Western Word is reporting that the AP says that the investigation of former Senator Conrad Burns and his relationship with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been dismissed. Not acquitted, because that would require a trial, but dismissed because there was a lack of evidence.
I apologize to Conrad for my succumbing to being manipulated by the politics of the damned thing that caused a good man to be slimed. I am sure that Matt, Shane, and others will be posting an apology as well soon.
If not, then may their victory be as hollow as their integrity.
7 comments:
Actually the guy who owes the apology is Jay Stevens. He "had it on good word" that indictments were going to be handed down. The he propagated rumors of such (writing at TPM) that the indictments would be delayed until after the election.
You'll also find on Jon Tester's site a comment where someone implores Burns to "promise to resign if convicted in six weeks or six years." This is the "when did you stop beating your wife bullshit that are used to assassinate character.
If I were Conrad I'd be paraphrasing Ray Donovan's famous line after his acquittal "Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?"
I could care less if the investigation was dropped. He had a dirty nose.
Dave, your fetish with Jay used to be amusing, now it seems a little creepy.
Uhm, I didn't write that comment above, even though I have used that last line before.
What I would say here is that the AP piece does not say he was 'exonerated' nor does it say he was 'cleared', it simply says that he is no longer part of the investigation. In fact, it repeatably says that and avoids the word 'cleared' and 'exonerated'. I thought you were a lawyer Steve. Shouldn't you recognize the difference?
I think that if you went back and actually read some of my posts on the subject, you would see that I said that even if Conrad was not guilty himself, his staff was. He didn't know why he had voted the way he did on the Mariannes Island child slave issues, he had just di so because his staff told him too. He didn't know why he had slipped earmarks in for Jacks clients, he just did so because his staff told him too. For that, he is at minimum guilty of incompetence.
If he is so clear, then why doesn't he just challenge Max in November?
Not a bad idea at all, Shane. Not bad at all. Maybe we should start a draft Conrad movement.
The old guy isn't coming back to Montana, he has a nice lobbying job in Washington. I would think that after how he treated you guys after the election that you wouldn't want him. How long did it take him to make a concession speech? Did he thank you for your hard work and allowing him to serve? Not really.
"ALABAMA'S DIRTY CAMPAIGN MONEY"
High ranking state and federal Republican officials in Alabama are above the law; Bush has instructed his new Attorney General appointee not to investigate corruption in Alabama.
The GOP is deeply involved in the Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon scandal. Lobbyist Jack Abramoff who was a major GOP campaign fund raiser has almost 400 recorded visits to the White House. The documented prison confessions by these two along with these White House records have recently been declared secret by Bush and is being withheld by the White House. Abramoff and Lobbyist Scanlon con over sixty million dollars from the six Indian tribes that ran gambling Casinos. Abramoff also arranged secret meetings for foreign businesses and governments with the White House where Bush granted government and military favors in exchange for major campaign contributions to Bush supporters.
Now the GOP in Alabama has to depend on T. Roth and W. Canary to deal with the Choctaw Indians directly. The Choctaws aren’t the only ones that they are using scare tactics on. The GOP depends on contributions from large businesses in return for political favors. They also depend on kickbacks from military/government contractors. Some contractors in Alabama are charging tax payers as much as 80% over costs.
“THE ALABAMA GOP MISSION STATEMENT”
-We will support our present U.S. Republican senators, our U.S. Republican congressmen and our Republican governor.
-We will support our high ranking Republican judges, our Republican attorney generals and our three republican newspapers owned by Newhouse/Advance Publications, Inc. that persecutes and prosecutes those darn Democrats that keeps getting in the way.
"had it on good word"? Never said it. Said it was a "juicy rumor" and ran with it. Turns out there's no indictment. I was wrong about that, but not about Burns, IMHO.
I "propagated rumors of such (writing at TPM)"? That's news to me. I've never written a word over at TPM.
And BTW, there was no reason given for the feds dropping the investigation. I believe the actual reason was "no comment."
As far as Burns' "reputation" -- he earned it.
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