The Justice Department is in desperate need of help. It is not just about the lady Judge However, she did show lack of of Judgment required by the position and should resign. The rest of the argument as to weather he was gonna walk out of jail or not is irrelevant. SHE SCREWED UP PERIOD.

It would seem the basic premise of this whole debate is incorrect.

I must disagree with Baruch. Although I do belive Mitt's choice to call for the judge's resignation is a little off, the situation is not his fault. As someone above pointed out, it is impossible to truly know someone. Mitt, I'm sure, did his best in appointing her.

Again - I don't exactly agree with Mitt's choice. On the other hand, though, it shows that he is willing to change WHEN THE FACTS CHANGE. It is not flip-flopping, it's adapting.

"cls-your gift of the word prevents you from veering off the path. i hope 'craptastic' will spread to the masses like fire. nancy"

Absolutely LOVE this word, but I didn't use it in my post.

"Craptastic" in post directly below mine from 'ToNancy.'

I know I will most likely be yelled at for this non-germane comment, but I feel I must express my opinion.

I, for one, feel that we should have an intelligence test required for voting. Having such a test would likely greatly reduce the number of people casting ballots who have not even researched the issues.

And please don't quote any history on me, this is totally different. African Americans have an equal opportunity for education in this day and age, and neither they nor any other socio-economic group would be unfairly prejudiced by such a test. Of course, to be fair to the poorer class, the test would (unfortunately) have to be at the high-school level, and not require a college education.

And now an attempt at relevancy:before taking a side and voicing it on this particular debate, as in all debates, please peruse the available facts carefully, and take in to consideration each individual's point. After thoroughly examining the facts and opinions already present, please proofread any comments you might choose to make, thereby implying your intelligence and the fact that you understand the issue, and are not simple a sheep in the flock.

I of course meant 'simply' and not 'simple' at the end of my post above. I did proofread my post, but missed that mistake. I am not asking for perfection, only for evidence that those voicing their opinion are not mindless.

Is the Judge gone yet? How about Mitt and Culoannie; do they still in crapstatic state? You guys are great. I really enjoy your opinions.

Is the Judge gone yet? How about Mitt and Culoannie; do they still in crapstatic state? You guys are great. I really enjoy your opinions.

Since when are mindless people hanging out on-line at news sites commentting on national affairs?
Why is there no spell check on these things??
I have to agree with baruch that the natural progression would be for Romney to resign. If one poor (?) decision disqualifies you from public life, then there will be nothing but simple sheep in a flock.

the word with fire behind it is craptastic not crapstatic. let's look at mitt's underlying dissonance. nancy

Now, nancy, crapstatic might be just as useful in duscussing politics.
:D

Please excuse the typos in the first line of the second last paragraph.

The sad reality of our entire system, including our public obsession with crime and criminals, is simply that we live in a world where violent crime is relatively low percentage of all human transactions, while white collar crime including the political life of our elected officials is relatively high, including every kind of skulduggery and toes on the legal line misdeadery in their career.

You can pretty much assume that the public at large will stay fascinated by violent crime while educated people elected by the public will cheat and steal for the foreseeable future, causing far more human suffering then they prevent.

Carl in Monument

Mitt has a record of being tough on crime--tough to a fault even.

1- He gave exactly ZERO pardons as a governor to criminals during his 4-yer tenure (very unusual, and perhaps even ground breaking)--whether you agree or not, this shows he has NO SYMPATHY for criminals

2- He supports the death penalty, and may have made it MA law had he not been fighting an 85% Democratic legislature

This is a case of a mistake that any conservative governor could have committed. He had no personal knowledge of Tuttman, only knew her based on her record. No one could have known she would go against her past.

Mitt in effect admits her nomination was a mistake when he called for her resignation. What else could you do at that point. Anyone who thinks now Mitt should step down doesn't understand agency. Individuals will act on their own will in the end, and we can only base judgement based on past experience--in all cases. The fault lies with the perpetrator, but it may have been prevented had the judge used better "judgement". This guy had attacked guards toward the end of his sentence--what the heck was the judge thinking????!!!! Mitt had no such assessment when he looked at Tuttman's record. As far as we know, she'd never made a judgement as off-kilter as this in the past.

Why did the guy only do 16 years for stabbing his mother to death? Because there's not enough room in prison, that's why.

And guess who makes up 1/3 of the prison population... non-violent drug offenders.

So why didn't the recommendation by Romney's Commission on Corrections Reform to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders ever get implemented? Why does Romney think it's OK to arrest more people in this country for marijuana (even the terminally ill) than for all violent crimes combined? Why does Giuliani think so?

Where are we going to put all these people, and how many more killers will have to go free to make room? Why isn't the press asking these questions?

There is no rational way to blame Romney for a decision made by an independent judge. We need to remind people of political science 101 basics--the judiciary is independent of the rest of the political system. Romney could have called for 35 billion dollar bail and the judge could have told Romney to take a hike and let the man go. I have never heard of a politician telling a judge what kind of bail decision to make. Some commentators (aka the Boston Herald) are essentially blaming these murders one Romney--intellectual and journalistic dishonesty at its worst. Note how even the victims family understand on person is to blame directly--the murderer and one person has something to answer for--the judge who let him go without bail. Dukakis was the boss of the guy who oversaw the prison furlough program. So while the attack on him was also not really fair, at least there was an employer/employee relationship to point to. The same goes for the Guiliani chief of police debacle. What this does show is how hard one has to push the limits of logic to implicate Romney in scandal.
We should all realize that scandals detract from the opportunity to accomplish anything and give your enemies fodder. Huckabee was a scandal monger in Arkansas: five campaign ethics violations, stealing carpets and art from the governor's mansion and destroying the governor's offices' computer harddrives. Guiliani has ties to the mob via his indicted police chief. Is this the worst you got on Romney? The Dems are in trouble!

I agree, this is nothing more than politics. If the suspect was released shortly before his sentence ended what on Earth would have stopped him from committing the same act later? Stupid. Sounds like what they really want is harsher sentencing, a judge stepping down won't change this, or prevent it from happening again.