Don Siegelman: 'I think this will make Watergate look like child's play'

[kpete]

Q&A with Don Siegelman: 'I think this will make Watergate look like child's play'
Submitted by davidswanson on Sun, 2008-05-18 15:59. Elections
By Markeshia Ricks, Anniston Star

............

I think this will make Watergate look like child's play when it is fully investigated, not so much this case because certainly it's not about me. It's about restoring justice and protecting our democracy and, because this case shows the lengths to which those who are obsessed with power will go in order to gain power or retain power, it has attracted the attention of the national press.

Specifically, because it is tied to the White House because Karl Rove is not only a political adviser to the president but he's a close personal friend of the president, and you asked me if I was surprised, no I'm not surprised that the national media has focused on this because it is the only case that has led Congress directly to the doors of the White House.

The other cases that are being mentioned or being talked about are primarily the eight U.S. attorneys who were targeted for removal either for failing to move quickly enough or for not following really the party line — the Karl Rove party line — of trying to do damage to Democrats who were involved in an elections contest.

.........................

What gave this case its viability was the sworn testimony of a Republican whistleblower, Dana Jill Simpson. Had she not had the courage to come forward and relate under oath to Congress what had happened on that conference call with Bill Canary and the governor's son, Rob Riley, then you know there wouldn't be any story. We wouldn't be talking about this today.

— From staff and wire reports

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/33492

[ensho]

1. kick

nt

[sellitman]

2. They are above the law.

Why bother? Even Pelosi agrees. Why bother us with this crap. Idol is about to name it's next King.

Focus on that!


:sarcasm:

[HCE SuiGeneris]

3. Get on with it then, please!

[KaryninMiami]

4. K&R- but we need to pressure Conyers not to back down- write to him and your elected officials

every time we come close to indicting Rove- they back down. Threatening to arrest him is a start- but if they don't follow through, Siegelman's courage and the incredible work done by investigative journalists (such as Larisa) who would not let this story die, will have been in vain.

Here's one thing we can all do- in addition to writing directly to your congresspersons and Conyers to DEMAND that Rove testify- under oath-- or be arrested-- :

From the American Freedom Campaign:

"Rove has been asked by the House Judiciary Committee to testify about his involvement in the Justice Department's prosecution and imprisonment of former Alabama Governor Don Siegleman. As Rove has so far refused to testify voluntarily, members of Congress have started sending signals that they are prepared to go to the mattresses over this.

Yesterday, Rep. Robert Wexler sent out a strongly worded E-mail advocating the use of "inherent contempt" against Rove, which would allow the House Sergeant-of-Arms to forcibly bring Rove to the House to testify.

Also yesterday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers alluded to the use of inherent contempt. "We'll do what any self-respecting committee would do," Conyers said. "We'd hold him in contempt. Either that or go and have him arrested."

It is time for all of us to let our representatives know that we support this forceful action. That is why I just sent an E-mail to my representative through the American Freedom Campaign Web site. I hope that you will join me. To do so, just use the following link to get started:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1027/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=24617

Together, we can restore balance in our system of checks and balances.

Thanks for taking action. "

[DeeDeeNY]

18. thanks fo the website

I slightly edited the message and it still took maybe a minute to do.

[aquart]

5. Agreed.

[ekwhite]

6. K&R

[annabanana]

7. kicking and I second the request that we contact our congresscritters

to keep digging at it.

[lovuian]

8. I agree Don

:kick:

[L. Coyote]

9. And that's just the Dept. of Justice part! Here is a list I started

Yesterday was a GREAT DAY for Falwell TO DIE. Or, the Buffalo Jump to Hell.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x899312

Never did get it finished. Too many scandals ....

[Canuckistanian]

10. Watergate was surpassed long ago

And on any number of scandals.

Take your pick - Florida vote caging, Iraq lies leading up to the war, 9/11 investigation, Plame, spying on Americans, torture, signing statements, etc. etc.

Future historians will be open-mouthed in astonsishment at how all this went on with almost ZERO mention in the media, the courts and even Congress.

This will probably be regarded as a black period in US history - if America survives this administration's crimes at all.

[Raster]

11. As Nixon boarded Marine One on the White House Lawn for the last time...

he wore his stiffest upper lip and under his breath cursed the media--the Washington Post--for exposing his criminal acts. He wasn't sorry FOR his criminal acts, only that he got caught--and worse--was publicly humiliated in the American press. Nixon blamed the American media for his downfall. His minions and proteges took notice. They began a systematically contrived and executed campaign to weaken the American media. In the crosshairs were regulations proscribing who could own pieces of the media and most specifically ANYTHING that supported the Fairness Doctrine. Control the messenger, control the message. And that brings us to today... Future historians WILL shake their heads in astonishment AND DISGUST at the complicity and collaboration of the vaunted Fourth Estate, reduced to corporate shill and fascist lapdog. The courts: predictable, we all should have seen that coming. Congress: surely you jest? Pigs at the trough and ALWAYS for sale to the highest bidder. American media: traitors and accomplices and woefully undeserving of any public confidence. Bless the Internets, and THANK YOU AL GORE!

Wake up America!:kick:

[Canuckistanian]

12. Yep, I agree. The "20-year Plan" worked out amazingly well for them

They took their lesson from Marshall McLuhan - "the media IS the message" and realized that media control was EVERYTHING.

There's one thing though, that they DIDN'T expect. The creation of the Internet, which allowed ANY prole the ability to speak their mind and be heard by others, thus BYPASSING the normal corporate media channels.

Thank you Al Gore, indeed!

[defendandprotect]

22. I think they've also been playing Nixon's "I may be totally crazy" card . . .

of course, some will argue that Nixon was, indeed, unbalanced ---
and I'd argue for the truth of that re Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and those who did their bidding ---
the starry eyed Gonzales and John Yoo --

[defendandprotect]

21. The criminality is deep with the CIA evidently having particiapted in supporting members of Senate/

Congress financially via Howard Hughes' CIA front companies --
two of the Senators getting money fed into their campaign chests were Gerald Ford and
Strom Thurmond - two names mentioned.

The CIA also TARGETED members of Congress who were fighting against secret government/
wiretapping of Senate members on the intelligence committee - those who stood against the MIIC.

Some of this info came tumbling out with the death of the obnoxious Bill Buckley --

[HowHasItComeToThis]

29. BINGO FOR YOU

CAN THE RICO ACT BE USED ON THE REPUBLIGANGSTERS?

[Raster]

37. Perhaps, but that would require a Justice Department that was actually interested in "justice."

[pipi_k]

33. Exactly...

so many scandals...where do they start?


How long have we been hearing about what "they" are going to do about any of it?


This bunch of criminals in the White House have been keeping a scary majority of Americans so well mind-controlled for so long that people seem like they're just happy to make it from one day to the next. Who has the mental and/or emotional energy to expend on things that are outside the scope of one's own little world when those worlds are full of anxiety and fear....gas prices...food prices...health care....bird flu and SARS and MRSA epidemics....nebulous "terrorist" attacks.

I don't think they're going to accomplish much of anything without a lot of pushing from the people. Unfortunately, the people are just as good as shell-shocked and only want to see the end to this long National Nightmare called the Bush Administration.


It would be nice to see the whole bunch of those bastards behind bars, but at this point, many people are probably only too happy to wave buh-bye to them in January and get on with fixing up whatever can still be fixed...

[Olney Blue]

13. I'm worried they are going to waltz out of the WH with no accountability.

[pipi_k]

34. Well, they just might, but then again...

there's always Karma.

They may escape direct retribution for their crimes, but I do believe that the law of "what goes around comes around" will boot them right in the ass when they least expect it.

I'm not really a believer in God, but damn...I do believe there's some Universal Force out there waiting for a chance to knock the everloving stuffings out of those clowns :smoke:

[rucognizant]

35. I don't JUST believe it..................

I've been around long enough to see it in action! It really DOE work!

[opihimoimoi]

14. K&R....BushCo is Despicable....arrogant hubris gone wild...the stuff of Roman intrigue

and manipulative crap...don't those guys read friggen History??

[Kaleko]

15. Kick for this very fine thread

and double for Don Siegelman.

[Douglas Carpenter]

16. k&r very interesting!

[stlsaxman]

17. k n r for Gov. Siegelman n/t

[DeeDeeNY]

19. K&R

[defendandprotect]

20. Thanks to Dana Jill Simpson who has paid a large price for telling truth ---

and to Don Siegelman who continues to fight for truth ---

They both have a great deal of courage --

We are dealing with criminals in government now because we didn't properly deal with Watergate and the JFK assassination as they moved in on us ---

[King Coal]

23. Thanks, Kpete. You did it again!

:hi:

[SlingBlade]

24. K & R Excellent Post

[JDPriestly]

25. If you read about the means by which white people regained

control in the south after the Civil War, you will understand that the using corrupt courts to silence political opponents is a familiar strategy of conservative southerners. The Siegelman case is not unique in souther history. The tradition of "'ol boy" politics of the South makes it possible for unscrupulous people like Rove to intimidate others into participating in political conspiracies of the kind that Siegelman is describing. A wink and a wave and everyone knows what to do. The participants in the conspiracy are all on the same page. They know what to do without much talk because their daddies and granddaddies did these things before them -- for generations. That is how they kept their former slaves fearful and subjugated. And anyone who speaks up for justice is labeled "carpetbagger" or worse. Rove would fit very well into that kind of political culture.

[merh]

32. you are so right.

And the cases of Alecee Hastings and Walter Nixon were the predecessors to what has been done by this DOJ, utlizing federal prosecutions to weaken or destroy the dem power base in Florida and Mississippi respectively - when dems are on trial during election season it is presumed that the public will associate all dems with the crimes charged.

[progressoid]

26. Not unless we get another 'deep throat' to spill the beans.

Seems like this gang of crooks learned from Watergate, Iran contra, etc how to get away with it. We need a smoking gun, and threats of subpoena's ain't gonna do squat.

[L. Coyote]

27. Already happened, in sworn testimony to Congress.

[elocs]

28. Not "when" it is fully investigated, but "if".

I'll admit this right off. During the Watergate hearing I was in college and working for the college radio station which is affiliated with NPR. I had to work the control board and sat through what I thought were boring hours of Watergate hearings and thinking that nothing would come of it. Boy, was I wrong, but that was then and this is now.

We cannot confuse what we believe here at DU with our passion and activism for the causes in which we believe with what is important to your average American. Most of these regular people are just consumed with getting through their lives with the housing market tanking, low wages, and high fuel prices, global warming. Usually in a presidential election only half of them can even be bothered to vote. They do kind of live lives of quiet desperation, but when they manage to get through their workday they are moved to inertia. I don't see them motivated to do much. They have heard those of us on the left go on and on about Bushco and Rove and shout "evil, evil, evil" and then throw in "Nazis" and "Hitler" and trials for war crimes that they look at it as being hyperbole and over the top and just turn us off.

What could change this? Well, it would change if enough of our leaders would lead. Certainly we have had our voices crying in the wilderness, but most of our Congress has not had the backbone or intestinal fortitude to stand up and actually do what is right, especially at this moment when we are in the heat of an election year and they do not want to be accused of playing politics. Many "say" they are going to do this or that, but there is little action.

What would be really helpful is if the worm had turned enough where we had a Republican such as Senator Baker during Watergate ask, "What did the President know and when did he know it?" That would take the edge off it being political, but again, that was then and this is now and I am very doubtful about anything happening. Sure, anything can happen, but it is a lot like still believing that Senator Clinton can win the nomination. (Well, there are those who still believe in that happening however delusional it may appear.)

Like Watergate I may be wrong again, but I think with age I have become more cynical. Reality is a bitch and a harsh mistress and I think the reality is that most of them are going to get away with it with mostly only the underlings left with taking the rap. But we need to just keep plodding along. I can see Bush giving a lot of pardons after the election and come next January he will be past impeachment (along with the elusive conviction and impeachment is political--he doesn't go to prison), but the law is still there. If this is even a race at all it will be a marathon and not a sprint.

[The Backlash Cometh]

30. kick

[rambler_american]

31. K&R

:kick:

[DianaForRussFeingold]

36. K&R Thank You! kpete

:patriot: Excellent Post!
Hmmm...Don Siegelman might make a good attorney general.

Something to think about!

McCain, Siegelman, Riley connection;
"Turns out, John McCain is connected to the scandal. As head of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, McCain released a report on the Abramoff scandal in 2006 that didn't include any mention of an Abramoff email that implicated Siegelman's opponent in a gubernatorial race later that year, Bob Riley, in Abramoff's influence peddling schemes. Riley went on to win, and Siegelman went to prison. McCain has refused to make the email public since that election; it only came to light because an anonymous source leaked it to the Huffington Post."
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/02/7340_mccains_connect.html

Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/25/mccain-withheld-controver_n_88304.html

[JDPriestly]

38. Thanks.