Mitch Daniels Talks Past Drug Use, Arrest

CNN:

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels not only smoked pot, he inhaled.

But the potential Republican presidential candidate said he learned a valuable lesson when, while a student at Princeton University in 1970, he was arrested and convicted for possession of marijuana - a crime that carried a $350 fine.

Read the whole story: CNN

Comments

[eden4barack08]

06:56 PM on 03/06/2011

Enough marijuana to fill two large shoe boxes plus some LSD, and ALL he got was a fine???
And he calls that justice?? I've read of people jailed for years for much less than that!
Justice my @ s s!

[openminded7]

09:11 AM on 03/02/2011

Another privileged child gone wrong!

[katylied]

09:02 AM on 02/28/2011

So will Focks put a "D" next to his name now?

[SwimUpstream]

09:07 PM on 02/27/2011

SO ?

[taddles]

07:33 PM on 02/27/2011

So Mitch got nabbed distributing, snitches on his roommates to cut a deal and gets off with a fine. How clever of the little sneaky Republican, and how typical.

[DUSAA-1775]

09:06 PM on 02/27/2011

And you think that the birthers come up with weird ideas?

[taddles]

11:06 PM on 02/27/2011

And what would you call getting arrested with two shoe-boxes full of pot, LSD and prescription drugs...anyone who isn't trying to make excuses for him calls tht dealing. Theonyl way he doesn't do time is if he turned states evidence and ratted out his supplier. You can spin that any way you want but 2 shoeboxes of pot is a 10 year sentence.

[emlr]

06:20 PM on 02/27/2011

Who cares?

[twain307]

04:53 PM on 02/27/2011

Any GOPer who ever criticizes Bill Clinton and then subsequently outed him/her self for the same behavior should be beaten severely, preferably with a large brass hookah.

[Mark Thuesen]

02:58 PM on 02/27/2011

look at the bright side, Daniels had enough will power to avoid meth. Oh wait, they didn't have meth in 1970.

http://markthuesen.blogspot.com/

[DrObvious]

02:03 PM on 02/27/2011

Sounds like a priviledged Princeton student got off with a possession ticket for distributing - couple of shoeboxes full is more than personal use, even if it's close to ditch weed quality.
 
So ... does this former sinner see the need for decriminalizing marijuana,  or does he do the usual hypocritical dance - don't do what i did, got away with?!
 
 

[DUSAA-1775]

09:09 PM on 02/27/2011

...'Sounds like a priviledge­d Princeton student got off with a possession ticket for distributi­ng...'
actually it sounds like you do not understand the adjudication of this case.

[taddles]

11:08 PM on 02/27/2011

Sounds like you don't get two shoeboxes of pot, that's 10 years anywhere. Sounds like your trying desperately to make excuses for another criminal right winger. If this guy were a Dem you'd be crucifying him but since he's not your doing back-flips to cover his behind.

[katylied]

09:05 AM on 02/28/2011

So if it was a Democrat, it would be no big 'deal', right?

[Tom95134]

01:29 PM on 02/27/2011

"enough marijuana to fill two large shoe boxes"

That quantity doesn't sound like using... that sounds like distribution. Under today's laws, this guy would have found himself in prison.

And just where did he get the money to buy a shoebox full of marijuana?

[BuckCarson]

12:37 PM on 02/27/2011

If you think about it, the progressives are the establishment of today.

The republicans are clearly for the people, now owning the motto: "Question Authority".

Pot smoking? So what, I know many conservatives that smoke. It really is time for the progressive mindset to think about what it is they really represent. Bringing down people that make more money than them? Fostering industries that thrive on accounting, the IRS and law?

I am tired of it.

Power to the people. Simple government. ALWAYS question authority. If you smoke pot, I say so what.

[Atlanta Dave]

12:51 PM on 02/27/2011

I hope that post counts toward the daily quota. Progressives are the establishment of today. Cool people like conservatives (who routinely vote insane amounts of money to anti-drug hysteria) smoke pot. I ask what you smoked before linking those thoughts.

[BuckCarson]

12:54 PM on 02/27/2011

OK here comes the Progressive Persecution Posse. What I smoke is not as bad as the Kool-Aid your people have apparently nurtured your selves on for 20 years now.

[deanleto]

02:24 PM on 02/27/2011

ok, if you EVER smoked pot, you wouldn't be a conservative. Pot smoking opens your mind, which of course is the antithesis of regressive mindset...

power to the RICH people, eh? Right arm, man....

[BuckCarson]

03:22 PM on 02/27/2011

It is very refreshing to see that the rudiments of introspection have taken hold on even the most insular of the progressive mindset!

[truly moderate]

11:53 AM on 02/27/2011

Atleast hes honest and claims personal accountability. Thats MORE than I can say for most tea-pubs.

[Celeste Zappala]

02:35 PM on 02/27/2011

It seems more like a preemptive move to clear his way for further political exploration. He does not say he got off easy, or hundreds if not thousands of black and or poor people are in jail for the same thing, or that the law gave him a break he should repay, or compassion for addicts or anything other than what seems to be pretty self serving.

[truly moderate]

09:45 AM on 02/28/2011

How many politicians (from any side) actually have the level of piety, humanity, or humility that say a leader within a United Methodist Church of a poor community would have or that a red cross regional leader heading operations in a recent disaster zone might have? None!

In some respects, even this level of honesty is semi rare IMO for many politicians.

[mikesnl]

10:24 AM on 02/27/2011

In most states in 1970, getting caught with two shoeboxes full of pot would have brought a one-way ticket to jail, not some $350 love tap. Add in the LSD, and Whammo! He'd have been declared a major felon.

[somefool]

11:57 AM on 02/27/2011

I was thinking the exam same thing? I wonder how he got away with a fine?

[Decorina]

02:36 PM on 02/27/2011

Not hard to understand. Rich kid. Ivy league school. End of story.

[taddles]

07:35 PM on 02/27/2011

Yea that's a typical plea deal for turning on his room mates and supplier.

[OldMacdonald]

10:18 AM on 02/27/2011

"I had used marijuana and I was fined for that, and that was appropriate."

So tell me Mitch, if a fine was good enough for you why are we incarcerating people doing the same thing you paid a fine for. If you lived by your rules you'd be in jail.

[Decorina]

02:37 PM on 02/27/2011

He was a rich kid. Jail is only for the riff raff.

[Tony Sanchez]

02:49 AM on 03/31/2011

What about the hoi paloi like me?

[zest]

09:01 AM on 02/27/2011

He's lucky he isn't black or he would have done jail time.

[Tom95134]

01:31 PM on 02/27/2011

If he had been black he would still be in prison.