Romney Slams Huckabee Over Clemencies
Appearing on CNNs “Larry King Live,” former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney lashed out at former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee for granting clemency to Maurice Clemmons. Clemmons was found guilty of armed robbery and other violence crimes. Although prosecutors and Clemmons’ victims urged Huckabee not to pardon him, the governor did so nonetheless: a major and unforgivable mistake, because he shot and killed four police officers this last Sunday, while they were enjoying their coffee break.
Huckabee has been rightly criticized for his clemency of Clemmons (and other criminals) by many conservatives, including us at David Horowitz’s NewsRealblog. Leading Republicans stayed away from ClemencyGate, however, opting to let Huckabee commit political suicide by refusing to take responsibility for his actions and for their consequences. Until today, that is. Because today, Romney became the first politician with a shot at the GOP’s presidential nomination in 2012, to (indirectly) criticize ‘the Huckster’; who just so happened to be one of his main rivals for the party’s nomination last year. It’s a sign that favorites for 2012 believe that Huckabee can forget about challenging President Barack Obama three years from now.
When asked about Huckabee’s decision to commute Clemmons’ sentence, Romney said that he undoubtedly wouldn’t have done so, knowing then, what he knows now. As Hot Air’s AllahPundit points out, that’s as safe an answer as they come.
Read the whole thing at NewsRealblog.
Michael Merritt
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#1
Firstly, Huck didn’t pardon Clemmons, he commuted his sentence. That’s when the sentence is taken away, but you’re still convicted of the crime. Clemmons is still a felon.
Allah later noted that Romney has a reputation for being too hard-hearted when it comes to commutations and pardons.
The thing is that I’m not sure what would be worse with Romney: That he’s a “never forgive” kind of guy, or that the guy he didn’t forgive was a veteran who was prevented from becoming a police officer because of a childhood mistake still being on his record.
OR
When being “tough on crime” and “support of the 2nd amendment” clash.
All that said, it seems that Mike Huckabee has a reputation for being too soft-hearted. Though, trying to attack him for not holding a crystal ball up when he made his decision is the wrong way to go about it. Whatever the tough on crime crowd might want to believe, I’m not sure that burglaries are inherently violent.
James
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#2
Romney wasn’t the first to “slam” or criticize Huckabee. It was Tim Pawlenty.
Amy
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#3
Romney did not “slam” Huckabee at all. What a misleading headline! This website has a credibility problem.