It is easy to show they care nothing about innocent life. Their support of the US Empire's wars of aggression which have resulted in millions of innocents maimed or killed proves that much. Interestingly though, they support the state's killing of innocents in the US, too. When "conservatives" support the death penalty, you'll often hear it said it is out of respect for innocent life, that the taking of an innocent life deserves the ultimate punishment (unless George W. Bush is the murderer, of course), which is death. But what about all the innocents that have been convicted and executed in the US, or sentenced to death? Turns out it apparently doesn't cause any upset to the base of the Righteous Republican Death Party.
Regular readers will remember the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, a convicted arsonist who was executed on Gov. Rick Perry's watch several years ago despite a last-minute request for a stay and strong doubts about the case by scientific experts.
It turns out that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who unsuccessfully challenged Perry in the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary, explored Perry's potential vulnerability on the issue, Politico reports. But when the Hutchison campaign asked a focus group about Willingham, it received this startling response:
Multiple former Hutchison advisers recalled asking a focus group about the charge that Perry may have presided over the execution of an innocent man – Cameron Todd Willingham – and got this response from a primary voter: "It takes balls to execute an innocent man."-"It takes balls to execute an innocent man"
Rick Perry won the primary with a 20 point margin...
Nice, vigorous opening paragraph!
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