Whenever I talk about my largely negative feelings toward Bill Clinton, I usually point out that I haven't always felt that way. I point out that I defended Bill during the Monica fiasco. And if I do mention something negative about him from back then, it's usually how he handled (or didn't handle) the Rwanda genocide, or maybe his continuation of the sanctions on Iraq.
But I kept thinking, "I recall not feeling comfortable with Bill Clinton from the start. But why? I can't remember why that was, specifically." Sure part of it was the fact that he wasn't as liberal as I liked, but there was more.
I'm thoroughly ashamed to admit I had forgotten about this, but earlier today, Chris Matthews brought it all back.
Chris Matthews, while discussing how the Clintons have managed to make themselves seem more "progressive", more caring, more non-bigoted, and more color-blind than they actually are...
With a rather disgusted look, Matthews said, "How 'bout that retarded guy he executed on the way to the White House? I never forgot that, when he went back home and executed the guy who had no mental capacity. And that's a liberal? That's a Democrat?"
Even Tucker Carlson, not the most liberal person on earth, shook his head and said, "Yeah, took time out from his busy schedule to go have the guy killed."
Oh my god! Ricky Ray Rector!
The fact that any of us, particularly those who consider ourselves extremely liberal (like me), could forget this is... well, almost unforgivable.
I hearby say, I'm Sorry!
For those of you who aren't old enough to remember what I'm talking about, Ricky Rector was executed on January 25, 1992 in Arkansas. He was severely mentally handicapped, due to an attempted suicide just before being arrested for murder. Expert witnesses at his trial agreed that the gunshot had left him "effectively lobotomized."
Here's some more details:
When Rector’s execution day approached, he was given the standard last meal. For dessert, he was offered a slice of pecan pie, which he moved to the window sill of his holding cell. When asked why he was not eating his pie, he remarked that he was "saving it" for "after the execution."
Surely no decent person would want a guy like that executed. Might as well be killing a 3-year-old.
But unfortunately for Rector and his friends and family (and society as a whole, I might add), his execution date just happened to fall right in the middle of the presidential primaries.
With Bill Clinton’s campaign on the ropes, as well as his need to look tough ... on the issue of the death penalty, Clinton interrupted campaigning in New Hampshire to fly home to preside over the execution. [link]
Obviously there is absolutely no legal reason a governor is required to be present in his/her state for an execution to take place. So the one and only reason why Clinton did this was to look even more "tough on crime" than his oppenents. To prove what a big, tough man he was! As the San Francisco Chronicle noted, the day of the execution is "a date which ought to live in infamy for the Democratic Party."
Fast-forward 16 years.
Day by day in the current campaign, it's become more and more obvious that Bill and Hillary will do virtually anything to win. Rep. James Clyburn is making big news right now because he's seen the light.
But what Bill Clinton did on that day back in 1992 should have been a clue to us all along. Even back 16 years ago, he (though I can't say how Hillary felt) proved that he was capable of almost anything. We rightly condemn George W. Bush for his attitude toward the execution, under his watch, of Karla Fay Tucker. So how could many of us have forgotten that Bill Clinton did something possibly even worse?.
Update
And not just re. Clinton, but how 'bout this?
Top executing nations in 2007:
China 470+
Iran 317+
Saudi Arabia 143+
Pakistan 135+
USA 42
Iraq 33+
Some FINE company there....