I have to agree with you. I think it was Quincy Carrier that said it, at this point, since the NFL has let it drag out so long, the damage to DWs rep will be permanent and lasting without a miraculous intervention from some unknown to date facts coming to light. I think the stink might lessen over time, but he will forever be branded by this, even if he gets through all these cases relatively unscathed, the damage is done. Now we as Browns fans have to decide if that is acceptable to us to the degree that we will follow the guy. There is nobody saying he's not a damn good player, but a lot of fans don't care how good he is at this point.
Ben R. raped. Twice. He stationed his bodyguards at the entrance of the bathroom, if memory serves, so that he could rape. He got 6 games reduced down to 4, if memory serves. I also don't recall any sort of apology tour after that situation was resolved. Since then, we've come a long way (or maybe we haven't), and the landscape has certainly changed, but I don't think it's so much so that DW won't be able to recover from this. We still trot Jim Brown out there to wave to the fans and stuff, and nobody has pulled down the Ray Lewis statue. I think any talk of permanent damage is getting ahead of ourselves.
I'll also add that I'm speaking only about the national attention/attitude about this situation right now. I'm not trying to put words in your or anyone's mouth about how they should/will feel about this.
