Perhaps Mr. Huckabee should read [or reread] Machiavelli's Prince where, I believe, it is recommended to not fail to pardon enough convicts, but to not pardon too many.

And as expected, the perp was shot while resisting arrest. It would be interesting to see some statistics on how many of those who are wanted for murder of a police officer meet this fate.

The news coverage of this is so full of holes still I can't help but be skeptical of it all at this point in time. Admittedly it is a short time frame, but the article states a lone police officer shot him "several times" with no mention of resisting arrest or threatening the officer.

Fox Business News' whitewash of Huckabee's involvement in this incident, is the purest indicator yet that the station purveys in Republican politics, not news. If Mr. Huckabee carried the label of Democrat as opposed to Republican, Fox would be demonizing him, as opposed to defending him.

I don't expect much from TV "news" organizations today, as we're a long ways indeed the days when TV anchors adhered to traditional notions of journalism, but even by my low expectations, Fox rarely fails to disappoint. It doesn't even try.

Jomiku, I think the key is the possessive form of "his Christian faith." Someone else's Christian faith might encourage them to want Hugo Chavez assassinated. I think Huckabee has that part right, which might cost him in the Republican primaries for the rest of his career. As the Psalm sayeth, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." Poor guy.

I find your comment that Huckabee's Christian faith inclines him to mercy slightly ridiculous. (And maybe that's true for him or maybe he's just a softie when it comes to criminals - but not when it comes to non-criminal gay people.) But consider that the absolute base of support for longer sentences, less parole and the death penalty all come from Christian believers. To say that Huckabee's faith motivates him to be merciful casts an undeserved umbrella of mercy over all these other unmerciful Christians. So maybe you should say that Huckabee is atypically motivated as a Christian to be merciful and perhaps now he'll run afoul of the regular Christians who are motivated toward punishment and vengeance. Tis the season after all.

I find it deliciously ironic that former Governor Mike Huckabee is currently working for Roger Ailes at the Fox Network.

It was Roger Ailes who along with Lee Atwater, conceptualized the Willie Horton ad which was used to help destroy Mr. Dukakis in the campaign against then presidential candidate George H Bush in 1988. "The only question is whether we depict Willie Horton with a knife in his hand or without it," said Roger Ailes."

I have read that conservative author Michelle Malkin’s Web site has already made mention of "Huckabee’s Willie Horton II"

They have already started to eat their own.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but situations like this (and the case of Willie Horton) would be far less likely to come up if the system wasn't over-burdened fighting the unwinnable War on Drugs. Even if Mr. Clemmons were given clemency, keeping track of him would be far more achievable if all the time an energy that goes into interdicting the transport and sales of dried plant materials. The are only so many police and so many courts. Every thing they do means other things that they are not doing. People never think of drug laws making them more vulnerable to killers, but they do.

I agree, Spectacular. In a free society, dangerous people often walk around free. Only in oppressive regimes can they be safely segregated into government.

Well on the face of Clemmons was sentenced to 95 years in prison as a 17 year old.

Giving him clemency, now obviously the wrong decision, was still a decision that was made in good faith.

Clemmons is a black man convicted in a southern state, without knowing more, I cannot point the finger at Huckabee for his decision.

After reading several reports, all with the same sourcing, it doesn't seem all that clear that this is indeed the culprit.

Particularly given the fact that this is coming from the same department that spent several hours in a "standoff" utilizing smoke and stun grenades against an empty house.