It is getting hard to keep track of all the investigations of Republican political figures. Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist is under investigation for financial improprieties. Former (?) Republican leader Tom Delay is under indictment for criminal conspiracy and money laundering. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove is under investigation for a national security leak and perjury and senior White House aide Scooter Libby is under indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice. The Republicans are starting to seem more like a mafia family than a political party.
It occurred to me that maybe the public needs an organization chart that lists each pol by their role in the family like the one the FBI agents have to keep track of all the mobsters on the HBO series The Sopranos. You know, Bush is the Don (the Boss) and Karl Rove is his consigliere – like Tom Hagen in The Godfather. Cheney would be the Underboss (technically Tony Soprano's title) and Scooter Libby would be his consigliere like Steven Van Zandt's role on the show. Frist and Delay would be Capos in charge of their own crews in the Senate and the House of Representatives. You have to admit there is a certain likeness between the Hammer and Paulie Walnuts.
When you think about the Republican scandals in Washington this way, it is clear that the Feds are doing pretty well against these guys.
While we can't pin anything on Cheney yet, it is pretty clear that he was furious about Joe Wilson's attempt to discredit the bogus Niger uranium story and he gave Libby Valerie Plame's name. It is hard to believe that Cheney was unaware of whatever Libby did and easy to believe Scooter was trying to cover up for his boss – the Underboss.
Like the Sopranos, the Bush Family has a lot to answer for and the Federal indictment of Scooter could be the string that unravels the whole sweater if he gets nervous about going to jail and turns into a “rat.”
Why did we really go to war in Iraq? The public reasons clearly were untrue.
Has Cheney played any role in keeping Haliburton on the government dole in Afghanistan, Iraq and Louisiana even after they got caught overcharging the government? Doesn't Dick Cheney still get some sort of payments from Haliburton while all of this is going on? (Now that's gangster).
I can't wait for HBO to bring the Sopranos back, but in the meantime the travails of the La Famiglia Bush will have to do.
Here's the link as a PDF:
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