Allow me to elaborate:
In 1988, during a presidential debate I was watching, a CNN reporter asked Mike Dukakis, a known opponent of capital punishment, if he would favor the execution of a man who would rape and kill his wife. I considered the question to be in very poor taste. (I even hesitated to type it.) But Dukakis' answer was even worse. I don't remember the words, but the answer was equivocal and embarassing.
I am in favor of captial punishment, but I remember thinking that if I was Dukakis, I would have answered "Of course I'd want to kill him! I would want him torn limb from limb! But that's the kind of emotional reaction that has no place in legislating, George. Capital punishment is wrong because...and I stand by that position."
He would have been forced to give that side of it because the rules demanded that he say everything in under two minutes.
But that was the wrong kind of response for us. While the world is treating that vermin as a respected elder statesman and all-around saint, some "hergesh", to use an oft-abused Lubavitch term, is called for in greater measure.
Posted by Yehupitz at November 11, 2004 07:40 PM