Bush's "Culture of Life" Curdles The War On Terrorism
Now that Guckert/Gannon has been outed and will not be around to lob softballs to Bush, it seems highly unlikely that Bush will ever again hold another press conference. However, on the odd chance that Bush does hold a press conference, somebody should be sure to ask him if he has anything to say to the families of Robert Sanderson and Alice Hawthorne. The likelihood is that Bush will have no idea who they are. Robert Sanderson was an off-duty policeman whom Eric Rudolph murdered in Birmingham, Alabama in 1998; Rudolph murdered Alice Hawthorne at the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Park in1996. Rudolph also seriously wounded more than 110 people during a string of bombings that he admittedly carried out between 1996 and 1998.
Last week, Rudolph was permitted to plead guilty in a bargain that enabled him to avoid the death penalty for his crimes. The breakthrough in the case came after new Attorney General Alberto "The Torturer" Gonzales withdrew the Government's insistence upon capital punishment in the case -- ever since the Bush/Ashcroft team took over the Department of Justice, it has been the stated policy of the Government to seek the death penalty in any case in which it could legally be sustained. Gonzales concluded that an exception should be made in Rudolph's case. Thereafter, Rudolph proudly announced his guilt, expressing no remorse for the murders, and instead blaming his crimes on Supreme Court decisions legalizing abortion and consensual homosexual activity.
The Department of Justice admitted that Rudolph "was not cooperating in the classic sense" -- generally the only factor that would permit a terrorist murderer such as Rudolph to escape capital punishment under standard Department of Justice policy -- although Rudolph did tell authorities where he had stashed more than 250 pounds of dynamite. Who helped Rudolph accumulate that dynamite, who helped Rudolph escape capture for the past nine years even when he was highly visible, who helped Rudolph carry out bombings even while he was a notorious fugitive, what is Rudolph's connection to racist and terrorist "Christian Identity" movements -- Rudolph didn't say and Bush's Justice Department apparently has no interest in finding out.
The Justice Department justified its failure to pursue the death penalty against Rudolph -- as to whom there was overwhelming evidence of guilt -- based on its desire not to make a "martyr" out of Rudolph.
I am no fan of the death penalty. However, one wonders how Bush's Justice Department can offer any principled explanation as to why it is justified in seeking the death penalty against Islamic terrorists in light of the kid glove treatment accorded to Rudolph. Suppose that by some miracle Bush's people actually captured Osama Bin Laden -- remember him George, he was the guy, not Saddam Hussein, who was actually responsible for 9-11. Is there anyone in the world who would become a bigger candidate for martyrdom if the U.S. were to seek the death penalty against Bin Laden? Looks to me as though the new "Rudolph Rule" established by Bush's Department of Justice has given Bin Laden immunity from the death penalty.
It's pretty obvious that what happened here is that Bush did not want to antagonize Rudolph's lunatic suppporters, a group that fits very nicely into the base of today's Republican Party. The "manifesto" that Rudolph read after his guilty plea could easily have been written by any number of Bush's supporters. Apparently, murdering people in the cause of protesting abortion and homosexuality is part and parcel of the "culture of life."
Before you write off these comments as the hyperbolic ravings of an overwrought liberal blogger, consider what Bush's allies have been saying lately. Texas Senator John Cornyn recently commented sympathetically that there was "some connection" between violence against judges and what Cornyn deems to be "liberal" judicial rulings. At a recent conference entitled "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith" Bush supporter and right-wing warhorse Phyllis Schlafly said that the Courts "literally killed" Terri Schiavo and described judges as "tools of the devil." Failed GOP senatorial candidate Alan Keyes said "the judiciary is the focus of evil" and Bush-backer James Dobson described Justice Kennedy as "the most dangerous man in America," comparing judges in general to Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan, noting that the difference was that Klansmen wear white robes while judges wear black robes, which I guess gives the Klan an edge in these folks' minds. (Notably, one reason the wingnuts hate Justice Kennedy so much is because he wrote the Court's decision holding it unconstitutional to apply the death penalty to children; I did not read that the participants in this conference had any problem with foregoing the death penalty in Rudolph's case). Michael Schwartz, the Chief of Staff to Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, described the judicial rulings in the Schiavo case as an "atrocious act of gang violence" and called for "mass impeachments" and "long sentences" for Federal judges. Finally, in chilling comments that seem to have been taken verbatim from Rudolph's "manifesto," speaker Edwin Vieira, a so-called "constitutional lawyer" affiliated with fringe organization such as the National Right To Work Committee, cited with approval Stalin's dictum, "Death solves all problems: no man, no problem."
See www.pfaw.org for a full description of this joyous gathering of the proponents of the "culture of life." We are living in dangerous times indeed.
Last week, Rudolph was permitted to plead guilty in a bargain that enabled him to avoid the death penalty for his crimes. The breakthrough in the case came after new Attorney General Alberto "The Torturer" Gonzales withdrew the Government's insistence upon capital punishment in the case -- ever since the Bush/Ashcroft team took over the Department of Justice, it has been the stated policy of the Government to seek the death penalty in any case in which it could legally be sustained. Gonzales concluded that an exception should be made in Rudolph's case. Thereafter, Rudolph proudly announced his guilt, expressing no remorse for the murders, and instead blaming his crimes on Supreme Court decisions legalizing abortion and consensual homosexual activity.
The Department of Justice admitted that Rudolph "was not cooperating in the classic sense" -- generally the only factor that would permit a terrorist murderer such as Rudolph to escape capital punishment under standard Department of Justice policy -- although Rudolph did tell authorities where he had stashed more than 250 pounds of dynamite. Who helped Rudolph accumulate that dynamite, who helped Rudolph escape capture for the past nine years even when he was highly visible, who helped Rudolph carry out bombings even while he was a notorious fugitive, what is Rudolph's connection to racist and terrorist "Christian Identity" movements -- Rudolph didn't say and Bush's Justice Department apparently has no interest in finding out.
The Justice Department justified its failure to pursue the death penalty against Rudolph -- as to whom there was overwhelming evidence of guilt -- based on its desire not to make a "martyr" out of Rudolph.
I am no fan of the death penalty. However, one wonders how Bush's Justice Department can offer any principled explanation as to why it is justified in seeking the death penalty against Islamic terrorists in light of the kid glove treatment accorded to Rudolph. Suppose that by some miracle Bush's people actually captured Osama Bin Laden -- remember him George, he was the guy, not Saddam Hussein, who was actually responsible for 9-11. Is there anyone in the world who would become a bigger candidate for martyrdom if the U.S. were to seek the death penalty against Bin Laden? Looks to me as though the new "Rudolph Rule" established by Bush's Department of Justice has given Bin Laden immunity from the death penalty.
It's pretty obvious that what happened here is that Bush did not want to antagonize Rudolph's lunatic suppporters, a group that fits very nicely into the base of today's Republican Party. The "manifesto" that Rudolph read after his guilty plea could easily have been written by any number of Bush's supporters. Apparently, murdering people in the cause of protesting abortion and homosexuality is part and parcel of the "culture of life."
Before you write off these comments as the hyperbolic ravings of an overwrought liberal blogger, consider what Bush's allies have been saying lately. Texas Senator John Cornyn recently commented sympathetically that there was "some connection" between violence against judges and what Cornyn deems to be "liberal" judicial rulings. At a recent conference entitled "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith" Bush supporter and right-wing warhorse Phyllis Schlafly said that the Courts "literally killed" Terri Schiavo and described judges as "tools of the devil." Failed GOP senatorial candidate Alan Keyes said "the judiciary is the focus of evil" and Bush-backer James Dobson described Justice Kennedy as "the most dangerous man in America," comparing judges in general to Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan, noting that the difference was that Klansmen wear white robes while judges wear black robes, which I guess gives the Klan an edge in these folks' minds. (Notably, one reason the wingnuts hate Justice Kennedy so much is because he wrote the Court's decision holding it unconstitutional to apply the death penalty to children; I did not read that the participants in this conference had any problem with foregoing the death penalty in Rudolph's case). Michael Schwartz, the Chief of Staff to Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, described the judicial rulings in the Schiavo case as an "atrocious act of gang violence" and called for "mass impeachments" and "long sentences" for Federal judges. Finally, in chilling comments that seem to have been taken verbatim from Rudolph's "manifesto," speaker Edwin Vieira, a so-called "constitutional lawyer" affiliated with fringe organization such as the National Right To Work Committee, cited with approval Stalin's dictum, "Death solves all problems: no man, no problem."
See www.pfaw.org for a full description of this joyous gathering of the proponents of the "culture of life." We are living in dangerous times indeed.
posted by democratic core at 8:14 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home