Another Crooked Democrat

Some "cultures of corruption" spring up more easily than others.

By Leon H Wolf Posted in Bob Menendez | Crooked Democrats | Culture of Corruption | Democrats | Liberals | New Jersey — Comments (7) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

As I think you all know, I am a Red Sox fan. Prior to 2004, being a Red Sox fan primarily consisted of holding the foolish belief, year after year, that *this* year would be different - that *this* year, we would finally get over on the Yankees. Even after decades of waiting, with much the same result, no Sox fan ever allowed himself to believe that the Sox would *never* win the World Series. So that will give you some frame of reference for the statement I'm about to make: after last year, I gave up on the hope that a Republican would ever win a Senate seat in New Jersey. If a guy like Kean - not my ideal candidate, but a solid guy nonetheless - could not beat an intellectual and ethical midget like Bob Menendez, then the people of New Jersey have apparently made an irrevocable choice that corrupt morons will represent them in the Senate from this time forward. Enter the FBI to take up yet another corruption charge against Menendez, who already has an impressive New Jersey Democrat resume despite a very short tenure in the Senate. What Menendez is alleged to have done makes the Paul Wolfowitz scandal look like nothing more than an appropriate subject for water-cooler gossip.

You know, we hate crooked Republicans around here. The actions of Duke Cunningham were reprehensible to all of us. We all deplored the use of earmarks to funnel pork into Republican districts, specifically because they invite both the appearance of impropriety and actual corruption. But give the Republicans credit for this much: it took them over a decade in office before a year like 2006 would happen. The Democrats haven't even bothered with the pretense of actually having meant anything they said about cleaning up Washington. After all, Nancy Pelosi's first act in office (which failed) was to attempt to elevate ABSCAM Jack Murtha to a position of leadership - even after this failed, Murtha still manages to steer about 30% more pork into his district than his next closest competitor in Congress. Then she attempted put Alcee Hastings - who was impeached for corruption as a judge - in an important Chair because she didn't like Jane Harman. Then came the various foibles of Allan Mollohan. And we haven't even touched on any of Harry Reid's land deals, or Pelosi's attempts to influence legislation for the benefit of her friends and aides.

The thing about politics is that people have short memories. I said all throughout 2006 that there was no way people were going to forget that these same Democrats railing on corruption made modern Republicans look like pikers by comparison back when they had power - but it appears that I was at least partly wrong. Thankfully for us, the Democrats are doing all they can to remind even those with the shortest of memories just exactly what "culture of corruption" means.

Excellent blog, Leon. by spainishirish

Congress' 11 percent approval rating may indicate some residual collective memory. Let us hope the electorate's synapses continue to fire up a little from time to time a year from now.

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North Jersey Politicians by MCPO Airdale

Just one of the reasons I moved out of New Jersey and have no intention to go back.

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South Jersey ones by hoyasaxa

Aren't the best either, and they're likely to get worse on Tuesday.

“I think we are the team to beat in the NL East -- finally.” - Jimmy "MVP" Rollins, 1/23/07

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Eh by hoyasaxa

We would have won in 2002 if the State Supreme Court had made Torrecelli's name stay on the ballot.

And 2006 stunk everywhere. Kean would have probably won that race in 2004.

“I think we are the team to beat in the NL East -- finally.” - Jimmy "MVP" Rollins, 1/23/07

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Menendez by Yil

Does Menendez have a smell of corruption around him? Yea. Here's the thing though. I'm of two minds about investigations starting 2 months before an election. I want to know if the guy is corrupt before voting for him/her, but I don't want someone in the DOJ to throw an election one way or the other. Since there is no way anything will be resolved before the election would take place the evidence should be really suspicious and overwhelming, or it should be launched after the election. DOJ guidelines support this view as well.

So, here's the problem. Christie's allegations right before the election have gone nowhere. Then we find out Christie was being considered for replacement at the time of the allegations, and the subsequent DOJ politicization issue hits the papers and Menendez looks like a political target instead of a corrupt politician. Had the case been solid and proceeding people would have a different view.

Now the new allegations sure look a lot juicier. Problem is, so far as I can tell, there isn't any evidence of an illegal act yet. I sort of prefer that general knowledge of investigations of public officials find one before we learn of them. Proving it in court is a different thing of course. But if these allegations also go nowhere, Menendez comes off a bit tarnished, but DOJ is the real loser.

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Go Go NJ ; ; by rbastid

We have the honor of having had a mayor who wasn't a US citizen (Jersey City), Sharp James owning a yacht and house that he would have had to work well over 100 years on his salery to afford, and a governor who A) gave his secret boyfriend the job as NJ national security chief, said boyfriend was also not an american citizen. He couldn't protect himself from the advances of Jimmy boy but he was gonna protect NJ from terrorist, brilliant! Also to note this disgraced governor is now teaching Ethics at our state school, so a future generation of Dems can learn Ethics the Dem way.

In Jersey City alone we have Democrats who try to help the little guy by making sure all home renovation grants go to a company who is building a 50 floor condo as oppose to going to resisdents who want to fix up there houses (we also have to fix them to the specifications the city tells us despite it looking like crap.)

I look forward to a time when Hudson county voting machines will allow us to pick Schundler as our Republican rep. During the 2004 election McGreevey decided to time his resignation so that we would lose his seat but keep it for the Dems for another year, if not for this New Jersey might have become something great, a Red State, Bush got 46% of the vote and gov. woulda pulled out more republicans then Dems. But Alas we now have Corzine till 2010, Menendez till 2012, even if they can build a solid case on him I doubt it will go anywhere, everything is Dem run and our one good thing here, our Italian prosecuters, will get sandbagged till Menendez can spin it his way.

Lastly with the out come of the last election hopefully we can pick up Lautenberg's seat when he runs this coming election cycle. We all know he won't be awake to vote for himself so I hope the challengers here in NJ make sure to check the chinese kid who comes to vote with his Frank Lautenberg voter registration card.

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