I think we're all jaded by the MCA circus, and we are taking it out on this mother.
There have been times where my 5 yo daughter has driven me nuts and I would have liked to guzzle some wine too- and I have. (Fair enough, not falling down drunk, but very merry.) I think all the talking heads who are ready to draw and quarter this woman because she admitted to being drunk are a bunch of sensationalist hypocrates. Parents can and do make mistakes. Nobody is denying drinking to excess when you are being an active caretaker of a child is a bad idea- and nobody regrets it more than that poor mother.
Why she initially denied it, then downplayed the amount was obvious: she was afraid of her other kids being taken away from her too, but by social workers. In her position, with the media already beginning to label you a baby-killer and a horrific excuse for a mother, many of you might have done the same thing.
Her defense lawyer is very good. Like it or not, he's giving them good legal advice: don't give the media anything more to hang you with- because they *will* hang you to sell papers and commercial time on TV. Perhaps they don't want the 2 little boys interviewed for the same resons Elizabeth Smart's parents didn't pressure her sister (who was also sleeping in the same room when Elizabeth was abducted). Perhaps when the kids are not scared or pressured to say *something*, ANYTHING, they will talk. I would rather preserve my child's potential memory as a witness and be derided in the media than risk losing a vital clue by someone putting words into my child's mouth or altering their memory.
I think it's time people stop seeing the world through the leftover poison of the CA trial. In that case, clearly she was guilty. In this one, this family deserves compassion.