Right On, Brother Singer

Following is an email sent out by Phil Singer of the DSCC regarding uber-hypocrite Kay Bailey Hutchison's hypocrithon this morning on MTP (see below for my own view):

From: "Phil Singer"
Sent: 10/23/2005 05:00 PM
To: "Phil Singer"
Subject: HUTCHISON'S CONFUSION: IS PERJURY A BIG DEAL OR NOT??

During a five minute span on "Meet the Press" this morning, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison seemed to change her mind three times about whether or not perjury is a crime. Of course, it wasn't all that long ago that Hutchison was talking about the seriousness of perjury and obstruction of justice when voting to impeach President Clinton.

1) FIRST, HUTCHISON SUGGESTED PERJURY WASN'T THAT BAD... "I certainly hope that, if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime, and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime..." ["Meet the Press," 10/23/05]

Ø Hutchison Thought Perjury Was Serious Enough When She Voted to Impeach Clinton. Discussing her vote to impeach President Clinton, Hutchison said, "The reason that I voted to remove him from office is because I think the overridding issue here is that truth will remain the standard for perjury and obstruction of justice in our criminal justice system and it must not be gray. It must not be muddy." [AP, 2/12/99]

2) THEN SHE CHANGED HER MIND... "There were charges against Bill Clinton besides perjury and obstruction of justice, and I'm not saying that those are not crimes. They are." ["Meet the Press," 10/23/05]

Ø WRONG: There Were No Additional Senate Charges. By the time the Clinton impeachment debate reached the Senate for a vote, the only charges were perjury and obstruction of justice. [PBS.org, Online NewsHouse, "The Impeachment Trial"]

3) ...AND THEN SHE CHANGED IT BACK WHEN SHE DEFENDED MARTHA STEWART "...look at Martha Stewart, for instance, where they couldn't find a crime and they indict on something that she said about something that wasn't a crime...we are seeing grand juries and U.S. Attorneys and District Attorneys that go for technicalities..." ["Meet the Press," 10/23/05]

Ø Hutchison Has Always Had A Soft Spot For White Collar Crime. When the Senate Commerce Committee in 2002 was looking into the Enron matter, Hutchison said, "I am concerned about some of the political rhetoric that has occurred...on this issue." [Senate Commerce Committee Transcript, 2/5/02]