And of course Coakley worked pretty hard to keep Gerald Amirault in prison and Cheryl Amirault LeFave either in prison or out, but with her mouth figuratively taped shut–a gag order against appearing on radio, TV, maybe in print–and coerced a promise not to sue the Commonwealth (and Coakely personally, I don’t doubt) for abuse of process.

Other plaintiffs who sued prosecutors and government bodies for abuse of process in similar, hysterical “ritual bunny-killing” cases earned awards or settlements in the $2- to $3-million range. (See Dorothy Rabinowitz’ WSJournal columns on “A Darkness In Massachusetts,” for which–with other columns–Rabinowitz won a Pulitzer prize.)

Gloria Steinem’s endorsement assertion to the contrary notwithstanding, I’m not convinced Coakley would be an advocate of “family values”: so far as Google can reveal, she has no children of her own, as was the case with Janet Reno–and Reno’s concerns for children had rather disastrous effects in Waco, Texas. And wasn’t there a rather over-the-top, but non-fatal armed Reno raid on Elián González’ house in the wee hours of a Miami morning, as well?

Not that having or not having one’s own children can be considered dispositive or even suggestive of how an individual in a position of power might behave when others’ children are affected–see “Iraq,” “Afghanistan,” and “Vietnam” in Wikipedia & elsewhere.

Mike is the one.