Yes, you heard it right. New York Senate candidate Jeanine Pirro said last night that Democrats
love child molesters.
Jeanine Pirro, a Republican district attorney looking to unseat Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, came under fire Wednesday for portraying Democrats as coddlers of child molesters and murderers.
During a speech to Chemung County Republicans on Tuesday night, Pirro continued her criticism of the Democratic-controlled state Assembly for its refusal to adopt legislation that would civilly confine violent sex offenders after their prison sentences end.
"That's a difference between Democrats and Republicans _ we don't want them next door molesting children and murdering women," said the Westchester County prosecutor, according to Wednesday's Elmira Star-Gazette newspaper.
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Pirro's comments to the Chemung County GOP dinner came a few hours after she unveiled the first advertisement of her campaign, a 60-second radio spot that promotes the adoption of civil confinement legislation. The legislation has been passed in New York's GOP-led state Senate repeatedly in recent years, but has never been allowed out of committee by the Assembly's Democratic leadership. A number of other states have adopted civil confinement laws, and the concept has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Clinton campaign was fast off the mark.
"Ms. Pirro's comment is an affront to common decency and an outrageous insult to the five and a half million law-abiding Democrats in our state," said Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson. "With statements like these, Ms. Pirro's campaign is rapidly going from an embarrassment to a disgrace."
And Pirro is reeling.
Pirro's campaign manager, Brian Donahue, said Wednesday the district attorney does not believe Democrats want sexual predators living next door to anyone.
"This quote is out of context," he said.
"She's conveying a sense of frustration associated with it because she believes that unless this legislation is passed, we are allowing sex offenders to prey on the innocent," the Pirro aide added.
I don't think I've ever seen a campaign implode so quickly before, but then its rare to see a party implode the way the New York Republican Party is. Maybe there's enough time to recruit Alan Keyes.