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Contributors
Cliff Kincaid- Contributor
Cliff Kincaid, serves as editor of the Accuracy
in Media (AIM)
Report. A veteran journalist and media critic, Cliff has
appeared on the Fox News programs Hannity & Colmes and
The O'Reilly Factor, where he debated O'Reilly on global
warming, the death penalty,
and the homosexual agenda. He was a guest co-host on CNN's Crossfire
(filling in for Pat Buchanan) in the 1980s, where he confronted
the then-Libyan Ambassador to the U.N. with evidence of Libyan
involvement in international terrorism. Through his America's
Survival, Inc., organization (www.usasurvival.org), he has been
an advocate on behalf of the families of victims of terrorism
and has published reports and held conferences critical of the
United Nations. His articles have appeared in the Washington
Post, Washington Times, Chronicles, Human Events, Insight, and
other publications. He served on the staff of Human Events for
several years and was an editorial writer and newsletter editor
for former National Security Council staffer Oliver North at
his Freedom Alliance educational foundation. He has written or
co-authored nine books on media and cultural affairs and foreign
policy issues. Cliff is married and has three sons.[go to
Kincaid index]
 “Let
Scott Peterson Live”
The campaign at CBS…
[Cliff Kincaid] 1/20/05
As if we
needed any more evidence of liberal media bias on the part
of CBS, the senior political editor for CBS
News, Dotty
Lynch, has written a column arguing that convicted killer Scott
Peterson should be allowed to live the rest of his life at
taxpayer expense in a California prison because he may
not really be guilty
of murdering his wife and unborn son. He’s no Timothy
McVeigh, she argued, referring to the Oklahoma City bomber.
In a liberal outburst that is even more embarrassing
than Dan Rather’s claim that the bogus documents he used on the
air may someday and somehow turn out to be authentic, Lynch argued
in an on-line column for CBS News that Peterson didn’t
deserve the death penalty because the punishment did not “fit
the evidence” and the case against him was “circumstantial.”
Taking the side of the convicted wife-murderer
and unborn-child killer, Lynch argued that while Peterson was
a liar and adulterer
and unemotional in court, this doesn’t seem like a reason
to execute him. Her column carried the title, “Where is
the Outrage?”
Lynch, of course, is entitled to her opinion,
but because she carries the title of “senior political editor for CBS News,” her
opinion takes on more significance. In her column, posted on
the CBS News website on December 15, 2004, Lynch says, “A
former president of the United States wasn’t even put out
of office for lying under oath and conducting an affair inside
the White House. But this guy is sentenced to die because of
them?”
Lynch went on to acknowledge Peterson’s conviction in
a double murder but she claimed that jury members “seem
to have used their disgust over Peterson’s behavior after
Laci’s death as a justification to execute him.” In
other words, the jurors were dumb, emotional and manipulated
by overzealous prosecutors.
Where is the outrage over the Lynch column? Is
her strange view of the Peterson case a reflection of the anti-death
penalty outlook
embraced by so many others in the media? Her statements, in my
view, are insulting to the two victims, Laci Peterson and her
unborn son, Conner; the family of the victims; the jurors; and
the public at large. I don’t know what prompted this outburst
of concern for the fate of a convicted killer, but one would
think that Lynch, a self-described feminist, would have some
sympathy for a pregnant woman murdered by her husband. But there
was none in that column. Instead, she attacks one “highly
emotional” juror who said that Scott Peterson was “an
a** hole.”
Lynch invokes the name of Thomas Aquinas, who
argued that capital punishment was justified for the good of
society. That “doesn’t
seem to fit this case,” argued Lynch. So Lynch has assumed
the role of deciding how the words of a leading Catholic theologian
ought to be applied to a modern murder case. It’s supposed
to be Christian to save Scott Peterson’s life. That’s
quite a leap for a CBS News political editor. But arrogance goes
with the territory at CBS, and it has gotten them into trouble
before.
Ironically, Lynch uses her column to attack the “liberal
elites” for not protesting the verdict and conviction. “We
hear no outrage from the Catholic bishops, MoveOn.org or the
Democrats in Congress and the state houses,” she complains.
It never occurs to Lynch that many people concluded that Peterson
was a sociopath who was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and
that capital punishment was a reasonable option in this case.
On the other hand, Lynch’s fellow liberals may have remained
silent because to go to bat for Scott Peterson would have angered
many of those who followed the case and came to the conclusion
that he was clearly guilty and deserved death for killing his
family. Lynch earns a dubious distinction for making her views
known, at the expense of the objectivity of CBS news.
The media “experts,” Lynch went on to say, have
not been second-guessing their prediction “that a northern
California jury would be highly unlikely to call for the death
sentence for a first offender convicted on circumstantial evidence.” So
the media experts were wrong. There’s nothing surprising
there. Lynch is wrong, too.
What about this “circumstantial evidence?” As detailed
by Marin Independent Journal reporter Josh Richman, in a story
headlined, “The Case Against Scott Peterson,” the
evidence included:
- A strand of dark hair, probably from Laci,
on a pair of pliers found in Peterson’s boat.
- Peterson had downloaded information from the
Internet on currents in bodies of water where Laci’s
body may have been dumped and eventually washed up on shore.
- Peterson lied about what he was doing when Laci disappeared.
- Peterson washed the clothes he wore when he
murdered and dumped Laci’s body in the water.
- Peterson had made anchors
that could have been used to wrap around and sink Laci’s
body.
- Peterson bought a get-away car before his arrest using
cash and a fake name.
The most damaging evidence was found in Peterson’s
car when he was arrested about 30 miles from the Mexican
border. Court TV noted that the final prosecution witness, Modesto
police detective Jon Buehler, said the car was packed
with
survival
gear, including a water purifier, axe, saw, snorkel mask,
several
changes of clothes, and knives. Buehler said that Peterson
was carrying $14,932 in cash, Mexican currency, his brother's
driver's
license, and charge cards in the names of his mother
and sister.
It certainly looked like Peterson was fleeing
from something and that he was preparing for life as a fugitive.
Peterson didn’t
take the stand to tell us what he was fleeing from. Dotty Lynch
apparently thinks there may be an innocent explanation for all
of this. If there is, she didn’t provide it, either. Evidence
seems to be in short supply at CBS these days. tRO
copyright
2005 Accuracy in Media
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