Are politicians above the law?

[Jon]

I won't go on about Hillary again. Oh wait, I just did! Let me pivot to Diane Abbott. She is the shadow Home Secretary in the UK, and was caught recently drinking a mojito on the London Underground, which is breaking the law. She has now "Sincerely apologised" for her misdemeanor. She didn't look as though she was feeling guilty in the photo that caught her drinking.

How sincere do you think she really was? Are politicians above the law?

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Some of them may think so.

The Clintons have gotten away with so many fringe illegalities and non-fringe crimes that they remind me of Teflon. Nothing seems to stick. We had a governor in Louisiana named Edwin Edwards. He served two terms, waited out a term, and served two more terms. The guy was SO crooked that Lombard Street in San Franciso was straight by comparison. They eventually caught him on a technical federal violation and he served several years in a prison, but for a long time he got away with so many shady deals that it's a wonder that anything grew in his shadow.

I should clarify that the current governor of Louisiana, John B. Edwards, is not a close relation to Edwin Edwards, and he does not seem to be particularly shady that I can see.

 

[Bee]

I think it's very interesting - and I'm speaking as someone whose politics are a mix of centrist and left-leaning - that there is support for Diane Abbott (a leftist politician), whereas had a centrist or right-wing politician done the same thing, the same crowd would be baying for blood.

It just goes to show how the human mind will attempt to condone and support actions from people with whom there is some affinity. And maybe this is why politicians get away with so much.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

While I don't actually disagree with you, Bee, the problem is that any politician who has been elected from a district WILL have some affinity with at least some constituents.

 

[Bee]

My point was rather obscure. I've been thinking about the treatment of Trump by Democrats and the treatment of Hillary by the Republicans. On the face of it, it would seem like Hillary has got away with a number of accusations that the Democrats are levelling at Trump. It would appear to be double-standards, but the point I was making is that the human mind quickly glosses over inconvenient truths.

 

[Jon]

the human mind quickly glosses over inconvenient truths.

I agree with you. In fact there was a well known movie about climate change called, "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore. But there is a certain irony about it in that he jet-sets around the world and 'A new analysis by the National Center for Public Policy Research found that Gore's Tennessee home "guzzles more electricity in one year than the average American family uses in 21 years."'

They think they are above their own policies too.