John Murtha Was An Unindicted Co-Conspirator In Abscam

I'd never heard this. Until two minutes ago.

"I want to deal with you guys awhile before I make any transactions at all, period.... After we've done some business, well, then I might change my mind...."

..."I'm going to tell you this. If anybody can do it -- I'm not B.S.-ing you fellows -- I can get it done my way." he boasted. "There's no question about it."...

But the reluctant Murtha wouldn't touch the $50,000. Here on secret videotape was this all-American hero, tall and dignified in a disheveled way, explaining why he wasn't quite ready to accept the cash.

"All at once," he said, "some dumb [expletive deleted] would go start talking eight years from now about this whole thing and say [expletive deleted], this happened. Then in order to get immunity so he doesn't go to jail, he starts talking and fingering people. So the [S.O.B.] falls apart."...

"You give us the banks where you want the money deposited," offered one of the bagmen.

"All right," agreed Murtha. "How much money we talking about?"

"Well, you tell me."

"Well, let me find out what is a reasonable figure that will get their attention," said Murtha, "because there are a couple of banks that have really done me some favors in the past, and I'd like to put some money in....["]

The dialogue continued as follows:

Amoroso: Let me ask you now that we're together. I was under the impression, OK, and I told Howard [middleman Howard Criden] what we were willing to pay, and [This is where the available videotape begins]I went out, I got the $50,000. OK? So what you're telling me, OK, you're telling me that that's not what you know....

Murtha: I'm not interested.

Amoroso: OK.

Murtha: At this point, [This is where the available videotape ends] you know, we do business together for a while. Maybe I'll be interested and maybe I won't.... Right now, I'm not interested in those other things. Now, I won't say that some day, you know, I, if you made an offer, it may be I would change my mind some day.

Was that a crime? I guess not. I guess it's not a crime to refuse to take a bribe, if only for the reason you want to further test your fellow criminals' bona fides and you want more money.

But he wasn't against taking a bribe. He wanted to take a bribe. Just a bigger bribe.

What a son of a bitch.

James "Ocicat Fever" Wolcott made much of my calling Murtha a "cocksucker" or "scumbag." Forget which.

How about now, Ocicat Fever?

Remember back when Nixon was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in Watergate? Yeah, back when the media thought being an unindicted co-conspirator in a crime was a bad thing or somethin'.

Smart. Tough.

Holdin' out for a bigger payoff.

Layers.

posted by Ace at 01:07 PM

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