Geppetto's Marionettes

Today, on Meet the Press, Kay Bailey Hutchinson called perjury a mere technicality in the CIA leak investigation.

However, on February 12, 1999, she said this about Clinton and perjury: Willful, corrupt, and false sworn testimony before a Federal grand jury is a separate and distinct crime under applicable law and is material and perjurious if it is `capable' of influencing the grand jury in any matter before it, including any collateral matters that it may consider. See, Title 18, Section 1623, U.S. Code, and Federal court cases interpreting that Section.The President's testimony before the Federal grand jury was fully capable of influencing the grand jury's investigation and was clearly perjurious.

Kay Bailey Hutchison. She sounds like a flip-flopper to me. So, per her dwarfed logic it is OK for a Republican to commit perjury but not for a Democrat.

By the way, that perjury is a mere technicality seems to be the latest talking point from today's GOP. It is important to remember what today's leaders said about perjury 6 years ago: Here is what George W Bush said about perjury: Texas Gov. George W. Bush, cranking up his still-unofficial run for the White House, said on Tuesday he would have voted to impeach President Clinton for lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. In response to a reporter's question, Bush said he supported impeachment for a simple reason: "The man lied.

Here is what the video tape doctor and the ethically challenged Bill Frist said about perjury: There is no serious question that perjury and obstruction of justice are high crimes and misdemeanors.

Blackstone's famous Commentaries--widely read by the framers of the Constitution--put perjury on equal footing with bribery as a crime against the state. Perjury was understood to be as serious as bribery, which is specifically mentioned in the Constitution as a ground for impeachment.

Today, we punish perjury and obstruction of justice at least as severely as we punish bribery. Apparently, the seriousness of perjury and obstruction of justice has not diminished over time. Indeed, our own Senate precedent establishes that perjury is a high crime and misdemeanor. The Senate has removed seven federal judges from office.

On days like today, I wonder what happened to the GOP. It used to be the party that stood for fiscal conservatism. And more importantly, it used to be the party that stood for law and order. And now we have Republican senators who on national television (with a straight face) are declaring that perjury is a mere technicality! Why even have a court system when it apparently is not important if people tell the truth or not in court?