This is one of the few things that might actually be a dealbreaker for getting my vote in this election. I am completely opposed to the death penalty. I knew Obama supported its limited use, that he did not take the moral stand John Kerry did in regards to this, but am truly shocked that he would support it in a situation where no murder occurred. This goes beyond even the eye for an eye that folks who support the DP believe.
The platform of the Democratic party used to be anti-DP. It changed to pander to voters. Kerry took it out of the platform for the first time in a long time. Bill Clinton embraced it. Jimmy Carter I think was pro when he was in office but became anti later in his life (I'm not positive about this).
I can understand life without parole for these kind of sex offenders but executing people in our custody already is just wrong. I am a member of a few anti-DP groups. There is no rhyme or reason to how the DP is applied. I am ashamed of Obama for taking this stand. Really ashamed. Since Hillary Clinton is also strongly pro the DP this would not have affected the way I voted in the primary, but it might in the GE. Every election cycle I am forced to support state sponsored murder for the crime of murder, but to support a candidate who wants to apply this to a situation where no life has been taken. No, I don't think so.
Please be aware, he's not supporting this, he's saying that he disagrees that it's unconstitutional.
Obama hates the death penalty and was instrumental in reforming it in Illinois. Here he's providing his opinion as a constitutional scholar. I disagree with the constitution and its amendments, or at least the implementation of same, on several points (notibly the 2nd Amendment), but I acknowledge that they're currently the law of the land.
now that is a good spin... " he is generally against the death penalty"
Thats not the death penalty I knew...
"Had the Supreme Court said, we want to constrain the ability of states to do this, to make sure it's done in a careful and appropriate way, that would have been one thing," said Obama. "But it basically had a blanket prohibition."
Careful and appropriate? You cannot oppose the DP and use that phrase. He has always been on the side of more guarantees to prevent those not guilty of a crime from being executed. He has never been anti DP.
Blanket prohibition is good. We have life without parole in Massachusetts. It is used. We have no DP. This works fine. There is no need to pander on this issue.
Thanks for the accuracy - mojo'd!
I am absolutely against the death penalty. That said, my respect for Obama only grows when I hear him clearly speak to the nuance and specifics of a court decision - even if it's not the specific rhetoric that bolsters my position. Compare this to McCain's knee-jerk "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country," or just about anything to come from shrub.
I am disappointed in Obama on this because the DP is the ultimate police power of a nation and we need to shrink it, not expand it.
Having said that, McCain's comments are pretty sick.
I know that I will be disappointed again in Obama, but he is so much better than the alternative.
I am completely opposed to the death penalty.
I completely respect this position.
The platform of the Democratic party used to be anti-DP. It changed to pander to voters.
But there's a reason for this: you are distinctly in the minority when it comes to this question. Americans have supported the death penaly by large margins for years. Doesn't make it "right" but it's a reasonable position to take. When do "pandering to voters" and "reflecting the beliefs of the American electorate" become the same thing?
Link: http://www.gallup.com/poll/1606/Death-Pe nalty.aspx
To me the death penalty is one of those things that defines the morality of a nation. We are the only Western country that uses it. We are in a group of nations whose human rights policies we despise with this issue.
Furthermore, when offered a clear and used alternative of life without parole, the figures on DP support change radically.
Speakin to the choir, but it's not me you need to convince . . . it's the other two thirds of the country.
When LOP is added to the polling mix, the support for the DP goes below 50%. It's verbal laziness that keeps Americans polling high support of this.
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article. php?did=481&scid=
