The New York Times might be thankful that it is not on trial with Dan Abrams serving as prosecutor.  The impassioned argument he made against the journalistic value of the Times' lengthy account of the Duke rape case in today's paper, Files From Duke Rape Case Give Details but No Answers, might have sent the paper to the Big House for years to come.

Interviewed by Tucker Carlson, Abrams, who until taking over as head of MSNBC had his own justice-oriented show on the network, came out guns ablazin'.

"I thought it was shameful. I think it was an editorial on the front page of what is supposed to be the news division of the newspaper."

It didn't get any better for the Times.  Additional excerpts from Abrams appearance:

• "[The article] glossed over the major weaknesses in this case and the inconsistencies in [the accuser's] story."
• "To say 'on the one hand, on the other hand', is shirking their journalistic duty here."
• "For the New York Times to come forward on the front page and claim it's an objective assessment of the 1,850 pages [of evidence] -- either they didn't read them or they got snookered."

Abrams concluded by saying "this is one of those days I'm sorry I still don't have a show."

There are surely many others of us out here who feel the same way.

Finkelstein lives in the liberal haven of Ithaca, NY, where he hosts 'Right Angle,' an award-winning public-access TV show. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net