Huckabee May be the God Squad Flavor of the Month, But Two Mothers Say He is Responsible for Their Daughters Being Killed

BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

Mark Karlin, Editor and Publisher, BuzzFlash.com

December 10, 2007

In the growing Internet and mainstream press coverage over Mike Huckabee’s role in the release of a convicted rapist who went on to kill two young women, Huckabee is relying on the usual pat answer of GOP politicians who claim "to be close to the Lord"; they are not responsible for their actions because they are doing God’s work.

BuzzFlash covered the main points of Huckabee’s role in the Clinton-hater orchestrated paroling of Wayne DuMond in its most recent BuzzFlash GOP Hypocrite of the Week.

But getting lost in the coverage is a startling accusation from the mothers of the two daughters who were killed by DuMond, a dangerous, vicious rapist and then killer who was championed by persons obsessed with believing Clinton was the Anti-Christ.

According to the Kansas City Star, the grieving families hold the former Governor accountable for his actions.

Their message is simply this: You bear a large part of the responsibility for these murders. You were informed that DuMond would continue his streak of violence, and yet you came to his defense.

To be more specific here are what the Missouri moms who lost their daughters to brutal murders had to say to the Kansas City Star (DuMond had moved from Arkansas to Missouri):

The mothers say Huckabee is responsible, at least in part, for the release of DuMond, who died in a Missouri prison in 2005.

"What a fool," Lois Davidson, (Carol) Shields' mother, said of Huckabee. "Thinking he could rule the country when he couldn't even do a good job as governor of Arkansas."

Janet Williams, (Sara) Andrasek's mother, said: "Wayne DuMond should have never been on the streets in Missouri. … When politics are involved, people get hurt, and Sara and Carol Shields paid the ultimate price with their lives."

Davidson and Williams said they're particularly angry because Huckabee has never called them to apologize or explain his part in the DuMond case.

No, instead of apologizing, Huckabee has adopted the typical strategy of the phony religious right: he has made himself into a victim.

Yes, despite the headline of the Kansas City Star article, ""Murdered women's mothers blame Huckabee for his part in killer's release," Huckabee is making himself out to be the one who is being hurt by the deaths of these two women.

According to a December 6 CNN interview, Huckabee is deftly accusing the grieving moms of "politicizing" the murders that wouldn’t have happened if he had kept DuMond in jail, as many professionals and past victims of DuMond had urged him:

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said it was "heartbreaking" that the deaths of women killed by a convicted rapist who was released from prison after Huckabee supported his parole had become politicized.

On Wednesday, the mother of the woman the convict later murdered pledged to campaign against the former Arkansas governor.

"There are families who are truly, understandably and reasonably, grief stricken," Huckabee told CNN. "And for people to now politicize these deaths and to try to make a political case out of it rather than to simply understand that a system failed and that we ought to extend our grief and heartfelt sorrow to these families, I just regret politics is reduced to that."

Notice how skillfully Huckabee, ever the slick preacher, appears to be expressing sympathy with the mothers on the one hand, while making himself out to be the victim of a political attack. Sorry, Mike, this is about two girls who were killed because you cast your lot with a group of preachers, lynch mob members, and a Rupert Murdoch journalist who, in a fit of rabid hysteria, went to bat to release a violent criminal.

In an unusual move for a Governor, Huckabee even wrote DuMond while he was in jail telling him of Huckabee’s personal interest in paroling him.

"In 1996, Huckabee, during his first term as Arkansas governor, expressed support for the parole of DuMond in a letter to him," according to CNN. "Huckabee on Sunday confirmed to CNN he had sent the letter to DuMond."

Huckabee uses the preacher’s cloth to make him immune from his sins and his role in causing a murderer to go free in order to gain political advantage with a GOP mob of Clinton haters (who for bizarre reasons believed that Bill Clinton had "framed" DuMond, but it’s such a crazed assertion we won’t even go there because there is no there there.)

Like Bush, Huckabee puts on the mantle of being a victim, when two young women are dead because of his actions.

This is not about two murders being politicized: it is about Mike Huckabee being so opportunistic that he put the lives of women at stake by releasing an unreformed rapist.

He gambled with the lives of Americans and lost.

Now he wants us to feel sorry for him.

According to CNN, Huckabee received information fully informing him of DuMond’s horrifying danger. "I feel that if he is released it is only a matter of time before he commits another crime and fear that he will not leave a witness to testify against him the next time," one victim wrote. She described how DuMond had raped her at knifepoint.

America has had enough of men who hide behind God instead of accepting responsibility as individuals for their actions.

Huckabee is just another such huckster.

BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG