Michael Connell died in a plane crash last night...

[RedIbis]

No Red. This is still a false dichotomy.

There is a possibility, and given that Rove has never been charged, arrested, indicted or convicted of anything I would even call it a probability, that Rove hasn't done anything wrong.

Either Rove did something nasty and killed Connell to cover it up, or he did something and is lucky that Connell has been silenced, or he did nothing wrong and is not lucky that Connell has died because nothing was going to happen to him anyway.

That's three possibilities, one of which you arbitrarily rule out without cause. Hence the false dichotomy.

EDIT: Ok, I just did the same thing myself (false trichotomy?). I ignored the possibility that Rove did nothing wrong but killed Connell anyway. Human beings have never operated under the obligation to only do things that make sense. I'm fairly certain that the truth will be found somewhere between these four possibilites.

I see your point but you left out the possibility that Connell's death is an accident but he was holding a winning lottery ticket which he planned to give to Rove as a gift for all their years of working together, which would make Rove quite unlucky for having not gotten a chance to receive it.

Since my statement was never a formal argument, I'm going to stick with my opinion that Rove just lucked out, or he had something to do with it.

 

[apathoid]

It seems that the early reports of the plane running out of fuel were inaccurate. The preliminary report will be due out soon, but the NTSB has already commented to local media..

Connell was attempting a landing on Runway 23 at the Akron-Canton Airport, but his plane crashed about three miles short of his destination. Troopers with the Highway Patrol’s Canton post said the plane made a forced landing, hit a flagpole and rolled several times.
...
So far the investigation shows that the plane had no issues with flight control and there was no icing, Serchak said. The plane’s propeller had damage that indicates the engine was operating when the crash occurred.

Link to story


Also, from his entry in the FAA airmans database, I wouldn't characterize him as an experienced pilot, though not a novice. His PPL was issued in June, 2006.

FAA Registry
Name Inquiry Results

MICHAEL LOUIS CONNELL

Address
Street 4266 IRA RDCity AKRONState OHCounty SUMMITZip Code 44333-1172Country USA

Medical
Medical Class: ThirdMedical Date: 10/2007
MUST WEAR CORRECTIVE LENSES.


Certificates
1 of 1

DOI:6/19/2006CertificateRIVATE PILOT
Rating(s)RIVATE PILOT
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND INSTRUMENT AIRPLANE

Link to FAA database

 

[stilicho]

I see your point but you left out the possibility that Connell's death is an accident but he was holding a winning lottery ticket which he planned to give to Rove as a gift for all their years of working together, which would make Rove quite unlucky for having not gotten a chance to receive it.

Since my statement was never a formal argument, I'm going to stick with my opinion that Rove just lucked out, or he had something to do with it.

You are still operating under the unfounded illusion that Connell (a) had information proving electoral fraud in Ohio in 2004 and (b) that he was provably one of Larisa A's sources.

The subpoena ought to be a clue, RI. Someone with beans to willingly spill would not do so to an obscure internet blogger and would not have to be subpoenaed to testify at a frivolous legal action launched by that blogger's associates.

 

[Brainster]

Here's some special fruitcakery on Connell from Democracy Now's Amy Goodman and nutty professor Mark Crispin Miller.

AMY GOODMAN: Now, he had asked the Attorney General Mukasey for protective custody, because of threats to him and his wife?

MARK CRISPIN MILLER: He reported threats to his lawyer, Cliff Arnebeck....

Not too shabby. Connell of course did not ask Mukasey for anything, Arnebeck did and Arnebeck was not Connell's lawyer, he was the fruitcake attorney bringing the "Bush stole Ohio" case (along with the equally nutty Bob Fitrakis). But that pales compared to this really "special" theory of Miller's:

MARK CRISPIN MILLER: Well, that’s a good question. We can’t ask him, unfortunately. I mean, this is kind of a grisly thought, but, I mean, I think we should be asking where the body is? We’re told that a trooper on the scene immediately identified Connell. But then we read elsewhere that there was nothing left but debris and that the fireball was enormous. So maybe he wasn’t on the plane. I mean, who knows, when you’re dealing with people as deep as these?

I mean, who knows when you're dealing with people as stupid as Miller?

 

[Cl1mh4224rd]

[...] and that the fireball was enormous.

Odd... wasn't the initial hypothesis, and the very thing HereticHulk found extremely suspicious in the OP, that the plane ran out of fuel? Where did Mr. Miller hear about this "enormous" explosion?

 

[Brainster]

As with all conspiracy theories, the more you dig, the less there is. Mark Crispin Miller in that same interview with Amy Goodman:

MARK CRISPIN MILLER: Stephen Spoonamore is a conservative Republican, a former McCain supporter and a very prominent expert at the detection of computer fraud. He’s the star witness in the Ohio lawsuit, right, in which Connell was involved. He has done extensive work of this kind, involving computer security, and had therefore worked with Connell, knew Connell personally and knew a lot of the people who were involved in the sort of cyber-security end of the Bush operation.

So I looked up Spoonamore at Open Secrets and discovered that he donated $1,750 to Howard Dean in 2003.

Ah, one of those conservative Republicans. To be fair, he did (apparently) donate $500 to John E. Sweeney, a Republican congressman from New York in 2004.

And I have seen his notes of a conversation in which Connell asked Spoonamore how one would go about destroying White House emails. To this, Spoonamore said, “This conversation is over. You’re asking me to do something illegal.” But clearly, clearly—this is the important point—Mike Connell was up past his eyeballs in the most sensitive and explosive aspects of this crime family that, you know, has been masquerading as a political party.

Yeah, I'm sure a legitimate conservative Republican like Connell would have asked a Howard Dean donor how to destroy the White House emails. And the evidence we're asked to believe is laughable--Spoonamore kept notes! Like that's worth anything more than Spoonamore's word?

 

[dudalb]

I note the Amy Goodman seems to be getting into CT woo bigtime.

 

[stilicho]

I note the Amy Goodman seems to be getting into CT woo bigtime.

Probably not nearly to the extent that Hollywood or the History Channel do, dudalb. The fact is, the conspiracists complain constantly about lack of mainstream media coverage but it's everywhere. Whether it's Stone's cockeyed look at JFK or the History Channel airing specials on Area 51 moonbat Bob Lazar, they're almost controlling the airwaves (both the horizontal and the vertical).

I saw one of the Democracy Now! interviews and I thought she did a fair job of moderating.

Regardless, this particular CT is going nowhere fast. It's increasingly evident to everyone that it is nothing more than a phantasm created by the Ohio attorney, the people from "Velvet Underground", Larisa Alexandrovna, and other assorted hangers-on. Thanks to Brainster for indicating that the rock-solid conservative Republican Spoonamore is really nothing other than an attention-seeker whose credentials include donations to Howard Dean's campaign.

Thank you for voting with your mouth and not your money, Mr Spoonamore:

http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=Spoonamore&fname=Stephen

(Notice the blue donkey on that one).

http://www.linkedin.com/in/spoonamore

That one is kind of funny. "Velvet Revolution" offers up Spoonamore as some sort of cyber-sleuth. His companies deal in consulting and compliance issues. They can't even spell the name of "Fordham" correctly on his (incomplete) resume.

Just the kind of expert witness (a college dropout) to blow the lid off just about everything!