On the other hand, we have seen that crimes can be defined without the convenience of the facts fitting a statute. The entire Valerie Plame affair beginning with the moral outrage of the same newspapers that now acquit the Obama administration of a very obvious violation of statute, and continuing with the prolonged and unnecessary investigation of the special prosecutor Fitzpatrick after he had become convinced that no crime had been committed, can best be described by the commonplace, "an investigation in search of a crime."
All of these miscarriages were driven by the media.
When a society steps down from the pursuit of justice to the service of polls, the lapse ultimately becomes moral and ultimately very destructive, even mortal. Symptoms of this moral threat to the polity are found in the very newspaper articles which exculpate the Obama administration. These pundits dismiss Republican concerns with resort to relativism. "Everybody does it" or, "it is just about sex," are throwaways which to the unwary or uninstructed seem to be dismissive of the alleged criminal behavior as inconsequential, but a keen observer sees that this approach is really destructive of the rule of law. It is destructive of a political system which operates free of corruption. It is a breeder cell of cynicism. It is a cancer on our civil society.
By the logic of those who dismiss this case, Governor Blagojevich should be heard at trial in his own defense to raise the claim, "everybody does it," or, "it is just politics," or "it is no worse than the Obama administration." Then we can have a trial about whether it is worse for Governor Blagojevich to seek money for selling a Senate seat or for the Obama administration to buy a Senate seat. If we decide that the Obama administration offered a job where no money was involved then we can acquit the Obama administration and convict Gov. Blagojevich. Or better yet, if the New York Times decides that for us, the matter can be decently closed out.
Let us write right into the law the concept that relativism is always a good defense and have done with these old-fashioned pretensions of justice.
