A progressive slap at public defenders

Assuming that you read Public Defender Investigator (and if you don't, you should), probably you've already scanned this dismaying and thorough San Jose Mercury - News series about the sad state of criminal justice in Santa Clara County, CA. If not, click, scroll through and view the shortcomings of the system up close.

If you were to read the Mother Jones magazine blog about it, here's something you'd take away:

... defense attorneys neglected to do even the most basic independent investigation... In some cases they didn't even appear to know basic criminal law. Note that this applies to both public defenders, who are notorious for this sort of behavior...

Good for the first commenter, who takes the blog to task. Maybe this is true of Charley in Florida, but put the broad brush down, Mother. Does it have to be repeated: just because you call yourself progressive doesn't mean that you won't stoop to a drive-by slur on public defenders? I expected a little better from Bradford Plumer. Thanks, MoJo.