Oh sure, there are lots and lots of reasons why Mike Huckabee should never be president. But this one by itself is quite good enough for me

"The files had to be disappeared because there just wasn't a plausible explanation for the governor's stance," the former [Huckabee] staffer said. "I mean, what could the governor say? That he believes these women made up their stories? That women lie when they say they are raped?"
--from Murray Waas's "Documents Expose Huckabee's Role In Serial Rapist's Release" on HuffPost

Not that anybody you or I know is likely to be considering supporting Mike Huckabee for president, but in case you should encounter someone who might be contemplating doing so, make sure they read this HuffPost piece of Murray Waas's, a grimly thorough documentation of the preacherly scumbag's sordid involvement in the 1999 freeing of convicted rapist Wayne Dumond, who proceeded to rape and murder two women.

Since the New Right apparently lives on an unvarying diet of all lies all the time, it's not surprising that the story consists of a more or less unbroken chain of lies spewed by the Right-Wing Filth Machine, with then-Gov. Mike Huckabee at the center.

First there was the batch of lies spread like a nasty virus by a bunch of the usual suspects (including the New York Post's Steve Dunleavy, who may never in his life have knowingly written a word of truth), indulging in one of their ritual orgies of Clinton-hating. The thugs claimed that there was no rape, that it was all a put-up job because the victim had ties to the Clintons. (And no, we don't have to refer to her as the "alleged" victim. Her rapist was, after all, tried and convicted.)

Later, after the released Dumond moved to Missouri and was arrested for rape and murder (he died in 2005 while serving a life sentence in prison, as Missouri authorities were preparing a capital case against him for the murder of another woman, this one pregnant, the day before his arrest for the murder for which he was convicted), there was the batch of cover-up lies spewed by Governor Huckabee and his people, working frantically to conceal the extent of the governor's involvement in the case.

At the time that Huckabee interceded on Dumond's behalf--which he now pretends he never did, though the record makes clear that he did quite a lot--there was abundant evidence that the convict had already committed not one but a series of rapes. Among the documents were letters from several of his victims, which Waas (with their consent) has now released publicly for the first time. There was every reason to believe that Dumond, if released from prison, would go right on raping--and possibly worse.

In one of the letters, which Waas establishes conclusively Governor Huckabee's office had received at the time (naturally they lied about this as long as they could get away with it) they were busy freeing a rapist, the victim wrote, "I feel that if he is released it is only a matter of time before he commits another crime and fear that he will not leave a witness to testify against him the next time."

Inevitably mention of the Wayne Dumond matter calls to mind the Massachusetts case of Willie Horton. In 1988 the late Lee Atwater, mentor to Karl Rove, used Willie Horton to make sure that Gov. Michael Dukakis would never become president. But the cases really aren't similar. The Horton case was tragic, of course; the Dumond case is inexcusable.

Even now former Governor Huckabee, who I'm sure would have been the first in line to advocate lynching Mike Dukakis for allowing the parole of Willie Horton, makes believe that the post-release history of Wayne Dumond was, gosh, just one of those horrible cases of bad luck you just have to live with--horrible, of course, but there's nothing to be done.

More lies, of course. It's only in the demented minds of delusional right-wingers that there was ever the slightest question about who and what Wayne Dumond was. Governor Huckabee had all the information and evidence at his disposal. Instead he cast his lot with the mob of Clinton-hating psychos. And he's spent a portion of every day since then lying about the whole thing.

At the very least, Waas's exhaustive HuffPost piece should protect Americans from ever having to extend the respect of an elective office to the Rev. Mike Huckabee.

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