Conservative bloggers were shocked and puzzled by Haley Barbour’s pardoning of nearly 200 convicted criminals — including a handful of murderers — and said the last person they expected something like that from was the “law and order” Mississippi governor.
Barbour, who was term-limited, granted the mass pardons in his last days in office — a move the conservative blog HotAir called “startling.”
“It just shows you that Republicans can be as full of spit as Democrats. Haley Barbour, an allegedly conservative law & order governor on his way out of office, has pardoned 14 convicted murderers,” wrote Speranza at Blogmocracy.
Conservative blogger Ace of Spades pointed out that the pardons caught the state by surprise because Republicans generally have a good reputation on law and order issues.
“Barbour pardoned a lot of people — 208, many criminals of the worst sort — and caught red Mississippi by surprise. One thing you generally count on Republican governors for is keeping murderers behind bars,” he wrote.
Blogger James Joyner jumped into the fray to point out that Barbour has solid standing as a conservative.
“Here’s a story I never expected to see: Mississippi Haley Barbour, a respected conservative and former RNC chair, has gone on a pardon spree on his way out of office, drawing howls from Democrats,” he wrote at Outside the Beltway.
The Powerline’s Steven Hayward expressed hope that Barbour would articulate a better defense of his pardons but said that it was obvious Barbour didn’t have any further political ambitions.
“What the heck was Haley Barbour thinking? I guess he really wants to take no chances that he’d end up as Mitt Romney’s running mate,” he asserted.
Barbour has so far claimed that the pardons were mostly done at the recommendation of the state’s parole board and were executed to allow these individuals to find gainful employment.
“The pardons were intended to allow them to find gainful employment or acquire professional licenses as well as hunt and vote. My decision about clemency was based upon the recommendation of the parole board in more than 90 percent of the cases,” Barbour said in a statement Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.
