[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., is named for Matthew Shepard, the gay college student who died after he was beaten and tied to a fence in Wyoming in 1998. His mother Judy, who heads a foundation in her son's name and has been a leading advocate of the legislation, addressed House Democrats before the vote to ask for their backing.

The murder of Matthew Shepard was a hideous, sick crime. But it was already illegal by the standards of the day. Does anybody actually think that "hate crime" legislation would have saved Matthew Shepard? Can you imagine the guys who perpetrated the crime saying to themselves, "wait a minute, I'm down with kidnapping, beating and murder, but no way am I going to commit a hate crime." This stupid, redundant, sentimental, feel-good and ultimately unconstitional legislation would not have saved the poor guy.

[massgopguy]

The dragging murder of a Black Man in Texas was also used against President Bush when the victim’s daughter made the ad saying that when President Bush vetoed the Hate Crimes Bill it was like her father died all over again. Two of the three perps got the Death penalty.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Ditto for the murder of James Byrd (which BTW, the Left tried to slander Bush with it). The killer of Byrd has already been sentenced to death. What should we do, put two needles into his arm?