Mike Huckabee, whose presidential campaign website still boasts of his endorsement from the Duggar family, responded on his Facebook page today to the revelation that the reality TV family’s eldest son, Josh, sexually assaulted several girls, including his sisters, as a minor.
Naturally, Huckabee was defensive of the Duggars and of Josh, who resigned yesterday from his leadership post at the Family Research Council, suggesting that the family handled the matter appropriately.
Huckabee praised the Duggar family, who took over a year to bring the matter to law enforcement, saying that they “dealt with it and were honest and open about it with the victims and the authorities.”
He adds that Josh is a good person who “confessed his sins to those he harmed [and] sought help,” despite the fact that, according to reports, Josh did not receive counseling and was only sent to live with a family friend who worked in the home remodeling business.
The former Arkansas governor saved his anger for the people who have cited the case to point out the disingenuousness of the reality TV stars and the conservative political activists who hold them up as a paragon of moral virtue, or as Josh referred to his family, “the epitome of conservative values.” They also have a record of depicting LGBT people as threats to children.
“Those who have enjoyed revealing this long ago sins [sic] 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.”
