Guilty Plea for Claude Allen [This is just sad]

TPM Muckracker ^ | August 3, 2006 | Paul Kiel

[PDR]

Claude Allen, the former Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, is set to plead guilty, McClatchy reports. He'll admit to a single misdemeanor: for "fraudulently stealing items worth less than $500 from a Target store." He'll get no jail time - just $850 in restitution to Target Corp. and one month's probation. That's a pretty sweet deal considering police alleged that he stole over $5,000 from Target and Hecht stores. He faced up to 18 months in jail.

So what's next for Allen? Oh, he'll bounce right back:

Friends of Allen, a well-known conservative who rose from a senator's press aide to one of the top jobs in the White House, said Wednesday that the criminal conviction shouldn't keep him from a future in politics. "You know, people are more forgiving than you generally expect," said Carter Wrenn of Raleigh, N.C., a friend who was a political strategist for Helms and has known Allen since the early 1980s, when the recent college graduate was a spokesman for Helms' re-election campaign.

For those of you who have forgotten the details of Allen's forgivable crimes, he shoplifted from a Target store, and also repeatedly returned items he'd never bought.

[PDR]

In the context of everything else going, this is a real tragedy. He is, in most regards, a fine man and it is truly a shame that things have come to this.

[Perdogg]

Question is why??

[Maceman]

For those of you who have forgotten the details of Allen's forgivable crimes,

Would they have been forgivable if, say, Tony Snow had commeitted them?

I don't see shoplifting by an adult as being forgivable at all.

[Restorer]

Anything is forgivable, with proper repentance, by God.

Us humans can be less forgiving, if we choose.


The guy should at the least voluntarily pay back the value of anything he stole.

[PDR]

why is it sad or why did he do it?

[Perdogg]

Why did he do it?

[PDR]

I don't know and I think it would be wrong to speculate... its just sad.

[TaxRelief]

He is, in most regards, a fine man and it is truly a shame that things have come to this.

Oh, please! "Fine men" don't steal.

[TaxRelief]

Why did he do it?

Because he is an petty thief. Worse yet, he premeditates his thievery.

[PDR]

we have all sinned and we all fall short of the glory of G-d.... the perfect and imperfect among us. He is, as I said, in most respects a fine man and I regard this as a tragedy.... that siad, it is admirable that he has faced his problem and is taking the blame for it.

[Corin Stormhands]

You're right. It's very sad. I happen to know Claude personally. I'm not sure what snapped, but this was way out of character.

[TaxRelief]

In what way is he a fine man? He not only has stolen, but he has mocked all conservatives by pretending to be a conservative.

If he were truly a "fine man", as you insist, he would hang his head in shame and walk away from politics, recognizing that he is not worthy of participation in the Republican party.

[Corin Stormhands]

If he were truly a "fine man", as you insist, he would hang his head in shame and walk away from politics, recognizing that he is not worthy of participation in the Republican party.

Be sure to turn the lights out and lock the door, 'cause all the rest of us will have to leave since we don't measure up to your perfection.

Take a look around the site this is posted from. Do you really think you're getting an objective view of the story?

Seems like you'd rather shoot first and the heck with questions later.

[TaxRelief]

Do you contend that everyone steals? That honest people don't exist?

[Leisler]

He stole for money.
He caused, as one shoplifting rat amongst the many, prices to rise. Hard pressed, honest customers had to pay more.
Profits to investors and pension funds for retirees were shorted.
He put his family at material risk.
He embarrassed his President.
He betrayed his core values, for trinkets.
He didn't turn himself in, he was caught.

Other than that, he's a fine man.

[TaxRelief]

Furthermore, his actions were premeditated, rather than impulsive.

[no dems]

As a born-again Christian, I understand the mercy and forgiveness of God. I have, however, had to learn that God is also a God of justice.

It's a shame that we forget that fact when the offense is committed by someone we love. There comes a time when we have to quit being in denial, allow that one to fess up that he screwed up, quit playing on people's sympathy and pay the price for his deeds and move on and rebuild his life and the trust that people lost in him.

Your syrupy, sloppy, agape' does not help people like him. Ever heard of tough love? It works better in the long run than sympathy.

[Corin Stormhands]

Do you contend that everyone steals? That honest people don't exist?

Not in the least. Merely that we're ALL flawed.

That and the fact the fact that I'd like to hear more of a story from a less biased source.

[PDR]

When did I suggest anything other than that he should receive appropriate sanctions for his misdeeds... Does the need for justice to be satisfied not permit me to comment on the situation as being "sad"

[no dems]

True. My apologies.

no dems