While overall I agree with this statement, however I take issue with your dismissal that this is not really a big deal.
It is. - As i said immediately above your post, this is REALLY poor judgment to be doing this right smack in the middle of the campaign in the very least.
If I was this guys boss - I would fire him as soon as I heard about it. This is just the kind of thing the media loves to grab onto - right or wrong...and this moron goes over the top by driving truly dangerous enough that someone may very well been hurt if he had not been caught.

Dumb, dumb dumb thing to do..and when your JOB is to advise - it is in fact a stain on your ability to give advice to someone else.

I agree that it is fairly common for younger people to make these types of mistakes (Bush was in his twenties and Cheney was 21). But a 60 year old former 'advisor to the president' driving 70 MPH in a 30 MPH zone 'while intoxicated'?? That demonstrates extreme arrogance in my opinion. I hope he spends at least a few nights in jail along with a huge fine.

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I think at this point there needs to be a focus on an immediate increase in spending and I think this is a time when deficit fear has to take a second seat . . . I believe later on there should be tax increases. Speaking personally, I think there are a lot of very rich people out there whom we can tax at a point down the road and recover some of the money."
-- Barney Frank, October 20, 2008

I didn't say getting a DUI is not a big deal. I deal with these cases every day. And on occasion, I have to deal with a DUI homicide case, truly a preventable tragedy for all involved. That is why we have DUI laws and stiff policies for them. It's always a case of poor judgement to drive drunk. Heck, I don't even drink because I think it's no good.

But except for the case of habitual offenders, most are good and responsible people who screwed up one evening. Most of them have jobs and it doesn't mean they are unfit for them. Similarly, getting a first time DUI doesn't affect this man's ability to give advice. If a brain surgeon got a first time DUI, it doesn't mean he doesn't know how to do brain surgery. Fill in most examples and they fit.

If Clinton fires him, I wouldn't fault her because this happened on a campaign and she doesn't need the talking point. He'll have to be man enough to accept that given he put himself--and her--in that spot. I just wouldn't condemn him for something that many in the public have gotten themselves, and ... in the case of far more ... were just lucky enough to have gotten away with it.

IMO DUI laws are bullshit anyway. People get screwed a lot of times when they have not even harmed anyone. It's one thing to prosecute people who kill others with their cars, but just because you are driving drunk does not mean you will. Similarly, driving sober doesn't guarantee anything, either.

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If a neocon whines about big government wealth redistribution, just ask him what he thinks about the portion of that big government that sends aid to Israel.

Having been involved in an accident where I watched someone die because of a drunk driver - your statement here is....well - ludicrous, to put it kindly.

I didn't mean to imply you think DUI is a small matter as a whole, just that you don't think this incident is a big deal.
He didn't simply drive drunk...he was driving more than double the speed limit in a 30 MPH area...while drunk.

It may not be arrogance; it may demonstrate a drinking problem, which is a better reason to carefully consider what to do with him.

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Election 2008 – Addicted to Placebos

Not really. Granted, more young people tend to get DUI arrests but there is also a bias, intended or not, in how arrests happen. Let me offer some nonexclusive examples IMO.

Men get far more DUIs than women. Far more. It's not that many women don't drive drunk. They do, especially younger ones like younger men. But, the big difference is--men don't have tits and ass. What is a guy supposed to do to wow an officer: "Hey bud, wanna see some sack *winky winky*????" The majority of cops are men, and women get far more breaks on traffic matters from men, including DUI, especially if they are hot and have the bods and/or the charms. The majority of women cops think with their right head rather than their wrong head with guys.

Cops also don't tend to patrol spots with older people, especially richer people. In the summers, I stay most weekends at my beachhouse next to a yacht club. Most people coming out of there at night are absolutely shitfaced. Yet, the cops don't patrol my street. Why? They are the town's money and well connected. I even had a car hit by a dead drunk club member, but the cop cut him a break because of who he was. But, down at the young people's nightclub and bars in town, that is where the cops prowl for DUIs and everything else. Older people, if not some dreg, also tend to get more respect and breaks than younger people in matters behind the wheel.

Younger people also tend to get profiled more, especially at night, for DUI stops. The older guy in the 'dad's car' who is likely popped from Happy Hour or some other meeting is usually going home earlier in the evening, and the profile doesn't trigger anywhere near as much given the driver, the car and the time.

Drunks do that kind of stuff quite a bit. DUI stops--unless by a roadblock--happen because of vehicle code violations and/or an accident. Cops need reasonable suspicion of a vehicle code violation and it is some ticket-related offence that initially causes the stop that leads to the discovery of the DUI. He may not have realised that he was going that fast, a common mistake by drunk drivers whose perceptions are way off and dulled down. Drinking impairs judgement, and people act unawares, stupidly and recklessly when intoxicated.

you are, of course, right. I didn't consider that he may have a drinking problem. If he does have a substance abuse problem, I hope he gets help the help he needs.


I suppose that working for two cold, calculating, liars like the Clinton's would give anyone a drinking problem!

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I think at this point there needs to be a focus on an immediate increase in spending and I think this is a time when deficit fear has to take a second seat . . . I believe later on there should be tax increases. Speaking personally, I think there are a lot of very rich people out there whom we can tax at a point down the road and recover some of the money."
-- Barney Frank, October 20, 2008

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Election 2008 – Addicted to Placebos

Well, that would be a crash. Not everyone who drinks crashes each time they drink. What a biased thing to say.

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If a neocon whines about big government wealth redistribution, just ask him what he thinks about the portion of that big government that sends aid to Israel.

As usual Slon your arguments are nonsensical to the nth degree.

It is indeed absurd to argue that drinking plays no role in most accidents involving an intoxicated driver.

uhm, are you trying to break a record or something? I mean seriously slon, 5 years olds can consent to sex and driving while intoxicated isn't a big deal, its “bullshit”, because they haven’t struck someone...?

So what DOES pass the sniff test regards a committed crime in your opinion?

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No individual can plan his own existence in their view.

So the state planners must arrogate to themselves the right to manipulate any sector of the economic system if the good of “society” or the “general welfare” is paramount.

Ipso- if the rights of the individual get in the way, the rights of the individual must be sublimated.

The Road to Serfdom
FA Hayek (interpretation)


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