November 17, 2006
Jim Miller trumps Karl Rove
Lawrence O'Donnell at The Huffington Post
the damage Murtha's ethics history can do to the Pelosi Speakership is nothing compared to what Alcee Hastings can do ... If Rove had been smart enough to make Alcee Hastings a household term during the campaign, the Democrats would not have won as many seats. If Pelosi makes Hastings a chairman, Rove won't miss the shot this time. The Democrats would instantly take over as the party of corruption."
Rove wasn't smart enough to make Alcee Hastings an issue, but
our own Jim Miller was!
hat tip: Instapundit
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at November 17, 2006
04:23 PM | Email This
1. Seventeen years after the event, many people are probably not aware of how serious and extensive the charges against Hastings were, that caused the Senate to convict and remove him from office by a vote of 69 to 26:
He was convicted on 8 of 11 articles, for engaging a bribery conspiracy and for repeatedly lying under oath and forging letters in order to win acquittal at his jury trial. There were 6 additional articles on which the Senate did not even vote, because they had already decided to remove him from office.
And this was the worst kind of judicial corruption, involving a large amount of money from defendents facing serious charges in his court:
Through an intermediary Hastings actively solicited a $150,000 bribe.
Also note that Hastings was only the SIXTH Federal judge ever impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate.
And THIS is the guy Nancy Polosi may install as Chairman of the INTELLIGENCE committee ?!?!
2. Oh, please, please, please, please, pleeeezzzz install him Nancy . . . pppplllleeeezzzz.
I'm on my knees hopin' she shows the same political acumen she exhibited by backing that treasonous crook Murtha.
3. Who were the 8 House Members that voted against impeaching Hastings??
4. Actually, the US House impeached him in 1988 by a vote of 413 to THREE, not 8.
Online US House roll call votes only go back to 1990, so the names against are not immediately available there. Expect they're out on the net somewhere; no time to look; have to leave that one as an exercise for some interested reader.
5. Going after Alcee would have been a lose-lose for Rove. You know damn well that if the RNC had come out with commercials about how a crooked, impeached judge (who just happened to be black) would have direct oversight of our national-security secrets, the MSM would have taken about five seconds to start stomping its feet, pounding its fists on the tabletop and screaming "RACISM! RACISM! RACISM!"
6. all you dang bigoted conservative hypocrites....
ok--Alcee is not the best...a few "lapses in judgement"...
say--is O.J. available after his book tour?
7. The main stream press was not interested in corrupt democrats, they only wanted GOP corruption. See Abramoff, didn't they only mention the republicans?
8. This is the same party that has a homicidal drunk as one of it's most senior and respected members. With that in mind, Alcee's as good as installed.
Jim Miller nailed this one. Nice job Jim.
9. Time to ride the red rip tide, if Alcee Hastings is appointed. Rove may be able to fire the next shot, but face it, Rove screwed up leading up to this election - although there is enough blame to go around to numerous others. He has feeding Bush the big lie about illegal aliens helping the Republican vote - for that I proclaim; What a dufuss ! It seems better to just give Jim Miller the credit for this shot and forget Rove...
10. ronk - the main stream press stopped being objective many years ago - Hello - earth to ronk... Both parties seem to be competing to see who the most corrupt is - The Repubs may have the edge over the last 6 years, but the Dems won that battle all during the 90's, and right now it appears as the Dems are catching up fast.
Do you think the main stream press will say much about this ? Doubtful, because they have a D beside there name, which makes them immune from coverage, unless they have been indicted first.
One of the results of this is that newspaper circulation continues to plummet.
11. Can an impeached judge get a security clearance?
Oh! the irony! A man who couldn't get the lowest security clearance made chair of the intel committee. It dosen't get much better than that.
Tells you want the D's think of national security. A man is proven to be buyable with access to the nations secrets.
Keep an eye on Craigslist.
SNIE on Iran $150,000
SNIE on Syria $200,000
Contigency plans for China $2,000,000
The most ethical house leadership ever.....Priceless!
12. Not sure who the 3 in the House were who voted AGAINST Hasting's impeachment, but both Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer both voted FOR impeachment!
13. Personally, I would like to see a law that would ban an impeached and convicted official from holding ANY Federal office afterwards.
14. SouthernRoots,
according to C-Span "The Constitution permits the Senate, upon having voted to convict an official on Articles of Impeachment, to take an additional step. While removal from office follows a vote to convict, the Senate is also given the discretion to go beyond removal and vote for "disqualification" -- to bar the official from ever again holding "any Office of honor, Trust, or Profit under the United States." (Article 1, sec.3).
In the Hastings case, the Senate chose not to take this additional optional step. Judge Hastings was convicted on two Articles of Impeachment: perjury and conspiracy to obtain a bribe. He was removed from office, but he was not barred from seeking another elected position."
15. Bill H, thanks. I didn't realize it was in the Constitution. Too bad it isn't automatic.
16. From an article by Byron York on the National Review web site - "the three who voted against impeachment were Reps. Gus Savage, Mervyn Dymally, and Edward Roybal."