Now I am as suspicious of the right wing cabal as the best of them but this is ridiculous.
OK they catch this guy red handed on tape making the deal, secure a warrant and then raid his office and find the marked money that was the subject of the warrant. Case closed. But the best that this Ichabod Crane looking SOB can do is come out and blame the FBI? Are you serious? It just hit me like a ton of bricks; New Orleans is washing away and this is what they have representing them in congress. I hate it when people say that there is a crisis in black leadership (because there is a crisis in all leadership not just blacks) but this dude is the poster boy for this argument.
It is painfully obvious that Ray Nagin and William Jefferson have completely sold the citizens of New Orleans up the river and they don't give a shit that you know it. They understand that all they have to do is play the "I am being persecuted by white people card" and bingo you get another term in office. The only stipulation is that you have to be in these overwhelmingly majority minority districts for this phenomenon to manifest itself so tragically. This is why conservatives have always supported this overt racial gerrymandering that creates black super majorities. It dilutes overall minority influence in elections and it diminishes the political free market system. What is so frustrating is that we (Blacks) have bought in to it and keep rewarding these fuck ups with more terms in office.
For example here in Georgia we have David Scott a black congressman who consistently votes against the best interest of his constituents. He represents a state that has one of the highest rates of foreclosure and loan defaults in the country but he votes for the bankruptcy bill and calls himself a "blue dog" democrat. I call him a corporatist ass hole who just happens to get no primary competition election after election. There comes a point when we have to stop putting these folks in office who only pursue elected office for personal gain.
William Jefferson is a prime example. He doesn't even have respect enough for his constituents or his political party to just resign. He runs and hides behind black people when he is under attack but never does anything to fight for their needs when he isn't. Where was this douche bag when they were cutting funding for the levees? According to the new book Deluge, Ray Nagin went to the top of the Hyatt Hotel while his city drowned and didn't come down until the cameras started rolling. And who can forget when he put the priority on getting tourists out of New Orleans while the citizens died from dehydration, prevented from leaving by his own orders? It is tragic and borderline masochistic that we punish ourselves by continuing to put these people back in office.