CommonDreams: Does Wolf Blitzer Think It's Time to Call Out the Lynch Mob?

[marmar]

Published on Sunday, November 15, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

Does Wolf Blitzer Think It's Time to Call Out the Lynch Mob?
by Chris Edelson


It's easy to praise constitutional rights in the abstract, to declare that you are a believer in free speech, the right to trial, the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments when you're speaking only in general terms. The real test comes when you're asked to deal with difficult specific cases.

Do you still believe in free speech if it means Nazis have the right to march through a community where Jewish Holocaust survivors live? Do you support the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments if it forbids torture of suspected terrorists? Do you believe everyone has the right to trial, even someone charged with a horrible, terrifying crime?

Real defenders of freedom stand up for these principles even-especially-when it is unpopular to do so. Before the Constitution even existed, John Adams recognized the importance of the principle that everyone is entitled to a fair trial and a competent defense when he defended the British soldiers accused in the Boston Massacre. That was a pretty dangerous position to take in Boston as the city stood on the brink of open revolution against the Crown, but Adams stood by his principles, and even succeeded in gaining acquittals for some of the accused.

I think it's safe to say that Wolf Blitzer is no John Adams-perhaps Blitzer is auditioning to fill the yawning void left by Lou Dobbs's departure from CNN. Blitzer played to the lowest common denominator when he proved how tough he can be by challenging the lawyer who will represent Major Hasan in the Fort Hood murder trial. Blitzer asked the lawyer to "explain to our viewers why you're doing this." The lawyer trotted out some tired idea about the importance of a fair trial, that this is one of the rights our troops fight and die to defend, but our valiant Wolf was not deterred from playing to the lynch mob, declaring that Hasan will surely get a much fairer hearing than the 13 people murdered at Fort Hood.

Good point, Wolf. Following his logic (and Bill Kristol's), why have a trial at all for Hasan? Why not do it the way they used to do in the good old days-just call out a lynch mob and be done with these legal niceties? Sure, lynch mobs sometimes got it wrong, but you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/15

[rgbecker]

1. Yeah! Should have lynched all 600+ at Gitmo before anyone had time to find out most were innocent.

How can so many Americans, educated in American pubic schools, be so ignorant of basics of the Consitution.


America, America where are you now, don't you care about your sons and daughters?

[DBoon]

2. the word isn't "lynched", it's "disappeared"

A pillar of US policy in Latin America:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War

and a plank of the Republican Party, who wants extra-legal executions in the same way they would love to reinstate slavery if given a chance

[HughMoran]

3. It would have been a good retort

I think somebody should bring this up later and ask Wolf if a lynch mob is what he was suggesting as an alternative.

[Libertas1776]

4. words cannot describe

how much I despise that bearded bimbo Blitzer.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. That man is a bombastic bullshitter. He talks big when he knows

he will never be called on it. I would like to see how he would act if he had to face the man himself.
All bullies are really cowards.

[bertman]

6. Anybody with the name Wolf Blitzer.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: