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Kaine tells Vinson to sleep well; anti-capital-punishment activists need a new image

Date published: 4/29/2006

Sighs and wonders

Fortnightly observations and unburdenings

GOV. KAINE'S denial of clemency to the now-dispatched Dexter Lee Vinson is a bit of a letdown. No, not for the reason you think. To cold-blooded killers, convicted on the basis of incontrovertible evidence, I have no moral qualms about giving the Hot Squat or, in Virginia's case, the Big Prick.

Rather, Kaine's refusal to spare the savage Vinson--kidnapping, sexual mutilation, and murder topped his resume--casts doubt on the sincerity of the governor's campaign theme, i.e., that Kaine was a Benedictine brother somehow miscast in the role of politician. Was this just a ploy to cut into the GOP's coveted Christer vote? Eating his cake, too, Kaine assured us for months that, though his Catholic faith mandated abhorrence of the death penalty, he would uphold the law. Well, he did. But he went back on his no-more-taxes promise, so why not on a matter of godly gravity?

Equally fishy is Kaine's "personal" opposition to abortion. Unlike capital punishment, whose advocacy brings no threats of excommunication, baby-snuffing is a policy no real Catholic can support (the Pope says it, I believe it, that settles it). So wouldn't a committed Catholic politician, even one obliged to tolerate Roe v. Wade, at least strive to change an abortion regime his church abominates? Where's the record of Kaine's pro-life eloquence? Instead, judging by his words and tone, he seems to support a ban on partial-birth abortion--the grisliest form--only if worded so as to ensure the continuation of partial-birth abortion.

No special cynicism is required to conclude that what motivates our governor isn't the voice of the Spirit but the quest for Fifty-One Percent.

Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, a Charlottesville-based group, unleashed an e-mail blitz on behalf of the condemned Vinson. VADP struck out, as it usually does. I'll give it some free batting-average advice: Its director, Jack Payden-Travers, should change his name.

I have two granddaughters with the paternal surname Valdez-Almada. Hyphenated last names work well in Spanish, where they conjure images of galleons cresting sea waves, lace mantillas and fluttering fans, and the clang of Castilian steel. Sorry, fellow Anglos, no such luck. "Payden-Travers" sounds like a handle invented by a satirist to describe the effete white-wine sippers popularly thought to join "killer coddling" groups.

In office conversation, I suggested VADP choose as its next leader someone named Biff Malloy. My deputy, Linda White, instantly trumped me with Thor Strongheart.

See what I'm up against?

--Paul Akers

Date published: 4/29/2006