The evidence against Jefferson is strong. Kick him to the curb. What is the rationale for not doing so? There isn't any.

Go Karen!

That may be true, and the CBC should certainly answer for standing by Jefferson, but calling them the Congressional Black Criminals gets us nowhere.  It [understandably] creates the impression that the CBC is fundamentally corrupt and that its members should all be viewed with a wary eye (you know, like we view Republicans).  

Besides, it just sounds racist.  Not saying you are (you might be African-American for all I know), but that kind of comment just doesn't look right on a Democratic blog page.

 "Congressional Black Criminals"??? Where am I, Michelle Malkin's site?

 Jefferson isn't a crook because he's black. Jefferson is a crook because he's a crook.

Hey, NKpolitics, do me a solid, and, on behalf of the people of New Orleans, go bleep yourself.  

An outrageous slander against the Congressional Black Caucus, to call those fine men and women - at least two of them to my knowledge distinguished veterans of live-fire wars - "Criminals."

I don't at all agree with their backing of Jefferson to date, though he had not even been indicted before today.  Frankly, their willingness to back someone like Jefferson comes from the fact that there are a lot of asswipes who will call Black people criminals categorically without evidence.  For example, yourself.

I dare you to call a veteran and patriot like John Conyers a criminal to his face.  Do it to civil rights hero John Lewis, to veteran Charles Rangel.

We ARE NOT THE PROBLEM!

The prob lies within the Party itself: lobbyists, professional "polyticians" and an ignorant populace. (oh! and you Race fetishists.)

There is no "quality" amongst the people that vote. They are clueless as to the wheres and whys of things. They do not think critically. They can't really understand anything outside of their yuppie toys and whether Jill needs to be driven to ballet practice or if Trent has to go to ball practice. (Oh yes... what is the wine for the meeting this week?)

The 200,000, those of us who returned to rebuild this city, do not care for armchair political crap about "who we reelected." We didn't vote for Jefferson. Those who did were bussed in by the Jackson crowd. (By one of those you have a fetish for.)

Anyone who is not from New Orleans needs to have a major Reality check. You aren't here, and you have no freakin' idea of the Truth about this place. Too many of you live an artificial life that bears no resemblance to the world the Founders foresaw.

I'm a Jeffersonian Democrat. I have always been registered that way, even when I was lumped into the Peace and Freedom Party. I AM a Progressive. I have studied the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers. I have read all of the works of the Founders in my time.

How many of you "blame New Orleanians" Democrats out there can state the same? Do you even understand the fact that this city and it's cultures are closer to T.J.'s ideals then the poop you are living?

When was the last time you walked your neighborhood and talked with the folks on the porches? Have you made a huge bunch of food and handed it out to those around you? In what fashion have you interfaced with those around you?

And in what ways have you helped your fellow citizens? Have you given service to the country?

The answers to those questions are most probably "Nadda, zilch, and huh?".

If you see yourself on the negative in these questions, then you know what you are in the American system... THE ENEMY.

We here in New Orleans are fighting for our lives and culture. (Do you even have a culture in your homeplace?)

Ben Franklin told us we had A Republic "If we can keep it.". How have you defended the Republic lately?

When you have to go through what we've existed under for the last 21 months, then you will have some validity. Experience the trashing of your folks by a Nation only intent upon SUVs and their porfolios... only concerned about their lonely selves and not the web of community we live in...

Welcome to Demo-Publican America.

We, the 200,000 in New Orleans who are rebuilding and getting things going, don't need your selfish, Demo-Publican crap. We will rebuild, but you folks can only replace the garbage you have lost. We can create, but you can only copy failed things since you are intellectually challenged.

In other words, we are keeping something vital alive. We ARE THE AMERICAN DREAM. We LIVE... What's your modern American life like?

Here in New Orleans, we do live Jefferson's dream.
Our lives are about community and continuity. We live our lives and try not to destroy others'.

Can you understand what I'm trying to express? Are you that so far out from the real Human experience that you have no reality when it comes to community?

So children, attack the folks of New Orleans, and understand that I will be there protecting our Sacred place. Most of you aren't worth the dirt to cover your carcasses.

I'm Morwen Madrigal, and New Orleans and Her people are mine to protect. Trash us, and get ready to reap the whirlwind.

http://gentillygirl.com/

I am the one who cares about New Orleans, and the same goes for the NOLA Bloggers.

We are working hard to uncover the bullshiite, but outsiders don't care.

They are only caring if we play the Race card.

I personally hate Democrats, as I do Repugs...

All that I support is the elimination of all of the Demo-Publican Party. Once those mothers are gone, we have a real chance at having a civil society. (Well, there are the cross-wearers... don't worry, I'll nail those poops to trees.)

All I'm about is the Republic of the Founders. (You shareholders and crap just lay down and croak.)

Most of you ain't worth the dirt it will take to cover your traitorist souls.)

(Yep! I'm referring to white people's thought
processes.)

Yes, I'm the whitest black girl you'll ever meet, and I will call you on your shit.

Morwen Madrigal
http://gentillygirl.com/

Relax, Nathan, they'll be gone in a day or so.  Just like they fucked off for good after the November election.  They'll be back on August 29 for another hurricane retrospective, they'll wail and moan about "how can this be America?", they'll take a few pictures to be used for anti-GOP talking points, and then they'll go back to their armchair Iowa polling data analysis, which is of course where their rubber meets their road.

You and me, we're on our own.

Gutting party at Lisa Pal's house real soon.  Two stories of damaged plaster needs to go so that her contractor can start work.  You up for it?  Let the MSLB play with their numbers, we got work to do.

Expulsion. Both houses of congress can expel a member. I would guess by two-thirds or three-fifths, but I'll bet somebody here knows the Constitution better than I do.

"isn't even he entitled to a presumption of innocence? "

NO! House rules used to be that you had to go when a Grand Jury indicted you.

And before someone makes the obvious point, No, I don't believe we need to look to the Republicans to set moral standards, but I do think expelling indicted house members is not a black and white issue.

We are in the midst of a scandal involving the politicization and corruption of the DoJ for partisan gain.  I do not know of any evidence that Jefferson's indictment is trumped up or politically motivated, but the next indicted Democrat might be.

It sucks that the Democrats have such a transparently corrupt member, but at least they are not falling overthemselves in the media about what a "good man" Jefferson is, the way numerous republicans did for Ney and Cunningham.

Democrats did not promise that out of 200+ members none would ever fail to meet the high standards, only to end the culture of corruption, to stop rewarding, and systemically encouraging it.

Pelosi already took Jefferson off his Appropriations seat before he was even indicted.

The guy was caught with wads of cash in his freezer.  I can see waiting for indictment to kick him out (for fear of setting a precedent - after all it is trivially easy to say someone is under investigation).  But this guy needs to go, and now.   He has been indicted for corruption and bribery!

If, in the future, the Dems want to make a special exception for someone who has been indicted (say for civil disobedience), fine, but the general rule should be they are gone upon indictment.

Pelosi took him off Appropriations (or was it Ways and Means?) - one of the big money commitees anyway.  After he was re-elected, she had to give him something, so he's on Homeland Security.  I don't know how much opportunity he has for corruption on that committee.

I agree, calling for his head is not right until he is convicted in a fair trial.

Boehner can fuck his hat and tell us what expulsion motions he brought to the floor to expel Ney and Cunningham.  

Yeah, and don't rebuild our levees, either.

That'll show us.

Here's a start, with multiple takes on analysis:  

http://dapoblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/la- representative-us-2nd-congressional.html

Follow all the links and read the comments.  Like everything else about New Orleans politics, this election can't be reduced to white vs. black.  You also need to grok Republican vs. Democrat, West bank vs. East bank (LA-02 spans both), Orleans Parish vs. Jefferson Parish (again, LA-02 spans both, and both parishes span both east bank and west bank), BOLD vs. Progressive Democrats (don't know what those are?  good luck understanding the election then), Spike Lee vs. Harry Lee, wet vs. dry...

There are a lot of competing constituencies in LA-02, and Jefferson's election may have been more about secondary issues than about us "wanting" a corrupt Congressman.  Loyalty to Democratic GOTV organizations, dislike for the controversial Karen Carter, maneuvering for the next election post-indictment, or GOP spoilers may all have played a role.

The Democratic blogosphere outsiders never understood these subtleties, which is why darkening the skies with Kossacks bearing net.cash was such a loser of a strategy.

As Jeffrey of Library Chronicles likes to say, "All politics is local, but New Orleans politics is localer."

Expulsion is pretty damn rare in Congress. The vast majority of expelled members were kicked out for treason for supporting the Confederate rebellion. The only other members who have been expelled are Jim Traficant in 2002, Michael Myers in 1980, and William Blount in 1797. That's it.

Traficant was expelled after being convicted of massive corruption. Myers was expelled after being convicted of accepting bribes in ABSCAM. And Blount was expelled for treason and conspiracy to incite the Creek and Cherokee Indians to assist Great Britain in invading Florida. That's serious shit!

Congress does not expel members for being indicted.

Don't worry, the CBC will bus them back in for the next election, so that we can have another go at an "elected" congressperson whom the people that actually live here didn't elect.

Also: If Jefferson steps down now, Karen Carter may have a chance at his seat.  

It seems to me dearie that you aren't here in New Orleans. Most of the rebuilding work and planning is being done by good folks, both White and Black.

Walk the neighborhoods as I do... yak with folks about what they are doing to rebuild. It's all of us trying to get back.

My partner and I aren't rich, and we are putting ourselves into debt for the rest of our lives to rebuild (and we don't live in a Flood Zone), but we love our city.

Many of those who haven't returned are just too lazy to go through the crap that the 200,000 of us are living with. I don't want those folks back.

And before you pull the Race card from your sleeve, understand that I am old Creole, and Islanos, and Haitian... and I'm whiter than the snow. My people have been here since the beginning, and we and our friends are getting this city back on it's feet.

We love our homeplace, and we are fighting to keep it alive. Anyone who doesn't have the stomach for a fight... just don't come here. We don't need lazy people.

The birth of the new American Progressive party is going down right now in New Orleans, and the donkey-elephant hybrids better start running.