Rickey Ray Rector
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Search complete. 17 mentions across 11 episodes found for "Rickey Ray Rector".
Oct 27, 2026
Jamelle BouieHOST
It's Clinton prior to becoming president.
Jamelle BouieHOST
traveling back to Arkansas and presiding over the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a mentally disabled Black American who was on death row.
Jamelle BouieHOST
That tends to be how this stuff works.
Jamelle BouieHOST
Not great, but kind of a recognition that you shouldn't do it so openly.
Jonathan GronerGUEST
Does he want to maybe run for president? Yes.
Jonathan GronerGUEST
when Bill Clinton was running for office, there was a guy in death row named Ricky Ray Rector.
Jonathan GronerGUEST
Ricky Ray Rector, he essentially had a lobotomy.
Jonathan GronerGUEST
He'd been shot in the head, and he did not know up from down.
Jonathan GronerGUEST
He left his dessert behind when they took him to execute him.
Binoy KampmarkGUEST
And I thought about this when I saw remarks made by Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State, and of course, former First Lady, when she said that killing Hassan through, you know, as in live streaming the whole thing, would be beneath the dignity of the United States.
Binoy KampmarkGUEST
And I thought, this is interesting coming from her, given the fact that her spouse, old Bill, was responsible for putting to death four people when he was governor, and also, it should be said, specifically made sure he put to death a lobotomized man, just really Ray Rector was his name, and he was actually put to death during the election campaign for his presidency in 1992.
Binoy KampmarkGUEST
So he wanted to show that this man You know, this man from Little Rock was actually really meant business and he could be a hard man.
Binoy KampmarkGUEST
So those on death row become political currency, as it were, for those running for government.
Pat KahnkeHOST
1992, Bill Clinton was running for president the first time in New Hampshire primary.
Pat KahnkeHOST
He flew back to Arkansas in 1992 to oversee the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, who was a mentally disabled man.
Pat KahnkeHOST
And Clinton made sure to go back and oversee that because he was positioning himself as tough on crime.
Pat KahnkeHOST
These sorts of things matter.
Annie LorenzenGUEST
Mm-hmm
Dave CongaltonHOST
... of, I don't know how many people remember the name Ricky Ray Rector.
Dave CongaltonHOST
He was executed by Governor Bill Clinton.
Dave CongaltonHOST
This man was so mentally disabled his last meal included a pecan pie, and he told the guard he would save it for later-
Dave CongaltonHOST
... execute her? And does that-
Annie LorenzenGUEST
Right
Dave CongaltonHOST
... change the equation at all? 'Cause I, I go back to the example of Ricky Ray Rector.
Annie LorenzenGUEST
Sure.
Angela V. SheltonHOST
Yeah, I mean, I, he was the governor of Arkansas, and he witnessed an execution.
Frances CallierHOST
Famously left his presidential campaign to attend the execution of Ricky Rector, a Black man with brain damage who had shot and killed a police officer, and then turned the gun on himself.
Frances CallierHOST
And I look at that and I go, you know...
Angela V. SheltonHOST
Yeah, he, it's a campaign stop.
Bruce ShapiroGUEST
Because we're in the middle of an election season, no one has bothered to, I think, do any polling to see if this has moved the needle on debates about the death penalty.
Bruce ShapiroGUEST
But it, it highlights the corner that law and order advocates in both parties, and it should be said that there are plenty of Democrats who for a long time worked hard to embrace law and order politics, right? I think, I think of Bill Clinton in his very first presidential, uh, campaign, w- leaving the campaign trail to go back to Arkansas to execute, uh, to sign off on the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a mentally compromised, um, death row defendant.
David MarrHOST
Yeah.
Bruce ShapiroGUEST
Um, you know, the- these things have been going on for a long time.
Bruce ShapiroGUEST
Because we're in the middle of an election season, no one has bothered to, I think, do any polling to see if this has moved the needle on debates about the death penalty.
Bruce ShapiroGUEST
But it highlights the corner of that law and order advocates in both parties and it should be said that there are plenty of democrats who for a long time worked hard to embrace law and order politics right i think i think bill clinton in his very first presidential uh... campaign leaving the campaign trail to go back to Arkansas to execute, to sign off on the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a mentally compromised death row defendant.
Bruce ShapiroGUEST
These things have been going on for a long time.
Bruce ShapiroGUEST
But I think that now, with the country at a tipping point over...
Jonah GoldbergPANELIST
And for all we know, she'll come out of this with brain damage.
Jonah GoldbergPANELIST
And then there's a whole, you know, sort of a Ricky Ray Rector kind of issue there.
Jonah GoldbergPANELIST
Ricky Ray Rector, before Steve asked me to explain, was the guy who Bill Clinton took time off from campaigning in 1992 to oversee his execution as governor of Arkansas.
Jonah GoldbergPANELIST
Rector, who had been shot, can't remember if it was self-inflicted or when he was arrested, but he had been shot in the head and effectively lobotomized and rendered like a largely different person and a simpleton because of this, who I remember Christopher Hitchens used to bring it up all the time.
Jonah GoldbergPANELIST
It's terrible.
David WilsonHOST
You know, will it resolve Bill Lee's dilemma if she simply, you know, never regains consciousness from what has happened to her? One of the worst examples you can tell, I've been a passionate advocate against the death penalty for years.
David WilsonHOST
The worst example I can provide to you because of course we've been talking about the republicans bill clinton when he was the democratic governor of the state of arkansas and he was fighting for election to become president of the united states infamously leaves the campaign trail to go back to the state of Arkansas and sign the death warrant of a man called Ricky Ray Rector.
David WilsonHOST
And you don't need to take my word for this.
David WilsonHOST
It's very much one of the cases that people like me, believing in the things that I believe in, would talk about.
David WilsonHOST
Ricky Ray Rector was going to be executed, and Clinton... absolutely signed his warrant for execution.
David WilsonHOST
And Ricky Ray Rector chose his last meal.
David WilsonHOST
And the people serving him said, oh, he chose a particular pudding that he really liked.
David WilsonHOST
And the person serving him said, no, here's your pudding.
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