Beck on Sutton

Randell Beck of the Argus Leader sees pagegate as a "witch-hunt," and even quotes Arthur Miller's "The Crucible":

I had to laugh last week when I read Sen. Ed Olson's comments about whether a special legislative session on the matter should be open to the public. He doesn't think so: "I'm just really sensitive because I'm closer to it than most. Because of my connection to those folks, I don't want a circus."

Great. Instead, we've got a public witch hunt featuring vague talk from Attorney General Larry Long about a "criminal investigation," innuendo from self-righteous legislators suddenly concerned about the scruples of a brother senator and a hearty "me too!" from an ambitious governor predictably concerned about being perceived as pro-pedophile. Give me a circus any day.

I don't mind telling you that as we enter Act II of this sad drama, in which we find some lawmakers piling on for a public lynching, your humble editor is beginning to wonder exactly who the victim is here.

...

In "The Crucible," Arthur Miller's searing and dramatic portrait of the witch trials in 17th century Salem, Mass., fiction becomes fact as hysteria overpowers justice. Men, swept along in a surreal tide of suspicion and fear, choose sides for the wrong reasons. Cynicism overshadows conscience.

Danforth, the trial judge, represents those who seem hellbent on drawing a line in the sand for the rest of the world.

"You must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or must be counted against it, there be no road between," he says in Act III. "This is a sharp time, now, a precise time - we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world."

Yes, just now the machinery seems set against Dan Sutton.

I'm not sure I would characterize this as a "witch-hunt".  Yes we have to be careful because we don't actually know what happened.  But the allegations towards Sutton have been around since before the primaries last June.  Why was it never disclosed to the public?  Chad Schult, Todd Epp, SDWC, and SDP have all asked this question.  And I doubt this whole affair came about because of "politically inspired disclosures."  What does anyone hope to gain by this?  Besides, it appears that Dennis Weise has been asking for these investigations for quite some time.  But politically inspired rumors told as factual news stories must be all right for the Argus, as was the case with Bob Sahr.

UPDATE:  Sibby has some more observations.