Is Dumond a Woman Problem for Huckabee?

Concord, NH -

While most of the reporting on the Dumond parole issue may be, at worst, little more than sensationalism and sour grapes for Huckabee, at best it has the potential to reveal some awful character flaws. The story, first broken by the Huffington Post's Murray Waas, reveals in detail the process by which then-Governor Mike Huckabee oversaw the early parole release of a convicted rapist. According to the way Huckabee frames it, the decision was hardly his, and if anything he was looking forward to giving someone a chance at a better life. In some circumstances that kind of compassion should be lauded, and in most cases of rehabilitation probably works for the best. This time it didn't.

Yet, especially given the way Huckabee dodged the question of whether or not women should be involved in a church's leadership, this Dumond case begs the question: is Huckabee a misogynist? Did he weigh the Dumond's prison behavior more than the impassioned pleas of his victims - all females - because he trusts a man's potential over a woman's warning? Much as I love the Huckabee charm and have an gut feeling that he cares about people, I fear that the answer to those last two questions may be "yes".

If that is the case, and more dirt comes out to expose such a view, Huckabee could be headed down a country road to ruin.