The GOP Flying Circus

"Who's got a boil on his semprini, then?"
--The Chemist Sketch, Monty Python's Flying Circus'

When two Republican officials, James Tobin and Allen Raymond, were charged with criminally violating federal communications law in the 2002 New Hampshire phone-jamming scandal, the Republican National Committee forked over $3 million in their defense. It didn't help and the two were convicted. In fact, the amount spent on the defense of these two schmucks cost more than the entire senate campaign of John Sununu. Republicans: the CEOs of government.

Well now the GOP will pay another $135 thousand in settlement to the Democrats for the illegal electioneering efforts. And they lucked out. The Dems were after $4 million. New Hampshire state Republican Chairman, Wayne Semprini (see above), said of the deal:

Although we believed our case was very strong, the cost of the trial as well as expected appeals by the New Hampshire Democratic Party would have easily matched or exceeded the present value of the settlement.

How one musters a "very strong" defense in a lawsuit surrounding two people who are now in jail for their roles in the scam is a bit of mystery and, clearly, Semprini is not about to let us in on the secret details. Which just goes to show you, Republicans think people will believe almost anything. Semprini!