Tweet
Via Think Progress‘s Reagan Library Crowd Goes Wild For Perry’s 234 Executions (VIDEO):
[Moderator BRIAN] WILLIAMS: Governor Perry, a question about Texas. Your state has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times. Have you…
(APPLAUSE)
I realize we’re talking about the execution of convicted murderers, and I realize many support the death penalty — that’s not at all what I’m taking issue with at the moment. What I take issue with is the applauding of the deaths of 234 human beings. That applause that interrupted Brian Williams’ question felt, to me, ghastly.
The response to the question Gov. Perry gave to Brian Williams’ question included the following:
“What do you make of that dynamic that just happened here?” Williams asked. “The mention of the execution of 234 people drew applause?”
“I think Americans understand justice,” Perry replied.
I think Americans are clearly, in the vast majority of — of cases, supportive of capital punishment. When you have committed heinous crimes against our citizens — and it’s a state-by-state issue, but in the state of Texas, our citizens have made that decision, and they made it clear, and they don’t want you to commit those crimes against our citizens. And if you do, you will face the ultimate justice.
11 Comments
Ironically, most of those applauding consider themselves pro-life.
The follow-up question should have been “How many of them were innocent?”
that was the follow up and Perry assured everyone that he had no second thoughts about any of them possibly being innocent. he described the wonderful judicial system in Texas and exclaimed that they all got fair trials….
I won’t be surprised that there will be an expose showing that a few of these inmates the state murdered were totally innocent.
We’ve already seen numerous examples of The Innocence Project freeing prisoners after being illegally held *decades* after their trials were exposed as a sham, or their DNA exonerated them.
I believe that certain crimes should — especially in the case of trials long since closed, but open to question — allow the inmate to have a few DNA test made.
Keith, the Pastor of my church, Paul Turner, likes to say that those who are pro life and pro death penalty are nothing more than “late-term abortionists.”
If anyone deserved it, that would be Perry and this audience.
The idea of an audience applauding at someone boasting of having killed over 200 people just shows how far the Republican party has left any semblance of humanity behind it. Once upon a time our then-Governor, a Republican, put a moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois because of the possibility that some of those so sentenced had been wrongfully convicted.
And they call themselves Christians? I don’t think so.
Killing people has a long, hallowed tradition here in the United Corporations of America. It’s implicit in every stratum of our society from sports and movies to foreign policy: If you don’t like something/someone, hit it, kick it, bomb it, blow it away, obliterate it. The fact that black prisoners, whether they’re unarguably guilty or not, suffer the death penalty in wildly disproportionate numbers is no accident. And the fact that Perry’s supporters applaud it is even less one.
Cameron Todd Willingham Execution: Rick Perry’s Role Deserves Scrutiny http://huff.to/qolZcR
That’s the headline, but the reality is that Perry not only knew Willingham was innocent, he covered it up in order to murder him.
…and then the Tooth Fairy appeared, and gave a shiny new penny to everyone! Except Perry–who, as we all know, has been a very
stupidbad boy–so he cried and cried…They are near fanatical members of a death cult: the murder of convicted criminals is a holy sacrament for them. Why is anyone surprised at their reaction?