Nifong Needs a Trip to OZ

Lately, I've been wishing some whirlwind would sweep into the Durham District Attorney's office and waft Nifong off to Oz. No, this is not just mean-spirited musing on my part, it's quite practical. I can't think of any other way for that man to possess the three elements missing in his own personal make-up: a heart, a brain and courage.

Surely, it's evident to all that he had neither heart nor brain when he started down this yellow brick road of moral and ethical depravity. Creating a case that would inflame a community, incite calls for violence, and indict three innocent young men...all for his own political gain... reveals a soul both self-absorbed and shameless. Refusing to even look at exculpatory evidence that might undercut his own personal agenda and need for the debacle to continue,...reveals the obvious to all. No,folks,no need for the stethoscope. No heart to be found in this man.

Mr. Nifong has a son. A man with a heart might look at any one of these boys, and see ,.... just for a moment,.... his own boy standing in that house, walking in those shoes.. And that vision, that empathy, would cause him to pause, to proceed with caution. A Father's heart would necessitate he hear all sides and hold open his mind. It would demand he proceed to indictment with his prosecutorial power in balance with his own humanity, in check to the presumptions of innocence he owes to every man's son. Instead, with his trademark smirk and knapsack of snide comments (curiously unchecked by Durham judges) Nifong began his journey with only one vision in mind...the heady rise of the traffic court bureaucrat to media rock star....flexing his prosecutorial muscles for all to see, kicking his political opponents to the side of the road. An intoxicating moment for a little man unencumbered with a heart. Popeye the Prosecutor man....at last coming into his own.

The need for a brain comes in about here. Surely, Mr. Nifong didn't think he could draw a nation into this Hoax, and not have it come under the closest scrutiny. I mean, Mike, what were you thinking? That you were so crafty, so convincing, so nimble with the televised chokeholds, that we'd turn a blind eye to the , well,....Munchkin in the Living Room? You indicted without evidence. You played outside the rules. You spoke outside the truth. If you only had a brain you would have seen what was coming next.....What was coming was outrage. Outrage that united blue-state bloggers on TalkLeft with their red state polar opposites on Free Republic; Susan Estrich with Sean Hannity, Ruth ("We know you know!") Sheehan with Joe Neff. No, they are not in lock-step, but they've linked arms, because good people on all sides of the political spectrum know a sham when they see one. If you had a brain, Mr. Nifong, you'd know that a shamster with prosecutorial power is anathema to ALL sides, all communities, all souls. But maybe with your mindset it would take the Wizard himself to convince you of that. To give you a heart and a brain...and what you need most now.... COURAGE.

Courage, Mr. Nifong, to find a way out of this now. Were you watching when the Boulder D.A. dropped the charges in the Jon Benet Ramsey case? The DNA didn't match, she said. If only you had had the courage to say that months ago. To stand at that forum at NCCU and say," I have a greater duty...to my own conscience as well as this community. I have the courage to choose the harder right over the easier wrong, to choose possible political defeat over pandering and posturing. I have the courage to tell the truth.Because that's the ONLY kind of man the community of Durham should entrust with the powers of the District Attorney's office.....a man with a heart and a brain and courage."

That's what you should have said back then. Before the flawed line-ups and phoney cab driver trial and all the rest of your mess.If only you had the courage to stand down and say it now.Instead, you continue undaunted on the road to Oz, hoping for those ruby slippers that might restore you and this case in the eyes of the public. But instead, Mr. Nifong...each day brings new information, new outrage. The case is melting, you are melting...Soon, like your spiritual comrade, that nefarious Wicked Witch of the East, you and your case will just be a dirty little puddle in Durham....all that remains of a man with no heart, no brain and no courage.

Oh, for a whirlwind to sweep you to Oz!

Joan Foster