Early Tuesday morning, Maurice Clemmons, 37, was shot and killed by Seattle Police. Clemmons was the subject of a two day manhunt, with accusations that he had shot and killed four police officers. Then Governor Mike Huckabee had granted clemency to Clemmons in May of 2000, after it was suggested by advisers that Clemmons was deserving. Clemmons was serving 108 years after being tried as an adult when he was 16 for  robbery and burglary.

Now, when I first read that, I thought "Well, I could see that, clemency might have been the right thing to do", however when you take into account his extremely violent behavior while in prison, which is well documented, that makes you think: what the hell was Huck thinking? On top of the Clemmons disaster, there was also the clemency granted to convicted rapist Wayne DuMond, who was later convicted of raping and murdering a woman in Missouri.

And this is where the question of whether or not he allowed his religious beliefs to interfere with his job comes into play. Both of these men supposedly "found God" in jail (doesn't everybody?), and there are some who believe that Huck looked past his better judgment and allowed the preacher inside of him to "forgive them of their sins". Granted, this is all speculation, but what better reason is there for granting clemency to these two before mentioned scum bags? A rapist and a cop killer. These two men were put in jail for a reason and should have stayed in jail.

To Mike Huckabee's credit, he has said that he "accepts full responsibility".

However, just what does that entail? He doesn't hold a political position! What responsibility, besides having to live with the fact that he was the cause of a rape and 4 police officer murders, does he have to live with? Is he going to pay the family for his mistakes, for his lack of oversight? Is he going to personally go to the homes of the slain policemen and apologize? Highly unlikely, but if he does, at least that's something. No matter how much Huckabee feels sorry for what he has done, no matter how much of the blame he takes, people got hurt because of his decisions. Which brings me to my closing points.

Pardoning and clemency, while in theory sound happy and cheerful and just chock FULL of warm fuzzy feelings for the families of rapists and thieves, should NOT be used unless THE UTMOST PRECAUTIONS are met. Here's a quote from Huck: "Between 1,000 and 2,000 requests for some form of clemency came to my desk each and every one of the 10½ years I was governor," Huckabee said Tuesday. "Ninety-two percent of the time, I denied the requests." Well, Mike, I guess it should have been 93% of the time. I'll make a promise right now, on this site, on this post, that if I were to ever become governor clemency and pardoning would all but not exist, and that is a promise that I feel ALL governors must make, especially Republican ones. Of course Democrats are going to let just about anybody walk out of the prisons, blaming over crowding, but Republicans are supposed to be the "tough on crime" group of politicians, and dammit I demand they live up to that reputation!

Kevin asked me to cover this one because he didn't want any sort of personal bias on his part to slip into the piece, because it is a very serious matter and he knew I didn't have much of an opinion on Huck one way or the other. I'm not forming my opinion about this case because of anything that has been written about Huck on this site, I have my own personal things that I disagree with Huck on (specifically trade protectionism), and things I agree 100% with him on (like the Fair Tax). However, letting people out of prison with out being 110% sure that they deserve to be let out is wrong, dangerous, and irresponsible. I hope that Mike Huckabee realizes this now...although it's a little late.