http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0207/2908.html

Herb

She'd better get crackin'. I'm getting impatient.

By the way, this is the first politico.com article I have read. I saw some guy on CNN promoting it. It's a good model. Hopefully they will get really good.

I've never been a huge fan of Nancy Pelosi. But I've been willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. I think it's still too soon to judge her success or failure only two months in. If by the end of this Congress she has failed to deliver, either throw her out as speaker or throw the Democrats out. It's that simple.

Andrew

I'm with Chickenjugler, this is the first politico.com article I've read also.

I'm intrigued and will return to read more of their stuff. Thanks Herb!

>>>"But I've been willing to give her the benefit of the doubt."


But if she were Republican that wouldn't be the case would it?

Why do you DO that? I mean, you won't even meet the logic and sincerity half way. Geeze man, don't squash it when it's so young already. All that does is come off like an attack. At some point, do you even LOOK for something in common with people?

Deane writes:
But if she were Republican that wouldn't be the case would it?

Of course not. I hate Republicans! Isn't that what you believe?

I didn't give Newt the benefit of the doubt because I opposed what he was trying to do in the first place. I also wouldn't expect you to support Pelosi if you oppose raising the minimum wage, enacting the 9/11 commission recommendations, or limiting Bush's ability to continue the occupation of Iraq. I speak of Pelosi from the standpoint of being happy her party won control of the Congress but not an enthusiastic supporter of her personally.

Andrew

deane sez: "But if she were Republican that wouldn't be the case would it?"

Not so. I went against deep rooted personal feelings and gave Bush the benefit of the doubt and supported him in his quest to rid Iraq of WMDs.

The money behind "Politico" is an interesting trail that starts with the Allbritton family. Some of the details are spelled out below, but in a nutshell, this is old dirty money.

I have only scratched the surface and there are heaps of stuff to sort. This is not the family you want to get your news from, because these folks have roots in bloody soil.

They were investigated, indicted and paid a $16 million fine for laundering millions -- potentially billions over the years -- for Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. He, as well as other even less savory people, like corrupt third world oil companies, have been business associates in the past.

They are partners with Jonathan Bush, a "deep cover" financier and namesake of J. Bush & Company. He is the shrub's uncle/Shrub's brother. Allbritton and affiliated folks contributed huge amounts of money to shrub's/Shrub's campaigns. So much, in fact, that Riggs Bank is listed as an elite "Pioneer" fund raiser for shrub.

The All-Encompassing Allbritton Companies:

"To fully understand the extent of Robert Allbritton's involvement in the family business requires a better understanding of the convoluted family holdings. Joe Allbritton is chairman and chief executive officer of Riggs National Corporation and Riggs Bank, N.A. Riggs National Corporation is the largest bank holding company headquartered in the District of Columbia, with a 160-year history. Riggs Bank N.A. is its primary operating subsidiary, serving the Greater Washington area with 54 branches. Riggs & Co., meanwhile, represents the holding company's private banking, trust and investment management businesses. These include two investment management subsidiaries, RIMCO, which was founded by Riggs 10 years ago and now has $2.7 billion in assets under management, and J. Bush & Co., a 27-year old investment management firm with $300 million in assets under management.

Robert Allbritton is president of Allbritton Communications Company and a member of its board of directors. The chairman and CEO of the company is Larry Hebert. ACC owns and operates eight ABC-affiliated stations in: Washington, DC; Little Rock, AR; Tulsa, OK; Lynchburg, VA; Charleston, SC; Harrisburg, PA; Birmingham, AL; and Jacksonville, FL. He also sits on the investment advisory committee of Riggs Capital Partners, a one and a half-year-old $100 million venture capital division of Riggs National. In April, he was elected to serve as vice chairman of Riggs National and now sits on the executive, securities pricing and advertising/public relations committees of the holding company. He was a member of the Riggs National board of directors for five years before becoming vice chairman, and also sat for two years on the board of Riggs Bank Europe Limited.

But wait, there's more. He serves on the board of directors for the parent company of ACC, Perpetual Corporation, another Allbritton family-owned financial holding company. He also serves on the board of Allnewsco Inc., a subsidiary of Perpetual Corporation, which owns and operates NewsChannel 8, a 24-hour cable news station for Greater Washington based in Northern Virginia. He is a trustee and vice president of The Allbritton Foundation, a private charity based in Houston, TX, and a trustee of the Killson Educational Foundation in Houston, which distributes scholarships to Texas students."
http://www.bizforward.com/wdc/issues/2000-02/analysis/

"Allbritton made two business trips to Santiago that included visits to former dictator Augusto Pinochet, who few people knew was a Riggs customer until last year, when the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations detailed six years, until 2002, of questionable transactions involving his accounts at Riggs. The Pinochet accounts are the subject of a criminal investigation, according to sources."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19364-2005Jan18.html

Here are Senate reports on the Pinochet money laundering investigation:
http://www.senate.gov/~govt-aff/_files/ACF5F8.pdf
http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/supporting/2004/071504psireport.pdf

The Pinochet money laundering and eventual $16 million dollar fine against Riggs:
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/whitecollarcrime_blog/2005/01/riggs_national_.h tml
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/whitecollarcrime_blog/2005/01/money_launderin_1 .html
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/whitecollarcrime_blog/2005/01/riggs_bank_to_a.h tml

You're right, it is easier to criticize than to do the work, but I so relish the work of criticism, scrutiny and investigation. :o)

If they are new Repubicans, I'll give them a fair evaluation. The existing ones, that matter, have got to go.

Consider them evaluated.