Cop murders will be Huckabee's Willie Horton

The recent execution of four police officers in a suburban Seattle coffee shop is tragic and should not have ever happened. The alleged murderer is Maurice Clemmons who has a long rap sheet that goes all the back to Arkansas. Clemmons, who was serving a long prison sentence, was commuted by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee nearly a decade ago. Governor Huckabee faced a fair amount of criticism during his Presidential run for appearing to be soft on crime. If the Huckster decides to run in 2012, this recent murder and his past pardons will continue to haunt him.

Huckabee appears to have used his power of clemency as a routine gesture while serving as Governor. Huckabee issued over 700 pardons and commutations during his eight years in office with at least two of these guys committing murder afterwards. Lets take a look at Huckabee's record versus other neighboring states during his time if office. Texas had 98 pardons and commutations, Louisiana-213, Mississippi-24, Missouri-79, Oklahoma-178 and Tennessee-32 with a combined total of 624. Huckabee pardoned and commuted 79 more convicts than all the other mentioned states.

I heard over the weekend that Huckabee is considering not to run 2012 and I think that is a good idea for him and the Republican Party. I didn't think Huckabee was strong candidate in 2008 and I don't think he will be in 2012. I know there are many conservatives who love the Governor but I think he is a weak candidate that will be even more weakened by this latest tragedy. Mike Huckabee raised more taxes in 10 years in office than Bill Clinton did in his 12 years and has pardoned more convicts than six other states combined. That is not a strong conservative record to run on and now other candidates can use the Democratic "Willie Horton" tactic successfully against him.

The murder of the four Seattle Police officers is tragic and our thoughts should be with their families that they left behind. This is just another sad lesson of the consequences of those in power that are soft on crime.

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