There is an issue on who found the dirt if it is a different state influencing Presidential nominations. However, I agree the letter and the act of writing to any other state asking for leniency or communting of any sentence where there is no dispute over the individual's guilt is wrong. Just like Gay Mitchell's letter.
+1
Unless we know the motives behind the people who fished this out, we cannot definitively say. But it seems obvious that it was done with the intention of damaging or destroying Norris' campaign. The motives behind this matter. It won't change the facts or the wrongness of what Norris did, but we can and should scrutinize the people and their intentions behind the revelations and make a judgement on that.
An Irish Times interview with Mr Connolly the blogger who broke the story says;
"Mr Connolly told
The Irish Times yesterday that his source was a regular correspondent with his blog –
which advances strongly pro-Israeli views. He said the source came from a trade union background and had once campaigned for Michael D Higgins but was not associated with the Labour Party"
Source: [broken link removed]
Mr Connolly's says about himself that;
"I want to make a contribution, though it may be a small one, to
defending liberty and truth. I will be offensive in doing so.
For you see, I have two major loves: free markets and Zionism. Yep, I’m the kind of guy most folks today are indoctrinated to hate. I believe environmentalists are scamming us, as is the human rights industry and of course the socialists, as always.
Oh, and Palestinians are not a bunch of perfect victims...."
Source:
http://thesystemworks.wordpress.com/about/
Given that the heads up (according to Connolly) for the Norris story came from someone who had campagined for Michael D. Higgins, and were published by someone who " loves Zionism",
and the papers involved related to an Israeli court case, we are entitled to scrutinize these issues. This is not to make a definitive claim as to motives. But it is sufficient to warrant further examination and questions. The upshot of what Connolly and this "trade union" guy did was to scupper the next likely president's chances of election. I want to know how this came about, was Israel involved, who was the trade union guy and who gave him knowledge of, and access to, the letters? These are eminently fair questions.
