The Jeffersons

Rep. "Dollar" Bill Jefferson, who was caught with $90,000 in cash in the cookie jar, I mean freezer, won't go quietly into the night. Min. Leader Pelosi took the timid first step of asking Jefferson to step down off his Ways and Means committee seat. Having no other option, it seems, Jefferson played the race card:

"I will not give up a committee assignment that is so vital to New Orleans at this crucial time for any uncertain, long-term political strategy."
[snip]
He said a request to give up the Ways and Means post would be “discriminatory” because no other member under investigation has been required to give up a major committee assignment.

That's because all the other members under investigation are Republicans Jefferson, not because they are white or don't represent New Orleans. [West Virginia's Mollohan was asked to step down from his Ethics committee seat, but I guess no other biggies]

Democrats can play Sista Soldier here and tell him to resign and ask the Speaker to begin voting to unseat him from Congress. Be like Francine Busby and call on him to resign. I don't care what his race is, where he's from, his ideology, gender, sexual orientation you name it. The man was filmed on video tape taking $100k from a FBI informant. They have audio of him that is pretty unequivocal that he took the money as a bribe. Using the serial numbers, they know that the $90K they recovered in a Saturday night siezure of his office was from the original $100k. They have guilty pleas from several individuals implicating Jefferson. This is about as open and shut case as it can be.

And if Pelosi and the Democratic Caucus (minus the CBC probabbly) held a press conference calling on him to resign and asking the speaker to vote on removal, Jefferson ought to get the hint and resign. Plus, Democrats can regain the high ground by saying 'look, we kicked out our worst offender; why hasn't the GOP done so?' I met enough GOPers would vote him out to make the 2/3rds necessary to remove Jefferson. And then the watch on Ney and so many others in the GOP power structure would begin. It can only get uglier for the Republicans in the House.

It is smart politics and more importantly, it is the right thing to do. Soon enough Dollar Bill will be "movin' on up" to Federal prison anyway. The Democrats in the House can't let themselves be tarred with the Jefferson brush and become the Jeffersons themselves.

bin Laden proves me right

Over a month ago I said:

Can someone explain to me why they let Moussaoui pled guilty and the jury was allowed to decided whether or not to execute him? Sure the man wanted to kill Americans like his Al-Qaeda friends. Sure he tried to learn how to fly an airplane, but he was not involved in the planning, nor did he know about the 9/11 plot in any real detail. I suspect bin Laden or his lieuteniants decided Moussaoui was too unstable for the job.

A few minutes ago, a tape claiming to be of bin Laden's voice surfaced on the internet saying:

"Since Zacarias Moussaoui was still learning how to fly, he wasn't No. 20 in the group, as your government has claimed," bin Laden said. "It knows this very well," he added.

Bin Laden said Moussaoui was not a security risk for al-Qaida, because he did not have knowledge of the plot.

"Brother Moussaoui was arrested two weeks before the events, and if he had known something — even very little — about the Sept. 11 group, we would have informed the leader of the operation, Mohammad Atta, and the others ... to leave America before being discovered," Bin Laden said.

So maybe he didn't out right say Moussaoui was insane, but he certainly affirmed my belief that although Moussaoui had wet dreams about blowing up Americans, he had no part in 9/11 and really did nothing to further any attack against the United States and its peoples.

So again I ask, why is this man in jail for life? For having bad thoughts? For being mentally insane? TalkLeft asks:

Will Moussaoui's lawyers ask for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence showing he's innocent? Is it admissible, if authenticated? Would it have made any difference to the jury? Does anyone care any more about Moussaoui, or has he already become a footnote in 9/11 history now that he is languishing at Supermax?

the most endangered incumbent in Utah

...is not Jim Matheson, despite all the happy talk from the state party. It's Chris Cannon. Cannon is ahead 48-28 against John Jacob. Twenty points isn't bad when 77% of voters don't know who you are. A million bucks worth of ads will clear that up.

"We're going to go out on radio, direct mail and possibly some television," Jacob said.
How much might he spend in this face-off between millionaires?
"I don't believe I have that answer," Jacob said. "I'm now closer to $350,000. I'll probably put another $100,000 to $300,000 in. If it takes more, I'll put it in."

I went down to Happy Valley this weekend to get my wife's ring checked, eat at Durango Grill, and see the Di Vinci Code. On our way to the movie theater my wife spotten a Jacobs lawn sign. Jacob has a real shot. Cannon's favorability is only 45% (36% unfav) Jacobs is at 77% approval rating, meaning those who care about immigration know who he is and like him for that one issue. I am not the only who thinks so, check out Roll Call's top ten most vulnerable incumbents (all Republicans by the way). Of course, this doesn't mean the Democrats have a prayer to pick up this seat, but if Cannon has to blow hundreds of thousands on this race, win or lose, that is hundreds of thousands he couldn't donate to vulnerable incumbents in tight Democrat-republican races and hundreds of thousands that could have been raised/donated to other GOP candidates were the party's hold of the seat is under threat.

I won't make much about Cannon being the first on Roll Call's list, because it looks like it is alphabetical.