When Fox News correspondent Rita Cosby decided to approach "Son of Sam" killer David Berkowitz, she didn't exactly treat him like a despicable mass murderer.
"Your personal story and spiritual growth inspired me to write to you," Cosby told Berkowitz in a letter. Sometimes, she wrote, "the Lord calls on individuals at various times to serve him and serve his people. . . . I believe as a Christian your help is a great service. . . .
"You have a testimony that must be heard. . . . Our world is crying and you can help."
Berkowitz, who killed six people and wounded seven in the mid-1970s in New York, responded with a three-page letter about the Washington sniper after receiving Cosby's note Wednesday.. He thanked her "for the kind things you said."
Cosby defended her effort yesterday, saying: "I didn't say, 'Hey, you're a terrific guy, I think you're wonderful.' I touched on the fact that he says he's now a Christian and that this is an opportunity to do something positive."
In her Fox reports about the exchange, Cosby said, she repeatedly pointed out Berkowitz's criminal record. "I don't think there was anything wrong in appealing to his Christian instincts. I don't think that in any way we glorified him."
Charles Pierce says all that needs to be said:
From CHARLES PIERCE: Speaking on behalf of my own little piece of Our Crying World, I can assure Rita Cosby that my immediate reaction to the news of another Beltway ambush was not (and likely never will ), "Geez, I wonder what the Son of Sam is thinking about all of this?" And, speaking on behalf of my own little piece of Our Crying World, I can further assure her that my immediate reaction to the ensuing ratings bonanza was not (and likely never will be), "You know, what we need here is input from a guy who once took his bloody marching orders from the neighbor's dog." And, finally, speaking on behalf of my own little piece of Christianity, I can assure her that, of all the misuses of His gospel that He's seen since He gave up and went home, even The Founder couldn't have dreamed that He'd be used as cover for a tabloid clown act.