Blogger Steve Gilliard is black. And a Democrat. And he even defended Cynthia McKinney when that nutjob went, well, nuts last month. And that's why Steve's post about the entire sordid Congressman William Jefferson affair (dude with $90k in his freezer, caught on tape taking a $100k bribe - hello?) is so powerful. Unlike George Bush, Steve cares about black people.
What motivated Steve's post, I beleve, is today's The Hill story about how the Congressional Black Caucus beat the crap out of House Democratic Leader Nancy Peolosi for (rightly) calling on Jefferson to resign his committee seat yesterday.
Furious black lawmakers, rallying behind Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), were pulled back from the brink of open revolt against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in an emergency meeting with her Wednesday evening.Apparently the CBC thinks Pelosi is a racist because the criminal she wants out of her party happens to be black (no word on whether the CBC is therefore misogynist and racist since the Democrat they're picking on is a woman and white).
The meeting with a handful of CBC members was called after Pelosi wrote the embattled lawmaker, who is at the center of a massive bribery scandal, a curt note requesting his immediate resignation from the powerful Ways and Means Committee.
Outraged that one of its members was being picked on even though he has not been charged with a crime, the Congressional Black Caucus had intended to issue a defiant statement against their leader but agreed after the meeting to pause, at least briefly, for reflection.
In any case, it's rather interesting that I wrote last night about how the talk in town was that the CBC was corrupt as hell. And now this happens. Things that make you go hmmmm... But rather than listen to me, silly white boy, let's let Steve call the shots.
Steve speaks truth to (black) power.
Jefferson took two National Guard trucks which could have been saving New Orleanians to save his "luggage". God know what he had inside. If the CBC [Congressional Black Caucus] thinks people outside of the Hill gives a shit about Jefferson, they're insane. Black America has been plagued with corrupt leaders and they belong under the jail. When people lack resources and means, the last thing they need is someone sticking their hand out for payoffs.Amen.
They need to stop protecting their buddy and stop handing talk radio the next Willie Horton. Many of these same people were quick to leave Cynthia McKinney to her own devices with no evidence, yet, here the man is caught with $90K in his fucking freezer and now they want to hold a temper tantrum. I'm sure black voters will suborn their interests to save William Jefferson. That kind of insane threat could only fool white people who think blacks don't vote for their own self-interest...
People's kids are dying in Iraq and you want to defend a man caught with $90K in his freezer because Nancy Pelosi did the right thing?
First of all, he won't cooperate with the FBI, forcing their hand. Now, he wants to drag the CBC into this. When will you folks realize you're being played. When he was sucking up to the DLC [very conservative Democratic Leadership Council] he wasn't so concerned about black people, now that he's facing years in jail, unless he's got a receipt for that $90K in his freezer, he's H.Rap Jefferson. Now he wants to drag down the whole party to save his own ass.
That alone should cost him his Ways and Means seat. And part of the reason they're in this mess is because of Harold Ford and Albert Wynn playing cute with conservatives. It's clear that not everyone believes in unity, so Pelosi can do this. They created this situation on their own.Now they want to whine a black man was chosen first? Uh, Tom DeLay is resigning after being defended by the GOP caucus for months. Pelosi has a great issue in that, hell, Hastert is now being investigated by the FBI for his own Abramoff issues. Jefferson's color is green, not black....
It's really simple: I hate crooked pols.Now, I don't know if Jefferson is a crook, but he doesn't look innocent and because of that, he needs to defend himself and stop hiding behind the CBC like a little bitch.
