2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumBob McDonnell’s shocking stupidity: How could a politician have been this dumb?
Latest GOP governor to humiliate himself -- and break the law -- endured a crazy saga. Here's why it's so surrealJIM NEWELL
On a level of basic human sympathy, its painful to see anyone, including former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and first lady Maureen McDonnell, sob through the jurys reading of 11 and nine guilty counts, respectively. They have children and grandchildren and, barring an appeal, are likely headed to jail for a significant chunk of time. And thats after, in a desperate, quirky and ultimately unsuccessful defense, they laid bare the daily troubles with their marriage for the world to absorb. It felt dirty to watch the trial, and I, at least, didnt feel it was necessary to write daily updates about the tabloid trash revealed in court on any particular day.
But what must be most painful for the McDonnells right now is the knowledge of how completely avoidable this was. Theres nothing even approaching honor or pride in these transgressions. Theres no crime here that you can convince yourself was the right call as a statesman; you cant even say, in some sort of Nixonian way, all I had in mind, the whole time, was the good of the people of Virginia. Theres nothing like that here, unless you think that Virginians really needed the dietary supplement Anatabloc in order to live long and prosper. Bob and Maureen McDonnell will go down as the first Virginia first couple to go down on criminal charges because they took a bunch of cash and golf trips and Rolexes.
Cash, golf trips, Rolexes, vacations, checks, vacations, Ferrari rides: The components of the $100,000+ in gifts and loans that they received from Star Scientific CEO Johnnie Williams Sr., in exchange for using the powers of the governorship to promote his dumb diet pill thing, couldnt have been a shinier bundle of objects for the prosecution to present to the jury. In modern politics, corruption charges are usually more tediously complex: Money was wired here and then laundered via a pass-through, which made its way through another pass-through and was distributed through a foundation before ending up at a nonprofit designed to help such and suchs interests with a client trying to change regulations in foreign markets, or whatever. Not in this case. The prosecution just had to show the jury images of the idiot governor showing off his flashy watch that was given to him by the rich businessman for whom he did favors in return. How much simpler could this get? Its only a degree of reality or two away from an old-timey political cartoon of a tuxedoed plutocrat, smoking a cigar, handing over a big bag marked $$$, to a crooked politician slapping his back and cackling.
more
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/05/bob_mcdonnells_shocking_stupidity_how_could_a_politician_have_been_this_dumb/
underpants
(182,788 posts)NastyRiffraff
(12,448 posts)Last edited Fri Sep 5, 2014, 09:53 PM - Edit history (1)
Bob McDonnell, whatever you think of his politics (and I don't think much of them), is not stupid. Clearly he did some very stupid things here, that he had to know were wrong. He may have convinced himself that they were not illegal, but there is no way he could have thought his actions were moral or ethical.
Apparently the jury agreed. As for throwing his wife under the bus, juries in general hate that sort of thing.
atreides1
(16,076 posts)What he did wasn't illegal under current Virginia law...the stupidity, along with a little bit of arrogance...was that he didn't bother to check Federal laws!
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)roguevalley
(40,656 posts)swagger on a stage, shooting his cuffs and eating up applause.
fredamae
(4,458 posts)it seems to demonstrate the depth of their belief that they are indeed "above the law(s)" as they stand to declare we are a Nation of Laws. Of course they don't include themselves.
Politicians have long held the people they serve to a much higher standard of law than they hold themselves.
The irony is delicious...and reminds me of Perry/Walker/Christie/Kasich/Corbett/Scott et al arrogance as several are investigated over a myriad of possible illegal actions.
n2doc
(47,953 posts)That should answer your question right there.
Given the amount of pain and suffering his actions caused poor people in Virginia, I have no sympathy for him.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)I would love a list of their graduates.
and every Governor, judge, state DA needs their background checked for those "schools".
carolinayellowdog
(3,247 posts)thinly veiled insinuations of Mary Sue Terry's lesbianism, abetted by the horrendous endorsement by Patricia Cornwell
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)SmittynMo
(3,544 posts)Simple - It's the GOP. Unfortunately this is a big one where he and his wife will be spending some time thinking about just how stupid they really were. There is just no fix for stupid.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)everything coming to them.
TNNurse
(6,926 posts)But GREED and desperation for FAME and POWER are not among them.
Zorro
(15,740 posts)and a $6500 Rolex is a cheap Rolex. What a chump.
MynameisBlarney
(2,979 posts)That's the Rolex made of stainless.
Throckmorton
(3,579 posts)I heard it on the Rolex Commercial on the radio.
MynameisBlarney
(2,979 posts)So nice to see you this morning.
Fortinbras Armstrong
(4,473 posts)dawnie51
(959 posts)They thought they were going to walk, because everyone does. Only the little people pay. I have zero compassion for these two.
kairos12
(12,858 posts)louis-t
(23,292 posts)circumcision?
usaf-vet
(6,181 posts)It's pure unadulterated arrogance.
Hopefully the arrogant governor in Wisconsin will be the next to fall.
Maybe Scott Walker and Bob McDonnell care share a cell in federal prison.
TlalocW
(15,381 posts)The little explanation about wiring/laundering money on several levels because normally politicians today are more concerned with just getting money to fund their re-election campaign or to use personally. Even trips to nice locations are related back to protecting our country's interests... "Yes, I have to go to this lavish hotel/resort in Brazil so I can make sure America will receive the benefits of the sugar harvest there so we can still enjoy Frosted Flakes for breakfast!" Bob, though, apparently suffered from not understanding the high tech world along with an attitude that he just deserved nice things, damn it.
TlalocW
olegramps
(8,200 posts)I don't consider ISIS to be the greatest threat to our Republic. I have to conclude that it is the arrogant Republicans that has demonstrated that they are willing to jeopardize our security solely for political reasons. They don't put the country first, but the destruction of the Obama administration is their sole goal.
The party leaders pander to the majority of their constituency who are racist ignorant yahoos lemmings who are willing to commit economic suicide in order to destroy anything the Obama administration proposes. Just how different is the present situation from what transpired in Germany. Newsreel after newsreel testify to the massive crowds of tens upon tens of thousands of adoring Germans worshipping Hitler as he led them to oblivion. Substitute African-Americans and Latinos for the Jewish scapegoats and rewrite the script.
Mass
(27,315 posts)Those who are not leave office and get well paid jobs on Wall Street or in a Fortune 50 Company (and once again, this goes for Dems and Republicans alike),
Most of our politicians are people who are able to speak, to repeat talking points, are piloted by a puppet master and whose contributions are written by staff. Hence the number of very dumb things that they do once they are left to their own devices.
So, no surprise if McDonnell was so dumb.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)JohnnyRingo
(18,628 posts)I believe he thought his usual method of referencing God as his divine motivation would sway a jury into exoneration the same way that ploy served him so well in the decades prior to his indictment. His televangelist good looks and the gullibility of the Southern Baptist public was clearly overestimated this time.
Though I feel a renewed confidence in the common sense and good judgment of his peers in Virginia, I wonder how this would have played out a little deeper in the Bible Belt. I know the evidence for accepting bribes was overwhelming, but God carries out his plan in mysterious ways.
Excellent article. Thanx for posting.
COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)kairos12
(12,858 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)Submariner
(12,503 posts)instead of getting a real education.
Cha
(297,196 posts)Indeed, how could someone who's gotten that far in life think they could get away with it.. and why would they even want to?
There was always the gop nom for President calling.. if they had the right story to tell. I think the republicon party is full of arrogant sociopaths.. or is that redundant?
Mahalo Don~
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)SunSeeker
(51,550 posts)He could have pulled a Cantor. But no, he wanted his Rolex and Ferrari now. Entitled douchebag.
Response to DonViejo (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Kablooie
(18,632 posts)He knew he would get caught and go to jail for years, but hell, he got to wear a Rolex and drive a Ferrari!
Absolutely worth the price!
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)"Buy stuff and it will make you happy."
Except that he was given this stuff. It's the American way to believe the fallacy of materialism.
I once read in a book about dejunking by Don Aslett, "Don't love what can't love you back."
Don Aslett was the first person to bring hoarding to the public's attention. We've all known hoarders, but we didn't realize there were millions of them until he started writing books about cleaning, with a chapter on decluttering. People wanted to know more and more about that and it spun off into more books.
Materialism in the form of hoarding can ruin your life. The Governor and his wife indulged in a different form of being obsessed with material things.
if he is stupid or he thinks everyone else is. But that would make him stupid & arrogant - so yeah, he's stupid.
Throwing his wife under the bus - nice family values smh