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November 7th, 2005

02:14 pm - Election Day and Capital Punishment I don't post a lot of political content, but it's election day tomorrow, with a photo-finish gubernatorial race expected here in Virginia (though it's an off-year for Congress, I live in one of the two states that thinks its governors shouldn't have coattails). Naturally we have been inundated with tedious ads. Most of them are of the he-said, no-I-didn't variety, but I found one exchange deeply disturbing, and it continues to haunt me even though I've not seen the offending ads for at least a week.the ones descibed here really did make me ill. Basically, the Republican candidate Kilgore has dredged up relatives of executed criminals to appear in TV ads to proclaim that they don't trust the Democratic candidate to execute those convicted of the killing. Yes, that's right. They don't "trust" (their word) Kaine to kill people. I didn't like Kilgore before, but now I can't separate him from the message of retribution in these ads. The Democratic candidate Yorrick Tim Kaine (yes, Ffordefans, that's right) is opposed to the death penalty. He is a Catholic, and his position avowedly reflects his faith. Yet he has had to produce response ads assuring that he will uphold the law regarding the death penalty in Virginia. ("Don't worry, good Republicans! I'm going to kill people because it's the law!") The whole episode is especially troubling because of the history of the death penalty here. ( Disturbing facts about the application of the death penalty in Virginia ) I'm hoping that Kilgore's strategy will backfire. Kilgore's ads have been widely denounced as inaccurate in the press; Kaine's responses have been deemed to be factually correct. Moreover, it's a strategy that seems to be aimed at conservative, traditional Virginians, but the polls indicate that the race will be won or lost here in Northern Virginia, which is wealthier, more liberal, and more likely from someplace else where different rules apply. Rant over. Current Mood: distressed Tags: capital punishment, politics

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