Mike Huckabee's "Willy Horton" (UPDATED)

Maurice Clemmons, man wanted for questioning, has troubling criminal history

If this report is true, (and apparently it is based upon Huckabee's response) this will be Mike Huckabee's Willy Horton.

If Clemmons is found responsible, "it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State," Huckabee said.

That statement tells me that Mike Huckabee has already conceded the facts and is attempting damage control, for what that is worth. As I am quite sure that the minute he makes an announcement concerning his intent to run for president in 2012, the media will be all over him and draping this guy (Clemmons) around his neck like a millstone.

I may be wrong and I would like to believe that I am, but I don't think that this is something that Mike Huckabee can distance himself from. The bottom line, there are four dead police officers in Washington state, who wouldn't be dead right now if they had kept this criminal behind bars in Arkansas. And Mike Huckabee was the man responsible for setting him free.

Huckabee said the criminal justice system “failed miserably” in Clemmons’ case.

"If I could've known nine years ago, looked into the future, would I have acted favorably upon the parole board's recommendation?” Huckabee told Fox News Radio on Monday. “Of course not."

Responding to his critics, Huckabee said, "Politics is the last thing on my mind. It should be the last thing on anybody's mind. To me it's repulsive that people are trying to bring something like that up in the midst of what ought to be a concern for these officer's families.

"The criminal justice is far from perfect and in this case it failed miserably on all sides."

Of course the alibi for Huckabee, is that after he intervened and Clemmons was paroled, he ultimately violated his parole and was re-arrested and after that the subsequent responsibility for his release lay with someone else.

I just don't see the liberal media as looking at the facts and giving him a pass on any level on this.

(UPDATED)

Police Killings Suspect Warned: 'I'll Kill All You bitches'

"This guy should have never been on the street," said Brian D. Wurts, president of the police union in Lakewood. "Our elected officials need to find out why these people are out."

Huckabee said on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" Monday night that Clemmons was allowed back on the street because prosecutors failed to file paperwork in time.

Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley, whose office opposed Clemmons' parole in 2000 and 2004, said Huckabee's comments were "red herrings."

"My word to Mr. Huckabee is man up and own what you did," Jegley said.

And as of 6:30 EST this morning, the news is reporting that Clemmons has been shot and killed by Seattle police after a shootout with the suspect.