Coming Up On 60 Minutes Tonight : Don Siegelman

[orleans]

CBS) A Republican operative in Alabama says Karl Rove asked her to try to prove the state’s Democratic governor was unfaithful to his wife in an effort to thwart the highly successful politician’s re-election.

Rove’s attempt to smear Don Siegelman was part of a Republican campaign to ruin him that finally succeeded in imprisoning him, says the operative, Jill Simpson.

Simpson speaks to Scott Pelley in her first television interview, to be broadcast on 60 Minutes Sunday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Simpson spoke to Pelley because, she says, Siegelman’s seven-year sentence for bribery bothers her. She recalls what Rove, then President Bush’s senior political adviser, asked her to do at a 2001 meeting in this exchange from Sunday’s report.

"Karl Rove asked you to take pictures of Siegelman?" asks Pelley.

"Yes," replies Simpson.

"In a compromising, sexual position with one of his aides," clarifies Pelley.

"Yes, if I could," says Simpson.

Simpson says she found no evidence of infidelity despite months of observation. She tells Pelley that Rove, who had been a top Republican strategist in Alabama, had made requests for information from her before in her capacity as an "opposition researcher" for Republicans running for office.

Rove would not speak to 60 Minutes, but elsewhere has denied being involved in efforts to discredit Siegelman.

Siegelman was convicted of bribery in a case that has drawn criticism from Democrats and Republicans. In fact, 52 former states’ attorneys general from both political parties petitioned Congress to investigate Siegelman’s case, resulting in hearings held last fall.

"I haven’t seen a case with this many red flags on it that pointed towards a real injustice being done," Grant Woods, the former Republican attorney general of Arizona and one of those who petitioned Congress, tells Pelley. "I personally believe that what happened here is that they targeted Don Siegelman because they could not beat him fair and square."

Siegelman was the only politician in Alabama history to be elected to all four of the state’s highest offices of secretary of state, attorney general, lieutenant governor and governor, and he did it as a Democrat in the heavily Republican state.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/21/60minutes/main3859830.shtml

[Kolesar]

1. And in Russia, they are imprisoning political opponents in "mental hospitals"

kick

[orleans]

2. . n/t

[L. Coyote]

27. 60 Minutes video online now, transcript too

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/21/60minutes/main3859830.shtml

[OrrenBoyle]

3. Clinton/Reno never should have begun that investigation in 1999.

I wonder how Karl Rove got them to start one.

[Kolesar]

5. You joined today to counter an embarassing story about the gops

when it came up on 60 minutes. Good work if you can get it.

[OrrenBoyle]

7. Bizarre charge given I just defended Siegelman.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

21. Uh *DOH* more like defended Rove and the BushCO administration.

I've seen some pretty deep piles of brown smelly stuff dumped in here but OMFG!!!

[CatWoman]

18. release the kraaken!!!

[Kolesar]

19. That's what I used to say when I got home from work and let our golden retriever out

Hope my pic works

[CatWoman]

20. lol

what a purdy doggie!!! :rofl:

[orleans]

25. all gone!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=user_profiles&u_id=215640

[Kolesar]

26. "It" will be back, I am sure...eom

[salin]

11. 1999? Where did you see that date?

I have been following the story a long time, and have never heard nor read that the "investigation began in 1999).

[salin]

22. Nice try - the investigation in 1999 - was by GOP state attorney general William Pryor.

though I bet the GOP response is going to through the words "investigation" and "1999" out alot to cause the same innuendo that you have thrown out with this post. It would probably work better with folks who haven't been following the story.

It only took a few minutes of going back through old stories to find the reference to 1999 and an investigation - it was the first shot of the RW witch-hunt of Siegleman.

[CatWoman]

4. is this the official thread?

:)

[Kolesar]

6. Hey, we just got our first cat yesterday

A little black cat from the humane society :hi:

[CatWoman]

8. that is wonderful news!!

:hi:

:love: my DU kitty parents!!!! :)

[Kolesar]

13. If the cat rubs you with the top of her head it's real affection

If she uses the side, it is the marking ritual. Well, when I petted Chloe through the bars of the cage, she told me I'm her buddy. This was only our second trip to look for shelter kitties. I asked "why do we need to look any further?". Next thing you know, she's in a box on her way home. She's 18 months old and all love.

She's "off her game" because she was spayed Wednesday. She coughs about three times a day. We'll make sure she gets well and stays well.

[CatWoman]

16. awwwww

:loveya:

[samplegirl]

9. 6 years left for his sentance????????

and Bob Ney served 10 months and is in a half-way house already for coingate.
Wrong........................Wrong.........Wrong!
No good Repubican judges.

[Kolesar]

10. The bush prosecutors coached witness Bailey in 75 sessions on what to say in court

And they offered Bailey a reduced sentence for his false testimony against Siegelman.

[salin]

12. had pages of interview notes and didn't turn them over to the

defendents lawyers, isn't that illegal? Or at least grounds for a retrial?

[Kolesar]

14. I'm no attorney, but I knew that from watching "My Cousin Vinnie"

With Joe Pesci.

[no_hypocrisy]

15. "Because I'm an American first, and then a republican."

That was the response of the former Arizona Attorney General to the question of "You're a former attorney general who is a republican accusing the republican Justice Department of Justice (prosecuting an elected official because he was a democrat without evidence). How do you reconcile that?"

[moondust]

17. For anyone who might think the "vast right wing conspiracy" is a joke:

Wake up call! The birdies are singing!

Karl Rove & Co. belong in a hard labor camp.

[demosincebirth]

24. I've known it for years... about the RW Conspiracy.

I don't put anything past those fuckers

[L. Coyote]

23. ***** Happy Birthday Gov. Don Siegelman ***** Official SHOUT OUT Support Thread *****

Please help build a special GREETING thread

***** Happy Birthday Gov. Don Siegelman ***** Official SHOUT OUT Support Thread *****
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2915968