sleaze

Maureen O'Connell's string of dirty tricks in the 7th NY State Senate race shows that despite their rout in November, Republicans still haven't remembered the lesson of their founder:

“You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”

--Abraham Lincoln, the best Republican President

The bullshit tactics used by the Republican candidate in the 7th NY State Senate race reminded me of a comment a friend of mine from Seattle said about the bullshit tactics used by Republicans all across the country in Novemeber:

"HINT: if you can only win with BS tactics, maybe your politics SUCK!"

What a bunch of losers! I miss the days when the Republican Party was a GENUINE conservative, reasonable alternative...back in Eisenhower's day. Now they are a bunch of lying, sleazy, corrupt extremists. I wish they'd finally learn their lesson, turn on their corrupt members and get back to business.

As Fox News is piddling over itself ecstatically about Saddam Hussein's execution, I just want to ONCE AGAIN remind America that THIS MAN (shaking hands with Donald Rumsfeld):

Had NOTHING to do with THIS EVENT (which I experienced first hand):

So all Americans need to ask THIS MAN:

when we will catch THIS MAN:

Write the media to express your opinion on Bush's failure to fight terrorism.

The night isn't over, but the outcome looks grim for common sense and reform in the LA-2 Congressional race. William Jefferson, who was caught red handed with wads of bribe money in his freezer, looks to be sailing to re-election.

With 264 precincts reporting out of 492, Jefferson is leading with 58% of the vote. It ain't over yet, but Karen Carter will have a hard time overcoming that lead.

I have railed over and over again about how disgusting Republican corruption is. And I still maintain that Republican corruption is far wider spread and far worse than Democratic corruption, and has worse consequences such as the death toll in New Orleans after Katrina because Bush appointed an incompetent crony, "good job Brownie," a failed race horse inspector, as head of FEMA. Or in the case of 3000 dead American soldiers in Iraq for a war that basically does no good to anyone except the war profiteers, Exxon/Mobil, Bechtel and Dick Cheney's favorite company, Halliburton.

Democrats aren't sacrificing American lives for profit the way Republicans do. But that doesn't mean we are completely innocent of corruption. Anyone who has read my pieces on Brooklyn politics knows I also fight against Democratic corruption. But William Jefferson is one of those very rare cases where a Democrat reaches a Republican-scale of corruption.

And the voters in LA-2 are poised to re-elect a man who was caught red handed taking bribes.

This didn't even get it's own article in the NY Times but rather was buried at the bottom of an article on 4 marines dying in a helicopter crash. Really, you have to scroll down almost to the end to find it. It turns out that Halliburton has been awarding subcontracts based on bribes:

In Rock Island, Ill., the director of operations for a Saudi company that operates dining facilities for American troops in Iraq and Kuwait was sentenced Friday in the Federal District Court for the Central District of Illinois to 51 months in prison for his involvement in a kickback scheme, according to a news release issued by a federal prosecutor’s office there.

In the scheme, Mohammad Shabbir Khan, operations director of the Tamimi Global Company, paid kickbacks to an employee of Kellogg Brown & Root Services to secure two dining subcontracts valued at $21.8 million, the statement said.

A United States district judge also ordered Mr. Khan to pay a fine of $10,000 and restitution to the United States government of $133,860, the amount he paid the Kellogg Brown & Root employee, the statement said.

The judge also sentenced the former Kellogg Brown & Root employee, Stephen Lowell Seamans, to 12 months in prison for his role in the scheme, the statement said.

Mr. Seamans was also ordered to pay restitution of $380,130 for that and another kickback scheme, according to the statement.

As my friend says about Republicans: "Losers and lamers. HINT: if you can only win with BS tactics, maybe your politics SUCK!"

I may be using that line alot in the near future.

Here's one example of right wing disdain for democracy. This comes from Firedoglake:

Laura Ingraham has asked her listeners to call the Dem Voter protection hotline — and they are now being flooded with calls from crank callers. Please call Laura and tell her what you think about this: 800.876.4123. You can e-mail her here. Apparently, voter intimidation and fraud are a joke to Laura Ingraham. Let's let her know that it is no joke.

More on Laura Ingraham: "caller indicated she is running a tape of Bill Clinton over and over saying "call 1-888 Dem Vote to report problems" — and then making fun of him, thus producing a spike in crank calls to the number" Protecting voter integrity is no joke. And I am not laughing. If anyone has audio of this, I'd love it.

DNC has released an audio of it here.

I really do urge people to call 800.876.4123 and tell them voter integrity is no joke and that Laura Ingrahm is un-American for denegrating democracy. Let them know what you think. In fact call them and let tell them my friend's comment just for good measure.

Mark Foley, Republican Congressman, solicits sex from a minor. And the Republican leadership did nothing. And now we find they are lying through their teeth about it.

Tom DeLay, Dennis Hastert and Tom Reynolds all claimed they had known nothing about Foley's sleaze. They were innocent as could be. Then we learn from one of Reynold's aides that Reynolds had known months before they had admitted they had known, months before the news broke. They knew for months and did nothing to report Foley's illegal and immoral behavior.

Now we learn the lies and cover-ups are even worse than we thought. We now learn that Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., confronted Foley about his Internet communications with teenagers as early as 2000. That means Foley has been a sitting Republican Congressman for SIX YEARS after the Republican party KNEW he was soliciting sex from minors. From Salon.com:

October 09,2006 | WASHINGTON -- A Republican member of Congress confronted then-Rep. Mark Foley about his Internet communications with teenagers as early as 2000, according to a newspaper report.

The report in the Washington Post pushes back by at least five years the date when a member of Congress acknowledges learning of the Florida Republican's questionable behavior toward pages.

It came as the Republican leadership attempted to present a united front on the congressional page scandal that has rocked the GOP a month before midterm elections and put House Speaker Dennis Hastert on shaky ground.

Well, the latest nasty Republican scandal is Rep. Mark Foley who engaged in a sexual email exchange with an underage teen on his staff...on taxpayer money. The Republican leadership, right up to Hastert, Reynolds and DeLay, KNEW about this months ago and did nothing, allowing a sexual predator to remain a Republican Conrgessman in good standing. The layers of sleaze are deep and disgusting in this scandal. The transcripts of the email exchange are now public and pretty graphic.

Now let's remember that the Republican Party went after Clinton for having consensual sex with a consenting adult on his staff. But they TOLERATE and PROTECT Foley, a man who breaks the lawe by soliciting sex with an UNDERAGE staff member. Where is the moral outrage, Tom Reynolds (NY Republican)? Why did you wait so long, Tom DeLay (TX Republican) while a sexual predator was on the loose? Why did you wait until it became public, Dennis Hastert (Republican Speaker of the House), before you acted? These three men KNEW ABOUT FOLEY'S illegal and immoral acts but DID NOTHING for months. Only once the scandal hit the papers did they scramble to act all shocked. But they weren't shocked. They knew and they did nothing to stop a sexual predator. Their actions are not worthy of Congressmen so much of members of the sleazy NABMLA. Is this what Repubublicans are all about? Displaying the morality of NABMLA? Hell, at least NAMBLA is HONEST about their immorality.