William Jefferson

[Jim]

What a surreal last twelve months this has been for Bush. We have a democrat in Congress with, allegedly, $90,000 in bribe money stashed in his home freezer. Lawful warrants were obtained and served to seize the Congressman's office files and somehow Bush positions himself in the middle.

 

IMO, he should have told both the republicans and democrats fussing about legislative perrogatives to stick it.

 

On one of the Sunday morning programs they were theorizing that Republicans are sympathetic to Jefferson because they want to protect their offices from searches when the DOJ comes calling.

 

Then you have Jefferson looking the cameras straight in the eye and saying he has a perfectly valid explanation for his cold cash.

 

It is one weird mess!

[doG]

Did anyone notice that this guy's name is the same as Clinton's first and middle names, i.e. William Jefferson Clinton, our 42nd President?

[Phi for All]

On one of the Sunday morning programs they were theorizing that Republicans are sympathetic to Jefferson because they want to protect their offices from searches when the DOJ comes calling.

I personally think this is exactly what all the fuss is about. At the root of the issue you find a very bipartisan effort to protect politicians from being examined too thoroughly. I don't think modern political practices would look very good to most Americans if they were exposed without the proper media spin.

[Jim]

Did anyone notice that this guy's name is the same as Clinton's first and middle names, i.e. William Jefferson Clinton, our 42nd President?

 

Heh, I toyed with doing something with that fact but finally gave up because it was too late.

 

Edit: Here's a pretty good background article.

[Pangloss]

It's a patently bad move by a congress that seems to have forgotten that its own approval rating is even lower than the president's.

[bascule]

I suspect this November will prove to be an interesting election

[Sisyphus]

Can you imagine congressmen getting elected who actually want transparency, real campaign finance reform, and an end to ridiculous pork-barrel spending?

 

...me neither. But it is interesting and hopeful that the public is actually starting to pay attention to those things an be annoyed about them.

[Pangloss]

Hehe, well put Sisyphus.

 

I suspect this November will prove to be an interesting election

 

You know you're right -- I can't remember looking forward to a midterm election with such anticipation before (such as it is).

[Phi for All]

Can you imagine congressmen getting elected who actually want transparency' date=' real campaign finance reform, and an end to ridiculous pork-barrel spending?

 

...me neither. But it is interesting and hopeful that the public is actually starting to pay attention to those things an be annoyed about them.[/quote']I think it's great that people are getting sick of hearing that tired old song, That's How Things Get Done 'Round Here. Politicians have been painting themselves into a corner for a long time but we let them spin themselves free almost every time. I'm glad some of that paint is sticking for a change.