Nah, he knows full well what the law says. Laws only apply to peons. They can flaunt them at will. “Protect but not bind…” and so on.
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Can we have more of this, please???
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Different medium, but still fighting the same fight as 30 years ago:
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RuhRow
The indictment charges Menendez, 69, and his wife with having a corrupt relationship with three New Jersey businessmen – Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daides.
“Those bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value,” the indictment said.
eta (for the gold bar and cash photos)
‘How much is one kilo of gold worth?’
Prosecutors allege that Menendez pushed to nominate lawyer Philip Sellinger for U.S. Attorney for New Jersey because he believed he could lean on Sellinger to kill a prosecution of one of his co-defendants, Fred Daibes. In a meeting with Sellinger in 2021, Menendez mentioned the fraud charges Daibes is facing and said that he hoped Sellinger would reconsider the case if he were appointed. In October 2021, Menendez and his wife were picked up by a driver for Daibes at JFK airport and were escorted back to New Jersey. The next day, Menendez had a curious internet search: “How much is one kilo of gold worth?”
He knows the internet NEVER forgets right?
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If this guy is anywhere near as guilty as he sounds he needs to be removed no matter what, but I take some comfort in knowing that the rest of the party is unlikely to jump to defend his clearly unethical behavior, and that New Jersey’s Governor probably won’t appoint anyone worse than this guy to fill the temporary vacancy.
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@anon48584343 He (Bob Menendez) should absolutely resign.
Also, it’s a reminder that if he were a Supreme Court justice, he wouldn’t be indicted.
ETA the reply to Akimbo_NOT and the link to the newest Clarence Thomas bribery.
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Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey just indicted for bribery; it looks like he took payments in the form of gold bars. What kind of cartoon villain crap is that?
At least we won’t have to endure a bunch of prominent politicos insist it’s a “witch hunt” because the Democrats usually don’t stand by their own when the evidence against them is this serious. Hopefully he steps down or is removed from office while New Jersey still has a Democratic governor to appoint a replacement.
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As expected, other Democrats calling on Menendez to resign rather than pretending this is just a partisan witch hunt just because it happened to involve one of their own guys.
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I read this poll differently than they do.
Being above 50% approval is considered good for and incumbent. And above 60% on the economy is better.
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I think we’ve reached the point where polls are almost useless. They only reach people who pick up the phone or respond to solicitations. The “Nigerian Prince” scam targets. That sample leans very hard to old, white, and conservative.
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Yes, nevertheless, saying “Eat some charts” isn’t far off from “Let them eat cake.”
I think that while Biden & Co. keeps insisting that the economy is doing great, many, many people are just living their lives and not even watching the “news,” and for them, the economy is NOT fine.
A major reason Biden’s poll numbers DO struggle is that he wants credit for lowering inflation, for lowering unemployment, and for increasing economic growth. But then, costs of food, housing, college tuition, transportation and more keep increasing, and they’re becoming just plain unaffordable for many-- many who thus think it’s out of touch or unbelievable for Biden to insist that things are going great.
I mean, it’s just bad strategy to tell people that the economy is great and their perceptions are off, no?
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He’s even doing a really good job of incrementally addressing those costs, too. It’s just damn difficult to make substantial improvements in those things in <4 years without radical changes.
Truly supporting unions is a good start and, frankly, pretty radical for a mainstream Dem. But to address the consumer goods costs, he would have to crack down hard on corporate profit-taking. I would love to see it, but his chance to do that would have been either during the time when the pandemic was still an official emergency or when inflation was sky-high. With inflation easing, it’s much harder to justify that kind of emergency action.
ETA: as for telling people the economy is good, at least that’s politically better than telling the other half of the truth, which is that the problems are the other side’s fault. I would rather see them touting their successes than pointing fingers, even though the blame is deserved.
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Sure, though it’s pretty late in his term to start up that kind of messaging.
Yes! Another lost chance. Some high-profile crackdowns on some high-profile suits would be great messaging.
If that is the trials (and not mere fines) about pilfered millions and millions were somehow high profile enough for most voters to know about them. It’s again frustrating that the corporate news, that very few people watch carefully anyway, likely wouldn’t cover such trials much at all. (But a senator with a few hundred thousand in illicit cash and gold bars? Now that’s news!)
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It’s not new messaging; it’s new tactics. He’s been supporting unions all along, but the media doesn’t cover behind-the-scenes pressure and support at the bargaining table. The only thing that’s new is physically showing up to the picket line. Oddly enough, that doesn’t actually help the unions as much as the other actions, but it gets media coverage. 
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Apples and oranges? Wait, apples and apples?
I think it is new messaging. A sitting president marching along with striking workers? Come on, that’s historic, man! And a message in that it’s meant to look so. Which is also a tactic. 
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I mean… it actually kind of is… I know plenty of presidents have addressed unions (both parties), but I’m fairly certain none have ever walked a picket line. But the real test is in how he uses policy to support the workers.
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