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The Disgrace of CNN’s Nancy Grace
At the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas,
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer lobbed softball questions
at Hillary Clinton. Then he allowed the audience to
boo Hillary’s opponents – a callous
breach of debate etiquette. And when it came time
for the audience to grill the candidates, Blitzer
deceptively introduced the questioners as
“ordinary people, undecided voters.”
Those voters included a former staffer for
Democrat senator Harry Reid, a former director of
the Arkansas Democratic Party, an official in a
local union, and the president of the Islamic
Society of Nevada. [directorblue.blogspot.com/2007/11/cnn-plants-questions-to-protect-hillary.html
 ]
Yes, ordinary and undecided folks, every one of
them.
But Wolf Blitzer isn’t the only CNN
commentator to make a mockery of journalistic
integrity.
When special prosecutor Nancy Grace won 100
felony cases in a row, she was riding the
fast-track to legal notoriety. But in 1997 the
Supreme Court of Georgia charged her with
“inexcusable” actions that
“demonstrated her disregard of the notions of
due process and fairness.” And eight years
later her career came off the rails when the 11th
Circuit Court of Appeals concluded Grace had
“played fast and loose” with ethical
canons.
So Grace left Georgia and signed on as a
commentator for Court TV. In 2006 Nancy again
boarded the fast train when she struck a deal with
CNN to anchor her own Nancy Grace Program.
Then along came a woman named Crystal Mangum --
drug abuser, exotic dancer, and serial rape
accuser.
Shortly after the alleged March 14 assault, wild
stories began to circulate about what had
transpired at 610 North Buchanan. Within days Nancy
Grace was claiming -- falsely – that the
players had refused to provide DNA samples. She
theorized, “If there had been evidence,
I’m sure it was flushed down the commode or
gotten rid of, innocently or not.”
Just for good measure, Grace added this remark
for her vigilante-justice viewers: “What if
this girl was your girl? You know, I’d burn
the place down, for Pete’s sake!”
Taking her cue from the Queen in Alice in
Wonderland (“Sentence first – verdict
afterwards!”), Grace then invited a series of
guests who would take orgiastic delight in the
demonization of three young lacrosse players.
On April 5, Grace invited Duke faculty member
Houston Baker. The hate-filled professor made the
over-the-top accusation that the players had
“used racial slurs [and had] been
given special privileges so that they could make up
courses in the summer and that they showed up at
these courses drunk and indifferent.”
Five days later the defense team announced the
DNA did not match any of the lacrosse players. That
seemingly took the wind out of Nifong’s
earlier promise that “the DNA evidence
requested will immediately rule out any innocent
persons.”
But since when did exculpatory evidence stand in
the way of a good ethnic cleansing?
So that evening Grace invited attorney Wendy
Murphy to her show. Despite evidence now pointing
to Mangum as an opportunistic perjurer, Murphy
illogically claimed the woman was “entitled to
the respect that she is a crime victim.”
On May 10 the prosecution team leaked a
misleading account suggesting a partial match of
the stripper’s DNA. And once again Grace
resorted to an over-blown metaphor: “At the
eleventh hour, suddenly, a Hail Mary pass was
thrown, and it’s a touchdown for the
state!” she exulted.
Five days later lacrosse captain Dave Evans
stood in front of the Durham County
magistrate’s office and defiantly announced,
“These allegations are lies, fabricated –
fabricated, and they will be proven wrong …
You have all been told some fantastic
lies.”
While most media commentators were struck by
Evans’ sincerity, Grace sarcastically
retorted, “What, were they all together,
holding hands at a prayer meeting?” Then she
played video clips of Richard Nixon saying, “I
am not a crook.”
Nancy Grace even vilified those who cautioned
the rush to judgment might be premature. During one
interview Stephen Miller of the Duke Conservative
Union began to worry that “two innocent people
may have possibly …” But Grace quickly
cut him off: “Oh, good lord! … I assume
you’ve got a mother. I mean, your first
concern is that somebody is falsely
accused?”
Bloviating entertainment for the masses,
perhaps. Informative legal commentary, definitely
not.
In their must-read book Until Proven Innocent,
Stuart Taylor and JC Johnson describe Nancy Grace
as “CNN’s egregiously biased,
wacko-feminist former prosecutor.” One of
these days, Ms. Grace’s pangs of conscience
may well get the best of her. Let’s hope she
solemnly declares for all to hear, “I’m
deeply sorry for all the hurt and pain that
I’ve caused to these three innocent lacrosse
players.”
Carey
Roberts probes and lampoons political correctness.
His work has been published frequently in the
Washington Times, Townhall.com, LewRockwell.com,
ifeminists.net, Intellectual Conservative, and
elsewhere. He is a staff reporter for the New Media
Network. You can contact him at E-Mail
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