And was she on Star Trek: The Next Generation?
The way they were planning to attack her on religion certainly was, and ignorant into the bargain. She is probably a better Christian than most of them.
I agree with Shodan. There was nothing that appeared to be illegal in the content of the transcripts. Politics can get ugly - and anyone who thinks only Republican politics get ugly is naïve. But hard politics is not a crime.
Dems ain’t civic saints, but anyone who has been paying any attention for the last 30 years knows that Pub politics are a lot harder. It was not so in Ike’s day. It started out with vicious, petty, take-no-prisoners “power”-struggles among the Young Republicans in the 1960s (you can read that story in Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland; it is truly a very disturbing story), and by now it seems to have permeated the GOP’s entire political culture.
And so the FBI should investigate whether her religous credentials were maligned, as opposed to wiretap laws possibly being broken?
See post #70.
Less than Angie Harmon and more than Fred Thompson.
So no one should attack a politician’s religious beliefs, right? And anyone who would do that is scum, right?
Democrat or Republican. Right?
Regards,
Shodan
I’m sure the revelation that Mitch McConnell is an unpleasant person would have made headlines across the country. Probably on page 19, just below the waterskiing squirrel pictures and next to “Fast food is bad for you” and “Water wet, study confirms”.
It’s interesting that someone taped and released the recording of the meeting, but unless there’s something we’ve all missed I’m not seeing the smoking gun that will bring down McConnell’s campaign.
What makes this newsworthy is the jubilant tone of those living in the gutter. At a normal meeting to discuss opposition research, we expect to hear someting like “Oh look! He voted for this new state park that requires a permit! Let’s call that a vote to increase taxes!” It’s all bullshit, everyone does it, and everyone knows it.
What we have in this case is “Golllll- leee diddledums! It says in that there book that she had sigh-key … AT-rick treatment! She’s mentally unstable! Yippeeeee!” Most of us have gotten over the stigma associated with seeking mental health treatment, but like their knuckle-dragging base, Republican officials see it as a disqualifying factor.
Oh Bob, Bob, Bob…how’s it been, living up there in that cave on Mars with your fingers in your ears?
Well, I prefer to think that most people are better than that.
I would have been perfectly happy to raise the issue of mental faculties with candidates like Allen West. If someone says in apparent seriousness that they never know what is going to “send them over the edge,” and uses an example of fuzzy socks, that’s pretty serious. Sorry, I guess I’m just a horribly biased person that thinks we should have stable people in leadership positions. I am prepared for my pitting.
So, do we know this meeting took place after normal business hours?
This, OTOH, I totally agree with.
And McConnell’s willingness to use stuff like that goes in the “politics ain’t beanbag” file. I mean, it was in her own book. It wasn’t like they had to use any underhanded means to get this quote. If an opponent hands you something like this on a platter, you use it.
Do we have any reason to suspect that there was a violation of the Hatch Act? Maybe there were Mexican drug lords in the meeting, too – perhaps we should investigate that. Nobody has ever found Jimmy Hoffa, so we won’t know if his body was in the conference room unless the FBI investigates that, too.
It was apparently two volunteers from a local KY liberal group. They were in the building for another meeting, walked by the door (which was closed but had an open vent on the bottom), heard the meeting and recorded part of it with a smartphone.
Not really sure how that shakes out legally or morally. Its not really “bugging” anything, and the meeting was apparently clearly audible from the hall. On the other hand, it was obviously supposed to be a private meeting and the two recorded it without permission from anyone involved.
The Hatch Act doesn’t apply to Congressional employees, just Executive Branch employees.
Here’s what the rules published by the Senate Ethics Committee say:
A similar set of House rules quotes Common Cause v. Bolger, 574 F. Supp. 672, 683 (D.D.C. 1982), aff’d, 461 U.S. 911 (1983), indicating that their rules reflect “the basic principle that government funds should not be spent to help incumbents gain reelection.” Presumably that principle, and that decision, are the basis of the Senate’s rules as well.
So it seems reasonable, if the FBI is investigating another ridiculous accusation based on nothing but a Senator’s spleen, that the FBI also verify that any Senate staffers present were taking the day off, or that the meeting took place after hours.
Tease. That’s like saying “I’m pretty sure I lost my comb somewhere between Seattle and Mumbai.”
More than Fred Thompson and less than Fred Thompson’s wife.