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Mike Huckabee Fully Supports The Duggars
Mike Huckabee (Facebook)
Last night when Josh Duggar of 19 Kids And Counting released a statement admitting to molesting girls as a teen, we made an off-hand joke about how ally and presidential hopeful Rick Santorum might want to distance himself from the Duggar clan. But another politician vying for the Republican nomination, Mike Huckabee, has come out to wholeheartedly support the family.
Huckabee put up a lengthy defense of the family on his Facebook page this morning. He takes aim at the "blood-thirsty media" who he says is "sensationalizing the story." There's a heavy dose of Christian theology here, and he believes that Josh has made amends and that it's in the best interest of the victims to not dredge up the past.
Janet and I want to affirm our support for the Duggar family. Josh’s actions when he was an underage teen are as he described them himself, 'inexcusable,' but that doesn’t mean 'unforgivable.' He and his family dealt with it and were honest and open about it with the victims and the authorities. No purpose whatsoever is served by those who are now trying to discredit Josh or his family by sensationalizing the story. Good people make mistakes and do regrettable and even disgusting things. The reason that the law protects disclosure of many actions on the part of a minor is that the society has traditionally understood something that today’s blood-thirsty media does not understand—that being a minor means that one's judgement is not mature. No one needs to defend Josh’s actions as a teenager, but the fact that he confessed his sins to those he harmed, sought help, and has gone forward to live a responsible and circumspect life as an adult is testament to his family’s authenticity and humility. Those who have enjoyed revealing this long ago sins in order to discredit the Duggar family have actually revealed their own insensitive bloodthirst, for there was no consideration of the fact that the victims wanted this to be left in the past and ultimately a judge had the information on file destroyed—not to protect Josh, but the innocent victims. Janet and I love Jim Bob and Michelle and their entire family. They are no more perfect a family than any family, but their Christian witness is not marred in our eyes because following Christ is not a declaration of our perfection, but of HIS perfection. It is precisely because we are all sinners that we need His grace and His forgiveness. We have been blessed to receive God’s love and we would do no less than to extend our love and support for our friends. In fact, it is such times as this, when real friends show up and stand up. Today, Janet and I want to show up and stand up for our friends. Let others run from them. We will run to them with our support.
His full-throated support does not mention the fact that the Duggars dragged their heels in reporting Josh's crimes to law enforcement—and in doing so, allowed the molestation to continue for at least a year. By the time the crimes were brought to proper authorities—and here, we're not counting a state trooper who never opened an investigation and ended up being convicted of child pornography—the statute of limitations had run out.
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So far we haven't heard any news from TLC about whether they, like Huckabee, support the family and will continue airing new episodes. However, they did happen to be airing a 19 Kids And Counting marathon last night just as news of Josh's admission circulated. This has Mama June of Honey Boo Boo fame mad that her TLC show got axed when a photo circulated showing her hanging out with a convicted child molester.
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