We are a country of laws. The undergirdings of our country are respect and honor for those laws. Unhindered corruption, the likes of that from William Jefferson, will provide the same kind of decay and fractures to the structure of our democracy as was occurring on the supporting structure of the 35W bridge in Mpls.

More decay was displayed in the House last night. The Dims altered the vote count on the floor.

It's not a 'Caucus of Corruption', it's an entire party that participates or is blemished.

Yes-- Jefferson was corrupt, and there's no doubt in my mind that he's guilty. Without question, he should lose his job, be indicted, and sentenced to whatever the court deems necessary.

I think it would have been a stupid mistake by the FBI to ignore the constitution when doing the raid, and if they did, this may end up like a lot of those court cases that are innocent on a technicality...

Of course, you Republicans will begin screaming that we should ignore the Constitution, like you did when the wiretapping thing was exposed...

But, unquestionably, Jefferson is a guilty, corrupt lawmaker, and deserves to be shoved out of his office.

I really really hope that we can get this guy indicted (no matter what you righties think, I actually do) and indict him in a way that complies with the most basic principles of our nation-- the Constitution.

ThELefTYFoOL

Hopefully he will not get away with his crime (my opinion he has not been convicted). The article says that only non evidentiary documents have been barred. Apparently the FBI went a little further than they should have but this is no excuse for what he did.

Small wonder the libcriminals get so upset when a clean, honest, ethical judge is nominated by a Republican. How else are their criminals going to get off? Hillary might nominate John Edwards for the Supreme Court. You know, another to interpret the Constitution to benefit Demcriminals.

Matt: I'm starting to get concerned that William Jefferson, like so many other Democrats, will get away with his corruption.

I doubt it. But if so, Denny Hastert requires some of the blame.

LaMano -- You are spot on about this being a country of laws and its underpinnings within our nation. The Bush administration has set a terrible standard of circumventing and ignoring the rule of law and it has shaken the foundation of our republic.

-Illegally outing a CIA agent (and not following up on the threat to remove those within the cabinet who did so)
- Discarding the will of a jury
- Illegally deleting emails on White House servers (not RNC servers) in violation of the Hatch Act
- Created the warrantless domestic surveillance program targeting American citizens on American soil in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978
- Ignored international treaties on detainee treatment in violation of the Constitution that states that treaties are the law of the land
- and more...

Additionally, the rule of law goes both ways to protect people like you and me from overzealous law enforcement. The Justice Department and the FBI too has to follow the rule of law, and if they do not do so, they will face rebuke in court.

The end does not justify the means. Any conservative, any REAL conservative, who respects the Constitution understands that this is a government of the people, and those who work for us must abide by the law. This protects people like you and I and goes far beyond politics as usual.

Oh for heaven's sake..Mad Man..and an appropiate name it is....
illegally outing an covert CIA agent...
first of all she was not COVERT..and second..and the most important, one would imagine...she was outed by RICHARD ARMITAGE..who is a lib...
try and keep up, ok!!!!! ..ditch your DNC talking points...it's embarrassing!!!

I also believe that he is guilty and should not be let off, but the FBI screwed this up and they have to expect the blame.

It makes me laugh that the right is all up in arms with all the evading that this administration is doing with good ole Rove.

Jefferson will most certainly be found guilty for the frozen assets in his freezer. The issue here again is the overeach and incompetence of the justice department under gonzo. What a dumb turd.

SEW, two of the three judges who decided this case were appointed by Republicans. Judge Ginsburg is a Reagan appointee, Judge Karen L. Henderson was appointed by George H.W. Bush and Judge Judith Wilson was a Clinton appointee.

So SEW maybe you should read something before making a total ass of yourself.

Matt, simply a bizarre post. By your thinking why doesn't the House Sgt of Arms simply go over to Gonzo's office and take his computer and all his emails then sit him under some lights to make him tell the truth. If I recall some members of the Republican swamp were also upset about the Executive branch's search of a Congressional office. Maybe next time they will send Dick Cheney over to raid a Congressional office since he claims to not be of the Executive Branch.

So a congressman can get away with murder as long as he can hide the body in his office!?!

BabyEater,
Your reading comprehension is very poor. I did not state the judges were Republican or Democrat appointees. My reference was to clean, honest, ethical judges. Unless you conclude that must be a Republican. Specifically John Roberts was in mind, not even specific to this incident.

MadManMoonbat,

The first two points you make show how much of and idiot you are.

The first two points you make show how much of and idiot you are.

Joel, all four of Moonpie's points are b/s. And he's trying to pass himself off as a conservative. He's Just another seminar-blogger puke troll.

Moonbeam, desk-jockey Plame was outed by Armitage--and her lying sack of crap husband, you freaking pig-faced bag of rat guts.

It makes me laugh that the right is all up in arms with all the evading that this administration is doing with good ole Rove.

So you've got some evidence, rocksmoker, or are you relying on your stupidity, as usual?

MadManMoonbat (had to steal that one).

I remember watching as the Clinton FBI used tanks to burn men, women, and children alive at Waco. They waited until after the place was burned flat and everyone was dead to call the fire department.

I remember reading about the way the Clinton FBI decided to change the rules governing the Hostage Rescue Team and order them to shoot Randy Weaver on sight whether he was presenting a threat or not. And also how they missed and shot his wife in the head instead.

Top that asshole.

So SEW maybe you should read something before making a total ass of yourself.

So, that's what you do, BEL--read something, post here, and make a total ass of yourself? Hmm, don't think SEW wants any part of that...

"So a congressman can get away with murder as long as he can hide the body in his office!?!"

Mr. Allegro,

Could you kindly read the article before you comment on it? Thanks! From the article:
"The raid itself was constitutional, the court held. But the FBI crossed the line when it viewed every record in the office without allowing Jefferson to argue that some involved legislative business."

Kahn, you're still bitter about Randy Weaver and Waco?

Gar Wood

Gar,

No. But they both show extreme uses of unwarranted violence by a supposedly liberal administration that no liberal poster here has ever owned up to. Like you for example.

You don't think burning 20 odd kids to death was a bad thing?

Oh and Gar - if those FBI men had been Marines they'd be 15 years into their life sentences by now. Not still working or retired like they are.

Xango Annie

first of all she was not COVERT..and second..and the most important, one would imagine...she was outed by RICHARD ARMITAGE..who is a lib...

Oh for heavens sake: take it to Gen. Hayden, the head of the CIA. He says she was covert but if you have better information then take it up with him.
Richard was a lib? Hahahaha. In your dreams missy: he served as as an aide to Senator Bob Dole in 1978; in late 1980, he became a foreign policy advisor to President-elect Ronald Reagan; in June 1983, he was promoted by Reagan to Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy; he served as a special negotiator for the President on military bases in the Philippines, and as a mediator on water issues in the Middle East in 1989; in 1991, he was appointed a special emissary to King Hussein of Jordan. Those were all appointments by Republican administrations.

When Clinton became president, he entered the private sector. In 1998, he was a signatory of the neocon "Project for the New American Century" letter to President Bill Clinton.
During the 2000 U.S. Presidential election campaign, he served as a foreign policy advisor to George W. Bush as part of a group led by Condoleezza Rice.

Armitage wasn't a ‘lib’ by any stretch of the imagination, he was a thoroughbred republican. And he wasn't the only one who outed Plame's identity: Rove and Libby did too before her identity was published by Novak. How come Cheney, Rove, Libby, Armitage knew her identity in the same week after Wilson published his op-ed? Who was peddling that info within the Bush Administration? Libby lied and perjured himself in order to "take one for the team". Get over it.

BabyEater,

What is your favorite delicacy? Genitals, eyes, kidneys, liver, lung or brain?

SEW-

I like it all, especially if they are partially birthed abortions, sadly though, there aren't many of those.

Xango, disregard WVO's comments. Plame was a desk jockey when "outed." I know this for a fact. However, Armitage isn't a lib, but he was hardly a Bush lackey. He was a career beaurocrat, entrenched in the State Department, which is no friend of the administration. And I think Armitage wasn't too happy with the way Bush got into the Battle of Iraq, in the GWOT.

WVO is a jerk, and he knows it. He lives in a country that will soon be praying five times a day, and he doesn't care. So don't worry about the lad; he hates America, although without us, he'd be sprechen ze deutsch.

And if I totally mangled the above German phrase, sorry...

Xango Annie, Joel, Kahn -- I find your attacks stereotypical of the new-Republicans who are neither conservative, nor educated enough in government and politics to warrant respect. I have no problem if I am proven wrong by a debater who is able to do so using reference to fact, but in your case, you are merely repeating tired old lines from talk radio.

Regardless of what you "believe" about Plame, the fact is that the CIA initiated a request into the leak, and multiple identified sources within her influence, have verified her status. The only sources to reject the covert status are non-governmental pundits with no factual knowledge, and "unidentified" sources who have attempted to obfuscate.

The matter was investigated, went to court, and Libby was convicted by a jury. If there was no cause (ie; she was in fact not covert), it would not have made it to court. If it slipped past that stage, the defense would have made it all too clear to the jury, and there would not have been a conviction.

Yet, you choose to ignore the facts in favor of pundit lies. It is repulsive that you divert and excuse this "leak", which risked lives of men and women serving our government beyond that of Plame, by poo-pooing her as a "desk jockey" and using irrelevant references to Clinton.

In your opinion, because I am willing to call out this administration for their criminal acts and rejection of conservative principles, I am a poser. I assume that you also believe that men like Bruce Fein, who was critical in the impeachment of Clinton, are liberals as well? Fein, a well respected conservative who served in the Reagan administration, has laid out all of these items as examples of illegality in the Bush administration, and clear reasons for impeachment. In addition to Fein, there many other Reagan administration republicans who have stated that the Bush administration has broken the law. The CATO Institute, long a stalwart of conservative think tanks, has rejected the illegal torture, illegal wiretapping, and outing of government agents. William F. Buckley and other respected conservative columnists have turned away from the current new-republican "my country right or wrong" philosophy. Have their conservative principles changed to become liberal, or has the Republican party lost their way?

Conservatives respect rule of law, regardless of the party affiliation of the accused. Those like yourself are loyal to the party and the leader, not to the Constitution and the ideals of the Framers. Those like yourself are the reason why the Republican party is witnessing the greatest decline in affiliation they have seen in decades. You soil the party name by showing ignorance to what allowed Reagan to return the party to prominence.

I consider it an honor when those like you attempt to insult my statements, and my affiliation. The ignorance you show towards fact, and the stained view you hold embolden me to continue to embrace true conservatism. It is clear that the likes of you will not last long in this party, if not merely for the fact that the party will be slip into irrelevance if your ignorance remains.

The only documents the appeals court considered
outside the bounds of the F.B.I. were legislative
documents. You don't need to worry, there is no
shortage of evidence against William Jefferson
beyond the raid on his office. The fact that
someone has plead guilty to bribing him comes to
mind. The 70 or 80 thousand dollars in his
freezer is also pretty telling.

He will go down like "Duke" Cunningham and Bob
Ney, and, God willing, Tom Delay.