In theory I am against the death penalty. It’s just too hard, too often, to construct a case strong enough to justify the expense and moral queasiness of executing someone, and too frequently weak cases go through.

In theory.

In practice, for reasons I do not entirely understand, I am upset that Eric Rudolph was able to plea bargain down (to life in prison, at the same facility where The Unabomber is now housed). It’s better then him (and his dynamite) still being at large in North Carolina, obviously. And the multiple trials would have given him a way to air his supremacist views, and the defense might have tried to revive the Richard Jewell theory, and all sorts of kooks would have kept vigil outside the courthouse, and so on.

It’s not that a plea bargain wasn’t the logical thing to do. It’s more, MOTHERFUCKER BOMBED OUR OLYMPICS. And the Otherside. And the Sandy Springs clinic. And the Birmingham clinic, where that poor nurse is still having surgeries as a result of the flying shrapnel she received. And all he has to do is mumble “guilty” on Wednesday. Never has to speak another word on the matter.

Poor defendants are getting the death penalty every day, and Eric Rudolph, who BOMBED THE OLYMPICS, gets the opportunity to go to Colorado and spend fifty more years hating Jews.

This is another reason why the death penalty is a bad idea: it brings out weird emotions in people. Like me.