US Elections

If administering the ultimate punishment is the most serious use of government power it should at least be treated as such. The gravity of execution and the ability of a state to kill its own citizens is not something over which people should strut, ever.

It makes more sense, though is no less ghoulish, as a celebration of political grit. I linked yesterday to an Erick Erickson post about Sarah Palin, in which he describes the appeal the former Alaska governor had for Republicans:

a lot of us fell in love with Sarah Palin because of her enemies and a lot of us have fallen out of love with Sarah Palin because of her fans. 

This seems a common sentiment among conservatives; someone who enrages liberals must be doing something right. It seems a nihilistic and fruitless brand of politics to me, and while partisans of all stripes can fall prey to the pleasures of point-scoring against the other team, it's something liberals seem to have a lot less interest in. (Is there a left wing leader liberals love "because of her enemies"?) But Perry's triumphalism over the 234 people he condemned and his callous disregard for suggestions that not all of them were guilty won't really matter to the conservative base, whether they value human life or not. The outraged response from death penalty opponents will just make Perry's blithe surety more attractive to Republican primary voters.

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• Ohio University student Meg Roussos profiles a Buckeye State family of five that lives in a schoolbus, as part of a series on "The Changing American Dream." [h/t Conor Friedersdorf]

• Former Hillary Clinton advisor Mark Penn tells GQ how Barack Obama could lose in 2012:

Obama no longer has national security as a deficit. He's answered the 3 a.m. call. But health care is still a vulnerability. The deficit is a huge vulnerability. Unemployment is a huge vulnerability. The whole economy is a huge vulnerability. If he doesn't get re-elected, it will be because someone really taps into one or more of those four vulnerabilities.

• New Tumblr of the week is the self-explanatory Joe Biden Eating A Sandwich.

• The Wall Street Journal on the chances of a Rick Perry run in 2012:

Our normally reliable Republican source reports that Mr. Perry has surveyed the field and decided to get in the race later this summer, perhaps around the time of the national prayer meeting that Mr. Perry is hosting on August 6 at a Houston football stadium. Our source also reports that Mr. Perry is aiming to compete in the Iowa Straw Poll, even though it occurs just a week later, on August 13.

• Speaking of 2012 contenders, this 2009 story by The New Republic is a great introduction to Jon Hunstman:

To be sure, Huntsman is no Republican In Name Only; his positions on abortion and gun control still hew quite closely to the Republican line. But he sees himself within a broader GOP tradition. "[Republicans] forget sometimes what Lincoln taught us about individual dignity and equal rights, what Roosevelt taught us about the environment and big stick diplomacy, about American power abroad and how we project it," he says, folding his hands beneath his chin and staring out his window. "We have Nixon who created the EPA, for heaven's sake. People forget that."

• Ta-Nehisi Coates on the death penalty, and how Rick Perry's actions may have condemned an innocent man:

Whatever one thinks of the death penalty, the accounts of those who would seek to conceal the results of their theory should be closely checked. If only for that reason, the prospect of Governor Perry as commander in chief induces a chilling nostalgia. Indeed, choosing a leader of the free world from the ranks of those who sport a self-serving incuriosity is a habit, like crash landings and cock-fights, best cultivated in strict moderation.

• Related: Zain Kassam explains why he's opposed to the death penalty.

• Alyssa Rosenberg sees potential in an African American version of Annie:

[S]ince Annie‘s supposed to be a universal American story, I would really like to see a simple, uncomplicated statement that African-Americans, and particularly black men, can be the vehicles for that story. If we can have Jay-Z in gruff mogul mode having his heart melted by a gawky, adorable Willow Smith without having a debate about the state of black fatherhood, or hedging his right to parent her in any way, I think there would be something lovely about that.

• Ice cream flavour of the week is this sadly fictional delight inspired by "Parks and Recreation" character Ron Swanson. [By PanicBasket. Explanation here.]

• Ezra Klein on the tax increase Republicans might accepts and Democrats might refuse:

Over the next 10 years, switching to chained-CPI raises about $300 billion. About two-thirds of that comes from Social Security and other retirement programs. The remainder comes from higher taxes. This reform has a certain amount of support from center-left policy wonks — though they recommend using some of the savings to boost benefits for the poor — but as you’d perhaps expect, AARP and many Democrats don’t like that very much.

• A newly political Katy Perry has told Rolling Stone that it's a disgrace for America not to have free health care, so let's make the song of the week her gleefully vacuous party anthem "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" 

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Now, five years later, attention has turned to the case. This is, in part because of the attention of the media, but also largely because Perry is running for re-election in 2010, and facing off in a tough battle with now-senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson. The case has garnered attention already during the campaign, with Perry's actions drawing criticism from his opponent.

Across the blogosphere, people are watching. This could be the first time, since the death penalty was re-introduced in the United States, that a state has admitted error in executing one of its citizens. Writers are divided over Willingham's guilt, over the quality of his trial, and over Gov. Perry's actions in the case.

Gov. Perry's decisions regarding Willingham could prove harmful to his reelection chances. Just 48 hours before the Texas Forensic Science Board was due to review the Willingham case in October this year, the Governor removed three members of the board and replaced them with hard line conservatives. The Willingham hearings were immediately postponed and may now not take place until 2011, long after Perry's reelection battle is over. 

One of the really interesting elements of this case is the way Hutchinson has framed her response. In accusing Perry of a cover-up, Hutchinson took the opportunity to attack him from the right. She has claimed that Perry's actions were irresponsible and could provide fodder for the anti-death penalty activists. The statement her office released stated:

"The only thing Rick Perry's actions have accomplished is giving liberals an argument to discredit the death penalty. Kay Bailey Hutchison is a steadfast supporter of the death penalty, voted to reinstate it when she served in the Texas House and believes we should never do anything to create a cloud of controversy over it with actions that look like a cover-up." (Source: Wonkette)

Hutchinson used the case to display her own pro-death-penalty bona fides. Texas conservatives are apparently so strongly in favour of the death penalty that a case of possible innocence is presented by Hutchinson not as a tragic miscarriage of justice, but a potential attack on the death penalty. It's a remarkably example of the fierce belief many hold in the necessity of the death penalty

Many questions remain regarding the Willingham case: Does the US Justice system work when the accused has arguably inadequate representation? Did Perry abuse his power? If Willingham was innocent, what would that mean for the death penalty?

The most fundamental question though, and one that deserves to be revisited in an official, rather than journalistic, capacity, is did Cameron Todd Willingham murder his children, or did the state of Texas execute an innocent man?

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