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Kerry says terrorists alone merit execution
Chicago Tribune ^ | March 10, 2004 | Jill Zuckman

Posted on 03/10/2004 4:36:30 AM PST by Land_of_Lincoln_John

Though he always has opposed the death penalty, Sen. John Kerry said Tuesday that the Sept. 11 attacks made him realize that he would want to "blow Osama bin Laden's brains out."

Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, makes an exception for terrorists in his otherwise unflinching opposition to capital punishment. That exception, he said, was sealed by the realization that war had been declared against the United States that balmy autumn morning more than two years ago.

"That status of war led me to find it impossible to suggest I wouldn't want to blow Osama bin Laden's brains out and treat him as an enemy," he said in an interview with the Tribune while visiting the Chicago area for several campaign stops.

"I walked out of the Capitol and said, `We're at war."' said Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran. "That was my instant reaction as I looked in the air for another airplane that was heading toward us. I think you destroy the enemy."

The death penalty is a subject that Kerry's political opponents have tried to use against him over the past two decades, to little effect.

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2004; capitalpunishment; deathpenalty; flipflop; kerry
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1 posted on 03/10/2004 4:36:30 AM PST by Land_of_Lincoln_John
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To: Land_of_Lincoln_John
I support the death penalty for all killers. It shouldn't matter if one life is taken or if its 3,000. The punishment should be the same across the board as a matter of principle.
2 posted on 03/10/2004 4:38:13 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Land_of_Lincoln_John
"I walked out of the Capitol and said, `We're at war."' said Kerry

That statement ranks right up there with Chelsea's criticizing tax cuts as the twin towers burned.

3 posted on 03/10/2004 4:39:46 AM PST by rabidralph (Crush Kerry's berries.)
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To: Land_of_Lincoln_John
Kerry is just being a weasel again. He's going to run to the right now and make a lot of huffing and puffing sounds so he doesn't sound sooooo Massachusetts.
4 posted on 03/10/2004 4:40:43 AM PST by rhombus
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To: rabidralph
And Kerry now thinks we need a more legalistic approach to fighting terror. What happened in the past three years to change his mind about our being at war?
5 posted on 03/10/2004 4:41:06 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Land_of_Lincoln_John
The death penalty is a subject that Kerry's political opponents have tried to use against him over the past two decades, to little effect.

And which national election would those decades encompass?

6 posted on 03/10/2004 4:42:51 AM PST by dagnabbit (Islamic Immigration is the West's Suicide)
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To: Land_of_Lincoln_John
Another flip-flop by Kerry. He was against the death penalty for terrorist who killed Americans several years ago.
7 posted on 03/10/2004 4:42:57 AM PST by mware
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To: mware
Kerry Weasel.
8 posted on 03/10/2004 4:44:01 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Land_of_Lincoln_John
Kerry against the death penalty for criminals but FOR the death penalty for unborn babies?
9 posted on 03/10/2004 4:46:32 AM PST by OldFriend (Always understand, even if you remain among the few)
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To: mware
Another flip-flop by Kerry. He was against the death penalty for terrorist who killed Americans several years ago.

..another flop-flip by Kerry.. :)

10 posted on 03/10/2004 4:46:41 AM PST by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you :)
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To: Land_of_Lincoln_John
The man has no core beliefs. It's the flip-flop du jour. This is more evidence that he'll say whatever he thinks he has to in order to get elected.
11 posted on 03/10/2004 4:46:52 AM PST by SolutionsOnly
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To: SolutionsOnly
Exactly. I wouldn't trust him to watch my home while I was on vacation.
12 posted on 03/10/2004 4:48:48 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Land_of_Lincoln_John
Arbitrary, relativistic, and darned politically convenient.

Again, it's Just For Kerry.
13 posted on 03/10/2004 4:51:06 AM PST by Paul_B
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To: Land_of_Lincoln_John
I love the smell of liberal opportunism in the morining.

What exactly does Kerry actually stand for again? Which way is the wind blowing?
14 posted on 03/10/2004 4:54:58 AM PST by GAGOPSWEEPTOVICTORY
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To: Land_of_Lincoln_John
a decorated Vietnam veteran.

A chickenshit Vietnam Veteran

15 posted on 03/10/2004 4:57:02 AM PST by The Mayor (There is no such thing as insignificant service for Christ.)
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To: Land_of_Lincoln_John
Isn't this the same guy who says the prez has exaggerated the terrorism threat?
16 posted on 03/10/2004 4:58:27 AM PST by anniegetyourgun
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To: rabidralph
I walked out of the Capitol and said, `We're at war."' said Kerry

Hmmm, Kerry has been stumping lately ridiculing George for calling himself a "war president." Kerry went on to say that he isn't "comfortable" with the term "war" to describe our current circumstances.

Exactly, Mr. Kerry. And I wouldn't be comfortable with you as our Commander and Chief!!!

17 posted on 03/10/2004 5:04:32 AM PST by Spotsy (Bush-Cheney '04)
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To: mware
Another flip-flop by Kerry. He was against the death penalty for terrorist who killed Americans several years ago.

A bill to provide for the imposition of the death penalty for the terrorist murder of United States nationals abroad. - Roll Call Vote : Vote Date: October 26, 1989, 03:22 PM

On Passage of the Bill (S.1798) <-- Link

18 posted on 03/10/2004 5:09:13 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: goldstategop
hanoi john has flipped flopped on every issue of importance, last year he was against the death penalty for terrorist who kill Americans. Now he's for it.

One thing he had been steadfast on is his stance on the death penalty. He says he supports a moratorium on the death penalty at the federal level. Which means there would soon be a national moratorium on the death penalty, because of the liberal social engineering judges and Supreme Court Justices he'd appoint.

He is OPPOSED to the death penalty for non-terrorist who would murder an American child, even a 5-year-old.

As the mother of a murdered 16 year old son, Jeremy Peter Flachbart, who was brutally murdered by a sociopath wanting to see what it felt like to kill, I am alarmed and APPALLED by this man who would be our president soft attitude toward crime, who would eliminate a form of punishment for a horrific crime.

He says HE FEELS MY PAIN.

Horse Feathers! he can't feel my pain, he hasn't had a child brutally murdered. He only was a junior prosecutor from 1976-78. He didn't loose a Loved One to homicide.

There is a hole in my heart and in my life created by the brutal murder of my beloved child.

To me he is soft on crime just as Mike Dukakis who furloughed that brutal killer Willie Horton was.

Presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Kerry was irresponsible in blindly accepting the fraudulent claim that 111 innocents have been released from death row. As has been repeatedly proven, this innocent claim is a fraud pushed by the anti death penalty movement.

This does not speak well to his ability to be responsible on major policy issues.

"Kerry say 111 were found innocent from death row via DNA. If so, that is even more absurd. It is 12." But, for solid evidence of actual innocence, my evidence and that from others indicates its from 17-30. I use 30 to be on the safe side." Dudley Sharp, Resource Director with Justice For All 713-935-9300.

Sincerely,

In memory of Jeremy Peter Flachbart

Gail Keasling (Freeper GailA)

KING: I've done a lot of shows recently dealing with the death of little children. A person who kills a 5-year-old should live?

KERRY: Larry, my instinct is to want to strangle that person with my own hands. I understand the instincts, I really do. I prosecuted people. I know what the feeling of the families is and everybody else.

But we have 111 people who have been now released from death row -- death row, let alone the rest of the prison system -- because of DNA evidence that showed they didn't commit the crime of which they were convicted.

After spending -- I myself worked to get a person out of jail who had been there for 15 years for a murder that person did not commit.

Now, our system has made mistakes, and it's been applied in a way that I think is wrong.

Secondly, I don't believe that, in the end, you advance the, sort of, level of your justice and the system of your civility as a nation -- and many other nations in the world, most of the other nations in the world, have adopted that idea, that the state should not engage in killing.

(APPLAUSE)

Because they have very bad memories of what happens when the state engages in killing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10722-2004Feb26_2.html

19 posted on 03/10/2004 5:09:21 AM PST by GailA (Millington Rally for America after action http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/872519/posts)
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To: Land_of_Lincoln_John
Kerry's statement is about as ridiculous as BClinton saying he'd grab a gun, hunker down, and protect Israel.

20 posted on 03/10/2004 5:10:08 AM PST by TomGuy
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