Thank You, Mrs. Clinton
By Mitch Berg
You are a gift that keeps on giving.
Presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton told Democrats Tuesday the “vast, right-wing conspiracy” is back, using a phrase she once coined to describe partisan criticism…Clinton was first lady when she famously charged allegations of an affair between her then-president husband Bill Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky were the result of a conservative conspiracy.
Again, thank you.
Keep up the great work.
March 14th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Three top Republicans have been convicted in an illegal effort to interfere with the electoral operations of the New Hampshire Democratic party.
That is the definition of a vast right wing conspiracy.
March 14th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Four top Democrat operatives convicted of illegal efforts to interfere with the electoral operations of the 2004 Presidential elections, by slashing tires on 25 vans rented to get people to the polls. One vandal is the son of mayor and one is the son of a US House Rep.
That is the definition of a vast left wing conspiracy.
March 14th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Congressman William Jefferson, Democrat, LA is found with $90,000 in his freezer. Nancy Pelosi puts him on the Homeland Security Committee.
March 14th, 2007 at 11:02 am
That is the definition of a vast right wing conspiracy.
Among drama queens, perhaps.
For the rest of the world, it’s “three guys who committed a crime, and are being punished, with the full cooperation of the NHGOP”.
If can’t show the “conspiracy” extends out of New Hampshire and all the way to the highest reaches of the national GOP – which is what Hillary! is referring to – you really should stop and think before writing that kind of glop.
March 14th, 2007 at 11:07 am
“Congressman William Jefferson, Democrat, LA is found with $90,000 in his freezer.”
That should read: “Congressman William Jefferson, Democrat, LA is found with $90,000 of bribes in his freezer.
March 14th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
“Democratic Party boss and former City Councilman Charlie Powell was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit election fraud.
The five were charged with paying voters up to $10 a vote to vote for Democratic candidates during the Nov. 2 general election.”
Ahem Rick?????? For every single instance of Republican “fraud” we can find at least 5 Democrats. Do you really want to go down this road????
http://www.gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2005/06/guilty-verdict-in-esl-voter-fraud.html
LL
March 14th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
That would be the Rostenkowski Memorial Highway.
March 14th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Oh please Kermit….Chicago is much to easy to pick on. All you need to do is look up Mayor Daley (either one) and you can find reams of evidence.
You really need to go to another state, just to make it fair to poor Rick.
LL
March 14th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
I thought I heard the sound of someone getting spanked. Turns out it was RickDFL.
March 14th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
The four Republicans convicted in the NH phone jamming scandal where more senior then the lower level Democratic campaign who plead guilty of tire slashing. They include the former Executive Director of the NH Republican Committee , the New England chairman of President Bush’s re-election campaign, and the owners of two GOP friendly campaign service companies. There prison sentences were generally longer.
The RNC actually paid $3 million in legal bills for one of them at the direction of the
White House.
As for William Jefferson, I see you and raise you Bob Ney and Duke Cunningham, two Republican congressman who, unlike Jefferson, have actually been convicted of corruption.
March 14th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
I see you and raise you Bob Ney and Duke Cunningham, two Republican congressman who, unlike Jefferson, have actually been convicted of corruption.
The lesson: Republicans actually punish corrupt Republicans. Democrats game the system to avoid accountability.
Jefferson hid behind a perversion of House rules to avoid being held responsible for his crimes – with the full complicity of the Dem house leadership.
In Milwaukee, the Dem-leaning DA has actively resisted investigating their voter fraud issues.
And as to the MASSIVE voter intimidation effort in New Jersey in ’02? Yep, the NJ Dem machine got everyone to softpedal that, too.
Shall we go back to the Savings and Loan scandal? Four Dems, one “Republican”.
Simple fact is, Rick, that pettifogging corruption is an integral part of Democrat party history – one that many of your copartyists chuckle about, when they’re not scowling at the rare, occasional Republican who screws up (and pays).
March 14th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Oh, Rick? And as much as I rip on you, I have to give you kudos here.
Good job, trying to switch subjects away from Clinton’s moronic, paranoid, delusional “vast conspiracy”. You certainly realize how unhinged that sort of rhetoric makes you all sound, and are doing well to try to veer the conversation – all conversation – away from it.
Well done.
March 14th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Her words really do make her appear a bit manic, don’t they.
I am afraid that such happenings can reflect poorly on her friends and associates.
It does make me glad my nick is not TroyDFL. đ
March 15th, 2007 at 6:47 am
It’s not unusual for the guilty to be paranoid, is it? I can’t help thinking of all those senior citizens who got robbed in the Whitewater scam.
Hillary Clinton is a thief.
March 15th, 2007 at 8:50 am
Mitch:
The President just took the unprecedented step of firing the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted Duke Cunningham and his Attorney General has been caught lying about it under oath to Congress. That is not policing your own.
As for NJ, the fraud was so massive I can not find it. Please post a link. Since we know know the White House put pressure on local U.S. Attorney’s to prosecute Democrats, it will be very interesting to hear the testimony of the NJ U.S. Attorney who announced a corruption investigation of Bob Menendez just before the 06 elections. Perhaps his sense of honor is not as great as the NM and WA USAs.
I love your invulnerable logic. If more Dems are caught that means they are corrupt. If more Republicans are caught that means they can police their own.
I am not trying to change the subject. Clinton’s claim was accurate. There was a right wing conspiracy to break elections laws in NH. We are just now beginning to see how vast it has spread.
March 15th, 2007 at 9:07 am
That is not policing your own.
Where is Cunningham today?
the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted Duke Cunningham
Really? You think there’s a causative correlation? Feel free to support that with, y’know, actual evidence.
As for NJ, the fraud was so massive I can not find it
Because you were looking in the ’06 election. The NJ Dems ran a pretty intense campaign of intimidation with some serious irregularities during Corzine’s bid in ’02. I wrote about it at the time. I’ll dredge up a link shortly.
I love your invulnerable logic. If more Dems are caught that means they are corrupt. If more Republicans are caught that means they can police their own.
My logic my not be invulnerable, but you’re certainly not the one who’s going to disprove me. There’s no “if” about it; in any given field of corruption (let’s not try to compare election fraud with pettifogging and graft), Democrats get caught more often, because they do it more often, especially election fraud.
I am not trying to change the subject. Clintonâs claim was accurate. There was a right wing conspiracy to break elections laws in NH. We are just now beginning to see how vast it has spread.
Rubbish. Clinton has spent the last 10-12 years trying to show that there’s a “vast” conspiracy, incorporating conservative financiers, the whole right-wing media (such as it is), the GOP, conservative think tanks, all of us.
To try to say her remark was only about the “vast” conspiracy in New Hampshire is so obtuse and picayune that, indeed, it needs it’s own term, something that means to selectively, obtusely cherry-pick history to try to spin a Democrat’s rhetorical outrage into something that makes sense (in theory).
You’re Ricking the story!
March 15th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Can you name a single U.S. Attorney in recent memory, fired in mid-term, after securing a major conviction in a public corruption case? Add in the fact that the first public explanation of her firing turns out to be false and you have as overwhelming a case as you could have at this point.
“Democrats get caught more often, because they do it more often, especially election fraud”.
OK – put up some numbers. I have already proven this is not true with regard to Congress.
Executive Branch – Clinton Admin – no convictions for wrong doing in office. Despite Independent Consuls with no budget and a hostile Congress.
Bush 2 – (1) Lester M. Crawford became commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration in July 2005 and resigned in August 2006. On October 17, he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts, making a false writing and conflict of interest.
(2) Scooter Libby was indicted for Obstruction of Justice, Perjury, and Making False Statements on October 28th, 2005. (3) David Safavian was the chief of staff of the General Services Administration (GSA) and later the head of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. He resigned from that position on Friday, September 16, 2005, prior to his arrest on Monday, September 19 for lying and obstructing the investigation into the dealings of Jack Abramoff. He was indicted on October 5, 2005 and went to trial on May 22, 2006. On June 20, 2006, a jury convicted Safavian on four of five counts.
Governors: Dems: No convictions since Edwin Edwards in LA in 1998.
Republicans: (1) CT Gov. John Rowland resigned in 2004 from office during a corruption investigation, and later pleaded guilty in federal court to a one-count with conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud and tax fraud. (2) IL Gov. George Ryan in 2006, was found guilty on all a total of 18 federal public corruption counts. (3) Much of KY Gov. Ernie Fletcher cabinet was convicted of corruption. He pardoned them all and latter plead guilty to three misdemeanor charges. (4) Several of OH Gov. Bob Taft’s officials have been convicted and he pled “no contest” to charges for failing to disclose 47 golf outings, five dinners, and 29 other favors paid for by friends.
“To try to say her remark was only about the âvastâ conspiracy in New Hampshire” blah blah blah
From the article you cited:
On Tuesday, she asserted the conspiracy is alive and well, and cited as proof the Election Day 2002 case of phone jamming in New Hampshire, a case in which two Republican operatives pleaded guilty to criminal charges, and a third was convicted.
“To the New Hampshire Democratic party’s credit, they sued and the trail led all the way to the Republican National Committee,” Clinton said.
“So if anybody tells you there is no vast right-wing conspiracy, tell them that New Hampshire has proven it in court,” she said.
March 15th, 2007 at 11:00 am
The NJ Dems ran a pretty intense campaign of intimidation with some serious irregularities during Corzineâs bid in â02.
Not only that, but Corzine was involved in some Enron-style transactions (at the height of the Enron scandal) where he ripped off millions, but somehow got a free pass from the Left and the MSM during his campaign.
THAT is not policing your own, Rick. If the Left was consistent, Corzine would have been carved like an Easter spiral-sliced ham.
March 15th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Paul:
In the Democratic party, we follow the rule of law. We do not indict public officials without evidence. You got evidence – take it to the Bush appointed U.S. Attorney in NJ. Apparently, he is politically reliable.
March 15th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Um, Rick? The Democrat party doesn’t “indict” anyone. That’s a feature of the civil court system.
March 15th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Mitch: First I stifled my urge to use ‘picayune’ in a sentence. Then I resisted the temptation to point out that indictments are issued not in the civil courts, but in the criminal court system. But then I realized such a response is a confession of defeat on the main issue, so I will gladly concede I should have said ‘In the Democratic Party we follow the rule of law. We do not believe pubic officials should be indicted without evidence’.
It just seems there is a lot more of this evidence against Republican elected officials.
March 15th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Hey Rick, I’ll give you some updates, as your myopic view seems to leave you with a hole in your list.
Gov James McGreevey (D-NJ), resigns after fundraising investigations and indictments.
US Rep Danny Rostenkoski (D-IL) 17 felony charges, pled guilty to 2 counts: 17 months in the Federal Pen
State Rep George Rogers (D-Mass) Convicted of bribery, 2 years in the Federal Pen
US Rep Frederick Richmand (D-NY) pled guilty to soliciting sex from a minor, tax evasion, marijuana, and improper payments to a federal employee
US Rep Raymond Lederer (D-Penn) Abscam, 3 years in the Federal Pen
US Senator Harrison Williams (D-NJ) Abscam, nine counts of bribery, conspiracy, racketeering. 3 years in the Federal Pen
Governor Neil Goldschmidt (D-Or) Sexual relationship with a 14 year old minor
Governor David Hall (D-Ok) Convicted of extortion and conspiracy charges. 3 years in the Federal Pen
Governor David Walters (D-Ok) Pled guilty to election law violations
US Senator Thomas Dodd (D-CT) Censured by the Senate for financial improprieties, including diverting $116,000 in campaign/testimonial money for his own use.
Yeah, Rick…you Democrats sure can follow the law! And this is just a SMALL list!
March 15th, 2007 at 11:48 am
“In the Democratic party, we follow the rule of law.”
***Insert laugh track here***
DNC: 1996, FEC imposes $719,000 in fines for fundraising scandals involving China, Korea, and other foreign sources.
Follow the law, huh? How’s that again?
March 15th, 2007 at 11:53 am
US Rep Mel Reynolds (D-IL) Convicted of sexual misconduct and obstruction of justice. 5 years in the Federal Pen
US Rep Chuck Diggs (D-MI) Convicted of 11 counts of mail fraud and filing false payroll forms. 3 years in the Federal Pen.
Governor Don Seigelman (D-AL) Indicted on bid-rigging
The list goes on and on and on and on…and on
March 15th, 2007 at 11:58 am
One last one for Rick:
Governor Jim Guy Tucker (D-Ark) Convicted in Whitewater scandal.
Gee, seems to me that word…Whitewater…has some additional meanings? Hmmm…
March 15th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Dave:
Thats 0 convictions for corruption since 2000 – JM. One in the 90s – DR. Two is the 80s – FR & DW. 4 in the 70s (RL, HW, NG (no conviction on public corruption), & DH). And one no conviction in the 60s (TD). You missed Boss Tweed. And Jim Trafficant – just to show you I am nice.
I got two congressman, 3 Admin officials, and 4 governors without even leaving the century.
March 15th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
I think “0 Convictions For Corruption Since 2000!” would make a great Democrat party slogan.
March 15th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
It sure beats “Nine so far, and we are just getting started”.
March 15th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Rick:
Congrats on your cherry-picking. Nothing goes better with your party’s hypocrisy than picking one span of time to make a global determination. Nice job.
I particularly enjoy the “Ignore that man behind the curtain” defense. Yep, you guys are as pure as the driven snow…nothing illegal going on here…just move along.
March 15th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Dave:
I tried to stick to the New Hampshire topic. Others tried to make a general charge of corruption against the Democratic party. I pointed out that recent history shows more convictions on public corruption matters for Republican elected officials.
I make no ‘global determination’ of corruption, because I have no idea how you could or what would be the point. I mean do we really want to debate Tammany Hall vs. the Whiskey Ring?
I am content to point out that the current Republican party, people holding office since 1994, has had more corruption convictions than the Democrats. If I ‘cherry-pick’ it is because I want to stay relevant to contemporary politics. You want help with a history paper, hire a tutor.
March 15th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Ooh, an even better slogan for the Democrats:
“Our Corruption Is Better Than Their Corruption!”
March 15th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
I tried to stick to the New Hampshire topic.
Which was not the topic at all.
The topic is “what is Hillary looking under to find vast conspiracies”.
Because if you think that meme is about New Hampshire, then you’re ricking again.
March 15th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
“The topic is âwhat is Hillary looking under to find vast conspiraciesâ.”
I not even sure what this means (looking under?). Hillary said the NH scandal proved there was a vast right-wing conspiracy. You said it did not reach outside of NH, so I pointed out the convictions of the New England campaign director for Bush/Cheney, and two other national figures, plus the role of the White House and the RNC. After that you seemed to concede the point and started claimed Democrats were, in general more corrupt, than Republicans. When I respond to this charge you accuse me of going off topic. So in plainer English please, what is the topic of this post.
March 15th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Rick bragged “In the Democratic party, we follow the rule of law. We do not indict public officials without evidence. You got evidence”
Bill Clinton fired all 93 federal prosecutors in one fell swoop. Were you screaming for Janet Reno’s resignation, Rick?
March 15th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Rick: First you reference no convictions since 1998, then you use the term “recent”, then you reference back to 1994. I guess you can’t make up your mind what timeperiod to use to cherry-pick your data.
And, as usual, you miss the point. You are trying to make some case that you and your DFL buddies are pure. You want to convince people you DFLers “always follow the law”
No, you don’t. There are plenty of Minnesota cases to bring up too. Ask Tommy the Commie Rooookevia about his DWIs.
And Mitch is 100% right. You tried to change the subject and now that I pointed out the pure BS of your cherry-picked timeline, so you try to say you were only talking about “recent history”. Liar.
March 15th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Kermit: A President should fire the U.S. Attorney’s appointed by the President of another party – at the start of his term. The tradition has been, once appointed, USAs are left in place by that President. Since 1985 from two to five, US Attorneys were removed from office in the middle of their terms. As hilzoy said, “George W. Bush managed to fire more attorneys on one day than had been fired in mid-term during the previous 25 years.”
March 15th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Ok, Rick. I’ll play along. I’ll use 1994 as the starting point:
2003 Assembywoman Gloria Davis (D-Bronx), Pled guilty to second degree bribe-taking
2004 US Rep Frank Ballance (D-CA) Indicted on fraud and money laundering
2005 State Senator Brian Burke (D-WI) 6 months in the pokie for one felony, one misdemeanor
2005 State Senator John Celona (D-RI) Multiple counts of fraud
1995 HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros (D, former Mayor of San Antonio) Indicted on 18 counts of conspiracy, giving false statements, and obstruction of justice
Hey Rick, this is fun. Should I keep going? This complies with YOUR timeline rules, right? Sure does look like you need to upgrade your memory chip, buddy!
March 15th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Doug – have at it all day – maybe you will find a real scandal on the Casper City Council that really implicates the Democratic party. As for the figures of any note on your list – Cisneros was convicted of one misdemeanor and that was in regards to a private matter not public service. Ballance served less than one term in Congress and was not convicted for any corruption related to his Congressional service.
March 15th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Ok Rick, now you want to change the rules again? Can’t you stick with ONE rule? Now YOU will be the arbitor of what is a ‘relevent’ crime and ones that should be ignored? Felonies aren’t good enough?
Thanks for proving what Mitch and the rest of the world really knows: You people in the DFL are complete and utter morons.
March 15th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Dave, when discussing the general issue of corruption (not the specific NH case), I have been following one rule the whole time – senior elected officials and senior White House appointees recently convicted of corruption related to public duties.
There are over 7400 state legislators at any one given year. The relevance of your examples to a general conclusion about the Democratic party, I will leave to the audience.
But FYI:
Jeff Haby R PA House 2004 convicted of improperly having legislative staff do campaign work on state time
Guy Velella R NY Sen 2003 plead guilty to one count of bribery.
I am sure with 7400 a year to choose from we could both keep this up all day.
March 15th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
“A President should fire the U.S. Attorneyâs appointed by the President of another party – at the start of his term.”
OK. Mitch, it’s your blog, if you want to point out Rick’s complete vapidity here, have at it. I for one don’t think he will ever get it. I’ll toss out the first softball:
“The tradition has been, once appointed, USAs are left in place by that President. ”
Until Bill Clinton fired every last one of them!
March 16th, 2007 at 6:47 am
Kermit: Which part of “once appointed” do you not understand? Clinton fired the Bush I U.S. Attorney’s, that was expected and customary with a change of administration. Bush II is under fire for removing his own appointees mid-stream.
From the L.A. Times backgrounder:
Are U.S. attorneys removed when a new president takes office?
Yes. Upon taking office, most presidents choose a new slate of U.S. attorneys.
Are U.S. attorneys always removed after four years in office?
No, not if the president who appointed them is reelected. When Presidents Reagan and Clinton were reelected, their U.S. attorneys stayed in office for a second four-year term.
That tradition was well-known to the Bush administration. In a memo sent to the White House last year, D. Kyle Sampson, Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales’ aide who quit this week, said the customary practice was to have U.S. attorneys “serve for four years and then holdover indefinately (sic), at the pleasure of the president, of course.”
Are U.S. attorneys regularly removed from office at the direction of the White House?
No. Officials of past Republican and Democratic administrations say they were unaware of an instance when a large group of U.S. attorneys was dismissed at once.
March 16th, 2007 at 8:37 am
“Clinton fired the Bush I U.S. Attorneyâs, that was expected and customary with a change of administration. Bush II is under fire for removing his own appointees mid-stream.”
Only a DFLoonie would complain about someone firing at-will employees who aren’t doing what the boss wants. Obviously Rick wants to apply Civil Service to the attorneys and make them just as efficient as the rest of the bloated and slow departments that are staffed and run that way. Strangely enough, having seen what the CS does to government departments first hand I strongly support W’s insistence on not having Homeland Security so saddled.
March 16th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Nedbert:
U.S. Attorneys should neither be civil service nor covered by a collective bargaining agreement. They are political appointees who should change to reflect the policy priorities of a new Administration. But USAs, because they work in the Justice Department, are not like an Assistant Commissioner in the Agriculture Department. USA should be insulated from political pressure to go after or lay off specific targets. For example, if Bill Clinton said each USA had to secure the conviction of at least one evangelical minister for fraud and fired any USA who refused to comply, everyone would rightly object.
That is why a number of unwritten rules and traditions have accumulated around USA appointments. Instead of rewriting our laws or trying to make new rules for every case, we need only honor the unwritten rules and punish the Bush administration for violating them. AG Gonzales should resign, the new AG should be required to reinstate the 8, the Patriot act provision allowing WH appointment of USAs w/o Senate confirmation should be repealed, and there should be a full investigation of which USA were pressured and how they responded.