Why is it so hard for some of those who claim to be devout people of faith to own up to their mistakes?

Mike Huckabee has been a proud supporter of nearly everything Duggar for years. Huckabee is the former governor of Arkansas, the state the Duggars call home. But the Duggars and Huckabee are devout Christians, and share many personal, political, and social beliefs also.

When news broke of Josh Duggar‘s sexual molestation of young girls as a teenager â€“Â including his sisters â€“Â Huckabee wrote on Facebook, “Joshâ€™s actions when he was an underage teen are as he described them himself, ‘inexcusable,’ but that doesnâ€™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.”

That sounds like support, doesn’t it?

Huckabee also wrote that Josh “has gone forward to live a responsible and circumspect life as an adult.”

Doesn’t that sound like support?

How about this:



“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.”

So imagine our surprise when Huckabee sat down withÂ Iowa radio host Simon Conway last week.

Conway asked Huckabee about his prior support for the eldest Duggar son, and Huckabee, conveniently, perhaps, denied having ever supported Josh.

â€œI really didnâ€™t support Josh,â€ Huckabee said, as Buzzfeed reports. â€œI supported his parents, if youâ€™ll go back and look at what I said. Thereâ€™s no support for what he did.â€

Huckabee went on to say,Â

â€œI think in subsequent months, as more things came out, what he did was despicable, it was dishonest. He did some things that totally defy everything he supposedly stood for. But he certainly defied what his parents not only have stood for, but continue to. So my support was for his sisters, who were the real victims. I felt like they were being exploited by the media. The media didnâ€™t care what was happening to them and the emotional trauma they were going through.â€

And finally, sealing the deal, Huckabee came right out and said,

â€œIâ€™ve never defended Josh, and I donâ€™t defend him now, because thereâ€™s nothing to defend,â€ Huckabee concluded.

â€œWhat he did was absolutely hideously wrong and despicable.â€

Well, at least we can all agree on that.

https://soundcloud.com/buzzfeedandrew/huckabee-on-josh-duggar

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Image via Josh Duggar/Twitter