Mario Cuomo and the death penalty

[edhopper]

Mario Cuomo, a great governor, lost his bid for re-election largely on the death penalty issue.
True to his liberal philosophy he refused to give lip service to the dog-whistle non-issue.
Pataki made it a centerpiece of his campaign. And enough New Yorkers mindlessly thought it important enough to swing their vote.

It is important to note that Pataki got his death penalty, and from 1995, until it was abolished in 2004, exactly zero people were executed. And yet New York saw a big decrease in capital crimes.

I think this shows us what a real liberal is like and how voters decide things on the most fickle of issues.

[Historic NY]

1. The FAUX death penalty...

another great NY GOP piece of legislation.

[merrily]

2. Until we get rid of voting machines, we can't be sure what voters decided, let alone

the reason for their decisions.

And then, of course, there is the issue of money.

And scare tactics.

And making people feel they are less than human unless they want to kill murderers, esp. child molestors.

Dukakis had some lousy campaign advice about things like what outfits he should or should not don,* but his stance on capital punishment hurt him, too.


*Hours before his assassination, JFK refused to don a ten gallon hat he was gifted in Dallas because he had seen how a photo in a hat or outfit could be used to the detriment of candidates in a campaign. So, there was history of that long before Dukakis ran.

[Rhiannon12866]

3. Mario Cuomo definitely "walked the walk..."