Is this a clever Huckabee line, or what?

[tttar]

I wonder if even Jesse Jackson's campaign had ever thought to brush off controversies with this clever line:

"Huckabee turns the other cheek"

http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=678

It could neutralize even the most egregious charges (ok, the article was only about Weyrich - but think of the possibilities!), and make The Huckster Man out to be a saint at the same time.

"Pastor Huckabee doesn't respond in kind; he just turns the other cheek."

Somebody on his campaign staff is being paid good money.

[Just Come Home]

He's going to have a hard time using that one when people start asking him legitimate questions about Wayne Dumond.

[Just Come Home]

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.

...

According to the report, "Wayne stated that he went upstairs to the bedroom, and that the woman was asleep when he went into the room. Wayne stated the woman woke up, and he held a knife on her while he committed the rape, and that the woman's baby was in the bed with her."

...

Dumond raped Ashley Stevens, Clinton's distant cousin, in 1984 when she was a 17-year-old high school student in Forest City, Arkansas.

He was convicted in 1985 and sentenced to life in prison, plus 20 years. In 1992, Jim Guy Tucker, who became governor of Arkansas after Clinton left office, reduced Dumond's sentence to 39.5 years.

Shortly after taking office in 1996, Huckabee announced his intention to commute Dumond's sentence to time served. A public outcry ensued.

...

What was left unsaid in her letter to Huckabee was that she was three years old when, in the 1970s, Dumond raped her mother. The girl was in her mother's bed asleep when the rape occurred. Dumond held a butcher's knife to her mother's throat during the assault.

In an interview, her mother told the Huffington Post how she fought with Dumond to wrestle the knife away from him, willing to risk her own life rather than suffer at Dumond's hands.

But Dumond overcame her resistance. He pointed to her daughter sleeping next to her and threatened: "If you don't cooperate with me, she'll be next."

The woman did as she was told. As Dumond continued to violently rape her, the woman recalled, she lay consciously and deliberately silent. Even as she was being assaulted, she gently stroked her daughter's hair, praying she would not wake up.

When the assault was over, the woman said, Dumond threatened to come back and rape and kill her daughter if she told anyone.

Twenty-three years after the rape, the girl who had been protected by her mother's silence attempted to persuade Huckabee to keep Dumond behind bars.

When he was governor of Arkansas, Huckabee similarly attempted to deflect Dumond-related criticism by claiming that those raising the issue -- among them, members of the state's parole board, women state legislators, journalists, and even one of Dumond's victims -- were doing so for partisan political purposes.

"If he makes it about politics, he doesn't answer the hard questions about why he did what he did," says Larry Jegley, prosecuting attorney for Arkansas' sixth judicial district. Jegley is a Democrat who campaigned against Huckabee when he ran for re-election because of Huckabee's actions on the Dumond case, as well as his commutation of the sentences of other convicts who went on to commit additional crimes.

Although Huckabee has yet to give a detailed account as to why he pushed to free Dumond, he provided his fullest explanation to date in his published campaign manifesto "From Hope to Higher Ground." In the book, he wrote that he was moved to act on Dumond's behalf because he believed Dumond might have been wrongly convicted. Ashley Stevens and Fletcher Long confirmed in interviews for this story that when they met with then-Gov. Huckabee, he insisted to them that Dumond might be innocent.

Huckabee also wrote in "From Hope to Higher Ground" that he moved to act on Dumond's behalf out of compassion... Huckabee also wrote in his campaign book that his intervention on Dumond's behalf reflected his broad philosophy that the criminal justice system is too harsh, and that his religious faith requires him to take chances to act with compassion towards the accused.



Much more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/04/documents-expose-huckabee_n_75362.html

[tttar]

God, I'd heard about that, but didn't know just how bad it was, or that the lady's daughter had pleaded with Huckabee to not release him.

I'd still hope that the voters give more weight to the issues that separate him from Ron Paul, but I guess the "scandals" could count for a lot more, as they always have.

But he was still reelected after this happened, so I'd guess it won't be the make or break issue this time around, either.

[Cap'n Crunk]

they are going to be talking about the Dumond thing on Morning Joe coming up

[MadEmperor]

wow, that doesn't sound too good.....

[ButchHowdy]

Goodbye Elmer Fudd!

[Cap'n Crunk]

Joe is pissed. He's saying something like this killed some guy I have never heard ofs campaign in 1988, and it should have. He expects this to hit Huckabee hard. Too bad. A good 6 minute piece attacking Huckabee. He also is not happy that Huckabee refuses to answer questions about if Mormonism is a cult. Doesn't understand why he just can't say no and move on. Hopefully we see pieces like this on the news all day.

[Second_Tier_My_Ass]

This is too perfect. A quote taken directly from that article...

"I will continue to support Paul even if he doesn't support me, " Huckabee said

Oh my god! This almost sounds like Huckabee is endorsing Ron Paul! Of course it's taken out of context, as Huckabee is actually talking about Paul Weyrich, but still. It's hilarious to think about.

[Man from La Mancha]

I don't know how serious this parol could be, just bad luck, many felons are released and don't do that. What is much more serious and why is the destruction of public property Huck did. He had destroyed every hard drive in all the states computers eliminating all records pertaining to his administration in office. Why, he surely had a lot to hide.

.