Anyone Remember Willie Horton?

    Massachusetts is holding an election for Governor. One of the candidates, and the Democratic nominee, Deval Patrick, is a criminal defense attorney. According to his Republican opposition, that's reason enough to vote against him — just look at all the scum he has defended: cop-killers, rapists, mafiosi (not that there is any such thing as the mafia, I hasten to add), and other examples of the best mankind has to offer. The story has several other delicious ironies — what we used to call in the newspaper business "angles" — including that the Democrat defense attorney scumbag has been endorsed by several major police groups, and that, of the four candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, three are lawyers.
    Two notions present themselves. First, it is very difficult for most people to understand Voltaire's dictum, I depise what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. Most people have no sympathy for free speech for Nazis, nor for the rights of violent criminals. They don't seem to accept that by ensuring the rights of the worst of us, we guarantee those rights for all of us. Second, lawyers do a rotten job of presenting their own case. It doesn't help that for the most part, they stink at customer service (you know, really difficult things like answering the phone and showing up for appointments on time), but it is also true that they are terrible at their own profession's PR. The result? As the article says, lawyers make "easy targets who rank near car salesmen and telemarketers on most people's lovability scale."