Day Two of Alabama Bingo Trial Testimony--Senator Beason Gets His Close Up

I'm ready for my close up Mr. DeMille...

*Updated Weds. pm see below
In Tuesday’s testimony of the gambling trial McGregor lawyer Bobby Segall zooms in on the taped and electronic conversations from the wire wearing narcissistic snitch who's throwing every perceived political threat under the bus. Beason claims over and over he was only "role-playing for the FBI." He isn’t really the indiscriminate political turncoat the recorded communications, with a little help from the wily Segall’s masterful questioning, clearly reveal him to be.

The legend in his own mind Senator Beason seems obsessed with creating reality and casting aside as many political opponents as he can, by whatever means necessary, on his way to bigger and better things. He's signaled his readiness for fame and there's an uncanny parallel to the overbearing, wildly narcissistic and delusional character of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.

Here’s some back and forth from today’s proceedings to illustrate our point:

Beason: I was playing a role for the FBI.
Segall: Just like you're playing a role here today?
Beason: I am not playing a role, why would you even say that?
Segall: If we want to know the true Senator Beason, we need to hear the conversations you did not record, right?
Beason in conversation: "I hate the feds, but I know you've got to have a backstop against corruption."
Segall: Did you say “I don't like building a system where evil people can abuse their power and send you to jail?”
Segall: Didn't you tell Rep. Lewis that you don't think the FBI even cares, they just want to send people to prison?
Beason: I don't recall
Segall: You wanted anybody that threatened you politically to go to prison whether they deserved it or not.
Segall: You could have gone to state police?
Beason: Yes.
Segall: But instead you go to the people you describe as evil?
Segall: Instead of going to the Feds - who you've described in such colorful terms - you could have gone to the local police?
Segall: Did FBI Agent Baker tell you who he wanted you to talk to?
Beason: Some of the time.
Segall: And sometimes you chose yourself some to speak to?
Beason: Sometimes if people were talking to me about gambling I would record them, though FBI didn't ask me to record them. The FBI didn't write script. What they said was talk to so-and-so, and I was trying to find out what was going on and to what extent. I thought the FBI were the good guys wanting to do the right thing.
Segall: Is it true that you support a black woman, Yvonne Kennedy, being speaker of the House?
Beason: At one time. Not because she was black.
Segall: Did you support GOP caucus supporting black woman being speaker of house?
 Feb 10, 2010: conversation-- “There's an election coming and if the blacks take over, Yvonne Kennedy will be completely disorganized, she can't raise money from business, republicans can win.”
Beason in conversations says he supported Yvonne not because he liked her, but because she'd be bad and hurt her party. Segall asks him if this is true. Beason says that's part of it.
Segall: Did you want to get Arthur Orr out of office?
Beason: I've never been involved in a campaign against Senator Arthur Orr.
Evidence is a conversation between Beason and Monica Cooper, Jabo Waggoner’s assistant. Cooper said "And they need to take out Arthur." Beason said "Yes, I wish" Beason says he was playing a role for FBI. Cooper supported Beason's rise in AL GOP.
Segall: You wanted to get rid of Steve French, if he was out of Senate?
Beason: That would not have bothered me.
Segall: Were you actively encouraging others to dig up dirt on opponents?
Beason: That was fact finding, a normal part of campaigns.
Segall: Feb 17, 2010 conversations--Segall: Were you talking about running candidates against people who supported Steve French & Jabo Waggoner?
Conversations with Beason and Randy Brinson, head of Alabama Christian Coalition asked is it okay if we go after various Republicans.
Beason to jury: Yes, I would not have minded Brinson working against candidates that were not mine. Including get dirty.
Brinson asks if he can get dirty in conversation, Beason says yes, it’s revealed Beason is trying to ensnare Brinson because he thinks Brinson is associating with McGregor and explains it away, for the umpteenth time as “I‘m playing a role for the FBI.”
Beason: Getting dirty doesn't mean doing something unethical.

In a previous proceeding, Beason, from a recording with "full of crap" lobbyist Jarrod Massey, says he “wasn’t going to settle for so little (i.e. money) like *Jeremy Oden” and then later admitted he had no proof Rep. Oden was involved in gambling brouhaha. That didn't stop the God fearing Beason from casting his own production in the direction of his fellow Christian brother Oden. 
*In the next day's testimony Senator Beason claims he "just pulled Rep. Oden's name out of the air."

What’s emerging in the trial is the hideous picture of a man who's so self-absorbed with his perceived importance that he’s willing to climb over everybody on the political ladder on his way up.

And none of them are safe from his wire wearing got it on tape.

Senator Beason has been described in the press as “Alabama’s newest rising political star” and he wields formidable power over his captive audience on Goat Hill. No bills go anywhere without his approval. And what's he done with that power? He's given Alabama some of the worst bills in modern history and caused another black eye to the state with the harshest anti-immigration bill in the country.

The national audience is not enjoying the show and we're once again the subject of the big media journalists acting as harsh critics. Senator Beason does not care. Instead he's overtly arrogant and haughty about the criticism blaming it all on "liberal media outlets." It's all about him and his judgment and he'll quickly tell you he knows best about such matters.

In contrast, Norma Desmond’s narcissism and delusional fantasies affected only her immediate circle in life and were a part of the illusion of Hollywood.

Senator Beason’s delusional narcissism erodes and corrupts our basic constitutional virtues and has an adverse affect on all Alabamians--not just a movie audience.

The classic movie Sunset Boulevard was once described as a “film about the narcissistic hell hole that is Hollywood.” What we are seeing in the testimony of this trial is the narcissistic hell hole of Alabama politics starring Senator Beason.

So Say We The Opinion Board Of The Vincent Alabama Confidential

*Update--Day three of the trial today went nuclear--Stamford Advocate
Senator Harri Anne Smith-I "Disgusted and disappointed with Beason's remarks" calls for resignation
Senator Ben Brooks-R tries to back away from participation in racist remarks

Photo credit: WKRG

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