Is Huckabee surge partly about his face?

His face?

He looks like Gomer Pyle.

He needs to change his name--sounds gooberish for someone wanting to represent the nation as a whole.

Odd, as I watched the very first Republican debate I remember thinking: "This guy is really likeable. I don't think I'd ever vote for him because of his views, but he seems sincere and basically a good enough guy".

That said, in the picture above he resembles Richard Nixon more than anything. Not good.

Mike Hucksterabee has a "Willie Horton problem", and its’ name is Wayne Dumond.

Huckabee, whose self-deprecating humor and easy candor have charmed many on the campaign trail, bristles when asked about the case, in which Dumond - now dead - was paroled from an Arkansas prison, with then- governor Huckabee's endorsement, only to sexually assault and kill a woman in Missouri.

---snip---

"Dumond's case is notorious in Arkansas. In 1984, he raped a 17-year-old girl. While awaiting trial at his home, he was castrated by, he said, masked intruders. Later, after Dumond went to prison for life, some people in Arkansas saw the sentence as excessive, especially given his mutilation.

Huckabee was one, and, after becoming governor in 1996, he announced his desire to commute Dumond's sentence. Dumond's rape victim, Ashley Stevens, saw it differently.

Stevens, now 40 and living in the western United States, said she tried to persuade Huckabee not to shorten the sentence for Dumond.

"I told [Huckabee]: If you ever let him out, he's going to do it again," she said in an interview.

She was able to get a meeting with the governor - who, she said, had not spoken to her before announcing his intention to commute Dumond's sentence - but realized Huckabee had "made up his mind." So Stevens stood up, she said, walked over to Huckabee, who was seated on a sofa, squatted down and thrust her face inches from his.

"I said, 'This is how close I was to Dumond's face for an hour,' " Stevens recalled. " 'I'll never forget his face, and you'll never forget mine.' "

The parole board - following a closed meeting with Huckabee - decided to let Dumond go. The following year, Dumond committed the Missouri slaying. He died in prison in 2005.

To break this down to the bite size piece that can be digested by "Joe Flag Waver" – Mike Huckabee lobbied for the parole of a convicted rapist in an unprecedented manner over the protest of the victim and the parole board. This convicted rapist then sexually assaulted and murdered another woman the following year.

Another twist to this is that conservative commentators (read:talking meatsticks) harshly criticized Bill Clinton for NOT granting clemency to Dumond because the victim was a distant relative of Clinton’s:

Full story here:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/14/huckabee_could_face_hurdles_from_the_past/

Mike Hucksterabee is a just another slick talking Republican phony who carries around a bible and smiles alot.

Gomer Pyle, exactly.

Add to that the clearly dyed hair and eyebrows.

I do like the natural teeth though. Plastic perfect is tiresome.

Democrats need to counter with Steve Buscemi.

I fully agree with the "everyman" appearance giving Huckabee a big edge. He's also uses his face well to offer dead-pan humor.

I really do not think Mike Huckabee's rise in the national polls is so remarkable. He is sincere, likable, intelligent and not one to let his views beknown on any subject.He is going to be a force to be reckoned with before this is all over. There are some who say he's unknown but at one time so was Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. And for the rest of you haters out there get off Richard Nixon,the man is dead, and while he was wrong on Watergate, the man did many good things most everyone forgets to mention.

I actually really liked Huckabee, having read about him and seen him on some of the talk shows after his weightloss as he was preparing his run for President. He's a social conservative (which I don't consider a good thing, but something like 30-40% of Americans do) but an economic populist. After Ron Paul, he seemed the sanest Republican (that's REALLY not saying much). I figured here is at least one Republican who I could live with.

Then came the Evolution question.

Anyone who is still arguing about Darwinian evolution is automatically unfit to rule what at times has been the greatest nation on Earth. There is no "debate" about evolution. You can watch it with fruit flies in a petri dish. It is the foundation of biology.

Most importantly, we MUST stop spending our collective energy refighting the Scopes Monkey Trial of nearly a century ago. This country will NEVER progress if we can't take scientific theories that have withstood all challenges as reality. There are FAR more important things that this nation is facing beyond whether we evolved from monkeys millions of years ago or whether cavemen rode dinosaurs.

Darwin was right. Get over it!!

Mike Huckabee is intelligent, articulate, humble and his character is LOADED with integrity.

Mike Huckabee's the kind of man the population can get behind and feel good about.

For Mike's account of the Wayne DuMond case, clink here.

He's the most sincere and personable candidate we've had running for the presidency in decades.

He's got my vote and my financial support.

Mike's account of the Willie Horton incident. Bunch of spin, no doubt. Why would anyone believe hucksterbee? They didn't believe Clenis, did they?

Plus, Hendrick Hertzberg makes it very clear in the latest New Yorker. Mike won't attack liberals. How's he gonna get elected unless he sounds like a cross between drugbaugh, falafel boy, RNCbruce, juannieeD and conan the republibarian?

"HAD GOD TOUCHED YOU"

WELL VOTE FOR ME AND I WILL SEND YOU HIS HAND AND PRAYER.

That is what America is hoping for GOD to lead us out of THE BUSH ADMINSTRATION QUAGMIRE AUGMENTATED GOVERNMENT, WAR OCCUPATION ECONOMY, ETHNO SECULAR WARS IN AMERICA.

HUCKABEE has that Evangelical face that hasn't gotten caught stuck on oxycontin and someone young male child. The evangelicals are a bonafide vote in america, they are the middle class.

NOW HUCKABEE ISN'T AND HIS TRUE COLORS WILL SHOW. HE WAS A BLUE DOG REPUBLICAN WHO ALLOWED FOR THE SAME CIRCUMVENTING OF THE LAWS WHEN IT WAS NECESSARY FOR HIS PARTY IN HIS HOME STATE.

HE WON'T GET ELECTED, AS THE GOP NEEDS SOMEONE THAT WILL PARDON BUSH OR CHENEY OR EVEN CONDI RICE FOR THAT MATTER.

SO HAS GOD TOUCHED YOU. WE HE ISN'T NOW, WITH HUCKABEE. HE DOESN'T HEAR THE VOICE, ONLY GEORGE WALKER BUSH DOES. OH YEA AND HIS DADDY AND MAMA ESPECIALLY DURING KATRINA.

Mike Huckabee has admitted he was wrong. He has expressed deep regret about how this turned out. How many politicians would do that? Most will make excuses and evade the questions. Check his website for his statement (http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=TruthSquad.DumondRes).
There are no perfect candidates. Mike seems pretty good.

Mike Huckster is just another dumb fundy Republican Prez candidate (i.e.George W. Bush), he doesn't believe in science and he even takes phone calls from god the same way Prez Chimpy does.

Here's Mike the Huckster cheerleading for George W Bush and taking a phone call from god in 2004:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yj_okz7ZwI

Being a Democrat myself, I'd say that Mike Huckabee is the only Republican candidate that I like, because as his past in Arkansas shows, he understands that we must raise taxes in order to pay off our debts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pLOC4krZI4

When asked 31 hours after the release of the new National Intelligence Estimate, Mick Huckabee said he didn't know anything about it. Am I wrong to find this fact unsettling?

Mike Huckabee has admitted he was wrong.
_____________________________

Yeah that'll bring back a dead raped girl.

Think the republitards would've forgiven Clinton if he'd admitted he was wrong?

There are FAR more important things that this nation is facing beyond whether we evolved from monkeys millions of years ago or whether cavemen rode dinosaurs.

Posted by: Jones | December 5, 2007 4:30 PM

Right on, Jones. So tell me again why that's stopping you from voting for Huckabee? If you're so convinced that Darwin's theory is the absolute truth, then why does it bother you that Huckabee might not share that rocksolid belief?

Posted by: Roger Morris | December 5, 2007 5:35 PM

Roger CAPS LOCK FIND IT AND PRESS IT TO THE OFF POSITION. I can't even get through your comments because of it. I am not alone in this. I value everyones input, even John D's but the caps make your stuff unreadable. Get it???

Now just in case my previous comment didn't get through, I'll say it again. Does anyone worry that when asked he had read or heard about the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran 31 hours after the fact, Mike Huckabee a man running for presidents answer was no.

I find that not only astounding, but good reason to dismiss him as a quallified candidate for the highest office in the land. Did anyone happen to notice that when nice guy Mike was asked if he thought Mormonism was a cult he declined comment, hence leading one to believe he'll use religion as a way to get elected. I find it frightening that none of the other republican nominees have had the decency, to publicly state that religious affiliation should have no influece on someones right to run for president.

... no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.

"About his face"?

He looks like Richard Milhous Nixon, for goodness sakes!

It's not about his face but about his steel guitar.

Right on, Jones. So tell me again why that's stopping you from voting for Huckabee? If you're so convinced that Darwin's theory is the absolute truth, then why does it bother you that Huckabee might not share that rocksolid belief?
_____________________________
As long as he doesn't insist my kids are taught the myth of creation, I don't have a problem with it. But given the current state of the country, there is always some religious kook trying to push myth over theory, based on stories written in Aramaic and translated by a bunch of repressed British theologians. That is where the line os drawn.

Why, YES!, Shazaaaam! That old Mike Huckabee not only looks real, but delivers his words to match the face. I must say, the man is
what Leadership looks like!

ok guys with the wayne dumond case if you really look into it you will see that mike really had nothin to do with it. it was before mike was elected to anything that jim guy tucker aproved parole elegibility for wayne. when mike came to office he was at first inclined to extend the commutation of the sentance. but in the end he decided against it. but the parole board (not apointed by him) gave him parole and that's that. the governor cannot give parole, by the way. he can only aprove elegibility for parole, and mike did not give that.
check your facts, please, before you post!

Would a President Huckabee bring a copy of the Bible to international negotiations, thumping it and declaring it was the absolute word of God and challenging others to do the same?

That scenerio is no more inappropriate than doing the same thing at a political debate.

Gomer Pyle with dyed hair for the cameras.

And hasn't America had enough under Bush of religion's getting mucked up into government? The Founders believed it entirely inappropriate. Thomas Jefferson would have called Huckabee a fool.

JB,

Its pretty simple. When things like Darwinian evolution, which is as close to scientific fact as the theory of gravity, come into direct conflict with what is stated in an old book, I want science and reason to conquer and not "faith."

I've had enough faith-based presidency. Huckabee was clearly pandering to those who would let their faith guide them over their reason and intellect. That has the equation all wrong, and is one of the reaons George Bush has so thoroughly screwed up everything he touches.

Smart, worldly people ask questions and question their own beliefs. This is impossible with religious dogmatics, and this lack of questioning makes them extremely dangerous.

It won't change whether or not I believe in Darwin, but that's hardly the point. The man is leading the largest military with his finger on the trigger. I want reason and calculation, not faith in an End Times salvation.

America's ready for another pandering 'I talk to God' pres? I think it's time for someone with a track record for showing good judgement. Mike ain't it.

Mike Huckabee paroled Wayne Dumond in order to embarrass Bill Clinton. Conservatives will remember the reason for the pardon, and forgive the governor. The results were unfortunate, but the motives were pure.