If you were expecting Republican politicians to distance themselves from the horror show that is the Duggar family, you would be mistaken. So far, there’s been a lot of uncomfortable silence from many of the conservative politicians close to the Duggars. But since the Duggars live in Arkansas, I guess Mike Huckabee (former Republican governor of Arkansas) decided he needed to chime in on the situation. And his comments were… shockingly tone-deaf. From Huckabee’s Facebook:

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.

[From Huckabee’s Facebook]

Again, no mention of Josh Duggar’s actual victims. No mention of the help that they likely need and have needed for years. Why are so many people bending over backwards to act like Josh Duggar is the biggest victim here? But Mike Huckabee is just thinking of his own troubled son, David – when David Huckabee was 17 years old, he tortured and killed a stray dog and Mike Huckabee tried to cover up the crime (and Huckabee fired the state police official who refused to cover up the crime). So… perhaps to Huckabee, defending a child-molester is basically the same thing as defending his animal-torturing son.

As for whether or not TLC is actually going to cancel the Duggars’ show, it’s still up in the air, TMZ reported on Saturday that there are several different options.

“19 Kids and Counting” may survive the Josh Duggar molestation scandal, but Josh might not. Connected industry sources tell TMZ, TLC is considering a number of options, weighing the pros and cons. One is to cancel the show outright, the other is to just go full steam ahead, but there is real talk about continuing without Josh.

Our sources say there’s a strong sense axing Josh would not materially hurt the show. We’re told TLC has done research and it shows the daughters have become the driving force. The weddings of Jill and Jessa were ratings successes, as was the birth of Jill’s baby. It wouldn’t be hard to remove Josh. He’s moved away from Arkansas to D.C. where he’s focused on lobbying Congress. But that could change because he just resigned from the Family Research Council.

As for cancelling the show, our sources say there is significant concern that big advertisers will bail. TMZ broke the story, General Mills has already pulled the plug. On the other hand, we’re told TLC believes the show has a strong, loyal evangelical base and so far support has not wavered. But removing Josh could be a good middle ground for TLC. Stay tuned.

[From TMZ]

It’s my hope that the show is just canceled outright, like they did with Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (and like A&E failed to do with Duck Dynasty). I think TLC could still have big problems with advertisers if they try to cut Josh out of the show but still focus on Jim-Bob and Michelle for any amount of time. There’s no way that anyone could believe that Jim-Bob isn’t the guy who shielded his child-molester son at the expense of his very young daughters. As for those daughters, it’s widely believed that even if 19 Kids & Counting is eventually canceled, there could be spinoff shows just about the daughters, specifically Jessa and Jill (who are the most popular).

Photos courtesy of Josh Duggar’s Twitter.