Below The Beltway

ABC News’s Terry Moran on the Duke lacrosse story:

[P]erhaps the outpouring of sympathy for Reade Seligman, Collin Finnerty and David Evans is just a bit misplaced. They got special treatment in the justice system–both negative and positive. The conduct of the lacrosse team of which they were members was not admirable on the night of the incident, to say the least. And there are so many other victims of prosecutorial misconduct in this country who never get the high-priced legal representation and the high-profile, high-minded vindication that it strikes me as just a bit unseemly to heap praise and sympathy on these particular men.

So as we rightly cover the vindication of these young men and focus on the genuine ordeal they have endured, let us also remember a few other things:

They were part of a team that collected $800 to purchase the time of two strippers.

Their team specifically requested at least one white stripper.

So what ? Does that justify them being accused, falsely, of rape and being the subject of a prosecutor’s vendetta for more than a year ? Of course it doesn’t.

Moran’s broader point in the post seems to be that we shouldn’t feel sorry for the Duke lacrosse players because they’re a bunch of privileged white kids:

As students of Duke University or other elite institutions, these young men will get on with their privileged lives. There is a very large cushion under them–the one that softens the blows of life for most of those who go to Duke or similar places, and have connections through family, friends and school to all kinds of prospects for success. They are very differently situated in life from, say, the young women of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.

Now I’ve definitely got to call bullshit on this comment. How in the world can you compare being accused of a crime that could’ve resulted in decades in prison if convicted with being called names by a washed-up radio talk show host ? I love Rutgers and I think it’s unfortunate that they’ve been put through this, but, in the grand scheme of things, Don Imus’s comments really aren’t as big a deal as the media made them out to be, and certainly not as serious as being falsely accused of rape.

And just what kind of school does Moran think Rutgers is ? We’re not talking about a community college here, we’re talking about a major state university with a very good nationwide reputation. In fact, when I moved to Virginia 15, I was surprised at just how highly regarding Rutgers was academically. The Rutgers women are going to do just fine Mr. Moran.

In the end, Moran asks us not to feel sorry for the Duke men because they are a bunch of spoiled white kids who hired a stripper. Who cares ? That still doesn’t justify them being victimized in the manner they were.

H/T: Wizbang

Other thoughts: The Corner, Betsy’s Page, Attytood, QandO, The Navel of the Internet, Confederate Yankee, NewsBusters.org