convictions overturned, sentences overturned, statutes overturned, a piece of evidence thrown out. when you talk about unfairness, don t confuse that with a philosophical or moral issue on whether or not we are going to have punishment in the first place. to say a mistake can be made and an innocent person can be punished is an argument that can t stop with the death penalty, it applies to all punishment. except that the death penalty is irrevokable in a way that other punishments there could still be reparation made if you make a mistake in other punishments. to be alive and to be dead are two very different things. tell somebody who has been behind bars for 20 years for a rape he didn t convict that he s getting reparations, there is nothing that can get those 230 years back. you brought up the question of
two points. one, in the last ten years, study after study that has come out. this is an issue debated all the time. the thing that people pro and con find themselves on opposite sides. when people look at these studies, look at the evidence, for instance, cass sustein, said, boy, looking at these studies that say indeed there is a deterrent fak to maybe those possessed need to do some rethinking of our views, beyond all of that, as somebody who does support capital punishment, i my view isn t determined by whether or not it has a deterrent effect and anybody strongly opposed, even if you could prove to them it has a total deterrent effect it may not change nothing at all. if it s a moral issue, which i think for most of us on both both sides of the issue, it is. arguing about the practical effect, that s secondary. it s the moral issue comes
kept his promises to virginia. certainly your sort of down ticket race was impacted by the president first being on the ballot and then not. how will the president s re-election in part rely on what s going on at the senate level and more local levels in those virginia races? well, i certainly think you have seen an enormous gender gap open up in virginia and across the country. based on what s going on on the transvaginal ultrasound issue, a gender gap that s significant and seeing important showdowns over the military, a big military state and decision by republicans during the deficit fight last summer to protect millionaires instead of protecting the military. didn t strike a lot of people as right in key parts of virginia. are you looking at an issue of priorities here, and people are getting a sense of what the priorities are and who he is willing to fight for. he brings the kansas spirit into
first. that s an interesting point. on the question of the moral issue, regardless of what the impyrrhics show us, if this is a fundamental question of who we are as a society, where would you fall on that issue? i would fall on the side of i don t support the death penalty, and i do think it s a moral issue it s a moral issue because it speaks to what this nation is all about, first of all and a culture of life. and here i m the thinking, coming out of a catholic tradition what that means. you take care of life at every segment. but i also think this has a lot to do with and people aren t willing to talk about this. the prison industrial complex and what that means for prisons to be able to house people for years and years and years on end, and especially i lived in california for a long time and it took forever for anybody to be executed and then in texas, the executions were just rolling around as regular basis, and that s my home state. so i think for us, it s a moral issue a
the country and battleground states like michigan and ohio. it s economic indicators will play a huge deal along with the gender gap. as opposed to cane s legacy and in some ways, obama might be a hindrance to him getting ele elected. i think he will distance himself a little bit. and tom mentioned a fairness issue that s a very good issue, but you have to remember that republicans core belief is that economic growth is sufficient. if the economy is growing, the market will take care of everybody fairly. democrats believe that economic growth is necessary, but not sufficient. you have to step in and make sure that people are treated fairly and not all of the wealth is concentrated at the top. obama has the fairness issue, but he has to provide a program for economic growth. tom, how important is this retail work that he has to do to make these kinds of arguments? the retail work is crucial. they are building a huge grassroots effort. i want to pick up on bill s