Shock: Obama disagrees with Court’s decision in child rape case
posted at 6:35 pm on June 25, 2008 by Allahpundit
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Actually, not so shocking. Had the decision come four months ago in the heat of the primary and he responded this way, that would have been shocking. As it is, consider this the legal equivalent of his many full-throated statements of support for Israel. Maybe he means it, maybe he doesn’t, but he can’t afford to be on the wrong side of it politically so his disciples will just have to console themselves with the possibility that it’s yet another lie concocted in the interests of getting elected. The DUers sound bummed. They’ll get over it.
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Shout it from the roof tops!
OBAMA IS PRO-DEATH PENALTY!!
Skywise on June 25, 2008 at 6:41 PM
This helps Michelle’s children.
maverick muse on June 25, 2008 at 6:42 PM
But, of course, killing a child before it is born simply doesn’t qualify as a heinous crime. Got that now?
My collie says:
CyberCipher on June 25, 2008 at 6:42 PM
Wow! Obama is actually right on an issue.
Troy Rasmussen on June 25, 2008 at 6:43 PM
I liked his answer. I though he sounded thoughtful.
terryannonline on June 25, 2008 at 6:44 PM
So even the so-called “liberal” candidate supports the barbaric practice of capital punishment. I don’t believe that any state in the U.S. has grossly abused the ability to execute, and child-rapists are certainly not citizens deserving of rights. But the potential for the abuse of power by the state certainly exists. Meh, who cares about the real issues? What’s on Obama’s iPod!
LT Nixon on June 25, 2008 at 6:45 PM
He’s safe as he scurries to the center on this one. He can make disappoving noises, but they won’t affect the outcome. Similar to Brownback’s vote on shamnesty. At least he didn’t vote “Present.”
a capella on June 25, 2008 at 6:46 PM
Obama’s mini-Ricky Ray Rector moment.
jon1979 on June 25, 2008 at 6:47 PM
Now that the primaries are over, he can pretend that he has a pair as he tries to pander to the conservatives and not-so-liberals.
DAT60A3 on June 25, 2008 at 6:48 PM
Holy shiaaaaa
msipes on June 25, 2008 at 6:48 PM
Improvement:
He’s gone and thrown child rapists under the bus!
silverfox on June 25, 2008 at 6:48 PM
I would also like to add I don’t know where I stand on the case. So I’m not saying that I agreed with his argument, I’m just saying I thought he did a good job of answering the question.
terryannonline on June 25, 2008 at 6:49 PM
Stopped clock is right twice a day.
He is right, though. Ballsy for a Dem to stand up for death penalty, although in this case it’s got plenty of feelgood reasoning to it.
MadisonConservative on June 25, 2008 at 6:49 PM
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,371121,00.html
Any guesses whether the death penalty would have gotten this guy’s attention?
funky chicken on June 25, 2008 at 6:50 PM
Obama seems to put a lot of constriction on whether the death penalty could be used here, but yeah…as has been said, even a broken clock is right twice a day.
JetBoy on June 25, 2008 at 6:50 PM
Second look at O-town!!!!!!!!!
carbon_footprint on June 25, 2008 at 6:51 PM
duh, of course he’s lying.
Although, … Louis Farrakhan said years ago that he thought the death penalty would be an appropriate punishment for rape…
funky chicken on June 25, 2008 at 6:52 PM
Forgot the sarc/
carbon_footprint on June 25, 2008 at 6:52 PM
LOL! SECOND LOOK AT CHANGE!
terryannonline on June 25, 2008 at 6:52 PM
hahaha the DUers are hilarious. They live in a total fantasy world.
apollyonbob on June 25, 2008 at 6:53 PM
Messiah’s save people, not kill them! As Hillary said, “Shame on you, Barack Obama!”
SouthernGent on June 25, 2008 at 6:55 PM
Amen. I think Texas comes close, they do like their Death Penalty, so does Florida.
I think the heart has gone out of executions in FL since we retired Ol’ Sparky in Starke.
Squid Shark on June 25, 2008 at 6:56 PM
Easy . . . give him a week or two. He probably doesn’t really know for sure whether he agrees or disagrees. In fact, he probably doesn’t know for sure whether he even understands the problem . . . or for that matter the question. I’m sure he’ll check his crib sheets and get back with us soon.
rplat on June 25, 2008 at 6:56 PM
Apply the Death Penalty!
“It’s for the sake of the Children!”
Chakra Hammer on June 25, 2008 at 6:58 PM
This is not the Obama that I have come to know..
Shame on him.
Chakra Hammer on June 25, 2008 at 6:59 PM
heh, yeah…those DU nutballs have pushed hard for Obama. Now, they question his statement on the SCOTUS decision. They’re all like “More kids will be murdered if the death penalty were applied”.
Of course, murder still warrants the death penalty…but don’t confuse the DU’ers with actual facts…
JetBoy on June 25, 2008 at 7:01 PM
I looked over the DU comments on this. While I do think that the comments here about the environment are sometimes morally deranged, they so pale in comparison to the moral lunacy over at DU. Perhaps they would even be enough to convince Ed to support the death penalty. One person thinks it someway relevant in a discussion of the death penalty to talk about whether spammers should get the death penalty. People who are unclear on the relative morality of child molestation and spamming are hard to take seriously.
On the other hand, there is the other point that get lost in these conversations. Not all molestation is totally horrid and evil. I was molested once as a child, but it was mild–no clothing was removed. I certainly would not wish to see the molester harshly punished. Maybe a year in prison and a requirement to go to group therapy for the rest of his life.
thuja on June 25, 2008 at 7:01 PM
Yeah, wait until his advisors tell us that he didn’t know “heinous” was some kind of buzzword.
funky chicken on June 25, 2008 at 7:02 PM
I wonder if Kennedy now feels punked.
It can’t feel good to be to the left of the most liberal member of the Senate on the question of whether child rape is a sufficiently heinous crime.
No doubt he was looking for some lefty pats on the back, which now look like they might not be forthcoming.
Nessuno on June 25, 2008 at 7:02 PM
Considering his previous highly qualified statements about Public Financing, Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, negotiating with Iran, etc. color me unimpressed by this very carefully worded disagreement.
landshark on June 25, 2008 at 7:03 PM
Comrade Obama is just jive talking you. You know he agrees with the judges who made the decision, this is just a way to look like he is with the majority of people.
tarpon on June 25, 2008 at 7:06 PM
CHANGE.
Oh yes, his opinion will CHANGE once he is POTUS.
saltydogg14 on June 25, 2008 at 7:07 PM
Gee wiz! Now I don’t know whether Barry’s a hard on crime centrist and worthy of my vo… NAHHHHHH!!!
44Magnum on June 25, 2008 at 7:12 PM
We are becoming ever and ever more a nation of more than thou.
More against war than thou, more against poverty than thou, more against crime than thou, more against global warming than thou. Back when I was a kid they had a name for that.
MB4 on June 25, 2008 at 7:13 PM
Yup.
petefrt on June 25, 2008 at 7:15 PM
OBAMA: I’ve got two daughters, 9 years old and 6 years old. I’m going to teach them first of all about values and morals but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby. I don’t want them punished with an STD at the age of 16, you know. So it doesn’t make sense.
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/8125/
Chakra Hammer on June 25, 2008 at 7:16 PM
And: killing a child after it survives an attempt to kill it before it is born isn’t a heinous crime either.
How’s that the real issue? I thought the real issue was whether it qualified as “cruel and unusual” according to the 8th Amendment.
This is where unprincipled moderates get you: an ever-shifting meaning of the most important document in the US.
It would be funny if it weren’t so serious.
misterpeasea on June 25, 2008 at 7:17 PM
Abortion is OK though..
NOT just OK, Obama advises Abortions.
Chakra Hammer on June 25, 2008 at 7:18 PM
Just wait till the ACLU weighs in, then Obama will flip to the other side.
Zaggs on June 25, 2008 at 7:18 PM
Obama the Abortion advocate, Abortion MAN!!!
Chakra Hammer on June 25, 2008 at 7:20 PM
Why does Obama hate child-rapist people?
NTWR on June 25, 2008 at 7:21 PM
Justice (and I use that word in a joking manner) Kennedy will be fine. No doubt he will be at some cocktail party this weekend and be schmoozed by some smart set Donk whoar who will whisper in his ear that all is well.
JonRoss on June 25, 2008 at 7:24 PM
The point is that if he’s gonna get the capital punishment either way, he might as well kill the kid and lower the chance that he’ll be convicted (one fewer witnesses).
I’m against the death penalty. Not because I think these scum deserve to live, but because they could be put to better use if they were used for brutal slave labor until they die. 10-12 hour workdays, crappy food, and the rest of their time locked up in their cells. Whether even reading is allowed should depend on the crime. Maybe we could use them as a renewable energy source. Make them run on a giant hamster wheel all day.
Darth Executor on June 25, 2008 at 7:25 PM
To be honest, death is too good for these monsters that rape children. throw them in with general population and let the hardened criminals – who hurt people their own size, at least – at them. Stories about child rapists abound and the things general population do to those beasts…. well, it is not pretty or fun – but it is funny! (i’m a little blood thirsty, especially when it comes to monsters that prey on children.) within the hierarchy of prison, child molesters are pretty much at the very bottom, hated by all.
instead of three squares and private cells, prison should really be a deterrent. Over-population really shouldn’t be an issue because one should NOT be comfortable in prison. and child rapists should be a free-for-all. A few months back there were several articles about prison rape…. now, I’m not saying this is an acceptable practice…. but, in the case of rapers of children it’s sort of karmic payback.
Blight on June 25, 2008 at 7:34 PM
The messiah is for the death penalty yet he is for partial-birth abortion.
jencab on June 25, 2008 at 7:34 PM
Actually, Obama meant to say (what was that Michelle?)
he was for castration.
Chemical castration.
(Not the literal kind.)
Rapists need to CHANGE.
It’s their only HOPE.
(Plus, it’s hard to change if you’re dead, he would argue.)
Barry will flip, flop, and flip again, until he lands in The O Zone- that place of comfortable media amnesia where all of his gaffes, goofs, gum-ups and godawful follies dissolve quietly away.
Obama is only sure of one thing: he wants power.
By any means necessary, and then some.
(And in any position possible.)
profitsbeard on June 25, 2008 at 7:36 PM
Well! I’ll be darned!!!
dalec on June 25, 2008 at 7:37 PM
Funny how words “mean something,” huh, Barry?
fourstringfuror on June 25, 2008 at 7:38 PM
I’ll bet he gives a different answer if he were asked whether or not he would support a Constitutional amendment allowing the states to apply the death penalty in narrow limited well defined circumstances.
rw on June 25, 2008 at 7:39 PM
It wasn’t demagogic. I actually believe that he means it.
AlexB on June 25, 2008 at 7:43 PM
Hard to argue with the fact that the death penalty is the only 100% cure for recividism.
Seriously doubt ANY penalty is a deterrent, tho’.
irongrampa on June 25, 2008 at 7:48 PM
Wow, I actually agree with Obama on something…who knew?
Good for him, this is a sound argument.
Richard Romano on June 25, 2008 at 7:52 PM
Sorry, but it isn’t being taken from Barry as intended. At the flower shop we have a super majority of Dems. They took this as a slap in the face and complaining loudly about it. A convicted child rapist was released in Texas today (after 7 years-repeat offender) because of DNA evidence. These folks are pretty vocal in their objections to the death penalty under any circumstances.
Isn’t there a clip (IIRC) of him being against the death penalty? Something out of the Chicago area. Anyone else remember that?
Limerick on June 25, 2008 at 7:57 PM
Here is Obama in the debate with Keyes in which Obama is for the death penalty.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyOL8TxtexM so I guess my previous post is out in left field.
Limerick on June 25, 2008 at 8:03 PM
Easy for him to say, but how does he explain how a court would agree with him when he would appoint justices like the ones in the majority and perhaps even more extreme than they?
aikidoka on June 25, 2008 at 8:03 PM
No need to flip here. It never a problem to criticize the abolition of a law by SC decree that you’d never bother to try to make law in the first place.
Dusty on June 25, 2008 at 8:05 PM
I was going to speculate that maybe Obama will turn out to be a hangin’-judge president, and make an “Audacity of Rope” joke, but then I realized it could be construed as racist.
Jim Treacher on June 25, 2008 at 8:09 PM
Okay,here are the hurdles and hoop’s one must
jump in order to meet Baracks definition!
And boy,oh boy, is he slick!
“should be applied in very narrow circumstances”
“under narrow limited well defined circumstances”
Obama’s definition is about as tight as landing a
747 in about a one mile runway!
canopfor on June 25, 2008 at 8:16 PM
Today,Obama is flip,
Later tonite,or
tomorrow,Barack will flop!
canopfor on June 25, 2008 at 8:20 PM
Doesn’t sound racist to me. When I think of hangin’judges I think of the wild west. You actually sound a little cowboyaphobic to me.
JonRoss on June 25, 2008 at 8:21 PM
[Jim Treacher on June 25, 2008 at 8:09 PM]
At TPM, sure.
Dusty on June 25, 2008 at 8:23 PM
uhBama or Die !! MotherFathers !!!!
redrock on June 25, 2008 at 9:01 PM
QUESTION: How can one who believes that Sesame Street age children should be taught sex ed think this is a bad thing?
madmonkphotog on June 25, 2008 at 9:04 PM
ummm somehow I do not believe him. I wonder why? I mean, I am certain he always speakes exactly what he believes. He is the second comming after all!!!
sarc/off
allrsn on June 25, 2008 at 9:04 PM
This ruling by the court was an abuse of power by the state. And that is the real issue.
flenser on June 25, 2008 at 9:22 PM
Sounds like an argument against laws and jails, not just against the death penalty.
flenser on June 25, 2008 at 9:24 PM
Hold on there, Barry.
First you’re defending the possible application of capital punishment to child rapists, next thing you know people are confusing you with Westwood Pegler.
Gerard on June 25, 2008 at 9:30 PM
No earth shaking surprises here. With two young daughters, the Messiah’s chickens have come home to roost!
byteshredder on June 25, 2008 at 9:47 PM
QUESTION:
madmonkphotog on June 25,2008 at 9:04PM.
madmonkphotog:Joceyln Elders comes to mind!:)
canopfor on June 25, 2008 at 9:47 PM
♫ ♪♪ “The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round”.♫ ♪♪
hillbillyjim on June 25, 2008 at 9:59 PM
You always think he does a good job answering the questions.
Jungliszt on June 25, 2008 at 10:44 PM
I saw on the other HA post that Muhammed had sex with his wife Aisha when she was nine, & the imam said he was their model.
Death to Muhammed-followers?
jgapinoy on June 25, 2008 at 11:23 PM
Definately weird for a leftwing loon like Obama to support even in the slightest way. Dont know where it comes from.
tx2654 on June 25, 2008 at 11:54 PM
I’m surprised anyone here is falling for this one and seeing hope in Obama or giving him credit. Democrats have learned since Dukakis to state they’re for capital punishment with no intention of nominating judges who are support it. Obama’s position isn’t one of belief or morality-it’s one of political expediency.
Goodale on June 26, 2008 at 2:15 AM
Shit.
This makes me more Liberal than Obama!
I oppose the death penalty for any crime. If taking life is wrong as a crime, then it’s wrong as punishment, too.
It boils down to the same thing: taking a life.
That’s even more clearly defined and obvious as the morality surrounding the abortion issue or the Iraq war, where salient arguments have been put forward.
There’s no logical argument for capital punishment. It’s not a deterrent. It’s just blood lust vengeance – a close relative of what we normally class as murder.
uptight on June 26, 2008 at 4:18 AM
Shit.
This makes me more Liberal than Obama!
I oppose the death penalty for any crime. If taking life is wrong as a crime, then it’s wrong as punishment, too.
It boils down to the same thing: taking a life.
That’s even more clearly defined and obvious than the morality surrounding the abortion issue or the Iraq war, where salient arguments have been put forward both for and against.
There’s no logical argument for capital punishment. It’s not a deterrent. It’s just blood lust vengeance – a close relative of what we normally class as murder.
uptight on June 26, 2008 at 4:19 AM
It’s a done deal, so Obama can assert great political courage.
He wasn’t for it until after the decision was tendered.
drjohn on June 26, 2008 at 7:29 AM
Ah, finally, there’s the guy I donated $25 to.
Seixon on June 26, 2008 at 8:13 AM
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