stargazer99
11-05-2005, 12:37 AM
This is a letter to the editor that appeared in today's Dallas Morning News. It's from Kay Bailey Hutchinson's press secretary, in response to an editorial that criticized her comments on Meet the Press, stating that her comments were "misconstrued". You see, while Clinton "intentionally lied to a grand jury to protect himself politically", Hutchinson was "concerned" that Fitzgerald wasn't differentiating between such "deliberate lies" and "inadvertent and irrelevant mistakes". Prosecutors, after all, can get overzealous and not see the difference. What utter BULLSH*T!!
Here's the letter, with a link:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/letters/stories/DN-friletters_1104edi.ART.State.Edition1.3382a97.html
08:29 AM CST on Friday, November 4, 2005
Senator's view misstated
Re: "Since when is lying to a grand jury no big deal?" by Clarence Page, Wednesday Viewpoints.
Mr. Page drew false comparisons between Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's recent remarks on "gotcha" investigator tactics in general – she never referred to a specific case – and her comments during President Bill Clinton's impeachment. Her statements are as different as night and day.
In 1999, Ms. Hutchison said Mr. Clinton committed a serious crime when he perjured himself and obstructed justice, and she was absolutely right. He intentionally lied to a grand jury and the nation and then obstructed justice to protect himself politically.
That is very different from the type of theoretical case the senator was referring to when she said an investigator might fail to find evidence of a crime and instead look for any shred of inconsistency, no matter how inadvertent, in testimony that may have stretched over a period of years.
As she said in 1999, the standards for perjury and obstruction of justice are not gray. Deliberately lying to a grand jury about a material fact is not the same as an inadvertent and irrelevant mistake.
She believes that prosecutors play a critically important role in our system of justice and, to keep the integrity of the process, must legitimately differentiate between deliberate lies and inadvertent mistakes.
Chris Paulitz, press secretary for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Washington
Here's a link to the original editorial that Chris Paulitz is responding to:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-page_02edi.ART.State.Edition1.1d31b453.html
Here's the letter, with a link:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/letters/stories/DN-friletters_1104edi.ART.State.Edition1.3382a97.html
08:29 AM CST on Friday, November 4, 2005
Senator's view misstated
Re: "Since when is lying to a grand jury no big deal?" by Clarence Page, Wednesday Viewpoints.
Mr. Page drew false comparisons between Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's recent remarks on "gotcha" investigator tactics in general – she never referred to a specific case – and her comments during President Bill Clinton's impeachment. Her statements are as different as night and day.
In 1999, Ms. Hutchison said Mr. Clinton committed a serious crime when he perjured himself and obstructed justice, and she was absolutely right. He intentionally lied to a grand jury and the nation and then obstructed justice to protect himself politically.
That is very different from the type of theoretical case the senator was referring to when she said an investigator might fail to find evidence of a crime and instead look for any shred of inconsistency, no matter how inadvertent, in testimony that may have stretched over a period of years.
As she said in 1999, the standards for perjury and obstruction of justice are not gray. Deliberately lying to a grand jury about a material fact is not the same as an inadvertent and irrelevant mistake.
She believes that prosecutors play a critically important role in our system of justice and, to keep the integrity of the process, must legitimately differentiate between deliberate lies and inadvertent mistakes.
Chris Paulitz, press secretary for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Washington
Here's a link to the original editorial that Chris Paulitz is responding to:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-page_02edi.ART.State.Edition1.1d31b453.html