Posted by
Bob Siegel on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 12:08:54 AM
There are so many mixed messages and confusing signals regarding the “skeleton”
that just came out of Presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee’s closet that I
thought I would devote today’s blog to untangling some of these webs. Evidently, as governor of Arkansas,
Huckabee once encouraged the parole of convicted rapist, Wayne Dumand because
Christian pastors were insisting that the man had become born again. Dumand was
indeed paroled. After his
release he raped another woman and this time murdered the victim as well.
Huckabee has been unfairly accused of having pardoned Dumand himself.
This faulty news report has already been disproved. What is still being sorted
out is how much pressure Huckabee put upon the parole board. He denies putting pressure
on them at all but some of the board members do insist that they were pressured.
Since “pressure” can be a matter of subjective opinion or perspective we will
probably never know the full truth.
The bigger wrinkle in the discussion returns us to all that "separation
between church and state" paranoia. Already suspicious of any candidate who
talks too much about his religion, secular champions are using this story to
warn us of the danger of letting a former pastor come to public office.
The hypocrisy here is so thick you can slice it with a knife. Usually conservatives are accused of being
uncompassionate because as a general rule we do not believe in the pardoning of
convicted rapists and murderers. How often
do liberals shout and scream against the death penalty? This is clearly a lose- lose situation. Here Huckabee offers a plea for mercy and for
parole, a position generally embraced by the left and he’s accused of being
more right wing than ever.
Christians are actually divided on issues like the death penalty and
parole. For this reason, I can only
offer you my own opinion. In most cases,
I believe in the death penalty for murderers and probably wouldn’t mind the
death penalty for rapists either. I do believe we can show mercy if there has
been genuine repentance but no matter how genuine it might look, commuting a
death sentence is as far as I would go. I do not think I would continue on and release a
convicted murderer or rapist from prison because odds are that he could return to
his former habits even if there had been genuine remorse. I do not want to
gamble with innocent lives. Therefore, I
disagree with what Huckabee did. Still,
he was entitled to his opinion and his opinion is not invalidated simply
because it was based on his own understanding of Christianity.
Let’s be clear about the complaint we are hearing from the left. Let’s
see if we understand the rules: Conservatives should be against the death
penalty and against stiff prison terms at all unless we have religious reasons
for showing mercy. Hey, Bub…If it
weren’t my reason it would only be yours.
Humanism is just as much of a religion as Christianity. And all moral decisions are based upon somebody’s view of morality.
I say, leave Huckabee alone.
This is Bob Siegel, making the obvious, obvious.
The Bob
Siegel Show can be heard every Sunday from 3:00 to 4:00 PM on KCBQ 1170 on the dial or KCBQ.com to listen live
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