Is the Republican Party a criminal conspiracy?

[Arkham House]

I mean it--every day, we see evidence of corruption and criminality that once upon a time would have led to a national crisis...the GSA just being the latest in a long, long line. Is the GOP really a "party" at all anymore, as it more-or-less was even in Reagan's day, though with corrupt patches--or is it simply a conspiracy? Are there *any* "Good Republicans" left? I sure don't see any around...though I might just be discouraged these days...:eyes:

[mmonk]

1. I would say they are pretty well corrupted (to the point I refuse to trust any of them).

I don't think our party is corruption free either, just a lot less so.

[TerdlowSmedley]

2. In a word, yes.

The more we are learning about the Justice Department, the more it becomes clear that any US Attorney who truly does see their job as upholding the Constitution and who refuses to use their office to subvert the Constitution gets the ax. You MUST break the law in order to remain in office.

[liberal N proud]

3. Quite simply - It sure looks that way!

[Demeter]

4. Is the Pope Catholic?

(Not only is the Pope Catholic, but he's implicated in the conspiracy, too!)

[indepat]

27. Does the sun rise in the east?

[Marie26]

5. Yes.

It makes more sense if you look at the party as an organized crime syndicate.

[onenote]

6. In a word no.

They are a political party. The fact that individual members have engaged in criminal acts, or consipiracy to commit criminal acts doesn't translate into labelling the party itself a criminal conspiracy.

[mwb970]

9. You are probably correct in a literal sense.

At the same time, it is striking to note the number of crimes (from perjury to corruption to shoplifting, for God's sake) that the members of this administration have been found guilty of. More indicative of a conspiracy aspect, though, is the way they all rush in to support each other in their wrongdoing, justifying each other's lies, telling even more lies in the coverup of the original lies. When I hear 4 or 5 Republican mouthpieces say the exact same words on various TV and radio shows (a phenomenon often highlighted on The Daily Show), it makes it seem as though they are working together in a, well, conspiratorial fashion.

Since it is the leaders of the party who commit the crimes, the spokesmen for the party who defend and justify them, and the voters and adherents of the party that support and encourage the wrongdoing, it is not that much of a stretch to condemn the whole party at this stage.

[Marie26]

10. But what if they engage

in those activities as a group? The Republicans used and abused political power to divert contracts to their cronies, get massive kickbacks, bribe or silence opposition, & create a total culture of corruption. Especially in Iraq, Republican politicians & contractors united to steal billions of dollars for themselves. There are good Republicans, but under the 109th Congress & Bush Administration, the party itself did conspire to effectively embezzle millions of dollars to their cronies and their campaign coffers.

"Organized Crime

Organized Crime or criminal organizations are groups or operations run by criminals, most commonly for the purpose of generating a monetary profit. The Organized Crime Control Act (U.S., 1970) defines organized crime as "The unlawful activities of ... a highly organized, disciplined association...".

Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are politically motivated. Mafias are criminal organizations whose primary motivation is profit. Gangs sometimes become "disciplined" enough to be considered "organized" these are often referred to as mobs. The act of engaging in criminal activity as a structured group is referred to in the United States as racketeering. In the U.S., organized crime is often prosecuted federally under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), Statute (18 U.S.C. Part I Chapter 96 §§ 1961-1968).

Organized crime, however defined, is characterized by a few basic qualities including durability over time, diversified interests, hierarchical structure, capital accumulation, reinvestment, access to political protection and the use of violence to protect interests."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organized_crime

[mmonk]

17. Then why are roadblocks to justice thrown up?

[NewJeffCT]

7. Most of it is, yes

There might be a few Republicans on the local levels that are not corrupt. But, I'm not aware of any...

[bryant69]

8. No

Obviously it is full of corruption, and the President is a very bad man indeed, but saying it is a criminal conspiracy might make us feel good but is not accurate and has very negative implications for what we need to do.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[bonito]

11. I agree Ron Paul stands out in my mind

I'd consider voting for him over any DLC candidate.

[Norquist Nemesis]

12. At this point, there's enough evidence to convict them of tax fraud

at the very least! Maybe it's time to just re-frame it all as the Cons stealing tax money for use as Karl Rove's partisan piggy bank!

[The Gunslinger]

13. The Republican party and some of the Democratic party too.

It may not be a true "conspiracy", but IMO anyone who tells the lies of this administration, and anyone in power that either backs them up or does nothing to stop them and punish the guilty are all criminals of one sort of the other.

[cooolandrew]

23. Yes, to be fair and balance Democrats too. Especially one particular Democratic senator.

[Double T]

14. Look at the worldwide destruction caused the RW neocon criminals.......

of the rethugliCON party!! The rethugs have committed fraud, conspiracy and murder. Voting with bushco makes you an accomplice to their cause.

[TahitiNut]

15. There's a point at which zealous partisanship ("my party, right or wrong") becomes criminal, ...

... at least in an ethical sense, when "equal under the law" is subordinate to party loyalty. Such zealous partisanship is at the core of my non-partisanship. Under no conditions could I, in good conscience, vote for someone whose stances were inimical to my own values, merely due to the party label they chose. Ben Nelson, for example, would never get my vote. Not under any circumstances. Values and principles must trump party and obscene ideas of 'pragmatism' at all times, imho.

I'm old enough to remember when the GOP was nowhere nearly as fascist as it has become. The appetite for power, imho, has corrupted the GOP.

[natrat]

16. yes-awesome in it's orginazation.scope and vision-totally nefarious

[Jonathan50]

18. A Kleptocracy of fools..

"“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” -Joseph Goebbels

[Ganja Ninja]

19. I've been wondering lately if a criminal conspiracy isn't how ...

they've maintained such a tight ship over the last six years. Look at the case of the Duke-Stir. A check goes from Cheney's office to a company and a few days later the exact same amount goes out in the form of a bribe to buy Cunningham his boat. Could it be that these guys have entrapped more than a few GOP Senators and Congressmen in this manner to ensure loyalty?

[peacetalksforall]

20. This PNAC administration is a WASHINGTON-TEXAS MAFIA.!

[SpiralHawk]

21. The Mayberry Machiavellis

republicons are not interested in helping America, only interested in greed, power and deviant closet sex

[peacetalksforall]

24. I'm not an insider, but I don't think of the Mafia as sex obsessed -

but in all other ways my Washington-Texas Mafia matches your Mayberry Machiavellis.

But to keep this tv relative, I don't watch the Sopranos so I wouldn't know for sure about deviant closet sex (and I'm not going to perform an emergency operation for Holiday Inn).

Thanks for the fun in an otherwise national tragedy.

But we should notice what is going on here - we have NO RESPECT for the White House. None.

[cooolandrew]

22. Mike Malloy didn't say Bush crime family out of exaggeration, he knows them well from research...

... as he said the other night the crime family thing is inclusive of the whole party.

[Pacifist Patriot]

25. The party itself, no. Are there criminal conspiracies operating within...

the GOP? I have no doubt.

[stirlingsliver]

26. Criminal Conspiracy, Evil Empire

The Rethuglican party is but a public face of a very evil empire, with tentacles into every aspect of life of most people on this planet.

It must be fought and resisted with every ounce of strength.

[Bandit]

28. Are there *any* "Good Republicans"

Let's see Reagan is a "good Republican" Ford is a "good Republican" Nixon is a "Good Republican" can you see where I am going with this.."The only 'good Indian' is a dead Indian"

[blm]

29. It could have been exposed as such and STOPPED in 1993, but Clinton covered up for Poppy.

http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/04/10/int04054.html

(...)

Robert Parry:

(...)

And the Democrats -- the accommodation Democrats -- decided that they would simply agree (about Iran-Contra machinations) that Oliver North did it, Reagan was just inattentive, and Bush really wasn’t involved. They kind of bought the cover story. And that cover story basically held for quite a while, until Lawrence Walsh was able to break through and find out that there had been this major cover-up, which doesn’t occur really until 1991 or so.

Another scandal breaking out in 1991 after the Persian Gulf War was known as Iraqgate. And Iraqgate was in a sense the opposite side of the coin from Iran-Contra because, while one part of the Reagan Administration was helping the Iranians in the mid-'80s, another part was helping the Iraqis, who were at war with the Iranians. Essentially the United States was playing both sides in providing sophisticated equipment, including material that could be used for weapons of mass destruction, to Saddam Hussein. Now this was also an embarrassing set of facts that George H.W. Bush did not want to have out. He had been calling Saddam Hussein worse than Hitler at that point. And so the idea that he had been secretly involved in a program in the 1980s to assist Saddam Hussein was information that they wanted to keep under board.

(...)

You also had, in the 1992 campaign, another scandal, which was directly involving George H.W. Bush -- it became known as Passportgate. Going into the fall of 1992, with Bill Clinton ahead, George H.W. Bush was rather desperate. They were looking for what they called a silver bullet to take out Bill Clinton. The outgrowth of this pressure was to search Bill Clinton’s passport file to see if there had been some possible letter denouncing his citizenship. That was the rumor. There was no such letter, but they found a tear in the corner of the passport file. And from that, the Bush Administration formulated a criminal referral to the FBI and then leaked it. The Senior Bush began using that to raise suggestions that he was unpatriotic. And Clinton’s numbers started to fall. It was a very effective dirty trick.

(...)

But after Clinton won in 1992, he and other winning Democrats basically decided to not help or shelve those investigations. At that point, we forget that Lawrence Walsh, the Independent Counsel who was a Republican, wanted to pursue George H.W. Bush because he had found out that George H.W. Bush had been withholding documents that had been long requested for the investigation. Bush also refused to submit to a second interview, which Walsh had postponed until after the '92 election, so Bush would not be distracted. But then after Bush got voted out, he issued pardons for six of the Iran-Contra defendants, which effectively crippled Walsh’s investigation.

Bush was allowed essentially to walk off into the sunset with his reputation intact-- when there was a potential from all four of these investigations to have implicated the Senior Bush in misconduct -- his alleged involvement in the October surprise, his involvement in Iran-Contra, his involvement in Iraqgate, and his involvement in the Passportgate affair. But Clinton and other Democrats felt that it was important to try not to stir things up, to see if they could work with the Republicans cooperatively and with the new Administration coming in. It turned out to be a gross misunderstanding of the situation.

(...)

[Odin2005]

30. I tend to shy away from conspiracy theory nonsense.

In a democracy there will be always at least one party that is the home of the economic elites, you don't need some crazy conspiracy theory to explain that.

[Arkham House]

31. Seems to me that something new has evolved out of the "old" GOP--

--the "party of the economic elites", their traditional--and, thru Reagan, anyway, more-or-less honorable--role... Today, we see an entire party, and their media stooges, stealing the Presidency, condoning treason, starting wars of aggression and lying about it to keep it going, basically excusing any and all scandals and crimes that come along--and doing it in essentially identical language, obviously derived from one source...trying to delegitimize their opponents, crushing the letter and spirit of the Constitution, and generally trying to turn the USA into a banana republic. This *is* new, it seems to me...and as far as "conspiracy theories" go--well, the Federal government, and all 50 states, have conspiracy statutes on the books, and they all prosecute people for them. Conspiracies do happen. Maybe I exaggerated when I asked if there were any "good Republicans"--though I don't see too many around...but political conspiracies to overthrow regimes are commonplace in history, and there's no reason to think It Can't Happen Here...