Just because he's innocent until proven guilty in the eyes of the law doesn't mean you have to honor him

What on earth is the SCLC thinking? And what on earth are Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama thinking?

While he waits for his trial related to dogfighting charges to start, Michael Vick will be honored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

SCLC President Charles Steele announced Thursday during a news conference that the group will find a way to honor Vick during its national convention that began Friday.

"We will recognize Vick for being an outstanding human being," said Steele. "We will work with anyone who opens their heart and arms to us."

The president of the SCLC told Channel 2's JaQuitta Williams the organization will honor Vick by praying for him. Steele said supporting people in need is what the SCLC has been about for the past 50 years.

"We're in support of Michael as a human being," SCLC president Charles Steele said. "Right now, he's feeling discarded, ostracized by people who are rushing to judgment. It's our responsibility to save him."

Steele said he did not know if Vick will attend any of the events at the conference.

Former President Bill Clinton is a scheduled speaker and will cut the ribbon of the SCLC's new headquarters. Presidential candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) , Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) , Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee are also expected to attend.

The 27-year-old Vick has pleaded not guilty to charges of sponsoring a dogfighting operation. His trial begins November 26.

The most benign spin one can put on Michael Vick is that a dogfighting ring was being run out of his home without his knowledge for six whole years. To believe that Vick is simply a generous guy whose friends took advantage of him is to believe in the Great Pumpkin. To believe this you'd have to believe that there is no connection between Vick's purchase of the property in May 2001, the beginning of the accumulation of pit bulls from various states starting the following month, the "Bad Newz Kennels" gear they had made up. You'd have to believe that all of the cooperating witnesses who have testified to seeing Vick and his friends participate in dogfights over the next five years are lying. You'd have to believe that he had NO KNOWLEDGE of the kennels housing the dogs, the scars and injuries on the 54 dogs that were confiscated during the April raid and the "rape stand" used for breeding the dogs.

I'm not one to always take the word of law enforcement against a citizen, but if we learned anything from the O.J. Simpson case, it's that Americans are willing to blind themselves to just about anything, no matter how heinous, that a sports hero does. Mark Fuhrmann is the reason O.J. Simpson gets to walk a free man. But while Michael Vick has the right to defend himself in course, the evidence cited in the indictment is significant -- and disturbing. It's a mistake to convict him before he's even tried, but that doesn't mean that he should be honored right now by any respectable organization; and it sure as hell doesn't mean that presidential candidates ought to be there kissing the ring.
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