The Pope And The Abused

While I'm not inclined to have much of an opinion on Pope Benedict XVI, I have to say that his willingness to engage on the priest sex abuse case, and even meet with some of the abused, is pretty noble, and completely counter to the Church's history on this issue*. Even the revered John Paul II refused to meet with the victims.

At some level he had to do this while he was going about America pressing for a return to moral values, but according to those victims I've heard, they believe it was genuine and not just lip service. I trust they'll hold his feet to the fire on this.

And the Pope also apparently gave an awesome speech. I agree with Jimmy Kimmel's take on this - the President is slowly turning into Will Ferrell's impression of the President.

* - And Ratzinger's own history on the issue as well, he enforced the secret document that was allegedly used by the Catholic Church to evade prosecution for sex crimes.

Here's A Headline That Doesn't Scream "Victory"

"Giuliani Defends, Employs Priest Accused of Molesting Teens"

It's a somewhat old story, covered briefly on TRF before, but the investigative report from Brian Ross uncovers some new details. First of all, Monsignor Alan Placa, the priest accused of molestation, is STILL working for Giuliani Partners. Second, he was hired AFTER the accusers came forward and the church requested that he stop performing priestly duties.

"This man did unjust things, and he's being protected and employed and taken care of. It's not a good thing," said one of the accusers, Richard Tollner, who says Placa molested him repeatedly when he was a student at a Long Island, N.Y. Catholic boys high school in 1975.

At a campaign appearance in Milwaukee last week, Giuliani continued to defend Placa, who he described to reporters as a close friend for 39 years.

"I know the man; I know who he is, so I support him," Giuliani said. "We give some of the worst people in our society the presumption of innocence and benefit of the doubt," he said. "And, of course, I'm going to give that to one of my closest friends."

There's not going to be any accountability, so it's easy for Giuliani to say that. This actually would be prosecuted, were is not for a statute of limitations (the accuser described actions from 1975), as well as obfuscatory church policy, under orders directly from Rome, in which Placa participated, using "deception and intimidation," according to grand jury documents.

The appearance from Richard Tollner, the accuser and now a mortgage broker on Long Island, is lurid.

Tollner, now a mortgage broker in Albany, N.Y., says he was one of three people to testify about Placa.

"This man harmed children. He still could do it. He deserves to be shown for what he was, or is," says Tollner.

Appearing publicly for the first time today on ABC News' "Good Morning America," Tollner says the abuse started when he and Placa were in the high school making posters for a Right to Life march.

"As he started to explain how these posters should be done, I realized that something was rubbing my body," Tollner said. "After a minute or two, I realized that he's feeling me, feeling me in my genital area."

According to the story, the Giuliani campaign SOUGHT OUT former students from the same high school and asked them to "contact ABC News and vouch for Placa." There are dozens of pictures of Giuliani with Placa, too. And really, this is another example of where Rudy can credibly be judged by the company he keeps.

The man named yesterday by the Giuliani campaign to a law enforcement outreach campaign post in Minnesota was forced to resign a government job in 2004 when proof surfaced that he’d admitted to repeatedly using the word “nigger” in the past, Election Central has learned.

Sheriff Richard Stanek was appointed to the post of chair of Minnesota Law Enforcement for Rudy. The campaign’s press release promised that Stanek “will work with law enforcement personnel throughout the state to communicate Mayor Giuliani’s record of fighting crime and his commitment to first responders.”

But as a rival campaign has pointed out to us, it turns out Stanek has admitted to having a history of racially charged remarks. He was forced to resign his post as Minnesota’s public safety commissioner in 2004 after it came to light that he’d admitted in a deposition that he’d used racist slurs in the past, including repeated use of the word “nigger.”

Steve Benen has a list of Giuliani's associates, which could fill a lineup.

This one in particular could snowball.

Where The Hell Do They Get These People?

I'm beginning to think that, in the same way that the Army has lowered the recruitment standards so that 42 year-old one-legged drug addicts currently in prison can now be deployed to Iraq, because nobody else wants to go there, the standards for joining a Republican Presidential staff have been lowered as well, since nobody wants to join up with them either.

State Police are investigating one of Mitt Romney's top campaign aides for allegedly impersonating a trooper by calling a Wilmington company and threatening to cite the driver of a company van for erratic driving, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the probe.

Jay Garrity, who is director of operations on Romney's presidential campaign and a constant presence at his side, became the primary target of the investigation, according to one of the sources, after authorities traced the cellphone used to make the call back to him. The investigation comes three years after Garrity, while working for Romney in the State House, was cited for having flashing lights and other police equipment in his car without proper permits.

The New Hampshire attorney general, according to the Associated Press, has also opened an investigation into a report that a Romney aide, later identified as Garrity, pulled over a New York Times reporter in New Hampshire and said he had run his license plate.

This is a top campaign staffer on a major campaign pulling an Olden Polynice, and apparently he has a history of this. Flashing lights in his car? What, is he playing Adam-12 when the mood strikes him?

They actually have a transcript of the phone call, which means there's a tape:

In the phone call to the Wilmington company, which was recorded by an answering service and obtained by the Globe, a man who identifies himself as "Trooper Garrity with the Massachusetts State Police" complains about the driving of a van owned by Wayne's Drains Middlesex Sewers of Wilmington. The caller repeatedly says he is a trooper and questions when the driver will return to the office.

HE USED HIS OWN NAME.

OK, let's backtrack. On Republican campaigns in 2008, we have a coke dealer, a former Nixon spy, a serial police officer impersonator, and Tim Griffin, the guy who caged votes during the last two elections.

To be fair, who else are Republicans going to get to work for them? I imagine the campaigns are staking out the prisons as we speak.

UPDATE: Oh yeah, I forgot about the child molesters:

Giuliani employs his childhood friend Monsignor Alan Placa as a consultant at Giuliani Partners despite a 2003 Suffolk County, N.Y., grand jury report that accuses Placa of sexually abusing children, as well as helping cover up the sexual abuse of children by other priests. Placa, who was part of a three-person team that handled allegations of abuse by clergy for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, is referred to as Priest F in the grand jury report. The report summarizes the testimony of multiple alleged victims of Priest F, and then notes, "Ironically, Priest F would later become instrumental in the development of Diocesan policy in response to allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests."