And, finally, there’s this last little bit: Kerry qualifies his position by actually favoring the death penalty for terrorists. He argues, somewhat plausibly, that enemies should be eliminated. Fair enough. But since he thinks death is nicer than life-imprisonment, he in effect favors mercy for his enemies but maximum cruelty for American criminals. This, it seems to me, is a form of Gore-Clintonism which employs sophistry to be on the popular side of every issue. Or at least that’s what I argue in my syndicated column.