Leonard Pitts: Do we love the death penalty too much?

[billr]

He is facing the camera. Facing you.

Voice husky with emotion, Stanley Rosenbluth tells you about his son and daughter-in-law, killed in a drug deal gone south. He shares his loss gravely, bravely. And then, the coup de grce.

''I don't trust Tim Kaine when it comes to the death penalty,'' says Rosenbluth. ``And I say that as a father who's had a son murdered.''

Tim Kaine is a man who wants to be governor of Virginia. But first, he's got to deal with Rosenbluth and with policeman's widow Kelly Timbrook, stars of two commercials aired by opposing candidate Jerry Kilgore. The spots -- devastating in their power and staggering in their cynical use of the moral authority that comes with loss -- have put Kaine on the defensive by making him out to be soft on the death penalty.

Them's fightin' words in Virginia.


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12961715.htm

[tocqueville]

1. the blue and red world

Map of death penalty

Dark Blue: no death penalty
Light Blue: death penalty not applied for at least 10 years
Brown: death penalty only used in times of war
Orange: used against adults (regardless of peacetime/wartime)
Red: used against adults and adolescents

[applegrove]

2. Yup.