Photo by Glynn Wilson

General Wesley Clark says Siegalman’s prosecution was “politicized” and called “W” the “worst ever.”

by Glynn Wilson

General Wesley Clark received standing ovations from Democrats Friday night when he called former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman “a great American” and an “honest man” who was “unjustly confined” by a rogue Justice Department “politicized” by a corrupt Republican administration, and for his criticism of Bush’s war in Iraq.

The keynote speaker at the annual Jefferson-Jackson fund raising dinner at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center ballroom, Clark said America is “a nation at war” at home on many fronts as well as abroad.

He made the case why the Democratic Party is the party to bring the nation together again after seven long years of rule by crass corporate capitalist Republican neo-cons who have trashed the Constitution on many fronts.

“We’re seeing a 20 year campaign to polarize and partisanize this country and take away the basic fundamentals that we fought so hard to put in place,” he said. “It’s the use of executive power to put in wiretaps and other spying on the American people to take away our fundamental liberties…

“It’s the wholesale politicization of the Department of Justice,” he said. “It’s a stench of corruption that has run from the White House, through Jack Abramoff…”

The past seven years have been wasted by one lost opportunity after another, he said, on health care, education, civil rights, energy and the environment, including global warming.

“We didn’t have to fight that war in Iraq” he said, adding that George “W” Bush is “the worst” president ever.

Clark, a four star general, led U.S. and NATO forces in Kosovo during the administration of Bill Clinton. He has endorsed Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.

Leading up to Clark’s address, other speakers included state Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb, Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr., Congressman Artur Davis, Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, state Senator Vivian Davis Figures, party chair Joe Turnham, vice chair and former Secretary of State Nancy Worley and Joe Reed, president of the Alabama Democratic Conference.

Photo by Glynn Wilson

Congressman Artur Davis from Birmingham is a rising star in the Democratic Party…

Reed, who has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, called on Democrats to work hard and “win” elections in 2008, because winning is more important than anything else.

If the Democrats had won the White House and other races in 2000 and 2004, he said, “Don Siegelman wouldn’t be behind bars today.”

Congressman Davis was praised by many of the speakers for his work on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, which is investigating Siegelman’s prosecution as part of a probe into the politization of justice by the Bush administration.

Siegelman is awaiting word on his appeal in a Louisiana federal prison after being sentenced to seven years and four months by a Republican activist judge for allegedly taking a bribe from HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy, who is also serving time in the case awaiting his appeal. Both of them have filed motions demanding release from jail pending appeal, but the appeals process is being held up due to the death of a court reporter who never finished the transcript of the trial from last year.

Prosecutors from the U.S. attorneys office in Montgomery have denied politics played a role in the case. But they have been noticeably silent of late since the Senate confirmed Michael Mukasey as Attorney General to replace Alberto Gonzales, who resigned under a dark cloud of suspicion in August.

There is no word yet on whether Gonzales will be prosecuted in Congress or the courts for his malfeasance in office, although Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy ruled against president Bush’s claims of executive privilege this week for his long-time political fixer Karl Rove.

(See story below: Senator Leahy Rejects Bush’s Executive Privilege Claims)

Photos by Glynn Wilson

Other Democrats at the dinner included, from left, Joe Turnham, Sue Bell Cobb and Joe Reed

Video courtesy of LeftInAlabama.com.

Tags: Alabama Democratic Party, HealthSouth's Richard Scrushy On Trial

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