Mike Nifong brought these false charges in order to pander to the prejudices of people like this Duke professor, and thus sway their vote to him. And it worked. Now that the game is up, these people are using old demagogic excuses to basically say, of course we believed him, just look at the world we live in. So much for professors working in an institution of reason and applying critical thinking to an actual real world event rather than a philosophical construct. This condition is generally called having your head up your ass.
This professor wouldn't, by the looks of it, recognize critical thinking if it knocked her down in the hallway between lectures.
LOL! You nailed it! :>