Huckabee's 'Willie Horton'

Now that the shoe is on the other foot, and it's a Republican presidential candidate who's responsible for securing the release of a violent criminal from prison, only to have that criminal commit a murder after serving his parole - ala Willie Horton, let's see if right-wing Christian evangelicals are really interested in seeking truth and justice or simply confirm themselves as a pack of hate-mongering hypocrits I've always taken them to be.

While Governor of Arkansas, current G.O.P. presidential hopeful, Mike Huckabee, appeared before the Arkansas Parole Board, in private, and urged the Board to parole Wayne Dumond, a violent criminal convicted of raping a woman, who just happened to be a distant cousin of Bill Clinton, the former governor of Arkansas. After the Board went along with Huckabee's request and paroled the rapist, Dumond killed and spent his remaining days in prison for murder.

Dumond was apparently a "cause celeb" among right-wing Christian evangelicals, who hate Clinton with a passion, and who took the position that Dumond's rape conviction was primarily the result of the victim's relationship to Clinton. Never mind that a jury of Dumond's peers were unanimously convinced otherwise after hearing the victim testify and never mind that said conviction was upheld on appeal.

Is hatred of Clinton so deep among Christian evangelicals that they'd side with a violent rapist who'd later escalate that violent to murder over the word of a rape victim? Apparently so! And that apparently goes for Huckabee too.

There's certainly room in this world for a lot more compassion, forgiveness and recognition that even well-intentioned folk sometimes make mistakes that are regrettable, but not indicative of deep-seeded character flaws, but there's no justification for allowing hate to rule reason.

It behooves the evangelicals who stood up for Dumond to acknowledge that their hatred of Clinton motivated their actions and that they acted wrongly. It behooves Huckabee to apologize too and not try to evade responsibility for his misjudgment. If Huckabee can't stand up and admit his mistake, he doesn't deserve to be President.