Goodbye Mike Huckabee

Remember Mike Huckabee going after Mitt Romney on the law and order issues? Is the Washington cop massacre another result of a Huckabee pardon?

Speculation on political futures you say?

Huckabee is a bit of a prognosticator himself. Here is a recent quote and prediction from Mike Huckabee, while on a trip to Orlando, Florida ten days ago:

"Well, I think it's absurd, and I think the Obama administration will be as much on trail as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," said Huckabee.

He says the terror suspects will use their trials as a platform to spout anti-American venom.

"And God help us if they get off on a technicality because of the way the evidence was gathered," said Huckabee. "I would tell you not only is the Obama administration finished, I think the Democratic Party is finished."

Man linked to Washington shootings had long sentence commuted
Ed Pilkington, Matthew Weaver and agencies
guardian.co.uk,
Monday 30 November 2009 08.27 GMT


Police name Maurice Clemmons as 'person of interest' who had sentence commuted by Republican Mike Huckabee

A man wanted in connection with the gunning down of four US police officers in a cafe yesterday had a long prison sentence commuted by the former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, it was revealed today .

The officers – three men and a woman, all from the local police force in Lakewood, Washington state – were preparing paperwork for their morning duties and working on laptops at the Forza cafe when they were shot dead by a lone gunman.

Police named Maurice Clemmons, 37, as "a person of interest", although not yet a suspect, in their inquiry. Clemmons has an extensive criminal record and was recently charged for third-degree assault on a police officer, and second-degree rape of a child.

In 1989, Clemmons, then 17, was convicted for aggravated robbery. He was paroled in 2000 after Huckabee, then the governor of Arkansas, and now a Fox News presenter, commuted Clemmons's 95-year prison sentence.

Huckabee, who was criticised during his run for the presidential nomination in 2008 for the number of clemencies he granted, cited Clemmons's age at the time of the sentence.

After his release, Clemmons broke his parole and was returned to prison in July 2001. He was released on 18 March 2004, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper.

The four dead officers have been named as Mark Renninger, 39; Ronald Owens, 37; Tina Griswold, 40; and Greg Richards, 42.

The police spokesman Ed Troyer said one of the officers fought with the gunman and may have wounded him before the officer died just outside the door.

He said investigators were asking medics in the area to report any people wounded by gunshots. "We believe there was a struggle, a commotion, a fight ... that he fought the guy all the way out the door. We hope that he hit him," Troyer said.

"It's carnage out front everywhere," Troyer said, describing the front of the cafe. "It's like a bad horror movie. It's horrible." The officers were all in uniform, including bulletproof vests, he said.

The attack was clearly targeted at the officers; not a robbery that went wrong, he said.

"This was more of an execution. Walk in with the specific mindset to shoot police officers."

Around 200 police descended on the area, searching for their colleagues' killer. A helicopter and dog teams were used to scour houses, parking areas and open spaces, but no one was found.

"I have never seen this many scramble to a particular spot, ever," said David Gabrielson, 27, a worker at a petrol station near the cafe.

Investigators were baffled by the killings and the absence of a motive. There were no indications that any of the officers had received previous threats.

Police will be seeking to rule out any link between the murders and the death of police officer Timothy Brenton in Seattle last month. Brenton was shot as he was sitting in a police vehicle on the night of Halloween.

"We won't know if it's a copycat effect or what it was until we get the case solved," Troyer said.

Police questioned two cafe staff and a few customers who were in the shop at the time of the shootings. Though none of them were physically hurt they were described as stunned.

"As you can imagine, they are traumatised, they are in shock," said Troyer.

The Forza cafe is owned by a former police officer, Brad Carpenter. "I'm a retired police officer, so this really hits close to home for me," he said.

A $10,000 (£6,000) reward has been offered for information about the killings.