Tuesday, March 09, 2004

Speaking of the death penalty…..another flip-flop takes shape

Did I speak too soon? John Kerry has said in debates that he opposes the death penalty except for terrorists. (Curiously, there’s no official position on Kerry’s web site – only assorted press clippings). Here, via Talk Left, is John Kerry on “Meet the Press” in December 2002 discussing the ultimate penalty:

MR. RUSSERT: But, Senator, why shouldn’t Timothy McVeigh, who blew up the Oklahoma building, or if John Muhammad is convicted of being a sniper here in Washington—why shouldn’t they receive the death penalty?

SEN. KERRY: Tim, I think that, as I said, you know, different people have different opinions about what’s worse. I’ve seen people die and I know what it’s like to almost die. I don’t think that—you know, dying is scary for a while, but in the end, the punishment is gone. When you’re alive and you’re deprived of your freedom each day and you’re in tough circumstances—and I’m talking about tough circumstances. I’m not talking about some cushy situation where they live off the fat of the land in prison. I’m talking about tough. But if you’re deprived of that freedom for the rest of your living days until God decides to take you, you know, that is tough, my friend, and I think that plenty of people think that.
Now, I don’t think it is right to have a criminal justice system that kills innocent people. Over 100 people have been released from death row in America in the last year with DNA evidence and other evidence showing they didn’t commit the crime for which they had been committed, some of them in jail for 10, 15 years for a crime they didn’t commit.

So, somewhere in the nuance, I think Kerry’s response was “No, Muhammad should not receive the death penalty.” And since Kerry has made an exception for terrorism, he clearly did not believe (then) that John Muhammad’s crimes fell under that definition.

Prediction: By this time tomorrow, Kerry will be reclassifying John Muhammad as a terrorist and applauding his execution.

In the spirit of the Drudge Report: “Must credit Viking Pundit!” (if the flip happens).

Update - Robert Moran in the NRO has a better idea:

If Kerry, who voted at least three times between 1989 and 1993 against applying the death penalty to terrorists, now favors the death penalty for Muhammad, he's flip-flopped again and we can draw him into a debate of when the death penalty should be administered.

If he continues to oppose the death penalty then we need to find out what the families of Muhammad's victims think about John Kerry's position. Which would they prefer? Would they prefer that Muhammad live or that he die? What would he say to these families if he could talk to them privately?

If it's okay for the press to interview several 9/11 families about their supposed grief from the Bush campaign's recent television ads, it seems more than appropriate to interview the families of sniper victims about Kerry's position on the death penalty.

Whoa...

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