Local Man of God and Politics Defends Nifong
In a letter to the editor published in today's Herald Sun, Durham Democratic Party Precinct Chairman Deacon George Bridgers asks forgiveness for Durham County's rogue District Attorney Mike Nifong on the basis that Nifong merely tore up the lives of the victims of his hijacked Hoax and his community for a year while others tear up peoples lives forever. Claiming to have not known the rogue prosecutor prior to the November election, Democratic Party Precinct Chair Bridgers, whose White Rock Baptist Church Precinct saw 533 of 574 votes cast for the ethically-challenged prosecutor he defends, appears to find it odd that those who took offense to Nifong's self-serving attempt to convict innocent men prior to the November election continue to take offense - as if his ill-gotten election victory should have eased the condemnation. Labeling all of Nifong's critics as "haters," man of God and politics Bridgers conveniently fails to note his Democratic party rank while painting Nifong's critics with a wide brush not dissimilar to the one used to fuel the Hoax in the first place.
Deacon Bridgers writes:
I think that it is a shame that District Attorney Mike Nifong's career has been stained by this one case. He has admitted that he made some mistakes -- we all make mistakes in our lives, some more than others. Some can tear up the lives of others for the rest of their lives. Why can't all the "haters," especially those who have made mistakes, leave this man alone?
It's interesting that none of these fine people who hate Nifong saw injustice in Durham until this lacrosse case, which has dominated our news here in Durham and around the country. It seems that some of the same people who hated Nifong before the November election are the same people who hate him now.
I did not know Mike Nifong before the November election, but I have come to know him as a human being. I also know that justice in this country should be tried in the courts and not in the newspapers and on television and on talk shows. I also know that justice should not prevail only for the rich. I am also sure that there is justice in this world because we have a "righteous and just God."
George Bridgers
Durham
April 22, 2007
On a positive note, those of us who had thought his inhumane behavior indicated otherwise, can now be assured that Mike Nifong is, in fact, a human being.
Hat tip: Winston Sport, Walter Abbott
16 comments:
Bridgers is so wrong on so many counts in his brief letter that I could go on for pages in fisking it.
Let's focus on his calling what Nifong did a "mistake." A mistake is a single action at a specific period of time. The hoax that Nifong perpetrated (with assistance from the FA, the DPD, and others) goes way beyond a mistake. He perpetrated many frauds and many acts of willful neglect of his prosecutorial responsibilities over a 10 month period that ended only because he recused himself when the NC Bar made the unprecedented decision to file ethics charges against him during the ongoing prosecution of a case. Had they not stepped in, he could still be running this fiasco!
Bridgers is just another in a long line of people speaking from the church pulpit who have come to represent the pinnacle of hypocrisy in this case.
I's say this is like saying Hitler had a few bad years.
Mr. Bridgers wants those "haters" to leave the poor persecuted prosecutor alone. He especially wants those haters who have made mistakes to lay off Mikey.
Of course, he also has told us that "we all make mistakes in our lives" so he's effectively saying everyone should leave Nifong alone.
BTW, show of cyber-hands here; how many of us have made the mistake of trying to put people we know are innocent in jail for 30 years in order to pander to a segment of the population to help us win an election so that we can pick up another 3 years on the public payroll and boost our pensions by $15K a year. C'mon, don't be shy. Let's see those hands... we all make mistakes.
RodNReg
I have to wonder if the good man of God was so eager to forgive Don Imus for his "one mistake." Imus did no more harm than hurting a few people's feelings. Compare that to the real harm inflicted by Nifong, which Bridgers is happy to ignore.
I think Imus is a dope and I'm happy he's off the air. When will someone take Nifong out of our lives as well?
If Bridger and others of his position in the community raised the same stink about Nifong that he and others raised about Imus, Nifong would be long gone.
I have to wonder if the good man of God was so eager to forgive Don Imus for his "one mistake." Imus did no more harm than hurting a few people's feelings. Compare that to the real harm inflicted by Nifong, which Bridgers is happy to ignore.
I think Imus is a dope and I'm happy he's off the air. When will someone take Nifong out of our lives as well?
If Bridger and others of his position in the community raised the same stink about Nifong that he and others raised about Imus, Nifong would be long gone.
They live in Durham and have their own audience, which they play up to all the time. That is the way of the world. None of the "religious" folk in this epic have covered themselves in glory. Many have done a far worse job than this guy.
This letter just makes me want to move to Durham, become a Democrat and join the White Rock Baptist Church. I want to be at the center of intelligent discourse.
I'm sorry that this man of politics, for he is certainly no man of God, is such a whore. Isn't this idiot concerned about how many innocent African-Americans may have fallen prey to this ethically-bankrupt District Attorney, a man who ruined lives, violated the Constitution, the ABA canons, and last but not least, brutally violated three innocent young men? I think there should be forgiveness, but there can be no forgiveness without atonement, and atonement requires an attempt at restitution. Has anyone seen the 'Fong make even a tiny attempt at restitution, even as little as a genuine, heartfelt apology? Nifong is nothing less than a rapist, and his victims were the justice system; Reade, Finnerty, and Seligmann and their families; and the people he continues to misrepresent, though on the last count, if this deacon is an example of the "fine" folk of Durham, NC, I guess you can't rape the willing. I swear, this will have me avoiding that state for a long time. I hope their tourism industry takes as huge a hit as Aruba's did over the Natalee Holloway mess.
"I also know that justice in this country should be tried in the courts and not in the newspapers and on television and on talk shows."
Amen. Perhaps he should have shared that thought with Nifong a year ago.
Forgiveness does not mean allowing Mike Nifong to continue in his office.
I don't know which is more despicable, the religious right or the religious left. Idiots on the right of me, hypocrites to the left...
Carolyn says:
Deacon Bridgers is an awful example of the moral corruption that now permeates the black pulpits of America. I thought it was bad when I had to hear them whooping and hollering for joy when OJ got away with two murders. Now I have to hear them complaining they couldn't get away with three lynchings.
It's bad enough this moral corruption exists - it's worse when it seems to be the rule, not the exception.
Close, 4:34. It's hypocritical, self-worshiping idiots with a messianic complex on the right of you, and hypocritical, self-worshiping idiots with a victim complex on the left.
Nifong did not make a "mistake." He deliberately and knowingly tried to commit a crime that is just one step below attempted murder. His was a cold, calculating, and deliberate act.
No doubt, Bridgers would not be calling for "forgiveness" if the races were reversed and the DA indicted one of the people in his church on the same dishonest evidence. Thus, the man has nothing to say to me.
His whole last paragraph is evidence as to why Nifong SHOULD be disbarred and brought up on charges.
He tried a case in the media, framed innocent people and was only caught because the people he was trying to frame had the resources to fight it.
Forgiveness is one thing, and it's a good thing.
Wisdom is another thing altogether, and it is also a good thing.
Wisdom requires that a person as compromised as Nifong cannot remain as the leading prosecutor of the county.
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