Today’s economic column from online journalist Luis Nassif follows up on the flap over an appearance by Supreme Court Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes on last night’s Roda Viva, the venerable live interview program on TV Cultura here in Sambodia.
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From my own observations, I tend to agree with Nassif’s assessment here, as I often do. Nassif has an analytic bent and an “average reasonable man” approach to life in general that I tend to share.
Imagine, for example, Justice Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court hiring Burston Marsteller to orchestrate a nationwide media blitz on his behalf, in which he loudly and publicly defends his judicial philosophy and his votes in significant rulings by the court, while pontificating about how the court ought to rule in the future, what Bush should do about the Iraq war, and how Congress should vote on the bank bailout.
The media blitz culminates in one of those Bush-style phony press conferences in which planted shills pose as “journalists.”
I am thinking especially of a State Dept. press conference last year in which press aides did exactly that — impersonated journalists.
That gives you some notion of the spectacle Brazilians are bedazzled by at the moment.
Writes Nassif:
Nos últimos dias, o presidente do Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF), Gilmar Mendes, tem sido alvo de uma impressionante onda de solidariedade: governadores, entidades empresariais, canais de televisão, uma louvação ampla e irrestrita.
In recent days, the Chief Justice has been the object of an extraordinary wave of support: state governors, industrial associations, TV broadcasters, all rendering an ample and unrestricted homage to the magistrate.
Por diversas vezes assumiu atitudes corajosas contra atos arbitrários de juízes, procuradores e policiais. Por outro lado, expôs a imagem do STF com uma verborragia incompatível com o cargo.
On a number of occasions, Mendes has taken courageous stances against arbitrary acts by judges, prosecutors and police. On the other hand, he has degraded the image of the Supreme Court with a tendency to talk too much that is incompatible with the post he occupies.
He is a real ex parte animal, this Mendes.
The sight of the man engaging in this freewheeling punditry, amplified by the gazillion-jigawatt megaphone of the national news media, goes against everything they taught me in those pre-law courses back in college about what judiciousness is supposed to look like.
O primeiro passo para entender esse fenômeno é situar corretamente a questão da repressão no país, dividindo-a em dois pontos.
In order to understand this phenomenon correctly, we must first properly situate the issue of law enforcement in this country, dividing it into two points.
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