Eddie Bernice Johnson: I Made a Mistake

I didn't know the rules. I've paid back all the money. I take full responsibility.

I'm ready to move on.

Texas Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson steered Congressional Black Caucus Foundation scholarships to relatives and the children of relatives, and got busted by the Dallas Morning News. Gabriel covered this story a few days ago.

Cathy over at the Splitters forwarded me a video of Anderson Cooper interviewing Johnson by phone, in which she explains very clearly how she accepts full responsibility, she made a mistake, she didn't know the rules, she paid back all the money, and she's so ready to move on. I'm just linking 3 minutes of it, but you can back it up and watch it all if you want.

Cooper presses the mind-numbingly obvious question, "even if you didn't know the rules (liar), don't you understand that there's an obvious conflict of interest here?"

I'm ready to move on. Also we lost the forms. And I've never seen them.

I did it. I got caught. I gave it back. We can be done now.

Just a possible scenario playing in her head, I do not mean to imply I know what she is thinking.

Anyway, posting this for the sheer brazenness of her response. She's in a totally safe district, but there is a Republican running against her, Stephen Broden. He hasn't got much of a chance, unless perhaps people get pissed off at these unbelievably arrogant politicians, who as LauraW put it, are "draining us and living like rock stars on our money", and presume to tell us how we need to live. (not to put too fine a point on it, she has it exactly goddam right.)

I don't know anything about Stephen Broden and I already know he'd be an improvement. Even if he has a hobo murder conviction. Or two.

posted by Dave In Texas at 11:49 PM

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