Ah, this would explain the blood on his hands.
Rachel Maddow continues her yeoman's work as propagandist for Democrats, dishonestly attributing power over sentencing in Texas murder cases to Gov. Rick Perry instead of with juries where it actually resides. (video after page break)
Here's Maddow on her MSNBC show Tuesday night, all but accusing Perry of single-handedly dispatching death-row inmates --
Texas is killing two more of its prisoners this week, including one that was killed already today. Thirty-one-year-old Steven Michael Woods Jr. was killed at 6:22 p.m. local time in Huntsville tonight. That's the 235th person Rick Perry has put to death in his time as Texas governor, more than any other governor in modern US history.
Not only does Perry lack the authority to execute by decree as suggested by Maddow, he cannot grant clemency without approval from the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Woods was convicted for murdering two people -- in May 2001, more than a decade ago. In the spirit of giving credit where credit is due, Maddow did refrain from describing the case as a rush to judgment, so there's that.
As Perry stated in the tea party debate, Texas has an appellate process after convictions for murder. What Perry did not mention is that this process is automatic. That's why it routinely takes a decade or longer for convicted murderers to be put to death, even in law-and-order bastions such Texas.
For example, the second death-row inmate to be executed in Texas this week, Duane Buck, committed his crimes -- another double murder -- back in 1995. I can't help but wonder how many of the survivors of Buck's victims have already died before he suffers the consequences of his actions.
To paraphrase Brian Williams's question to Perry during the debate, has Maddow ever struggled to sleep at night in anguish over victims of violent crime -- or only for its perpetrators?
