Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter and the Pope didn't have the power to commute Davis' sentence either

[Bluebear]

Somehow, all of them felt it was 'appropriate' to say something about it in advance.

The NAACP and Amnesty International didn't have the power to commute his sentence either, yet spoke out.

But this White House announces that it is a state's rights issue. Fierce.

[MADem]

1. Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, and the Pope aren't the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the

United States, either. Nor are they running for reelection as President next year.

It makes states VERY nervous when the Executive Branch of the Federal Government starts trying to push them around.

Time to go back to school. Start with the run-up to the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress, the Articles of Confederation, etc.

[Rex]

4. Right. When politics is involved, people no longer matter.

Just look at the 8 year Iraq farce we call a war. Why would the Feds care about a nobody, when they let military professionals die in vain? Year after year.

[Bluebear]

6. How you treat others who are at your mercy defines your morality.

This nation's morality is seriously dying.

[Rex]

7. DOA 2000.

2001 was pretty much the death nail imo.

[Bluebear]

9. Indeed...the night the Supremes selected the President

[tblue]

12. And I thought we were sposed to be becoming more and more just.

Going backwards. Do not like.

[MADem]

8. Go back to history class.

Please.

Start with the Articles of Confederation, and work your way forward.

If you don't understand the principles upon which this nation is founded, you can't contribute intelligently to this discussion.

It has nothing to do with "caring about a nobody," though that may make you feel better for some strange reason to think so.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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[reggie the dog]

21. my speech that the president didn't deliver but would have were i his writer

if he starts his speech by saying "i know georgia has a constitutional right as a state, affirmed by the supreme court, to have capital punishment, on a personal level, however, i am opposed to the death penalty for the very simple reason that innocent people may be unjustly executed. If an innocent person is sentenced to life in prison and they are later exonerated they can be freed and compensated, if we find out after their death that they were innocent we, the state acting on behalf of the people, become the murderers. In the state of Illinois we discovered to our horror, thanks to the efforts of students of Northwestern University Law School, that over 10 people awaiting execution were in fact innocent. The then Republican governor George Ryan issued an executive order suspending application of the death penalty. This year Democratic Governor Quinn signed a bill into law ending the death penalty in Illinois. I strongly suggest, acknowledging that I have no power to oblige states to follow this advice, that all states suspend their death penalties and examine the cases of those sentenced to death in an effort not to save political face, but to find the truth and serve justice."

[Bluebear]

22. Magnificent

Should be an OP

[reggie the dog]

23. done and spellchecked

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1983714

[FLAprogressive]

15. Principles no longer matter? Obama issuing a personal statement would be "pushing the states around"

???

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

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[MADem]

19. You, too, need to go back to history class. NT

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

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[Bluebear]

24. !

[Selatius]

2. Obama chose the politically expedient thing to do, and that's remain silent. nt

[Bluebear]

5. That's his raison d'être.

Win, do what's politically easy.

[tblue]

14. He must've read To Kill a Mockingbird

He's not Troy's atty, but could he give us just a hint of Atticus Finch? I'm fantasizing, I know.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. Talk is cheap. I'm sure the Pope was using it to segue into something about sperm and fetuses.

If he'd really cared, he could have sent a letter:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5451963,00.html

[tblue]

10. Did AG Bobby Kennedy overstep states' rights when he sent in

the Guard (?) to defy George Wallace? I don't know....

I hear what you're saying. If ever there was a time to do something extraordinary, this was it. Wouldn't you? Really.

I know, no need to remind me, the President had no jurisdiction in this case, I get it. And maybe behind the scenes, he did something we may never know about. I hope he did.

But we need some healing right now. Badly. We need to be brought together as one nation to the same page. No lecture, just acknowlegement of our grief and fear. Validation and reassurance. But he just doesn't go there in times like this. He just doesn't have a handle on our hearts. If he did, we would have heard from him something more than what you posted in your op. Maybe in the morning. Yeah maybe.

Did you hear what the preacher from Ebeneezer Baptist Church said when asked if he had talked to our president?

[Bluebear]

11. No...what did the reverend say?

[tblue]

17. Said he had not heard from him

and he (the Rev.) hoped the potus would have the Justice Dept investigate civil rights violations in this case. If that was announced, it's possible the execution could have maybe possibly had a chance of being delayed until the investigation was completed.

But no. We are looking "forward not backward," though not for Troy.

Tell me I am dreaming!!!!!

[Bluebear]

18. You're not dreaming.

But I don't even know what hell 'blue' means anymore. As in the AIDS crisis SILENCE=DEATH again.

[WinkyDink]

26. Deputy U.S. AG Nicholas Katzenbach in the Schoolhouse Door.

http://coffeewithken.blogspot.com/2011/01/guest-blogger-amy-schapiro-on-89th.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Katzenbach#The_.22Stand_in_the_Schoolhouse_Door.22

[EffieBlack]

35. FYI, Bobby Kennedy was enforcing FEDERAL LAW

That was not the case here.

[Bluebear]

36. Welcome to GD... the White House didn't need to enforce

It could have said SOMETHING though :(

[MADem]

38. Sadly, your cogent point is lost on people who either do not understand our system of government

or who are affecting a deliberately obtuse POV for purposes known only to them.

[SidDithers]

25. Behold what DU has become...nt

Sid

[Creideiki]

27. A place where justice matters more than personality?

Oh, the horrors!

:sarcasm:

[dionysus]

41. no, a place where obama can be blamed for every injustice there is. it's bitter and pathetic, but...

also highly entertaining.

[Creideiki]

54. Only the ones he can fix. By lifting a damned pen.

Or he could let a most likely innocent man die.

Not that you would care. After all, there are political points to be won and lost here.

[MADem]

56. What would he do with the pen? Poke the executioner in the eye with it?

He has NO AUTHORITY over a state matter. NONE.

Why is that so hard to grasp?

You are laboring under serious misapprehensions with regard to our system of government. You need to either learn or relearn our history. Begin with the lives of our Founding Fathers, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams....the framers of the Constitution. Move on to the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution....when you apprehend these documents, and how we came to arrive at our present system of government, you will understand that your pique is entirely misplaced.

[tblue]

57. Ok. I get it. Nothing he could do.

"Nothing he could do." I have to keep repeating that. Every damn day I have to say it.

"Nothing he could do. Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do.Nothing he could do."

[Creideiki]

58. Apparently, he can't do anything

but it's critical that he get re-elected.

[MADem]

59. Spend less time repeating, more time reading the biographies of

Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, et. al.

It will eventually help you to understand the WHY of it all, instead of indulging in misplaced anger.

[SidDithers]

55. ...

:hi:

Sid

[dionysus]

42. here Sid, i owe you for those candy hearts!

:hi:

[SidDithers]

44. Awesome!...

:rofl:

Sid

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

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[Balbus]

29. Those guys aren't running for re-election in a year...

The right thing to do is not always the best thing to do when campaigning. What's the life of a few innocents when you can possibly be president for another 4 years?

[Bluebear]

32. +

[treestar]

46. It is ridiculous to require the POTUS to comment on

every execution. Or every damn thing.

[William769]

30. K&R.

[ProSense]

31. So

"Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter and the Pope didn't have the power to commute Davis' sentence either"

...your only interest is having people speak up, not doing something to actually save Davis' life.

You know what really would have possibly helped more: everyone, including those engaged in handwringing and political posturing at the expense of Davis, pushing the Governor of the state to do the right thing.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

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[Bluebear]

37. All about political posturing for you? Wow.

[Bobbie Jo]

39. As was your OP

but let's not go there, right?

[SidDithers]

45. Wouldn't a comment from the President...

that doesn't have any chance of affecting the outcome, like you seem to want, be the very definition of political posturing?

Sid

[treestar]

47. +1

If he HAD commented, that would be wrong, too. You just know it.

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

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[dionysus]

40. good to see you can somehow blame obama for this. consitency is key.

:rofl:

[treestar]

43. This is working too hard to find something to trash Obama with

It's like you really, really want to hate him, and every issue is used to prove he's bad.

Jimmy Carter and the Pope are not holding office in the US - good for them saying something - they are in a better position to do so.

The Supreme Court and the Georgia courts, however, will jealously guard their powers from the POTUS. It would be stupid for the POTUS to get involved unless he wants the opposite reaction.

It IS a matter of state law. The job of running the national executive branch is a huge job, so it's overbearing to demand the POTUS deal with it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

48. They were NOT the sitting president of the US

once Obama is OUT of office he will be free to make statements that right now he can't

I truly wish it were different... but that is the DOWNSIDE of Federalism. Yes The Feds do get involved in State's matters from time to time, see desegregation of schools of civil rights violations that are egregious. but in death penalty cases, mostly they don't. And Presidents tend to chose those battles VERY CAREFULLY.

I don't know about you, but we are already living in a dysfunctional government, just how much more dysfunctional do you want it?

For the record when the CONGRESS of the US got involved in the Terry Schiavo case... it was wrong... for the same exact reasons.

[11 Bravo]

49. "Fierce"? I missed the campaign speech wherein Pres. Obama promised to be a "fierce" advocate ...

for accused cop-killers. I happen to believe that there was at LEAST enough reasonable doubt regarding Davis' guilt to have had his life spared; but the intellectual gymnastics which some people are willing to undergo in order to find yet another reason to attack this president would be comical at Free Republic. At DU they're just sad.
(And your "fierce" reference is so incredibly lame that I actually feel a little bit sorry for you.)

[Bluebear]

51. I have felt sorry for you

And your lane posts fir a long time. So bye bye and please put me on ignore ad I am doing to you

[11 Bravo]

53. My "lane" posts and I, who have been posting "fir" a long time, will struggle on.

"Ad" if you wish to put me on ignore, cool, I tend to hang out with the sentient branch of DU, anyhow. By the way, there were two murders in Washington D.C. today. Let us know how President Obama is responsible.

[ecstatic]

50. Speaking up would have only sped up Davis' execution

Let's be honest, a lot of this was about race.

[Bluebear]

52. I agree on the racial rlement

Perhaps words from a black president could gave delayed things?