Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, December 9, 2009
Crime "Why I commuted Maurice Clemmons' sentence."
Posted by Eli Sanders on Wed, Dec 9, 2009 at 5:27 PM
1
Funny how you partisan hacks are trying to pin this on Huckabee just because he's a Republican. If the pardon occurred under a Democrat, your fervor for pinning blame on one person would be more muted.
Additionally, if Huckabee did not grant Clemmons a pardon and subsequently sentenced a 16 year old to life in prison, in your eyes, this would have been a classic example of old white conservatives trying to lock up the black population for life.
Unfortunately, the stranger's double standard is not at all shocking.
Additionally, if Huckabee did not grant Clemmons a pardon and subsequently sentenced a 16 year old to life in prison, in your eyes, this would have been a classic example of old white conservatives trying to lock up the black population for life.
Unfortunately, the stranger's double standard is not at all shocking.
2
@1 Don't be such a spoilsport (i agree with 92%, give or take, of what you say). Aren't you more interested in the relocation of a bookstore? or The bookstore? No? I'm with ya, I'd rather hang out at the 5-point. Thanks KellyO.
4
@1, if a democrat pardoned Clemmons, we would all be deafened by the Level 9 Shrieking from the right about how Dems are soft on crime, etc.
The left's pointing out of Huckabee's mistake is maybe level 2 at most. So STFU and GBTW, tool.
The left's pointing out of Huckabee's mistake is maybe level 2 at most. So STFU and GBTW, tool.
5
Abridged: "I was a feckless shithead in the statehouse and I'm even more spineless now. Thanks for listening."
6
Did anyone watch the Daily Show last night with Fuckabee as a guest? The one quote that I can't get out of my head that he said of the cops was "they were at the wrong place at the wrong time". I think that quote will come back to haunt him.
7
I really have to agree with Huckabee here, and this is one of the few instances where I can say that. He commuted the sentence to 47 years. The parole board was the authority responsible for letting him out as soon as he became parole-eligible. Based on who he was at the time, that may have been a reasonable decision. What was not reasonable was the prosecutor declining to file charges in a parole violation case in the first year he was free, and the more recent decision (or "mistake" or whatever) to drop his fugitive status in Arkansas, which effectively let him out on his Washington state bail.
Sure, we all want someone to blame. But pinning this on Huckabee is really not warranted. The guy was clearly given a sentence that was disproportionate to what he had done up to that point, and he merely shortened it. If the parole board had not approved his release, it should be noted, Clemmons would still be in prison.
Sure, we all want someone to blame. But pinning this on Huckabee is really not warranted. The guy was clearly given a sentence that was disproportionate to what he had done up to that point, and he merely shortened it. If the parole board had not approved his release, it should be noted, Clemmons would still be in prison.
10
@9: Well, shit, yeah. But that has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not he has a valid argument. I'd vote for just about the shittiest dem I can imagine to avoid a Huckabee presidency, but his reasons for commuting Clemmons sentence from ridiculously long to less-ridiculously long are convincing in the tradition of enlightened secular liberalism. The fact that he's an evangelical Christian boob with a reactionary social agenda doesn't change the fact that he made the right decision given the facts available at the time.
11
I despise Huckabee, but that was a well-written article and I completely agree with him that he is not to blame, and that he did the right thing by commuting Clemmons' sentence. I think it's stupid that anyone on the left really thinks that this would make a difference in his chances in 2012... when have far right wing voters EVER placed blame on their chosen candidates for things they've done? CNN could run a report proving that Huckabee is actually a killer robot with anti-freedom lasers and most of his supporters would ignore it as biased media and blame liberals and Satan for all their problems.
12
WE had Clemons and WE in Washington let him go knowing that Huckabee commuted him and AR let him out and knowing he'd attacked cops and knowing he had a child rape charge and knowing he was mental and OUR bail system and OUR proseuctor and OUR judge KNEW that the game of $200K on bail is really only $20 cash down EZ credit financeable so all this attention on Arkansas is the most pathetic blame shifting you've ever seen.
Huckabee didn't MAKE our judge and our prosecutor let him and didn't make our bail laws and didn't allow the jail sucks bail bonding company with the laughable ten percent down requirement. WE did those things.
Hey Washington: will you ever stop the whinnnnning and fucking man up?
Huckabee didn't MAKE our judge and our prosecutor let him and didn't make our bail laws and didn't allow the jail sucks bail bonding company with the laughable ten percent down requirement. WE did those things.
Hey Washington: will you ever stop the whinnnnning and fucking man up?
13
Actually, Huckabee was right here. I'd have done precisely what he did.
In fact, the more I thought about the Seattle Times review of the timeline of Maurice Clemmons long, slow descent into madness, the less impressed I was at attempts to hang this around Huckabee's neck. It's just a bum rap. Christ, there are enough perfectly legitimate reasons to hate Huckabee, including the fact that he believes that Dan Savage is a disease that can be cured, without having to resort to this Willie Horton silliness.
In fact, the more I thought about the Seattle Times review of the timeline of Maurice Clemmons long, slow descent into madness, the less impressed I was at attempts to hang this around Huckabee's neck. It's just a bum rap. Christ, there are enough perfectly legitimate reasons to hate Huckabee, including the fact that he believes that Dan Savage is a disease that can be cured, without having to resort to this Willie Horton silliness.
14
Why I write an op-ed piece for a paper ten states away from where I'm from and 13 states away from where I live now: To cover my ass, because I am definitely running for the Repub nomination in 2012. So yeah, I have sound reasoning. Too bad my potential base has such a shoddy relationship with reason. Boy, this might be something I want to think about soon.
16
Is Huckster being unfairly maligned over this? Probably. Certainly it was a culmination of many errors that led to this, not solely Huckabee's pardon.
But the Republicans invented this kind of attack. Most of you Sloglings are probably too young to remember the 1988 election. Michael Dukakis was the Democratic nominee (he lost to Daddy Bush). The Republicans ran a nasty smear campaign over his furlough of Willie Horton, who went on to rape someone while out on furlough. As if it was solely Dukakis' fault. As a bonus, the ads had a pretty nasty racial overtone, too.
Dukakis was no more responsible for Horton's crimes than Huckabee is for Clemmons'. So spare me if I don't shed a tear if Huckabee gets taken down a peg or two over this.
Finally, the Democrats really don't need to do a thing. If Huckster runs, the other Republicans in the primary will crucify him over this. They are the law and order crowd. He'll never survive a primary in his own party now.
But the Republicans invented this kind of attack. Most of you Sloglings are probably too young to remember the 1988 election. Michael Dukakis was the Democratic nominee (he lost to Daddy Bush). The Republicans ran a nasty smear campaign over his furlough of Willie Horton, who went on to rape someone while out on furlough. As if it was solely Dukakis' fault. As a bonus, the ads had a pretty nasty racial overtone, too.
Dukakis was no more responsible for Horton's crimes than Huckabee is for Clemmons'. So spare me if I don't shed a tear if Huckabee gets taken down a peg or two over this.
Finally, the Democrats really don't need to do a thing. If Huckster runs, the other Republicans in the primary will crucify him over this. They are the law and order crowd. He'll never survive a primary in his own party now.
17
108 years for robbery when you're 16 might be a tad steep. I don't fault Huckabee for the clemency.
How is it you can get bail when charged with child rape though? We might want to rethink that one.
How is it you can get bail when charged with child rape though? We might want to rethink that one.
18
Well, no. He could very well survive a Repub primary by accusing everyone in sight of racism, which would play well with the base, bc then they get to be "not racist" by absolving a white guy of racism. Their dream scenario, basically. All he has to do is take the heat from Romney on their behalf, for a little while. I grew up in the south, and there's nothing they're so inclined to do as find a way to hide the racism they know full well is wrong but that they can't help indulging their hateful hearts in.
19
What about the prosecutor who asked the judge to give him 108 years that made it more likely that someone 13 years later would think that number was too high and then reduce it to 47 so that he could get parole.
Isn't he really to blame?!
And what about his gardener? If he had not done such a stellar job with his hedges, he would have not had as much time to plot such a sentence!
20
That's nice and all, Mike. Do you also want to apologize for your party's stereotyping of Democrats for being soft on crime for doing the exact same thing as you did?
No?
No?
21
The one quote that I can't get out of my head that he said of the cops was "they were at the wrong place at the wrong time".
Um, if they were at a different place at a different time they still would have been killed, Clemmons wasn't intent on firing a gun into that particular location... he was intent on killing cops.
Um, if they were at a different place at a different time they still would have been killed, Clemmons wasn't intent on firing a gun into that particular location... he was intent on killing cops.
22
There's a lot of people out there trying to make this a partisan issue and it's really just not.
So we can probably dispense with all the attacks like: "If this was a Democrat, the Right would be shitting all over him for being soft on crime..." and "I love how the Democrats are all after Huckabee for this one... you guys wouldn't be saying a thing of Huckabee was a Democrat!"
I mean, Huckabee's gettin' trashed both from the left and the right pretty vehemently. Some of his harshest criticism is actually coming from Republicans. So it's just one of those issues that doesn't split cleanly along party lines.
That being said, it really sounds like Arkansas bungled the parole warrant after his Washington arrests and Western State clearly missed a psychotic case of tragic proportions.
Huckabee's made his case; it's really time for the other officials who let Clemmons slip through the cracks to make theirs.
So we can probably dispense with all the attacks like: "If this was a Democrat, the Right would be shitting all over him for being soft on crime..." and "I love how the Democrats are all after Huckabee for this one... you guys wouldn't be saying a thing of Huckabee was a Democrat!"
I mean, Huckabee's gettin' trashed both from the left and the right pretty vehemently. Some of his harshest criticism is actually coming from Republicans. So it's just one of those issues that doesn't split cleanly along party lines.
That being said, it really sounds like Arkansas bungled the parole warrant after his Washington arrests and Western State clearly missed a psychotic case of tragic proportions.
Huckabee's made his case; it's really time for the other officials who let Clemmons slip through the cracks to make theirs.
23
@16 - Dukakis had no personal involvement in the automatic, legally required furlough of Willie Horton. He couldn't approve or decline the furlough. He could not lobby one way or the other. Horton and his minister couldn't claim he was rehabilitated and born again. The law in Massachusetts required it and had set standards that applied to all prisoners, no matter what connections they had or their faith.
Huckabee personally pushed for the clemency of this individual based on his Christian faith and having relatives in another state. Huckabee outright lied about Clemmons growing up in Washington on the Daily Show. All his talk about fairness and dis-proportionality is after the fact CYA.
For his defenders, where are all the prisoners he asked for clemency that ARE NOT any of the following:
a)born again Christian, preferably Baptist
b)family in another state
c) raped a relative of Bill Clinton(true story)
Huckabee personally pushed for the clemency of this individual based on his Christian faith and having relatives in another state. Huckabee outright lied about Clemmons growing up in Washington on the Daily Show. All his talk about fairness and dis-proportionality is after the fact CYA.
For his defenders, where are all the prisoners he asked for clemency that ARE NOT any of the following:
a)born again Christian, preferably Baptist
b)family in another state
c) raped a relative of Bill Clinton(true story)
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