A Question For Mike Huckabee

This story tells us the following…

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by journalists seeking to open executions to more scrutiny, saying there was no guaranteed right to see the whole process, including the strapping-down of the condemned inmate and the insertion of needles.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Webber Wright rejected the journalists' argument the public had a First Amendment right to see every step of an execution in Arkansas.

In her ruling issued Monday, Wright also noted that executions have “moved from the public square to inside prison walls,” an area where the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled reporters have no special right to access.

…

A case before the U.S. Supreme Court focuses on a three-drug cocktail used by 37 states, claiming the condemned could suffer intense pain without being able to cry out. That pending case in effect stopped executions in Arkansas and other states until a ruling by justices.

If I could, I would ask Huckabee whether or not he thought this was a fair ruling (as I’ve said before, I don’t have a problem with the existence of the death penalty, but I do have a problem with its application).

I haven’t found any comment from Huckabee on this case yet, but I think we can assume some of what he may think about this based on this information, which states in part…

...in 1997, on the eve of a triple execution in Arkansas, Huckabee was asked on a radio call call-in show about his position on the death penalty. Huckabee responded, "Interestingly enough, if there was ever an occasion for someone to have argued against the death penalty, I think Jesus could have done so on the cross and said, 'This is an unjust punishment and I deserve clemency.' " But since he didn't ask for clemency, Huckabee's argument follows, the death penalty is just fine.

Is this guy a “snake oil salesman,” or what?

Easy to joke about death but not so easy to look the matter in the eye when someone else’s life is on the line, is it, Governor?

Update 1/10/08: And let's not forget that Huckabee considers Scalia his "own personal hero on the (Supreme Court)" (here), so I suppose this isn't so surprising.