Third Party & Independents: Archives

You write this like Ted Kennedy never got away with murder himself. It’s not just republicans, David, it’s politicians in general, they’re all good at squirming.

JT, you get no argument from me there. I never felt that investigation was handled in the same manner it would have been had I or any unfamed citizen been involved.

But that was then, the article is now. I feel something should be done now, but, obviously, the system does not agree.

In what should also be no surprise, Janklow’s son is quoted in a SD Paper saying he thinks his father got a “fair trial”

JT, yes, if I had been convicted of 2nd degree manslaughter and faced a 10 year stretch allowable under law, and got off with 100 days, I too would call it “fair”. Fair to me. Not fair to the family of the dead motorcyclist or the motorcyclist himself.

I was more bothered by the press coverage than the verdict (which was admittedly ridiculous). Gary Condit had a missing (as we now know, dead) girlfriend, and was on the news 24/7. Janklow killed someone and barely created a ripple.

David:

Are you saying Janklow got off easy because he was a Republican? Here we have someone of power and influence who at least got charged, convicted and sentenced. That is better than most.

I don’t know anything about the Circuit Judge who sentenced him; is there a Republican tie to him? That might support your argument.

I don’t even know what happened with Condit though. After 9-11 nothing mattered except 9-11 and now this has been overshadowed because of election season.

George:

Your question to David was right on the money. David is, as so many do, taking 1 or two facts, and making up a conspiracy out of them. I’m not a Janklow fan—-he should be punished in a similar manner to any other person who commits that kind of crime.

It is acceptable in ALL cases to include the person’s record of achievement in the court record, and to refer to that during sentencing. In Janklow’s case, he did many good things for his state, but he also has a record of speeding.

Seems to me he got off too easy, but as for David’s conspiracy assumption, I would say its just that—-no proof, no information, just an idle comment with nothing to back it up.

The situation with Jenklow is distinkly differnt than the Ford pardon of Nixon on several points. First the pardon of Nixon was done before a trial ever happened. This may seem inconsiquential but it underscores why ford pardoned Nixon. Many think that Ford was just pardoning Nixon as some kind of deal that resulted in ford getting the presidency. Ford would have become president any way if Nixon was impeached. But what is important about the pardon of Nixon was that it was an attempt to have the country and the government move on. As we saw from the Impeachment of Clinton, the functioning of the state crawled to a standstill.
Jenklow was a lowly congressman who made a terrible mistake. His political afiliation to any party has nothing to do with the sweetheart ruling that he recieved for manslaughter. I think that it is unfair to the memory of President Nixon to compare his crimes, terrible as they are, with those of a murderer.

There is a pattern - note the following from Michael Moore

George W. Bush was missing for at least a 12 month period. That is an undisputed fact. If you or I did that, we would serve time.
Senator Daniel Inouye, Democrat of Hawaii and a World War II veteran, joined with Vietnam vets Sen. Max Cleland and Sen. Bob Kerrey to challenge Bush on the gaps in his military record. “The question is, where were you, Governor Bush? What would you do as commander-in-chief if someone in the National Guard did the same thing? At the least, I would have been court-martialed. At the least, I would have been placed in prison,” Inouye said.

Patterns…It is rare to find proof of the causes for patterns in Politics. Yet the patterns remain, with or without proof.

Just to put a name on an otherwise statistic, Janklow’s victim was Randolph E. Scott, age 55.

Miguel, I respectfully disagree. Subverting the government and abuse of the highest office in the land is a crime against 100’s of millions of citizens. Murder is a crime against only a few, the victims and those who miss them.

Nixon’s crime was more devastating than that of a murderer’s, he helped undermine the trust and faith the American people once held for their government.

David,
I agree that that the downfall of Nixon changed the way we look at politicians in America, but was it for the worse? Is it so terrible that we now look critically at politicians? I am not defending Nixon and his actions, just saying that they ushered in an age that does not take for granted the goodness or our leaders. On the other hand I think the Clinton-zipper gate has ushered in an age of looking into places that eyes should dare not peer.

Jenklow is just a dispicable person who should have been thown the book. and considering the thin coverage of the case no good will come of it and the whole episode will be religated to a footnote in an obscure book on political scandals. But none of it has to do either being a Republican. the Democrats have had their fair share of bad behavior.

Miguel, I agree, Democrats with power have also been subjected to favorable treatment, as I conceded with Ted Kennedy. However, the Republicans now hold all the power of federal government and a majority of the power in the states. Hence they deserve the focus on such abuses, currently.

I am split on Clinton’s “zipper gate” issue. On the one hand, non-criminal consenting adult behavior should not be the object of public scrutiny. On the other hand, Clinton committed private acts in a public office with full awareness that should the interludes ever be exposed it would damage the office of the Presidency and divide the nation. He chose the risk, and deserved the consequences.

A kind of cognitive dissonance on the issue is the best I can muster for myself.

Interesting discusion. I think the bottom line is that the rich tend to get away with much more then the poor do. Remember OJ? The fact that republicans tend to be richer than democrats may make it look like a conspiracy but sometimes I think it is just money. One interesting thing to consider however is the furor that would have gripped the nation had Clinton gone missing from the National Guard for a year. As much as Clinton’s behavior with Monica disappointed me it was at least consensual. When Arnold (the gropenfuher as Doonebury depicts him)admits to the non-consenual act of groping nobody bats an eye. When Dubya says his days of youthful indescretion are off limits everyone gives him a pass. Hypocracy abounds. I guess it boils down to who’s ox is being gored.

I was personally appalled that Janklow got off so easy; it only further reinforces the belief that we now live in a country where there are several inequities in our much lauded system of equal justice under law.

Mr. Martin, the real tragedy here is that Tate, the juvenile who accidentally killed the young female playmate, is being released after serving 3 years for the same sentence Janklow was convicted of. He was too young to vote, and he was African American. Janklow was white and a politician. That pretty much says it all.