ABOUT "DOLLAR BILL"...

CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS' NEW CAUSE...COVERING UP FOR A CROOK


Honestly, William Jefferson isn't really worth the ink this is written on, but I feel like I should say something about this issue.

1. He needs to resign from the Ways and Means committee until his issue is resolved or he's indicted. There's no need to for a legal defense fund, unless there's other CBC members who are going to get dragged down with him. Can you say "Covering one's own ass"?

2. Steve Gilliard was right. We have enough on our plates to get Black people elected to public office; we didn't make the sacrifices so they can squawk when they are being held to a higher standard than their white peers. While it's unfair, it's also the deck we've been dealt. Deal with it, or get out of public office and go do something where your treachery will be rewarded.

3. KATRINA. Jefferson's commandeering of vehicles to go and get his stuff while those vehicles rolled past people who were suffering, if not dying by drowning, for his own self-preservation, is enough to get him unelected in 2006. In fact, I said in a post last October that he shouldn't be re-elected because Katrina tore the covers off his lack of effective representation of his district.

4. Nancy Pelosi's wishes should never come at the expense of the CBC's agenda. Period. No discussion. Quit giving away the store and then wondering where are your bargaining chips, when you gave them away with the store and failed to make Ms. Pelosi deliver on her promises before delivering on yours to her.

5. The CBC should have set the tone for zero tolerance on ethics, starting with their own members. Jefferson would have been a good example to demonstrate you're the caucus that's not going to cry foul on the Rethugs and allow our own to skate. Isn't that what we've been complainaning about for the last five years: IOKYAR? If you're going to promote yourself at the "conscience of the congress" your walk should match your talk, and anyone not willing to get with the program and sense of the Caucus, should be isolated and their isolation be highlighted to the point their districts weigh in on their isolation. Mel Watt has been derelict in calling out wayward CBC members, and that probably explains why Barbara Lee wants to replace him as Chair of the CBC in September.

You have to ask why 25% of the CBC votes ReThug and the Chair isn't calling them out, but he prefers to beat up on Black women, calling me a "damned blogger" or a "Loud-mouthed operative" to my face when I've asked about their mouthing mush on things that matter, like their legislative votes. On the real, Watt's probably taking payola from other CBC members feeding at the corporate trough, while appearing like a progressive, but providing them cover to do their dirt in the dark.

But you didn't hear that from me. LOL.

If they don't bite the bullet here, Bill Jefferson becomes the albatross around the Democrats' neck in the Fall, and we all know how good the Rethugs can spin something to where it becomes fact while it's still a lie. And he didn't have the sense given to go for big cheese. At least Duke Cunningham aimed high and got paid before he got caught! Since "Dollar Bill" doesn't know when to exit stage left, we need to boot him off stage and any other CBC member that wants to cast their lot with him in offering him protection and a Legal Defense Fund. Sorry, Charlie (and I don't mean Charlie Tuna, but Charlie Rangel), but for you, Kendrick Meek and Elijah Cummings, I'm talking to YOU! Until you can rationalize your treatment of Cynthia McKinney's harassment by a racist member of the Capitol Hill police versus raising money for a LDF for an obvious crook, can anyone here identify a dog named "SEXISM" or "HYPOCRACY"?

And the DLC continues to eat their own. Look at how sneaky Artur Davis is being. He's salivating over replacing Jefferson on Ways and Means, and probably agrees with what I've said here, but I'm pointing out that Jefferson's a card-carrying member of the DLC, so is Davis; yet Davis is angling to replace Jefferson and probably wants Pelosi to give him the boot off Ways and Means. If the CBC stands as a caucus, Davis wouldn't dream of doing this, but since the Caucus is fractured, Davis' ambition gets ahead of his loyalty to a fellow DLC and CBC member. WARNING: if Davis gets that position, look for AIPAC to start chest pounding and it's nothing for them to be proud of, either.