Casey Anthony: Won’t you please stop saying that, Nancy Grace?

These are grand days for Nancy Grace, who is enjoying increased ratings on HLN and increased visibility on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Her coverage of the Casey Anthony trial lifted her HLN ratings 85 percent in June from the same time a year ago. It was the best month ever for “Nancy Grace.”

I’ve grown to enjoy her on “GMA” because the ABC show pairs her with Dan Abrams, who stands up to her and kids her. Abrams humanizes her. Nobody serves the same function on her HLN show, an overproduced showcase where Grace rolls over guests and keeps uttering “tot mom.” You have to like that take-charge style to appreciate Generalissimo Grace.

I know she’ll never change. But I do wish Grace would stop saying one thing — and I’m not complaining about “tot mom,” her nickname for Casey Anthony. Grace, who gives off such a tough law-and-order vibe as a former prosecutor, lets its slip in almost every appearance that she would lie to save her children.

On that point, Grace has shown a lot of sympathy for Cindy Anthony, whose testimony about computer searches was skewered for fabrications.

But how does it help anyone, Nancy, to lie?

Just last night, Grace asked a guest, defense attorney Daniel Horowitz: “Wouldn’t you do that for your little girl? Wouldn’t you get up on the stand and say, It was me, I did it?”

Horowitz shot back, “No. I don’t think lying serves your children, no matter what the situation.”

Isn’t the one of the central lessons of the Anthony story?

Casey Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee. In trying to help Casey, Cindy offered widely discredited testimony and probably made matters worse for her daughter. One of the Ten Commandments says “thou shalt not bear false witness.” There’s no exception for mothers talking about their children. 

On her show, Grace stuck to her I’d-lie stance: ”Then I guess I’m going straight to hell because I would do it. I know I would do it.”

Grace cited her twins, again, as a reason she would lie. But Horowitz, to his great credit, set her straight.

“All you’re saying is that you care so much — you would die for your children,” Horowitz said. “But lying for them is not going to benefit them. You tell the truth and hope that people on the jury have mercy on your child’s life. You don’t lie to them. You would not lie. You just feel strongly that you would defend your children. There’s a difference.”

I hope Grace will take that idea to heart — and refrain from that I’d-lie-for-my-children speech, which some Grace fans might take seriously. It’s the wrong message to send. Just look at what happened to Cindy Anthony.