Political scientists and military strategists agree that killing Osama bin Laden would be a terrible idea, because we’d make him into a martyr. He’d be far more powerful as a memory. The reality of the man, placed on trial and left to waste away in the Hague for the rest of his life, would be as pathetic as Slobodan Milosevic now appears.
And so it’s clear that the Republican Party of Virginia is in over their heads with their newsletter today:
Tim Kaine To Campaign Today With Wesley Clark, Former Democrat Presidential Candidate, Who Received NINE PERCENT Of The Virginia Primary Vote In 2004
Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures
Tim Kaine & Wes Clark: Out Of Touch With Virginians On The Death Penalty…
Clark Opposed Death Penalty For Osama Bin Laden. CHRIS MATTHEWS: “[D]o you think Osama bin Laden should be tried here at the U.S. or in the Hague ?” CLARK: “I would like to see him tried in the Hague ” MATTHEWS: “Well, 3,000 Americans were killed here. Do you believe he should be held exempt from capital punishment, because if you send him to Hague he will be. They don’t have capital punishment at the Hague.” CLARK: “I think that’s a separate issue. ” MATTHEWS: “No, it’s a key issue, because the sentencing limitation, they do not execute people at the Hague.” CLARK: “I think that you can adequately punish Osama bin Laden, and you’ve got to look beyond simple retribution against an individual. ” (MSNBC’S ‘Hardball,’ 12/8/03)
It’d be an understatement to say they’re overreaching here, though particularly with regard to Clark. He never polled very high as the preference of Democrats, but centrists and Republicans gave him very low negatives. You’ll recall that the only mud Republicans could sling at Clark was that he’d apparently been a Republican for many years. A well-known centrist career military bad-ass like Clark is exactly who Tim Kaine needs to be campaigning with, as he did today.
Comparing Clark to a pantywaist like Jerry Kilgore only reinforces what a creampuff Kilgore is. So, hey, keep it up, guys.
“career military bad-ass”
Well said Waldo! I like that.
I would follow that bad-ass to hell and back if he asked because
I so strongly believe in him.
And he has a memory like a steel trap.
Just wait until he is President (and Mark W. his VP)….”pantywaist” Jerry Kilgore won’t know what hit him.
:-)
For the life of me…I cannot wrap my head around the stupidity of the RPV. Have these people ever read a book? Kilgore is an embarrassment and anyone supporting him has to be lacking in intellect. Attack Wesley Clark for understanding International diplomacy? I give up…if Kilgore wins…Virginia deserves exactly what it gets. Dubya, Kilgore, Brownie, and now Miers…we are a nation of mediocrity and low expectations
Janet: Virginia does not deserve what a Kilgore Governorship would do to the progress we have made. Virginia deserves a man like Tim Kaine …a man who knows the difference between right and wrong, the difference between justice and vengeance …
Republicans should not attack general officers with exceptional records in the armed service of the country. When we have a slate with two of the three candidates with no record of military service, we should be especially respectful of those who have served. Especially those who have served with distinction, as has General Clark. Surely we have better things to talk about than this.
Obviously, some people over at RPV are on some kind of death penalty high. Clark may well be right that putting OBL in a cage for the next twenty five years would have more of a deterrent effect than giving him martyrdom in front of millions for whom the culture of death is like catnip. This is a totally different issue from the use of the death penalty for violent criminals in Virginia. How embarrassing. I hope they didn’t send that to too many people.