Rick Perry has signed 279 death warrants. 279!!! And he wants to be president.
by digby
I don’t know if you’ve heard but Rick Perry is about to kill his 279th person today. And this person is severely mentally ill. It remains to be seen if he will agree to commute the sentence, even temporarily, or if the Supremes will weigh in. But the mere fact that this is happening is enough to turn your stomach.
I wrote about this and the history of the Democratic Party’s cynical calculation on the question of the death penalty at Salon today. Here’s the opening:
Perhaps the ugliest moment in former President Bill Clinton’s career was his decision to race back to Arkansas in the middle of the 1992 campaign to oversee the execution of a mentally disabled man named Ricky Ray Rector. It was a perfect example of fighting the last war in which it had become conventional wisdom that Michael Dukakis had blown his chances at the presidency largely because of his position on the death penalty. His answer to moderator Bernard Shaw’s question of whether he would support the death penalty should his wife be raped and murdered was, “no, I don’t, Bernard, and I think you know that I’ve opposed the death penalty during all of my life. I don’t see any evidence that it’s a deterrent and I think there are better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime.” Journalist Roger Simon recounted the incident in 2007 and described the reaction among the reporters at the debate:
In the press room, the murmurs over Shaw’s question now turned to mutters over Dukakis’ answer. “He’s through.” “That’s all she wrote.” “Get the hook!”
The CW at the time was that the answer was seen as professorial and most importantly, lacking in the emotion we evidently require in a president. He should have rent his garments and howled in anger at the mere idea of such a terrible circumstance. But the lesson the Democrats took from that incident was that no candidate for president could be elected if he or she were against the death penalty as a matter of principle. (This was one of many opportunistic capitulations on alleged principles to come — welfare and gun control being just two examples.)
I also recount this notorious example of puerile sadism:
In the week before [Karla Faye Tucker’s] execution, Bush says, Bianca Jagger and a number of other protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Tucker. “Did you meet with any of them?” I ask.
Bush whips around and stares at me. “No, I didn’t meet with any of them,” he snaps, as though I’ve just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. “I didn’t meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with [Tucker], though. He asked her real difficult questions, like ‘What would you say to Governor Bush?’
“What was her answer?” I wonder.
“Please,” Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, “don’t kill me.”
I wonder if maybe Rick Perry will take to opportunity to be a “compassionate conservative” today. After all, his killing credentials are impeccable. He could use this as a “Sistah Soljah” moment.
But I doubt he’ll do it. These guys have never shown the least bit of concern for the morality of what they’re doing. Why start now?
Update: Thank God
11:47 a.m. Wednesday: The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of execution. The stay is only issued “pending further order of the court,” which is expected to set a schedule for consideration of Panetti’s appeal.
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