Democratic senator accepts freebies. Let's hang the filthy bastard.

[Cyrano]

An illegal war, torture, a president allowed to ignore the law, a totally corrupt GOP congress, stolen elections, illegally wiretapping millions of Americans, letting New Orleans drown: The crimes of BushCo are endless, as is the ability of the Republican congress to ignore them.

Instead, let's focus on a criminal of gigantic proportions. Senator Harry Reid, Democratic minority leader, accepted free ringside seats from the State of Nevada for boxing matches. My God. Has he no shame? Let's hang this beast. Let's feed him to the buzzards. There's no punishment harsh enough for this monster.

I've seen this story replayed on the cable "news" stations and repeated by wingnut pundits. And to top it all off, the New York Times prints it as one of today's editorials. (Sorry, no link unless you subscribe.) The Times closes this piece of shit by putting Reid's name in the same sentence as Dennis Hastert, and then talking about "upgrading the enforcement of ethics rules."

Screw the NY Times along with the entire wingnut noise machine. Focusing on Reid while the Republicans are turning our country into the biggest fascist state in history is insane. It's like comparing someone who stole a candy bar to Ted Bundy or Jack the Ripper.

I've just got to lay off the so-called "news" for a while to try to regain some sense of proportion and sanity.

[XOKCowboy]

1. Rove has warmed to his new job...

Americablog notes that the AP in the middle of the day yesterday pulled out one sentence in their story. The line that shows Reid was all the while pushing his own agenda and NEVER once changed his course. No quid pro quo whatsoever. That line was inconvenient so later editions never showed it. So all the people who read it know is that Reid accepted free tickets and was just like all the Abramoff clients. Too bad it's not true. Perception is sometimes even better than reality.

This is Karl Rove's specialty. The 2006 election campaigns have started. Rove is on the move.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

7. Kicked and Recommended

:kick:

[ninkasi]

2. Excellent observation, Cyrano

Trying to equate Reid's accepting tickets to a fight with the corruption and mayhem of Republicans is absurd. As you say, it's like comparing someone stealing a candy bar with Ted Bundy or Jack the Ripper. The amount of attention the tickets are generating shows how pathetically desperate the MSM is to find something to beat Democrats up over.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

8. we need one more vote on this one folks

:kick: if the DU server would use DIEBOLD equipment I could vote twice.

[displacedtexan]

3. Bear and Squirrel Stew

You know the recipe:
"Equal" parts (one bear, one squirrel)
Add water
Boil.

That's what's been going on for decades when reporting
on Republicans (bear) and Dems (squirrel) in the name of
"balance."

[lonestarnot]

4. Bears.....watch 'em.

[zbdent]

5. Moral relativism

Giuliani should be in jail, if the same standards applied to Clinton would be applied equally to Repukes . . .

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. after the NYT bought the Tuscaloosa News I stopped subscribing

subscriptions drive ad prices. keep that in mind next time you buy the propaganda spouting New York Times.

[petgoat]

9. The freeper tactic of trying to equivocate on everything is the

nuclear option of public discourse.

They want to say "You got vote fraud (massive exit poll discrepancies) and we've got vote
fraud (slashed tires)."

"We've got corruption (DeLay and Nay and Abramoff) and you've got corruption (Reid at the
boxing match)."

Unfortunately a lot of people fall for this argument.

It's nuclear because it spreads cynicism about democracy. Underneath it's
saying "Everybody cheats, everybody's a crook, get used to it."

[XOKCowboy]

10. More from Newshounds.com

showing how Fox and the Right Wing Media Machine are taking this "issue" to their base, damn the facts.

www.newshounds.us/

and the transcript from last night's Brit Hume show (what a craphound) are here

http://www.newshounds.us/2006/05/31/harry_reid_nonstory_exaggerated_on_special_report.php#more

Told ya Rove was behind this.

[bigbrother05]

11. Let's see: returned to home state, attended functions

at request of local government organizations, and participated in discussions relating to legislation he was involved with that affected his constituents.

Yep, that's my definition of a corrupt politician. :sarcasm:

Edit to add: Have seen Harry's comment that McCain is from AZ, not NV, so he had to pay because of the Senate's rules.

If it had been in Phoenix, it would have been reversed and no one would be saying anything.

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. Insane isn't it?

:crazy:

[BR_Parkway]

13. So we do a fund drive to buy tickets to Repug congressman, then

turn it over to the M$M?

[XOKCowboy]

14. Well Guess What. They were credentials, not tickets...

Bob Arum the promoter gave them to Reid and other VIPs and said it'd be illegal for HIM to accept money for them. Kos and Americablog have the details. Enjoy.

PS Isn't it nice when the blogs are the only people questioning such feeble attack journalism? We'll see what AP's response is.

[Cyrano]

15. This was never about illegality. The Republicans framed it about ethics.

This kind of hypocrisy has gone on and on ever since BushCo has been running the White House and Republican sewer rats have been running the congress.

Legal or illegal isn't part of their playbook. All that matters is how well they can pin the tail on the donkey. -- An apt phrase since they've spent over a decade screwing the Democrats.

Supposedly, the referees of fair play are the American public, but they've either had their votes stolen, or they've been conned into voting for Republicans. Either way, the rest of us are screwed.

And as much as I hope I'm wrong, I don't believe we can shut down their corrupt voting system before November. Which will leave us with two more years of fascism. -- If not a lifetime of it if Bush and Cheney decide to declare martial law because someone holds up a McDonalds someplace in the country.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

16. Shows Reid is too politcally inept for leadership role, McCain payed

for his ticket. Just another example why the repukes are constantly beating our ass due a lack of cognizant and intelligent Democratic Party leadership.

[XOKCowboy]

17. Keep up please...

Reid didn't do anything wrong. This has been debunked 2 or 3 times over. It would have been illegal for him to have paid for the credentials. His business was to be there.

I think Harry's been doing a pretty good job and this is just an attempt to smear ANY Dem and try to sweep them up into the Abramoff scandal. It show me that Rove and his thugs are very worried about what'll come out eventually from Abromoff.