Be Less Bad

A headline in the Christian Science Monitor reads, Hillary Clinton to Iran: Stop Using Death Penalty So Much.  What kind of message is that?  I mean, true, Iran and China execute people with wild abandon, and for the most boneheaded reasons imaginable.  But unless the US swears off executions once and for all -- not a likelihood in the near-term one must say -- where do we get the chutzpah to tell other nations not to do it "so much". 

To clarify, I"m not arguing the pros and cons of the death penalty here.  I'm just arguing for 'ethos.'  Next time hand things like this off to some place with a little credibility like Sweden or Norway.