Politics

John McCain: We Must Stop Coddling Criminals

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John McCain gets all 1983 on us with a get-tough-on-crime speech:

Lax enforcement policies, judges who legislate from the bench and lack of support for law enforcement personnel all continue to force our innocent citizens behind the barred windows of their homes and allow criminals to roam free.

And now drugs are bringing waves of crime and organized gang activity to rural areas thought to be nearly immune from such problems. The federal government must both support state and local law enforcement and effectively enforce federal laws designed to root out violent crime, organized gangs and other interstate criminal activity.

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I will appoint judges who will hold criminals accountable.

Huh. You'd never know from such speechifying that a record 1 in 100 Americans is behind bars today, including 400,000 for nonviolent drug crimes. Or that prosecutors win convictions in 90-95 percent of their cases. The "judges are letting criminals off on a technicality" line is a canard.

Unfortunately, Obama is no better on criminal justice policy.