Liberals soft of crime lie

[KingFlorez]

I don't know where these right-wingers get this. Crime dropped under Clinton and one of the most liberal states, California has strict laws.

[leveymg]

1. We're the only ones who want to prosecute High Crimes & Misdemeanors.

Indict Bush and his lieutants - restore law & order in America!

[sam sarrha]

2. it is the repugNuts that are looting the nation...

[G_j]

3. Clinton a liberal?

that is new to me,
anyway, I see nothing to be proud of about having a larger percentage of our population incarcerated that most any other country on the planet (and most of them are African American)

This is a cause for great SHAME.

[Lindsay]

4. I agree, G_j. This is one of the areas where the reich wing

has been brilliant in their framing. Gotta be tough on crime. It's yet another facet of their black and white thinking and totally ignores any other solution, like alleviating the reasons for crime.

[G_j]

7. the "tough on crime" framing

is BS and so called liberals have been caving on it for decades.

what "tough on crime" really attempts to cover for IMO, is a war on the poor, deeply rooted in racism. Not that every politician thinks in these terms at all, but most have been more than willing to fill up the prisons to further their own political aspirations.

[JAbuchan08]

5. Republicans "tough on crime - soft on justice"

They're so worried about punishment that they choose against EFFECTIVE punishment. They see crime emotionally, wanting to make sure "SOMEBODY PAYS!" which prevents them from seeing crime objectively or considering other alternatives to their first assumption about any given crime.

[alarimer]

6. liberals tend to have a more nuanced view of things

including crime. I for one am not willing to write off human beings because they may do bad things. Not everyone who commits a crime is irredeemable, especially the young ones. Crime is not just about bad people doing bad things which is what the Republicans would have us believe. It is about powerlessness and lack of education and economic opportunity as well. The right is far too simple-minded in this as in all things. They are more interested in retribution than in rehabilitation.

[JAbuchan08]

8. Everything is an open and shut case

as long as there's a suspect. :sarcasm:

[porphyrian]

9. It's bullshit to justify mandatory minimum sentencing.

It's all part of the prison industrial complex in which so many of them are invested. By passing mandatory minimums, which they do by calling us weak on crime and scaring the bejesus out of the public via the media, they insure prison overcrowding. This in turn allows them to 1) point to the inefficiency of existing facilities in order to try to gain support for privatization and 2) obtain funding to build more prisons, both of which they hand to their crony contractors. Also, by having mandatory minimum sentences on lesser crimes rather than major ones, it insures that the real criminals are released before, say, the drug user, which helps increase crime and scare the public...