Dean & The Death Penalty

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...7-2003Jul2.html

 

Death Penalty Tap Dance

 

By Richard Cohen

Thursday, July 3, 2003; Page A23

 

By now you have probably heard of Howard Dean's recent appearance on "Meet the Press," in which he may have set a record for saying, "I can't answer that question." The question that got the most attention involved the number of troops on active duty. But there was a question that Dean did answer -- and answered extensively -- that deserved as much attention. It involved why he switched his position on capital punishment. He said he changed his mind. A review of his remarks, however, suggests he actually lost it.

 

The issue is important because Dean is the self-proclaimed truth-teller on the campaign trail. "I'm going to say what I think," he told Tim Russert. This splendid candor has vaulted Dean into the top tier of Democratic candidates; he raised $7.5 million in the most recent reporting period. Suddenly the once-obscure former governor of Vermont is a contender.

 

So let us contend with capital punishment. I am not going to argue its pros or cons, because you probably believe what you believe -- and that's all there is to it. But as a political issue, it's a salient one, because opposition to the death penalty brings a presidential candidate nothing but trouble. The American people overwhelmingly support executions, and that is especially true in the South, the so-called Death Belt, where most executions -- as well as the early South Carolina primary -- take place.

 

Dean once opposed the death penalty, citing "two reasons. One you might have the wrong guy, and, two, the state is like a parent" -- it ought to set an example. He also said, "I truly don't believe it's a deterrent." That's three reasons, but never mind. Then, on account of two horrific crimes, Dean's thinking underwent an evolution. "I came to realize because of the Polly Klaas case and because of similar other cases that sometimes the state inadvertently has a hand in killing innocent people because they let people out [of prison] who ought never to have been let out."

 

Granted, that was the case with Klaas, the 12-year-old California girl who was abducted, sexually attacked and murdered back in 1993. Her killer, Richard Allen Davis, had a long criminal record and was out on parole when he committed the crime. But none of his previous crimes were for death penalty offenses. Dean could argue that Davis should never have been free and deserved to die because of what he did to Klaas, but not for anything he did before. Davis didn't slip the noose. There was no noose for what he had done.

 

The second case Dean cited apparently took place in Vermont. "We had a case where a guy who was a rapist, a serial sex offender, was convicted, then was let out on . . . a technicality, a new trial was ordered and the victim wouldn't . . . go through the second trial. And so the guy basically got time served, and he was the man who murdered a 15-year-old girl and raped her and then left her for dead. . . . So life without parole doesn't work, either."

 

Neither does Dean's logic. According to Dean's own account, the sex offender had never been convicted of a previous capital crime. And, in the eyes of the law, he wasn't even convicted of one of them -- one man's "technicality" being another's constitutional abuse. Whatever the case, the death penalty played no role.

 

It's not that Russert wasn't persistent. He went after Dean time and time again, finding only a bowl of fudge sitting opposite him -- a man so desperately in search of a rationale that ultimately he stood American jurisprudence on its head. Going on about felons getting out of jail and then killing, say, "15- and 12-year-old girls," he added, "That is every bit as heinous as putting to death someone who didn't commit the crime."

 

In all my years writing about the death penalty, I have never heard any politician admit that he would countenance the death of an innocent person in order to ensure that the guilty die. Dean is maybe the first to acknowledge the unacknowledgeable. For that, I suppose, he ought to be congratulated. But by equating the murder of one individual by another with the murder of an innocent person by the government -- the unpreventable with the preventable -- he has casually trashed several hundred years of legal safeguards.

 

I know that nothing a politician can say in favor of capital punishment can possibly hurt him. But Dean is supposed to be different. His supporters say so and so, repeatedly, does he. When it comes to the death penalty, however, he's as craven as they come. The straight-shooter aimed at South Carolina -- but shot himself in the foot.

 

I'm kind of mixed on the death penalty myself, as it seems like a good idea until I think of what it must be like to be told that the government is going to make a special exception to the "no killing" law for you and you can't be helped. I guess in the end I think it depends on the amount of evidence.

 

But, with all the chatter around here of Dean, I figure this is at least worth posting. And heck, the death penalty isn't a topic I can remember discussing around here, so it ought to be interesting.

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

He, admittedly, performed terribly on MTP. He was supposed to have 7 hours to prepare, and he had all of 15 minutes. His platform on his website, which is often updated, has a better view of his actual opinion on the issue.

 

http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageSer...pitalPunishment

 

I am personally against it, simply because our justice system is far from perfect and it's almost a guarantee that some innocent people will be executed. I also think life in prison -- amidst gang rape and abuse -- is far worse a death for a criminal than simply "putting him to sleep". However, I can respect and understand Dean's opinion on the issue.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

It's stuff like this that has filtered away support I may have had for Dean. There's just no substance there--and what substance is there is muddled, unclear, and unable to explain itself.

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

Read the website, or read a much better interview of his, the NPR appearance. It can be seen (and heard) online here.

 

http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/democ...dean_trans.html

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

Actually, I was mistaken; there's just one tiny reference to the death penalty in that interview. However, his position is much better articulated on his website than it was in the disasterous MTP appearance.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Whoa, looks like NPR is interviewing the whole smorgasboard. Thanks for thie link.

 

Too bad I don't get Morning Edition on my Sirius. =/

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

Gotta love public television, though; they at least keep the audio up afterwards.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Gotta love public television, though; they at least keep the audio up afterwards.

Hm? I'm just talking about my Sirius Satelite Radio which carries two channels named "NPR Now" and "NPR Talk."

 

Because Sirius is a nationwide network the FM/AM NPR stations threw a hissy fit at NPR about their support, so NPR took off Morning Edition and All Things Considered (their two most popular programs) in order to restore some balance.

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

I mean, you can listen to it afterwards because they keep it up on their website. That's pretty cool.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

EDIT: burp.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

My opinion of the death penalty:

 

Against it in theory because if you kill someone who's innocent then you can't rectify it.

 

Problem is we're currently not doing what I would want to be done with convicted killers and rapists, so I can sympathize with those for the death penalty.

 

Oh, but if you're caught on tape killing an innocent, you die. I don't have a problem with that.

 

Oh, and before I show any kind of public diapproval of the death penalty, Mumia will have to be fried (or shot, I'm not picky).

 

And with this topic posted, the old avatar returns...

[Guest Vyce]

In all my years writing about the death penalty, I have never heard any politician admit that he would countenance the death of an innocent person in order to ensure that the guilty die. Dean is maybe the first to acknowledge the unacknowledgeable.

 

Well, Dean has actually found a platform that has made me (in this moment at least) actually think about voting for him.