Posted on 07/13/2013 8:34:10 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
In a dramatic end to a case that has unwinded for over a year, George Zimmerman was found not guilty of any charges related to the death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager who was shot by Zimmerman.
The case wasn't just a fascination for the broader American public, but for politicians as well. This was especially true after President Obama said in March, 2012 that, if he had a son, "he'd look like Trayvon." On Saturday night, the reactions from D.C. started coming in soon after the not-guilty verdict was reached.
The first came from Rep. Corrine Brown, who represents Orlando, Florida:
Thoughts are with #TrayvonMartin family. I pray for peace. — Corrine Brown (@RepCorrineBrown) July 14, 2013
This bold response came early from Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, who is widely viewed as a big part of the Democratic Party's future:
Defense attorney Mark O'Mara may incite a riot by his arrogance alone. Talk about adding insult to injury. — Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) July 14, 2013
Castro was referring, in part, to statements during a defense press conference Saturday night where O'Mara said that if George Zimmerman had been black, he never would have been charged with Trayvon Martin's murder. In explaining that opinion, O'Mara said that "those people who decided that they were going to make [Zimmerman] a scapegoat would not have" if he he was black. As The New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobin pointed out, O'Mara didn't really do himself any favors opining here, calling his statements "absurd."
In a seperate press conference, Benjamin Crump, the attorney for the Martin family said: "To everybody that put their hoodies up, and to everybody that said 'I am Trayvon,' his family expresses their heartfelt gratitude." In response to a similar question about what would have happened had Zimmerman been black, Crump said:
Well, we know that a 17-year-old unarmed boy was killed. And I think all America has to dig deep in their hearts to find how we as a society can learn from this tragedy and make sure it's not repeated.
On the Republican side of the aisle, former RNC chair Michael Steele also spoke out on Twitter:
Defense Atty:"if George Zimmerman were black, he never would have been charged with a crime" Is he high? — Michael Steele (@Steele_Michael) July 14, 2013
Just because Zimmerman has been cleared on all charges doesn't mean that this case is over. The NAACP on Saturday night posted a petition to the Department of Justice, asking Attorney General Eric Holder to file civil rights charges against Zimmerman.
We'll keep updating this post throughout the weekend.
This is disappointing as hell.
you’re right, it just shows that they are the ones who are racist by assuming that blacks will riot.
Michael Steele and his ilk are the Kryptonite of conservative Americans. More proof of why the GOP is extinct.
“I’ve been all over the net tonight looking to see if any riots have broken out. So far, nothing.”
Good late-Saturday timing of the verdict. Rioter-types are either stoned, drunk or asleep.
Well I don't have any statistics, but we hear a lot about shootings of black men in Chicago, but very little of the murder trials afterwords. There is also the cultural trait of "no snitching" that has to be overcome to be able to bring a black killer of a black man to justice. So yes, the attorney is probably correct.
This generation of blacks isn’t nearly the equal of their grandparents back in the 60’s and 70’s.
Maybe the Best Buys now have shatterproof glass, hardened ironwork, and closed before the verdict.
Then it’s time to get a good night’s sleep and be ready to read all about it over eggs benedict and bloody-marys in the morning.
She is talking about Obama and Holder’s response.
MO'M: Thanks guys, appreciate the time... oh, someone said it was the last question so...
Pressbabe: Please, just a very quick um I wasazummarummarummanational network. From your private conversations with George Zimmerman, what was the most compelling statement from George Zimmerman that made you believe in his innocence?
MO'M: I think there's not just one but I think if you really want to look at the statements, the first opportunity that he... he could say something about this case, he said "I was screaming out for help and nobody came."
MO'M: When Officer Cerrino (sp?) challenged him and said "I think there may be a video of this" he said "Thank God." I dismiss with disgust the State's suggestion that he was some cop wannabe savant who knew that he could take on that bluff. I think that really speaks to what George was going through that night and how he presented it. So if you wanna look for some insight from him that was it.
Pressbabe: Was he crying to you?
MO'M: I'm sorry?
Pressbabe: Did he ever cry to you, show any emotions?
MO'M: Ab... absolutely. 16 months of some people calling him the most hated man in America for having defended his own life even if he had a need for 45 seconds, and then a man who believes in the system, whose Dad was a judge, who maybe wanted to be a cop or a prosecutor, then gets into 2... 2 systems went against George Zimmerman that he can't understand.
MO'M: You guys, the media, he was like a patient on an operating table with a mad scientist committing experiments on him and he had no anaesthesia. He didn't know why he was turned into this monster, but quite honestly you guys had a lot to do with it. You just did, because you took a story that was fed to you and you ran with it, and you ran right over him, and that was horrid to him.
MO'M: Them he comes into a system that he trusts, let's not forget - six voluntary statements, voluntary surrender, and he believes in a system that that he really wanted to be part of, right? And then he gets prosecutors that charge him with a crime that they could never, ever prove. It's not like - they didn't lose evidence on the way, right?
MO'M: I don't think anyone would argue with me in this room that they had evidence of second-degree murder. This "in your heart" kind of stuff, that's not what we're supposed to do and it's not what they're supposed to do. So those two systems failed him.
Well, Bernie, the lamest prosecutor on earth, was calling Trayvon a “young child” in the press conference - I didn’t watch the trial because my BP couldn’t have taken it — watching Angela and Bernie tonight just about did me in.
I wouldn’t be disappointed yet.
Give the Media and the race Hustlers like Jackson and Sharpton a little time to work, Obama might even send his FBI Justice Dept. instigators back down to Sanford.
The Media is still saying how this poor unarmed black child was killed. They do not accept the verdict in any way. Instead of trying to calm the problem they are doing their best to bring on chaos. My personal hope is that if the riot starts they got straight to the nearest press outlet and vent their frustration.
If Zimmerman had been black the press would not have shown up either... The New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobin knows this is true because he and his fellow shills in the MSM are not covering any of the few hundred cases a year in Chicago.
BTW, Juan Williams has just called Martin a “dead child” for the 12th time on Fox.
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That was on Fox News. I wanted to reach through the TV screen and slap the hell out of Juan! It was so redundant to keep using the term “child”.
Similar to the prosecutor’s closing rebuttal Friday where he repeatedly used the term “victim” when referring to TM, although GZ was actually the victim and TM was the attacker.
I don’t think O’Mara said what Steele inferred, and he certainly didn’t mean young black males don’t get charged with murder on a regular basis. A young black male would not have been made the ‘scapegoat’ as O’Mara put it. And a young black male would not have been charged with murder under these circumstances. Who can deny that?
Jeffrey Toobin is the silliest unread editorialist in America.
I got real tired of this “Dead Child” crap real fast during the trial, and in listening to all the Talking Rubberheads.
This young man was taller than me and outweighed me by about 30 pounds; at his age he could have probably beat my ass other than the fact I know how to cheat like hell.
I am to tired to run away and to old to take a beating; so I will just shoot you dead and end it quick, some would call it cheating. I call it survival.
And I always carry.
I’ve only read that transcript about three times. I even rewound the TV so I could watch it again. I’m still about five or ten minutes behind on the TV. LOL
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