Can someone please explain to me: "the criminalization of politics"

[CatWoman]

What the hell does that mean?

[jasmeel]

1. It's just politics as usual-geez what are they getting so uptight

about???

Or something to that effect.

[BuyingThyme]

2. It means you're expected to commit crimes if you're a Republican.

[rosesaylavee]

3. It means the RW is desperate for just the right

spin to make criminals who commit crimes appeal to their base. Hard to fight the facts - just question why someone is investigating the facts... yeah, yeah, that's the ticket.

Fortunately, it won't work. People are stupid but not that massively self-deceived - or so I hope.

[wryter2000]

4. It's bogus, of course

What they're trying to say is that we are making politics-as-usual into a crime. IOW, DeLay, Rove, Libby et al. have only done what everyone else in politics does all the time, but we're trying to make it into a federal case.

Of course, they haven't mentioned anyone else who outted a CIA agent or got away with money laundering.

[Wilms]

5. *Co

Quite simply.

[Lubernaut]

6. I think it means

that a few Republicans are actually being held accountable for breaking the law.

[rosesaylavee]

24. Well put IMO. n/t

[Kahuna]

7. It means that repukes are hypocrites. With Clinton it was, "the RULE of

law." With dim son it's the "criminalization of politics." It's alao a desperate last ditch attempt to brainwash Americans.

[sam sarrha]

34. Fascist Cronyism, anything goes to get rich as long as there's campaign $$

[stepnw1f]

8. The GOP is Trying to Marginalize the Crimes Committed...

when they use the term, "politics" and "criminalization" together. See... now crime is synonymous with politics. More right wing word games.

[annabanana]

33. ...it is the way THEY do it.....n/t

[Cosmocat]

9. Get used to it ...

Cause when Fitz breaks it, the Delay and Frist stuff progresses and the shit hits the fan with the Abromov stuff, these guys are going to have this on repeat mode day and night ...

[Cassandra]

10. CYA by Repukes.

[Yoda Yada]

11. It means...testing...

...1..2...3....testing. The Republicans are trying to find the right phrasing to whip their base into a frenzy. Every Republican mouthpiece has used that phrase in just about every interview imaginable.

That's pretty sad, isn't it?

[JaneGat]

12. Anything goes in politics. Anything. The phrase was conjured up in a

mind so corrupt, it no longer perceives reality in a rational manner.

[tularetom]

13. To me it means

that a criminal organization masquerading as a political party has taken control of a substantial portion of the US government. It ain't a matter of how its portrayed in the librul media its a matter of fact and its being demonstrated over and over again (delay, frist, rove/libby, etc etc). They want it to mean that politics is being portrayed as criminal but I take it to mean that criminals have taken over politics.

[longship]

14. It means that nothing is illegal if you're a Repug

All one has to do is wave a wand and say the magic word "politics" and it's okee-dokee from then on. Nothing is off the table. All options are in play.

dirty tricks? Check!
lying to everybody? Check!
preemptive war? Check!
exposing covert ops? Check!
treason? Check!
conspiracy? Check!
torture? Check!
obstruction of justice? Check!

In Repug land, none of this is criminal because we have said the magic word. It's just "politics".

[LynnTheDem]

15. Rightwingnut bullshit mantra that doesn't make sense.

"We're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here"...coz terrorists are too fucking stupid to figure out how to get to the USA where no one is home because the troops are currently quagmired in Iraq.

"Freedom isn't free"...except for me coz no fucking way I'm gonna go git my ass shot off I've got more important things to do like chase ambitious secretaries and lance the boil on my fat butt.

"911 changed everything"...we had to give OBL the greatest victory far beyond anything he could ever have dreamt of so we let him go free 4+ years and counting and gave him recruiting beyond belief by invading and occupying a nation that had nothing to do with 911 and take away our own freedoms with the Enabling Act. I mean the Patriot Act.


So on and so forth coz NOBODY is as STUPID as MFing rightwingnuts.

[CatWoman]

16. when you list them like that, it looks even more ridiculous

thanks, Lynn :hi:

[jobycom]

23. Great comparisons. Wish the media would lump them all together. nt.

[Junkdrawer]

17. It means:

"Since you can't prove that we knew Plame was an undercover agent, we can say "outing" her was just hardball politics. And if you try to convict us of lying to the grand jury, we'll scream that YOU are not playing fair."

Hypocrisy? I don't see any hypocrisy. Do you?

:sarcasm:

[sandnsea]

18. People who say they don't politicize anything

are being made out to be criminals for politicizing a war, of all things.

[Catherine Vincent]

19. You'll have to ask one of those Bush buttkissing Republicans!

:hi:

[catnhatnh]

20. Ever since Nixon, they have all known....

..."it's not the crime-it's the cover-up...."But the right wing talking heads know that one of the elements of the crime alleged is that the White House "knowingly" outed an undercover agent, and that "knowingly" is an almost impossibly high standard.They also realize from leaks from witnesses lawyers that almost certainly perjury and obstruction do pertain. Therefore they spin that "no" crime occurred and charging obstruction and perjury is mere "partisan" piling on. Clinton's impeachment was in fact for perjury with NO UNDERLYING CRIME even ALLEGED...
Just typical right wing hypocracy-laugh and shine them on...

[gratuitous]

21. Standard anti-matter language sloganeering by the GOP

They're trying to pretend that their criminal actions are nothing more than politics: Outing CIA covert agents, lying about the reasons for going to war, corruption, money laundering, and all the rest isn't criminal behavior (even if it is against the law), it's just politics.

As usual, it sounds like they're making a real point (someone else mentioned "freedom isn't free") but they're just trying to gull the rubes again.

[grytpype]

22. It's what happens when a bunch of criminals get into politics.

And get elected to high office, and appoint other criminals as their aides.

[MichaelHarris]

25. they can make up phrases for Fox News so can we

lets call it The Criminalization of the Criminals.

[mrcheerful]

26. It means

its legal to lie cheat and steal, just so long as you don't get a bj from a jew on easter in the WH. Then its a crime and not politics.

[Marr]

27. If the "privatization of markets" means handing control to the private

sector, then "criminalization of politics" must mean handing the government to criminals.

At least, that's the way it always sounds to me. :) Worst spin ever.

[jobycom]

28. It means Repubs are being made criminals for purely political reasons

Repubs are trying to convince us that they've done nothing wrong except beat the Democrats, so the Democrats are making up charges to pay them back. Their only crime is being Republican and winning.

It's a clever message. It goes with the beliefs of Repubs, that Democrats don't follow the law, that we operate only with our hearts and not our heads, that we are irrational and lack grown-up reasoning skills, that we are sore losers and will do anything to get revenge, and that we want to punish people who have succeeded.

I wouldn't underestimate that spin. If they can get it airborne, we'll be hearing that nonsense from their base for the next ten years. The other side is, the Republicans are down in the polls, the economy is frighteningly bad right now, and people are still angry at the Katrina response. So maybe people won't buy the routine this time.

There is an awareness moment in most people. At some point, it will just click, and they will realize that everything the Repubs have said is a lie. It's like those paintings you look at for a while, and then suddenly a 3-d image pops out. Once you've seen the image, you can never miss it again, no matter how hard you try. We may be reaching the point where the majority of Americans see that. Right now Bush is down in the polls, but it's just a general dissatisfaction. He could go back up if things get better. But once people see that corruption pop out at them--once they see that they have been conned from the beginning, those numbers are locked in place, and the Republican party is dead.

Hopefully that moment will come next week.

(Edited to remove phrase "The good news is" since there was no good news behind it.)

[elehhhhna]

29. It is the first plank of the Reep plartform. DING DING I WIN

[PowerToThePeople]

30. The Politicians are finally being called out as criminal.

ABout freakin' time..

[CTyankee]

31. Tom Oliphant of the Boston Globe on Al Franken's show

said he inadvertently made it up and the rw spinmeisters took it and ran with it. He said that as a journalist he would be ashamed to following any talking points, but the rw pundits have no shame. John Tierney in the NYT has called the Fitz investigation "Nadagate." Watch for that one to be repeated ad nauseam.

[The Backlash Cometh]

32. It means that a white male Republican can participate in criminal

acts without suffering penalty as long as it falls under the category of business as usual, cronyism, good ole boyism, playing close to the edge to win, etc.

[jody]

35. Criminals break laws, corporatists pass laws legalizing their crimes.

John Gotti should have gone into politics. He was a natural for the Oval Orifice.
:hi:

[CatWoman]

36. and even Gotti wouldn't sink so low as attack a man's wife

:hi:

[MissB]

37. It means that Republicans still can't accept accountability for their

actions.

[blogslut]

38. It's a phrase

that's gonna backfire.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

39. It means the very opposite: "the politicization of criminality"

Delay is trying to deflect accusations of his criminality by blaming them on political motives. He's the one who is politicizing his own criminality. The very use of that expression, "the criminalization of politics" is an example of "the politicization of criminality".

[UTUSN]

40. Translation (& Recommended)

"We (wingnuts) can do anything in dirty tricks, up to and including the breaking of laws, without any responsibility or consequences."