Carol Mosley-Braun considers run for president in 2004

This was reported by BlackPress USA. Braun was villified for her support of dictators who happened to be black:

Mosley-Braun weathered a string of ethics accusations during her six-year term, including criticism of her trips to visit the late Nigerian military dictator Sani Abacha, widely known for his human rights abuses. Mosley-Braun argued that it was America’s responsibility to pursue dialogue and even-handed policies in the interest of human rights.

Questions also arose about the funding of her trips to Nigeria. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee exonerated her, saying she used her own money.

“For all of the vilification that I received in my re-election effort, I was vindicated on every front. And there’s never been any shade of wrong-doing on my part in any way,” Mosley-Braun says. “So, if people talk about you like a dog, you can’t control what people say. But you can control what you do. And I am very proud that my record is clear, my integrity has been vindicated and I have an honorable record of public service to point to.”

She, like Clinton, confuses lack of prosecution with actual vindication. Her support of rulers who repress and murder their black citizens is a moral failure on her part, but not criminal.

There is no doubt that her harshest critics are those who would have found issue with anything she did in office as a senator or ambassador. But nothing justifies the aid and comfort she gave those murders in Nigeria. I found her career in the senate more undistinguished than criminal. But then, freshman senators are not supposed to be stars.

Mosley-Braun became U.S. Senator from Illinois after she defeated incumbent Alan Dixon in a primary race. Regular Dems — especially those in organized labor — were upset with Dixon because of his support of the North American Free Trade Act. This weakened his support base, which let the much more liberal Mosley-Braun capture the party nomination. She lost her re-election bid. Her only accomplishment in office was to make a huge fuss over the use of the Confederate Flag in southern states.

Carol Mosley-Braun,Black Press USA,Sani Abacha,Nigeria,election