OK, so it's late, and maybe this is complete and total tinfoil brought on by sleep deprivations, but some burning questions just occurred to me, and since I am not a lawyer, I want to ask someone who is:
A felony conviction means you are no longer eligible to run for public office in many states.
Is this true federally?
I am told that having your record expunged does not restore your right to run for office (although it makes it a lot easier to hide it). Is this true as well?
And finally:
Either because it is true that a felony conviction means you can't run for federal public office, or because a felony conviction would have kept him off the ballot in many states, is it possible that George W. Bush was arrested in 1972 for felony possession of cocaine, and subsequently engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the public about that arrest, because it would have prevented him from becoming president? (or, for that matter, Governor of Texas)
OK, that's my big dramatic thingy for the evening. You may now deflate my speculative bubble and then return to your regularly scheduled, non-tinfoil evenings. Good night folks.