Tom Delay indicted, to step down as Majority Leader...

[Dinner]

It was a nonevent all around. Trying to claim it was the equal of the President of the United States commiting the vast crimes which brought down Nixon is beyond the absurd.

The kids should have got exactly what they did get. Fired and forced to face the music (which amounts to probation).

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Oerdin
It was a nonevent all around. Trying to claim it was the equal of the President of the United States commiting the vast crimes which brought down Nixon is beyond the absurd.

Please refresh my memories. what exactly was/were Nixon's vast crimes. Seems they were coverup and obstruction, no?

The kids should have got exactly what they did get. Fired and forced to face the music (which amounts to probation).

Umm... as I indicated previously 'the kids' weren't fired. And making excuses for 20 somethings and passing it off as kids on a lark don't cut it.

SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER had just finished his last sputtering of outrage at the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court when news broke that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which he chairs, had a small problem. Newsday and the New York Post both reported that the DSCC was in illegal possession of the credit report for Maryland's Republican Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele. Two of Schumer's staffers, Katie Barge and Lauren Weiner, used Steele's Social Security number to fraudulently get his credit history.

The DSCC expects Steele to run for the Senate seat which Democrat Paul Sarbanes will vacate with his retirement next year. Nothing frightens Democrats more than a conservative African-American and Steele demonstrated in his appearance at the 2004 GOP convention that he has charisma, warmth, and a sharp sense of policy.

Making this even more scandalous, it turns out that the DSCC had known about Barge and Weiner's pilfering for over two months, having placed both on a paid suspension since early July, according to the Post. And yet no one gave any indication that the DSCC notified Michael Steele about the invasion of his privacy until this week. Given that federal statutes make the acquisition, distribution, acceptance, and even reading of this data without specific written authorization a federal crime, the theft should have resulted in no small amount of media attention.

The Washington Post did run an editorial scolding Schumer and the Democrats--but then promptly watered it down with a sniff

about how everybody does it and a call for both sides to clean up their act. The Washington Times provided some coverage that confirmed that Steele wanted the staffers prosecuted. The New York Times has not yet covered the story at all. The rest of the national media, caught up in coverage of dueling hurricane catastrophes, has written and broadcast almost nothing else.

more from the Article

Keeping two staffers on paid leave of absence after breaking federal laws on privacy--especially when data privacy happens to be a specialty of Senator Schumer--does indicate a casual approach to practicing what Schumer preaches. Schumer should demand to know who made the decision to keep paying two people who committed felonies in the name of the organization he chairs.

Much as you want to do the lalala can't hear you its no big deal routine, it smells bad like a coverup smells.

[MrFun]

Actually Ogie, the smell is from that nasty fart of yours.

[Drake Tungsten]

Man, how awesome would it be if both DeLay and Schumer got knocked out of office?

[Sava]

yeah I don't like Schumer... he's one of the anti-violent video game nuts

[Dinner]

Since it has now been a day since Delay was charged and forced out of the House leadership position the right wingers in talk radio have made it their job #1 to attempt to claim that Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is a partisan person and he's only going after poor little Tom Delay because of partisan hatred. What is the true? From the Washington Monthly we have Earle's record of what cases he's gone after.

"• Former state Rep. Gilbert Serna, D-El Paso. Pleaded guilty to charges of theft by a public servant in 2000.

• Former state Rep. Lane Denton, D-Waco. Found guilty of theft in 1995.

• State Rep. Betty Denton, D-Waco, pleaded guilty in 1995 to perjury charges.

• Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican, indicted on a charge of official misconduct. Earle in 1994 declined to present a case at trial. Hutchison received a directed verdict of acquittal.

• Land Commissioner Garry Mauro, Democrat, investigated in 1992 for political misuse of his agency for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign. Earle found no "conscious pattern of misuse of state property for political or personal purposes."

• Speaker Gib Lewis, D-Fort Worth. Pleaded guilty in 1992 of misdemeanor filing of false financial statements. Lewis in 1983 also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor failure to file a financial statement.

• San Antonio voter registrar Marco Gomez, Democrat, pleaded guilty in 1992 to tampering with a government record.

• State Rep. Charles Staniswallis, R-Amarillo, pleaded guilty to felony theft in 1990.

• Attorney General Jim Mattox, Democrat, found innocent by a jury in 1983 on charges of commercial bribery.

• Texas Treasurer Warren G. Harding, Democrat, pleaded guilty in 1982 to misdemeanor official misconduct.

• State Rep. Mike Martin, R-Longview. Pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor perjury charge in 1981 for having lied about arranging to have himself shot to generate publicity.

• State Sen. Gene Jones, D-Houston, pleaded guilty in 1980 to a misdemeanor charge of official misconduct for using a state computer for political purposes.

• Travis County Commissioner Bob Honts, a Democrat who later switched parties, pleaded guilty in 1979 to misdemeanor misapplication of county property."

That looks like a pretty mixed bag to me. Earle looks like the type of DA who goes after criminals and doesn't play partisan games. America could do well to have more men like him; to bad we have air bag wing nuts on the radio instead.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_11/005190.php

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Ogie Oglethorpe
Please refresh my memories. what exactly was/were Nixon's vast crimes. Seems they were coverup and obstruction, no?

Here's a list of the 12 main crimes Nixon commited domestically while in office. We'll leave out the claims people have made of war crimes and use of chemical weapons though they likely have merit.

1. political burglary
2. bribery
3. extortion
4. illegal wiretapping (phone tapping)
5. conspiracy
6. obstruction of justice
7. destruction of evidence
8. tax fraud
9. illegal use of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA.)
10. illegal use of the Federal Bureau of Investigations
(FBI.)
11. illegal campaign contributions
12. use of public (taxpayers') money for private purposes

Try reading the book "The Imperial Presidency" as it is a very well written and informative book which sticks to the facts and details why we never want a man such as Nixon to be in power again.


The rest of your silly little false equivancy just isn't worth refuting yet again. You basically had college students who were paid interns who bought stuff off of the internet. They were punished for it and will likely be punished more, however, you're honestly attempting to say that is the same calibre as the Senate Majority Leader running a money laundering system? Sorry Oggie but that is just plain stupid.

[Boris Godunov]

House Majority Leader, damnit.

Yes, and equating this to the charges against DeLay is just typical smoke-and-mirrors deflection from Republicans. Just like their constant mantra, "WELL CLINTON DID [Insert supposed scandal here]."

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yeah, what is wrong with Oerdin and proper titles of leaders in the US? Even furriners get that right.

[Dinner]

It was a typo. Sue me.

[Imran Siddiqui]

It's quite an often typo

/me looks at Oerdin's "Frist" thread

[Dinner]

As long as we're on the topic of corruption with in the Republican party I thought I'd point out that Judith Miller, the reporter who published Karl Rove's leaking of the CIA agent who's husband exposed Bush & Rove's lies about Iraq, has been released from jail. All through out her time in prison senior administration officials continually stopped in to meet with her, to make sure she doesn't admite that Karl Rove was the source for the felony leak.

To bad Rove has been able to dodge this for three years but he'll more then likely have to face the music soon.

[Drake Tungsten]

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican, indicted on a charge of official misconduct. Earle in 1994 declined to present a case at trial. Hutchison received a directed verdict of acquittal.

If you'd read more about this one, I think your high opinion of Earle and his fairness might change. Then again, you seem to have become an uber-hack, so I won't be holding my breath...

[Dinner]

[SIZE=1]
If you'd read more about this one, I think your high opinion of Earle and his fairness might change. Then again, you seem to have become an uber-hack, so I won't be holding my breath...

Coming from the king of the uber hacks I will take that as a complement.

[Drake Tungsten]

I just said I'd be happy to see DeLay go. The Republicans need better hacks if I'm the best they can find.