Casey Anthony Acquitted; World Waits for Nancy Grace's Head to Combust

Casey Anthony: "Hmm, book deal? Movie deal? 'Dancing With the Stars'?"

The Casey Anthony jurors have spoken, and the world holds its collective breath for the coming cataclysm: Nancy Grace's head exploding, or imploding, or bursting forth like a supernova. No doubt Grace was fuming after the acquittal of Casey Anthony in the death of her daughter Caylee, and probably spent her entire show Tuesday screeching "Tot mom! Tot mom! Tot mom!" at the top of her lungs. (She did apparently say that "the devil was dancing" at the verdict.)

The way Grace substitutes "tot mom" for the name "Casey Anthony" every chance she gets, you'd think she's trademarked the phrase. Maybe Grace is planning on marketing a series of "Tot Mom" t-shirts and coffee mugs? Or maybe she has a clause in her HLN contract that give her a nickel every time she utters the phrase "tot mom" on the air.

Nancy Dis-Grace certainly has plenty of devoted viewers, but plenty of folks find her act of proclaiming every development as "Stunning!," "Blockbuster!," "Bombshell!," etc. pretty tiresome.  The New York Daily News called Grace “everything that’s wrong with cable TV.” And you have to wonder if it was news "personalities" like Grace that Ted Turner had in mind years ago when he lamented that cable news had descended into "pervert of the week" coverage.

Nancy Grace: expect her head to explode in 3, 2, 1... Photo: Vidiot

CNN has marketed Grace in the past as a "tough-as-nails former prosecutor," but her pit-bull style has earned her a lot of criticism and condemnation, even in her law career. The Supreme Court of Georgia has criticized her not once but twice, according to Wikipedia, including a heroin case in which she "'exceeded the wide latitude of closing argument' by drawing comparisons to unrelated murder and rape cases." In another case, the Court determined that "the conduct of the prosecuting attorney [Grace] in this case demonstrated her disregard of the notions of due process and fairness, and was inexcusable."

Grace isn't the only anchor to go overboard regarding the Anthony trial at HLN (the CNN channel formerly known as Headline News). Over the weekend we saw video of Jane Velez-Mitchell literally running after the defense attorneys to try to get a comment. And after the verdict was announced, the usually watchable Vinnie Politano fell way off the wagon and veered sharply into Nancy Grace territory. He pounded on the table and going on and on about Caylee Anthony being dumped like a pile of garbage, how could Casey Anthony not say anything for a month knowing her daughter is dead, etc., neglecting that those charges were not part of the State's indictment.

HLN should have pulled Mr. Politan off the air until he could compose himself, or take a Xanax or something. He embarrassed himself, and I'm sure a number of viewers were turned off by his over-the-top, one-sided harangue.