NY Democrats want people molesting kids!

Jeanine Pirro's sputtering campaign for the US Senate has taken a turn for the slimey. The woman who wants to unseat Hillary Clinton has accused Democrats of protecting child molesters.

On Tuesday, the Westchester County district attorney continued her criticism of the Democratic-controlled state Assembly for its refusal to adopt legislation that would civilly confine violent sex offenders after their prison sentences end.

There has been a sharp debate in Albany on the issue. The Republican Senate has passed the bill, which is supported by Gov. George Pataki, but the Democratic Assembly has not. Frustrated by the Assembly, Pataki unilaterally ordered some sex offenders to stay locked up after their prison sentences were up.

It's a tricky issue. Of course to some, acknowleding nuance and complexity is tantamount to promoting the sin of [insert menacing music] moral equivalency.

Obviously the state has a responsibility to protect citizens from potentially dangerous convicted criminals. But it also can't scrap the concept of the punishment fitting the crime. Should the punishment for a single sex crime be de facto life in prison, as Republicans suggest?

Perhaps, but rather than make that argument in a way that decent, civilized way, Pirro chose the low road. Instead, she attacked state Democrats (even though she's running for federal office) by saying, "That's a difference between Democrats and Republicans -- we don't want them next door molesting children and murdering women."

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Democrats want people molesting kids.

And critics say Sen. Clinton is the slimy one!

Even more pathetic that Pirro's smear is her backtracking from it. Her campaign manager offered the lame defense, "This quote is out of context."

I'm no fan of Sen. Clinton and I certainly don't intend to vote for her next year, but Ms. Pirro is clearly grasping at straws. Her entire campaign is based not on ideas, probably because her ideas are not that disimiliar from the former first lady's. Pirro's campaign is based on the premise that Ms. Clinton will not serve her full term as senator. That tactic was tried and failed in 2000 by a similiarly not-ready-for-prime-time candidate, so it's mystfying why the state party apparatus who backs her thinks this will work again. In many ways, they remind me of the left's loathing of President Bush; they are so consumed by their hatred of Hillary Clinton that they let themselves be blinded to the fact that for all her faults, she's a very adept politician.