Of schizophrenic, ego-centric, paranoiac, prima-donnas
It has been 904 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
Rove. Treason. Betrayal.
A Democrat - without prefix, without suffix, without apology.
It has been 904 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
...to play host for the New Year's Eve festivities at the pub. The calendar will have likely turned for you before I get back, so let me wish each and every visitor, today, throughout the past year and into the next a new year filled with success, however you may measure it.
Wild Magnolias - Party...and at some point in the PM, a very intentional spin of James Taylor's "Auld Lang Syne."
Sandy Denny - Listen, Listen
Hall & Oates - You Make My Dreams
Buddy Holly - It Doesn't Matter Anymore
Ricky Nelson - Never Be Anyone Else But You
Taj Mahal - Tit Monde
Dusty Springfield - Tupelo Honey
Nick Drake - One Of These Things First
Dave Mason - Can't Stop Worrying, Can't Stop Loving
Pink Floyd - Arnold Layne
It has been 903 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
...about the Xmas tree this year, so none of those 'kitty w/broken ornament' shots this year. I did catch the lovely and talented Miss Audrey Hepcat assuming her Jaba the Cat posture, though...
…that makes me doubt Mark Warner as a potential Democratic nominee is wrapped up in this from Ronald Brownstein.
As Warner begins traveling the country, he is laying claim to a clear brand: the red state savior. Warner presents himself as the candidate whose message of fiscal discipline and social moderation can win back some of the culturally conservative states where Bush romped twiceI guess that's what the Deaners mean by 'Republican-lite.' I just call it Clintonism. Do we really need to revert to the strategy of being a little more like them in the hope that they'll like us more? Or should we be about building a lasting Democratic majority by staking our own ground and giving people good reason to move to our standard?
...she remains silent and, despite the power and attention she could command, lets other Democrats carry the load in fighting the good fight.If she's this timid in pursuit of a near certain Senate reelection, why is she even a subject of Presidential speculation? Which core Democratic issue or constituency does she champion? "Wholly irrelevant" may seem like a harsh judgment, but if you're looking to Hillary for leadership, it's wholly accurate.
I will vote for her in November but, until she starts acting more like a leader and less like political wallpaper, she will remain a disappointment and, even worse in our time of national distress, wholly irrelevant.
Lynn Allen seems to think state Party Secretary Luis Moscoso has a good idea...
A Unity Coalition of several different Party caucuses, including the African American, Agriculture Rural, Asian Pacific, Disability, Federation of Democratic Women, Hispanic/Latino, Jewish, Labor, Progressive, Stonewall, Veterans and Young Democratic caucuses, is planning to hold a Candidate’s forum and try to get the people running for Chair to come and talk with the Coalition and answer some questions.I'm not sure that's a way to get "smarter about how we select the next Democratic Party State Chair." First, the 'coalition' seems to be so broad that the laundry list of concerns from one of the affiliated caucuses is bound to conflict with another, raising the specter of some very public disunity if, say, the YD's ho-hum the worries of aging vets, or the progressive folks admit that they think the labor crowd is a bit too defensive of some of those defense contracts that keep them on the job. Would that happen? Maybe not. Could it? Sure. So, just how smart is it to set up the conditions that would make it possible?
It has been 902 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
…working for civil liberties, civil rights and economic fariness. Now there's a memeworthy notion.
…row by row. Since February, 2005...
-- Those who think Saddam Hussein had strong links to Al Qaeda have fallen from 64 to 41 percent.Something to consider, of course, when you wonder how the hell John Kerry could have lost an election to G.W. Bush. He ran in a country where most people still believed in Bushco™'s fairy tale about the bogeyman in Iraq. Seems more likely all the time we won't get fooled again.
-- Those who believe that Iraq was a serious threat to U.S. security are down from 61 to 48 percent.
-- Those who think Saddam Hussein helped plan 9/11 are down from 47 to 22 percent.
-- Those who think Iraq had weapons of mass destruction are down from 36 to 26 percent.
-- Those who think Iraqi hijackers attacked the United States on 9/11 have fallen from 44 to 24 percent.
Truth.
But it’s not the conservatism that bothers me: principled stands of any kind are a-okay with me. It’s the nastiness. The nattering classes I’d thought were fringy were in fact the opinion makers.Some of my best friends self-identify as Republicans. Really. That's been true through all the shifting circles of friends that come from five and a half or so decades of life. One of the reasons I like them is that they care enough to take a stand, even a wrong one.
When politicians say something desireable is 'politically impossible,' do they mean their constituents are too stupid to understand, or that the pol is just too lazy to explain?
It has been 901 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
...definitive comment from Juan Cole, who busts the Top Ten Myths about Iraq in 2005. It's truly essential analysis. I printed it out for regular study.
...except the part that knocks out the phone lines, resulting in a three day wait for the nice man from Qwest.
…from Robert Steinback in the Miami Herald.
Are we agreeing, then, to give the king unfettered privilege to defy the law forever? It's time for every member of Congress to weigh in: Do they believe the president is above the law, or bound by it?The whole thing is a pretty good primer on contemporary Presidential lawlessness and the public cowardice that feeds it, in fact.
Yeah, I know. It's still supposed to be the festive season and all, and I hate to be a spoil sport, but damn.
It has been 898 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
...whatever that means to you. Here at Upper Left World Headquarters, it's a purely secular celebration of friends and family, a blend of nostalgic schmaltz, caloric indulgence and, of course, loot.
It has been 897 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
…giving the "I" word another look. Barrons imagines what just days ago may have seemed impossible, and they get right to the heart of the matter.
Administration lawyers and the president himself have tortured the Constitution and extracted a suspension of the separation of powers.They're right. The deeds involved, however heinous, pale beside the principle.
It is important to be clear that an impeachment case, if it comes to that, would not be about wiretapping, or about a possible Constitutional right not to be wiretapped. It would be about the power of Congress to set wiretapping rules by law, and it is about the obligation of the president to follow the rules in the Acts that he and his predecessors signed into law. (emphasis mine)The rule of law is at stake. Nothing less. It's time to confront old Ben Franklin's challenge and decide whether the republic is worth keeping. And if not?
If we don't discuss the program and the lack of authority for it, we are meeting the enemy -- in the mirror.Was Pogo prescient again?
...that the continuing war on Xmas dictates that this be a holiday-free random ten, which is fine since the jukebox at the pub is loaded up with three discs of yuletide favorites and I'm getting a bit overdosed. A few of these, though, are so good they're worth a celebration in their own right...
George Jones - She's All I Got
Austin Lounge Lizards - Forty Years Old (And Livin' In My Mom's Garage)
Prince w/Sheena Easton - You Got The Look
Bo Diddley - Hey! Bo Diddley
Iggy Pop - Nazi Girlfriend
Dave Matthews - So Damn Lucky
Peter Ostroushko & Norman Blake - Restless Farewell
Fighting Men Of Crossmaglen - Sean South
Sly & The Family Stone - Hot Fun In The Summertime
Herman's Hermits - Leaning On The Lamp
The Drifters - There Goes My Baby
It has been 896 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
The lovely and talented Miss Audrey Hepcat takes a dim view of my apparent obsession with feline photograpy...
…in the lefty blogosphere, we can't let this happen to Jeanne D'Arc.
I'm afraid my computer, which has been wheezing and sputtering for several months, has finally passed away. I can't really afford a new one, and at the moment I can't imagine how I can keep up the blog with the brief times I can borrow my husband's. Until I can save enough money -- anyone have a suggestion about the cheapest possible reliable computer? -- it looks like this blog will have to go on a long, maybe permanent, hiatus.After some prodding and some agonizing, she's thrown up a tip jar. Everyone should go there and hit it, not because she needs a new computer, but because she continually puts before our eyes something rare, offering real human responses to terrible human suffering with a frankness that most of us have been conditioned to suppress.
To turn America around, we must turn Congress around.
Darcy Burner, Democratic primary candidate for WA-8 in '06.
It has been 895 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
At least 827 American people might beg to differ with the Preznit.
"It's been a good year for the American people."You freaking twit. Your country - my country, dammit - is at war.
Atrios…
"What the hell is a war on terror anyway and who other than crazy people think it can be 'won?'"Hard to put it in the platform, I guess, but it raises a good point.
Ronald Reagan was probably the last prominent Republican to even bother trying to claim the legacy of the widely hailed father of modern conservatism, Barry Goldwater, although the credibility of that claim was as elastic as Paul Krassner's silly putty reality. This crowd doesn't even bother.
People who support a clandestine program of warrantless domestic spying are not “conservatives” or “libertarians.” Neither are people who support the creation of a worldwide archipelago of secret torture sites. Neither are people who support the usurpation of the functions of government by the executive branch; who espouse the theory that the executive branch is the final arbiter of the legality of the actions of the executive branch; and who call for the investigation or prosecution of a free press that dares to report on the executive branch’s secret programs of domestic spying and outsourced torture.Berube calls them "the radical right." Since they don't want to conserve anything, or build anything, since they're so hell bent on destroying our democracy, I call them destructionists.
Atrios paints the target.
"There is a civil liberties issue, and we can have that debate too, but this is about President Bush willfully and intentionally committing multiple felonies."The President is a criminal. He admits it.
Is the senior Senator from Alaska going to give us all a terrific holiday gift?
But last night, when the Senate voted to strike the drilling provision, Stevens did not take it well. "This has been the saddest day of my life," he said. "It's a day I don't want to remember. I say goodbye to the Senate tonight. Thank you very much."Don't let the door hit you and all that, but, well, he's a Republican.
It has been 894 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
…calling for justice.
WASHINGTON - The Senate blocked oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge Wednesday, rejecting a must-pass defense spending bill where supporters positioned the quarter-century-old environmental issue to garner broader support.…but, jeebus. The defense appropriation?
It has been 893 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
…or said, anyway...
"Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution."Remember that bit I bolded the next time a wingnut drags out "9-11 changed everything." The Prez sez is isn't so.
"For the last few days, I have witnessed the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of State, and the Attorney General repeatedly misrepresent the facts.
"The record needs to be set clear that the Administration never afforded members briefed on the program an opportunity to either approve or disapprove the NSA program. The limited members who were told of the program were prohibited by the Administration from sharing any information about it with our colleagues, including other members of the Intelligence Committees.
It has been 892 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
John McCain.
Saying that Sept. 11 "changed everything," McCain told ABC's "This Week": "The president, I think, has the right to do this."Equations be damned, Senator. Everything hasn't changed. The Constitution hasn't been changed. Hell, eight years of the best efforts (largely in pursuit of the war on (some) drugs) of the at least occasionally competent Clinton administration couldn't completely eviscerate the 4th Amendment. There's simply no excuse for letting this unpopular destructionist incompetent get away with it.
"We all know that since Sept. 11 we have new challenges with enemies that exist within the United States of America - so the equation has changed."
…from The Rude Pundit...
Do We Have To Wait Until Bush Purges 20 Million of Us Before We Can Say He's Like Stalin?...and a good answer, too.
It has been 891 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."Nope, not a thing in there about "saving American lives." In fact, as too many Presidents in our history have sadly discovered, sometimes preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution requires the sacrifice of lives.
... in demonstrating love through stuff."Yep, that's what Xmas is to me.
It has been 890 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
…not to share. From Goldy.
Wing-nuts roasting on an open fire,(Personally, I don't have any problem wishing people a Merry Christmas if they're the kind of people who wouldn't mind if I said Happy Holidays.
Jack boots stomping through the snow,
Yuletide pundits join the paranoid choir
That claims that Christmas has a foe.
Bill O’Reilly knows this turkey of a president
Needs an enemy to fight,
So the ACLU, and George Soros too
Now find it hard to sleep at night.
They know the boobs who watch Fox News
Will blame the “War on Christmas” on the liberal Jews.
And every mother’s child will look in scorn,
To see if Soros really has devil’s horns.
And so I’m offering this simple phrase
To wing-nuts, one to ninety-two,
Although you’d prefer it be said different ways:
Happy Holidays… f*ck you!
Actually, it's not only rock 'n' roll. Some of it's not even close. But I do like it. Every bit of it.
Lyle Lovett - If I Had A Boat
The Beach Boys - Help Me Rhonda
Wham - Wake Me Up Before You Go Go
Skip James - Hard Time Killing Floor Blues
Lou Reed - Walk On The Wild Side
Otis Redding - Shake
The Rolling Stones - It's Only Rock 'n' Roll
Donovan - To Susan On The West Coast Waiting
The Weavers - Rally 'Round The Flag
Blondie - Sunday Girl
It has been 889 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
…until Kwanza. But this can't really be the reason for the season, can it?
Damn, it's nice to win one sometimes.
WASHINGTON Dec 16, 2005 — The Senate on Friday rejected attempts to reauthorize several provisions of the USA Patriot Act as infringing too much on Americans' privacy and liberty, dealing a huge defeat to the Bush administration and Republican leaders.While I'm celebrating, I admit that I may be too tough on my Party sometimes. Perhaps the Democratic commitment to liberty is stronger than I often suspect. There was near unanimity among Democrats (including, I'm proud to say, the upper left team of Cantwell and Murray).
In a crucial vote early Friday, the bill's Senate supporters were not able to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a threatened filibuster by Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and their allies. The final vote was 52-47.
Over at Pandagon, Pam Spaulding offers some observations on Bob Novak's move from CNN to Fox News, including this telling quotation...
"I don't think that's a factor," Novak said. "In 25 years I was never censored by CNN and I said some fairly outrageous things and some very conservative things. I don't want to give the impression that they were muzzling me and I had to go to a place that wouldn't muzzle me."So, Bob Novak has felt as comfortable at CNN as he expects to feel at Fox.
…from Ms. Julien at Big Brass Blog.
...as it now stands, Hillary could - in public - shoot a doctor who performs legal abortions, and - in public - chop off the penis of a gay man and…What's more, she's politically very bright, so I assume she knows this. Which means whenever she lines up with the wingnuts on issues like flag burning, you can safely assume she's not just pandering to the right, she's a believer.
SHE WOULD STILL NOT WIN A SINGLE CONSERVATIVE VOTE…
'kay?
It has been 888 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
Congrats to Senator Russ Feingold for apparently pasting together the votes for a Patriot Act filibuster, motley though his crew may be. At least it's an improvement on his solo nay vote the first time around.
Feingold finds himself with some unlikely allies, including the Christian Defense Coalition. Notably, the National Rifle Association has not endorsed the Patriot Act renewal that was personally negotiated by Vice President Dick Cheney. The NRA's non-position allows its Senate supporters to oppose renewing the law in its entirety.One of my most consistent disappointments with my Party is our inconsistent record on civil liberties. Of course, as a party, the Republicans are no better. It's a sad truth that neither major party really gives a damn about liberty.
"Folks, when we're dealing with civil liberties, you don't compromise them," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, an NRA board member.
…the Preznit comes clean.
"I'm frankly, I'm not all that familiar what's going on up there in Capitol Hill…"…or on planet Earth, apparently.
It has been 887 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
He's nuts.
BRIT HUME: I want to ask you about some of the people around you and your relationship them and how they stand with you.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Sure.
HUME: Secretary Rumsfeld?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Good. He’s done a heckuva job.
"I think that Congressman Ney had better get right with his God."
Texas political consultant Marc Schwartz, who is cooperating in the federal investigation into Ney's campaign finances.
Sometimes I'm afraid…
On the eve of parliamentary elections in Iraq, President Bush today described the United States campaign there as a blend of idealism, pragmatism and flexibility that would lead to "total victory" over the forces of tyranny and terrorism.I mean, there's a case to be made that whyever and however we may have gone to war, we're there and we're obligated to stay and try to make the best of it. It's a case that fails, I believe, when posed against those for any of several avenues to withdrawal, but it's an argument just the same.
Kos compares the website banners in the contested primary to challenge Conrad Burns' Montana Senate seat…
The facts.
To put this in perspective: From December 1941 to August 1945, the U.S. government mobilized an entire nation; manufactured a mighty arsenal; played a huge role in defeating the armies, air forces, and navies of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan; and emerged from battle poised to shape the destiny of half the globe. By comparison, from September 2001 to December 2005, the U.S. government has advanced to the point of describing a path to victory in a country the size of California.Ahem.
It has been 886 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
…from N in Seattle, who gets both the spirit and events of the time right, as I remember them.
From James Wolcott...
The death penalty must be abolished. No former movie action hero--or Yale cheerleader with enough psychological baggage to sink the African Queen--should be entrusted with the power of life and death over his fellow citizens. These are essentially frivolous, uninformed men playacting blue-suited roles of grave responsibility.And why, indeed, do we kill people who kill people to prove that killing people is wrong? A barbaric practice, crudely administered.
It has been 885 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
Paul Berendt has announced his resignation as Chair of the Washington State Democratic Party. It's time, perhaps past time, but it's a mid-term resignation, so his would-be successors, at least those outside his circle of confidence, were caught a bit by surprise.
Who will tell the people?
If the rest of the nation has decided it is too expensive to give the people of New Orleans a chance at renewal, we have to tell them so. We must tell them we spent our rainy-day fund on a costly stalemate in Iraq, that we gave it away in tax cuts for wealthy families and shareholders. We must tell them America is too broke and too weak to rebuild one of its great cities.If it's the truth, if we've given up, it's time to admit it. If we haven't, it's time to stop acting like we have.
It has been 884 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
It has been 883 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
What's wrong with this NYT headline?
Lieberman’s Iraq Stance Brings Widening Split With His PartySimply that the split between Lieberman and most Democrats on defense and foreign policy issues has been a wide one all along. He was, after all, elected by running to the right of Lowell Weicker, who held the seat as a Republican. So why would anyone imagine that he was ever represented a meaningful strain of Democratic thought? Well, there's this…
Five years after running as the vice-presidential nominee on the Democratic ticket and a year after his own presidential bid…Yep, blame Al. He elevated Joe Lieberman from an annoying back bencher to an apparent Party leader, emboldened him to make his own run and created the media's go-to guy whenever the impulse to embarrass Democratic leader's with a dissenting quotation of two grips them.
Random barely begins to describe it...
Even Dozen Jug Band - Original Colossal Drag Rag
Pete Seeger - Turn, Turn, Turn
Canned Heat - Going Up The Country
New Lost City Ramblers - Franklin D. Roosevelt's Back Again
Luther Alison - Should I Wait
Sly & The Family Stone - Sing A Simple Song
Skip James - I'm So Glad
Rolling Stones - I Just Want To Make Love To You
Alison Krauss & Gillian Welch - I'll Fly Away
Bob Dylan - Queen Jane Approximately
It has been 882 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
…finally, the lovely and talented Miss Audrey Hepcat having resigned herself to the knowledge that she'd have to sit still (or recline exhausted, perhaps) eventually…
…but it's not necessarily the best answer.
"What I want Democrats to be discussing is what the president's policies have led to," Emanuel said. He added that once discussion turns to a formal timeline for troop withdrawals, "the how and when gets buried" and many voters take away only an impression that Democrats favor retreat."Rahm's busy with what has to be job one, because the reality is that absent control of at least one legislative body, Democratic influence on policy is negligible, regardless of who wins the intra-party debate. It may well be that the people are ahead of the politicians on withdrawal, but not all the people, not everywhere, and Rahm's looking, as he should be, for a position that will serve all of our challengers.
"The national press is playing up the fact that Democrats do not speak with one voice on Iraq. We should wear it as a badge of honor because it shows we are not playing a political line with war and peace."Eyes on the prize.
If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
...according to Zogby "Of the four percent in Egypt and nine percent in Saudi Arabia who said that 'President Bush's promotion of democracy and reform' was the most important factor determining their attitudes toward the U.S. …...because I don't doubt that this is…
...over 80 percent said this effort worsened their view of the U.S."It's really our best hope, isn't it? I mean, we should be encouraged to the degree they ignore him, because they seem to hate us more when they pay attention.
I've often used the term 'destructionist' to describe a cabal of Republican leaders who seem determined to destroy any semblance of small-d democratic governance in the United States. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's not just a cabal of leaders. Maybe it's every goddamn one of them.
House Republicans, in a party-line vote, rejected a Democratic-sponsored resolution Thursday denouncing a “culture of corruption exhibited by the Republican leadership.”All those 'good' Republicans - the 'moderates,' the 'mainstreamers,' whoever, whatever. Given the opportunity, they all rallied to cast a vote that essentially endorsed some of the most damaging attacks on the respect for order that is necessary in the operation of a democratic legislative body.
The resolution, introduced by Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, would have specifically condemned the GOP majority’s practice of holding open close votes until wavering Republicans can be won over, sometimes with favors or threats.
It has been 881 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
…Hillary's telling the truth? After all, she's not a Republican.
"...if you take the He's Just Not That Into You approach to her actions and look at what she's actually doing instead of constantly speculating, it actually looks like she may not be running for president, or at least not at this time. This, of course, would be perfectly consistent with what she and her staff constantly repeat -- that she is focused on her Senate race -- even though no one believes them."I've been figuring against a Hillary run for some time, probably with an announcement about her concern over the threat the rigors of a national campaign might pose to Bill's health. There's just no way to keep him out of it, or to reign him in when it's underway, right?
“When conservatism was a movement of ideas, it attracted oddballs; now that it’s a movement with power, it attracts sleazeballs.”After all, David Brooks has been aboard for the whole ride. I mean, how do you know this and continue to toe the line? Unless you just naturally fit in...
It has been 880 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
…in fighting back, taught by Ohio State Rep. John Boccieri, D-Youngstown…
“When you call one veteran a coward, you call every veteran a coward,” he said on Sunday in front of Schmidt's Chillicothe Street office. “I was personally offended by that remark, and I don't think there was enough of an apology. I have a message for Jean Schmidt - you're not sending the right message to the troops.”An insult to one is an injury to all. Don't mess with a band of brothers.
…from Tim Tagaris at the DNC blog.
Theirs is a party with a public relations ploy in place of a military and diplomatic strategy in the Middle East.To go with their public relations ploys in place of a jobs policy, an energy policy, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...
It has been 879 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
This remark by Jazon Zengerle has been kicking around in my note cache for a couple of days...
Because it seems as if every day is "Whack John Kerry Day" here on The Plank...Why would that be, Jason? What's the point? And what does it say about The New Republic these days? Of course, TNR is hardly the only contestant in the Kerry whacking sweepstakes. Kos, for instance, is a frequent player and lowgrade grumbling things like the frequency of JohnKerry.com email is widespread.
Breaking news on the Duke's dirty money front, from the PI via the NPI...
McMorris said in a news release late Monday she will give $1,000 received from Cunningham's political action committee to Second Harvest Inland Northwest, a Spokane-based food bank.Fair enough. I missed Cathy McMorris when I first noticed this story. I can't be too condemnatory when someone atones before I accuse them, I suppose, but it's worth noting that our entire Republican Congressional delegation from the upper left has been a spoke in the wheel of corruption that Cunningham served as the hub of. Every one of them. Which leads to this question…
Reichert's chief of staff said Reichert will donate $1,000 to Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps seriously ill children and their families.
…that lawnorder wingnuts of the 'stop the ACLU' variety must be very disturbed by Tom DeLay escaping prosecution for conspiracy to commit a crime on a mere technicality, wouldn't you?
Holden, at First Draft.
Looks like Condi has intitiated another charm offensive, this time without the charm.
No. Really excellent question from David Sirota.
Why Paul Hackett (D) won't go and finally take out an even weaker Rep. Jean Schmidt (R) is truly beyond comprehension … rather than see a nasty Democratic primary, why wouldn't he go run the race he just ran as a frontrunner and take that seat for his party?I don't get it either, anymore than I get the level of blogospheric excitement over the guy. I think if he was the kind of guy that would take on the House race again, I could get a bit excited myelf, though.
...in a comment from Craig R. Harmon. A couple of 'em, in fact.
Just wondering: what's your definition of Swiftboating? It should be something like "alledging (sic) that one's stated service to one's country wasn't exactly what it has been stated to have been", no?To the second question, Craig, well, no.
It has been 878 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
MCCAIN: I think he has become too emotional and understandably so. He goes to funerals. He goes, as many of us do, out to Walter Reed, and he sees the price of war. And I think that that has had some effect on him…Except that somewhere along the path he followed from buck private to bird colonel in the United States Marine Corps, Jack Murtha saw the price of war first hand. In fact, his twin Purple Hearts are evidence to most of us who have been there that Jack Murtha made his own substantial payment toward the price of war.
But don't take my word for it. Richard Reeves checks in with the experts...
The History News Network at George Mason University has just polled historians informally on the Bush record. Four hundred and fifteen, about a third of those contacted, answered -- maybe they were all crazed liberals -- making the project as unofficial as it was interesting. These were the results: 338 said they believed Bush was failing, while 77 said he was succeeding. Fifty said they thought he was the worst president ever. Worse than Buchanan.…and ideology aside, their judgement is not without reason.
· He has taken the country into an unwinnable war and alienated friend and foe alike in the process;An ignorant, incompetent liar and cheat? Sounds about right. Or you could just say…
· He is bankrupting the country with a combination of aggressive military spending and reduced taxation of the rich;
· He has deliberately and dangerously attacked separation of church and state;
· He has repeatedly "misled," to use a kind word, the American people on affairs domestic and foreign;
· He has proved to be incompetent in affairs domestic (New Orleans) and foreign ( Iraq and the battle against al-Qaida);
· He has sacrificed American employment (including the toleration of pension and benefit elimination) to increase overall productivity;
· He is ignorantly hostile to science and technological progress;
· He has tolerated or ignored one of the republic's oldest problems, corporate cheating in supplying the military in wartime.
It has been 877 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
Gilliard gets it.
Because the first thing the compent Iraqi Army would do is turn on the US like a rabid dog. So we send them out in pickups, while Marines laugh at them for doing so. The problem is that many of them speak some English and most of us don't speak any Arabic. They smile in our faces, they do their jobs, but they hate us. Too many Americans die in ambushes and traps for that to be untrue.Think about the new Iraqi army. Think about how many of them have lost a brother, father or son to American firepower. Think of how many have seen their mother, sister or daughter insulted, even humiliated, by American troops resentful of their assignment and ignorant of local culture. Think of the scorn heaped on them by many of their countrymen for their collaboration with the occupiers, and the risks they face in missions assigned and designed by their American overseers.
It has been 876 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
…to the musical question, "What's next?"
The Beach Boys - Good VibrationsThink what you will. I think I've got the only hard drive in captivity containing this particular set of tunes.
The Lovin' Spoonful - Lovin' You
Joe Turner - Shake, Rattle & Roll
The Temptations - Runaway Child, Running Wild
The Chords - Sh Boom
The Dimensions - She's Boss
Gary Lewis & The Playboys - This Diamond Ring
The Daily Flash - Jack Of Diamonds
Roger Miller - You Don't Want My Love
Jesus & Mary Chain - I Love Rock 'N' Roll
It has been 875 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action."
The lovely and talented Miss Audrey Hepcat stakes her claim at the dinner table...
Duke Cunningham may have his faults, but he isn't stingy. He passed his bribe money on quite generously, in fact, according to the list compiled by the DCCC. Some of it even found it's way into the upper left...
· $1,000 Dave ReichertYep, that's King County's previous top cop and the House Republican's Ethics chair. (House Republican's ethics? Contradiction in terms noted.)
· $1,000 Doc Hastings
…from Tom McMahon, DNC Executive Director...
...Unfortunately, at about 10 AM, we got two phone calls -- the first came from Lamar's Cincinnati office informing us that because of the content of the ad, they are refusing to continue to work with us. The second call came a few minutes later from Lamar's Huntington, West Virginia office, informing us that despite our signed contract, they were also rejecting our ad. This reversal came more than 24 hours after the DNC had signed a contract with Lamar, and 48 hours after they had accepted the artwork for the billboards you helped pay to put up.DNC General Counsel Joseph Sandler and Chief Counsel Amanda LaForge have sounded off...
By rejecting these ads, Lamar has limited your right to be heard.
Rep. Schmidt's constituents are entitled to know what she is saying on the floor of the U.S. House and the DNC has a right to tell them. Lamar should either offer a credible reason for its efforts to censor the Democratic Party or else should live up to its contractual obligation and let the DNC put up its billboard and let the people of Rep. Schmidt's district hear the truth.You can, too.
Rummy...
"We were deeply concerned that there could be conflict among the various elements in that country after the end of major combat operations, and there hasn't been, and that's a good thing."Nope, no factional strife in Iraq. Uh-uh.
I mean, at least she's not the Attorney General.
"...you can't allow somebody to commit the crime before you detain them."Or the Queen...
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
`Let the jury consider their verdict,' the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.But we're not safe until she's back at Stanford, because it's...
`No, no!' said the Queen. `Sentence first--verdict afterwards.'
It has been 874 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”
I've put this blog at the service of the DCCC on occasion, enough to feel I have a little skin in the game. I've been generally happy with their efforts, and generally in agreement with their strategies. Of course, The Stakeholder is still the best institutional blog in the biz for my money.
Harris poll
"Most Americans think big companies and political action committees have too much power in Washington..."Ain't it the truth...
I should post something profound about Preznit 30something%'s address to the midshipmen (midshippersons?). But he just lies, doesn't he?
"Maybe God puts you in the place where He thinks you could do the most good."Well, maybe. Of course, this isn't "the place" the Dukester had in mind…
Former Rep. "Duke" Cunningham, 1991