"A broader issue is that the main point of the Left's opposition to death penalty (at least as I see it) is that it is class biased. But, if upper class men and politicos start getting death sentences - that point all but disappears, no? (I personally have no problems with executing or otherwise disposing of upper class men who view themselves above the law)."
Karl Marx wrote that his theory less than any other held individual capitalists responsible for the consequences of their rule. It is one thing not to shed a tear for the rich and corrupt; quite another to deliver anyone up to the state for execution. It is one thing to kill one's enemies in pitched battle upon which victory or defeat rests; quite another to execute someone who has been rendered powerless.
In fact, this is precisely how capital rescues the state from discredit, by taking on the appearance of classless, non-ideological impartiality. Back when we were campaigning for the abolition of HUAC, the anti-Red Committee decided to gain new legitimacy by holding hearings on the Ku Klux Klan. Fortunately this tactic did not slow the movement for abolition.
One does not need to venerate every victim -- or any particular victim -- in order to oppose these forms of oppression. That is the point that Christopher Hitchens avoids in support of his own indefensible conduct.
Ken Lawrence