Sittin’ here typin’ on my computer, when the phone rings. It’s Barbara, calling from ICF Macro, asking for my participation in a brief survey on current issues in Vermont.
So, what issues did she want to discuss? Only one issue, actually.
The entire survey centered on the Brooke Bennett murder, the circumstances surrounding it, and the appropriate punishment for Michael Jacques. (The survey presumes his guilt, of course.) From the tone and direction of the questions, the aim was to elicit respondents’ attitudes toward the death penalty — in the context of Vermont’s most notorious murder case in years.
I’m afraid I wasn’t very helpful to ol’ Barb. I couldn’t recall many details of the case, because it happened so long ago. And on whether he should get the death penalty, my answer was an unfun (but legally correct) “That depends on what he’s convicted of.” This answer was clearly not on her checklist; I had to repeat it a couple of times, and she didn’t quite know what to do with it.
ICF Macro, by the way, appears to be a straightforward research/survey/information/consultancy outfit. (As far as I could tell from five minutes of Googling.)
Which brings us to the question: as a campaign year is about to begin, who is looking to make political hay out of the abduction, rape, and murder of Brooke Bennett?
Talk about a targeted survey! They didn’t even bother with the tired old push-poll about marriage equality. Maybe if you had given her the answer she was looking for it would have led to a whole list of tea-party greatest hits.
More like “revenge and hysteria” GOPer. Or a “pander-to-fear-and-retribution” teabagger fellow traveler.
NanuqFC
Stupid men — you who believe in laws which punish murder by murder and who express vengeance in calumny and defamation! ~ George Sand
Asking the penalty question before we know the conviction is sketchy. I dont know what I would have said maybe that I believe in an independent judiciary or something but that probably wasnt on the list of choices either.
Speaking of political calls– I got one from the DSCC asking for money. I told them i wasnt happy with the party apparatus right now but that I’d be giving to Hodes and some yet to be determined Senatorial aspirant. He said Leahy was safe, they were targeting NH, OH, FL (looks tough), KS (kind of hopeless) and 3 other races. HE gave a nice quick breakdown of the races they are targeting and made his pitch again and I told him i would donate direct to candidates.
I’m going to predict dems hold or gain seats in the Senate.