Tonight on 60 Minutes, a year-long FBI investigation ends with video of a Congressman accepting $100,000 cash to use to bribe a foreign politician. 
The tease doesn't tell you that the Congressman is William Jefferson, a Democrat from New Orleans, Louisiana. Well, the truth be told, 60 Minutes never said a word about it. It certainly would tend to dispel the democrat talking point that a 'culture of corruption' involves only republicans, when corruption is in fact a bi-partisan issue. The media would never do anything to counter that, even if it means reporting the truth. In this case, the truth is better not said. And who believes that the media would be equally quiet if this guy was a republican? I'm sure we would see it on all 60 of their minutes.
You may remember that William Jefferson (not Clinton) was the politician who commanded National Guard troops and vehicles to go to his house to pick up stuff in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, when the Guard was busy saving lives and restoring order.
What else does Rep. William Jefferson do? From his home page (emphasis added)
U.S. Representative William Jennings Jefferson is now serving is eighth term as a Member of the United States House of Representatives. Representing the 2nd District of Louisiana since 1991, he is the first African-American to be elected to Congress in Louisiana since Reconstruction. Jefferson is an active and senior member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee and its subcommittee on Trade. He is also a member of the House Committee on the Budget. He serves as Co-Chair of the Africa Trade and Investment Caucus as well as the Congressional Caucuses on Brazil and Nigeria. Jefferson is also the current Chairperson of the Board of Directors for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy, research and educational institute founded by members of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1976.
Unlike John Murtha, who accused our troops of being cold blooded murderers before trial and before anyone has even being charged, I'll assume that William Jefferson is innocent until proven guilty. Jefferson certainly has the opportunity to use his political sway to be crooked, while at the same time showing the international community that we can be as crooked as the French, Germans, Russians, and Chinese. Probably like John Murtha, Jefferson either believes that no one pays any attention to what he says, or, he must think that diplomats, and Vice Presidents don't talk to each other.
One week later, 5/27/06, we begin to learn more about the Jefferson investigation. There are seven other investigations of William Jefferson, or investigations into seven other bribery schemes, where he "sought things of value in return for his performance of official acts."
10:59:30 PM
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