FiftyVille
Charles Colson was Richard Nixon's Rat F*cker-In-Chief who did his best (i.e. worst) work deep within the plumbing.
And, when the real deal finally went down, Colson was one of the small number of the former President's men who was convicted and actually went to prison.
And then this happened, as chronicled by the NY Times' Tim Weiner upon Colson's death in 2012:
...Mr. Colson went to prison after pleading guilty to obstructing justice in one of the criminal plots that undid the Nixon administration. After having what he called his religious awakening behind bars, he spent much of the rest of his life ministering to prisoners, preaching the Gospels and forging a coalition of Republican politicians, evangelical church leaders and Roman Catholic conservatives that has had a pronounced influence on American politics...
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Fast forward to 2020 and, well, let's let the ultimate insider-access bow-weevil, Howard Fineman of the WaPo, tell the (so-called) story:
When I called Roger Stone early Friday evening, he was in the midst of doing an online interview with an evangelical Christian leader. He let me listen in. It was, shall we say, a revelation. Until recently about as un-devout as a lapsed everything could be, he earnestly recounted for an equally earnest interviewer how he’d been saved by Jesus Christ at a Franklin Graham rally.
“I stood up,” Stone said. “I accepted Christ as my savior. I felt like a cement block had been lifted from my chest.” His newfound faith had given him a ticket to eternal salvation and, perhaps, a stay-out-of-jail card.
When Stone finished, he got on the line with me.
“I know there is a lot of skepticism,” he said in the audial version of a straight face. “Who knows? A year from now you may be calling me Reverend Stone! What else am I going to do with all these white suits I own?”....
Of course, there is absolutely no truth to the
And, just to be clear, this wee bit of prop-gaming-deflector-spike-spin (i.e. Stone's talking to Fineman) took place BEFORE the official commutation came down.
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3 comments:
Stone, like many sleazy con men before him, has reflected on his plight and thought, “Well, that didn’t work. What else can I try?”
Amazing how often evangelical preaching looks promising.
He’s a rotten piece of work; I’ll give him that. But even he might find the competition too tough in that field.
Lew--
Good point re: how the good Mr. Stone would be in tough with said 'competition'.
And throw in the fact that, at least as far as the big money-making branch of the profession goes, Mr. Stone's stock-in-trade (i.e. entire pits full of dirt and snakes and debauchery, made up or otherwise), will not touch them.
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Once upon a time, it is alleged there was a bootlegger and he made money during the prohibition years. At the end of the prohibition years in the U.S.A. even Canadians had to look for new work. One did and announced he had found the best scam yet: religion and off he went to "bible school". Now along the way it is rumoured he found religion but the base of the person was still that old time bootlegger.
Was told the story close to 50 years ago. Some things made sense then.
If nothing else Mr. Stone needs money and how better to obtain it as a "religious" organization. Some of them made a lot of money and some even went to jail, such as Jimmy Swaggard and Jim Baker. After Swaggard got out of jail he still had a t.v. show and that man even at his age could still play piano. It was alleged he was related to Micky Gilly and Jerry Lee Lewis. Don't know if that is true, but when you hear them all play piano and sing, who knows for sure.
Stone was one of the original 3 rat fuckers and he needs a new gig. Trump has paid him off, no surprise but there won't be any money along with the "gift".
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