ferris209 said:Having to be exposed to the real world on a daily basis, I have experienced this to be the truth, sorry if it sounds arrogant. But I've seen many liberals change their minds on somethings once exposed to it for real and not just on the 5 o'clock news. There was woman I'd once met briefly, she was rabidly liberal and always insinuated that we (Police Officers) were violating peoples rights and being aggressive, even against the death penalty. A few years later her daughter was raped. I helped the investigation and got to know her well after that, a lot of her ideas changed once she realized the impact that criminals have on victims, she even apologized to me for having so much doubt. After some time she admitted that perhaps the death penalty is a just thing to do. Terrible what it took to wise her up. Just one example, of many.
Assuming all liberals hate the police and want to cure criminals through hugs is like assuming all conservatives think the Earth is 6,000 years old and vote the way their pastor tells them.
My best friend is a cop. He got stabbed in the face with an ice pick trying to stop a rape in progress. The other officers on the scene subdued the "suspect," but I certainly wouldn't have shed a tear if they'd emptied their clips in the guy because he was caught in the act and he clearly assaulted a police officer with a deadly weapon.
However, I hear too many stories these days about convicted rapists getting cleared decades later because of DNA evidence and recanted testimonies. There are too many shades of gray in our legal system, and death is black.
I'm sorry for your friend's daughter's experience. If somebody raped my sister or mother, I'd want them dead. I'd beat them to death myself. But wanting them dead and needing them dead doesn't make it right.
Again, this whole idea that you guys "get it" and the rest of us--including Obama--don't is silly. It's just as stupid as liberals assuming conservatives don't "get it." I'm sure Senator Obama was privy to more intelligence and information than anybody on this board is, yet he still believes what he believes. We might see some policy adjustments due to information he receives from the intelligence community, such as the recent reports that military officials are calling it impossible to get all the troops and gear out of Iraq within 16 months, but I doubt Obama's core beliefs will be shaken and he'll suddenly wake up free of the clouds of liberalism and ready to embrace the sunny, clear skies of conservatism just because he had a conversation with President Bush.