New Chuck Norris Fact: Mike Huckabee will never be President

Mike Huckabee

Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is caught up in a bit of hot water among those in his party for releasing alleged cop-killer Maurice Clemmons from prison back in 2000. As we noted when the story first broke, the then-Governor of Arkansas granted clemency to Clemmons, who was a minor when he was first sentenced to prison in 1990. Clemmons went on to have many more brushes with the law before the tragic shootings in Lakewood, but managed to slip through the cracks of the judicial system.

A former Southern Baptist minister, Mike Huckabee had a rather unconventional rise to stardom in the Republican party. He lost over 100 pounds while governor of Arkansas and wrote a best-selling book on the experience. The hallmark of his bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2000 was an endorsement by professional badass Chuck Norris, who accompanied him on campaign stops throughout the primary season.

Huckabee is now doing damage control, as evidenced by a syndicated op-ed that went out earlier this week. In "Why I Commuted Maurice Clemmons' Sentence" the former governor admits the sad truth that Clemmons' original sentence was pretty draconian:

Maurice Clemmons was 16 years old when he committed the crimes of burglary and robbery. He was sentenced to a total of 108 years in prison, dramatically outside the norm for sentencing for the crimes he committed and the age at which he committed them.

What Huckabee doesn’t take responsibility for, however, are the subsequent failings of the Washington court system to prosecute Clemmons for the crimes he committed since then:

I can't explain why he wasn't prosecuted properly for the parole violations, or why he was allowed to make bail in Washington and was not incarcerated earlier for crimes committed there. I take responsibility for my actions, but not for the actions of others.

The defensive tone may not appeal to Washington voters, but that’s not who this op-ed is directed at. Huckabee’s base, the same people who came to his rallies in 2007 to shake Chuck Norris' hand, are the people he needs to convince that he’s not soft on crime, lest he find himself being Willie Hortoned in 2012. A new poll out has Huckabee’s numbers nationally unchanged after this episode, but it’s those in his party whom he has the most to worry about.