Down With The Miranda Rule and The Right To Council? From a Comment Thread At In These Times

LogicalLiberalAtheist  Anthony_McCarthy • 6 hours ago
How partisan and partial can you get that you are favoring an unpopular candidate, a rape enabler and excuser, over a man who's evidently far more popular? All in the name of political expediency? And the "woman" card won't last very long once people start realizing that the "women" she's surrounded herself with - such as Abedin and Wasserman Schulz - are alike dangerously bereft of scruples and morals. Nobody cares that she's a woman - her ethical hideousness more than eclipses the accident of nature that made her a woman instead of another gender.

Anthony_McCarthy  LogicalLiberalAtheist • 4 hours ago
A rape enabler? What rape are you referring to?   You mean THE CONSENSUAL RELATIONSHIP OF THE 23 YEAR OLD MONICA LEWINSKY WITH BILL CLINTON?

Typical male lefty, blaming the only person who was wronged, his wife, for what he did with a consenting adult. Logic, yeah, right. As learned on cabloid TV.

I see from several of the comments that the Bernie or Busters are pulling out the same lines against Hillary Clinton that the Republican lie machine was pushing against her in the past three decades. Apparently the readers of this magazine don't care if what they repeat here is true or a massive lie.

Samantha Brower  Anthony_McCarthy • an hour ago
He's talking about when Clinton defended a rapist in court and he was let off. She later said she knew he was most likely guilty but had to defend him anyways.

Anthony_McCarthy  Samantha Brower • an hour ago
Yeah, I'll bet that's what he's talking about. As it is SHE WAS APPOINTED BY THE COURT AS HIS DEFENSE ATTORNEY. It's the job of a defense lawyer to make the state prove its case against their client. If you want a ban on defense lawyers ever getting public office you're going to empty out the party.

I wonder what In These Times' position on the right to a defense in court is. Or is it the policy now that a defendant who can't afford an attorney doesn't have the right to have one appointed by the court. Talk about overturning Miranda rights, and from the alleged left, no less.

Samantha Brower  • 43 minutes ago
All I'll say about that is this: Personally, I would have stepped down (or quit my position) if I was asked to knowingly defend a man who raped someone. I understand it was in her job title but I wouldn't be able to rest my head knowing that I helped a rapist get off. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place and did what she thought was best. But it's also understandable that some people wouldn't take to her decision very kindly.

Also, while I appreciate your passion for politics and truth, I have to say that you're putting words in people's mouths and it's unfair. You're getting yourself worked up about stuff that no one has even said. On top of that, being condescending and sarcastic isn't exactly helpful to calming the current flow of hate between Hillary and Bernie supporters.

To the general public commenting on this thread: Let's keep it civil, guys. Neither Hillary nor Bernie would appreciate their supporters hurling insults at each other. At the end of the day, we all just want what's best for the American people. Both candidates do too. Hating each other isn't going to do anything constructive and will only hurt us in the long run.

Anthony_McCarthy  Samantha Brower • 22 minutes ago
And if everyone took that position there would be no right to a defense. For all she knew when she took the case he might have been innocent. For all you would have known he might have been innocent. Like so many of those who were accused of "ritual sexual abuse" during the witch hunt of the 80s and 90s.

I'm not going to fault a defense lawyer for doing their job any more than I'd fault a prosecutor for doing theirs. Especially if the defense lawyer was assigned to a defendant who couldn't afford to hire their own lawyer. I'm entirely in favor of that.

Would you take that position if it had been a murder case?

Samantha Brower  • 9 minutes ago
Here's the thing: she made the decision to be a defense lawyer. I would never make the decision to be a defense lawyer for that very reason. I don't care if it's rape, murder or assault. It takes a very specific kind of person to successfully defend someone who is most likely guilty AND be able to sleep at night. But my opinion is neither here nor there.

And I'm not saying everyone should take the position to refuse to defend someone if they believe someone to be guilty. There are plenty of men and women who would be more than willing to do it. But those people aren't currently running for the office of President. She is. So her career history is going to be picked apart, as it is with all other candidates.

People are allowed to disagree with decisions she has made in the past. You may support her but that doesn't mean people can't disagree with certain things she's done. I don't think her defending a rapist in court takes away from her ability to lead a nation. She is a strong, capable, intelligent woman who has decades worth of political experience under her belt. But I'm still allowed to disagree with certain actions she has taken. As is everyone else.

Anthony_McCarthy  Samantha Brower • 4 minutes ago
Oh, so you don't think it's a good thing that an innocent person or an over-charged person has the right to professional legal council when they go to court. Do you ever bother to think about people who are accused but who are innocent?

I'll bet if you're ever accused of a crime you would be singing a different tune, that's true if you were either innocent, over-charged, or guilty as charged.

I'm wondering what percentage of Bernie Sanders supporters wants to do away with the right to have an attorney appointed by the court. Because that's a really disturbing line of attack coming in support of Sanders.

OMG. THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. You are putting words in my mouth and accusing me of believing something that I absolutely do not.

I'm done arguing with you. You passed the line of logic and have started just spewing bullshit.

PS I never said I was a Bernie supporter. You have no idea who I support. Also, everything I said was not a 'line of attack' and it certainly wasn't 'in support of Sanders'. Jesus. You sound just as ignorant and angry as some of the Trump supporters.

Anthony_McCarthy  Samantha Brower • in 2 minutes

For crying out loud, IF EVERYONE DID AS YOU ADVOCATE THERE WOULD BE NO RIGHT TO A LAWYER BY A CRIMINAL DEFENDANT.

Tell me, if everyone followed your rule where would those come from?

What I sound like is someone who is shocked that someone would slam someone who was appointed to defend a person accused of a crime when she did her job as a defense attorney as assigned by the court.

Are you a Bernie Sanders Supporter?  The guy who started this exchange about her "defending rapists" was certainly one.

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So far she hasn't answered that question.  I've got to say that this might be the most shocking exchange I've had over the nomination, and on a magazine of the social-democratic left, of all things.