| Wednesday, March 22, 2006 |
| Quotable: How do you say "put to death" in Bushspeak? |
Today it's a tie for quote of the day. First up, President Bush:
"It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because they chose a particular religion over another." -- President Bush addressing the case of Abdul Rahman, who could be sentenced to death in Afghanistan for converting from Islam to Christianty. Bush made the remarks during a speaking engagement in Wheeling, West Virginia. "Held to account???" Well that's rather gentle... (and it's making Malkin mad...) How about "put to death," or "executed..." oh, right, Bush is for the death penalty... Wayback machine? Take us back to a Bush quote on the death penalty in the U.S. ... "
In America, we must make doubly sure no person is held to account for a crime he or she did not commit, so we are dramatically expanding the use of DNA evidence to prevent wrongful conviction. Soon I will send to Congress a proposal to fund special training for defense counsel in capital cases because people on trial for their lives must have competent lawyers by their side.
Source: 2005 State of the Union Speech Feb 2, 2005 ...
"I was sworn to uphold the laws of my state. I do believe that if the death penalty is administered swiftly, justly and fairly, it saves lives. My job is to ask two questions. Is the person guilty of the crime? And did the person have full access to the courts of law? And I can tell you, in all cases those answers were affirmative. I’m not proud of any record. I’m proud of the fact that violent crime is down in the state of Texas. I’m proud of the fact that we hold people accountable. But I’m not proud of any record, no. " -- Bush to the St. Louis debate Oct 17, 2000, answering a question on whether he is proud of the fact that Texas leads the state in executions...
Yes, Michelle, that's just the way Bush talks, like when he says "folks" instead of specifiying which specific group, entity, country or population he's talking about, or when he calles 9/11 "September the eleventh, 2001," just because I guess he thinks it sounds more dramatic. At the end of the day, Bush is going to parse this in a way that leaves him on the conservative side of both religion and the death penalty, while trying to figure out a way to win this one for the pajama people (without making Karzai look like a puppet...) Tough job, and Karzai's not making it any easier (he has his own political problems...)
Meanwhile, here's our second quote of the day:
"How can we congratulate ourselves for liberating Afghanistan from the rule of jihadists only to be ruled by Islamists who kill Christians? ... President Bush should immediately send Vice President Cheney or Secretary Rice to Kabul to read [Afghan President] Hamid Karzai's government the riot act. Americans will not give their blood and treasure to prop up new Islamic fundamentalist regimes. Democracy is more than purple thumbs." -- Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, as quoted by right-wing writer/blogger Michelle Malkin Isn't the world just rich with irony?
For more on the Rahman saga:
Tags: Afghanistan, Islam, Religion, Christianity, Bush |
posted by JReid @ 3:55 PM   |
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