Talking Points:Perjury

Consistency may be the hobgoblin of small minds, but it's also damn useful. Back during the Monica thing I was consistent in two things: 1) Congress had no business investigating the president's blow-job and 2) Clinton needed to tell the truth. While I had a lot of sympathy for the man while he was having his consensual dirty laundry aired, I didn't condone lying to cover it up.

Like everyone else, I heard the new GOP talking points yesterday by Sen. Hutchison,
"that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars."

The fact that the GOP flips 180 on this only when it's their ox being gored, makes me want to vote for them even less than I already do. Note: This also represents small minded consistency on my part as I stopped voting for dems on the same principle.

And, in case the GOP has forgotten their eagerness, well some helpful folks can help remind them of how they looked at this a few years ago. If anyone is stupid enough to take up the new talking points, I hope their opponents crucify them with ads in 2006.

Sen. Hutchison: "The reason that I voted to remove him from office is because I think the overridding issue here is that truth will remain the standard for perjury and obstruction of justice in our criminal justice system and it must not be gray. It must not be muddy." [AP, 2/12/99]

Sen. Frist: "There is no serious question that perjury and obstruction of justice are high crimes and misdemeanors...Indeed, our own Senate precedent establishes that perjury is a high crime and misdemeanor...The crimes of perjury and obstruction of justice are public crimes threatening the administration of justice." [Congressional Record, 2/12/99]

Sen. DeWine: "Obstruction of justice and perjury strike at the very heart of our system of justice...Perjury is also a very serious crime...The judiciary is designed to be a mechanism for finding the truth-so that justice can be done. Perjury perverts the judiciary, turning it into a mechanism that accepts lies-so that injustice may prevail." [Congressional Record, 2/12/99]