John Boehner: Weak, Weak, Weak...

In case you've been ignoring the political circus that is Congress and the President trying to work out raising the country's debt ceiling so that the US doesn't default on our debt, you might have missed the fact this week that John Boehner came out and said publicly that he'd like to see a grand bargain, claiming bold action was necessary. In fact, according to Boehner, it was seeking such bold action which made Boehner want to become Speaker of the House to begin with.

Unfortunately, the rest of the Republican leadership balked at the premise of such "bold action," with House Majority leader Eric Cantor cutting Boehner's hamstring by proclaiming there was no reason to pursue such a bargain, because the rank-and-file Republicans would never go for it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2012 Republican leadership. To borrow a line from our good friend Tony Blair: they can't even lead their own party. Weak, weak, weak.

In yo face, Grace...

Unless you were in a coma or a WiFi-less sweat lodge, you know that yesterday's big "news" was that Casey Anthony was found not guilty of all the substantive charges (ie., the ones actually dealing with the death of her daughter) in her murder trial yesterday. Anthony was found guilty of lying to law enforcement.

We had fun yesterday making quips about the case, more specifically, making quips about Nancy Grace. For those who don't know Nancy Grace, she is a self-righteous, former "special prosecutor" with the Atlanta-Fulton County DA's office who turned her ethically-questionable style* into a television career, first on Court TV and now on Headline News.

*Grace's conduct as a prosecutor has been criticized by courts more than once, a recent admonition coming in 2005 by the 11th Circuit U.S. District Court:

The three-judge panel on Monday criticized Grace for not following her obligations to disclose to the defendant's lawyer information about other possible suspects. The 11th Circuit also agreed with a magistrate who found it hard to believe that Grace did not knowingly use a detective's false testimony that there were no other suspects.

Grace, however has no shame. She showed no shame after a woman she interviewed for her show committed suicide shortly after Grace aggressively went after her. She relished in tarring the Duke Lacrosse team as guilty during that brouhaha, only to take the night off after the players were cleared and let someone else report the "news." She also got caught plagiarizing for her book, Objection! — How High-Priced Defense Attorneys, Celebrity Defendants, and a 24/7 Media Have Hijacked Our Criminal Justice System. The fact that Grace seeks to blame "celebrity defendants" (which she creates) and the 24/7 media (which she is) for "hijacking" the criminal justice system tells you all you need to know about this lady (without even getting into the fact that it appears she has embellished the story of her fiance's murder).

So, Grace is a bitch, willing to say/do anything to advance her own agenda. Now that we know that, we were eager to see her reaction to the Casey Anthony verdict. Afterall, it was Grace who relentlessly pushed this story for the past 3 years, demanding justice for "little Caylee" and being so convinced of Casey's guilt, that she laughingly refused to refer to Casey by her name, bestowing upon her instead the ridiculous moniker of "Tot Mom." Sunday night, all Grace could talk about was how awesome the State's closing had been. How it had been so good, the defense attorneys and the defendant had even cried. It was a done deal, for Grace. So how would Grace react to the big NG? With dignity and humility? Uh...no.

First, was the graphic accompanying Grace's show last night. The first word: Outrage. Grace proceeded to blame the jury (questioning their intellect, their open-mindedness, etc). She blamed the defense team. (Actually seeming uncomfortably obsessed with what went on at the "Champagne party" the defense team had. Demanding one of her quests tell her what went on there. Then relaying an obviously embellished story to Dr. Drew about how defense attorneys celebrating "was just wrong.") And finally seethed disgust that "Tot Mom" would wind up profiting from all this (wilfulling overlooking the fact that her celebrity was all thanks to Nancy herself).

Listen, it's painfully obvious the publicity and emotions associated with this crime clouded the State's judgment into charging crimes they should have known their evidence would not support. When your case is circumstantial and your own medical expert can't give a cause of death, a murder charge ain't getting over the bar. All these people so distressed over this verdict need to get a life. Unless they watched the entire trial without listening to any talking head opinions (impossible), listened to the judge charge the law, then applied the law to the evidence presented, their opinion don't mean dick.

Nancy Grace is a disgrace. Unfortunately, she lacks the shame that would make most people show humility. This Casey Anthony trial was just latest in a long line of examples.