Yesterday President Bush spared the lives of two Thanksgiving turkeys, Flyer and Fryer.
But as Governor of Texas, Bush never did the same for human beings who were sentenced to death during his reign. He never pardoned or commuted one death sentence.
Bush looks after his own.
Does the pres usually pardon two turkeys or is this photo-op inflation?
Some of the death sentences carried out during Bush’s governorship (selected randomly):
[ul]
[li]James Davis, executed in 1999, beat three children to death with a lead pipe while burglarizing their home.[/li][li]Irineo Montoya, executed in 1997, was picked up hitchhiking; he stabbed the man who offered him the ride 23 times, stripped the body, and dumped it in an orchard. At his conviction, he told the court he would have the prosecuter and trial judge killed.[/li][li]David Stoker, executed in 1997, killed a convenience store clerk for $60.[/li][li]Ricky Lee Green, executed in 1997, castrated and murdered a man after having sex with him on a beach.[/li][/ul]
So boo hoo. Seems to me the turkeys were more worthy of life.
In all fairness though, the six-fingered driver did kill his father.
Maybe they just wanted to make sure he’d pronounce it right either way.
“Okay… let’s try it again… Repeat after me, Mr. President… ‘I officially pardon this turkey, F-LLL-ier.’ As in ‘fly?’ Suggesting freedom and inspiration? C’mon, you can do it.”
“Er… I efficially pardon Frier… ah, shit! I can’t help it; he just looks so darn tasty. Plus I can’t help thinking of all those death row inmates back in Texas. Get it? Frier, hee hee…”
What’s the implication of your post, Uvula Donor, that all Bush’s executions were justified? All were guilty? There was no room for any mercy whatsoever?
**"Bush presided over a record setting 152 executions, including the 1998 execution of fellow born-again Christian Karla Faye Tucker, a convicted murderer who later led a prison ministry. Forty of Bush’s executions were carried out in 2000, the year the Bush presidential campaign was spotlighting their candidate’s strong law enforcement record. The Washington Post’s Richard Cohen reported in October 2000 that one of the execution chamber’s “tie-down team” members, Fred Allen, had to prepare so many people for lethal injections during 2000, he quit his job in disgust.
Bush mocked Tucker’s appeal for clemency. In an interview with Talk magazine, Bush imitated Tucker’s appeal for him to spare her life - pursing his lips, squinting his eyes, and in a squeaky voice saying, “Please don’t kill me.” "
**
Read the rest at
What a completely stupid tradition. Does the president and his family ever eat tofu-turkey today? No, they just eat different turkeys.
Whichever president first breaks this idiotic tradition gets my vote for re-election, issues be damned.
Ah, a thoroughly dispassionate and reputable cite. You don’t see many of those around.
Is an article from the New York Times reliable enough for you, Mala?
Texas Executions:
GW Bush Has Defined Himself, Unforgettably, As Shallow And Callous
by Anthony Lewis
BOSTON-There have been questions all along about the depth and seriousness of George W. Bush. They have been brought into sharp focus now by a surprising issue: the way the death penalty is administered in Texas. In his comments on that subject Governor Bush has defined himself, unforgettably, as shallow and callous.
Oops. The article was published on Saturday, June 17, 2000 in the New York Times and appeared (where I found it) at
http://www.commondreams.org/views/061700-102.htm
But it’s lies, right?
No, the implication of my post was simply that it’s too bad some people can’t just enjoy a holiday without dragging their petty little Bush iz t3h evilz!!!111! crap into it.
Well, to be fair, Bush is the one who brought “Bush iz t3h gud!!!111” into the holidays by pardoning not one, but two turkeys (and then eating some other, nameless turkeys- presumably minority turkeys). Refuting it isn’t really bringing in petty little crap- it’s just responding to what he did.
That wasn’t an “article,” it was an opinion piece by well-known liberal Anthony Lewis.
Incidentally, did you know that Democrat Ann Richards never pardoned a single person on death row?
Oh, yeah, convenient that your quotation leaves out the part about Tucker being a murderer who killed two people in their sleep with a pickaxe, bragged about doing it, and stated at her trial that she “had an orgasm” every time she swung the pick into the victims.
Or that commuting her sentence to life imprisonment meant she’d be eligible for parole in 2003.
Mmm-hmm. All things considered, I would have freed the birds over the scumbags, too.
Incidentally, did you know that Texas governors can’t pardon prisoners on death row?
On February 2, 1998 (the eve of Karla Faye Tucker’s scheduled execution), the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which could have recommend a pardon for Tucker to Gov. George Bush, rejected her request to have her death sentence changed to life in prison. Therefore, Governor Bush had no consitutional power to pardon her or to commute her sentence.
As a Christian myself, if I’m ever guilty of the cold-blooded murder of two sleeping people, deal with me as the law sees fit; and you may cite this post at my trial.
As Christian, maybe you should remember that Jesus himself said
to forgive, forgive, forgive.
As bad as Tucker was, she did seem to genuinely regret her sins, and
she led an exemplary life in prison. Of course you can say it was a sham,
but others will take the other side.
But the point is, Bush has no empathy.
Furthermore you Bush defenders in general., seem to be choosing your words very
carefully about the conditions under which a Texas Governor can commute a sentence.
If it were as hard to do as you seem to be inferring, then why is Bush held in such contempt for never, ever commuting a single death sentence?
Read the Texas Constitution: