Posted 2 years, 5 months ago at around evening time by oso
As if San Diego hasn’t gotten enough negative coverage in the major national press, today we were first column, front-page in the NY Times. A loony anti-immigrant, anti-government, anti-tax representative, Randy “Duke” Cunningham, pleaded guilty to tax evasion, conspiracy to commit bribery, wire fraud, and mail fraud. Grand total: at least 2.4 million dollars. What he said:
The truth is, I broke the law, concealed my conduct and disgraced my office. I know that I will forfeit my freedom, my reputation, my worldly possessions and, most imporantly, the trust of my friends and family.
That was a smart thing to say. But let me tell you, Duke does not have to worry about any forfeiture of his worldly possessions. The article says he “faces up to 10 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and forfeitures.” Ahh, poor muffin. Translated: he’ll have his own prison cell for one year, house arrest in some Rancho Santa Fe mansion the next year, be forced to give up most of what he owns (or was given in bribes) and then be welcomed back into the old boys club of the Ranch. His unsavory political past will be easily forgiven by frightened, old conservatives in golf buggies thankful he had the courage to take a stand against those damned wetbacks invading our country.
Compare that with Leandro Andrade who was given two sentences of 25 years-to-life for stealing nine children’s videotapes. Why did he steal the tapes? Xmas presents for his nieces. Andrade’s earliest possible parole date is the year 2046, when he’s 87 years old.
When the news alert about Cunningham’s accepted-guilt arrived in my inbox yesterday afternoon, I forwarded it to HP suggesting he use it for his ever-insightful quote of the day series. We had been recently talking about hypocrisy. HP’s view is that it is better to be a hypocrite who encourages others to do the “right thing” than someone who encourages bad behavior (ie. a child-molesting preacher who preaches celibacy compared to a child-molesting preacher who preaches child-molesting). For me it’s a bit more complicated. I do understand what he is saying, but I can’t help but think that the best way to encourage others to “be good” is by admitting our own faults (a profoundly difficult thing to do … as I just deleted my own example of being hypocritical). HP emailed me back:
I really should post this as a quote of the day, but not as a hyporcite [sic], but more as a extreme believer in his cause, after all, if you belong to the party that believes in cutting taxes, when you avoid paying them, that doesn’t make you a hypocrite, but a (too strong) [sic]believer in your cause.
Now when Democrats do it, well that is hypocrisy….
The Universal Myths: Heroes, Gods, Tricksters, and Others (Meridian)
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The Genius of Language: Fifteen Writers Reflect on Their Mother Tongue
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The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
you stole my thunder!
“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.”
Anatole France, The Red Lily
On the Cunningham thing: I’ve got to give it up to JMM, he’s been on this for months and was right on the money. This is going to end up being a very big deal along with the Abramoff (Georgetown Law’s finest) scandal.
What a wise note to end that post on, indeed. I am floored.
Andrade man, that’s pretty hard core. It’s a shame. Glad to hear HP is still fighting the cause. Ha.
Wow that piece on Andrade was tough to swallow. And HP, WTF?? LOL No se puede tapar el sol con un dedo!
For the record, when you sent me the article, I only breezed through it and thought it was just another article on Cunningham selling his home at a higher price than usual, you know, what has been in the news for the past few weeks. But later that day, I read other articles too, and discovered many more charges have been filed against the guy, which is probably why he all of the sudden decided to plead guilty (probably some plea bargain, where no further - read: much worse - charges will filed against him if he pleads guilty).
What makes matters worse, is that Randy Cunningham also represents my very own district, parts of Scripps Ranch, San Diego. Talk about hitting close to home, and up until a few days ago, I knew very little about the guy. I agree that he will probably get a comfy sentence, but I doubt this is because of any legislation he supported, this is primarily because all ‘white collar’ criminals get comfy sentences, especially politicians, just look at how much Clinton got away with, shoot if a Mexican from the hood lied under oath, mofo would be in jail for atleast 6 months, but Clinton could do it and get a slap on the wrist.
In the end though, I think Republicans will forgive him primarily because of his service in the military, after all, he was a highly decorated fighter pilot in the Vietnam war (along with high school coach, etc).
Now, as far as hypocrisy goes, that is very much a bipartisan characteristic, with many limousine liberals practicing it also.
Yep! Anti-immigrant people are looney. After all……everyone except those native to this land are immigrants.
Btw, reading the Andrade link now, which is some fucked up shit, and shows, again and again, why the three strikes law, where the third strike could be for petty crimes, is just wrong.
In fact, if it was up to me, all non-violent crimes, especially drug use crimes, would be completely exempt from three strike laws.
It was so sickening and pathetic to watch a grown man cry because he got his hand caught in the cookie jar and now his wrist will be slapped! Did you notice his wife (I presume) standing in the background, looking really dead? I’ll bet she wished she was. Is it guts or stupidity that makes a woman “stand by her man” when he’s such a *****?
It always has to be partisan for HP.
Okay, I’m a little dazed because of finals and lack of sleep, but do you remember if there was recent proposed legislation regarding a revision to the three strikes law? I can probably just Google it, but I’m just lazy.
HP,
Not all white collar criminals get comfy sentences. Martha Stewart had to go to jail ’cause she lied about insider trading.
Georganna, his wife wasn’t with him this time (reports say), unlike a few months ago when he expounded upon his innocence.
The man is a creep. I feel sorry for his family.
Those who take this as a cause celebre for attacking the GOP are guilty of politics of the most egregious form. Cunningham (formerly R-CA) will get as much prison time as (if not more than) Traficant (formerly D-OH), Oso — I would like to bet you on that, but considering the recent Zucchet acquittal against jury decision otherwise (also in a federal court), I can’t in good conscious take that wager.
As for Andrade, it’s sad if he wasn’t aware of our three strikes law. Perhaps we need to make two-time felons more aware of it.
Hi cindylu,
Just to defend Martha, she was convicted of conspiracy to obstruct justice (lying about having a hot tip and acting on it like the others who sold their ImClone stock that day).
Never was she charged or guilty of insider trading.
I was refering to a clip I saw on the NBC Today Show this a.m. in which he was bawling about what he did, and a grim-looking woman who appeared to be the right age for his wife (unless he has a trophy) stood slightly to the side and back.
HP — so loves the limousine liberal label. i think he’s secretly a liberal. really.
And what about people who use this and this? I can guarantee, this is not the end of similar problems for many Republicans and a [few] Democrat[s] - take that for what its worth.
Abo, the GOP’s in charge — there’s bound to be more instances of corruption for them currently because you don’t need to corrupt people who can’t get anything done for you. It’s still politicking to claim on party is more virtuous than the other, unless you also stipulate it’s that way because there’s more reason to corrupt them. The money will go where ever it needs to go. (And when you think about it, changing party governance which may be the result of these scandals will also change the direction of the money flow.) I see you’re not claiming one’s more virtuous than the other, so I think we’re in agreement on that.
Sorry, Georganna, was planning to soften my comment to you but got distracted writing the other stuff — meant to also say that I think she’d finally had enough in the several months since June’s statement of innocence — wouldn’t be surprised to see that marriage fall apart before sentencing… (But you have to wonder how complicit she was — either she doesn’t have equal power in the marriage and knew about this all and couldn’t stop it, knew about it and was fine with it, or she was being lied to: none attractive positions to show to people.)
Derek - I hear your point and I’ve never been one to espouse the virtues of the Democratic party, but I also think that the recent spate of ethics charges is indicicative of a larger problem within the Republican party than just politics as usual. I think it reflects an underlying ideology that brazenly disrespects democratic notions of government. Democrats are by no means immune to any of this, but I don’t think that fact can or should even be insinuated to justify the actions of those coming under investigation — I think that would be “politics of the most egregious form” as you so aptly put it.
Myke’s on Linux. Well done my friend. I keep reading all these new surveys in the papers about how supposedly the American people are losing their faith in the GOP, but that the Democrats haven’t been making any gains. I know that as I hear both their bickering I continue to want to distance myself more and more from both parties. I can’t help but wonder if 2008 could be an opportunity for a new, moderate party which takes the very best of conservative and liberal political thought and turns it into a new movement. A comment I left on Tyndale’s Tracts:
Anyway, Derek, I agree with what you say about some Democrats using the Cunningham case as unfair political hyperbole (though not as shameful as celebrating the riots in France), but I also agree that both Abogado and the NY Times editors are right when they say this is a matter of policy, not politics:
Yeah. Ubuntu is a sweet system. I’ve been very pleased with it. Right now I have a dual boot (Linux/Win) system until I”m totally comfortable with it but I don’t see me going back to Win completely ever again. I love open source apps. Ubuntu Linux was founded by a South African and is designed to be completely free in all aspects and is really one of the best consumer versions of Linux available. I have Firefox still for browsing .. Evolution (also open source) for email … Gaim for instant messanging (also open source & multi-protocol) … OpenOffice.org as a complete office suite & it’s not only open source but can save in Word .doc format. Of course Linux is based on Unix and so is OSX!
Hey … speaking of a new moderate party. I’m so right there with you on this. I’ve actually said the EXACT same thing dozens of times before including to HP when I was in SD. I refuse to join any political party that’s out now and firmly believe we need a new ‘moderate majority’ party to .. at very minimum … to keep the other two from swinging out legislation to far to the right or left.
Oso,
Anyway, Derek, I agree with what you say about some Democrats using the Cunningham case as unfair political hyperbole (though not as shameful as celebrating the riots in France)
…or even worse, using the death of United States soldiers in Iraq, which was the subject of an Ann Coulter rant (Btw, I only read Ann Coulter for political satire, she is the rights Al Franken - only more educated).
But I agree with you, I am all for new political parties that more closely match my beliefs. Which is why I would support Condoleezza Rice for President, whether as a Republican or as an independent. Think my idea is far fetched? Think again.
I have an issue with HP’s suggestion that Clinton got a break for “lying under oath” and what he did is any way equivalent to what the Duke was up to. One of the problems the Republicans faced when they were blowing the Clinton thing out of proportion after Lewinsky had her turn (hi-yo!) was that they couldn’t find a single American case where any one else, from the hood or not, had lied about sex on an unrelated matter in a civil case and then later faced a perjury charge. What happened to Clinton was that he was held to a higher standard than most people would’ve been, which while unfair perhaps made him a better president. Perhaps if the Republicans in congress had shown an interest in making Bush as accountable from the first day they wouldn’t have been so quiet, and sometimes disengenuous in trying to explain, why we went from surplus to debt so quickly, and we wouldn’t have the corruption problems and lack of congressional oversight over the way our (well more our children and grandchildren’s the way the deficit is snowballing) money is being spent in Iraq that federal prosecutors are finally starting to uncover.
…name that pundit…
none other than…
Joe Scarborough!
Lord Acton said it best, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”
No HP, I think you said it best when you told me: