The end of Herman Cain's campaign

[Hoss]

I predict Cain will be of little consequence to us as well.

I agree.  He'll likely move to Uz-beki-beki-stani-stani-stan to escape the criticism...

[nathanm]

If it weren't still relatively early, I would suspect that Cain gets the nod. Tea Partyists just rally around their deities when they are criticized and/or turn out to be corrupt. I can't see them getting behind Romney. This primary will come down to whomever the Tea Partyists think give them the best chance against the Republican establishment and Romney, who is clearly the old-guard Republican favorite.

Personally, I'd most like to see Ron Paul get the nomination. It'll never happen, though. He's too sane. I don't agree with many of his policy prescriptions, but he is at least sincere, unlike the rest of the Republican field that hasn't dropped out. He has the country's best interest in mind, not just his party's. Much like the real Obama. (as opposed to the fabricated Obama of Tea Partyist nightmares)

[Conan71]

Liberals just rally around their deities when they are criticized and/or turn out to be corrupt.

FIFY.

[Gaspar]

. . .Much like the real Obama.

Bwahahaha!  The last 3 years performance has been more than adequate to illustrate "the real Obama."

Standing ovation!

[nathanm]

That's just not true. Aside from Clinton's..indiscretions..Democrats who have turned out to have stepped out on their wives or have been involved in corruption almost always either resign or get voted out. Republicans, on the other hand, do not. Reagan, Gingrich, Bush II, and Palin all escaped with little to nothing in the way of repercussions. I guess there was that one jackass in San Diego some years back who got booted out, but he was found to have large sums of cash hidden away in his house.

It's funny how the conventional narrative so often flies in the face of facts. The Democrats aren't perfect. I have strong disagreements with the party line, but there is little equivalence between them and the incredibly corrupt Republican establishment, which unfortunately also includes the Tea Partyists. I had hoped that they would get behind people who weren't part of that, but they have turned out to be primarily interested in electing Republicans at any cost, including their own stated values.

BTW, when I said "the real Obama," I was talking about his actual record, not the right wing caricature which Gaspar furiously frottages himself against.

[Townsend]

It's funny how the conventional narrative so often flies in the face of facts.

Fox is mostly opinion news.  (non-factual).  Many of the GOP have watched Fox for a very long time.  (used to being told non-factual things as fact)  They're now used to accepting non-facts.


When the minions ask their GOP leaders (from media and politics) "why'd you do that?  We've seen the pictures/video and heard you do it on audio.  There's proof."
The GOP leaders say "I didn't do that.  It's the Liberal media."
Minions: "Oh, OK."

So on and so forth.

[Conan71]

That's just not true. Aside from Clinton's..indiscretions..Democrats who have turned out to have stepped out on their wives or have been involved in corruption almost always either resign or get voted out. Republicans, on the other hand, do not. Reagan, Gingrich, Bush II, and Palin all escaped with little to nothing in the way of repercussions. I guess there was that one jackass in San Diego some years back who got booted out, but he was found to have large sums of cash hidden away in his house.

It's funny how the conventional narrative so often flies in the face of facts. The Democrats aren't perfect. I have strong disagreements with the party line, but there is little equivalence between them and the incredibly corrupt Republican establishment, which unfortunately also includes the Tea Partyists. I had hoped that they would get behind people who weren't part of that, but they have turned out to be primarily interested in electing Republicans at any cost, including their own stated values.

BTW, when I said "the real Obama," I was talking about his actual record, not the right wing caricature which Gaspar furiously frottages himself against.

So your line is that Democrats are not corrupt or less corrupt than Republicans?  That's rich...

How about the influence peddling and crony capitalism scandal the Obama administration is currently embroiled in for starters?

Then we can segue into Dodd- (D-Countrywide), Biden (D-MBNA) Frank (D-Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac) and let's not forget the nice government work that interests owned by members of the Pelosi and Boxer clans get.

Pull your head out Nate.  If you really believe the quagmire in Washington is the result soley of corrupt GOP interests rather than a completely broken and corrupt system, I've got some really nice property for sale in a low-lying area.

[Townsend]

How about the influence peddling and crony capitalism scandal the Obama administration is currently embroiled in for starters?

Then we can segue into Dodd- (D-Countrywide), Biden (D-MBNA) Frank (D-Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac) and let's not forget the nice government work that interests owned by members of the Pelosi and Boxer clans get.

Conservative Media!!!

[Conan71]

Fox MSNBC is mostly opinion news.  (non-factual).  Many of the GOP liberal persuasion have watched Fox MSNBC for a very long time.  (used to being told non-factual things as fact)  They're now used to accepting non-facts.


When the minions ask their GOP Democrat leaders (from media and politics) "why'd you do that?  We've seen the pictures/video and heard you do it on audio.  There's proof."
The GOP Democrat leaders say "I didn't do that.  It's the Liberal media Fox, Murdoch, or the Koch Brothers."
Minions: "Oh, OK."

So on and so forth.

Can at least we agree that the less-informed amongst us tend to form their opinions from opinion TV rather than reaching for facts?

[dbacks fan]

Ron Paul sane? In my book he's up there with crazy uncle Glenn and his half brother Rush followed by the nephews from Faux News.

[Townsend]

Can at least we agree that the less-informed amongst us tend to form their opinions from opinion TV rather than reaching for facts?

Yes.

You notice how much better conservative opinion media seems to do over liberal opinion media though?


I was working on a copywrite btw...

[RecycleMichael]

Since we are comparing past administrations and their level of corruption...read these about the Reagan years...

Ronald Reagan's Cabinet

"By the end of his term, 138 Reagan administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations. In terms of number of officials involved, the record of his administration was the worst ever."

* Lyn Nofziger--Convicted on charges of illegal lobbying of White House in Wedtech scandal.

* Michael Deaver received three years' probation and was fined one hundred thousand dollars after being convicted for lying to a congressional subcommittee and a federal grand jury about his lobbying activities after leaving the White House. . .

* E. Bob Wallach, close friend and law classmate of Atty General Edwin Meese, was sentenced to six years in prison and fined $250,000 in connection with the Wedtech influence-peddling scandal.

Then there was:.
* James Watt, Reagan's Secretary of the Interior was indicted on 41 felony counts for using connections at the Department of Housing and Urban Development to help his private clients seek federal funds for housing projects in Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Watt conceded that he had received $500,000 from clients who were granted very favorable housing contracts after he had intervened on their behalf. In testifying before a House committee Watt said: "That's what they offered and it sounded like a lot of money to me, and we settled on it." Watt was eventually sentenced to five years in prison and 500 hours of community service.
Two types of problems typified the ethical misconduct cases of the Reagan years, and both had heavy consequences to citizens everywhere. One stemmed from ideology and deregulatory impulses run amok; the other, from classic corruption on a grand scale.
* The Pentagon procurement scandal, which resulted from the Republicans' enormous infusion of money too quickly into the Defense Department after the lean Carter years . . .

* Massive fraud and mismanagement in the Department of Housing and Urban Development throughout Reagan's eight years. These were finally documented in congressional hearings in spring 1989, after Reagan left office. Cost the taxpayers billions of dollars in losses. What made this scandal most shameful was that Reagan's' friends and fixers profited at the expense of the poor, the very people HUD and the federal government were pledged to assist through low-income housing. . .

* The Iran-Contra scandal. In June, 1984, at a National Security Council meeting, CIA Director Casey urged President Reagan to seek third-party aid for the Nicaraguan contras. Secretary of State Schultz warned that it would be an "impeachable offense" if the U.S. government acted as conduit for such secret funding. But that didn't stop them. That same day, Oliver North was seeking third-party aid for the contras. But Reagan, the "teflon President" avoided serious charges or impeachment. . .

* Oliver North--Convicted of falsifying and destroying documents, accepting an illegal gratuity, and aiding and abetting the obstruction of Congress. Conviction overturned on appeal due to legal technicalities. . .

* John Poindexter, Reagan's national security advisor, --guilty of five criminal counts involving conspiracy to mislead Congress, obstructing congressional inquiries, lying to lawmakers, used "high national security" to mask deceit and wrong-doing. . .

* Richard Secord pleaded guilty to a felony charge of lying to Congress over Iran-Contra. . .

* Casper Weinberger was Secretary of Defense during Iran-Contra. In June 1992 he was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of concealing from congressional investigators and prosecutors thousands of pages of his handwritten notes. The personal memoirs taken during high level meetings, detailed events in 1985 and 1986 involving the Iran-Contra affair. Weinberger claimed he was being unfairly prosecuted because he would not provide information incriminating Ronald Reagan. Weinberger was scheduled to go on trial January 5, 1993, where the contents of his notes would have come to light and may have implicated other, unindicted conspirators. While Weinberger was never directly linked to the covert operations phase of the Iran-Contra affair, he is believed to have been involved in the cover-up of the ensuing scandal. According to Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh, Weinberger's notes contain evidence of a conspiracy among the highest ranking Reagan Administration officials to lie to congress and the American public. Some of the notes are believed to have evidence against then Vice-President George Bush who pardoned Weinberger to keep him from going to trial. . .

* Elliott Abrams was appointed by President Reagan in 1985 to head the State Department's Latin American Bureau. He was closely linked with ex-White House aide Lt. Col. Oliver North's covert movement to aid the Contras. Working for North, Abrams coordinated inter-agency support for the contras and helped solicit illegal funding from foreign powers as well as domestic contributors. Abrams agreed to cooperate with Iran-Contra investigators and pled guilty to two charges reduced to misdemeanors. He was sentenced in 1991 to two years probation and 100 hours of community service but was pardoned by President George Bush. . .

* Robert C. McFarlane was appointed Ronald Reagan's National Security Advisor in October 1983 and become well-known as a champion of the MX missile program in his role as White House liaison to congress. In 1984, Mc Farlane initiated the review of U.S. policy towards Iran that led directly to the arms for hostages deal. He also supervised early National Security Council efforts to support the Contras. Shortly after the Iran-Contra scandal was revealed in early 1987, McFarlane took an overdose of the tranquilizer Valium in an attempt to end his life. In his own words: "What really drove me to despair was a sense of having failed the country." McFarlane pled guilty to four misdemeanors and was sentenced to two years probation and 200 hours of community service. He was also fined $20,000. He received a blanket pardon from President George Bush. . .

* Alan D. Fiers was the Chief of the Central Intelligence Agency's Central American Task Force. Fiers pled guilty in 1991 to two counts of withholding information from congress about Oliver North's activities and the diversion of Iran arms sale money to aid the Contras. He was sentenced to one year of probation and 100 hours of community service. Fiers agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for having his felonies reduced to misdemeanors and his testimony gave a boost to the long standing criminal investigation of Lawrence Walsh, Special Prosecutor. Fiers testified that he and three CIA colleagues knew by mid-1986 that profits from the TOW and HAWK missile sales to Iran were being diverted to the Contras months before it became public knowledge. Alan Fiers received a blanket pardon for his crimes from President Bush. . .

* Clair George was Chief of the CIA's Division of Covert Operations under President Reagan. In August 1992 a hung jury led U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth to declare a mistrial in the case of Clair George who was accused of concealing from Congress his knowledge of the Iran-Contra affair. George had been named by Alan Fiers when Fiers turned state's evidence for Lawrence Walsh's investigation. In a second trial on charges of perjury, false statements and obstruction of justice, George was convicted of lying to two congressional committees in 1986. George faced a maximum five year federal prison sentence and a $20,000 fine for each of the two convictions. Jurors cleared George of five other charges including two counts of lying to a federal grand jury. Those charges would have carried a mandatory 10 months in prison upon conviction. Clair George received a blanket pardon for his crimes from President George Bush. . .

* Duane R. (Dewey) Clarridge was head of the CIA's Western European Division under President Reagan. He was indicted on November 29, 1991 for lying to congress and to the Tower Commission that investigated Iran- Contra. Clarridge was charged with five counts of perjury and two counts of making false statements for covering up his knowledge of a November 25, 1985 shipment of HAWK missiles to Iran. Clarridge was also suspected of diverting to the Contras weapons that were originally intended for the Afghan mujahaddeen guerrillas. Clarridge received a blanket pardon for his crimes on Christmas Eve 1992 from President George Bush. . .

* Environmental Protection Agency's favoritism toward polluters. Assistant administrator unduly influenced by chemical industry lobbyists. Another administrator resigned after pressuring employees to tone down a critical report on a chemical company accused of illegal pollution in Michigan. The deputy chief of federal activities was accused of compiling an interagency "hit" or "enemies" list, like those kept in the Nixon Watergate period, singling out career employees to be hired, fired or promoted according to political beliefs. . .

* Anne Gorscuh Burford resigned amid accusations she politically manipulated the Superfund money. . .

* Rita Lavelle was fired after accusing a senior EPA official of "systematically alienating the business community." She was later indicted, tried and convicted of lying to Congress and served three months of a six-month prison sentence. After an extensive investigation, in August 1984, a House of Representatives subcommittee concluded that top-level EPA appointees by Reagan for three years "violated their public trust by disregarding the public health and the environment, manipulating the Superfund program for political purposes, engaging in unethical conduct and participating in other abuses.".

* Neglected nuclear safety. A critical situation involving nuclear safety had been allowed to develop during the Reagan era. Immense sums, estimated at 200 billion or more, would be required in the 1990s to replace and make safe America's neglected, aging, deteriorating, and dangerous nuclear facilities. . .

* Savings & Loan Bail-out. Hundreds of billions of dollars were needed to bail out savings and loan institutions that either had failed during the deregulation frenzy of the eighties or were in danger of bankruptcy. . .

* Reckless airline deregulation. Deregulation of airline industry took too broad a sweep, endangering public safety.

Additionally:
* Richard Allen, National Security adviser resigned amid controversy over an honorarium he received for arranging an interview with Nancy Reagan. . .

* Richard Beggs, chief administrator at NASA was indicted for defrauding the government while an executive at General Dynamics. . .

* Guy Flake, Deputy Secretary of Commerce, resigned after allegations of a conflict of interest in contract negotiations. . .

* Louis Glutfrida, Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency resigned amid allegations of misuses of government property. . .

* Edwin Gray, Chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank was charged with illegally repaying himself and his wife $26,000 in travel costs. . .

* Max Hugel, CIA chief of covert operations who resigned after allegations of fraudulent financial dealings. . .

* Carlos Campbell, Assistant Secretary of Commerce resigned over charges of awarding federal grants to his personal friends' firms. . .

* Raymond Donovan, Secretary of Labor indicted for defrauding the New York City Transit Authority of $7.4. million.
{ Republicans will point out that Donovan was acquitted. And that really matters in Donovan's case, because he was a Republican. But it didn't matter for Clinton or any of his cabinet, most all of whom were acquitted, because THEY were Democrats!} * John Fedders, chief of enforcement for the Securities and Exchange Commission resigned over charges of beating his wife. . .

* Arthur Hayes, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration resigned over illegal travel reimbursements. . .

* J. Lynn Helms, chief of the Federal Aviation Administration resigned over a grand jury investigation of illegal business activities. . .

* Marjory Mecklenburg, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources resigned over irregularities on her travel vouchers. . .

* Robert Nimmo, head of the Veterans Administration resigned when a report criticized him for improper use of government funds. . .

* J. William Petro, U.S. Attorney fired and fined for tipping off an acquaintance about a forthcoming Grand Jury investigation. . .

* Thomas C. Reed, White House counselor and National Security Council adviser resigned and paid a $427,000 fine for stock market insider trading. . .

* Emanuel Savas, Assistant Secretary of HUD resigned over assigning staff members to work on government time on a book that guilty to expense account fraud and accepting kickbacks on government contracts. . .

* Charles Wick, Director of the U.S. Information Agency investigated for taping conversations with public officials without their approval.

[Conan71]

Here's a tat for your tit, RM:

"Clinton Presidency:
The Most Corrupt in American History
On Principle, v4n6
December 1996

by: David N. Mayer


History does repeat itself. On November 5, the American people re-elected Bill Clinton to a second term in the face of allegations of serious abuses of power by the President and members of his administration. Like the allegations about the break-in at the Watergate Hotel that George McGovern unsuccessfully tried to raise during the 1972 election, the allegations about the Clinton adminstration's abuses of power failed to capture the attention of the American people--partly due to the failure of Clinton's rivals, Bob Dole and Ross Perot, to raise the issue until very late in the campaign, and partly--indeed, largely--due to the successful efforts of Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media to "stonewall" the issue, which they misleadingly called a question merely of "character."

The question of abuse of power goes beyond the matter of Clinton's character: rather, it is an important substantive issue. In a presidential campaign, no single issue is more important than how an incumbent president has used the awesome powers of his office--whether the president has adhered to his oath of office, to faithfully execute the laws and to "preserve, protect, and defend" the Constitution of the United States, which limits his powers. Yet this issue was not adequately debated during the campaign, and the American people--except for those who regularly read the Wall Street Journal, the only daily national newspaper that has been fully covering the various Clinton administration scandals--cast their votes in ignorance of the matter. Like Watergate, however, the issue of President Clinton's abuse of power cannot (and must not) disappear: it must be faced, if we are to remain a nation governed by the rule of law.

As in the administrations of Warren G. Harding (whose secretary of the interior was convicted of taking bribes in the infamous "Teapot Dome" scandal) and Richard M. Nixon (whose Vice President, Spiro Agnew, resigned and subsequently pleaded no contest to charges that he had received kickbacks when he was Maryland governor), officials of the Clinton administration have personally profited from their offices. Most notable is former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, who resigned in the face of allegations that he had taken illegal gifts from Tyson Foods and who, according to the recent findings of a federal jury, received illegal gifts from Sun-Diamond Growers,who apparently sought favors from his Department. The late Ron Brown, former Commerce Secretary, before his death in a tragic air crash in Bosnia, also was being investigated by a special prosecutor for various offenses, including receipt of bribes and falsification of his financial disclosure report. And Energy Secr etary Hazel O'Leary's global junkets have been treated so cavalierly within the administration that Energy staffers sport T-shirts with her "world tour" logo.

More recently, allegations of illegal campaign contributions by Indonesians to the Democratic Party--what some commentators have called "Indogate"--raise the appearance that, under the Clinton administration, American foreign policy is for sale. Even if, upon investigation, it turns out that the administration did not ignore Indonesian human rights abuses in return for the contributions, there still remains the troubling issue of John Huang's dual role as a Democratic fundraiser and an official in the Commerce Department. The underlying problem is not the campaign finance system, as some have erroneously asserted, but rather the Clinton administration's disturbing propensity to use the power of the federal government for political aggrandizement. The Commerce Department is not the only federal agency that has been politicized by the Clinton administration: so too have been the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the agency that administers federal disaster-reli ef dollars (whose giveaways have been used as a political tool to tie local communities to the federal government); the Immigration and Naturalization Service (which, in an election-year push to grant citizenship to 1.2 million immigrants, the Clinton White House pressured to speed up processing of forms, allowing tens of thousands to become Americans before criminal record checks were done); and, possibly, even the Internal Revenue Service (which, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, might have been used to harass conservative nonprofits such as the Western Journalism Center and the Heritage Foundation). Misuse of IRS audits and investigation powers against White House "enemies," it should be noted, were among the allegations raised in the articles of impeachment drawn up by the House Judiciary Committee against Richard Nixon in 1974.

Like Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton also has abused the powers of his office, both by usurping powers that the Constitution assigns to Congress and by misusing legitimate presidential powers. Long before the Watergate scandal fully broke, Nixon's unprecedented use of the powers of his office to create what critics described as an "imperial presidency" was roundly condemned by academics and Congressional leaders. President Clinton has taken the "imperial presidency" to new heights. He has set new, dangerous precedents for presidential over-reaching of commander-in-chief powers with his use of American troops as "peacekeepers"--essentially, a Peace Corps with guns--in the military occupation of both Haiti and Bosnia, without the prior approval of Congress. Just as President Nixon failed to faithfully execute the law by impounding funds appropriated by Congress, President Clinton has demonstrated a willingness to flout the law in order to further his pol icy objectives. An obvious example is his administration's unwillingness to enforce the Supreme Court's 1988 Beck decision, ruling that workers are entitled to a refund of union dues money used for political purposes (such as the AFL-CIO's $35-million announced effort to help Democratic candidates in this year's Congressional elections).

More ominously, the Clinton administration has resurrected Nixon's doctrine of executive privilege and extended it further than even President Nixon was willing to go. Not only has the Clinton administration invoked the doctrine to justify its failure to turn over documents subpoenaed by Congressional committees (most recently, a memo from FBI Director Louis Freeh that is said tobe highly critical of the administration's anti-drug policy), but also to claim immunity for him from civil action lawsuits--such as Paula Jones's sexual harassment suit--until his term as president expires. Clinton's claim of presidential immunity is extraordinary and unprecedented; it amounts to the claim that the president is above the law.

The most egregious form of presidential corruption, however, involves presidential abuse of power as a part of a criminal conspiracy. This was the Watergate scandal that brought about the downfall of Richard Nixon's presidency. This too is the form of corruption involved in the allegations raised about both President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in connection with the three major scandals that continue to be investigated by independent prosecutors and Congressional committees: Whitewater, "Travelgate," and "Filegate." Unlike Watergate--the underlying crime of which was, as it has been aptly described, a "third-rate burglary"--Whitewater involves a far more serious underlying crime, the looting of a savings and loan association, that cost American taxpayers approximately $60 million. As in Watergate, however, in Whitewater the critical matter is not the underlying crime but the cover-up. The President and Mrs. Clinton, acting on the ir own and with their subordinates, are charged with, among other things, withholding relevant and material evidence; making false or misleading statements to the FBI and Congressional investigators; interfering with FBI and Justice Department investigations (including that of the death of White House counsel Vince Foster, who was deeply involved in the Whitewater fraud); obstructing justice by destroying documentary evidence that might be used against them; and willfully disobeying Congressional subpoenas. All of these allegations of wrongdoing are astonishingly similar to those specified in the articles of impeachment drawn up against Richard Nixon in 1974.

Travelgate and Filegate involve allegations of still more serious wrongdoing: misuse of the FBI to bring fraudulent charges against the former employees of the White House Travel Office, in order to make room for Clinton cronies; and the collection and storage in the White House, in violation of the Privacy Act, of confidential FBI background files on hundreds of individuals no longer employed in the White House. Political columnist David Broder--hardly a conservative--has condemned such misuse of the FBI as "one of the most flagrant abuses of constitutional authority any president can allow or commit."

Yet another flagrant abuse of power being contemplated by the Clinton White House received some attention in the press in the weeks before the election. Asked whether he would issue a presidential pardon to his former Whitewater partner Susan McDougal (who in addition to her felony conviction is currently in jail on contempt-of-court charges for refusing to answer the grand jury's question, "Did the president testify truthfully?"), Clinton refused to rule out the possibility.

209 years ago, one of the leading Antifederalist opponents of ratification of the Constitution, George Mason of Virginia, warned that a future president might abuse his pardoning power, exercising it "to screen from Punishment those whom he had secretly instigated to commit the Crime, and thereby prevent a Discovery of his own Guilt." For over two centuries, scholars have dismissed such Antifederalist warnings as the paranoid fears of "men of little faith" in the Constitution. With Bill Clinton in the White House, what was once considered ludicrous is now a realistic possibility.

It takes how much villainy to raze a presidency?

David N. Mayer is a Professor of Law and History at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio"

http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/onprin/v4n6/mayer.html

[RecycleMichael]

I think the last two posts make Obama look pretty good. Thanks for playing.

[we vs us]

Here's a tat for your tit, RM:

That's not a tat.  That's a tramp stamp.