William Jefferson Jackass

On Sept. 2, Rep. William Jefferson (D-New Orelans) took a tour of the Katrina devastation accompanied by "a 5-ton military truck and a half dozen military police." According to this Jake Tapper story at ABC News, during the tour Jefferson asked for an unplanned visit of his house to gather his belongings. While waiting outside, the 5-ton truck got stuck in the mud. It gets worse.

The soldiers signaled to helicopters in the air for aid. Military sources say a Coast Guard helicopter pilot saw the signal and flew to Jefferson's home. The chopper was already carrying four rescued New Orleans residents at the time.

A rescue diver descended from the helicopter, but the congressman decided against going up in the helicopter, sources say. The pilot sent the diver down again, but Jefferson again declined to go up the helicopter.

After spending approximately 45 minutes with Jefferson, the helicopter went on to rescue three additional New Orleans residents before it ran low on fuel and was forced to end its mission.

You will be relieved to know that the copter-shy congressman was eventually retrieved by a second 5-ton truck. Whole thing here.

Comments

[David]

When I first read the title, I wondered what Clinton had done.

[Whiskeyjuvenile]

I'd love to see him impeached, or at least censured for that shit.

[jat]

BTW, Limbaugh has this tale in heavy rotation today.

[JMoore]

I don't really understand why this story is so bad. Is it because he had the truck diverted to gather his stuff? True, that's mildly scandalous. Or is it the helicopter thing which is upsetting? If that be the case, I wonder what would happen if he were a regular citizen who was afraid to be rescued in this manner. Wouldn't the pilot do pretty much the same thing?

[independent worm]

BTW, Limbaugh has this tale in heavy rotation today.

Good. Maybe he can convince right wingers that government waste is bad.

[Matt Welch]

JMoore -- I break with him at the not-getting-in-the-rescue-helicopter point. Which he did twice.

[David T]

Question: to what extent will the district Jefferson represents (the Louisiana 2nd, whch includes most of New Orleans) be a "rotten borough" in 2006? How many voters will be left there? (I read somewhere that in England before the 1832 reform there actually was one borough that had become almost entirely underwater but still sent two members to the House of Commons...)

[The BlackAdder]

"rotten borough"

Don't you mean a "rubber button" ?

[Akira MacKenzie]

BTW, Limbaugh has this tale in heavy rotation today.

Only because there is a "D" besides Jefferson's name. If hewere a Republican, Ol' Rush would be screaming that the story wasn't true, or at least taken out of context, and that the "liberal media" was trying to smear an honorable, patriotic, conservative politician.

[JMoore]

Matt

Yes, I kinda understand that, especially since he's supposed to be a leader. But, if he were just some ordinary bloke, would we be calling him a jackass because he was afraid? Yes, his fear undoubtedly caused a delay in which the helicopter could have rescued others, but I'll bet this has happened many times.

[Matt Welch]

JMoore -- Because he *wasn't* an ordinary citizen, he got all kinds of special assistance from the military, and ended up diverting it unnecessarily. So while I feel his pain on a personal level, I resent his behavior.

[JMoore]

OK, OK, I think I get it now. Because he used his priveleged position to divert public resources to serve his personal interests,

and because that diversion resulted in further diversions to save him,

which resulted in yet another diversion (the 2nd truck) to save him because the first rescue effort didn't suit him,

he is a jackass.

OK, I can agree to that. Recommended course of action: censure by the House + a fine equivalent to the costs of the helicopter and the second truck + public ridicule.

[TallDave]

NEWS: Kanye West has just said on national televison that William Jefferson "doesn't care about black people."

[TallDave]

No one really cares about this except hardcore Repubs. He'll be re-elected in a landslide of gerrymandered voter indifference unless they can prove he was the source of those cannibalism rumors.

And even then, anyone whose family he didn't eat will vote for him.

[Dave W.]

But, if he were just some ordinary bloke, would we be calling him a jackass because he was afraid? Yes, his fear undoubtedly caused a delay in which the helicopter could have rescued others, but I'll bet this has happened many times.

Anoter way to look at it is that the politician probably had a pretty good idea that if he refused the helicopter, then some other kind of help would be sent.

You can't compare that to an ordinary bloke, who would understand that if he doesn't take the helicopter he's dead.

My guess is that if the politician didn't have his lofty status, then he would have overcome his fear and gotten in the basket. But, we'll never know unless the next hurricane happens after this jackass is turned out of office.

[Morat]

I think this is the guy whose home got raided by FBI a few months back. Louisiana is a pretty corrupt place.

[Ted]

If there is one thing Katrina shows, its that government is the source, not the cure of all problems.
The heroes of Katrina are "KKKorporate Amerika" (oh how I love it with the insane-left uses K for C) and the Individual.

As far as William Jefferson is concerned. Let those who voted him in deal with it. If, like DC with Marion Barry, his constituents don't say a word, I say: Let them rot.

[David T]

TallDave: "No one really cares about this except hardcore Repubs"

Maybe, but--and this was part of the point of my "rotten borough" question--maybe they, though a small minority of the district as it was reapportioned after the 2000 census are a majority of the few voters left in the district now?

[theCoach]

I break with him at:
"Jefferson asked for an unplanned visit of his house to gather his belongings."

[Shannon Love]

Jefferson claimed in an interview I saw that the National Guard pressed the military escort on him and that he had not wanted it. I don't now if that is true but I can certainly see a local commander being terrified of letting a congressman wander around his area of responsibility without an escort.

On the other hand, the truck got stuck because Jefferson stayed in house for over an hour. So, even if he got the escort fostered on him, he didn't seem shy about abusing it.

[Geotech]

Yeah, William Jefferson. Crappy and corrupt as they come. He was under investigation before Katrina, by the way. He also took advantage of minority set-asides for his law firm while he was in office. I went to the one nice public middle school in New Orleans with one of his daughters.

[Lars]

I say send him back to his house and see what sort of interesting (fatal?) diseases he can catch.

Insisting that the truck drive up onto his lawn so that he won't have to get his tootsies wet is just obscene. And just why was he afraid to get up into the helicopter? Fear of heights, or fear of constituents?

Since the gerrymanders in Louisiana, as another poster rightly pointed out can be counted on to reelect this worm, the House should act in this case, censure and toss his sorry corrupt butt out.

[Jim Walsh]

If he were a Republican, Ol' Rush would be screaming that the story wasn't true...

You don't give Limbrain enough credit; what he would do is deflect the issue by saying, "yeah, but WHAT ABOUT THE DEMOCRATS WHO..."

[Lars]

And as for his actions getting more attention for his being a Democrat, I think that it's a case of highlighting the hypocracy of someone who's claiming to care about "the people" when all he really cares about is his own worthless self.

Given that he has been one of the leading critics of the Federal response to Katrina, and there were people DYING because the Guard could not get to them all in time, his actions are all the more nauseating.

[joe]

As opposed to Republicans, who don't claim to care for "the people?"

[dave_b]

Jefferson was already under investigation by the Feds, and was caught with bricks of money in his freezer. Since the entire Katrina ordeal began, many blacks have wondered where Bill Jefferson was. Jefferson's district includes the mostly black Orleans parish, yet the only faces on television were Blanco, Landrieu, and David Vitter. Jefferson's behavior was already deplorable, but this is a new low even for a Louisiana politician.

[Stevo Darkly]

Ye! Yes, ye! Stand still, laddie!

(Joke stolen from Mr. Nice Guy. Henceforth obligatory on all helicopter-related threads.)

[Alan]

I think this is pretty reprehensible, whatever the nominal political allegiance of the offending party. That being said, my first reaction after reading the headline was "Please don't let it be a Democrat, because the Right will have a field day". Idle speculation on my part, but my take on his refusal to take the helicopter was to avoid being separated from his belongings, the most interesting of those listed being the "large cardboard box the size of a small refrigerator".

[NOfan]

(threadjack)
Go to Google and type in 'failure' and see what comes up.......

[Lowdog]

Geotech - was she hot? 🙂

"Hey, can you guardsmen stop by my place real quick so I can pick up some of my laundered money? I'll flip you a couple bills."

[Kwix]

Lars,
And as for his actions getting more attention for his being a Democrat, I think that it's a case of highlighting the hypocracy of someone who's claiming to care about "the people" when all he really cares about is his own worthless self.

And if it had been a Republican who claims to be for "Personal Responsibility" and "smaller, less wasteful government" would that have been as vetted? I doubt it, mostly because the sensation just isn't there.

[Kurt]

You don't give Limbrain enough credit; what he would do is deflect the issue by saying, "yeah, but WHAT ABOUT THE DEMOCRATS WHO..."

Exactly! He'd deflect the issue, by, y'know, talking about Rush Limbaugh or something...

[Mr T.]

That ain't no copter! That's an eggbeater fool!

[joe]

I think my favorite part of politics is the gory details of the scandals.

Bricks of money in his freezer. Wow, that's a good 'un. That's up there with G. Gordon Liddy shooting out street lights.

[Crushinator]

Big fucking deal. He is a goddamn politician. This is a "dog bites man" story.

[ChrisO]

Question: to what extent will the district Jefferson represents (the Louisiana 2nd, whch includes most of New Orleans) be a "rotten borough" in 2006? How many voters will be left there?

Since when have actual live voters been a requirement in Louisiana? 🙂

[Ned]

Let's focus on the real catastrophe, people: Jake Tapper is still gainfully employed in the world of journalism.

Terrible.

[moonverne]

>Since when have actual live voters been a requirement in Louisiana? :)<<br />
For that matter, are they even required in the US as a whole anymore?