Goode says he's not that corrupt

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Goode's press release in full:

Statement by Virgil Goode

Common Cause is a liberal group that is headed by a long time Democratic Activist and former Democratic federal candidate. I wonder if Common Cause will make the same ethics requests on other members who have received more donations from one entity and related sources over the same time frame or less for which I received donations from the MZM PAC or employees related to MZM. 

For example:  Senator Harry Reid, who has received $159,000 from the PAC and employees and others related to MGM Mirage (a gambling business) and who received thousands from Jack Abramhoff and/or the firms with which he was associated; Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who has received $510,000 from Indian tribes over the last five years; Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who received about $50,000 in just two years from the Gallo Wines PAC and Gallo personnel.  Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, who received over six years $179,480 from MGM Mirage PAC and others related to MGM Mirage; Senator Hillary Clinton, who received $190,150 from the Citicorp PAC, Citicorp employees and related persons.

The decision to investigate or not investigate is up to the Ethics committee. I have done nothing wrong and if the Ethics Committee decides to investigate, it is fine with me.

There is a lot to unpack in that statement - for example, by saying "Jack Abramoff and/or the firms with which he was associated," Goode misleads without technically lying.  Abramoff never gave a dime to Democrats.  But firms he represented did.  So what Goode said is true.  Just like the following statement,

"Virgil Goode represents Virginia's 5th District and/or he has done coke off a stripper's belly."

100% true. 

But why say "and/or" instead of just "or"?  Why say Jack Abramoff at all?  To muddy the waters, and to try desperately to create the impression that Jack Abramoff is connected to Democrats, and the corruption that he embodies is as well.

But Goode's slippery grammatical antics don't change the fact that the Abramoff scandal is a Republican scandal, and Goode's dealings with MZM and Duke Cunningham and  Katherine Harris and prostitution rings is a Republican scandal, and he is elbow deep in it. 

But all of this misses the point.  It doesn't much matter to me who Harry Reid took money from.  Becuase Harry Reid is not running for Congress in Virginia's 5th District.  And neither is Hillary Clinton.

Our choice is between Virgil Goode and Al Weed.  One has taken illegal money from corrupt contractors and one hasn't.  One has been named in a Federal criminal prosecution and one hasn't. 

Virgil Goode is running for Congress in Virginia's 5th District, and we don't care if other people in government are crooked. 

We care if he is.

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