Hucka Dukakis
December 5th, 2007Shame on the Republican Party, the Democratic Party and the Huffington Post for ripping Mike Huckabee for his role in a rapist’s parole hearings. Here’s what happened: a rapist is thrown into prison in Arkansas; Clinton and Jim Guy Tucker commute parts of his sentence; Huckabee writes a letter while Governor saying, perhaps he should be let out. He gets out of prison and rapes someone, then kills them; Huckabee is now being attacked by some Leftists and Right-Wingers for ever having the audacity to believe that someone has changed or deserves a fair shot before a parole board.
You know, Dear Reader, that I am tough on crime, but I do believe that parole boards should exist and I don’t believe that a man is a monster if he releases someone, or plays a role in their release, only to watch them commit more crimes. It might be a lapse of judgment, it might be stupidity, but it might be, and likely is, an honest and terrible mistake that anyone can make. Governors often have to commute or pardon people because the prisons get so full that the prison systems tell them, we need you to do it or else there’s no room. Besides, the parole process allows second chances to some — more often than not, they’ve earned it and justify it with their lives; others, don’t, but it’s unfortunate and dishonest for anyone to try to make a Michael Dukakis out of Mike Huckabee.