Claude Allen: Was his "Evil Twin" the one who ripped off Target?

[quaoar]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/007891.php

This emerging defense is so bizarre it would easily eclipse Michael Jackson as weirdest trial of the century.

It turns out that WH advisor/shoplifter Claude Allen has an identical twin brother, Floyd:



And, as it turns out, Floyd is the bad twin:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/14/politics/14allen.html?_r=2&ei=5094&en=597c9d305272ce2f&hp=&ex=1142312400&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1142312513-rTsmRy/o228lK1tJViCc+w&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Floyd was the twin who "kept running into bad times," while Claude Allen intervened repeatedly to help him, she said.

In 2001, Floyd Allen declared bankruptcy in Virginia; a year earlier he was ordered to pay $6,450 in a civil suit brought against him by a travel company, according to state and federal records.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. and Claude was the one arrested at Target for returning something

he didn't purchase, and his credit card shows about 25 previous transactions.

Clyde did it, and if he's trying to pawn it off on his brother, then he's not only a thief, but a real bastard.

[CoffeeCat]

2. No, it was Claude...

...it appears that they have this stuff on videotape. He did this more than 25 times.

I just read the full NY Times article on this story--and it's amazing. This family totally mirrors the dynamics of a typical dysfunctional family.

You've got one child who is the family superstar, and another child who is the screw up. You've got a very strict religious upbringing, and a mother who appears to be in denial.

There's more to this family than meets the eye. Religion obviously kept Claude in line for a while--and playing the role of the perfect one for his family--while his twin wore the family pain on his sleeve.

Whenever I see a "model citizen" crack like this--it's a sure sign that there's a whole lot of pain underneath the shellacked finish.

[Catherine Vincent]

3. Could it be his twin brother that stole the merchandise?

It just didn't make any sense for a guy to be making over a hundred thousand dollars a year to get in trouble for stealing five thousand dollars worth of merchandise.

[Missy M]

4. There are many people with money who steal anyway.....

some examples are Bess Myerson and Winona Ryder. I guess it is kleptomania and they can't help themselves.

[soothsayer]

5. The problem is, they DO help themselves....to store merchandise!

badoom boom

[Missy M]

6. Yes they do, I wasn't defending it just offering an explanation...

and they don't need the merchandise they just do it for whatever reason. Maybe they think it's their due.

[quaoar]

7. Or maybe

they want to be caught.

[Missy M]

8. Could be, do you suppose they want to be caught so they will...

be forced to stop? Or do they want attention?

[Catherine Vincent]

9. Didn't he get enough attention working for the corrupt Bush administration

?

[quaoar]

10. Playing amateur psychologist here

But some people are convinced they don't deserve the job/money/honors they have gotten and set about to sabotage it all to prove to themselves that they really are no good.

[Missy M]

11. It sounds very plausible, the mind works in mysterious ways....

influenced by your early years and home life.

[Ilsa]

12. I tend to think it is more narcissism in Bushco.

They think they are too good and too smart to get caught.

Or he enjoys taking bizarre risks?

Or maybe deep down inside, he really wanted to "stick it to the man." ;)

[blondeatlast]

21. Regarding my post downthread #20), that explanation makes

some sense.

I mean, the first famous person we caught, I was just astonished. Absolutely shocked.

[blondeatlast]

20. I worked retail for years; very upscale department store in Scottsdale, A.

We caught some very moneyed people--names you'd know, guaranteed--shoplifting.

The first three "names," I was pretty stunned. After that, it wasn't even shocking anymore.

[ucmike]

13. easy to solve if we learned anything from tv/sitcoms

the evil twin always has a mustache.

poor claude would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for those meddling kids.................

[AtomicKitten]

14. thanks for the laugh.

I think we have an evil twin in the WH.

[cantstandbush]

15. How do we that Claude wans't the "bad twin" all along, blaming it on Floyd

[KoKo]

17. OMG....TOO FUNNY! What if that's the truth of it?

:rofl:

[quaoar]

18. Floyd must be a Democrat

which would explain why they call him the bad twin.

[npincus]

16. who the fuck returns thousands of $$$ of crap to TARGET on a regular

basis?

The man is a petty thief. Anf check THIS out (from same NYT article):

Mr. Allen met with Mr. Bush in the Oval Office, along with other advisers, several times a week during the president's domestic policy time, usually in the afternoons. He was a guest of the first lady in her box during the president's State of the Union speech, nearly a month after Mr. Allen first informed Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff, and Harriet E. Miers, the White House counsel, that he had been issued a misdemeanor citation for theft.

Mr. Allen told the White House at the time that there had been confusion with his credit cards and he would make sure the matter was cleared up.

The WH was so desperate for a SOTU photo-op, they ignored his disclosure of a citation for theft!

[senseandsensibility]

19. bookmarking

so that I can read the article later. It looks interesting. Thanks for posting.

[juajen]

22. I have to say that I have had some experience with twindom

It's damned hard. When I saw Claude's mug shot, I almost cried; he looked that sad, and sorta doomed. I can only guess at what he is going through right now; and it ain't pretty. I will give him some slack and hope this experience is a lifechanging one for the better.