A day after Hillary Rodham Clinton said she opposed abolishing the death penalty, Senator Bernie Sanders took to the Senate floor on Thursday and declared that “the time is now for the United States to end capital punishment.”  In seizing an opportunity to appeal to liberals who might be disappointed with Mrs. Clinton’s views, Mr. Sanders asserted that ending the death penalty was “the right point of view,” arguing that the government “should itself not be involved in the murder of other Americans.”  “I would rather have our country stand side-by-side with European democracies rather than with countries like China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and others who maintain the death penalty,” Mr. Sanders said.  He added that “at a time of rampant violence and murder all over the world,” the United States government should “say loud and clearly that we will not be part of that process.”  “I think that those of us who want to set an example — who want to say that we have got to end the murders and the violence that we’re seeing in our country and all over the world – should, in fact, be on the side of those of us who believe that we must end capital punishment in this country,” Mr. Sanders said.  Mrs. Clinton weighed in on the death penalty on Wednesday in response to a question from a voter in New Hampshire. Though she said she did not support its abolition, she expressed concern that the death penalty “has been too frequently applied, and too often in a discriminatory way.”
Senator Bernie Sanders tries to appeal to liberal Democrats who might be unhappy with Hillary Rodham Clinton’s refusal to support the abolition of capital punishment.