"Wolf Blitzer ought to be embarrassed"

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020936.php

CHEAP SHOTS AT A SYSTEM OF JUSTICE.... Yesterday, Wolf Blitzer interviewed retired Army Col. John Galligan, who is representing Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who is believed to be responsible for last week's massacre at Fort Hood. Most of the interview was pretty standard -- they talked about Hasan's condition, his state of mind, whether he's aware of his surroundings, etc.

Things got a little more awkward when Blitzer said "a lot of folks" wonder how a decorated, 30-year military veteran can "represent someone accused of mass murder." Galligan's answer seemed pretty compelling. (TPM has the video.)

"Wolf, I will tell you what I have told consistently anyone who asks that same question, and that is as a military -- former military JAG officer, former military judge, former prosecutor, former defense counsel, and now currently actively involved, also, in the civilian practice of criminal defense work, I fully appreciate the importance of ensuring that everybody has a fair trial. I think that's particularly important when it applies to anyone in uniform, officer or enlisted.

"Their profession is to defend us. We owe it to them as either fellow service members or as U.S. citizens to ensure that we properly defend them.

"The rights that I'm asking be accorded to Major Hasan are the rights that service members live and die for. Let's just make sure we don't deprive them in his case."

Right. This is American civil liberties 101. No matter how heinous the crime, literally every American is entitled to a fair trial. Galligan added, "I'd just encourage all of the listeners on this program and others to join me in ensuring that Major Hasan has a fair and impartial hearing in any forum that ultimately may be assigned to determine the facts in this case."

To which Blitzer responded, "I'm sure he will get a much fairer hearing than those 13 Americans who were brutally gunned down the other day."

Look, I realize this is an emotional situation -- the horrific Fort Hood shootings shocked the nation, and nerves are still raw. It hasn't even been a week since the monstrous tragedy unfolded. It's understandable, to a certain extent, for a certain primal instinct to kick in, and suggest that we should dispense with all the niceties of a fair and just system that leads to credible, legitimate results. The victims didn't get a chance; maybe the suspect shouldn't either.

But those are the values of lynch mobs. It's not who we are. Blitzer ought to know better.

Galligan was given a chance to respond: "he difficulty that I have, of course, is when people, in discussions with me, with references like the one that you just made, in the criminal justice field we often are dealing with victims. And the victims, oftentimes, are more than just those that are named on a charge sheet or in an indictment. We want to make sure that everybody watching the process unfold feels comfortable and confident that it's going to be fair and just. And the minute we try to isolate certain cases in that process and say, 'Well, we can make a judgment before the trial, or assumptions before the trial,' I think leads to the wrong result."

Such an explanation shouldn't even be necessary.

Josh Marshall added, "I was surprised and almost nauseated to see Wolf Blitzer go in for the most stereotypical, craven and showboating knock-about of the retired JAG officer.... It's not about ideology certainly or even theories of what's right or not about the law. But we know bullying and pompous showboating when we see it."

Blitzer ought to be embarrassed.

-Steve Benen

[Buzz Clik]

1. You have to forgive Wolf. He's only been in the US a few days and doesn't get our legal system.

Maybe we can rationalize this as Blitzer giving Galligan the opportunity to answer the question for a large audience, and maybe Blitzer wasn't asking for himself.

We can only hope.

[ddeclue]

2. "Counsel ought to be the very last thing that an accused person should want in a free country" J.A.

"Counsel ought to be the very last thing that an accused person should want in a free country;... and... persons whose lives were ate stake ought to have the counsel they prefer."

John Adams, on his decision to give legal support to the British soldiers accused in the Boston Massacre.

[FSogol]

3. Maybe "Wolf" Blitzer should follow Dobbs. n/t

[verges]

10. Maybe Wolf should

read the Constitution.

[geek tragedy]

4. That assumes that someone whose career has consisted of

dishing out MSM corporate swill and working for AIPAC (literally!) is capable of shame.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

5. Wolf is a bloodthirsty asshole. (nt)

[malaise]

6. Blitzer embarrassed?

Now that's funny. Blizter is a tool of the most reactionary governments on the planet.
:rofl: :rofl:

[Kahuna]

7. That is my thought too. Wolf is incapable of feeling shame. What a

d-bag. :puke:

[berni_mccoy]

8. On Veteran's Day even.

[AngryOldDem]

9. I hope Wolf follows Lou out the door.

His know-it-all attitude wore out a long time ago, as has his stance that if it isn't in his realm of experience it doesn't exist. Last week during the breaking news coverage he was openly doubting that the medical school that Hasan attended existed, because Wolf's lived in the D.C. area for years and "never heard of it."

[DrDan]

11. Wolf is not the brightest bulb in the box . . . his Jeopardy performance proved that

[Bitwit1234]

12. So now we have changed from our system of justice

Innocent til proven guilty to the British system guilty til proven innocent. And if we think you are guilty we lock you up and that's that no trial no nothing.

I think in these type of trials, the defense has to be very good. They have to make sure that all bases are covered and when the truth comes out (and we know in this case he did kill 13 people) that there is no chance that anyone can not say he had the best defense possible. I am glad he has a good defense lawyer. Then there will be no mistakes made.