--- On Thu, 6/26/08, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> I'm not at all surprised by his support of the death
> penalty in
> general. But to advocate death for child rape is an extreme
> position,
> to the right of the SC majority. It aligns him with Scalia
> and
> Thomas, fer chrissakes. He went out of his way to take the
> position.
>
[WS:] I think that he merely panders to popular sentiments. "Child rape" is perceived as particularly abominable because it mixes two images that are very prominant in American puritannical psyche - that of "innocence" exemplified by childhood, and that of "depravity" exemplified by sex. "Child" rape" is like defecating on the altar - mixing the most "pure" and "holy" with the most "dirty" and "vulgar" - a blasphemy of the highest order.
Wojtek