Paroled Rapist Could Haunt Huckabee

GOP Candidate's Record As Arkansas Governor Marred By Controversial Parole Of Wayne DuMond

(CBS)  This story was written by CBSNews.com political reporter Brian Montopoli.

---

"When they're kicking you in the rear, it's just proving you're still out front."

Those are the words of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has emerged from relative obscurity to become a legitimate contender for the GOP presidential nomination - and a target of his rivals.

Last Wednesday, Huckabee’s performance in the Republican debate garnered strong reviews. A new Des Moines Register poll in Iowa, home of the influential Jan. 3 caucuses, shows the likeable Baptist minister leading the field.

But success means scrutiny. The anti-tax Club for Growth has been hammering Huckabee over his record on taxes as governor; the Associated Press has spotlighted the 16 ethics complaints filed against him in Arkansas, five of which were found to be violations; his rivals for the GOP nomination have attacked him over his past support for college scholarships for children of illegal immigrants.

And then there's the story of Wayne DuMond.

In 1985, DuMond was convicted of the rape of a 17-year-old girl with a connection to then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton: She was the governor's distant cousin and the daughter of a major campaign contributor.

As Clinton rose to national prominence, the case came to the attention of his critics. Journalists and talk show hosts questioned the victim's story and suggested that DuMond had been railroaded by the former governor. Steve Dunleavy, a New York Post columnist, took up the case as a cause, calling DuMond’s conviction "a travesty of justice."

The story also came with a tabloid-ready twist: DuMond said that while awaiting trial, masked men broke into his house and castrated him. Though there were doubts about the story, it engendered sympathy for DuMond among Clinton foes.

DuMond's sentence had been set at life in prison, plus 20 years. In 1992, Clinton's successor in the Arkansas governor's mansion, Jim Guy Tucker, reduced that sentence to 39 years, making DuMond eligible for parole.

When Huckabee became governor in 1996, he expressed doubts about DuMond's guilt and said he was considering commuting his sentence to time served. After the victim and her supporters protested, Huckabee decided against commutation. But in 1997, according to the Kansas City Star, Huckabee wrote a letter to DuMond saying "my desire is that you be released from prison." Less than a year later, DuMond was granted parole.

Huckabee's office denied that the governor played a role in the parole board's decision, but there was evidence (exhaustively detailed here) to contradict that claim.

Charles Chastain, a Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, who was on the parole board at the time, told CBSNews.com the governor met with the board to argue on DuMond’s behalf.

"He thought DuMond had gotten a raw deal," said Chastain, who calls himself neutral towards Huckabee. "He said he'd been born on the wrong side of the tracks and hadn't been treated all that fairly."

"I don't think the governor quite understood about parole proceedings," added Chastain. "I thought of the parole board as a quasi-judicial body that wouldn't be lobbied or otherwise interfered with by anyone outside of it, so I was a little bit surprised by it."

After the meeting, Chastain said, a number of the board members "switched their vote" from the previous year, and DuMond was paroled.

Joe Carter, director of research for the Huckabee campaign, insists that Huckabee did not seek to pressure the parole board. "If it was such an important issue for him, he would have commuted his sentence," Carter told CBSNews.com.

DuMond's release was delayed because a number of states did not want to take him in, but he left prison in 1999 and ended up in Missouri. Not long after he arrived, he was arrested again - this time for sexually assaulting and murdering a woman named Carol Sue Shields. DuMond was also the leading suspect in the rape and murder of another woman. He was convicted of murdering Shields and died in prison in 2005.

In a statement, Huckabee Press Secretary Alice Stewart told CBSNews.com that Huckabee “had no influence regarding the parole board's decision to release Wayne Dumond.”

“Governor Huckabee had no authority to grant parole to Wayne Dumond or anyone else -- governors don’t have that authority in the parole process,” she said.

According to Arkansas Times editor Max Brantley, who has tangled repeatedly with Huckabee over the years, the governor's influence clearly played a role in DuMond's release from prison.

"In the end, he took a series of actions that can be interpreted only one way: That he was an advocate for Wayne DuMond," said Brantley. "And it was bad judgment. And he's never been willing to take responsibility for it."

"It's an unfortunate incident," said Carter, Huckabee's director of research, of the DuMond case. "He is devastated by what happened, but he felt he did no wrongful action."

[cyberus-2009]

I''m not a Huckabee fan but to be fair about it every politician involved in the parole/pardon process makes mistakes.

[antoniof123]

Who cares I am not voting for this clown anyway so I could care less about what he did with parole/pardons.

[akoeppen]

Except Romney who didn''t pardon or parole a single person. A governor should not be in the business of pardoning or paroling people that jurors convicted. That is anti-democratic. So is giving special priveleges to illegal, non-tax paying immigrants.

[mike71067]

Headline: "Paroled Rapist Could Haunt Huckabee"

...or, not. In other words, this is a story only because Huckabee is gaining ground, so the liberal news networks need to find something to attack him with. Seriously, Huckabee did not parole this guy. A judge did. And nobody can control what their appointees will do. The whole story is stupid, and is just a lame attempt at the leftist media to bash a qualified candidate.

[excoachken]

Why don''t you refer to him as Reverend Huckabee? Once a minister, always a minister. Why hasn''t he been asked about his concept of the separation of church and state? He is just "W" with a face-lift and more B.S.

[mike71067]

"Why don''t you refer to him as Reverend Huckabee? Once a minister, always a minister. Why hasn''t he been asked about his concept of the separation of church and state? He is just "W" with a face-lift and more B.S."
-Posted by exCoachKen at 10:21 AM : Dec 04, 2007

I didn''t realize he was a minister. But I think I like him even more now. I am, however, confused as to how this makes him "W with a facelife". Was W a minister as well? Please explain.

[carolrhill]

There is not a person going for president that does not have something in the closet that they don''t want out but the thing is if it as bad as they say it is I do not want him running the Country. But in a way it couldn''t be any worse than Bush he stole from a savings and loan in Texas that made it go under so all of them are either thieves or killers. Look at what Bush has done to our innocent men and women.

[fibonacci_]

That guy really looks like hed have to be a rapist to get ANY.

[macusweil]

Could this Huckabee''s Willy Horton?

If you look closely at his record as governor one will find this is not just a single mistake in poor judgment. There are numerous ethics questions

His fiscal stewardship is a disaster raising taxes more than 20 times including a ''bed tax'' on nursing homes and gasoline. He frequently says he cut taxes "almost 94 times" but leaves out the 21 taxes raised during his tenure. In the end, he presided over a net tax increase. Huckabee said that he balanced the state budget %u201Cevery single year of my 10.5 years as governor,%u201D a boast that he has repeated on the campaign trail. What Huckabee forgot to mention is that the Arkansas Constitution has a balanced budget requirement.

Huckabee is a radical cleric who does not believe in evolution, meaning we become a backward nation on the wrong side of science should he ever be elected president.

I''m voting for Dr. Ron Paul in the Feb 5th NY GOP primary. He''s a ten term Congressman with a sound fiscal record and a pledge to bring our troops home and safe when elected.

www.ronpaul4all.com

[fibonacci_]

Are you Ron Paul guy in disguise? Looks to me like he got his dumb rump banned from these forums.

[kcphill]

To use the Arkansas Times, a VERY biased liberal publication, which dogged Huckabee and every other Republican in office, isn%u2019t a credible source. Max Brantley does more than %u201Ctangle%u201D with Huckabee. His publication has pursued Huckabee with a vengeance.
What happened in Missouri was horrible and Huckabee will get a black eye for it. I would attribute the crimes in MO to a sick man who had been imprisoned for a long time and became a product of the system. I%u2019m not absolving Wayne Dumond, but I%u2019m not condemning Huckabee for something that many other governors would have done.

The same extremist who chased Bill Clinton for 8 years in DC and many years in Arkansas looked at this conviction and imprisonment as a sort of "lynching" since the Forrest City family was related to Clinton; however, the same group of extremist was not around when Dumond moved to MO and raped and killed another. Conservative Talk Radio in NW Ark, the GOP base in Ark, was on the Gov. hard to pardon Dumond because he was wrongly convicted. Did the Gov. use poor judgment; maybe, it is hard to say after the fact.

The same people who condemn Huckabee would absolve others pols for thier trangressions (Guilani, Romney, Clinton, Thompson, etc.).

[divasmom]

Mike Huckabee is an ordained Baptist minister. He was elected Lt. Gov. of Arkansas. When the then current Gov. Of Arkansas (Jim Guy Tucker, another Democrat who had taken office after Clinton ran for President was forced to resign due to criminal activity discovered also during the Clinton impeachment investigation, Huckabee was sworn in as Governor. Taxes were raised in Arkansas under Huckabee, but this is a poor state and money is needed in all areas to keep the state in the black. States cannot operate on promises the last I heard. The only thing Huckabee and Clinton have in common is their city of birth, Hope,Arkansas. Clinton was and is a charlatan, Gov. Huckabee is an honorable moral man, a husband and father of three, experienced Governor of a Democratic run state which did everything imaginable to make his life miserable including nailing his door shut in the capital building when he had the audacity to run and be elected Lt. Gov. of Arkansas!! His determination to build a two-party system in Arkansas by working with both sides of the aisle in a one party state is to be admired and looked upon as a positive in the upcoming election.

[macusweil]

"Ron Paul - Raving loon"

Yeah, what raving lunatic would say we should follow the Constitution in this modern day and age? That 200 year old yellowed piece of paper just gets in the way of stomping our freedoms and liberties so they can catch bad guys and keep us really safe.

And why does Ron Paul keep worrying about the deficit? If the US treasury runs out of money the Fed can just print more. When the dollar becomes worthless we will have the last laugh on the Arabs who think they are getting rich at 90 a barrel oil.

teaparty07.com

[debluezzman]

As far as I am concerned all politicans think there in a God like status, if I had my way, no elected offical could hold office that makes over 25k a year, because what we have now that thinks for the PEOPLE, is fat rich cats who know nothing about being hungry, begging for some type of health care, no gas to go to the store...of course we as taxpayers pay for all there stuff

[prinzowhales]

I bought into this story years ago. If I had taken the time to check into Mr. Dunleavy''s Murdoch bona fides...an Australian by birth and employee of the POST, I don''t think that I would have made that mistake...of course, my jaundiced opinion of the American mainstream media has increased with time.

[sweetness230]

I have spent most of my years, born and raised here in Arkansas. Let me tell you folks, you do not want this moron anywhere near the WH - pres. of VP. Do you hear me? You might want to check into the stunt he pulled when he left office of stealing hundreds of c-drives and destroying them. Ethics violations? That too. What an everlasting joke and disgrace this "southern" Baptist minister is, and if you allow him to pull the proverbial wool over your eyes you deserve him. Perish the thought. Another Bush wannabe!

[markermclean]

Key point for all to remember:

A DNA expert testified that DNA evidence that was available in this case did ***not*** match the man convicted. That not he did it (irregardless of what he did later, which is horrible) thus became highly doubted. So whatever, if anything, Huckabee did was at the very least in part based upon this testimony.

[usmc1968]

I think the biggest issue of Huckabee is his depending on his being a expert on theology and a active ministier, under study too some famous televagelist, and his being governor and over seeing many executions which he claims he did with gusto, and if one watched the debates he dodged a very interesting question, what would jesus do on death penalty issue, he avoided this question well with a joke that jesus was too smart too run for political office, but reality was had he tried too answer the question with his party''s belief in death penalty, he would have fallen into the category of the pharisees who tried too trick jesus into condoning the stoning too death of a adulteress, which was gods law and law of that time, no ifs, no buts, but jesus did not dodge the question or their trickery...., as we all know even a laymen as myself knows the parable and how it rebutted the pro-death penalty pharisees who in our present society are the elite self rightgeous republicans who claim moral superiority, belief in god and jesus, but they pay only lip service too the parts that their voters believe in..., Huckabee, in my view is a typical politician and fake christian hypocrite who uses bible too further his political ambitions..., yes jesus would not have run for any political office but he never dodged a religous issue or controversy...

[Syndicate]

No good deed goes unpunished.

[pepperp1]

lol, the any Governor negative smear stand by is being dusted off against Huckabee, the other candidate camps must be really desperate or think their base dumb enough to fall for this one again. I see nothing wrong with the Christian Right finally having a candidate who is a true Christian and maybe nor sure on this but maybe a true moral man. After all their loyalty the got stuck with that amoral Neo Con Puppet Bush and dont want another one like Rudy. And the RNC had to notice the Christian Right is on to them and they dont seem to be jumping to the bait of the bogus bogeymen faux threats the Iran WWIII Bush Cheney lies to keep them in line this time, good for them didn%u2019t believe they had it in them.

So if you have no wedgies now what, Iran bogus, Immigrants gods children, Abortion comes in the form of a pill no one to terrorize, *** human face, oh well we know Rove will make up something else stupid up like the Dems are the ones that got us into Iraq and want to stay , ha ha ha

Tap Tap Quack

[macusweil]

"if you allow him to pull the proverbial wool over your eyes you deserve him. Perish the thought. Another Bush wannabe! "

Yeah, I''m from NY and I can see that! Just another wold in sheep''s clothing. GOP debate funny guy answers a serious question regarding Christ, death and morality with a joke.

We all know the answer, WWJD. Anyone who has ever read the New Testament knows the story. As Christians too often sadly deny Jesus three times rather than face the true teaching, to practice love and forgiveness and protect human life. Life with out parole is justice, state execution is playing God.

[sweetness230]

In my post I meant to say "hard drives", not c-drives. He made off with them all. Honest, upstanding, man with integrity. LMAO! And, guess what? All under the guise of being a "Christian leader". And you know what else? Lord help us all, it could just work. Heaven forbid we''ve been dumbed down that badly. Oh just Heaven forbid!!

[nolalou]

cyberus said "I''''m not a Huckabee fan but to be fair about it every politician involved in the parole/pardon process makes mistakes.".

I was prepared to be ''fair'' until I found out about the Clinton connection! Since the victim was a distant relative of Bill Clinton, and daughter of a campaign contributor, the anti-clinton fanatics took on the cause of the accused rapist! This case stinks to high heaven! Sorry, Huckabee, you don''t get a ''pass'' on this one!

[jn122736]

Huckabee, like Romney, is no different from many other preacher/minister who take total advantage of the gullibility of Christians for personal gain, except that these two are running for president.

Most preachers/ministers only take advantage of those willing to be %u201Cused%u201D, while as president, either of these two would, without doubt, take advantage of the entire country.

You need look no further than the present administration for proof of this.

[macusweil]

"Ron Paul is still a REPUG "

No, no, my friend, please look before you leap!!

Yes, RP is a true Republican who puts individual liberties & freedom ahead of BIG business and the power of the federal government. Anyone remember those guys, the real GOP? Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower??

Unlike Hillary, Congressman Paul voted against the authorization for the invasion on Iraq, voted against the traitorous "Patriot" Act. Ron Paul has never voted for a tax increases. He has repeatedly called to the carpet the failed foreign & fiscal policies of George W Bush that has ruined the dollar and created record deficits. The middle class is an endangered species in America!

[barbaraf4]

They all have hidden, dark secrets. Quick, someone cast the first stone.

[king77shaw]

they look alike ...

[pepperp1]

..........Common Sense Issues Inc. It''s help the GOP candidate says he doesn''t want, because it includes computerized calls that spread negative information about his opponents, a technique Huckabee said "violates the spirit" of his campaign.


True and they are low lifes to be sure....

lol, the any Governor negative smear stand by is being dusted off against Huckabee, the other candidate camps must be really desperate or think their base dumb enough to fall for this one again. I see nothing wrong with the Christian Right finally having a candidate who is a true Christian and maybe nor sure on this but maybe a true moral man. After all their loyalty the got stuck with that amoral Neo Con Puppet Bush and dont want another one like Rudy. And the RNC had to notice the Christian Right is on to them and they dont seem to be jumping to the bait of the bogus bogeymen faux threats the Iran WWIII lies to keep them in line this time, good for them didn%u2019t believe they had it in them.

[prinzowhales]

Singingrick is supporting Huckabee...that is enough to make him suspect in anyone''s book...

Huckabee is a war pig but his misteps are minor compared to the crimes of the Bush Regime...

Former Italian President Corriga has come out to say that Mossad and the CIA ran the 9-11 false flag operation. He has revealed OPERATION GLADIO in the past in which American/NATO agents lauched terror attacks--such as that on the Bologna terminal in which dozens were killed--to discredit the Left.

http://www.infowars.com/articles/sept11/cossiga_ex_italian_pres_intel_agencies_know_911_inside_job.htm

These monsters murdered 3,000 Americans...Let''s hang ''em high!!

[neoconrcrazy]

as my old friend seven-pesos used to say;

nothing good comes out of the south!

[neoconrcrazy]

These monsters murdered 3,000 Americans...Let''''s hang ''''em high!!

Posted by Prinzowhales


if only there was evidence - i''d pass the noose with pleasure.

[jn122736]

"Ron Paul is still a REPUG "

No, no, my friend, please look before you leap!!

Yes, RP is a true Republican who puts individual liberties & freedom ahead of BIG business and the power of the federal government. Anyone remember those guys, the real GOP? Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower??

Unlike Hillary, Congressman Paul voted against the authorization for the invasion on Iraq, voted against the traitorous "Patriot" Act. Ron Paul has never voted for a tax increases. He has repeatedly called to the carpet the failed foreign & fiscal policies of George W Bush that has ruined the dollar and created record deficits. The middle class is an endangered species in America!
Posted by macusweil at 12:06 PM : Dec 04, 2007
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In fact, Ron Paul voted for tax cuts in time of war with no accompanying spending cuts to offset them.
He had to have known this would unbalance the budget, so therefore he definitely voted for an unbalanced budge.

Furthermore, these tax cuts so unbalanced the budget that the national debt has nearly doubled, raising the interest on the debt to nearly one $1/2 trillion. EVERY year.

If Ron Paul did not know this then He is definitely NOT presidential material.

This $1/2 trillion comes from taxes, so; in effect, he definitely DID vote to raise taxes.

The entire working class is in danger, but another republican president is NOT the answer.

Ron Paul = republican = stay the course

[ez4me2sa]

jn122736:"Huckabee, like Romney, is no different from many other preacher/minister who take total advantage of the gullibility of Christians for personal gain, except that these two are running for president."

Romney is not / has never been a preacher/minister nor is he pandering to the gullibility of evangelicals like Huckabee is. Get your facts straight.

[ez4me2sa]

IMHO I don''t know how anyone could vote for this baptist preacher flim flam man . The evangelical sheeple are getting the wool pulled over their eyes. Big time. The (lib) media are hyping this guy because they know he''s a loser. Has anyone ever seen them so smitten for a baptist preacher who wears his faith on his sleeve??? Get real. Romney''s still the best candidate the GOP has had in a very long time.

[xardox17]

A judge he appoints has a senior moment? This won''t stick, despite the best efforts to make it.

[infidel_us]

''Paroled Rapist Could Haunt Huckabee''

No Willie Horton here. Sorry CBS.

[jn122736]

Re. Post by neoconism at 12:47 PM : Dec 04, 2007
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks, I couldn''t have responded better.

[macusweil]

"In fact, Ron Paul voted for tax cuts in time of war with no accompanying spending cuts to offset them."

You check his voting record or you induced it? RP voted against for tax cuts and the spending. Take a minute and understand his positions. He really makes sense. Compare Ron Paul''s fiscal and foreign policies to the rest of the GOP and Dems and you''ll see he has the best position to move America forward again.

Ron Paul is not right wing, left wing, middle of the road or any of that nonsense. He wants to save the middle class from a bloated federal government and big corporate interests.

www.teaparty07.com

[macusweil]

"Name one GOP presidential candidate who will not self-destruct from their past record of incompetence?
ANSWER: None of them! The GOP is DOA in 2008!"

All save Ron Paul! His voting record in Congress even beats Hillary.

[gkc99]

"Romney is not / has never been a preacher/minister nor is he pandering to the gullibility of evangelicals like Huckabee is. Get your facts straight"--Posted by ez4me2sa


You''re right about Huckleberry, but Romney dodged the Vietnam draft by pretending to be a minister--he got a "religious minister" exemption--not Conscientious Objector status, but an exemption because he was handing out Books of Mormon in France.

So maybe he''s an ex-minister, pastor, or priest.

[gkc99]

"Romney is not / has never been a preacher/minister nor is he pandering to the gullibility of evangelicals like Huckabee is. Get your facts straight"--Posted by ez4me2sa


You''re right about Huckleberry, but Romney dodged the Vietnam draft by pretending to be a minister--he got a "religious minister" exemption--not Conscientious Objector status, but an exemption because he was handing out Books of Mormon in France.

So maybe he''s an ex-minister, pastor, or priest.

[ez4me2sa]

posted by neoconism: "Oh really? Then explain why Mitt Rommel did not serve in Vietnam? Rommel managed to avoid the troubles of the Vietnam war when his daddy, a Mormon big cheese, certified boy Mitt as a "preacher man" because he was handing out the usual Mormon crock door to door."

Mitt was never certified by his father as a "preacher". Do some fact checking. Mitt was a missionary in France for 30 months. After his mission service Romney began attending Brigham Young University, where he graduated as valedictorian, earning his B.A. summa *** laude in 1971. In 1975, Romney graduated from a joint JD/MBA program coordinated between Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. He graduated *** laude from the law school and was named a Baker Scholar for graduating in the TOP 5 PERCENT of his business school class. What did you do with YOUR life?

[radiob-2009]

It''s an unfortunate incident," said Carter, Huckabee''s director of research, of the DuMond case. "He is devastated by what happened, but he felt he did no wrongful action."


A poor judgement of character on Huckabee''s part, perhaps politically motivated. This poor judgement of character should be enough for the voters regardless if Huckabee had anything to do with Wayne Dumond parole.

[ez4me2sa]

Oh really? Mitt Rommels 4 sons are helping his fathers presidential bid. Posted by neoconism: "Mitt recently touted this as his "sons service to their country to get him elected, similar to US soldiers serving in Iraq." Seems to me that we are dealing with a family of cowards, swindlers, and used car salesmen. Thanks to Mitt Rommel and his 4 sons for serving their country by putting their Mormon Cult before country.."

Once again you''re incorrect. It''s not a requirement to serve in the military for a person running for president nor for the children of that person. Some of America''s best leaders/presidents never served in the military nor did their children. Get a life.

[ez4me2sa]

uuforyou posted: "Everything is a joke or funny punchline to Huckabee. He has not said one straightforward meaningful thing yet. In all his debates, he has not answered a single question. He has laughed off every answer. While I appreciate a sense of humor, I want a straight, serious answer out of Huckabee concerning what he will do about terrorism, foreign policy, healthcare, education or gas prices. America has real issues and we need real solutions. This funny guy act is getting old."

I totally agree. Oh I forgot, he also wants to get rid of the IRS. Another comic statement. Here''s my comic response: BWAHAHAHAHA!

[sdcjd1]

"It''s an unfortunate incident," said Carter, Huckabee''s director of research, of the DuMond case. "He is devastated by what happened, but he felt he did no wrongful action."

Are you kidding me? An "unfortunate incident" is losing your wallet. DuMond was released and then he proceeded to rape and kill a woman. If Huckabee is so devastated then why can''t he admit that he did wrong? His actions directly lead to the release of a violent felon. This was not the only felon that Huckabee pardoned in those days. The word in AR was that he felt that if these guys had "found God" in prison, then they should be released and given a second chance. At that time there were other rapists/felons "finding God" b/c they knew they had a chance at getting Executive Clemency from a religious governor. This man has no business leading a country, let alone a state. He needs to go back to his pulpit before he does anymore damage.

[jyu1915]

"''Paroled Rapist Could Haunt Huckabee''''
No Willie Horton here. Sorry CBS.
Posted by Infidel_Us at 12:55 PM "

Why not? After the guy was released, he was convicted of murdering a woman in Missouri and is the leading suspect in the rape and murder of another woman. Sounds a lot like Willie Horton to me.

[gkc99]

"An aide to Sen. Maria Cantwell (DEMOCRAT) is in federal custody after being arrested on a charge of attempting to sexually exploit a MINOR."--Posted by skykk


Totally irrelevant and off topic. The usual Slime Boat tactics of the Neoconscum. Cantwell isn''t running for President, and it was an aide who is accused.

How many of Bushit''s chums have been accused and would have been convicted of felonies were the pardon machine not running among the hypocrit Tighty Whitey Righties!

[ez4me2sa]

shurch4truth posted: " I like Mr. Romney but there are so many of you out there that talk about him like he walks on water. He would be the first to tell you he does not.

If you and he are not willing to admit that he screws up now and then (i.e. tells half truths or that like all the other candidates he exaggerates) then there''''s little hope you or he will be taken seriously."

I''m not saying he walks on water. ALL politicians are opportunists. It''s part of the competitive game. But I like Romneys sincerity. He stated in the debate "I CHANGED MY MIND". I like that. Very simple. Very direct.

[jetlizhan]

obviously the b@stard wasn''t castrated like he claimed; may he not rest in peace - and i''m sure he''s not. he''s dodging that red pitchfork.