Racist repugs trying to railroad Alcee Hastings

[BushOut06]

I was listening to our local RW nutjob on the radio this afternoon, he was going apeshit over the possibility of Alcee Hastings being named head of the House Intelligence Committee. Even though it was pointed out to him that Hastings was acquited of all charges by a jury of his peers, and that he currently sits on the same committee, this did not matter whatsoever.

Notice how the repugs are doing everything they can to dig up dirt on any Democrat House committee nominee? They tried to this same trick with Murtha, dredging up charges from two decades ago - and even those don't stick. They tried going after Harry Reid and his land deal, only to have that shot back in their face.

Over the next two years, I'm afraid we're going to see this sort of thing repeated over and over. There won't be a single Democrat in Congress they won't try to taint. All of this to try to divert attention from their own very real continuing problems and corruption.

[Mythsaje]

1. Somone needs to state flat-out...

"What's the matter--afraid to look in a mirror?"

[muntrv]

2. Respond by mentioning Jack Abramoff is a repuke.

[originalpckelly]

3. Yeah, as we all know TPMmuckraker is such a conservative blog:

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/

[KingFlorez]

4. Doesn't surprise me

These people are hateful and losing the election made them even more hateful.

[Nite Owl]

5. The 'Blue Dog' dems are also

campaigning against him, they want Harman.


Election Central has just obtained a letter that has been sent by the conservative Blue Dog Coalition of Dems to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging that she back Rep. Jane Harman to chair the Intelligence Committee.

As the panel's ranking Dem, Harman is the logical choice for the Intel committee. But Pelosi -- who failed today in her bid to install Jack Murtha as House Majority Leader over the Blue Dog-backed Steny Hoyer -- appears to have been pushing Rep. Alcee Hastings for the Intel gig. The letter -- which was voted on and given the necessary 2/3 vote to make it an official Blue Dog position -- suggests that Pelosi may be about to get hit by another revolt against her pick by rank-and-file House members. The letter reads:

As members of the Blue Dog Coalition, we are writing today to express our strong support for our colleague Congresswoman Jane Harman's appointment as Chair of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence...

We have given our full confidence to Congresswoman Harman to lead the Intelligence Committee and respectfully request that you do the same.

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/nov/16/blue_dog_dems_demand_pelosi_support_harman_for_intel_committee_chair

Harman belongs to that coalition:
http://www.bluedogdems.com/members.html

[rsr1771]

6. Hastings is corrupt

Well if the Dems are going to have any credibility about cleaning up Congress, they can't let Hastings have much power. The US House voted 413-3 to impeach him for accepting a bribe of 150 grand. I say screw this guy--not because Im a racist, but because he's a slimeball.

[Nite Owl]

7. Harman has an FBI investigation

dont remember what it is for. Maybe we should try for a third candidate for the chair. We need to be squeaky clean especially for a chair like this.

Heard Reyes (TX) mentioned but know nothing about him. Also Rush Holt (NY) who might be the best, I think he was a military intelligence officer.


Welcome to DU!

[wildwww2]

8. Alcee Hastings is not corrupt! That is a lie. That is why you gave no link.

To that bunch of bullcrap. Alcee was my congressman before redistricting gave me Mark Foley. He voted the right way. And answered my e-mails and letters. Like a good congress person should. Mark Foley was too busy chasing pages.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[rsr1771]

9. then why did Dem House impeach him?

Just because you think he's a good congressman doesn't mean he's not corrupt. The House voted overwhelmingly to impeach him and then the Senate removed him from office for taking bribes. And it wasn't a GOP controlled House and Senate--his own party voted to remove him. To me, that's a strong sign he's unfit for office.

[liberalhistorian]

10. I totally agree here. Just because

he "voted the right way" does NOT mean he isn't corrupt. As you say, the Dems themselves impeached him and with damn good reason. It has absolutely nothing to do with race. Not everything involving a minority has to do with race, and just because he's black doesn't mean he should be given a free pass. If we're serious about ethics reform, we need to have completely clean hands ourselves. As someone above pointed out, Harman is also under investigation; we need to have someone besides these two.

I love Pelosi, but I don't know what the hell she's thinking in this regard and why she's so insistent on Hastings when he's as corrupt as they come. To have an impeached judge as the head of the intelligence committee with access to very sensitive national security information is simply unacceptable.

[BushOut06]

13. He's already on the committee

And as such, he's already had access to highly classified information. Why is all of a sudden a problem now? As I've already stated, he was acquited of wrongdoing by a jury of his peers before the impeachment came out. Who knows why Congress voted to impeach and remove him, but I'll put more faith in the actual courtroom acquital.

[DocSavage]

11. FYI

If he were a private citizen, applying for a Top Secret clearence at say Boeing or IBM or ATT, he would be denined because of a bribary allegation. If a congressman cannot live with in the laws and regulations that your neighbors do, they should not do the job. Look at this link and review disqualifying conditions. http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_secret_security_clearances_costs_time_disqualifying_conditions.htm A finding of guilt by the Senate in his impeachment is the equivilent to a Felony. He was impeaced over financial allegations of taking bribes.
Review his financial disclosure statement http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/pfd2005/N00002884_2005.pdf This shows that he has significant liabilities. All reasons for disqualification for a security clearence. And he is going to be seeing stuff that is real secret squirrill stuff. He should not even be on the committee.

[BushOut06]

12. He was ACQUITED of those charges

That impeachment came five years after he was acquited in a trial of those same charges. I'd put much more faith in a jury acquital than I would in a highly partisan impeachment.

Bill Clinton was impeached. Does that make him a bad president?