I nominate Douchehat. He’s human – barely, anyway – and there’s this added bonus: if’n we sacrifice him, he won’t be stinkin’ up the op-ed page of the NYT no more.

wow. if we don’t indiscriminately kill people (which, btw, is way better than getting gayassraped in a blackpersonprison; even if you are innocent), then people won’t fear indiscriminate killing and will not believe that justice is possible. Only through government sponsored death of the innocent are we truly just.

Problem with that is: Douchebaghat lost his “innocent” cred a long long time ago. Douchehat is complicit in ramming a corrupt & disreputable system called “justice” down citizens’ throats. Anything happening to Douchehat would be well-deserved, since, imo, he’s as guilty as they come.

Bu… bu… bu…

Abolishing capital punishment in a kind of despair over its fallibility … would tell the public that our laws and courts and juries are fundamentally incapable of delivering what most Americans consider genuine justice. It could encourage a more cynical and utilitarian view of why police forces and prisons exist, and what moral standards we should hold them to.

As opposed to?

It’s a sweet little moral code he’s got going for himself there… Apparently abortion is murder, but killing Troy Davis was just an inescapable little flaw in the system. What a poisonous little toad The Pasty Little Putz is.

Not really a fan of violence, but, according to Ross, if we knee-cap him, even if innocent, then other columnists will know that writing such poop will result in them walking crooked? Too?

Reminds me of;
“We had to destroy the village in order to save it.”

Abolishing capital punishment in a kind of despair over its fallibility … would tell the public that our laws and courts and juries are fundamentally incapable of delivering what most Americans consider genuine justice

Excuse me? Isn’t Douchehat a Catholic, and don’t Catholics believe that nothing human is perfect or infallible (except of course the Pope speaking ex cathedra from his bellybutton)? Besides, “what most Americans consider justice” does not necessarily equal “justice” … particularly when the former is much more easily understood as “vengeance.”

“What a poisonous little toad …” sums him up perfectly, Marion, and I can say so because I’m not Catholic and so can easily believe that humans do, occasionally, achieve perfection.

…in a world without the death penalty, Davis probably wouldn’t have been retried or exonerated. His appeals would still have been denied, he would have spent the rest of his life in prison, and far fewer people would have known or cared about his fate.

Instead, he received a level of legal assistance, media attention and activist support that few convicts can ever hope for.

Alternate shorter Douthat: Troy Davis was a lucky, lucky man.

Yeah, it’s a logic fail. In a world run by reason, of course he would have been retried. In a world run by compassion, once the evidence emerged he’d have been set free with an apology without needing a retrial. In a world run by vindictive monsters, then, yeah, Davis would have suffered for years without most people even knowing his name. Oh wait …

Shorter Douchehat:
Abolishing an evil system that doesn’t work would undermine the carefully-crafted lies necessary to perpetuate the current system, and might expose my ideology for the cruel, morally bankrupt stupidity that it is. Killing more innocent people is a small price to pay to avoid this.

INRI, Ross King of the Fools.

DoucheHat needs to be “enhanced interrogated” and then cast into a pit filled with ravening and rabid carnivores.

Killing more innocent people is a small price to pay to avoid this side benefit, since they get to see Jesus sooner.

Douthat is actually claiming Troy Davis was a lucky ducky. Even for him, that’s pathetic.

Shorter Shorter Docuhehat:
My ideology demands that I defend the death penalty, but even I can’t come up with anything that isn’t even more transparently bullshit than the bilge I usually write.

Yes, but in that world DoucheHat would be permanently unemployed and panhandling on street corners.

Dammit. The comments here were *so* good that I felt compelled to jump the boat and go read St. Ross’ epic “fan mail to an executioner.”

And, so, now I have a headache. There’s one little toad I’m not going to lick again. I’m sticking with the “shorter” next time.

[Abolishing the death penalty} could encourage a more cynical and utilitarian view of why police forces and prisons exist, and what moral standards we should hold them to. And while it would put an end to wrongful executions, it might well lead to more overall injustice.

So you see, the hypothetical consequences I just pulled out of my ass would be terrible. Better to keep executing the wrong people than to live in my pretend world, which is cynical, utilitarian and maybe overall less just.

I think Im really sorry I checked in here….too much crazy for one day. He’s enough to make one believe in censorship….

Does one have to be a member to comment here?

Also, too.

Ah, but the death penalty is disproportionately used on non-whites, and they’re not human per Douthat’s Robert-Novak-edited version of the Douay Bible.

Beyond the stone-cold sociopathy exhibited in that column – certainly the worst part of it – the “logic” is… is… I dunno. One of driftglass’ commenters took a stab at the “thought process” that might be involved:

“The exports of Libya are numerous in amount. One thing they export is corn, or as the Indians call it, “maize”. Another famous Indian was “Crazy Horse.” In conclusion, Libya is a land of contrast. Thank you.”

Give that commenter a column in the NYT! Sure, it’s literary Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, but it’s kind of funny, and comes without the casual justification for cruel and pointless death.

Douthat is garbage. His writing is pointless. He is a hack. Why is he read. I don’t know. I’ve tried. It looks like he is paid to take current events and somehow barf them into a “conservative” viewpoint with a positive spin. I think he is probably a piece of shit as a person, but you can never tell. Maybe the man is a real gem.

And yes, I read he wrote for publication today: “We need the death penalty because without it the justice system won’t provide serious appeals mechanisms for people convicted of major crimes”.

I mean, shit. Fire the guy already. You have to have the IQ of a chimp to buy into this garbage.

I prefer “Du-twat”. Not that I have anything against womens’ bodies, in fact, I deeply love women and womens’ bodies, and it bugs me to use any sort of reference like that for a turd-like errand boy of the plutocracy.

Well put indeed.

“Reason not the need.” Douchebag is in the middle of that struggle. Only he’s not as interesting as Richard.

My only question is: What’s keeping Douthat alive?

Because it’s obvious that his heart is about the same general size and has the same pumping action as 10yro walnut. And he’s certainly not using it.

Preaching ignoramuses like Douchehat, Scalia and the entire Opius Die think they’re all reincarnations of Pope Gregory IX. Which is ironic since RC’s don’t believe in reincarnation.

Backwards, Xtian Soldiers.

Gosh, I wonder why these people aren’t happy to sacrifice themselves for the system? After all, their deaths are a small price to pay to prevent “cynicism” and “utilitarianism.” And I can’t imagine why someone who’s been railroaded into prison and killed for a crime they didn’t commit isn’t concerned with the potential for “more overall injustice.”

Plus, they get brownie points towards Heaven!

WWJLI?

(Who would Jesus lethally inject?)

You’re looking for a logical argument? This is a straightforward threat: If you don’t stop fussing, buddy, we could always squeeze your nuts a bit harder.

As a previous commenter (my apologies, I forget which of you) so eloquently put it, “Ross, there aren’t enough fuck yous in the universe.”

It could encourage a more cynical and utilitarian view of why police forces and prisons exist, and what moral standards we should hold them to.

And this is a problem because…..?

What he’s saying is that we shouldn’t Get Real about any of that stuff, but continue to comfort ourselves with beliefs and ideas that could not stand any scrutiny.

“Shut up, that’s why.”

The Ledeen Doctrine as applied within America’s own borders.

And we wonder why the repubretards always manage to undermine whatever progress we attempt make as a civilization…
also too.

So wait, we have to execute an innocent man because if we don’t people will believe the justice system is imperfect and flawed?

On what dimensional plane of existence does this argument make sense?

It could encourage a more cynical and utilitarian view of why police forces and prisons exist, and what moral standards we should hold them to.

I suppose this is why we need to privatize police forces and prisons, because corporations are people, and people make mistakes. So when an innocent man is murdered by a corporation acting in the name of the state, it’s justified because, well, you know, people aren’t perfect. Oopsie!

Or is that a “too cynical and utilitarian view” for the Douchehat? Immoral doesn’t even start to describe that fuckwad.

That column is the worst, most poorly reasoned column since his last one.

My ageing brain can’t handle this. What is this undesirable “utilitarian” view of law enforcement to which the young pundit refers? What alternative view does he prefer? The police, courts, and canon of laws are NOT practical institutions whose purpose is to promote civil order? Then what are they? Manifestations of Divine Will?

Jeeze (to coin a phrase).