Jerry Kilgore has invoked Hitler in the race for Virginia Governor against Democrat Tim Kaine. Kaine is against the death penalty because he has deeply held religious beliefs and his church prohibits the taking of life. Kilgore flouts his religious teachings and has a blood-lust for death so severe that even knowing innocent people have been put to death in Virginia does not give him pause.
Kilgore, with his obsession to kill people, can count himself as one of the Americans who are out front on the death penalty issue --where the only countries still doing it are barbaric dictatorships like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea.
Kaine pledged to carry out death sentences in Virginia "because it's the law," just as any anti-choice Republican, save Roy Moore, would carry out the laws providing the right for a woman to choose when to end her pregnancy. But that is not good enough for the death-obsessed Jerry Kilgore.
In a political hit piece he suggests Kaine "would not favor sending even Adolph Hitler . . . to the gallows." One commercial states: "Tim Kaine says Adolph Hitler doesn't qualify for the death penalty. This was one of the worst mass murderers in modern times."
Aside from trivializing the holocaust, Kilgore completely misses the mark when referring to Hitler. Tim Kaine is a religious man who does not believe in taking life under any circumstance. Kaine is also an officer of the court who has upheld Virginia law for decades without a hitch. Kilgore is a hypocrite who accepts church teaching when it comes to prohibiting a woman from ending her pregnancy --but thumbs his nose in the church's face when it comes to putting living, breathing human beings to death.
Hitler was a madman who gave the death penalty to millions and like Kilgore, did not care that innocent lives were taken. Kilgore's obsession with the death penalty has led to a disproportianate number of blacks and other minorities being put to death in Virginia. If there is any comparison to Hitler, it is Kilgore's blood-thirsty nature and his obsession with death, which makes him similar to the despot --in that neither of them gave it a second thought to condemn a human bring to death, even if there is a chance they were innocent, even though the ultimate penalty was being applied mostly to certain minority groups, and even if their religion expressly forbid such a barbaric act.
Balletshooz blogs at Alpha Liberal.
Article comments
1 - Michael J. West
Jerry Kilgore is a sick, desperate man. I live in DC and, although not especially religious, am praying for him to lose.
2 - Baronius
Virginia is one of the best arguments against term limits. It's tough to produce two politicians every four years who are capable and qualified to be governor. They've had Wilder and Allen, and that's about it for effective leaders in recent years (decades?).
Virginia's a good-sized state with some quality schools and plenty of civic-minded military and federal workers. Historically, it's produced some of America's great leaders. But the one-term governorship makes the production line run too fast, and the need to win when it's your turn to run makes the politics quite tasteless.
3 - Sam
I had the chance to meet Mark Warner at my company and the things that Warner has been able to accomplish has been amazing! He really turned the state of VA around. Kaine has worked with Warner to make VA what it is today. If Warner ran for US president, he would have my vote. For the governor race, Kilgore is absolutely evil. He runs deceptive and political campaign ads that I would consider un-american. Kilgore needs to lose in Virginia. For example, kilgore wants to spend the VA surplus. Mark Warned is putting money away because he knows there will be bad times in the future. Warner ran the state like a business. Kilgore wants to fuck it away and get VA back into a deficit like the rest of the nation.
I'm hoping that having Bush rally with Kilgore today will decrease Kilgore's votes. Bush and Kilgore are in the same boat of lies, deceptiveness, and corruptness. I'm proud that Kaine hasn't stooped to Kilgore's level of mud slinging.