Bonus Goldberg quote:
[U]ntil they [liberals] can explain why we shouldn’t have a death penalty when uncertainty isn’t an issue — i.e., why McVeigh and Brewer should live — they’ll never win the real argument.
Yes, he actually says that if you leave out the question of whether or not a death row inmate is guilty, there is no reason not to execute inmates.
Say, this is kind of fun. If you leave out the question of whether or not Jonah Goldberg has sex with animals, there is no reason not to say that Jonah Goldberg has sex with animals.
Jonah, you're a genius.
Who has sex with animals.
17 comments:
McVeigh and Brewer should have been sent to rot in jail until they died of some hideous disease.
Simple enough. And no sheep are harmed.
That works for me--no rest, no reprieve from mental suffering. Since conservatives are not against torture you would think they would want to prolong the agony.
Whether there should be a death penalty is a completely distinct (though not separate) issue from whether states met their burden of proof in particular cases such as Troy Davis (disclaimer: I'm an abolitionist). That these two distinct things are conflated, often willfully, proves that people like Goldberg don't care whether innocent people are put to death.
"[U]ntil they can explain why we shouldn’t have a death penalty when uncertainty isn’t an issue..."
I am not clicking through, but who is "they"? I can explain why we shouldn't have the death penalty when uncertainty isn't an issue, and I'm pretty sure anyone else opposed to the death penalty can as well.
Ah, I meant to add [liberals]; thanks.
There are so many reasons it's hard to see why executions are an option. All Goldberg can come up with is that some people deserve to die, and evidently he's okay with the government doing it because he doesn't care if they screw it up or not.
No, I understood that, Susan. My point was that Jonah is arguing with a straw man. He wants to pretend that the only reason people oppose the death penalty is because there's the risk of executing someone who is innocent.
I can give Goldberg the reason my conservative mother always gave for being against the death penalty:
If they didn't do the crime, you can't make amends if you hang them. And if they DID do the crime, hanging's too good for them. After all, their victim's families have to live with what they did for the rest of their lives - why should the killer get off so easy?
Frankly I think McVeigh should have had to live with what he did for the rest of a natural life. With pictures of the kids he killed hanging at every possible angle in his cell so he could never look away from what he did. But I'm a notoriously vindictive bastard when it comes to kid killers.
I agree.
He brings up the dissent of people he respects--Catholics, I guess--but doesn't acknowledge moral opposition.
Let me pull a McArdle here and argue by way of anecdote*: the night Davis' execution was post-poned by the Supreme Court, I was watching Al Sharpton with another liberal guy and he said that while he was opposed to the death penalty, if he had to face life in prison versus execution, he'd rather die. A lifetime denied of freedom, constantly looking over your shoulder, and hopefully struggling with a conscience is much worse than being put to sleep. I know it's a lack of character on my part, but I always relish those Manson girls going before parole boards and crying to be released. If they had been executed, as per their original sentence, they'd be at peace.
*though in a very un-McArdle fashion, this conversation actually took place.
Being "put to sleep" is a comforting euphemism for what must surely be one of the most horrific experiences anyone could imagine enduring.
Of course I've always bristled at the idea that dead somehow meant "at peace."
One of the throwaway stupidities in J. Jonah Pantload's mess was that he "believes" that capital punishment has a deterrent effect.
A simple empirical claim, well researched & utterly false.
Simply no need anymore to even pretend to pay attention to mere reality.
...there is no reason not to say that Jonah Goldberg has sex with animals.
Not to mention, sex with goats and Mickey Kaus.
~
*though in a very un-McArdle fashion, this conversation actually took place.
LOL
I was riding the bus the other day, and had a conversation with another passenger who happened to be a death row inmate...
...and he said, "I used to be against the death penalty, but just look what I did with my life. Y'all are right to kill me."
Anonymous Dillon said...
*though in a very un-McArdle fashion, this conversation actually took place.
LOL
I was riding the bus the other day, and had a conversation with another passenger who happened to be a death row inmate...
September 23, 2011 5:38 PM
Anonymous atat said...
...and he said, "I used to be against the death penalty, but just look what I did with my life. Y'all are right to kill me."
too good for words
Put a black man up for death, and the distrust of government suddenly disappears...
The idiot does not get even his basic facts right:
"Many judges and public officials disagreed, including all nine members of the Supreme Court, who briefly stayed the execution Wednesday night, only to let it proceed hours later."
No, they did not. The state of Georgia 'voluntarily' waited hear IF the SC would say anything - even though they were not obliged to.
Mighty big of them, I am sure, but Jonah is still wrong.
Post a Comment