The Right Rediscovers Hillary's 1975 Defense Of Child Rapist And Pounces

[DonViejo]

DYLAN SCOTT – JUNE 17, 2014, 6:00 AM EDT

In 1975, Hillary Clinton defended a man accused of raping a 12-year-old child during the early years of her private legal practice. She wrote about the case in her 2003 memoir, "Living History." It was the subject of the 3,000-word story by Newsday during the 2008 presidential campaign.

But after the Washington Free Beacon published an audio recording Sunday in which Clinton discussed the case, conservatives then spent Monday dissecting Clinton's role anew.

The Free Beacon portrayed Clinton's attitude as "casual and complacent" while she discussed the case in an interview for a never-published story by Esquire magazine.

At the beginning of the recorded discussion, Clinton called it "a terrible case." But she laughed while sharing some of the details of her casework, though not the crime itself. That was still the detail that caught the attention of many conservative outlets; the Free Beacon noted that Clinton could "be heard laughing at several points." The site also questioned (via an expert) whether she had violated ethical obligations by disclosing the results of a polygraph test taken by her client.

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/hillary-clinton-child-rapist-tapes

[hobbit709]

1. What a crock. Even a child rapist is entitled to legal counsel.

Just because she defended him doesn't mean she condoned what he did.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. Clinton - the only defense lawyer ever in Congress?

Do they not watch 'Law and Order'? Guess what guys, defense lawyers defend a lot of people who commit vile crimes. That's part of how our legal system is set up.

And, after you've defended a lot of scummy stuff, you tend to get a bit jaded about it. Just like firefighters sometimes joke about 'crispy critters', or EMT's make black humour jokes about bodies they find. It's part of the human mental 'defense' system, to laugh, rather than cry about the evil you have to deal with, day in and day out. So you can keep doing your job, rather than have a mental breakdown from dealing with all of the vileness.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

4. We lost a good nominee for a cabinet position over this

Thanks to Republicans- but also a few Dems.

is going on?

[displacedtexan]

3. That pesky 14th amendment!

Given the chance, today's wingnuts would vote to deny Gideon a lawyer.

Truly heavy sigh.