pleas from several victims including a woman who was raped with her three year old daughter in the bed. Need more? He also recieved a letter from the since-grown daughter.

Dumond got a chance to rape and kill at least two other women before being re-apprehended in Missouri. All because along the way he accidentallly dragged the Clintons into it.

UPDATE: More from Kos and Carpetbagger, but nowhere in the mainstream...

SECOND UPDATE: Via Andrew Sullivan, Huckabee addresses the Dumond situation. Sullivan finds it candid, even compelling. I don't. Especially considering the active role he and his staff took trying to suppress the truth by hiding the letters in his archives beyond the reach of FOIA, and because he cannot even express his regret without blaming Bill Clinton:
"It was a horrible situation, horrible, I feel awful about it in every way. I wish that there was some way I could go back and reverse the clock and put him back in prison. But nobody, not me, not Jim Guy Tucker, not Bill Clinton, not that parole board, could ever imagine what might have transpired."

"Nobody could imagine...?" I'm sick to death of that excuse from Republicans, aren't you? You didn't have to imagine. It was in writing. On your desk. Sent to you by the parole board. And you chose to ignore it, act on Dumond's behalf, and push for his release anyway. Shut the fuck up.

11 comments:

michelline said...

This is a a horrific case. I clicked the Huffington link before I read all of your post, and I'm thinking 'Why would conservatives want to let out a rapist? (or at least one who wasn't well-connected)', then I got to the Clinton paragraph you quoted. If it had happened under his administration without his involvement, that would be one thing. But the fact that he had a hand in it makes him complicit. I'm sure Arkansas has many drug offenders doing unjustified time that he could have better served.

On another note, I caught a good portion of the NPR debate yesterday, and it's amazing how all the Democratic candidates sound so much more intelligent, thoughtful and mature than any of the Republicans. I'd take any of them, Biden and Clinton included over any of the knuckle-draggers running for the GOP. It's amazing that there's even a question at this point.

Mr Furious said...

I caught a good portion of the NPR debate yesterday, and it's amazing how all the Democratic candidates sound so much more intelligent, thoughtful and mature than any of the Republicans.

Was that the debate where this clip of Huckabee making light of people "who believe they descended from primates" to loud applause comes from?

You should only be amazed at how thoughtless and unintelligent much of the populace is.

michelline said...

No, the NPR debate was Democratic only, radio-only with no audience. I liked the format. I have read about Huckbees's statement.

Toast said...

I caught a good portion of the NPR debate yesterday, and it's amazing how all the Democratic candidates sound so much more intelligent, thoughtful and mature than any of the Republicans.

Really? It's amazing?

Come on. We all know perfectly well that Democrats and progressives are, on average, vastly more intelligent than Republicans and conservatives.

michelline said...

Really? It's amazing?

Ok, not really. It's amazing that the media presents both sets of candidates with the same level of seriousness. On one side, you've got people arguing about who hates foreigners more and who's really got more faith in his sky fairy. On the other side you've got people who talk about restoring habeas corpus and have nuanced discussions about how to tackle the problem of Islamic fundamentalism. And yes, they talk about the sky fairy as well, but it's not the big thing.

Deb said...

I'm a little sad, actually. I like when he says things like, "Students should be given credit for having the intelligence to think through various theories for themselves and come to their own conclusions." You know. Like he's done.

Meh. I found his name a stumbling block to the presidency in and of itself. I mean, come ON... "President HUCKABEE?" Like radical fundamentalists are going to quiver in their boots when they hear "I Heart Huckabees" is gunning for them.

Sorry, Mr. I'm STILL thinking about POTs.

Mr Furious said...

If you watch the clip where he addresses volution vs the bible, he does a pretty good job answering for a while...I disagree with him...but he goes as far as saying six days might represent eons of time...etc. Then he dismisses evolution froom primates and it's all over for me.

Believe in God if you like, but don't go treating science like it's just something "some people believe in if they like..."

POTs?

Rickey said...

Yes, that smear campaign was pure garbage, and yes, Huckabee is much better than Romney or Guiliani...

BUT, Rickey is not buying the nice guy schtick that Huckabee is selling. Besides, he's like that boring next door neighbor everyone has. He's affable, but there's no substance there.

And what's scary is that if he emerges as the GOP front runner, he might just whomp Hillary or Obama.

Noah said...

he's like that boring next door neighbor everyone has

And that, Mr. Henerson, sums up what I think about Huckabee. ANd I don't think he could whomp either Clinton or Obama. He's too...nice neighbor and not enough leader.

Mr Furious said...

I don't think Huckabee can handle Obama or Hillary. He can certainly sew up the Evangelical vote, but that only gets him the GOP nomination. I don;t think he has the chops nationally, and I think his pious bullshit won't play well beyond that religious base.

His ad team is second only to Richardson's though...

Mr Furious said...

...besides, when I'm through with this fucker, he won't get elected dogcatcher in Little Rock.