Kerry says terrorists alone merit execution

Chicago Tribune ^ | March 10, 2004 | Jill Zuckman

[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.

[binger]

[TomGuy]

"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."

Rendition of Hillary's tale of Chelsae jogging around downtown Manhattan, stopping to call Hillary and blame the 2 planes hitting the towers on Bush's tax cuts.


[Do these people really 'hear' what they are saying? They need to start listening to what is coming out of their mouths. Most times, with Kerry, his speeches and interviews don't even make much sense. They consist of a bunch of 'bit sounding' words strung together. Oh, maybe that's the 'plan' Kerry is always saying he has for America.]

[cyncooper]

Such measured and presidential language.

/sarcasm

(I said yesterday and I say again today, he is going insane before our very eyes. Watch. Rhetoric like "blow his brains out" is not reassuring, presidential, in command.)

[TomGuy]

"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.

I was responding to the article (I had not read any comments) when I made my post #22 comments.

Seems we both can relate Kerry's statement to Chelsea. lol.

[Happy2BMe]

J-FK making an "exception" for "terrorists" now is he?

What exception would he give to John Allen Muhammad?

[evad]

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

zakly..
this nut has flip flop'd and flop flip'd so much I think he has redefined the term.

Maybe we should actually call it what it is...a LIE perpetrated by a congenital LYER.

[GraceCoolidge]

"We're at war." said Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran.

I thought it was a "law enforcement" issue or an intelligence matter. And appending the "decorated veteran" tag to everything is really getting old. I don't seem to recall Bill Clinton's "don't ask/don't tell" policy being reported as the brainchild of "President Clinton, Vietnam draft dodger," or "President Clinton, military loather."

[usmcobra]

So Like what does he think about the death penalty for Traitors?

[astounded]

"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..."

Huh??? Can anyone interpret this "Kerry-speak" for me? This guy is just like either Clinton - hedging, qualifying, never saying anything directly. These bites are just politicking, which the media dutifully report in their job of mouth-piece for the DNC and the democrat party.

Kerry makes me sick to my stomach - I want to puke every time I hear his voice and see his face. He is the worst sort of opportunistic leech on America - his "chestful of medals" be damned. I'm certainly not impressed by them or by him. Kerry has turned his "wartime service" into a mere political tool to be used by himself and the democrats. Despicable.

[Brilliant]

Kerry says that execution is not the toughest penalty--life in jail is the toughest penalty. But he says that terrorists should be executed. I guess he wants to give them an easier sentence.

[auboy]

Maybe we should actually call it what it is...a LIE perpetrated by a congenital LYER.

I love the sound of plain talk in the morning.

[Jaxter]

Actually, though I disagreed with Kerry, his (previous) argument against the death penalty for terrorists was better than his argument against the death penalty for your run of the mill baby raping murderer. I believe that he said having the death penalty for terrorists may keep certain countries from extraditing them to the USA. This is a pretty good argument, although I'd say that failure to extradite the terrorists would be the same as harboring them and we all know what the Bush Doctrine says about that. In any case it's just another opportunistic, which way is the wind blowing, flip-flop by Kerry.

[William McKinley]

"I walked out of the Capitol and said, `We're at war."'

...and what I remember about war is that I want America to surrender to end the war, and that we should treat it like a law enforcement exercise, and I am counting on people not realizing over the next 8 months how craven I am.

[dpa5923]

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."

This fool thinks this makes him sound strong and manly. It shows he is a little girl run by emotions. The death penalty should not be employed out of anger or frustration or fear, but only after cold deliberate thought with the intent to make the guilty pay the ultimate price for their crimes. Kerry wants to deploy it because his adrenalin was pumping and it might buy him a few political points.

[trebb]

"I walked out of the Capitol and said, `We're at war."' said Kerry

But, of course it was wrong to go in and do anything about it...

[xp38]

Did the article or any reporter ask him about the John Mohammed case? Did he support the sentence?

[sr4402]

This article is not "fair and Balance" (as they say on Fox News) since they didn't reference his flop, having voted against the death penalty for terrorists.

Why isn't the press telling the whole story?

[Agnes Heep]

Janus F. Kerry

[TomGuy]

That pic brings to mind this classic:

Two Faces Have I Lou Christie

I don't want the world to know
I don't want my heart to show

Two faces have I
I pretend that I'm happy
But I'm Mr. blue
I pretend that I'm happy
Since I lost you

Two faces have I
One to laugh and one to cry
Two faces have I
One to laugh and one to cry

Will I ever laugh again
She'll never see me cry
Will I walk with a smile on my face
Kniowing I live a lie

I pretend that I'm carefree
But what am I
I pretend that I'm carefree
But I'm living a lie

Two faces have I
One to laugh and one to cry
Two faces have I
One to laugh and one to cry

[doug from upland]

Well, well, Mr. Kerry. You want vengeance for the families of 9-11. The death penalty. That's good. But what about the children who have seen parents murdered in front of their eyes? Does that deserve the death penalty? What about a 5-year-old child kidnapped, tortured, and murdered? Does that deserve the death penalty? What about teenage girls raped and murdered? Does that deserve the death penalty? Oh, I get it. You will set the rules. If something is offensive enough to you, then you will allow the death penalty. Arrogant, self-centered ass.