Martha Martha Martha

I'm sure I'm not the only one who was floored at the behavior of the press to Friday's Martha Stewart verdict. MSNBC actually ran special programming ALL DAY today to discuss it in detail.

Now, from what I've read, Martha was brought up on charges that are rarely if ever pursued. From Wall Street insiders, we hear that much more egregious stuff happens all the time in stock trading and they're surprised Martha's taking the fall for something relative minor and open to interpretation. And from what I've heard from the jury (mostly that one vociferous fellow who has appeared on every program), they bore some prejudice because a) Martha was being tried by the Feds (hearing, "the US Government Against Martha Stewart" sounds important) b) some celebs appeared at the trial and c) Martha did not testify (something juries are told not to factor into their decision).

My view on this is simple: Martha got hit the way she got hit because a) she's a woman b) she's a woman who supported Democratic causes and c) she made a lovely target.

Martha's actions, as charged, did not hurt anyone else's stock portfolio. The same cannot be said of those at Enron, WorldCom, and such who are walking around free in one of their many mansions, while their investors are looking at working into their 70s and 80s to pay for the money they lost. But Kenny Boy Lay and others supported the RNC almost exclusively. Martha did not.