that would have been a useful concept to consider before killing a Pastor. Admittedly the Pastor is dead regardless, but when does Mercy trump Justice?

Justice seems to clearly show that you’ve needlessly and violently taken a life for selfish reasons. Paying for that crime and removing the chance of you committing a similar crime is the goal of most Justice minded people.

Mercifully letting the criminals go to commit new crimes upon the innocents in society doesn’t really seem that “merciful”. At least not to the victims of the crime.

So I guess if you want to consider “mercy” you need to look at which side of mercy you’re more interested in.

Mercy for the victims of crime (preventing more from becoming victims).

Mercy for the perpetrators of crime.

I’m not sure why you’re playing devil’s advocate and arguing that mercy for convicted criminals is a better thing than mercy for the innocents in society.

But justice says let them serve their full sentence, and mercy seems to favor the innocent; so keeping criminals out of society seems beneficial from a viewpoint of purely “mercy” too.

Unless for some reason, mercy to a man who murdered another without justifiable cause is better than mercy for a man killed for no good reason. I can’t imagine anyone taking that position, but it seems the only one where “mercy” justifies this sort of action.

It’s as though Huckabee lacks a basic BS detector Bryan on December 17, 2007 at 9:49 PM

Even with his own son. Read this- it’ll trouble ya I bet.
I’ve known many parents like this- the children often grow up to be felons.

CAMPAIGN 2008
A Son’s Past Deeds Come Back To Bite Huckabee
By Michael Isikoff and Holly Bailey | NEWSWEEK
Dec 24, 2007 Issue | Updated: 2:51 p.m. ET Dec 15, 2007

Jesus(The Son of God aka TSOG)on the cross: “’sup”

First criminal(FC): “dude! get us down!”

TSOG: /ignore…

Other criminal(OC): “jagoff! don’t talk like that! This guy is TSOG, you better watch it or you’ll get booted! We’re up here for a reason but his deal was completely bogus”

TSOG to : See you at my place after we log off…cool?

OC: cool…

TBinSTL on December 17, 2007 at 10:19 PM

That’s not the King James Version, is it?

I bet good money Huck’s not swayed by conversion to Zoroastrianism, or what have you.

TexasDan on December 18, 2007 at 12:21 AM

A lot of people become Moslems in prison. Would he pardon them too?

DannoJyd on December 17, 2007 at 10:23 PM

Yes, Christ talked about forgiveness and redemption…but never about not holding someone accountable for his actions. We judge actions, not what is in someones heart. We are told to hold leaders to a higher standard, and Huck does not fit that standard. He needs to set aside his own concerns and protect the people he is sworn to protect.
Huck is a weak man, and worse, he uses the bible to justify his poor weak actions.

As a Christian, I would posit this too: here would seem to be a clear preference to a particular faith. I bet good money Huck’s not swayed by conversion to Zoroastrianism, or what have you.

I’d be the first to argue Christianity’s track record at reforming the sinner, especially compared to other belief sets. But I find many believers to be easily swayed and downright undiscerning if someone starts in with the right phrases. Mike Warnke, anybody? We’re a sadly gullible lot when it comes to picking out the genuine article.

For every Chuck Colson (did he finish his sentence?) there’s a lot of folks just playing our emotions. No way do I want a president who’s demonstrated ineptitude and incompetence in granting clemency.

Please note: Huck didn’t let the guy out, he merely commuted his sentence. The parole board did the rest.

Allahpundit on December 17, 2007 at 9:56 PM

Is this the guy he commuted to like 100 years or something?

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of……

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of……

Any student of the Bible knows the repentant soul comes to faith through supernatural grace by the Holy Spirit, not by good efforts or willpower. When a man comes to faith, he understands better than anyone how deserving he is of punishment… just consider the repentant criminal who died on a cross alongside Jesus. It’s mighty presumptuous of Huck to believe he can read hearts in this fashion.

Release someone early because you believe he has come to faith? Wouldn’t be prudent.

Wasn’t it Machiavelli who said “Take from the weak and not the strong”, because the weak will have little recourse and the strong won’t take offense?

Christian indeed!

/sarcasm

??????

What I’d like to see is the graph of Pardon and Commutation requests on a year by year basis. If Huckabee was seen as a sucka, then everyone and their jailed brother would start sending requests in after a couple of years, so the numbers game Huckabee’s using will be distorted.

In other words – mercy ain’t in my dictionary. Honestly, all felons should be life sentences, only granted probation after a minimum term and eligible to return for even thinking about breaching conditions. The bloody code has some definite advantages to it. Libertarian doesn’t have to mean soft-headed idiot, but apparently this “conservative” pastor is a born sucker. What will the voracious barbarians and the traitors at State get him to agree to?

TBinSTL on December 17, 2007 at 10:19 PM

not to be crude….nail on head

First criminal(FC): “dude! get us down!”

TSOG: /ignore…

Other criminal(OC): “jagoff! don’t talk like that! This guy is TSOG, you better watch it or you’ll get booted! We’re up here for a reason but his deal was completely bogus”

TSOG to : See you at my place after we log off…cool?

OC: cool…

like I said…sucker.