My reason for stating that Mike Huckabee’s number one priority is himself is because when he had no chance of winning the primaries, he stayed in and essentially gave McCain the Presidential nod. He did this for no other reason than to promote himself and knowingly created a worse situation for conservatives.
In regards to your question, If Mike Huckabee’s number one priority was himself, do you think it makes any sense for him to parole 1,000 people as Gov? I think you are making a huge leap in logic to assume that a pardon some how means that person is not self serving. Keep in mind that I said the real story is not being told. That is the true victim being a 12 year old girl and two judges that let this animal off on a mere $15k bail. I think you are blindly defending Huckabee and not thinking through others responses.

How can you say that Mike Huckabee’s number one priority is himself and not this country. You must be mistaking him for Mitt Romney. If Mike Huckabee’s number one priority was himself, do you think it makes any sense for him to parole 1,000 people as Gov? No, he did it for the people in Arkansas, not for his political ambitions, unlike Mitt Romney. His actions prove you are wrong, so stop with the lie about how he only cared about himself. Wouldn’t it have been much easier on himself and his political career to just not give any paroles? Of course, it would but he cared about the people in Arkansas….all the people in Arkansas.

He did try to correct it by applying leadership and decision making in the most difficult cases. He received 1,200 of these case every year. 92% of them he did not parole.

He did not parole anybody or commute their sentences because he was a Christian (other than to try and correct the injustice that was given to the Black community in Arkansas). Those stories about him using his Christian faith as the reason to parole is false and was only used because he is a Christian and it seemed a plausible answer by some. Of course, it doesn’t matter if it’s not true, just any old reason to blast this “sleezy car salesmen…Huckabee”. Right!

Now you people on Hot Air and Michelle Malkin, Limbaugh and Levin are no better than the MSM that blasted Sarah Palin with such ferocity. Only this comes from YOU PEOPLE, and you should be ashamed just like the MSM should be ashamed they did that to Sarah Palin!!! What’s your excuse? There is no justification that any of you can give that holds any water. If you think the MSM is so bad, how about all of you? Even when I give you answers to what happened, you choose not to believe it because you want to stick with your preconceived lies about Mike Huckabee!!

Clemmons was not a murderer when his sentence was commuted by Gov. Huckabee. He was a minority who was 16 yrs old that was sentenced 108 yrs for robbery of a empty house, stealing a woman’s purse, and taking an unregistered firearm to school. He also had no prior record! How many murderers do you know who got this kind of sentence? I doubt you could give anybody! A judge and parole board requested Clemmons’ sentence be commuted because it was very excessive to begin with. Gov. Huckabee sent out requests for input to this commutation to five officials in Arkansas which was standard procedure asking for their input on this case. Nobody registered a disagreement with this commutation. The prosecutor who has blasted Mike Huckabee said he did not receive a request which he says he always does get. Gov. Huckabee commuted his sentence to 47 yrs. He had already served 11 years. The parole board decided to parole him. Clemmons within a matter of months violated that parole and was arrested for that. This same prosecutor did not file the paperwork to keep him in prison, so he went free. Sure looks like he was trying to push the blame on Gov. Huckabee for his own negligence. So, for Michelle Malkin to say that the Gov. Huckabee gave a commutation over the strong protests of the prosecutor and family members is a LIE. The prosecutor was interviewd today and admitted he had never gave a protest to Mike Huckabee. It sure was convenient for Michelle and Ed to JUMP on this story without asking Mike Huckabee what happened or checking out the facts. This should ruin Michelle’s statements, not Mike Huckabee’s!

In this case, Huckabee personally freed Clemmons… and his attempt to back away from that decision in his statement doesn’t speak well to his sense of responsibility,

Where is your update, Ed?

Mike Huckabee’s statement: I Take Full Responsibility

You’re effort to discredit Mike Huckabee was done in a hasty and foolhardy manner. And it’s gonna come back to haunt you. It’s you and your lack of apology to Mike Huckabee and your readers that doesn’t speak well to your sense of responsibility.

In this case, Huckabee personally freed Clemmons

Again that’s false, Ed. The Parole Board freed Clemmons, NOT Huckabee. Clemmons was sentenced to 108 years for some robberies he commited when he was 16 years old. It was the Arkansas Parole Board that recommended Huckabee commute his sentence, which didn’t release him, it only reduced his sentence to 47 years. That made him eligible for parole. And the Judge agreed with the recommendation of the parole board.

First, clemency decisions go directly to judgment,

Mike Huckabee’s judgment is NOT in question, Ed. Your judgment is in question! Michelle’s judgment is in question! Allahpundit’s judgment is in question! Mike Huckabee’s judgment is totally fine! He didn’t do anything wrong. And anybody who reads the facts concerning this case can see that this is true. What you did was hide the details of what really happened because you want people to believe that Mike Huckabee showed negligent judgment in commuting the sentence of Clemmons. How come you didn’t tell your readers that Clemmons was a 16 years old youth when he committed his non-violent crimes (robberies, stealing a purse, theft of property)? Why not?

Maurice Clemmons had his lengthy prison sentence commuted by Huckabee in 2000, despite a lifetime pattern of violent crime and erratic behavior,

A lifetime pattern of violent crime and erratic behavior?? How do you figure that, Ed? Maurice Clemmons was a 16 year old youth when his prison sentence was commuted by Mike Huckabee. He committed a series of robberies just over a one year span.

It’s the second time that a man granted clemency by Mike Huckabee over the objections of prosecutors

Where is the record of this Ed and Michelle? Where is the source showing the objections of prosecutors to Huckabee’s actions?

Give me documentation that the prosecutor or the families involved in this commutation by Mike Huckabee vehemently objected to his commutation. Look at my post above, and you will find that the prosecutor did not object at the time; therefore, what you and Michelle reported are lies and both of you need to apologize to Mike Huckabee for them. The least you could do is try and get the facts straight before you try and ruin somebody’s political career.

Prosecutors lodged no objection to Huckabee’s sentence reduction for Clemmons
December 1st, 2009

Both mainstream and new media have falsely stated that prosecutors objected to Huckabee’s sentence reduction although I just got off the phone with Pulaski County (the county involved) prosecutor Larry Jegley who said of whether Huckabee had received an objection from him, “I am sure he didn’t receive an objection”.
He said that he would have objected but that his office does not have record of receiving a notice that Huckabee was looking for comment regarding clemency for Maurice Clemmons.
I asked him if it was common to not receive notices and he said it was, “not common”.
I asked him if he gets notified after the fact that a clemency takes place and he said that he does get notified.
I asked him why he did not object to the clemency documentation (which you can view here) showing that he had no objection and he said it would not have mattered to Huckabee whether he objected or not.
I asked him if thought there was a problem with the Arkansas notification system because he claims that he did not receive notification of the proposed clemency. He said that he did not believe there was a problem with the system and that he usually received notification.

Here are some of the false media reports:
LATimes as of 9:12AM PST 12/1/2009:
Under the sympathetic questioning of commentator Bill O’Reilly, Huckabee said he granted Clemmons’ clemency request — one of 1,200 that crossed his desk annually — because of Clemmons’ young age at the time of his conviction and the severity of his sentence. He said prosecutors never contacted him, though they did lodge a protest with the state parole board.
FACT: The protest by prosecutors was in regards to giving Clemmon parole. This objection came AFTER Huckabee’s actions.
Michelle Malkin as of 9:12AM PST 12/1/2009:
The man being sought by police was granted clemency by former GOP Arkansas Mike Huckabee despite his violent history and vehement protestations from prosecutors and victims’ family members.
FACT: Prosecutors did not lodge objection to Huckabee’s actions as I have proven above. As for protests of “victims’ family members”, I see no record of that in official documents. Malkin needs to source her statement here for it to have credibility. Considering that the other part of the sentence is blatantly false, what credibility does that give her?

I saw a comment from somebody in Arkansas during the 2008 primary who said the judges in Arkansas would give much longer sentences to Black people than to White people for the same crime. Mike Huckabee is not “soft on crime”, but I do believe he saw misjustice to the Blacks in Arkansas with the sentences they received. He studied every case and took his job seriously. He cared about all of the people in Arkansas. Sixteen people were given the death sentence when he was Governor.

Unlike Mitt Romney who was so afraid of the “Dukasis” claim being on him, he wouldn’t pardon anybody. Who did he care more about, the people in Mass or his own Presidential ambitions. There was a young boy in Mass. who was convicted of using a BB gun when he was a teenager. When he was old enough, he joined the Army and went to Iraq where he received awards for his service to our country. When he returned to Mass., he wanted to become a police officer, but couldn’t because of his conviction as a teenager for using a BB gun. He asked Mitt Romney for a pardon, but good ole Romney only thought about himself and denied him a pardon. Do you think that is better? Yes, it sure was safer for Romney, but very selfish of him too.

A good thing that he and his philosophy of governance won’t get a shot at the White House; a tragic thing that it had to happen this way.

“He denied over 80% of clemency requests.”

Wow, I’d have almost a 1 in 5 chance of getting clemency under Huckabee… buy me a ticket!!

I would think it is very clear that Huck struggles with pride if he (mistakenly) thinks he can decide better than a judge and jury that often.