this may be the worst political ad of 2014 from the Republican Governors Association for nikki haley

[Bill USA]

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/04/22/3429201/this-may-be-the-most-atrocious-political-ad-of-2014/

If you want to run for office some day, you better not believe that everyone is entitled to legal counsel before the government locks them away. Or, at least, that’s the message sent by a new Republican Governors Association ad targeting Vincent Sheheen, a former prosecutor who now represents civil and criminal clients in private practice. Sheheen is a Democratic candidate for governor against incumbent Nikki Haley (R-SC).

The RGA’s ad attacks Sheheen for “defend[ing] violent criminals” and ends with the tagline “Vincent Sheheen protects criminals not South Carolina.” Watch it:

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The implication of this ad is that Sheheen is somehow unfit for public office because he once provided legal counsel to people accused of crimes. Indeed, the ad lists several serious crimes, including sex offenses and child abuse, that Sheheen’s clients were accused of committing. It is likely that many of these clients are very, very bad people.

But in the American justice system, we do not presume that anyone is guilty of a crime until after they have received a trial where they were represented by counsel — indeed, we afford all criminal defendants a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Moreover, as the Supreme Court explained more than half a century ago, the right to a trial often means little unless criminal defendants enjoy the right to counsel. Without an attorney, Justice Hugo Black wrote in 1963, an innocent man “faces the danger of conviction because he does not know how to establish his innocence.”

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[kairos12]

1. Given this add I assume Haley has served on many boards....

starting with water.

[beerandjesus]

2. Funny how the baggers love the Constitution SO MUCH...

....but hate anyone who tries to live by it!

[Sunlei]

3. Nikki Haley (R) wants persons charged with a crime to not have a lawyer?

weird ad. I thought the old southern decades of discrimination, with no decent legal counsel, were over.

[Avalux]

4. Because people are guilty until proven innocent!

There's no reason for a lawyer and a trial; we should just trust accusations and throw people directly in jail. Constitution be damned!

At least that's the message I get from this ad.