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| Home Front: Politix |
| Huckabee Passes Buck On Responsibility In Police Killings |
| 2009-12-02 |
| Curious to a politician who wears faith on his sleeve, ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has engaged in Pilate-like hand washing over commuting the prison sentence of cop killer Maurice Clemmons. We've received a Huckabee statement blaming "a series of errors in the criminal justice system," and heard a Fox News interview in which the would-be president denounced "Washington judges" and talked about police making errors in paperwork. "It's not your fault governor . . . I'm not saying it's your fault. I don't think anybody watching thinks it's your fault," cooed interviewer/enabler Bill O'Reilly. So hard it is to face the truth. Maurice Clemmons would still be in an Arkansas prison cell, and four Lakewood police officers would be alive, but for Huckabee's actions. Convicted rapist Wayne DuMond would not have raped and killed a woman had he not been paroled 11 months before the crime. Of course, Huckabee blamed the governor who preceded him, and the state parole board that he appointed. The episode raises discomforting questions about public life in America. Does anybody ever accept responsibility on the spot? Almost never! The pattern is to wait for years until there's a book to sell, such as ex-Defense Secretary Robert McNamara's memoir-driven confession that "we were terribly, terribly wrong" about Vietnam. Are senior officials held to account? The foreign secretary in Britain's cabinet, Lord Carrington, resigned immediately after Argentina occupied the Falkland Islands. He gave a direct, honest explanation: It happened on my watch, so I am responsible. Over here, Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld botched the Iraq War and occupation, yet hung on until he was fired after the 2006 election. Vice President Dick Cheney stayed on the Republicans' 2004 ticket despite his lies about weapons of mass destruction, and prediction that Iraqis would greet us as "liberators." Nor, except in very rare cases, does anybody resign on principle. Did any senior Clinton aide quit in protest at the president's private (and public) lies about his relationship with "that woman" Monica Lewinsky? The most we can expect is, in a phrase made famous during Watergate, "the modified limited hangout route." Huckabee is traveling down this road, saying of the Clemmons commutation: "It's not something I'm happy about at this particular moment." One more point, illustrated by O'Reilly's worshipful treatment of Huckabee and lying about the terms of Clemmons' bail: Ideology-driven media organizations, such as Fox, will airbrush rather than pursue malfeasance when it happens on their side of the fence. It wasn't always so. As President Richard Nixon fell to the self-inflicted wounds of Watergate, such Republicans as Sens. Barry Goldwater and Hugh Scott — and Washington Attorney General Slade Gorton — behaved with honor and helped propel his exit from office. Conservative New York Times columnist William Safire was relentless in probing the tacky side of the Clinton presidency. He was, however, equally unsparing in exposing Bush I blunders that persuaded Iraq's Saddam Hussein that he had a free hand to invade Kuwait. Nowadays, we have blatant double standards. Not long ago, a debunking discussion on Sean Hannity's Fox show centered on the fact that Al Gore travels by private jet. Viewers of the "fair and balanced" network likely will never learn that Sarah Palin's "bus tour" to promote her book has included flights on a $4,000-per-hour Gulfstream 2 private jet. It's how the "hockey mom" arrived in the Tri-Cities for Thanksgiving. Huckabee issued more than 1,000 commutations and pardons during 10 years as governor of Arkansas. Within six months of Huckabee's commutation, Clemmons violated conditions of parole, and was sent back to prison in 2001 for aggravated robbery. He was paroled again by the state of Arkansas in 2004. 'Can't blame that on "Washington judges." A county prosecutor in Arkansas, Robert Herzfeld, wrote Huckabee arguing that his clemency policy was "fatally flawed" — and would later sue to overturn a Huckabee decision to set free a murderer who bludgeoned his victim. The reply to his letter came from Huckabee's chief of staff: "The governor read your letter and laughed out loud. He wanted me to respond to you. I wish you success as you cut down on your caffeine consumption." Instead of buck passing on Fox News, Mike Huckabee and Bill O'Reilly should donate their book royalty bucks to help the nine children who lost parents when Maurice Clemmons opened fire on Sunday morning. |
| Posted by:746 |
| #1 So much for Huckabee 2012.... |
| Posted by: Mike 2009-12-02 14:00 |