Power Line News

We’ve written a couple of times about the 60 Minutes story last Sunday that claimed former Alabama governor Don Siegelman was the victim of

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Bravo, PowerLine!

Here’s a NY Times thread that came out right before the hearing last October (starring Jill Simpson). Interesting how the story has changed.

The comments by the Rovian conspiracy dupes are amusing, too.

Terrific analysis, John.
Power Line has done it again.
What is amazing also is that no one even knows who this woman is yet she is spinning wild conspiracy stories across the state and now the country.
The Alabama Republican Party Communications Director Philip Bryan told me that they do not even know who she is!
And, yet “60 Minutes” runs a story based on this nut?
She has never been paid by the party or any campaign that they know of.  She also has never donated to any Republican candidate- ever that is documented.
Some operative!

This is standard fare for CBS, NBC, the NYT, and countless others in the old media. It’s also not a recent development. Most of the MSM uncritically accepted John Kerry’s false claims of atrocities in Vietnam. And let’s not forget about Pulitzer Prize-winning Walter Duranty and his propaganda on behalf of Joseph Stalin’s evil regime. Oh, and Joseph McCarthy was a nut who saw a communist under every bed - until the Venona Papers irrefutably proved he was right. Good night and good luck.

What’s noteworthy is that we now have alternative media, namely internet bloggers and talk radio, who can hold those “useful idiots” accountable for their deceit. I’d even say that the rise of talk radio and the internet has done more to advance the cause of freedom than anything else in the last 20 years.

Bill Burkett probably vouched for Jill Simpson as he was dropping off the latest edition of Bush’s National Guard records.  CBS has really high standards.

Maybe Rather and Mapes can investigate this 60 Minutes‘ fiasco?

I’d say that a story like this would cause me to stop watching 60 Minutes or CBS News except that I took that action long ago.  In fact, I haven’t watched either 60 Minutes or CBS’s news programs since 60 Minutes had the report on the unintended acceleration of Audi automobiles.  Why should I waste my time watching anything associated with people who are either so stupid they cannot figure out that the Audi story could not be possible as they presented it, or so untruthful that they would present it anyway.  I sat there with my mouth hanging open when the Audi show aired, wondering how in the world anyone could keep a straight face while they presented it.  I mean really, you didn’t have to have engineering degrees or any special knowledge to realize that story could not be true.  So sorry, but I think anyone who would attempt to get their news from any part of CBS can only be described as not paying attention or so unbalanced that they have no concept of facts or truth.  Stories like this and the Dan Rather flap only confirm my opinion that I make the right choice when I adopted the don’t watch CBS tactic.  I could list many other stories I’ve heard about, but most intelligent people already know them.

The show should have been purged ten years ago, when Don Hewitt aired--as a straight 60 Minutes report-- unaired outtakes of Bill and Hillary’s 1992 post-Superbowl 60 Minutes interview.  The narrative in 1992 was Bill and Hillary Clinton, loving American couple.  The narrative in 1998 was Bill and Hillary Clinton, deceptive control freaks.  Hewitt had made a point over thirty years of never allowing a subject to insist upon an unedited interview, but the tape showed Hillary and Bill were permitted to call for retakes so that they would present the “right” answers.  It was the total destruction of 60 Minutes, on 60 Minutes.

Not to seem too disinterested, but so what? We know CBS is untrustworthy. Karl Rove is now out of the White House, so unless he’s an active strategist with some campaign, why should he or we care what this woman says about him on a discredited liberal propaganda forum? Is CBS trying to throw a lob to the Congressional Democrats, who already have plenty of other things they want to skewer Rove over?

How sad! 60 Minutes used to be “must see TV” for me.  I don’t remember when I quit watching, but I’m glad I did.

Not to seem too disinterested, but so what? We know CBS is untrustworthy. Karl Rove is now out of the White House, so unless he’s an active strategist with some campaign, why should he or we care what this woman says about him on a discredited liberal propaganda forum? Is CBS trying to throw a lob to the Congressional Democrats, who already have plenty of other things they want to skewer Rove over?

Because the main point they are trying to put across, is that the Republican Party sent an innocent man to prison for six years because he was a Democrat.  The details aren’t explored clearly, so that general smear can be allowed to stick.  Check out the “Republican Way” thread Marko has going.  Which Republican crucified Don Siegelman?  They all did.

In fact, all they’ve got is one confused witness and a row of Attorney Generals who don’t see how a shakedown spoils system amounts to bribery.  It’s the sort of hokum that, left unanswered, would be brought up for 30 years.

"Because the main point they are trying to put across, is that the Republican Party sent an innocent man to prison for six years because he was a Democrat.  The details aren’t explored clearly, so that general smear can be allowed to stick.  Check out the “Republican Way” thread Marko has going.  Which Republican crucified Don Siegelman?  They all did.”

No, Don Siegelman was a crook, convicted not by “Republicans” but by our legal system which weighed the facts of the case and found him guilty.

Funny how the left supports 8 US Attorney’s when they are fired, but calls them liars when they prosecute a Democrat.

Told ya so:

Nor did they come up when a Republican counsel cross-examined Simpson, establishing that her claims were all hearsay and not based on personal knowledge.

Psyche diagnosis confirmed:

CBS failed to disclose the extent of Simpson’s wild claims so as to conceal from its viewers the fact that Simpson is, to put it bluntly, a nut.

Sorry, Karl Rove haters.  It just does not wash.  This pathetic creature, seeking her 15 minutes of fame, should have been on Colbert Report, not MSNBC or whatever.

Really guys, you want to go after Rove based on this babe? Bring it on.

The ability to influence attitudes and behavior with distorted facts and lies by a malignant media entity like CBS is very dangerous.  “Powerline” should never let them off the hook.

Great job getting out the spin and avioding these facts. You earned your money this week.

A key witness in the current case, Nick Bailey, said he met with prosecutors 70 times and they asked him to write his story down several times so he could keep it straight.

The judge’s decision to put Siegelman in chains and send him off immediately was certainly unusual, especially for a white-collar crime. Normally, those convicted have 45 days to get their affairs in order before reporting to prison. Usually, they also are allowed to stay out on bail during an appeal process. But the judge, a former state GOP executive committee member who was appointed to the judgeship by President Bush, went another away.

Almost everyone in the judicial system says a seven-year prison term does not fit the crime, but Fuller actually could have made the sentence longer, based on law. Yet, former Alabama Gov. Guy Hunt, a Republican, never spent a day in jail for state ethics violations.

The heart of the case against Siegelman is that he accepted a $500,000 contribution to his education lottery campaign from HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy. In return, Scrushy was appointed to an influential medical board that he had been appointed to previously by two other governors. Siegelman never personally pocketed any of the money, but he was responsible for repaying the lottery campaign fund. People contributing to political funds and candidates is nothing new, and it’s nothing new for those who give the most to obtain government jobs or appointments. It happens almost every day in every state. (Shout out and waves to all those Bush Pioneers!!!

A GOP operative in the state, attorney Jill Morrow, said Karl Rove was involved in a plot to get Siegelman and even suggested trying to get evidence of him having an affair.

The Justice Department won’t provide Congress with documents critical to the probe.