GOP thug off the hook

James Tobin (not to be confused with an economist of the same name) is a right-wing consultant who led Bush's 2004 campaign in New England and was convicted of phone harassment for his role in jamming Democratic phone banks in the 2002 New Hampshire scandal. Tobin's involvement in that scandal led to him being named Conservative Fool Of The Day for 12/19/05.

This phone play was instrumental in juicing the election. GOP operatives illegally bombarded Democratic phone banks with hang-up calls to dash Democrats' get-out-the-vote efforts. One Democratic office received over 300 hang-up calls in just over an hour.

Tobin's legal fees were paid by the Republican National Committee, which insisted he was innocent.

Unbelievably, a federal court later threw out Tobin's conviction on appeal - not because Tobin was innocent (because he wasn't), but because the court said the law under which he was convicted "was not a good fit" for his crime.

Talk about judicial activism! A jury had already ruled that the law was a good fit. What's the point in even having a judicial system when courts can just overturn convictions that are entirely legal?

Prosecutors later charged James Tobin with the crime of making false statements. And a federal grand jury indicted him.

But now a federal court has dashed that case too. A judge has ruled that prosecuting Tobin is "vindictive", so the charges have had to be tossed.

Um, no. Prosecuting a criminal for a crime he committed is not vindictive. It's called justice.

There's not even any doubt that Tobin illegally jammed phone banks. Yet he can't even be punished for it. In conservaworld, crime pays.

Now the Republicans know they can get away with anything - at least if their party wasn't already pretty much near the end of its life.

(Source: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Former_RNC_director_convicted_in_phone_0220.html)