Balloon Juice

In the guy's defense, FEC guidelines are arcane at best and he corrected himself as soon as the error was brought to his attention.

"he corrected himself as soon as the error was brought to his attention."

But isn't this becoming something of a pattern with this guy?

John, I'm not sure that anyone knows the answer to your first question.

Whatever the answer is, it has the Deanies absolutely fizzy with excitement.

I think Clark can quash the whole thing by taking direct control of his own campaign, kicking out the Party operatives and tapping Sharpton for VP . . . and blogging. Definitely needs to blog more. Definitely.

Where the hell was Mary when he needed her?

John - In response to your question: "Who the Hell is running this guy's campaign?" The national media are reporting that his campaign staff is totally dominated by former President Clinton's aides and political handlers...which may account for some of the, shall we say, ethical lapses.

Look, guys, seriously, this was a technical violation of an arcane law. This is a goddamn speeding ticket. I'm not a Clarkie, but Jeez.

Which is kind of why I said it would be amusing to watch some people make more out of this than it is- but it is still something his staff, former Clinton lackey's should know.

One might be inclined to consider Kimmit's point that he makes above relative to giving Clark a "break" for his apparent violation of an "arcane" campaign finance law. However, as noted in Kimmit's comments on the Wilson/Plame affair on this site last week (excerpted below), he certainly doesn't give an inch in terms of expecting an honest and ethical handling of the Wilson affair investigation on the part of President Bush. Given the views of many, if not most, military associates of General Clark who have expressed rather harsh views of Clark's integrity and character, I'm not too inclined to give the General a "break" on this campaign violation, arcane or otherwise.

Here's Kimmit's earlier comments on the Wilson matter:

"Wait, you really think that delaying the dissemination of documents to the Department of Justice for two weeks (and therefore enjoying the opportunity to conveniently lose or misfile a few particularly incriminating documents) constitutes investigation? You said that it was out of the President's hands, now. The President has taken the investigation back into his hands. He now has the tools to ferret out the son of a bitch who compromised our national security.

"He will use them to cover up the truth."

Yes. I do not consider a speeding-ticket-like violation of FEC law to be on the same level as covering up for the burning of a CIA spook and subsequent compromise of national security.

With a response like that, you prove beyond a reasonable doubt what a fool you are.