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| Obama would ask his AG to "immediately review" potential of crimes in Bush White House | |||
| 2008-04-16 | |||
Obama said that as president he would indeed ask his new Attorney General and his deputies to "immediately review the information that's already there" and determine if an inquiry is warranted -- but he also tread carefully on the issue, in line with his reputation for seeking to bridge the partisan divide. He worried that such a probe could be spun as "a partisan witch hunt." However, he said that equation changes if there was willful criminality, because "nobody is above the law." The question was inspired by a recent report by ABC News, confirmed by the Associated Press, that high-level officials including Vice President Dick Cheney and former Cabinet secretaries Colin Powell, John Ashcroft and Donald Rumsfeld, among others, met in the White House and discussed the use of waterboarding and other torture techniques on terrorism suspects. I mentioned the report in my question, and said "I know you've talked about reconciliation and moving on, but there's also the issue of justice, and a lot of people -- certainly around the world and certainly within this country -- feel that crimes were possibly committed" regarding torture, rendition, and illegal wiretapping. I wanted to know how whether his Justice Department "would aggressively go after and investigate whether crimes have been committed." Here's his answer, in its entirety: What I would want to do is to have my Justice Department and my Attorney General immediately review the information that's already there and to find out are there inquiries that need to be pursued. I can't prejudge that because we don't have access to all the material right now. I think that you are right, if crimes have been committed, they should be investigated. You're also right that I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of Republicans as a partisan witch hunt because I think we've got too many problems we've got to solve. The bottom line is that: Obama sent a clear signal that -- unlike impeachment, which he's ruled out and which now seems a practical impossibility -- he is at the least open to the possibility of investigating potential high crimes in the Bush White House.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #6 Note to the Star Trek Enterprise producers: Obama looks at this point like a far closer match to V'Las then GWB. |
| Posted by: Korora 2008-04-16 16:11 |
| #5 Gee I thought that after the |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2008-04-16 12:47 |
| #4 Wikipedia - Stagger Lee? The crime A story appearing in the St. Louis, Missouri Globe-Democrat in 1895 says: William Lyons, 25, a levee hand, was shot in the abdomen yesterday evening at 10 o'clock in the saloon of Bill Curtis, at Eleventh and Morgan Streets, by Lee Sheldon, a carriage driver. Lyons and Sheldon were friends and were talking together. Both parties, it seems, had been drinking and were feeling in exuberant spirits. The discussion drifted to politics, and an argument was started, the conclusion of which was that Lyons snatched Sheldon's hat from his head. The latter indignantly demanded its return. Lyons refused, and Sheldon withdrew his revolver and shot Lyons in the abdomen. When his victim fell to the floor Sheldon took his hat from the hand of the wounded man and coolly walked away. He was subsequently arrested and locked up at the Chestnut Street Station. Lyons was taken to the Dispensary, where his wounds were pronounced serious. Lee Sheldon is also known as 'Stag' Lee.[1] Lyons eventually died of his injuries. Sheldon was tried, convicted, and served prison time for this crime. This otherwise unmemorable crime is remembered in a song. In some older versions of the song, the name of the other party is given as "Billy Deslile" or "De Lion". [edit] Stagger Lee as archetype Immortalized in song, Stagger Lee has become an archetype, the embodiment of a tough-guy black man -- one who is sly, streetwise, cool, lawless, amoral, potentially violent, and who defies often white authority.[3] Author and music critic Greil Marcus explicitly ties the Stagger Lee archetype to Sly Stone and his album There's a Riot Goin' On in his book Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music. There is speculation that "Stag O Lee" songs predated even the 1895 incident, and Lee Sheldon may have gotten his nickname from earlier folk songs. Other sources say that black roustabouts on Mississippi River docks were called "stack o lees" as they would stack cargo on the lee side of the docks. The first published version of the song was done by folklorist John Lomax in 1910. The song was well known in African American communities along the lower Mississippi River by the 1910s. A 1959 variation, credited as "traditional", as originally recorded and performed by Lloyd Price, goes: (intro) The night was clear, and the moon was yellow And the leaves came tumblin' down. . . I was standing on a corner When I heard my bull dog bark He was barking at the two men Who were gambling in the dark It was Stagger Lee and Billy Two men who gambled late Stagger Lee threw a seven Billy swore that he threw eight Stagger Lee told Billy "I can't let you go with that You won all o' my money And my brand new Stetson hat." Stagger Lee started off goin' Down that railroad track He said "I can't get you Billy but Don't be here when I come back" (bridge) Stagger Lee, he went home And he got his forty-four Said "I'm going down to the barroom Just to pay that debt I owe" Stagger Lee went to the barroom And he stood across the barroom door He said "Nobody move" And he pulled his forty-four Then Billy he cried "Stag, oh Stag, Please don't take my life I got three little children And a very sickly wife" Stagger Lee... shot Billy Oh, he shot that poor boy so bad Till the bullet came through Billy And it broke the bartender's glass. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-04-16 09:33 |
| #3 Deval Patrick is probably writing up the paperwork right now during his breaks from writing his autobiography. Because that's the job I think he expects from his buddy Barack. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-04-16 08:54 |
| #2 Nice bit of alliteration there, Steve. Seems like you could've worked Nancy (Pelosi) in there, somewhere... |
| Posted by: Bobby 2008-04-16 06:25 |
| #1 Freaky. I was just discussing politix yesterday with a friend, and we agreed that the subpoenas would start flowing even before the end of the last inaugural ball of a Donk presidency. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2008-04-16 00:35 |