Huckabee Lashes Out At "Left-Wing" Huffington Post

Comments (52)

Freewheelin' Freddie wrote on December 6, 2007 12:48 PM:

Arianna draws blood!

Madorsky wrote on December 6, 2007 12:48 PM:

Wasn't there a story earlier this year about Huckabee bullying some alternative weekly in Arkansas when he was Gov. in a rather unpresidential fashion?

Looks like the Huckster doesn't love reporter so much when they actually, you know, do reporting on him...

Anonymous wrote on December 6, 2007 12:54 PM:

Attack the messenger is the last way he should have gone with this one, showing contrition and admitting mistake would have been the Christian route, but since he decided to lie and try to brazen it out, he made his bed.

Now he's just reaping the wind.

Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb.

Mitt should have cancelled his Mormon speech and let it ride on this scandal.

Anonymous wrote on December 6, 2007 12:59 PM:

Liar, liar...

Where are your 10 Commandments now, liar?

Nice job dropping the backhand as well, saying that you aren't going to talk about "what's wrong with Mitt Romney's religion," and thus implying that there IS something wrong with Mitt Romney's religion.

Joe Scarborough is a wimp.

Murray Waas is a very respected muckraking journalist in D.C. He broke huge chunks of the Valerie Plame scandal while writing for National Journal.

An Outhouse wrote on December 6, 2007 1:01 PM:

Which Rethug is going to be left? McCain? I thought Huckleberry was the perfect candidate for them. Now it turns out he's at least as psychotic as Bush. Is there tape of Huckleberry mocking the rape victim? Wait until we find out that he used Arkansas state policeman to provide Dumond a security detail!

CT Voter wrote on December 6, 2007 1:02 PM:

Stay tuned.

I hope the "this story isn't anything but a political hit job cooked up by the liberal media" trope dies a quick death, and that Huckleberry has to repeatedly answer questions about this.

But I'm not exactly confident. Someone should keep track of how often "partisan liberal group" appears in conjunction with Huffington Post in coverage by, e.g., CNN, WaPo, NY Times, Time, CBS, etc. The fact that ABC News has reported the same thing apparently is irrelevant to Rev. Huckleberry. Let's hope it's not irrelevant to other major media institutions.

Anonymous wrote on December 6, 2007 1:05 PM:

What happened on The Today Show and Tavis Smiley?

7:10 a.m. ET / 6:10 a.m. CT – Guest on NBC’s ‘The Today Show’ to discuss the surge in the polls and plans for the Iowa caucuses.

7:25 a.m. ET / 6:25 a.m. CT – Guest on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ with host Joe Scarborough to discuss presidential politics.

Gov. Huckabee will also be a guest on “The Tavis Smiley Show’ from PRI to discuss the rising momentum in the campaign. Check your local listings for broadcast times or visit www.tavistalks.com.

CT Voter wrote on December 6, 2007 1:13 PM:

The always understated NY Post says:

KIN RIP HUCK SPIN

Perhaps I should be more optimistic than my earlier post--This story appears to have legs--

Anonymous wrote on December 6, 2007 1:16 PM:

Here's the press conference transcript:

http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Newsroom.Article&ID=127

Michael A wrote on December 6, 2007 1:17 PM:

They are all the same. He just does a better job of presenting the spin on the lies than Mr. 9/11 or mitt the flip.

bg wrote on December 6, 2007 1:20 PM:

I would hardly call that lashing out. Let's face it, the huffpo is unabashedly left leaning, and the present effort to hang Huckabee for the actions of Dumond is transparently motivated by political considerations. Wass' story muddies Huckabee's role in Dumond's parole to make it appear as if it was something he engineered, which is not at all clear given the facts at hand.

Anonymous wrote on December 6, 2007 1:29 PM:

I think what this proves is that every time a christian is given a chance to actually put his christian beliefs into action, they fall flat on their face because their "beliefs" are just so much window dressing

RichM wrote on December 6, 2007 1:31 PM:

Come on bg, let's be honest here. Huckabee's intervention in the Dumond case, particularly his parole, was political. It had nothing to do with right a wrong, etc. Just because something comes from HuffPo means its factually wrong? Really? If that is the case, why is right-leaning Drudge accepted as the darling of the media?

Methinks Huckabee just gave his, "I'm not gay and I have never been gay" speech.

CT Voter wrote on December 6, 2007 1:32 PM:

Wass' story muddies Huckabee's role in Dumond's parole to make it appear as if it was something he engineered, which is not at all clear given the facts at hand.

This is a generous interpretation of the account...

john mccutchen wrote on December 6, 2007 1:39 PM:

Willie Horton'ed by the Left..

Lee Atwater we hardly knew ye

thinga wrote on December 6, 2007 1:44 PM:

Wasn't there a story earlier this year about Huckabee bullying some alternative weekly in Arkansas when he was Gov. in a rather unpresidential fashion?

Also talks about his ethics problems and smashing hard drives.

http://www.onthemedia.org/episodes/2007/11/30/segments/89714

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/11/13/huckabee/print.html

Also talks about his ethics problems and smashing hard drives.

vena wrote on December 6, 2007 1:44 PM:

He can lash out at Huff all he wants, but it just appears that his trying to avoid the topic. Huff is left and they may very well be out to get dirt on the GOP candidates, doesn't change the probable validity of the claims? I've seen him on TV a few times and he doesn't lie very well.

biff diggerence wrote on December 6, 2007 1:58 PM:

Dem chickens sho comin home to roost.

Kefa wrote on December 6, 2007 2:08 PM:

Another Clinton attacker getting his comeuppance.

bg wrote on December 6, 2007 2:12 PM:

Richm,

Not imputing the crimes of Dumond to Huckabee is being honest. Do you really think that Huckabee would have favored Dumond's parole if he expected him to rape and murder again? Is it clear that he muscled the parole board into reaching a conclusion that they otherwise would not have arrived at? Huckabee may well have acted solely from a position of political expedience, but the extent of his responsibility for the brutal actions of Dumond remains unclear. You guys can lynch him if you want to, I'm no Huckster or Huckafuck or whatever, just calling it like I see it.

lambert strether wrote on December 6, 2007 2:19 PM:

Well, if everything is on the up and up, then Hucklebee could just release his files on Dumond, right? Funny, that's not happening.

heir ball wrote on December 6, 2007 2:19 PM:

Did Huckabee ever come out against despicable political tricks and behavior when Republicans did it? Like the swift boating of Kerry, he must've spoken out about that, no? How about the Tennessee election or Max Cleland. He said something, right?

Steve wrote on December 6, 2007 2:38 PM:

Notice how Huckabee trashes people while still coming off "nice." His main strategy has been to undermine Romney by saying he's not a true Christian (in a subtle enough way). Here he says he doesn't want to criticize other candidates, for example Romney's religion. (!) He says nothing about anyone else.

And of course, he's constantly blaming Jim Guy Tucker and Bill Clinton for everything, because we all know they're the same person.

ProDem wrote on December 6, 2007 2:41 PM:

This sort of denial from a candidate coming from a small state in the South is typical... Clinton did the same thing - remember "I tried it, but I didn't inhale."

Unfortunately though for Hickabee, The Huffington Post has the proof to back up what it printed!! And believe me, Arianna and company will let this Fascist Huckabee have it with both barrels!! RIP Hickabee..

An Outhouse wrote on December 6, 2007 2:45 PM:

From the 'On the Media' site:

It also deserves mention that Huckabee engaged in mass-Moonie style marriage ceremonies which Huck called "covenant marriages."

lambert strether wrote on December 6, 2007 2:57 PM:

From the interview:

HUCKABEE: HuffPo does'nt want to give the whole story.

You fight it by hoping people will do a little research on their own .... Mr. Reeves is outraged today because the Huffington Post totally misrepresented and just utterly distorted his statements. We have a statement from Mr. Reeves that will be on our website today and I think you'll find out that this agenda of the Huffington Post is outrageously misleading.

I'm on the site now. I don't see any statement. This is terrible staffwork; never would have happened with the Bushies, bless their hearts. If the guy can't run a war room, how's he going to run the country?

T wrote on December 6, 2007 3:33 PM:

This Huckabee clown is hillarious. It's obvious that he bowed to pressure from rightwing Clinton haters and let this guy out.

So how does he attempt to show he's not a partisan ass? He mentions how horribly the rapist was treated, said people could reference "all the stories written at the time" (i.e. the rightwing trash he read back then), and then blames Clinton, mentions Jim Guy Tucker, and gets a mention of Whitewater in, too. I'm surprised Gerry Studds isn't invoked, too. It's like a greatest hits of rightwing hysteria.

freepatriot wrote on December 6, 2007 3:36 PM:

so we can all agree that "something happened, and huckabee engineered it"

now splain to me how the HuffPo "politicized" this issue

the huckster made this a political issue when he "engineered" whateverthefuck he "engineered"

I've also heard that the huckster used/made pardoning drumond a campaign issue,and crowed about keeping a campaign promise when drumond was released

so who is really responsibile for "politicizing" this issue ???

huckabee played politics with a serial murderer, and now huckabee is whining when his political ploy blew up in his face

eli wrote on December 6, 2007 3:49 PM:

Certainly the biggest speedbump the Huckabees have hit, ever since he started gaining traction. My bet is they'll try to play the "Blame Clinton" card (always a hit with the GOP primary voters). Isn't it obvious? If Clinton and all his relatives had never existed, Dumond couldn't have raped them!

kjoe wrote on December 6, 2007 3:59 PM:

Kefa wrote on December 6, 2007 2:08 PM:
Another Clinton attacker getting his comeuppance.:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::TIME TESTED? TIME TESTED? The thing that is time tested about this is an Arkansas governor blaming the extreme wing of the opposite party for all criticism, backed up by substance or not. This is not aq Clinton backer getting his comeuppance---this is an Arkansas governor paying homage to his predecessor with the highest form of flattery----imitation. I have a feeling it will be successful.

Dreggas wrote on December 6, 2007 4:27 PM:

Condi Rice: "No one could have ever predicted that terrorists would use airplanes as missiles"

Mike Huckabee: "No one could have predicted Dumond would rape someone and kill them again".

Complete with being handed memos suggesting it...

broadsword wrote on December 6, 2007 4:28 PM:

Me thinks the Huck doeth protest too much.

r€nato wrote on December 6, 2007 4:32 PM:

Do you really think that Huckabee would have favored Dumond's parole if he expected him to rape and murder again?

Indeed, who could have predicted that a serial rapist would strike again, once freed?

And how do we know that the sun will rise in the east tomorrow, just because it's done that for the last few billion years in a row?

r€nato wrote on December 6, 2007 4:38 PM:

Do you really think that Huckabee would have favored Dumond's parole if he expected him to rape and murder again?

I'm sure Michael Dukakis didn't think those lifers would rape and murder again if given a furlough (not even parole, just furlough...). So you supported Dukakis in 88, bg?

BernieO wrote on December 6, 2007 4:40 PM:

I was really disappointed this morning when David Shuster seemed to go along with Huckabee on Morning Joe. He should have pointed out that it is not just the Huffington Post that has the story. Brian Ross of ABC covered it last night and was pretty much in agreement with what the Huff Po reported. It seemed that Shuster was not familiar with the facts at all.
This story is a glaring example of how demented the anti-Clinton crowd was and is. The far right will support anyone,even a murderer and rapist, in an effort to trash him/her. That should also be a focus of the reporting. The Republican party is sick.

jeffgee wrote on December 6, 2007 4:47 PM:

So Huck's in a huff about HuffPo.
So much for the velvet glove.
I'm surprised he's not blaming Hillary. Give him time.

Cinderella Ferret wrote on December 6, 2007 4:47 PM:

Wass' story muddies Huckabee's role in Dumond's parole to make it appear as if it was something he engineered, which is not at all clear given the facts at hand.

So having Dumond transferred to a different prison within the Correctional System was NOT a ploy to allow him another shot at parole? Dumond had already been turned down for parole that year and should have had to wait one year before he had another shot. Reverend Huckabee had him transferred to a different prison so he could get another shot at parole before his statutorily mandated one year wait after being turned down.

But I actually have other problems with Reverend Huckabee. He believes the Earth is 6000 years old and evolution is not a scientific certainty. We have been through almost seven years of denying science. Its about time we got back to the 21st Century. Reverend Huckabee is entitled to his beliefs, but he is NOT qualified to be President.

r€nato wrote on December 6, 2007 5:01 PM:

CF, I too think that anyone who thinks the Earth is 6000 years old is either ignorant or a loon, but I'm far more concerned that Huckabee pandered to a bunch of anti-Clinton hysterics and released a serial killer from prison, who went on to rape and murder two women, one of them pregnant.

Believing in fairy tales, to me, is far outweighed by this careless and reckless action. If a Democrat had done this, there's no way they'd even be running for president, let alone leading the polls in South Carolina.

r€nato wrote on December 6, 2007 5:04 PM:

To me, this 'he said/he said' business over who wanted Dumond paroled or otherwise let out of prison, overlooks a basic issue: why was Wayne Dumond so interesting to Huckabee? Why did this one serial rapist, of all the criminal trash in Arkansas prisons, merit ANY attention from the governor?

Why did Huckabee take such special interest in him? What, exactly, was the evidence that Dumond got railroaded? To get the attention of a fundamentalist Christian GOP governor, Dumond must have had some pretty exceptional circumstances, dont'cha think?

r€nato wrote on December 6, 2007 5:08 PM:

I really hope the GOP is stupid enough to nominate Huckabee.

I can't wait to see the anti-Huck ads by the victims of Wayne Dumond and their families.

I can't wait to see the right try to swiftboating these people.

Just imagine the field day Malkin and Coulter will have in attacking the whiny, greedy, politically biased victims and their families.

Imagine the right-wing blogs which will encourage their readers to drive by their houses, peer into their kitchens to check out their countertops, and pester their neighbors for juicy dirt on them.

mkolb wrote on December 6, 2007 5:15 PM:

Here's a link to the 2005 story in the Arkansas Times that reprinted the 2002 story about Huckabee's involvement: http://www.arktimes.com/Articles/ArticleViewer.aspx?ArticleID=154e1aad-fd18-4efd-8d80-b5dab8559419

ALEX H. wrote on December 6, 2007 5:51 PM:

.
Huck never meet an illegal immigrant or other criminal he wouldn't pardon.

.

Utopia wrote on December 6, 2007 5:58 PM:

So, Huckleberry doesn't have a clue about the new NIE but he's right up-to-date with an article in a blog. Shows you what he and his advisors are spending their time on.

U

JD wrote on December 6, 2007 6:26 PM:

Huckabee is the ONLY Republican I and alot of Christian D's and Independents would vote for. That is why he has to be taken down by the left wingers.

pakaal wrote on December 6, 2007 6:43 PM:

"What a sad state of affairs it is in this country when we exploit people's pain for political purposes."

Huck's right! It's just too bad that this phrase didn't pop into his mind when deciding that since one of the rape victims was related to Bill clinton it was OK to let the rapist out.

scotsw wrote on December 6, 2007 7:06 PM:

I certainly wouldn't vote for Huckabee (or any of the GOPers, perish the thought) but up until this point, it seemed to me he was a natural for the GOP nomination. Only one in the field who could be a consensus candidate among the various GOP base constituencies. In the last 48-72 hours, that idea has gone nearly *poof*.

To me, blaming the Huffington Post was idiotic: With ABC reporting the same thing, and with the Arkansas Times paper trail going back to 2002, that dog won't hunt. If the HuffPo had done the original reporting, maybe he has a rhetorical leg, but it's a paper-thin defense.

He's going to need a much, much better explanation and the clock is ticking. Maybe he has 12 hours?

On the other hand, Giuliani hasn't done so hot lately, either. So... Is McCain's hour coming?

Ferruge wrote on December 6, 2007 7:57 PM:

Huckabee is the ONLY Republican I and alot of Christian D's and Independents would vote for. That is why he has to be taken down by the left wingers.

Exactly. I mean, if this story proves anything, it's that we certainly can't rely on Christians to do the right thing, now can we?

JD wrote on December 7, 2007 1:16 AM:

God forgives Christians. THAT REALLY pisses off Christian haters.

Katie wrote on December 7, 2007 2:34 AM:

Madorsky! YES! Huckabee did a lot of bullying in Arkansas - always 'behind the scenes.'

There were actually two newspapers he threatened, The Arkansas Times and the Little Rock Free Press. The LR Free Press published an article about one of his children having been found with drugs in their locker (documented); he threatened to run the owner of the Free Press out of business unless she retracted the article. She did.

Huckabee also bullied the Arkansas Department of Health to "offer up" HIS nominee for the Director of Health's Director position. His nominee was not qualified. Huckabee had the power to put his person in office, but wanted the Board of Health to "offer up" his person (typical Huckabee). After the Board did not give him his candidate but offered up 2 (maybe 3) 'other,' qualified candidates, Huckabee threatened to replace the Board with "a board that will give me my nominee" AND to reduce the Department of Health's budget by 30%! They gave him his candidate. ... and the Dept of Health's infrastructure collapsed within 3 years; it is just now recovering.

THIS is the TRUE Huckabee. Note the consistency in his rebuttals - it is ALWAYS somebody else. He keeps his distance albeit he is behind the scenes with his brass knuckles.

WoW! I'm so glad to see all of this coming out. The Dumond case is but one of many big blotches in his record.

michelle wrote on December 7, 2007 3:11 AM:

"God forgives Christians. THAT REALLY pisses off Christian haters."

No JD, it goes to show how irrogant you are with your faith. God will not forgive you, you must accept responsibility for your actions, which Huckster isn't. You crap the bed, you lie in it.

Ron Paul's going to win anyways. Thats why the media bashes him constantly. They are trying to fix the election with no avail. Ron Paul signs are everywhere. I have yet to see a Huckster, Rudy, Mit or McCain sign.

Jane wrote on December 7, 2007 10:30 AM:

Huckabee is using almost a 'someone falied to stop me before I killed again' defense: I wasn't trying to force the Parole Board to do something bad (release Dumond on parole), they were trying to stop me from doing something worse (commute Dumond's sentence to time served.)

Huckabee can blame whatever messenger he wants: Dumond was released on his watch and with his involvement.

My bet is that Huckabee said you parole Dumond or I'll commute.

Too bad he doesn't have the records on the Arkansas hard drives he destroyed to try and prove his version of events. (BG- that's a snark -- how gullible are you? Did you believe at the time that Dumond was railroaded?)

NicoleAL wrote on January 17, 2008 8:41 AM:

http://www.amateurglobe.com - Amateurglobe.com

AmateurGlobe.com is the world's largest adult sex and swingers site!
You can find new hookups with the hottest singles and wildest couples.
Whether you're looking for sex chat, nude webcams, swinger action, group sex or
adult personals, you'll get it on AmateurGlobe.com.
Turn your wildest fantasies into reality.

Join today and make love tonight.

http://www.amateurglobe.com - Amateurglobe.com

Post a comment

Name:
Email Address:
URL:
	Remember personal info?
Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)