Bloodless Coup

Mike Huckabee, the Rapist/Killer, and the Letters from the Victims

The sound you hear is the Huckabee campaign going "gulp". Letters from rape victims that Gov. Huckabee's denied existed and covered up have come to light - letters from victims urging Huckabee not to release a rapist who he choose to release, and who then went on to rape and kill.

As governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee aggressively pushed for the early release of a convicted rapist despite being warned by numerous women that the convict had sexually assaulted them or their family members, and would likely strike again. The convict went on to rape and murder at least one other woman.

Confidential Arkansas state government records, including letters from these women, obtained by the Huffington Post and revealed publicly for the first time, directly contradict the version of events now being put forward by Huckabee ...

Thanks to Huckabee's intervention, conducted in concert with a right-wing tabloid campaign on Dumond's behalf, Dumond was let out of prison 25 years before his sentence would have ended.

"There's nothing any of us could ever do," Huckabee said Sunday on CNN when asked to reflect on the horrific outcome caused by the prisoner's release. "None of us could've predicted what [Dumond] could've done when he got out."

But the confidential files obtained by the Huffington Post show that Huckabee was provided letters from several women who had been sexually assaulted by Dumond and who indeed predicted that he would rape again - and perhaps murder - if released ...

Huckabee kept these and other documents secret because they were politically damaging, according to a former aide who worked for him in Arkansas ...The aide also believes that Huckabee, for political reasons, has deliberately attempted to cover up his knowledge of Dumond's other sexual assaults.

"There were no letters sent to the governor's office from any rape victims," Huckabee campaign spokesperson Alice Stewart said on Tuesday when contacted by the Huffington Post.

Waas notes that he received these letters from a Republican staffer to Gov. Huckabee in 2002, but is only disclsoing them now because of their relevance to his presidential candidacy.

UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan has Huckabee's explanation - apparently it was all Bill Clinton and Jim Guy Tucker's fault (how many times does he say their names? lots). My reaction to that, borrowed from Mrs. Slocum - "Weak as water."

UPDATE 2: And he doesn't know anything about the Iran NIE, and he's going on Don "Nappy" Imus' new show (sadly Chris Dodd's done that to, as has - completely expectedly - Bill Richardson), Huckabee's a real prize, eh?