"Roni's Rant":  Why my dog won’t let me vote for Mike Huckabee!

Huckabee is a hypocrite – plain and simple.  How can we put our trust and fate into the hands of a man who did everything within his power to keep his son David out of jail for killing a dog?

And Huckabee claims to be a man of faith but in his actions directly contradicts his moral responsibility.  So how can I vote for a man who claims to run for President on family values without having your family's values as part of the campaign.  Huckabee put this out there himself so in this case it is worth a long hard look at those values.

I have to go back to something Huckabee said when he was interviewed about the Andrew Golden, Mitchell Johnson case. Johnson and Golden shot and killed 4 students and a teacher and wounded 6 other students in Jonesboro, Arkansas in March 1998.  The case is listed in our database because the boys killed a duck, a neighbor’s cat and used a .22 caliber rifle to shoot at dogs before going on to murder people. (Reference casefile).

In Huckabee’s interview he stated “parents have an active role in shaping their children’s morale’s”.  He went onto say that “Parents are the ones who are the filter, whether it be video games, computer games or access to things on the internet, movies or TV, even the friends they run around with, parents have to take an active role in saying to their kids sometimes no and they are not doing that enough”. 

Huckabee is also the author of a book entitled “Kids who kill; which examines why children are apparently becoming more violent.

Huckabee said “the real way to fix this better than blended sentences, better than adjudicating children as adults is to find out what in “heck” causes these kids to do this and try and stop it before it ever happens again”.

So lets examine Huckabee’s record on animal cruelty while Governor of Arkansas.

Arkansas is 1 of 7 states without animal cruelty felony provisions.

His son David was involved in an animal cruelty case in 1998 where a dog was killed while he was working at a scout camp. David, hung the dog, slit its throat and stoned it to death but because of his father’s intervention, he was never charged with any crime.  (Reference casefile).

Huckabee acted unethically and obstructed the police investigation.

Huckabee has been the state's chief executive for more than a decade and largely viewed by animal advocates as an impediment to moderate reforms or at the very least someone who never lifted a finger to advance animal welfare. 

In that time, state lawmakers tried several times to pass legislation upgrading the state's anti-cruelty law from a misdemeanor to a felony. 

And finally, here is the 2^nd hypocrisy - as a former pastor, Huckabee makes appeals to people of faith to obtain their votes but most religious people and institutions believe in mercy and compassion and by their convictions bear a moral responsibility to the vulnerable and the weak.

  (Photo courtesy of Crooks and Liars)  It comes down to lessons parents are supposed to instill in their children.  Kindness to animals should be one of the most rudimentary lessons of all.  So how could a man be a fit presidential candidate and lead the country in what should be the most humane and decent of ways if his actions don't begin at home?

 

(Photo courtesy of Wonkette)  Photo of Mike Huckabee and his dog "Old Dan" armed to the teeth and ready to fight America's most deadly foe: turkeys) .

My dog Tina wants to ask the people of Iowa “What were you thinking” making Huckabee the top choice for our next president.

For NH voters, Tina has one request that we send a very clear message and vote humanely in our January 8^th primary.  (See also how the other presidential candiates regard animals).