You may be right about most of my statement being, basically, a re-wording of the author’s comments, but...
when reading that part about “criminals were scumbags”, I felt that the author should have first defined Clinton as being one of those scumbags. But, the author makes is sound like Clinton was doing the right thing as opposed to his fellow liberals.
That wasn't the point of this article.
The author's only point was that in carrying out an execution during his campaign, Clinton neutralized the "Democrats are soft on crime" charge that Republicans had so successfully used in the past against them, taking it off the table.
Likewise, conservatives shrugging their shoulders over Gomer Pyle's gay marriage is hurting the ability for Democrats to utilize the "Republicans hate gays" charge.