I would have to agree on that, but I do hesitate in the circumstance that if it were an abused cat, which I'm not suggesting or saying that Wolfgang's cat is one, but I'm providing a situation when I think personally that declawing is necessary. I've dealt with some cats that randomly attack, mostly cats from abusive previous owners. They are mean, vicious, and seemingly lack any and all compassion they may have had at one point in their lives. Unfortunately if that cat is to be taken care of outside of an animal shelter or pound without being put down, it would be in the best of interest of the owners and possibly children that are around, to have the cat declawed for safety reasons and closely watched to keep it inside a domesticated area. Of course I'm stating the obvious when cat claws can be very painful and draw blood, but these abused cats I've seen aren't just warning you or playing with a slight scratch or scratches, they will continue to claw and claw without halt until you get away from them. I know they can still bite too, but that's definitely going to be nowhere near as painful because cats only have so much bite strength. That's just my outlook though, because I really don't like to put any animal down unless it comes down to a "no other choice" point.
Also on a side-note, I have seen some other cats before that are only particular to people they know over a long period of time, they often attack strangers when they get too close, almost acting like guard animals