Obama Supports Death Penalty for Child Rape

Wow.

Democrat Barack Obama says he disagrees with the Supreme Court's decision outlawing executions of people convicted of raping a child.

Obama told reporters Wednesday that he thinks the rape of a child, ages six or eight, is a heinous crime. He said if a state makes a decision, then the death penalty is potentially applicable.

I think those who rape children are truly heinous individuals, for sure. But once you start saying the the death penalty is for "heinous" crimes rather than the specifically heinous crime of taking another life, you open up a whole new world of execution worthy categories. There was a time when stealing a horse was considered so heinous that it deserved the the death penalty. Should we go back to a time when the state could pretty much decide to execute anyone it wanted?

I get why he said it. Everybody's petrified of being "gotcha'd" like Dukakis on the rape question. But this one isn't hard. All he had to say was that as a father he would certainly want to kill anyone who did such a heinous thing with his bare hands, but as a public servant and legal scholar he knows that the death penalty should be reserved for people who kill. Child molesters should be locked up and never allowed near children again. Nobody would think he was soft for saying that he would support the Supreme Court decision on this. Jesus, it wasn't that long ago that being against the death penalty for any crime was an established liberal principle --- and the Supreme Court agreed!

But hey, I guess that's what makes it a nice political freebie. A chance to side with Scalia and Roberts without any consequences is a welcome gift when you are trying to shed the liberal label. I get that. But I don't see how that is good for the country. With a corrupt and imperfect legal system run by members of the human species, we shouldn't be executing anyone. Raising the ante, even rhetorically, is not helpful.

Bill Clinton raced to Arkansas to sign a retarded man's death warrant in his run in 1992 and now Barack Obama says that he believes the death penalty should be expanded to non-murderers. Not much "progress" on this one, that's for sure.

Update: I am told by one of my readers that it is disrespectful to assume that Obama doesn't really believe the death penalty should be expanded. That's true. He may very well truly believe this.