Is Rudy Giuliani Shaping Hillary Clinton's Stance on Drug Laws?
Democratic presidential contenders are in universal agreement that it's time to abolish the racist and irrational sentencing disparity that punishes offenders 100 times worse for crack than for powder cocaine. But after the change is made, Hillary Clinton says that people who've already been imprisoned by this racist law should remain in jail. Why? A campaign advisor says it's because she's scared of what Giuliani will say.
Clinton, who said she supports a federal recommendation for shorter sentences for some people caught with crack cocaine, opposed making those shorter sentences retroactive — which could eventually result in the early release of 20,000 people convicted on drug charges.
"In principle I have problems with retroactivity," she said. "It’s something a lot of communities will be concerned about as well." [The Politico]
Clinton pollster Mark Penn explains why her position has everything to do with her fear of Rudy Giuliani:
"Rudy Giuliani is already going after the issue," Penn said. "He's already starting to attack Democrats, claiming it will release 20,000 convicted drug dealers."
Speaking in Florida earlier this month, Giuliani said he "would not think we would want a major movement in letting crack cocaine dealers out of jail. It doesn't sound like a good thing to do."
Ah, but it is. These are people who shouldn't be in jail. And Clinton knows it. Punishing people 100 times worse because their cocaine isn't in powder form is so transparently insane that we really can dispense with the hollow rhetoric about "letting crack cocaine dealers out of jail." The law is so twisted you don’t even have to be a dealer to end up in jail for years.
If Clinton is really this scared of Giuliani, where does it end? The campaign is far from over. Will she continue to shift around uncomfortably every time Giuliani challenges her policy positions? Newsflash: he's gonna talk trash about everything you do, Senator. Get used to it.
We must now ask ourselves to what extent Hillary's other drug policy positions have been shaped by Rudiphobia. When she raised her hand in opposition to marijuana decrim, was that for real? Was there a little Giuliani in a devil suit whispering in her ear, threatening to tell the swing voters what a hippie she is? Will she backtrack on medical marijuana and needle exchange if Giuliani says he disapproves?
We can spend eternity smashing minority communities with our drug war hammers at the behest of authoritarian demagogues like Rudy Giuliani. And if no one speaks up, that's exactly what will happen. So if Giuliani wants to publicly embrace racist drug war politics, let him.
The antidote to the "soft on drugs" label is to stop looking over your shoulder and start speaking with conviction.
Politicians are not about law
The U.S. constitution is a cashed bowl of ash thanks to Bush, Cheney, and Addington. They have irreversably damaged the checks and balances that were already eroded. If elected, Guiliani or Clinton or Romney or Joe Bob can ignore the Supreme Court all they want because the current administration has interpreted the power of the executive branch as ultimate and infinite in time of war (check out http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/cheney/etc/synopsis.html for more info). What the U.S. is heading for is a time when We The People exert OUR infinite and unlimited power during time of revolution. The clock is ticking and the morons that stole land, killed my ancestors, and set up a racist and ILLEGAL U.S. government are running out of time.
REVOLUTION!!! The people in
REVOLUTION!!! The people in the streets! Our voices as one!
No Honor Among Thieves
Once upon a time, I believed that the GOP was the champion of the taxpayer --- ever-vigilant watchdog against wasteful government spending programs. HOW WRONG I WAS! While the "mainstream" Republicans and Democrats are in bed together metaphorically performing sensual oral sex on one another, We, the people get sodomized in the rear by the ever-hard, ten-inch boner --- and without any lube, to boot!
Dr. Ron Paul is the ONLY hope for America, period.
I THINK ONCE CLINTON IS
I THINK ONCE CLINTON IS ELECTED SHE WILL GO BACK TO WHAT SHE THINKS WITCH IS GOOD ON OUR PART, SHE IS JUST TRYING TO GET THE VOTES TO GET IN OFFICE, THEN SHE WILL GO BACK TO HER BELIEVES. RITE NOW IF SHE DON,T GET THE SWING VOTES THEN IT ISN,T GOING TO MATTER IF SHE CAN,T GET IN OFFICE, I THINK SHE WILL FIX THE POWDER AND ROCK COCAIN SO THAT PEOPLE IS NOT BEING PUNISHED UNFAIRLY FOR IT BEING IN ROCK FORM AND NOT POWDER FORM ALSO MRS AND MR CLINTON AFE BOTH FROM THE 60,S FLOWER CHILD TIMES, MR CLINTON WAS THE FIRST PRESIDENT TO EVER ADMIT TO SMOKEING POT!!! I THINK THE POT LAWS WILL CHANGED,MANDITORY MINIMUM SENTENCES LAW WILL BE CHANGED. I THINK IF WE CAN GET CLINTON IN OFFICE, WE WILL BE BETTER OFF. LOOK AT MR. CLINTON ANYTIME HE SPEAKS OR DOES INTERVIEWS, GETTING OFF THE PLANE WHEN PRESIDENT, THIS EYES TELL THE STORY, HE MADE SOME MISTAKE WHILE IN OFFICE AND WITH MONICA,LOL BUT THESE TO ARE REAL PROPLE LIKE YOU AND ME, THEY DON,T HAVE TO HIDE BEHIND LIES LIKE OTHER PEOPLE RUNNING FOR OFFICE THESE ARE REAL PEOPLE, THEY MIGHT HAVE TO BEND A LITTLE UNTIL IN OFFICE BUT ONCE THERE THEY WILL BE THE PEOPLE WE NEED AND THERE TRUE POSITIONS WILL COME OUT BECAUSE THERE NOT SCARED THEY ARE THE CLINTIONS! SO GOD HELP US GET HER IN THERE WITH HER AND BILL THE TWO FOR ONE, WILL WILL GET HER SUPPORT.THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. LAD JUST REMEMBER ALL THE RUNNERS ARE SAYING WHAT THEY THINK PEOPLE WANT TO HEAR RITE NOW BUT UNDER THAT AT LEAST WE KNOW CLINTONS REAL VIEW ON OUR GOALS WITH THE DOING AWAY WITH SOME OFF THE WALL DRUG LAWS AND HARD SENTENCES ON NON VIOLENT DRUG OFFENDERS
CLINTONS
YEAH THEY ARE FROM THE PEACE ERA BUT ALSO THEY WON,T LET OTHER COUNTRYS WALK ON US EITHER.I,M NOT SAYING THE CLINTONS WILL TAKE US TO WAR, BUT THEY SHOW WE ARE THE WORLDS SUPER POWER! AS MR. CLINTON DID AS HE WAS IN OFFICE, WE HAD THE BEST RELATIONSHIPS WITH RUSSIA, AND CHINA,, NORTH KOREA,THE CLINTONS ALSO HAVE GREAT COMMUNICATION SKILLS, MR. CLINTONS WHOLE TIME IN OFFICE WE WAS AT PEACE WITH ALL THE COUNTRY, EVEN IRAN, THEN BUSH COMES IN AND ALL HELL BREAKS LOSE AND NOW ALL THE COUNTRYS HATE US AMERICANS. WOW WHAT A BIG DIFFERENCE. AT LEAST THE CLINTONS CAN GET US BACK ON TRACK WITH THE OTHER COUNTRYS, AND ALSO GIVE US AMERICANS OUR COUNTRY BACK HERE IN THE STATES, RITE NOW WE AS THE PEOPLE HARDLY HAVE ANY RIGHTS LEFT, THE LAND OF THE FREE, HA, HA,HA YEA RITE.MRS CLINTON WILL GET OUR RIGHT BACK, SLOWLY BUT SHE HAS GREAT VIEWS ON THE WAR ON DRUGS BRING A WASTE OF OUR TAX MONEY, W/THE UNFAIR PRISON SENTENCES TO THE PEOPLE OVER THE CRAZY LAWS THAT STAND NOW. IF YOU TRUELY WANT CHANGE VOTE FOR CLINTON
Most politicians are liars
My hope lies in Ron Paul, although I see little hope I will speak out and vote. Felons in Maine can vote and I do (for what it's worth).
www.pissedoffpothead.com
Hillary Has a History of Dishonesty
Hillary is nothing but republican 'lite'. If I wanted to vote for a republican I'd vote for one. The democratic party was all but ruined by the clintons with their right wing stances and corporatism. With hillary it will be the same old bullshit. Remember bills opposition to industrial hemp and the flap over hemp sandals. Thats the kind of paranoiac drug policies that can be expected from a clinton presidency.
J Davis
Clinton racism
Speaking of Hillary Clinton:
There is bad news about her husband.
It is opined that Bill Clinton committed racist hate crimes, and I am not free to say anything further about it.
Respectfully Submitted by Andrew Y. Wang, J.D. Candidate
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
(I can type 90 words per minute, and there are probably thousands of copies on the Internet indicating the content of this post.)
_________________
“If only it were possible to ban invention that bottled up memories so they never got stale and faded.” Off the top of my head—it came from my Lower Merion High School yearbook.
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