# Huckabee Gets the Willie Horton Treatment **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 12, 2008, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285 "2008-01-12T15:19:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285/41 "2008-01-14T09:06:33Z")
I don’t know if it’s typical, but it does happen. There was a local controversy here some years back when it was discovered that TN was taking in oodles of paroled felons from other states, while few of our paroled felons were accepted by other states. There’s some kind of pool/list program that the various states have which is supposed to ensure that nobody gets what they think is a harmless check-kiter, when in reality they’re a serial rapist, or that states don’t simply export all their parolees to another state. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285/42 "2008-01-14T15:20:53Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] Apparently the guy was horrible but do you think Huckabee knew all about him. It is apparent a lot of people were trying to get him free. Do you think Huckabee just randomly picked a murderer to free. [/QUOTE] He was arrested for the incident in which he beat a guy in the head with a claw hammer, but was granted immunity because he agreed to testify against the others involved in the case. His admission of beating a man in the head with a claw hammer came while he was on the stand testifying. He just denied that he delivered the death blow. So, if Huckabee didn’t know about that, it could only have been because he didn’t take the most cursory look at his official record. I don’t think that serves as any sort of excuse, do you? If you are going to release a criminal, wouldn’t you first look at the types of crimes he has been involved in, including those he himself admitted to engaging in? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285/43 "2008-01-14T16:06:44Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] Willie Horton …was selected for highlighting in Bush ads because he was black. [/QUOTE] You misspelled “Gore”. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285/44 "2008-01-14T16:17:37Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] You misspelled “Gore”. Regards, Shodan [/QUOTE] No, actually, he had it right. Al Gore was the first to bring up the furloughs program in a debate, but he didn’t mention Horton by name. It was the Bush campaign that brought out the Willie Horton ad, after Gore was out of the race. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285/45 "2008-01-14T16:18:27Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] You misspelled “Gore”. Regards, Shodan [/QUOTE] You misspelled “I’m a lying sack of shit partisan asshole who is completely ignorant of history because I get all of my learnin’ from Red [State.com](http://State.com), and Drudge.” Gore never mentioned Willie Horton, you ignorant dumbass. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285/46 "2008-01-14T16:57:11Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] You misspelled “I’m a lying sack of shit partisan asshole who is completely ignorant of history because I get all of my learnin’ from Red [State.com](http://State.com), and Drudge.” [/QUOTE] Is that how you spell Gore? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285/47 "2008-01-14T17:08:34Z")
[QUOTE=SanibelMan] No, actually, he had it right. Al Gore was the first to bring up the furloughs program in a debate, but he didn’t mention Horton by name. It was the Bush campaign that brought out the Willie Horton ad, after Gore was out of the race. [/QUOTE] Bill Bradley disagrees, [of course](http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/01/13/campaign.wrap/index.html). > [@](#): > > Bradley explained that Gore was the first to criticize Dukakis on the Horton case, making it an issue in the 1988 New York Democratic primary. > > “The racial dimension to that – there were probably a lot of other people who fit into that category,” he said. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285/48 "2008-01-14T17:14:23Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] Bill Bradley disagrees, [of course](http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/01/13/campaign.wrap/index.html). [/QUOTE] You really should read these things all the way to the end. > [@](#): > > Gore’s campaign said Thursday that the vice president had not singled out or even mentioned Horton, but had challenged Dukakis to explain his prison furlough policy in a debate, after newspaper accounts raised questions about the policy. > [@](#): > > Dukakis, who is scheduled to campaign for Gore in Iowa, said that in Gore’s 1988 comments, “there certainly was no suggestion on the racial side and there weren’t pictures of Willie Horton as there were in the Bush attack ads.” > > “It’s unfair to attack Gore in this way, because it just isn’t true,” Dukakis added. Regards, Otto ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285/49 "2008-01-14T17:17:51Z")
Ignorance is curable, **Otto** , stubborn ignorance is a bit tougher. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285/50 "2008-01-16T15:08:47Z")
The governor didn’t know. How can that be a statement offered in support of anyone who holds an office like state governor, and pardons a multiple offense violent felon? See, call me a wide eyed idealist, I was kind of hoping for a governor who, if he didn’t know, when asked to exercise the exclusive power of his office, in a matter of a capital crime, and the system of justice in his state, would reply, “I will need to know a great deal more about this matter, before I override the jury verdict.” Why isn’t “He didn’t know.” the most telling of criticisms one could offer about the leaders of our country. Instead of “when did he know” why don’t our political arguments start, “Why the fuck didn’t he know?” Could we please start expecting our leaders to know? Could we please at least let them know that their ignorance is not an excuse? Tris ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285/51 "2008-01-16T15:48:09Z")
It is if its the only one they got. What else is he going to say? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285/52 "2008-01-16T15:48:19Z")
[QUOTE=Triskadecamus] Why isn’t “He didn’t know.” the most telling of criticisms one could offer about the leaders of our country. Instead of “when did he know” why don’t our political arguments start, “Why the fuck didn’t he know?” [/QUOTE] All the way back to the Iran-Contra thing, people natter on so much over whether the leader is evil or incompetent that he’s never held accountable for either. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285/53 "2008-01-16T16:57:03Z")
[QUOTE=Triskadecamus] Could we please start expecting our leaders to know? Could we please at least let them know that their ignorance is not an excuse? [/QUOTE] Maybe we should give them all gift subscriptions to the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285/54 "2008-01-16T17:04:49Z")
[QUOTE=BJMoose] Maybe we should give them all gift subscriptions to the SDMB. [/QUOTE] Don’t we have enough trolls as it is? ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285/55 "2008-01-17T16:50:13Z")
[QUOTE=EddyTeddyFreddy] Don’t we have enough trolls as it is? [/QUOTE] Good point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huckabee-gets-the-willie-horton-treatment/433285.md?page=2)