One Was Too Much
Great column from Coates. After bringing much-needed national attention to Rick Perry’s role in the murder of Cameron Tood Willingham, the punchline says it all:
Whatever one thinks of the death penalty, the accounts of those who would seek to conceal the results of their theory should be closely checked. If only for that reason, the prospect of Governor Perry as commander in chief induces a chilling nostalgia. Indeed, choosing a leader of the free world from the ranks of those who sport a self-serving incuriosity is a habit, like crash landings and cock-fights, best cultivated in strict moderation.
Once a century should suffice.
Can we just remove the “guest” from TNC’s status? Would anybody have rather read the two inane Anthony Weiner columns that almost certainly would have resulted this week if Collins was still around? Do we need four columns worth of Burke for Dummies every week? I think he’s passed the audition.
Sadly, I think Steve at NMMNB calls it:
Everybody upset about this was going to vote against the Republican, whoever s/he ends up being, already.
97% of scientists believe that humans are causing global warming. 52% of the general public believes that global warming is either natural or simply not happening. As long as someone with the pretense of authority is willing to say that we can’t know the fire wasn’t arson, public opinion will be in favor of execution.
“I think he’s passed the audition.”
I second that!!!
He’s a keeper – especially since you just lost Rich and Herbert.
Any one sentence by TNC is better than all of the ones by Russ ‘The Priss Miss’ Douthat combined.
Maybe with Keller gone, we’ll see some better choices.
yes, TNC on staff might just about persuade me to bend my principles and subscribe to the Great American Whore :/
Coates is a treasure. I have visited his blog every day for years.
But as we said in a previous thread on the subject: Anyone who thinks that the Willingham mess will cause a groundswell of opposition to His Hairness is going to go broke, in the Mencken tradition.
I have yet to encounter someone who is saying that, but anyway…
His attempt at “understanding” the pro-death penalty side, with the Roger Keith Coleman example, was pretty strained, though. If Coleman had just gotten life without parole, he wouldn’t have become the cause celebre that TNC suggests presents a justification (in some people’s minds) for the death penalty. Anyway, that bizarre sidestep notwithstanding, I agree that TNC would make an excellent permanent addition to the NYT lineup.
His attempt at “understanding” the pro-death penalty side, with the Roger Keith Coleman example, was pretty strained, though.
I agree; I found that really odd.
I have yet to encounter someone who is saying that, but anyway…
Well, TNC’s title implies that Perry is going to be “haunted” by this case…either on a personal level, or in the context of his campaign. I see zero evidence for either.
But Scott!
W was elected in the 20th century!
No, he stole the 2000 election, so he was first elected in 2004.
Didn’t you mean Burke from Dummies?
Either way, they’re burkeing up the wrong tree.
It’s a good editorial but I don’t see any evidence that popular opinion in this country is moving away from the death penalty. Maybe I read too many newspaper blog comments, but it feels like many want Judge Dredd to start making sweeps in their neighborhoods.
If anything, Americans see the appeals and exonerations as that darn ACLU gumming up the woodworks with their librul nonsense. I mean, fire SCIENCE? Puh-leese.
And besides, even if Willingham was innocent of this crime, he had to have done other stuff because, after all, he was locked up right?
“I don’t see any evidence that popular opinion in this country is moving away from the death penalty”
In polls people say they are for the death penalty, but when those same people end up on juries their willingness to impose it plummets each year. Life without parole (LWOP) is becoming more popular with juries.
“This court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is ‘actually’ innocent.”
I’m sure that Scalia said this with withering sarcasm, especially the scare quotes around “actually”. He explicitly kicked the can to the governors, knowing full well that most of those governors are men like Perry who would never dare to pardon anyone.
One of Huckabee’s redeeming traits was his willingness to pardon. He got burned a few times, but he did more good than harm.
This reminds me of Ricky Ray Rector. The poor man was so unaware of his situation that he told the guards that he would eat his pie after the execution. Did Governor Clinton halt the execution? No, he wanted to show that he was not soft on crime.
Um, idiot?
Ricky Ray Rector shot himself in the head after he executed the cop, which created his brain damage. At the time of the murderS, he was fully competent.
While I do not support the death penalty, I will not let you turn it into a cheap tawdry political football for your lunacies. Now shut up and eat your soup
Who are you calling an idiot? Christopher Hitchens? I am quoting from his book “No One Left to Lie to”. He writes about the execution of Ricky Ray Rector:
“A few columnists-the late Murray Kempton, Jimmy Breslen and your humble servant among them- commented with disgust on this human sacrifice.”…”Warden Willis Sargeant, a tough former Army non-com, was assailed by misgivings as the deadline approached. ‘Ricky’s a harmless guy,’ he said. ‘This is not something I want to do.’ The police department witness Lieutenant Rodney Pearson (Rector had shot a cop) found himself having second thoughts as he watched an obviously gravely retarded and uncomprehending prisoner being subjected to the ‘strap-down’. The chaplain, Douglas Pigman, resigned from the prison system shortly afterwords, saying ‘I hate murder, I hate murderers, but to execute children? What was done to Ricky Ray Rector was in itself absolutely a crime. A horible crime. We are not supposed to execute children.”
pages 39-40
Now do you still think he was fully competent?
Coates passed the audition when he got out of bed in the morning. But I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for the “guest” to disappear.
Douthat should indeed be kicked to the curb to make room for TNC; unfortunately, I think that the NYT likes to keep him around as their token social conservative that talks about religion (as opposed to Bobo, their token social conservative who talks about science that he doesn’t really understand); if someone accuses them of liberal bias, they can always point to Smug Ewok.
I’m sure Coates would be an advantageous substitution for other NYT op-ed regulars, but I also noticed that on the day of his piece, not a single one of the op-eds was by a woman.
Collins gets on my nerves at times but I don’t want to see her place taken by a guy. No doubt she would have written about Weiner, but I can understand why a feminist might have a few jokes to make on that matter.
Also, the NYT needs someone who’s going to speak out strongly against the death penalty. I was not impressed by Coates’ muddled analysis of the Coleman case or his earnest attempt at “on the one side this but on the other side that.” Not his finest hour and I’m surprised at the overpraise of this particular column. He’s done much better.
TNC