Patterico's Pontifications

12/30/2010

O’Donnell Under Criminal Investigation

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 1:43 pm



I’m tied down to Apple mini-devices with no flash capability and can’t watch the video, but you can, here.

I don’t need to see the video to know it’s a bogus attack on a patriot who was way better than Mike Castle.

/True Conservative

Update by Aaron Worthing:

93 Responses to “O’Donnell Under Criminal Investigation”

  1. The fact that it comes from CREW, Soros’s oen attempt at judicial watch, the fact that no one
    will actually admit it’s anything more than a perfunctory inquiry, makes me doubt it, but it
    was one of the first talking points against her,

    narciso (6075d0)

  2. OMG! She paid herself a salary from her campaign funds!

    MunDane68 (54a83b)

  3. I think the main problem is that she paid her rent from campaign funds, right? Which I believe is not permitted even if your house is being used for your campaign.

    Patterico (665bc9)

  4. Patterico

    But that seems so technical, though. i mean okay suppose her salary was $10K a month and her mortgage is $1K a month.

    so if the campaign pays the $1 a month directly, that is illegal.

    but if the campaign pays her instead $11K a month, that is kosher?

    But then i don’t know campaign finance law anyway.

    Aaron Worthing (e7d72e)

  5. I don’t know, Aaron. If she was already drawing the maximum salary, it would be more clear cut. I don’t know if she was or not.

    Patterico (665bc9)

  6. i will say this, wholly apart from all this, a person should not be required to hire a lawyer to run for office. the rules are way too complicated.

    but then i can say that about alot of things.

    Aaron Worthing (e7d72e)

  7. She needed a convicted felon to help with her housing costs. Rookie politician. 😉

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  8. Palin-endorsed Candidate’s Criminal Activity Exposed

    What did Palin know and when did she know it?

    happyfeet (aa4bab)

  9. Dem criminalization of politics continues.

    JD (07faa1)

  10. “I think the main problem is that she paid her rent from campaign funds, right? Which I believe is not permitted even if your house is being used for your campaign.”

    I was going to look it up on the FEC site, but they have about 230 pages of federal regulations/statutes…and, I suddenly realized I wasn’t all that interested.

    http://www.fec.gov/law/feca/feca.pdf

    Link…Just in case someone else feels like looking into it.

    Dave Surls (4ffc7b)

  11. Paid her residential rent with campaign funds? She should ask for the Charlie Rangel Deal where the home is rent controlled also, so you get the taxpayer to chip in to boot!

    JVW (4463d3)

  12. Look up Larry Persilly, and the prize he got for badmouthing Palin, nothing less than the agents that
    controls the AGIA pipeline, or Elton who set up the
    ‘troopergate’ brouhaha, he got Alaskan affairs at Interior, which means oil, lumber, gas

    narciso (6075d0)

  13. Aaron:

    Is this “alot” as one word thing just a running joke now, or a tic, or what?

    Patterico (665bc9)

  14. Where is the rest of the video w/O’Donnell’s response? Harry Anderson introduces the story, says they will get to O’Donnell in a moment but the rest of the vid is Jan Crawford’s overview…

    This from O’Donnell at the WaPo,

    O’Donnell called the allegations politically motivated and singled out Biden, who represented Delaware in the Senate for decades.

    “Given that the king of the Delaware political establishment just so happens to be the vice president of the most liberal presidential administration in U.S. history, it is no surprise that misuse and abuse of the FBI would not be off the table,” she said in the statement.

    (Having made herself treasurer of her campaign for several months may fuel the fire of at least the appearance of wrongdoing…)

    Dana (8ba2fb)

  15. & 439 a, subsection 2, however that doesn’t address rental of campaign offices, and I’m sure there are plenty of loopholes

    narciso (6075d0)

  16. It’s a good thing all you conservatives are out there to pay her a pretty good salary.

    JEA (c0cdde)

  17. Rangel didn’t just use one rent controlled apartment as an “office”, he used four. She may have a legal problem but this is vengeance and Obama is good at that.

    Mike K (568408)

  18. narciso, this CNN video of O’Donnell’s response lines up with your link. She is reasonable and seemingly straightforward about the investigation. When she explains the time lines involved in the two ex-employees complaints, it does seem rather unlikely.

    O’Donnell makes it very clear that she has nothing to hide, therefore is freely making the media rounds to set the record straight with the public.

    Dana (8ba2fb)

  19. Obama has nothing to be vengeful about. She got him a Democrat in the Senate.

    nk (db4a41)

  20. I don’t trust CREW, but O’Donnell’s problems go back a lot further than this. These kinds of problems have followed her for years. CREW is just picking up on something that was already there. Who knows if it will turn into anything. I know that after I heard about her $7 million dollar lawsuit against a conservative non profit group, I had the feeling she was an opportunist.

    But she has a right to a presumption of innocence, just like everyone else.

    Terrye (2e6779)

  21. She is the Madoff of the GOP.

    nk (db4a41)

  22. JEA, since Democrats reelected a tax dodger in Charles Rangel, I’m baffled what you have to crow about.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  23. No, that was the Castle crew, who went all Rockefeller on her, in the end, she averaged out about what any state wide candidate that wasn’t
    Bill Roth, scored, it’s quite pathetic, how blindly
    they vote for Democrats, Mow Carper is craftier than Biden, so maybe they might field a better candidate

    narciso (6075d0)

  24. It’s amazing how some people allow worship some self-serving leech as their candidate.

    nk (db4a41)

  25. Comment by nk — 12/30/2010 @ 5:38 pm

    Yes, the people of MA should be ashamed that they’re represented in the Senate of the United States by John Kerry.

    AD-RtR/OS! (1acacf)

  26. You mean like a candidate who ‘forgot’ to list hundreds of thousands worth of property

    narciso (6075d0)

  27. Put not your faith in princesses, AD. 😉

    nk (db4a41)

  28. ttp://web.archive.org/web/20070829210246/http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/9165107p-9081594c.html

    narciso (6075d0)

  29. I instrust my soul to the Good Lord, and my life to John Moses Browning.
    Everybody else is on their own.

    AD-RtR/OS! (1acacf)

  30. Can’t she just blame it on Quicken?

    Given the crap this administration has let pass, which pocket her mortgage got paid out of seems like background noise.

    Of course, the real reason is that McDonnell is a gift that the Democrats are not done using, but torturing someone with legal process in pursuit of political gain “ethics” is a bit much.

    Kevin M (298030)

  31. BTW, AD,

    I’m figuring on getting myself on a bike and heading West when where I’m at defrosts.

    (Sorry for the OT, still ain’t got email.)

    nk (db4a41)

  32. Sick of courts, sick of papers.

    nk (db4a41)

  33. Remember when JEA tried to claim that it was not a partisan?

    JD (07faa1)

  34. JEA, since Democrats reelected a tax dodger in Charles Rangel, I’m baffled what you have to crow about.

    If she had simply dodged her taxes, she could have been a nominee to Obama’s cabinet.

    Another Chris (2e9afa)

  35. Patterico, Castle is almost as liberal as Coons and I guess you missed it, but there are people out there that are tired as hell of that. What good is it to have people like Murkowski(?) represent the GOP when it is hard to tell her from a Jackass, excuse me, Donkey? If people like you would have stood behind those who won the primaries instead of attacking them maybe people like Coons could have been exposed as what he is. We have people like Pivens writing articles which advocate the overthrow of our system, and you want to talk about O’Donnell?

    Zelsdorf Ragshaft III (5f9869)

  36. Patterico, Castle is almost as liberal as Coons and I guess you missed it, but there are people out there that are tired as hell of that.

    I might be able to take you seriously if you had not falsely claimed that Castle voted for the stimulus — and then run away like a little girl every time I called you on it. Which happened maybe a half dozen times.

    You want people to listen to you? Try a little thing called integrity.

    Patterico (1c6e81)

  37. Also, liar, I had a problem with exactly ONE person who won a primary. Your insinuation that I supported Murkowski is your typical dishonest bullshit.

    Patterico (1c6e81)

  38. in retrospect Christy O is pretty darn pathetic but we all knew that at the time… what happened was…

    Sarah Palin endorsed her.

    boo.

    yah.

    so we all had to pretend she was a for reals candidate what was all senatorial up one side and down the other and remember how we did that?

    She’s way much more credible than Joe Biden we said.

    Looking back maybe it was more of a “just as credible as Joe Biden” thing.

    Or “kinda sorta as credible as Joe Biden.”

    Or… “every bit as credible as Joe Biden if Joe Biden were a complete loser what couldn’t get elected senator in freaking Delaware.”

    bingo.

    happyfeet (aa4bab)

  39. SHOCKA that happyfeet would spin this as somehow being Palin’s fault. Looks like the liberal disease of not holding people personally accountable for their actions is contagious.

    Icy Texan (362d26)

  40. Terrye, you say “These kinds of problems have followed her for years”. Since it’s crystal clear that this “problem” is a complete fabrication, should I take it to mean that fabrications and malicious smears have followed her for years? Or what did you mean by it? Do you think that enough lies can add up to at least one truth? Or are you aware of at least one such complaint that isn’t a lie?

    Milhouse (ea66e3)

  41. SHOCKA that happyfeet would spin this as somehow being Palin’s fault.

    It is Palin’s fault.

    She endorsed someone with very little vetting, in a series of endorsements that showed little vetting. Some of the people she endorsed didn’t even know she was considering doing so, indicating Palin never even spoke to them, interviewed, etc.

    The single most valuable thing about Palin used to be the idea she would not tolerate any degree of corruption. She’s not really super conservative, but she is a reformer. The way she endorsed someone like O’Donnell, and the way she and her circle reacted to Joe Miller (their expectation that his being endorsed was now an obligation to promote Palin without hesitation) has completely changed my opinion of Palin.

    I don’t give a crap about Bristol, and I don’t even mind the resignation. But Palin didn’t even think about whether O’Donnell winning the primary was a good thing. And it clearly was a bad thing for the Tea Party movement.

    O’Donnell didn’t have her life issue under control, and is a career politician whose livelihood is to run for office, and lose, siphoning money from her campaign. She sues on hard leftist grounds to boot.

    Zelford thinks Castle was almost as liberal as Coons, and that’s completely insane. I don’t like Mike Castle one bit thanks to cap and trade, but he was probably more conservative than O’Donnell is. He’s got more conservative votes under his belt than O’Donnell does.

    All these defenses of O’donnell, that Rangel did it too (or worse) or Rezko was the same or worse, or that Coons was a neo-marxist (like Castle, right?) make me sick. The Tea Party should not promote people who are anything like Rangel. Maybe it’s unfair to expect our champions of liberty and limited government to be accomplished people who don’t lie like O’Donnell has, but that’s what it takes to prevent the movement being associated with scummy people.

    The democrats elected Rangel, and should be ashamed. If you understand why, then you understand what I wish Palin hadn’t endorsed O’donnell. She had years to involve herself with picking a person to beat Castle, if this mattered much to her, and she instead lazily endorsed someone she knew very little about.

    This is the main reason I have lost confidence in Palin’s ability to lead. She successfully helped elect Coons, who is going to be a terrible Senator for decades and obviously much worse than Castle in ways that actually affect our lives. She did this over someone with a much more impressive record as a conservative Governor than Palin will ever have, and she did it because she was calculating for personal ends rather than her country’s.

    Yeah, Happyfeet’s right. I’ve been pretty annoye4d with many of the things he’s said about Palin. I often have expressed admiration for Palin over the years. But he’s right in this case, 100%.

    Let’s hope Sarah Palin is currently involving herself in vetting 2012 endorsements so she avoids her mistakes of 2010. If her heart is in the right place, that’s what she’s doing.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  42. Do you think that enough lies can add up to at least one truth? Or are you aware of at least one such complaint that isn’t a lie?

    Comment by Milhous

    Are you seriously claiming that all complaints about O’Donnell’s lack of honesty have been fabricated?

    Look up that radio interview this blog discussed a few months ago and listen to the entire thing. O’Donnell is manifestly and obviously dishonest. She didn’t pay her own staff for years. She collected funds and paid herself while debts to staff went unpaid for quite some time. She lied about her degree of success in a weaselish manner.

    I don’t know much about this specific investigation, but anyone who values O’donnell’s word on this must not have heard that interview, or they have some kind of mental disorder.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  43. Look at Castle’s votes after the election, and it shows he had learned nothing, he revealed himself
    as worthless as Charmin Charlie, and Lisa Merkivikowski (sic), in the latter case, there
    are real ethical and probably even criminal issues, but she will never be brought to account, seeing as she was supported by the Senate leadership, and the NRSC, Cornyn’s bumblefail outfit.

    .

    miguelito lovelace (6075d0)

  44. I found that interview, revealing but not for the reasons you suggested. It bespoke of a failure to address the big issues, the mounting debt whose consequence we will continue to be seeing in ourgas tanks, and our dinner tables,(QE 2, the drilling moratorium) the war which is being fought at half measures, to be charitable,(one would have thought Gainer would care about that) the annexation of auto companies by the government, this stagnation, to which some irrelevant charges and innuendo, were
    raised, bah humbug.

    narciso (6075d0)

  45. Go google. This is old news being recycled. O’Donnell hired one of the really big guns of DC campaign finance in September when Soros, et al, was in full smear. According to a Sept 24 2010 article, the expert stated she’s had numerous run-ins with the person filing the complaint and has never, ever lost one.

    Mostly this is just “time to rotate away from Palin and others and bring the ding-dong witch” back to life to smear the Tea Party kooks and thieves.

    Just another of the Left’s feeding frenzy of 2012 lies, deceit and agi-prop in the roll up to vote for Obama ’cause he normal, holy and all that since only those racists Tea Partiers are a’gin him.

    cedarhill (2cc825)

  46. “JEA, since Democrats reelected a tax dodger in Charles Rangel, I’m baffled what you have to crow about.”

    I don’t have anything to crow about. This isn’t new – it was raised months ago.

    There is zero novelty in a political figure denying wrongdoing and claiming a witch hunt, so excuse me for my suspension of belief.

    I see your Charlie Rangel with Duke Cunningham, and raise you Abramoff and Vitter.

    We can list names all damn day. There’s corruption on both sides. If you think it’s only Dems you are beyond stupid.

    And why anyone would waste time with a ‘vendetta’ against one of the worst Senate candidates in my lifetime who got their ass kicked like O’Donnell did in the general is beyond me.

    She’s not a threat; she’s a joke.

    JEA (c033d2)

  47. My opinion is that O’Donnell was no Daniel Webster but look who held that seat for 25 years. Delaware is where hacks go to prosper.

    Mike K (568408)

  48. O’Donnell’s ego and hubris are what kept her going in the most recent election, not to mention in the past. After all, she’s run and lost before in a state that is as mindlessly liberal as Delaware, and definitely because she has quite a few skeletons in her closet.

    I consider her someone who can be labeled “conservative,” but within the context of places that are easily stereotyped negatively like Mexico, Greece, Louisiana, San Francisco or Detroit.

    Mark (411533)

  49. JEA is another cowardly hack. Go sockpuppet someone.

    JD (306f5d)

  50. JEA-

    The point was not that there are no corrupt politicians among Republicans. Look again at your own comment, compare Charlie Rangel with Duke Cunningham, yes, please do, especially compare their current places of residence and employment, by all means.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  51. JEA, your attempt at corrupt poker fails. Because you forgot Jefferson and Geithner, the Obama administration’s auto “czar” Steve Rattner ($10 million in restitution announced yesterday) and many more.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  52. That’s odd, not sure why the spam filter ate that comment.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  53. This is an effort by the GOP establishment in Deleware to DQ her as a candidate in 2012.

    She’s becoming the standard bearer of the fringe right wing in Delaware in getting herself nominated. Now her supporters feel like she was unfairly maligned.

    Carper is up in 2012. She has NO shot to beat him — and that probably applies to Castle as well.

    But the GOP establishment isn’t going to wait for primary season again to take her down.

    shipwreckedcrew (436eab)

  54. Duastin let’s his hatred of O’Donnell get in the way of common sense. To suggest that Castle is objectively more conservative than O’Donnell is laughable. Why in the hell are we still talking about her?

    JD (85b089)

  55. 53.This is an effort by the GOP establishment in Deleware to DQ her as a candidate in 2012

    Everything’s an establishment conspiracy.

    O’Donnell was a lousy candidate. Stop defending her and hope the Republicans in Delaware find a better one next time.

    Some chump (4c6c0c)

  56. . To suggest that Castle is objectively more conservative than O’Donnell is laughable. Why in the hell are we still talking about her?

    Comment by JD — 12/31/2010 @ 9:35 am

    I don’t know why we’re talking about her.

    I don’t hate O’Donnell, either. but Mike Castle ran his state using *objectively* conservative principles for 8 years. Balanced budgets, low taxes, no scandals, no flash, business friendly. He has a number of conservative votes over a long career, but as an executive, he was obviously a conservative.

    O’Donnell has no political record, but has made hard leftist legal claims and appeared on the Bill Maher show frequently. Her policy positions she claimed in 2010 were excellent, I admit, but I don’t believe them.

    The actual things she has done are not as conservative as Castle’s record.

    Castle was not a good congressman… only right half the time. He would have been a mediocre Senator, too, though that is world’s better than Coons. Would he have been more conservative than O’Donnell? I don’t see why that question needs to be asked. O’Donnell wasn’t running for Senator. Not really. She was running for nomination only.

    I’m not really obsessed with O’Donnell, JD. She’s a liar, though. I’ve proven it. So if you’re taking anything that she simply claimed as evidence, maybe that’s why we don’t see eye to eye. I’m relying on actual provable stuff rather than the word of a prettier version of Charles Rangel.

    Was Castle a gay adulterer like O’donnell’s paid stooges said? Did he impeach Bush like her sychophant’s claimed? Did he vote for Obamacare and the stimulus? Nope. In fact, he worked to repeal and replace, voted against all those things, and wasn’t gay.

    And he’s more conservative than O’Donnell really is. O’donnell’s a lousy politician and I place no faith in her promises. Those who actually went out of their way to support her are not leaders.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  57. Alaska can only wish it had Mike Castle for Governor for 8 years, btw. He was a great governor and that’s the main reason Delaware loved him.

    People pretend it’s because he was moderate, and it’s true, his squishiness kept him viable, but the main reason he was electable is BECAUSE HE ACCOMPLISHED SOMETHING.

    That’s why O’Donnell is inferior to Mike Castle.

    In my book, Castle broke faith with the GOP by supporting cap and tax. But he was, by far, the best we could ever hope to get out of Delaware. One has to ignore the importance of that to accept Palin’s endorsement. “who cares that we lost?” “I’m willing to lose to teach a lesson” “it was so stupid to nominate a crank like O’donnell with no viability that it will scare the hell out of incumbent Republicans!”

    If that’s what some think, that’s fine. I base my analysis on actually fixing my country by electing the most conservative people who can win.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  58. #

    #

    This is an effort by the GOP establishment in Deleware to DQ her as a candidate in 2012.

    Hopefully this is more than that. I care about the image of a party that tolerates weasels at all. We need accomplished and honest leaders. Simple good values. The GOP should make sure it doesn’t associate with the Murkowskis and the O’Donnells. Sadly, I don’t really think that’s the idea here.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  59. What do you mean “here”?

    Patterico (1c6e81)

  60. Dustin, O’Donnell knew that Palin was going to endorse her.

    Icy Texan (362d26)

  61. GO IRISH! Catholics vs the Convicts.

    JD (6e25b4)

  62. The slutty witch got 5% more votes in 2010, a massive Republican year when she raised a huge amount of funds, than she did in 2008. Absent an indictment or experienced opponent, nothing should stop her in 2012.

    daleyrocks (a82d72)

  63. He was a great governor

    The pantheon of DE politicians is a very low bar of comparison.
    Even Moonbeam Brown might be a great DE Gov.

    AD-RtR/OS! (ac847e)

  64. A prettier Charlie Rangel is remarkably over the top, and the epistle that followed pretty much self refutes your not being invested in this, Dustin 😉 Damn witch should have been burned at the stake. Or drowned. At the very least, banished from polite society, which would be a good thing to happen to William Yelverton, come to think of it.

    JD (07faa1)

  65. This was so obviously going to happen.

    Christoph (8ec277)

  66. It is Palin’s fault.

    She endorsed someone with very little vetting, in a series of endorsements that showed little vetting. Some of the people she endorsed didn’t even know she was considering doing so, indicating Palin never even spoke to them, interviewed, etc.

    Score one for intellectual honesty.

    Palin clearly has wins, achievements, and good decisions aplenty to her credit, but this wasn’t one of them, and I should think that’s obvious.

    Christoph (8ec277)

  67. The real scandal is that even if nothing she’s done is illegal – campaigns can pay for lots of stuff legally, including salaries to the candidate if they aren’t drawing a public salary already – she has over $1 million left over from a losing campaign which she will use to live off for the next few years.

    It’s legal, but it makes suckers out of those who gave her money.

    Estragon (ec6a4b)

  68. When Jane Byrne left office as Mayor of Chicago, she had $11 million in “camapign funds” that she could use as she wished provided she paid income tax on it. Harold Washington had $13 million when he died. I’m betting Mayor Daley will make the Forbes 500.

    nk (db4a41)

  69. No that’s no scandal, it will be reduced considerably by the panoply of the Soros appendage’s constant attacks. The scandal is how willing some of you, are willing to cannibalize someone who volunteers to fight the left, in stead
    of accomodates with their schemes, to steal our fortunes, our lives, and our sacred honor, the Disclose and Cap n Trade, and the FS Bill, along with the DREAM Act fall into those categories

    narciso (6075d0)

  70. “in stead of accomodates with their schemes, to steal our fortunes, our lives, and our sacred honor, the Disclose and Cap n Trade, and the FS Bill, along with the DREAM Act fall into those categories”

    narciso – Are you speaking of True Conservative hero Scott Brown?

    daleyrocks (a82d72)

  71. Well he’s been a disapointment, specially to many of the tea party contacts in that state, who worked
    to put him in that office, but this is more of what
    I was worried about

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46770.html

    narciso (6075d0)

  72. The scandal is how willing some of you, are willing to cannibalize someone who volunteers to fight the left

    No, the scandal is how some people are willing to accept huge character flaws in a conservative that they would vilify in a liberal.

    The minute we put a candidate above criticism simply because he’s a standard-bearer for conservatives is the minute we lose our intellectual honesty.

    Some chump (e84e27)

  73. “Well he’s been a disapointment”

    narciso – Bulldookey. People knew what they were getting. It is complete hypocrisy to criticise people for supporting Castle in Delaware and Brown in Massachusetts. True Conservatives have no leg to stand on for supporting Brown and then criticizing other for supporting moderate republicans in liberal states. It is a completely two-faced position showing no principles.

    daleyrocks (a82d72)

  74. There was no doubt was Castle was, someone who impeded our energy extraction needs, who ‘chose
    poorly’ when it came to our commitments in Iraq, someone willing to misrepresent the purpose of
    the tea party, like Bennett and Inglis

    narciso (6075d0)

  75. I think the O’Donnell fiasco is going to serve as a very important demarcation point in the future – same as with Angle. Both elections proved that even with seriously flawed candidates, their conservative message still made them viable. Future incumbents from both parties will do well to remember that reality, lest they decide to thrwart their own consituent’s wishes in the future.

    GO IRISH! Catholics vs the Convicts.

    You mean that same school that just whitewashed two student deaths involving their football program? The same school that conducted their own “internal investigation” that cleared both their scumbag AD and coach, despite clear evidence to the contrary? The FBI is looking into both deaths now, BTW – nice coverup by South Bend’s finest, as usual. I hope they hang that school out to dry at long last. Sanctimonious douchebags, the lot of them. Hesburgh was the last honest administrator at ND – he had his heart and head in the right place.

    Dmac (498ece)

  76. Score one for silliness, Christoph.

    Icy Texan (f62247)

  77. Dmac, you and I are in total agreement — on your second point.

    Icy Texan (f62247)

  78. Icy, the list of pious hypocricy that’s gone on at that school over the past decades would fill a phone book, and until recently, the local media here always gave them a pass, because their alumni pretty much ruled the roost at most of the management at this outlets. But not any longer, and the truth is coming out now about all of those skeletons, both past and present.

    BTW, ever wonder why Willingham was fired after a W- L record that was actually better than that fat mendacious slob Weiss? Gee, can’t imagine why they would do such a thing. A fine bunch of scholar – athletes, no question about it.

    Dmac (498ece)

  79. “The minute we put a candidate above criticism simply because he’s a standard-bearer for conservatives is the minute we lose our intellectual honesty.”

    The reality is that some of us do, and some of us don’t, have that trait; or at least that it varies considerably from person to person.

    I don’t think it’s a question of many here “losing” their intellectual honesty, so much as not possessing a great deal of it.

    I don’t mean this simply as a cheap shot. I mean it as a serious point.

    50 million plus people vote Republican. Do you think all 50 million people are motivated mainly by intellectual honesty, or even a consideration of the issues, operating from first principles?

    Or is it more likely that some people strive to do that, but most of whom vote (and think) the way they do because of traditions they were raised with?

    I’m not saying this is a great shame. But this whole culture/family raising/peers thing, which can include political leanings as well, is naturally of very strong influence on members of our species. Probably, on balance, a much greater influence than is “intellectual honesty”. For better or for worse.

    Christoph (8ec277)

  80. They’re an embarrassment to my Irish heritage, Dmac.

    Then again, I’m Protestant. 😉

    Icy Texan (f62247)

  81. Oh, for crying out loud, Cristoph. What a ridiculous comment. Of course I don’t think that all 50 million Republican voters are motivated by intellectual honesty. I meant “we” as in the commenters here at Patterico. Is it too much to ask intellectual honesty of the handful of people who comment here?

    Some chump (4c6c0c)

  82. Yes, of course, if you think the “handful” of commenters here are generally motivated by intellectual honesty, I think you’re mistaken.

    I agreed with the thrust of your comment fundamentally, by the way. I’m just picking a bone with that part of it.

    I have observed commenters here who strike me as very intellectually honest. They’re still a minority.

    It is, I think, one of the rarest traits in the world.

    Christoph (8ec277)

  83. Please, Clark AFB was less covered in ash, than what was heaped on her, over the last three months of the campaign, with the excuse being the SRM, the journolisters/the netrooters were propagating the story, except the much more damning claims about Coons, never got a fraction of the traction, why is that.

    Miller, a much more honorable man, was slandered 24/7 up there in that state, and the laws
    were fixed to facilitate the outcome. Brown, who it van be safely said, ‘never exhaled’ walked away with the prize, along with his Sancho Panza, the treacherous weasel, Newsom

    narciso (6075d0)

  84. It is only the Randians/Libertarians that are never guilty of hypocrisy in politics, for they always uphold the highest standards of their beliefs, whatever they are
    (though it would be good to note that Leftists are very ever guilty of hypocrisy for they don’t seem to have any standards to uphold,
    since the ends justify whatever means are required to attain them).
    Of course, R/L’s never win anything either.

    AD-RtR/OS! (b6ebc8)

  85. I used to think Patterico was a bright guy, until I read here that he supported this underqualified and mentally deficient candidate, now guilty of stealing campaign funds.

    TG (13e2d7)

  86. TG, can you please link to evidence of her conviction for stealing campaign funds? Thanks!

    vote for pedro (e7577d)

  87. “It is, I think, one of the rarest traits in the world.”

    Christoph – Work hard and you might be able to attain it, provided people forgive and forget the multitude of your past actions to the contrary.

    daleyrocks (a82d72)

  88. Christine O’Donnell is a ding-a ling. It is not surprising that she would make a mistake like this, and she will probably pay for it. Just wait, there will be more Republicans getting in trouble. Rangel is not under criminal investigation, and has not been accused of a crime. This is an actual criminal complaint.

    Chris Hooten (203dd2)

  89. Crissyhooten is truly an imbecile.

    JD (07faa1)

  90. . Rangel is not under criminal investigation, and has not been accused of a crime.

    WOW, someone bold enough to stick up for that piece of crap. It’s true, the outgoing congress disposed of Rangel’s troubles. But Rangel has been accused of a crime, and anyone who thinks O’Donnell’s worse than Rangel is simply insane.

    Fact is, O’Donnell’s probably paid for her sins 100X over just by the way democrats treated her. That Gawker bit alone makes anyone with a soul feel sorry for her, and I appreciate that she at least ran on a conservative platform in a blue state. Her limited degree of success shows the potential for a much better candidate.

    Chris’s cheering for more Republicans to get in trouble reeks of the kind of partisan who would tolerate Brad Friedman, lover of terrorism.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  91. yup, I would “tolerate” Brad Friedman. How terrible of me! LOL. We’ll see who gets in what kind of trouble as far as O’Donnell and Rangel. I’m not sticking up for that fat fuck, I am just pointing out that this is at least as serious if not more than his trouble, despite what you would like to be true. The GOP should have never opened that Pandora’s box. Even Rove said that. The GOP has a lot more problems than the Dems do in most of those regards, so going after the Dems was dumb. Now they have to go after the Repubs, too. Hence, there will be more Repubs getting in trouble.

    Chris Hooten (1ea37a)


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