star-telegram.com: Bob Ray Sanders

Sanders: Turn out the lights, Hillary

Mon, 12 May 2008 09:10 CDT

By Bob Ray Sanders

Sen. Hillary Clinton is a smart, strong, tenacious woman.

Those qualities are ones that many of us have admired in her for years. They also are traits that cause a lot of other people -- including many women -- to despise her.

Some folk just can't stand a forceful female, an intelligent woman who is willing to stand her ground with any man and one who has the audacity to believe that she can be president of the United States.

Despite my longtime admiration for her, I must admit that in recent months I've lost some of the respect for a woman I robustly defended when she and her husband were being attacked by the "vast right-wing conspiracy."

Admittedly, more than a year ago I proclaimed my allegiance to Barack Obama by suggesting that he should be the next president. I also said at the time that should Clinton win the Democratic nomination, she could not win without Obama on the ticket.

It's clear now that she will not be the nominee, and it's even more apparent to me that she should not be.

In her desperation, she has revealed a side that perhaps was always there but became more evident as it became obvious that she would do almost anything to get votes in the hard-fought primaries and caucuses.

Having once been "ordained" the nominee, Clinton found it difficult to deal with the Obama surprise of having out-smarted her campaign in organization, mobilization of supporters and fundraising.

Her enthusiasm turned to bitterness that revealed itself in pettiness, negativity and pandering. (Note her call for a three-month suspension of the federal gasoline tax in the run-up to last week's primaries in North Carolina and Indiana.)

Also consider her overt and covert appeals to "blue-collar workers" -- a euphemism for "whites."

When it became clear that she had no realistic way to catch Obama (much less surpass him) in pledged delegates or the popular vote, she began to change her mind about the Democratic rules disqualifying delegates from Michigan and Florida -- delegates she had agreed should not count because their states had moved up their primary dates despite party regulations.

Clinton and all Democrats made a pledge not to campaign in those states, and Obama even had his name removed from the Michigan ballot.

Clinton's name remained on both, and she won the popular vote in both, although 40 percent of voters in Michigan remained uncommitted. (Obama's supporters had encouraged voters to mark "uncommitted" on their ballots.)

Although neither candidate went to those states to campaign or ran advertising in either, it is disingenuous for Clinton to say she didn't work for votes in Florida. Before that state's primary, she was talking about making sure that Floridians were not "disenfranchised" and saying that their delegates ought to be seated at the national convention.

That in itself was a campaign, and she knew her statements would be carried by the media there. She also made fundraising appearances in Florida.

And now, after she lost big in North Carolina and narrowly won in Indiana last week, everybody but Clinton knows that her campaign for the nomination is over.

She says she's determined to go on, and that is her prerogative. Perhaps she is looking for more bargaining power in getting on the ticket as Obama's vice presidential nominee or to negotiate for his campaign to pay off some of her mounting debt. (She has loaned her campaign more than $11 million.)

But maybe she honestly doesn't know how to quit, because she's never really had to do that.

There is much public talk (and, I'm sure, conversation behind the scenes) of a so-called dream ticket of Obama-Clinton. Although she couldn't win as the nominee without him, I'm still not sure that he could win with her.

Sure, the party will have to unite in order to beat John McCain in November, but will the Democrats' two candidates have to marry, even if it has to be a shotgun wedding? I don't think so.

Sanders: On my high horse for St. Jude's

Wed, 07 May 2008 09:49 CDT

By BOB RAY SANDERS

More than 20 years ago I made a promise to myself that, until Saturday, I had never broken.

Way back when, on a cool fall evening outside a rustic lodge in Colorado, I swore before God and a throng of onlookers that I would never do it again. And yet last weekend, there I was -- in view of more than 100 people -- doing it once more.

Before your mind wanders too far, this has nothing to with alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence or anything like that. After that Colorado experience, I immediately declared (simply but emphatically) that I would never get on another horse as long as I lived.

I shall never forget that afternoon when a group of us public radio managers arrived at a mountainside ranch for a retreat to talk about programming and how to interpret Arbitron ratings. After the first day's sessions, we were supposed to go horseback riding before dinner.

We walked outside, where at least 20 or so horses were saddled, and I noticed that what appeared to be the biggest and wildest animal was acting up as a guy tried to calm him down. That's when I was told that the big stallion was mine, because someone had informed the ranch folk that I was from Texas and knew how to handle horses.

Besides, with a name like "Bob Ray," it seemed natural to them that I was the only real cowboy among the group.

As soon as I mounted, the horse took off running -- not trotting, but a full gallop -- first across a meadow and then onto a narrow mountain trail along ravines that looked 100 yards deep.

Tree branches slapped and scarred my face as the animal clearly took charge.

A few minutes later, the foreman rode up beside me and yelled, "Pull back on the reins," which I did, and the horse reared and took off running again. When it finally got to where it wanted to go, it stopped.

That's when I said a prayer and made my promise.

A few months ago, I got a call from a buddy over at the American Paint Horse Association asking if I would be the honorary "trail boss" for the group's second annual Saddle Up for St. Jude Trail Ride.

I told him the Colorado story, mentioned the pledge I had made and reminded him that at the last APHA event I attended, I had walked into the arena at the Will Rogers complex.

Jerry Circelli was very convincing, however, especially after I told him that I had been a fan of the old TV western Rawhide, which ran for eight seasons from 1959 to 1966. I mentioned that as a child I actually envisioned being like trail boss Gil Favor (played by Eric Fleming) and that there was always something special about that weekly cattle drive from Texas to Kansas City.

Reminding me that the fundraising event benefitted St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Circelli continued to persuade me by assuring that the folks at Benbrook Stables would find me a really gentle animal that would be kind. He even called last week from the stables to say that my horse had been picked out and that she was going to be great for me.

On Saturday morning, there I was getting instructions from the real trail boss, Cash Brown, and Molly Thompson, who owns the stables with her husband, Steve.

My horse was Old Seven, with the emphasis on old (implying gentle). Someone suggested that Seven meant luck -- something I would need this day.

There were two trails -- one that would take slightly more than two and a half hours, and one that would take around 75 minutes to complete. I was determined to be on the horse for as briefly as possible, but as it turned out, I was mounted and moving forward on the first group that left the stable yards.

Yep, I was on the long ride.

Old Seven did pretty well, though, even crossing creeks and getting almost belly deep in a muddy bog.

Occasionally I would hear Circelli's voice saying, "You're doing real good, Bob Ray."

Sanders: Prosecutors should pay for injustices

Tue, 06 May 2008 13:48 CDT

By Bob Ray Sanders

Reading about a Death Row case in Japan, a country where judicial proceedings can be secret and defendants are often subjected to harsh interrogations, I was reminded of a series of injustices now documented in Dallas County.

An Associated Press story describes the horrifying tale of Iwao Hakamada, who has been on Japan's Death Row for 40 years, longer than any other person in that country.

He had always proclaimed his innocence, but confessed to murder charges after 264 hours of interrogation over 23 days, being severely beaten and denied water and bathroom privileges during the long interrogations, the wire service said. He would recant that confession and plead innocent at trial.

Writer Chisaki Watanabe reports that the judge who wrote the death sentence believes that Hakamada, an ex-boxer, is innocent -- something he believed, and argued for at the time, "but was outvoted by two other judges in their secret deliberations before handing down their ruling in 1968. As the junior judge, he was tasked with writing the death sentence order."

There is a movement to get a new trial for Hakamada, now 70. He's drawing support from Amnesty International, other boxers in his homeland and Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, an American boxer "imprisoned nearly 20 years for three murders before the convictions were overturned," Watanabe writes.

And what does all this have to do with Dallas County?

Well, at least in Japan, a judge who participated in the case admits (though 40 years later) that there was an injustice done. I'm still waiting to hear someone in Dallas totally or partly responsible for sending innocent people to prison stand up, admit the error and apologize for the damage done to the individuals affected and to the entire criminal justice system.

But no! They remain conspicuously silent.

Just last week, the 17th person in Dallas County to be cleared by DNA testing since 2001 was released. James Lee Woodard, 55, had spent more than 27 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit.

Also last month, 49-year-old Thomas McGowan, convicted of sexual assault and burglary, became No. 16 in a growing list of people from Dallas County freed through DNA testing and new investigations by the Innocence Project of Texas. Participating law schools include Texas Wesleyan University Law School in Fort Worth.

McGowan had served 23 years in the penitentiary.

This is a horrible blemish on the criminal justice system, not only in Dallas County but in Texas overall.

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, who took office last year, was committed to bringing justice along with punishment to the prosecutor's office. He created a partnership with the Innocence Project, established a conviction integrity unit and has personally apologized to those who fell victim to what was a terribly defective system.

Keep in mind that in 95 percent of criminal cases, DNA doesn't apply. So how many others are behind bars, falsely accused, with little chance of ever clearing their names?

Dare I ask how many might have been executed in a state that proudly wears the badge of "No. 1" in carrying out death sentences?

Speaking of names, the Dallas district attorney's office ought to make public the names of the assistant district attorneys and investigators involved in these flawed cases. In at least a few, defense attorneys were never informed about evidence or witnesses about which the prosecution knew.

Some of these people ought to be held accountable. Many of the newly exonerated cases date back to the early 1980s, and it would be interesting to see if the same prosecutors appeared multiple times.

Unlike the system in Japan, ours is supposed to be open justice, carried out in public with many checks and balances. And yet clearly the system has been seriously manipulated.

Watkins wants the Legislature to consider changes to the system, including the creation of conviction integrity units in counties statewide. Perhaps the most significant proposal is that prosecutors who break the rules should be subject to serious consequences.

There was a time in Dallas County, and elsewhere, when winning a conviction was more important than finding the truth and serving justice. Prosecutors were judged and rewarded on how many guilty verdicts they got, perhaps encouraging some to forget or ignore their duties under the law.

The Wright kind of medicine for our times

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:39 CDT

By BOB RAY SANDERS

The crucifixion of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is well under way, and his most famous congregant, Barack Obama, obviously has been summoned to take the role of Simon of Cyrene: the person forced to bear the cross of the unjustly condemned.

The press, including the "mainstream" media, is complicit in this act, and unlike Pontius Pilate of old, it will not be so easy for us to wash our hands.

As soon as it was known that Obama's former pastor would reappear in the media after the firestorm a month ago over some of his past sermonizing, his detractors -- both left and right -- began collecting hammers and nails.

I knew it would come to this as soon as I heard that Wright would appear Friday night on public television with the esteemed Bill Moyers. He also would preach at Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas on Sunday morning and then fly to Detroit to address about 10,000 people at a dinner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. On Monday morning, Wright was at the National Press Club.

This with slightly more than a week to go before presidential primaries in Indiana and North Carolina. Surely his very presence in the media would hurt Obama, and with the "right" interpretations of his remarks, he certainly could be proved the demented, racist, traitor and hatemonger whom some have come to believe him to be.

I made a point of watching the NAACP speech in its entirety, along with the extended introduction that did what few media people have done: put Wright in his spiritual, patriotic and divinely human context.

The speech was powerful -- intellectually stimulating, emotionally moving, biblically accurate and right on time for where we are in the United States of America.

His comments were so potent and inspiring that the host of the CNN broadcast that night was almost speechless but admitted he had never heard anything like it. The cable network played major portions of the speech and the introduction several times during the evening.

As I talked to a friend afterward and we agreed on the potency and significance of Wright's words, I asked him sarcastically: But how will the media play it tomorrow morning?

Just a few hours later, NBC's Today show led its Monday newscast using about a 10- to 12-second sound bite of Wright mimicking (in that famous Boston accent) John F. Kennedy's line: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

The tease from the anchor was that Wright was "mocking" Kennedy before the NAACP with no other context, just a question about whether it would hurt Obama's presidential chances.

I was appalled at NBC's grab for the sensational -- and its stooping to such shallowness.

The truth is, if that was the most sensational thing out of the speech they could find, there had to be much more substance.

In fact, Wright used the Kennedy line, as well words from Lyndon B. Johnson and others, to teach a lesson about language (accents and dialects) to show that "difference" does not mean "deficiency."

All Americans should hear this speech in its entirety, without interpretation from NBC, Fox News or Rush Limbaugh and his multitude of wannabes.

Commentators are talking now about how much Wright will damage Obama, and whether the campaign can get the preacher to shut up. They're asking whether white America will be so frightened by Wright that Anglos will vote against Obama, meaning that he would have no chance of becoming president.

Wright is a preacher. If he's true to his calling, he should not be quiet -- he should continue to speak the truth. Frankly, the more I hear of him, the more I like him.

Obama should continue to deliver his message of hope, change, inclusiveness and plans for a better America -- sticking to the issues rather than taking the bait of those who want to wallow in the sty of racism.

If Obama wins the Democratic nomination and goes on to lose the general election because of race or Wright or anything other than real issues, that would be sad. But that would say more about America, its people and its increasingly pathetic news media than it would say about the candidate or his former pastor.

On Tuesday, Obama gave in to his critics and repudiated his former pastor for comments made Monday morning at the National Press Club. My admiration for him fell a few degrees because of that acquiescence.

Sanders Mad Minute: Listen to Rev. Wright

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:45 CDT

Fighting for more life for Tarrant County HIV patients

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 04:39 CDT

By Bob Ray Sanders

There's good news and bad news in the latest HIV/AIDS numbers from Tarrant County.

Last year, 300 new cases were reported in the county, said Dr. Elvin Adams, medical director/Health Authority with Tarrant County Public Health.

That's good news. No, not for the people who died, or their loved ones. But consider that in 1992, just 16 years ago, there were 320 HIV/AIDS-related deaths in Tarrant County -- more than all the reported new cases in 2007.

For the past 10 years, Adams said, we've had fewer than 10 people die each year from the disease. That is more good news because it means people are living longer with a virus that not very long ago was considered a death sentence.

The bad part about that statistic is that it may contribute to the fact that so many individuals remain careless and continue to contract a totally preventable disease.

One-third of 300 HIV diagnoses last year already had progressed to AIDS. And of those with AIDS, 27 percent were men, while 50 percent were women. That's more bad news, because it shows that this disease's domain continues to expand.

It gets worse as you break the numbers down into ethnic groups: 102 whites, 135 blacks, 53 Hispanics, plus "others." Among new HIV infections, the rates for minorities -- and black women in particular -- continue to rise dramatically.

"Gay white men are aware, and we really want to translate that awareness to the black community," Adams said.

He made his statements this month at a special town hall meeting that kicked off one of the most important series of events that this community will ever see. It's called "More Life: The Art & Science of AIDS," and it is designed to put the issue in our faces -- not rub it in our faces -- so that we are forced to think about it, talk about it and perhaps do something that will help prevent the spread of this dreadful disease.

It will be difficult to avoid the subject. Just about everywhere you turn between now and June 8, it will be presented to you (sometimes subtly, sometimes boldly) through music, dance, theater, the visual arts, discussion groups, poetry and the spoken word.

The AIDS Service Organizations (ASO), made up of the three major agencies in the county serving HIV/AIDS patients, has partnered with schools, community groups, health agencies and artistic organizations to make a bold statement to the people here about a disease that won't go away any time soon.

The programming is a massive undertaking, and it is sure to leave its mark on this community.

The Fort Worth Opera, for example, will present the Southwestern premiere of Angels in America, based on Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. There will be seven performances at the Scott Theatre, beginning May 16 and running through June 7.

A new book for children touched by AIDS, Angels at My Door, was funded by the Fort Worth Library Association and will be "rolled out" May 17 with songs and readings by Fort Worth school students and Kids Who Care.

The play You better ASK somebody, about African-Americans and AIDS, will be performed May 22 at the Scott Theatre.

Humanities students from Tarrant County College Northwest are filming interviews with ASO clients to produce a documentary that will be shown at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center.

These are just a small sampling of the events designed to educate the public about HIV/AIDS. Part of the mission of "More Life" is to de-stigmatize the disease, particularly in the black and Hispanic communities, so that more people will get tested and more people living with the disease will seek out the services of organizations that can help them.

Sitting with Adams at this month's town hall was Joe Brown, professor of theater arts for 30 years at Texas Wesleyan University, who has been living with the virus for 24 years -- perhaps longer than another person in Tarrant County.

"I'm a fortunate person," he told the audience while explaining that he adheres religiously to taking his medication. "You don't want to give this bastard disease a chance."

I don't know what it will take to persuade people to avoid the risks that can lead to HIV infections, but we've got to reach them somehow.

Continuing to seek the right

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:42 CDT

By BOB RAY SANDERS

It is no secret that I've long admired Jimmy Carter, both as a president and as a citizen.

And it should come as no surprise that I get quite upset when I hear right-wing radio hosts and conservative commentators constantly vilify him, as many are doing today because of the former president's meeting with Hamas, the Palestinian group that this country has declared "terrorist."

I only wish we could have had (and will have) more presidents with his brains and his heart.

From the first moment I met him -- more than a year before the 1976 Democratic National Convention -- I knew he was a special human being.

Carter had come to the KERA/Channel 13 studios in Dallas to be interviewed by my colleagues and me on the station's nightly Newsroom program. He arrived alone, and although he had been scheduled to appear at the top of the show, a new desegregation order for Dallas schools came down from the federal courts late that day, and we pushed the interview to the end of the program.

Carter patiently sat through our analysis of the court decision, but when we finally started our discussion with him, it became instantly clear that we had saved the best for last.

The reporters on the panel glanced at one another in amazement as the Georgia governor articulated sincerely and eloquently his vision for the nation.

After a couple of us walked him to the front door, we stood and talked for a long time about how impressed we were with his straight answers and wondered aloud if this peanut farmer could really become president. A few months later, several of us concluded that he could.

The next time I saw him, after he had secured the nomination, he was walking into a crowded auditorium at Southern Methodist University as the band played what had become his theme song: The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

As the band members sang, "Glory, glory hallelujah" that evening, even I got goose bumps.

His critics say he was the worst president ever. Of course, that's not true. But even if they once believed it, his detractors -- if they were truthful -- would have to admit that we are witnessing today a far more failed presidency.

If Carter did nothing else, his forging of a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt will stand as a monument to his four years in the White House. Since he left office, his contributions to this country and to humanity as a whole have been an impeccable display of leadership and service at a time when selfish greed has seemed to be the norm.

So it did not surprise me that he would seek a discussion with Hamas in trying to end the violence and perhaps -- just perhaps -- open a door that might lead to peace.

But his critics say he has no right to engage in such discussions, and some have even suggested (foolishly) that the U.S. State Department revoke his passport to keep him from traveling abroad.

Yet despite the naysayers, the former president continued on his mission and this week announced that Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, told him that it would accept the creation of a Palestinian state if the Palestinian people ratified it in a referendum, according to The New York Times.

In talks with Syrian leaders, Carter also reported that country was ready to negotiate a full peace treaty with Israel, the Times said.

Oh, I know that plenty of words about peace have been spoken before in the Middle East, and there are enough broken promises to fill the Red Sea. But isn't it worth a try?

What does it hurt to have an ex-president who is respected around the world -- a Nobel Peace Prize laureate at that -- engage people who have been sworn enemies of Israel if there's even the slightest chance of ending the fighting?

I'm very proud of him for ignoring his critics and continuing to do what he thinks is right.

And that brings me to the last time I visited with the ex-president. It was several years ago in that same KERA studio when Carter was promoting a book: Always a Reckoning and Other Poems.

Lest we forget the pain and oppression

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 04:42 CDT

By Bob Ray Sanders

Almost 30 years ago -- it was actually 1980 -- when Passover coincided with the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, I wrote a commentary for National Public Radio's All Things Considered in which I compared the struggles of Jewish and black people.

Susan Stamberg, who was host of the program and the first voice I remember hearing on NPR, later published a book, Every Evening at Five, and she included that piece in it.

Thumbing through that book the other day after hearing a report by the venerable Stamberg, I ran across the commentary again and was reminded of just how much suffering there is in the world. I wished that all of us would take out some time, whether today or some other, and remember the downtrodden, displaced and desperate.

That 1980 essay began:

"Let me taste the bitter herb, lest I forget the bitter struggle of my people. Tell me once again of the exodus, lest I forget that my people were ever in slavery. Give me a sip of the blood-colored wine. Come, let us have a Seder and remember the Passover.

"I am not Jewish, but I do commemorate the Passover. I must commemorate the Passover for I do understand slavery and struggle and hope for deliverance."

During this religious observance, Jews around the globe will hear stories recited by young and old recounting not only the deliverance from Egypt 3,000 years ago but myriad episodes throughout history in which a people was forced to bear indignities and oppression handed down by others.

But on this day, we also can point to many places on this tiny Earth where human beings are being treated in ways for which we all ought to be ashamed.

In Africa alone, consider the genocide in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and another 2.5 million have been displaced. Just a few years ago in Rwanda, as many as 800,000 -- perhaps more than 1 million -- men, women and children were slaughtered in one of the most senseless wars in history while the rest of the world sat in comfortable complacency.

Even today in Zimbabwe, once called "Africa's paradise," a ruthless, racist dictator has created a hell -- persecuting white farmers and creating a massive food shortage; oppressing the masses who oppose his selfish, backward policies; and now refusing to release the results of last month's election, which many people say he lost.

Then there's the ruthless crackdown by China in Tibet, where there have been attempts to silence protesting Buddhist monks, resulting in rioting that claimed perhaps as many as 140 lives and the detention of hundreds.

Of course, we can't forget the havoc that this country has caused by its invasion of Iraq, which has left tens of thousands dead and more than 2 million displaced.

In the Middle East, where there seems to be no resolution to the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, violence persists on both sides while Israelis continue to fear terrorist attacks and the Palestinians remain under a state of occupation and oppression.

In North America, Mexican drug lords have turned entire frightened towns into havens for their greedy and bloody operations, while most of the schoolchildren in that country don't even have clean drinking water. And within the borders of the United States, where affluence abounds, there remain too many poor people, too many homeless people and too many who fall victim to an often flawed criminal justice system.

This past week, as the Pope visited the U.S., he expressed regret and pain for the many victims of sex abuse within the Catholic Church at the hands of people they regarded as spiritual leaders.

Yes, there is trouble and injustice all over the world, just as it has been throughout history.

After a column last week about a polygamist sect in West Texas, in which I referred to Fort Concho serving once again as a "refuge" for women and children, a friend wrote to chide me on the use of the word and my selective recollection of history.

He made it clear that the fort was no refuge for the native people on the Texas plains, many of whom were killed by soldiers and many of whom died during harsh winters.

"So, if anybody needed refuge, it was the Indian folk," he said.

No, I haven't forgotten what this country did -- and is still doing through neglect and bad government policies -- to Native Americans. It is a shame that shall forever be a part of our history.

When the term 'defense lawyer' becomes a slur

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:27 CDT

By BOB RAY SANDERS

A runoff election this month gave me a little hope -- about the political process in general and voter competence in particular.

For a while now, I've been concerned about campaigns in which candidates rely on innuendo, false labeling and outright lies in an effort to defeat opponents. In Dallas County, where Republicans lost more than 40 judgeships in the 2006 election after having ruled the courthouse there for almost 30 years, GOP operatives got real nasty in trying to hang onto those benches.

Campaign materials two years ago included "posters" of shady-looking, suited characters holding briefcases and standing in front of those stark white backgrounds (with height markers on either side) typically used in police lineups.

One flier headline asked: "What incriminating clues link these UNUSUAL SUSPECTS?"

It was followed by: "Local Democrats have lined up the worst group of judicial candidates in Texas history. They hope national politics will help them sweep our local courts."

Then it listed examples, without naming anyone in particular, of problems facing some Democratic judicial candidates.

It was a desperate -- and unsuccessful -- move by a party that didn't prepare for the obvious shift in the political landscape that now has been on the horizon for at least the past three election cycles.

Flier sent by the Callaghan campaign before the March 4 primary (PDF)

Flier sent by the Judge Sturns campaign before the April 8 runoff (PDF)

Flier sent by the Callaghan campaign days before the April 8 runoff (PDF)

One would like to think that such shenanigans would not have a prominent place in today's elections, especially in judicial races. But because we elect judges in this state, it's all politics, and as the saying goes, "all is fair."

In a way, I can understand one party going after the other in a last-ditch effort to hang onto power, using all the buzzwords to describe their opponents -- in this case, Dallas County Democrats -- as the "bad guys."

You know the language: unpatriotic, soft on crime, not caring about national security, unwilling to protect our borders -- traits that you certainly would never want to see in someone presiding over a courtroom, right?

It's the politics of labeling. Simply hang a negative moniker around someone's neck and then try to strangle that person with it. In some circles, that's politics at its best, and some folk in Dallas are very good at it.

In Tarrant County this year, at least one intra-party race saw the old deceptive labeling tactics employed in an attempt to run down one person by redefining simple words or titles to take on the most pejorative meaning possible.

And in this case, it was the candidate's profession -- a noble one at that -- that came under attack.

More so than the not-so-subtle reference to the person's race, the suggestions of incompetence and the outrageous insinuation that a respected lawyer loves child molesters, I was offended by the demonization of the term "defense lawyer."

In the Republican runoff for the 213th District Court, prosecutor Lisa Callaghan was challenging Judge Louis Sturns. Callaghan's most damning accusation of Sturns was that he is a former defense attorney and "trial lawyer."

Some of her campaign mailers showed photos of men she prosecuted who were sentenced to prison. It also showed pictures of clients whom Sturns had been appointed to represent in court.

The clear implication was that Callaghan put criminals, especially evil sex offenders, behind bars; Sturns fought to get them off and return them to the community, where they can prey on society.

Sanders Mad Minute: Obama's truth hurts

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:40 CDT