Their mothers are hamsters and their fathers smell of elderberries! – Liberal Street Fighter
They can dish it out, but Republicans just can’t take it. The Washington Post helps them whine and plead for understanding:
The Costly Price of Facing a Grand Jury
Sympathy can be hard to come by for White House officials who are summoned to appear before a grand jury.
Those whose identities remain a secret suffer in silence, discouraged from reaching out to their closest friends for help. Those whose names leak into the public domain become lightning rods for rumor, suspicion and innuendo, as politicians, commentators and journalists try to divine a meaning behind each summons.
The latest White House staffer to face the grand jury is Susan B. Ralston, assistant to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, who gave testimony to the committee investigating the leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
But while the politics of every appearance is picked over in minute detail, there is also a human story to each summons that often goes unexplored.
Witnesses face stress, uncertainty and — worst of all — crippling lawyer’s fees that can take years to pay off. And as prosecutors cast their net ever wider, inexperienced staffers with few financial assets are increasingly facing the emotional and financial burden of grand jury testimony.
Of course, this was a source of joy for Republicans during the Clinton years, as one bullshit Grand Jury after another was convened over umpteen “gates”, a land deal in which the Clintons lost money and, of course, the small matter of some oral sex in the oval office.
The WaPo piece continues:
But veterans of past grand jury appearances — including the investigation into President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica S. Lewinsky — said that keeping silent compounded an already difficult process.
“It was an incredibly callous and demoralizing experience, one in which they gave no thought to the personal or financial ramifications,” said Neel Lattimore, former press secretary to first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was subpoenaed about 10 times during his tenure on the job. “Nothing prepares you for what it’s like.”
Another former Clinton administration official who is now in the private sector and did not want to be identified agreed. “It paralyzes you from doing your job. It turns your life upside down. I sat outside one grand jury room where I could hear the prosecutors screaming — I’m not kidding — screaming at a colleague of mine who was a witness.”
The two former Clinton aides said that the financial burden was crippling. Like many others, these White House officials had to pay their own legal bills, and these can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some may qualify for a partial reimbursement from the Justice Department, but this usually covers a fraction of the outlay and can take as long as seven years to be paid out. White House aides are even barred from receiving free legal assistance.
“We spent our time on Capitol Hill, and none of us had any assets. It’s a scary thing. Lots of people rented apartments, had no assets to their name,” said the former Clinton staffer. “If you have a career in public service, you’re being paid well under $100,000 a year, and you have student loans; you become paralyzed financially.”
This all sounds pretty horrible, and I wish I could feel more sympathy for the Republicans now being put through this process, but their pain pales compared to what they joyfully put others through. Soldiers in a holy war against the social compact, we’re supposed to be moved by their plight. Well, I’m all out of sympathy. They declared a culture war because other OTHER people were trying to pursue happiness, or demanding fair wages and decent lives.
Like all bullies, politicians and functionaries of the Republican Party cry like wounded children when somebody says ENOUGH and lands them one on the nose. Michael Brown whine’s that he’s been made a scapegoat, and yesterday we were treated to the odious Tom Coburn crying at the Judiciary Committee hearing:
Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, denounced “judicial activism” and the idea of a Supreme Court that functions as a “superlegislative body.” And then, out of nowhere, his voice broke and he seemed to lose control for a moment, declaring, “my heart aches,” and calling for “less polarization, less bitterness, less partisanship.” “Our family structures have declined. Our dependency on government has grown,” he lamented.
After decades of their faux Hallmark sentimentality, spread far and wide like manure; their take-no-prisoners attack politics — NOW we’re supposed to feel sympathy for their wounded egos, their wounded lives?
I’m all out of compassion, especially for members of a political movement built on fear, hate and greed. Grand Juries tough? Too fucking bad. Being made a “scapegoat” because people finally realized you were a patronage operative hack who failed miserably at your job? Buck up, you fucking whiney little wimp. Upset by the “politics of division”? Screw you, you racist, misogynist religious zealot.
I hope all nature of misfortune fall on the lot of you, for it will only be a balancing of the scales for the trail of ruined lives the Republican agenda has left strewn in it’s wake, like the mountains of debris left by the flood waters.
