Reply #27: agree on both points

[progdonkey]

While the OP has a valid point that Williams' being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize (which I was unaware of) and writing a book doesn't necessarily mean he's some great humanitarian, using Hitler as a comparison is just, as you said, rather tacky. If the OP had provided us with a list of other notably evil NPP winners and others who've written books, with Hitler simply an entry on the list, it would be far less tacky.

I'm for taking him (as well as every other death-row inmate) off death row, simply because it's wrong for the government to put people to death.

Though, you could even go so far as to say that his being a "particularly unsympathetic person" makes him an especially good candidate for clemency, in the sense that it would serve to show that even the worst of criminals are not to be put to death by the government.