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Siegelman: New Revelations "More Frightening Than Anything That Came Before."
Former Alabama governor Don Siegelman says that new revelations about his prosecution amount to "outrageous criminal conduct in the US Attorney's office and the Department of Justice," and are "more frightening than anything that has come before." And he believes that his case is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of politicized prosecutions by DOJ.
Siegelman was reacting in an interview with TPMmuckraker to the news, first reported this morning by Time, that the US Attorney on his case, who had recused herself because her husband was a top GOP operative who had worked closely with Karl Rove -- and even run the 2002 campaign of Siegelman's gubernatorial opponent -- continued to advise prosecutors on the case.
At times while speaking to TPMmuckraker, Siegelman appeared to have trouble maintaining his composure. He called the news -- which came from a whistleblower in the US Attorney's office who passed on emails and other information to the House Judiciary Commitee -- "another shocking revelation in the misconduct of the US attorneys offices and the DOJ."
The news appears to contradict previous statements from DOJ on the matter. When Congress investigated the affair earlier this year, DOJ had said that the US Attorney, Leura Canary, had recused herself "before any significant decisions ... were made."
Siegelman continued: "If what [the whistleblower] says is true, it's one issue. But the fact that it was never disclosed to the defense or the judge, and then was covered up by DOJ, is a crime, even if what she said wasn't true."
He added: "At every stage of this investigation, either by lawyers or the House Judiciary Committee, DOJ has refused to turn over documents" or otherwise cooperate.
The authenticity of the key emails provided by the whistleblower has not been questioned, according to Time.
Siegelman also said he was shocked by other revelations from the whistleblower, including that one of the jurors had expressed romantic interest in an FBI agent working with prosecutors. He called it "astounding" that this hadn't been revealed to the judge and the defense.
And Siegelman, a Democrat, left no doubt that he believes that the apparent politicization of his prosecution was just one example of many such cases. "If this were isolated to just the middle district of Alabama, it would be shocking enough. But I guarantee this kind of misbehavior has been going on all over the country."
He added: "Whoever is the new Attorney General has to be strong enough to weed out the Karl Rove clones who have been embedded in US Attorneys' offices throughout the United States. If not, it is going to eat at our system for years to come."
At one point, Siegelman turned philosophical: "If I've been put through this for a reason, it's to expose the fact that this is not an isolated incident. I am prayerful that Congress will dig in and demand the truth. These folks have got to be weeded out."
Josh
Zachary
The damage that's been done under bush keeps sinking to new lows.
Siegelman has obviously managed to keep his dignity. For that he deserves high credit! But there should be some kind of restitution made to him. People like Rove should have to pay for damages they have caused.
November 14, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would like to see Obama appoint Siegelman as Attorney General. Wouldn't it be nice if he was allowed to clean up the Justice Dept. The very agency that launced a political hit job on him. Plus Siegelman has experience. He served as Alabama's AG before.
November 14, 2008 12:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
My thoughts exactly---perfect fit.
November 14, 2008 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Such would be aat least an apparent conflict of interest.
Is that all "justice" is to you? -- eye-for-an-eye, exactly as it is for the Bushit criminal enterprise, and those who did this to Seigelman?
November 17, 2008 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
VT Sen. Pat Leahy is already deep into the US Attorney scandal, and as a former prosecutor he'd make an ideal US AG to weed out GOP partisans and reform the DOJ.
November 14, 2008 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now there's a suggestion I can get behind, at least from a cleaning house with a vengeance p.o.v. Don't know what kind of qualifications the guy has otherwise.
November 14, 2008 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Poetic justice to be sure, but - talk about a conflict of interest - that could never happen.
November 14, 2008 11:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Um. . . uh, don't want to be a stickler, but wouldn't *that* be a conflict of interest.
Siegelman deserves to see these guys sent up the river, but exactly because he deserves it sooo much, he can't be the one to do it.
Just sayin'
November 15, 2008 12:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry for being redundant throughout my comments on this post, but: Obama should nominate Republican David Iglesias as AG. Not only was he a top-rated US Prosecutor, he would approach the needed DoJ housecleaning in a way Siegelman never could: He has personal knowledge of the Bushies responsible for corrupting the system. He doesn't have to connect dots, because he has already seen the map.
He was fired specifically because he refused to be partisan. I feel he is exactly the correct choice for the task of housecleaning, as well as prosecutions based on law, not party loyalty. And even if there is a hint of revenge in his cleansing (and likely subsequent prosecutions), I believe we could all be assured those retributive acts would be based on the solid and neutral (blind, anyone?) established laws and violations of those laws.
Oh yes, one final thought about this: The fact Iglesias is a self-described, self-admitted Republican steals some of the thunder from any defense that implies follow-up prosecutions are partisan. As with a Siegelman AG, the defense idea that prosecutions are some form of retribution becomes a bit more dodgy, but law is law and prosecutions of violations are de facto "retribution," so those arguments almost cancel themselves out anyway.
November 16, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes he would be a good choice.
November 16, 2008 6:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
It would be at least the appearance of conflict of interest, as he too was targeted by the Busit criminal enterprise for retailiation for not following orders to go after a Democrat for the crime of being a Democrat.
November 17, 2008 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
It would be an apparent conflict of interest.
Why is the spirit of revenge the only response to that which is the ugliness of revenge? Are "we" as bad as those we "justifiably" hate?
November 17, 2008 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Revenge" and "hate" are your words not mine. I don't hate anyone, and I didn't recommend Siegelman so he could exact revenge. It was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek statement.
However, Siegelman would be qualified for the job.
He had a life before he was falsely imprisoned by Bush lackeys. He served over two decades in elected office in the State of Alabama, as the Secretary of State (1979-1987), Attorney General (1987-1991), Lieutenant Governor (1995-1999), and Governor (1999-2003).
November 27, 2008 1:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
my fear is that the Democrats show every sign of forgiving and forgetting every outrage of the last eight years. perhaps we need a real "Truth and Reconciliation Commission". innocent people have been hurt and persecuted and I am not sure that anything other than sweeping it under the rug will be done.
November 14, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think the Dems need to talk a fine line. On one hand, the great American political mainstream doesn't get into all of the inside baseball stuff -- they want problems solved (healthcare, Iraq, etc.). Too much focus on Bush era corruption could backfire electorally.
That said, the public also needs to be educated as to the depths of the corruption that has permeated the federal government. This is the best antidote to Rove-style governance returning. People need to understand what is at stake here.
What's the best strategy? I don't think there is One Best Way. However, at the end of the day what most matters is how aggressively Obama cleans house in DOJ. Actions will ultimately count more than words.
November 14, 2008 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Love Truth and Reconciliation idea... Make them all speak the truth before their victims... Actually, I think that would be far more difficult for the likes of Rove than serving time.
November 14, 2008 2:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
No reconciliation without prosecution!
November 17, 2008 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
While I certainly believe Siegelman would be justified in going after financial damages for what was done to him, and his family, and that he would prevail in such suit(s), I'm guessing he'd be far more satisfied watching each of these asshats get charged, tried and sentenced. And nothing short of Rove would suffice.
I know I would love to see all these crooks frogmarched in orange jumpsuits.
PEACE
November 14, 2008 12:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look - if she committed a crime - it should be investigated.
If she is indicted we flip her and go for the next one up he food chain.
You have to build a case against Rove bottom-up.
I think we're going to get Rove.
November 14, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fitgerald hasn't yet, to my knowledge, closed his Washington office. Hasn't actually closed the Plame investigation/case.
November 17, 2008 12:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
This seems clearly to be a criminal act by the US Department of Justice, and that department works as directed by the US Attorney General, who, it appears worked at the direction of the President of the USA. Do we still have time to do an impeachment?
In my opinion Mukasy has to act or be criminally liable himself.
November 14, 2008 1:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
We have time to do impeachments.
Look at this guy who was impeached as he was flying out the door of Grant's Cabinet:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/opinion/19sun4.html
This article, written in those long-ago datys when we had faith in Democrats, advocates for the impeachment of Gonzales (which would have, as a certainty, have torn the lid off the Bush Admin) and then notes:
"If Mr. Gonzales did resign, this Congress would most likely be more gracious than the one in 1876, which ignored Mr. Belknap’s hurried resignation and impeached him anyway."
yes, Gonzo resigned, and we got an AG who is infinitely worse.
The Democratic Party is more worried about the fate of Joe Lieberman than Don Siegelman. These are our Democrats- the worms who never turn.
November 14, 2008 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Impeachment is merely a tool to remove someone from office.
Since crimes were committed all the way up to the White House*, a newly-cleansed and party-neutral DoJ can pursue criminals in a much more meaningful way — they can put them in federal prison.
(*A single example: Domestic spying without going through the FISA courts is a felony. Our favorite butt-budy Bush the Lesser has admitted on-the-record that the domestic spying program has been active since before 9/11. Remember: FELONY. And whether he was personally sitting there viewing data spills from key-loggers or wearing headphones listening to your or my phone calls or not, RICO laws make him just as guilty as the people he charged with those activities.)
As I have frequently suggested elsewhere, if Obama did something bipartisan in cabinet appointments — like naming Republican David Iglesias as AG — would very, very likely light the fuse on that particular rocket.
So, in my humble opinion, getting over the fixation on drumming a person out of office with only two months to go and going for the real gold medal of putting all those criminals in prison would provide a much more satisfying, and just result.
November 16, 2008 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Impeachment is not merely a tool to remove someone from office.
It is because the structure of our Constitution is so habitually ignored that we no longer have one any more.
If the old Constitituion is really so deserving of negligence, then call another Constitutional Convention. But don't excuse our current wretched politicians, and the people who elect them, from their responsibility in its destruction, or for the collective delusion that we can survive without one.
November 16, 2008 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
1. You leave out the issue of pardon.
2. Iglesias would be acting in accordance with at least the appearance of conflict of interst.
We don't violate the law in order to catch criminals -- then pretend we are better than the criminals we catch. We don't ignore ethics simply because the unethical we are after do.
We don't, in short, impose torture on alleged torturers in order to reduce the incidence of torture based upon the self-serving claim that we are morally, ethically, and legally superior to the alleged torturers.
November 17, 2008 12:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reward the bastards with a secure retirement in a tropical paradise ... like the Villas at Guantanamo Bay!
November 14, 2008 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is a shame that Siegleman has had to go through this torture when it has been very obvious for a long time now how corrupt and politically motivated the DOJ has been under Bush and how it remains so even under Mukasey! There are quite a few people that need to go to jail over this. I wish that I had confidence in Obama to think that he'll appoint an AG with the balls to go after the Bush henchmen and Bush himself because I'm quite convinced that he was directly involved in the Siegleman case as well as others. But frankly, I don't think Obama has the stomach for it nor does he really take it seriously. All this Executive Privelege bullshit has been a transparent coverup of criminal activity---not just embarassing political shenanigans. They need to be prosecuted and serve some hard time in jail or else the Republicans will do it again whenever they return to power.
November 14, 2008 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama adviser Cass Sunstein:
"I have a fear of criminalizing political disagreement."
Sunstein's optics are as keen as Pelosi's when it comes to seeing mere "politics" where the rest of us mistakenly view crimes.
November 14, 2008 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Indeed!
And that's why the Republicans view DC Democrats as the chumps and cowards they are. Republicans have absolutely no fear of any sort of prosecutions from the likes of the Democrats who rule our government and Obama is one of them I'm afraid though I hope he proves me wrong.
November 14, 2008 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is Cass Sunstein Obama's only advisor? And if so, in what regard?
November 17, 2008 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Disgusting.
Leura Canary ought to dangle at the end of a rope.
November 14, 2008 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Shouldn't she be found guilty first?
November 17, 2008 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
No matter where I go on TPM, everyone is out for vengeance and expect Pres. Obama to go charging in to save Democracy!
It ain't gonna happen.
Pres. Obama has a full plate courtesy of Bu$h and the repugs who've been at the helm of the Ship of State and run her aground on the shoals of Economic Despair. He's gonna have his hands full getting her seaworthy again and back out to sea at full power. He may not have the time to conduct a Captain's Mast to keel haul anyone guilt of participating in the mutiny for quite some time.
It's more important to get the ship repaired and back out to sea first, then worry about the mutineers. They're not going anywhere soon and we know where to find them.
November 14, 2008 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, but remember, the ship is sinking NOW.
November 14, 2008 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Going after the mutineers NOW will solve that?
November 17, 2008 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Saving the economy and the environment and investigating the sordid history of the Bush administration's corruption are two very different things, best carried out by different people in different agencies. There's nothing that says both things can't be done at the same time. There are advantages to doing both in parallel, because the group of people mobilizing to oppose each one have significant overlap.
The problem with doing things in sequence rather than parallel is a) there's so damn much to do, and b) we do know where to find the mutineers: all over cable news and right-wing radio talking about the new captain's illegitimacy and how he's going to run us onto the rocks if he's not stopped. The longer they have to plot their next attempt, the more likely it will be to gain traction.
November 14, 2008 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Beetlejuice:
Disagree. If we don't prosecute we are no longer a nation of laws and it will happen again. No amnesty. Investigate and prosecute.
November 14, 2008 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
My sympathies to Don Siegelman & his family.I am skeptical that anything will be done to any of the major players who particapted in this crime against a prominent citizen & his family.Take a look at the unfolding theme from Dems in congress,There are more important "things"we have to accomplish on behalf of the American people,shameful indeed.Look a good barometer would be how the Lieberman situation is resolved.If this traitor is kicked off his chair position look for something to be done.If not the usual BS:"in the interest of bipartisanship" would be the talking point.How come the judiciary comm has never called on any of these folks from the US attorneys office to testify ?????
November 14, 2008 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Except that it has. Including Gonzales, and the fired US AGs. And Mukasey had to testify in order to satisfy the Seante and thus have his appointment approved.
November 17, 2008 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why is it the Democrats always have to compromise?
November 14, 2008 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
are they really Democrats?
It's can't be the Party that crushed the repubs twice now that is cowering in the House basement instead of telling cheney which documents he better bring with him to the stockade.
Can't be that party. Only a defeated, demoralized party of wretches would be agonizing over whether the rule of law still applies to this country....
November 14, 2008 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
. . . whether the rule of law still applies to this country....
_____
IT isn't "to," it's IN.
Ours is to be "A system of laws, and not of men" (John Adams) -- which means that gov't, and laws, are not something "separate" from "country". The Constitution is both the plan of gov't, and the structure of gov't. To attack the rule of law is a form of levying war against the United States of America.
Unless we are sociopaths, rule of law is internalized.
November 17, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Because COMPROMISE is the nature of DEMOCRACY.
November 17, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
The outrages of the Bush misadministration have been so frequent, abominable and surreal that I wouldn't be surprised if pardons everyone in his administration (even clerical employees) as he steps down. But even if he "only" pardons Cheney, Rumsfeld and Gonzales, I will be sick to my stomach. After wretching I will then encourage everyone I know to clamor for shipping them all off to The Hague.
November 14, 2008 3:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh how fondly I do wish to see more like this. Time for a little conscience-clearing among those honest bureaucrats throughout the Executive who may be suddenly realizing the Great BushCheney Vengeance Machine is, hey, kinda toothless now. What are they gonna do, deny you a job on K Street?
November 14, 2008 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know I already got my Christmas present, with the Obama victory. But, can I ask that one of these bastards goes to jail too?
November 14, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
“He who does not punish evil commands it to be done.”
Leonardo da Vinci
November 14, 2008 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Democrats need to be flushed out of Gov't for precisely this reason.
A new party must be created from the shards of the old.
Once upon a time Democrats knew how to deal with a President who tried to poison Justice- but no more.
November 15, 2008 5:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Once upon a time citizens didn't with every disappointment in governance stupid-assedly demand yet another "revolution".
November 17, 2008 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Any Republican-appointed lawyer at the DOJ just has a lot of explaining to do. Or perhaps just a short trip to a re-education camp.
November 14, 2008 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sorry if the Democrats in Washington think there are more important things neededthan justice, but if they think that then they're flat wrong. We can easily appoint one special counsel to investigate each and every one of these political hacks who have decimated our justice system. Then the special counsels can drain these people dry with legal bills they way the GOP did to Clinton officials back in the day. I don't care if Karl Rove winds up living other a bridge or Monica Goodling takes up residence at Mustang Ranch. Tough.
And one more thing: President Obama can easily take advantage of all the opportunities afforded by the Unitary Executive. That's the Bush gift that keeps on giving, and he should use it until the Republicans come crawling to the White House seeking clemency. Until that time, they should receive no quarter.
November 14, 2008 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Right: let's be that we hate.
November 17, 2008 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Nixon Administration is beginning to look like choir boys compared to Rove and Cheney's gang. Now that this bunch has lost its coverup ability, who knows what we are going to find out.
November 14, 2008 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
So the first round of pardons goes to the Justice Department
November 14, 2008 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
The bad seed mixed with the lawn seed all these years cannot hide any longer.
All the weeds stand out.
Weed killer is the only cure.
No half measures, no compromise.
This type of growth can never be allowed to slip in again.
Now is the time while they are all clearly visble running around trying to hide behind any other name or label.
Get em!
November 14, 2008 6:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
do any of thes repuglitared crooks at the DOJ have any clue what's gonna happen on January 20th, 2009
we're gonna have real, honest to god, prosecutors controlling all the documents that prove the Sieglman prosecution was a criminal conspiricy
I thought kkkarl rove was supposed to be smart
if the repuglitard party thinks they can survive george bush issuing a blanket pardon, they lost their fucking minds
any repuglitard that seeks protection under a blanket pardon has to ADMIT GUILY to get the pardon
that ain't gonna play tp well in Peoria
and it might turn the south blue too
November 14, 2008 7:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, you strike me as an expert in the law of pardons. OR is it in name-calling as substitute for thought?
November 17, 2008 1:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good point, free patriot. I'd like to see either Siegelman or Scott Horton as AG.
Or, if Obama wants another 'tard, Fitz comes to mind. IRRC, Patrick might have a few issues he'd like to do some follow up on.
The proposition that criminal activity at Main Justice, directed from the White House could be ignored is simply not credible.
Particularly since the stated goal was to subvert democratic process in order to create a one party system in the USA.
Soviet-style.
What of the political prosecution and incarceration in Wisconsin? What of the raids on Edwards contributors law offices. These implicate the FBI as well as "Justice," do they not?
What of the investigations of 'tard corruption that were interrupted?
No. No. No. This cannot stand, if we are to remain the USA. Any talk of it should be met with fury.
November 14, 2008 8:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gotta love Sheldon Whitehouse.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/washington/13inquire.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
November 14, 2008 8:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tehre are two basics:
1. The Founders/Framers repeatedly spoke of elections as being the election of those "from among us" who are later returned back to "among us". In other words: the powers of the office held do not inure to the former holder of the office.
Thus, of course the argument made in Truman's behalf was BOGUS.
2. Are there necessarily-secret elements of gov't functions involved? If not, then there is no question about the issue being secret or covered up: it isn't.
The only other distinction to be made: are the documents involved private, or product of the holding of the office? Nixon lost on this point.
November 17, 2008 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
beeetlejuice ,
But returning to the rule of law will help us repair Our Ship of State - think of what former US Attorney David Iglesias has stated - he now belongs to the Rule of Law Party - This ain't about revenge this about making our government functional again - KATRINA & Iraq Debacle did not happen in a vacuum -
November 14, 2008 9:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bush was in the loop. He should have been impeached a long time ago. We tried, but the Dems wouldn't do it, but now they've won a grand, historic election with Obama.
I've been predicting this case would be over and thrown out by Christmas. Soon we'll get a chance to see if that holds up.
There's time to get Karl Rove in a criminal case -- after Bush moves back to the ranch in Crawford and is not in a position to pardon him.
Yes, justice should have come sooner, but when she comes, look out!
Watch for more details on the appeal here, in the Locust Fork News-Journal.
http://www.locustfork.net/
We did the definitive story on the Jill Simpson affidavit and have the most extensive blog archive on the case going all the way back to the original Scrushy trial in Birmingham, which I covered for The New York Times.
My story funded by The Nation Institute was the most definitive national magazine investigative news feature on the case last fall, well before 60 Minutes did the story. It's been a long haul since...
A Whistleblower's Tale
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071105/wilson
November 14, 2008 9:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
The political climate is certain to be more soured if the new administration pursues this.
Does it need to be pursued?
Absolutely.
There has to come a time where government is held accountable. It hasn't happened for the last eight years. We can kiss the idea of a democratic state goodbye if this doesn't happen. Perhaps not tomorrow or not even this year or next but you can bet that eventually the ethical collapse that surrounds us will lead to a very bad place that can only end in blood being shed. We can't go on sustaining one major screwup after another with only the voting booth every four years as a panacea.
With a federal budget well north of $1T there can be no excuse for our government to get anything wrong. Our government has the resources to gather, analyze and know the 'right' answers to virtually everything. The wrong choices being made are a deliberate and willful disregard of what is actually good for America. This is a fact. It is impossible not to understand this. We're suck, in a societal sense, with individuals making bad choices. That is unavoidable. However our government can't collectively make those same bad choices where it resolves to serious harm to the entire populace. We have to ethically and constructively isolate government from the reasons for this. That has to start with truly removing the all too obvious conflict of interest between our elected and appointed officials and private sector interests. That is clearly very difficult. However if we decide that it's impossible we are absolutely screwed.
November 15, 2008 5:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
If the Republican Party's role in Siegelman's persecution was a coal mine, we know who their Canary is...
One can only imagine how safe the Alabama Republican co-conspirators thought they were under the Rove administration, he was "one of them" in no small way.
Once again, I adjure you, President Bush, PARDON DON SIEGELMAN! NOW, before you leave office.
It would be good for your soul, and for your historic legacy. And it may get some of us angry activists off your back.
But with that in mind, it might be a good idea if you don't pardon Rove, for ANYTHING. Otherwise, your legacy will be forever and irretrievably tainted, and the children of the future will look back through their history lessons at you, and regard you as one of the worst Presidents in all of our short and glorious history as a nation.
PARDON SIEGELMAN! If Bush won't do it, I sincerely hope Obama does it his first day in office. PARDON SIEGELMAN!
November 16, 2008 10:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
No, one does not pardon Seigelman. One VINDICATES him -- proves his conviction FRAUDULENT, therefore NOTHING to be pardoned FOR.
And then goes after the anti-American criminals -- TRAITORS -- behind it.
And appealing to Bushit about his legacy -- how he'll look to others after he's dead -- has no relevance for him: he doesn't actually believe in an afterlife, or a heaven and hell: his behavior tells you that.
He couldn't care less what the law is, and couldn't care less what others think of him. He's as venal as Lee Atwater, at very least.
November 17, 2008 1:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just read the suggestion that Siegelman be appointed AG... WOW!
Not likely, but just the suggestion of it must have soiled more than a few Alabama Depends(R), and a couple thongs, too.
If Siegelman was appointed AG, there would be a charter plane full of desperate Alabama Republicans on it's way to Dubai before the news was out.
I realize it is unlikely to the Nth degree, but the thought of Siegelman being TOTALLY empowered as AG, and given the mandate to rectify the injustice and prosecute the prosecutors, well, to quote Dr. Lizardo, my favorite movie villian, "it makes the ganglia twitch."
Those co-conspirators who used our DOJ who deserve whatever fate the law allows us to impose upon them. And the maximum penalties would be in order.
November 16, 2008 10:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
"No matter where I go on TPM, everyone is out for vengeance and expect Pres. Obama to go charging in to save Democracy!
It ain't gonna happen."
Too late, BJ, it already happened. It started in 2006 and culminated in Obama's win, but that part about "save Democracy" has already begun, and is underway in earnest.
Just how deeply it reaches, and how many creeps and co-soncpirators go to jail is yet to be seen. But anyone who has followed the Siegelman case, either here, or at Bradblog, or at FDL, or anywhere for that matter, can not justify for even a moment, forgetting or trivializing what Rove and his Outlaw(R) Alabama posse did to Siegelman.
You remind me of the scene in The Godfather, where Vito tells Michael, "you will know the traitor when he comes to you with a deal..."
Your naive assumption that the next administration will be too busy with "Change" to enact real Justice (which you seem bent on redefining as vengeance) suggests you do not realize the basic fact that the return of Justice is one of the biggest changes we need. The J has been missing from "DOJ" for 8 years.
Anyone who considers Justice to be nothing more than partisan revenge is probably on the wrong side of that partisan divide.
November 16, 2008 10:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama should name David Iglesias as the new AG.
Now there is a cabinet-balancing Republican who would approach cleaning up the DoJ with a true sense of mission and, I lay very deep odds, he would know in which cracks and crevasses to shine a light in weeding out the neo-fascist wunderkind who signed the Bush blood-oath in taking the job.
Okay. Reality check: He wouldn't need special lights, cracks or crevasses. A top-to-bottom dump and start all over from scratch would likely serve best.
But, even though rumors proved false that Aaron Sorkin based the character of Kafee on Igelsias (that character was based on a newbie JAG named Donald Marcari), Igelsias is still one of the "few good men" who believes justice is non-partisan, neutral and/or "blind."
His attempt to operate from the party-neutral position is exactly why he was fired, and his being fired is exactly the fire-in-the-belly needed to clean that Bush-created political cesspool.
And, I just bet with those same high odds, he has personal knowledge of several actual crimes committed in the name of the Bush/Cheney/Rove attempt to make the Republican One Party Rule to be permanent, and that Rove promised had already arrived.
Yes, he would have to recuse himself from being a lead prosecutor so he could provide testimony, but that's no poison political position to a party-neutral justice system.
November 16, 2008 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Very well said.
November 16, 2008 4:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
The exposure of the systemic corruption and incompetence of the Bush administration and it's appointees in nearly every segment of the federal government will be the centerpiece of the 2010 elections. While there are those in government, Democrats and Republicans alike, who will stop short of attempting to prosecute Bush, Cheney, Rove, Gonzales and other high ranking officials, the Democrats will certainly want the Republican corruption, law-breaking and coverups on the record for voters to consider. The real Democratic majority in the Senate will be the primary goal of the 2010 election. With a filabuster-proof Senate majority of more than 60 Democratic senators, Obama will have the power during the last two years of his first term to do exactly what he wants with Republicans sucking up if they want to maintain any relevance at all. Between now and 2010, Obama will need at least a few Republicans to prevent filabusters. I'm eager to see which Republicans are smart enough to see the handwriting on the wall and start cooperating now and which are going to jeopardize their chances of winning in 2010 by getting Democrats pissed off enough to really go after their seats in 2010.
November 17, 2008 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
1. Stevens is finished. 58.
2. There's no chance Coleman wins on a re-count 59.
3. With Clinotn campaigning for Martin in GA, there's a good chance the Democrat will win. 60.
Otherwise, there's no need to jabber about "suckup" Republicans. There are moderate Republicans more than willing to vote moderate, with the Democrats.
November 17, 2008 1:58 PM | Reply | Permalink