Mike Huckabee

Last week, Dan Savage set off a controversy when he declared that "every dead gay kid is a victory for the Family Research Council," so it was no surprise that today Mike Huckabee invited FRC's Tony Perkins on to his radio program to respond, allowing both men to spend most of the discussion voicing their outrage about his remarks, with Perkins even hinting that legal action might be taken:

Huckabee: I found Dan Savage to be unnecessarily rude, vile, and angry. Just angry. He was not a happy person and he just takes out his venom on other people, but he's gone to a level I've never seen.

Perkins: As my teenagers would say, he has some issues. He is a man with some real deep-seated issues ... and Dan Savage is nowhere near, he's a hundred and eighty degrees from the positions that we have taken. It's wrong and I will tell you this, we are pursuing everything possible to deal with him because he is out of control.

Perkins then went on to attack gay activists in general, declaring that they will always feel empty inside because they are "outside the way God created" them: 

This is the bottom line, Mike: is that if you don't embrace and celebrate homosexuality and everything associated with it, then you are intolerant. And the truth of the matter is, let's just be very, very truthful, and that's what we deal in is the truth, that even is society embraced homosexuality, there would never be that sense of self-fulfillment because it's outside the way God created man and woman. And that's the bottom line. They cannot erase that, even if they get every law on the books changed, it will never change that.

On his television program last weekend, Mike Huckabee interviewed Phyllis Schlafly about her new book "No Higher Power: Obama's War on Religious Freedom."

While promoting her book, Schlafly has been making her case by falsely claiming that President Obama intentionally drops the word "Creator" whenever he cites or paraphrases the Declaration of Independence ... so it was no surprise to see that Huckabee kicked off the segment by putting forth the same allegation:

As we demonstrated before, this claim that Obama routinely omits any mention of a "Creator" when citing the Declaration is patently false:

Do you remember the time when then-Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee went above and beyond to push for a convicted rapist to be paroled – over the objections of victims and the community – who then murdered two women? It began in 1996, when Huckabee began his push for the convicted rapist to be released, and ran through 2001, when the parolee was arrested for murdering two women. By most accounts, Huckabee took “extraordinary steps” to exert his influence.

After a review of Wayne Dumond's case, which included DNA evidence not available at trial, Huckabee said he could not justify Dumond's imprisonment.

 

His castration "more than has given whatever punishment is necessary, particularly for a crime that is very questionable he committed," the governor said.

 

Dumond, 45, was sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years for kidnapping a 17-year-old girl from her home in 1984 and raping her.

 

In 1985, while Dumond awaited trial, two men in stocking masks broke into his home, tied him up and castrated him with fishing line. His children found him unconscious when they got home from school. The intruders were never caught.

"I'm scared for my safety and I'm scared for every woman that walks the street. He's a repeat offender and I think he will do it again," she said.

Gov. Mike Huckabee, who plans to release a convicted rapist who was castrated by vigilantes, received a letter from second woman who says she was raped by the man.

Supporters of a rape victim rallied at the state Capitol today in opposition to the governor's plan to release the convicted rapist, who was castrated by vigilantes.

"The governor believes that this does satisfy the request of people on both sides in this case and accomplishes his wish to ensure that Mr. Dumond gets out of prison," said Huckabee spokesman Rex Nelson.

The woman who says she was kidnapped and raped by Wayne Dumond has asked a prison screening committee to keep her attacker behind bars. […]

 

In January 1998, Dumond withdrew a request to be paroled. A week earlier, officials in Florida said they did not want to deal with Dumond's notoriety. In 1997, Texas officials said they did not want to supervise Dumond.

In September 1996, Huckabee riled many, including the victim and her family, when he said he was considering freeing Dumond through an act of executive clemency. Ms. Stevens came forth publicly in opposition.

Wayne Dumond, the convicted rapist who has served 14 years in prison since he was castrated at his Forrest City home while awaiting trial in 1985, could be released in a matter of weeks, the state parole board announced Monday. […]

 

Gov. Mike Huckabee announced in September 1996 that he intended to free Dumond. Citing "serious questions" about Dumond's guilt, the governor said Dumond had suffered enough and served enough time.

 

The governor's announcement evoked protests from the victim's family and Ms. Steven publicly urged Huckabee to reconsider. The governor did not make a final decision until January 1997, denying Dumond clemency after the parole board first granted parole.

 

Dumond had previous brushes with the law. In Oklahoma in 1972, he was charged in the death of man who was bludgeoned with a claw hammer. The charge was dropped.

 

Just over a year later, after he had moved to Washington, Dumond pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in an attack on a woman in a shopping mall parking lot. […]

 

In 1976, after moving to DeWitt, he was questioned in the rape of a woman who told police that a man broke into her home and assaulted her at knifepoint as she lay in bed with her 3-year-old child.

"He's not going to do anything. You got to remember the boy was castrated," says Dumond's younger brother Bobby Dumond. "I don't understand why everyone is making a big deal about it."

Wayne DuMond, the state's most notorious sex offender, was released from state prison today.

Castrated rapist Wayne Dumond was arrested in Missouri on a parole violation after being linked to a murder, less than two years after his release from an Arkansas prison.

A castrated rapist on parole from an Arkansas prison became a suspect in a Kansas City-area murder after genetic evidence linked him to the dead woman.

A castrated rapist being held Thursday on a parole violation and suspicion of murder is apparently also being looked at for a second homicide in the Kansas City area, a lawyer for the rapist said.

Gov. Mike Huckabee said Friday he is not trying to have it both ways by reminding people that he denied clemency for a paroled castrated rapist now charged with murder, and playing down that he once strongly advocated Wayne DuMond's release from prison.

Convicted rapist Wayne DuMond walked out of an Arkansas prison on Oct. 22, 1999, freed with the support, if not directly by the hand, of a governor who insisted Arkansas' most notorious sex offender had suffered enough. […]

 

"The action of the board accomplishes what I sought to do in considering an earlier request for commutation," Huckabee said then.

A former state parole board member said Monday that Gov. Mike Huckabee pressured the board to approve the release of a convicted rapist now charged in the murder of a Missouri woman.

With public and private words of support for Wayne DuMond, Gov. Mike Huckabee put pressure on the state parole board to set the convicted rapist free, two former board members said Tuesday.

For the first time publicly since Wayne DuMond's arrest in a Missouri murder, Gov. Mike Huckabee acknowledged Wednesday that he supported the convicted rapist's release from an Arkansas prison.

Missouri congressman Todd Akin eked out a win last night over  two rivals in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, adding to a list of Religious Right backed candidates winning competitive primaries, including Richard Mourdock of Indiana and Ted Cruz of Texas. Akin is more than just a dogmatic conservative-- he's a darling of the Religious Right, earning perfect 100% ratings from the Family Research Council, National Right to Life and Concerned Women for America . Akin has also worked Religious Right with activists Tony Perkins, Janet Porter, Rick Scarborough, Tom DeLay and David Barton, who even recorded an ad on his behalf.

Akin gained notoriety after he told Perkins on his radio show that “at the heart of liberalism really is a hatred for God,” a remark he refused to apologize for.

The congressman is also a virulent opponent of LGBT rights, pushing a ban on same-sex unions of any form in the military and as Think Progress noted, has co-sponsored nearly every piece of anti-gay legislation in the current House session. He thinks that “the liberal agenda has infiltrated our military” due to the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and tried to overturn Washington, D.C.’s marriage equality law.

He took to the House Floor in 2006 with a warning that “anybody who knows something about the history of the human race knows that there is no civilization which has condoned homosexual marriage widely and openly that has long survived.”

In a documentary for Truth in Action Ministries, he claimed that the left “will snuff out the light of freedom” by “rewriting the history of America,” and warned that the health care reform law is “an unbiblical threat” that violated the Ten Commandments. Akin even believes that Medicare is unconstitutional, wants to eliminate the Departments of Education and Energy and the Environmental Protect Agency, wants to impeach judges for “making decisions not based on the U.S. Constitution,” and likens student loan reform to “stage three cancer.”

Akin said that Thanksgiving should be remembered as a day to renounce “unbiblical” socialism and that the U.S. should use the Pilgrim society as a model because the Pilgrims used the Bible as a “blueprint” for economic, education and government policies.

He consistently pushes anti-choice legislation and even said that legal abortion is the reason for illegal immigration: “If you think about it we’ve aborted however many – 40 million – Americans through abortion. If those Americans had not been aborted, we might have more laborers here. Consequently, America is not reproducing itself in terms of our own internal repopulation of having a bunch of kids.”

Akin thanked God and Mike Huckabee for his primary success in his victory statement:

First, I want to give thanks to God our Creator who has blessed this campaign, heard your prayers, and answered them with victory. Through the months, we have seen frequent instances of His blessing and are reminded that with Him all things are possible!

I also wanted to thank Governor Mike Huckabee, who was with us from the start, stayed by our side, lifted us up in prayer, and tonight celebrates with us in victory. Governor Huckabee – I thank you, my family thanks you, and our volunteers thank you for your dedication to our campaign and devotion to saving the America we love.

From the depths of my heart I want to thank every single volunteer who served in our campaign and brought our winning message to the people of Missouri. Tonight one campaign ends…tomorrow another begins.

Last night, the Family Research Council hosted a webcast entitled "Two Weeks for Freedom: Catholics and Evangelicals Together for Freedom" that was billed as kicking off "a two week period of nationwide prayer and action in support of religious liberty" by mobilizing conservative Christians to oppose the Obama administration's contraception mandate.

The first guest on the program was Mike Huckabee, who declared that it was become clear that "this administration is not just indifferent to people of faith, it's hostile" and warning that if all Christians don't stand beside the Catholic Church in opposing the mandate, then next the EPA might be telling Baptists that they can no longer use water for their baptism ceremonies:

Mike Huckabee kicked off day two of the annual CPAC conference by voicing his outrage that President Obama thinks he's a theologian for daring to cite Scripture and proceeded to lecture Obama on what it means to be a real Christian:

Lately, Mike Huckabee has been making the rounds on right-wing radio promoting a new anti-choice documentary he produced with Citizens United called "The Gift of Life" which profiles anti-choice activists as well as those who were "saved from the abortionist":

Huckabee is scheduled to premier the film in Iowa next week and he invited the candidates seeking the Republican nomination to join him for the event where each would be given five minutes to address the audience and flaunt their anti-choice credentials ... and so far, four candidates have accepted the invitation:

Four of the Republican presidential candidates have committed to be at a pro-life forum in Des Moines, Iowa hosted by Mike Huckabee on December 14 to join more than 1,000 pro-life advocates for the unveiling of the new pro-life film Gift of Life.

Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum will come together for the event along with local pro-life Iowans as “The Gift of Life” will make its debut that night. The documentary was produced by Citizens United, the company made famous by a U.S. Supreme Court case that opened the door for unlimited spending on election ads by corporations.

Three other GOP presidential hopefuls, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, and Jon Huntsman, have also been invited to the event and they, along with the attending candidates, have been invited to address the audience on pro-life issues before the screening.

Also taking part will be Family Leader President Bob Vander Plaats, Iowa Right To Life Executive Director Jenifer Bowen, Citizens United President David Bossie, and “Mickelson In The Morning” radio host Jan Mickelson, said Jeff Marschner, a spokesman for Citizens United. The event takes place at the Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines.

For the last few years, there has been a deepening rift between some Religious Right leaders and the organizers of the annual CPAC conference over what the Religious Right saw as a growing embrace of libertarianism over social conservative values at the event.

For instance, various groups have been boycotting past conferences due to the participation of the gay conservative group GOProud while Mike Huckabee has not attended in several years on the grounds that the conference had become, as Politico put it, "outdated, nearly corrupt and unrepresentative of the conservative movement."

But earlier this year, Al Cardenas took over as head of the American Conservative Union, which sponsors CPAC, and began trying to repair the strained relationship, first by suggesting that GOProud will no longer be participating. And now it looks like Cardenas has made up with Huckabee as well, as it has been announced that he will be delivering the keynote address at next year's conference:

The American Conservative Union (ACU) and Citizens United on Thursday announced that former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee will be the keynote speaker at CPAC 2012 -- the 39th annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

...

"We are proud to welcome our friend Mike Huckabee back to CPAC. Governor Huckabee was a tremendous chief executive of Arkansas for nearly a decade and has continued his success in the public arena as a best-selling author, influencing hundreds of thousands of grass-roots conservatives across the nation,” said ACU Chairman Al Cardenas. “The American Conservative Union looks forward to hosting CPAC next February as the premier venue to highlight conservative leaders, principles and policies in 2012.”

Shortly after Rick Perry's prayer rally earlier this year, organizers of that event started promoting a Religious Right voter mobilization effort called "Champion The Vote," which seeks to "mobilize 5 million unregistered conservative Christians to register and vote according to the Biblical worldview in 2012."

It turned out that the Champion The Vote effort was a project of organization called United In Purpose, which is being funded by conservative millionaires for the purpose of mobilizing "40 million out of the estimated 60 million evangelicals in the United States to vote" over the next decade.

As part of this effort, United In Purpose/Champion The Vote are producing an event called "One Nation Under God" where churches and Religious Right activists will gather to watch a three-hour DVD being provided United In Purpose and featuring David Barton, Newt Gingrich, James Dobson, and others talking about the importance of keeping America "one nation under God":

Over the weekend, all of the speakers gathered in Florida for a Florida Renewal Project event for pastors at which the filming for the DVD was presumably done ... and it seems that organizers did not want any attention because when a reporter for the Orlando Sentinel showed up at the event, he was tossed out of the hotel by security:

The media was advised that Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s speech to a gathering of Florida pastors Friday would be closed to the public, but apparently the group behind the meeting didn’t even want media in the same hotel.

A couple weeks ago, Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry were announced as possible speakers at a two-day event in Orlando Thursday and Friday called the Florida Renewal Project. But this week no one wanted to talk about it, except to say it would be closed to the media and public.

Perry’s staff even denied he would attend. Gingrich’s staff confirmed his appearance but would not return phone calls to discuss it.

I went anyway this morning, to the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, to see if Gingrich would be willing to talk to me before or after his speech. When he arrived shortly before noon, I was the lone journalist on the scene, waiting in the hallway outside the meeting room. Gingrich and his staff agreed to talk to me later, at another hotel. After seeing that exchange, hotel officials approached me and, saying they were acting on behalf of event organizers, ordered me to leave the Rosen Centre property immediately, and escorted me to my car.

...

Then it turned out Perry had attended after all, sort of, Thursday night - by satellite link-up, according to tweets posted Thursday night by John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, which was a participant in the Florida Renewal Project.

That appearance, which included a speech and taking questions from the pastors, came just hours after the Texas governor’s campaign staff assured the Sentinel he would not attend.

Who organized the event though? No one would say for sure, though Stemberger acknowledged that the California-based organization United in Purpose, which had organized similar “Renewal Project” events in California and Iowa earlier this year, “was involved.”

The last time United In Purpose hosted one of these conferences, we caught Mike Huckabee telling the audience that Americans ought to be forced to listen to David Barton at gunpoint.  But when United In Purpose later broadcast the event, that exchange was entirely edited out. 

So while organizers are going to be releasing a DVD of this Florida event in the coming weeks, it seems that they want to be able to control what people actually see and don't want reporters around revealing what was really taking place.