November 28, 2004
White House Delays Rice Confirmation Hearings
Does the White House anticipate problems with the nomination of Condoleezza Rice in the US Senate? Richard Lugar told Fox News Sunday that his offer of an early hearing in the lame-duck session was refused, postponing her confirmation debate until the new Senate session takes office in early January: At the urging of the White House, a key Senate panel will put off consideration of the nomination of Condoleezza Rice to be secretary of state, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Sunday. Sen. Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, said he had suggested "a very early time" for his committee to take up the nomination, which must be approved afterward by the full U.S. Senate. "The White House suggested that that would not be appropriate -- that is, in December," Lugar said on "Fox News Sunday." "So we'll not be having hearings in December. But we'll have...
November 29, 2004
Democrats Vulnerable In 2006: Washington Times
Amy Fagan analyzes the Democrats' election chances in the 2006 Senate races and comes to much the same conclusion I did a week ago -- that the worst of the Republican realignment may still be ahead of them: Democratic senators in the states that President Bush won will face a tough road to re-election in 2006, Republicans say, with their sights set most eagerly on two Democrats named Nelson -- Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Bill Nelson of Florida. ... In Nebraska, Gov. Mike Johanns, a Republican, looks like Mr. Nelson's probable challenger for 2006, and Mr. Bush is expected to campaign on his behalf. In Florida, Republicans will be gunning for Mr. Nelson and hope to recruit a big name such as term-limited Gov. Jeb Bush to challenge him. "These two definitely are going to be watching their backs," said David Mark, editor of Campaigns & Elections magazine....
November 30, 2004
Campaign Finance Reform In A Nutshell (Where It Belongs)
A small case of campaign-finance comingling here in Minnesota provides an excellent object lesson as to why the McCain-Feingold reforms do nothing to eliminate checkbook politics. The Star Tribune's Dane Smith reports on a $300,000 personal contribution made by Matt Entenza, the DFL House minority leader, to a 527 that essentially laundered the money: Faulting both major political parties for an elaborate "shell game," national campaign experts say it may be difficult if not impossible to trace the path of $300,000 that DFL House Minority Leader Matt Entenza contributed to a national "527" organization, which in turn spent generously on campaigns and voter registration in Minnesota. Minnesota Republican Party officials are trying to build a case that the Entenza donation to the 21st Century Democrats was improperly reported and illegal, and that the money was spent directly on behalf of DFL House candidates in Minnesota through a 21st Century political...
Ridge Resigns From DHS
The Washington Times reports that Tom Ridge will resign as director of the Department of Homeland Security at a press conference scheduled for 2:45 ET this afternoon: Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has informed the White House and department staff that he has resigned, U.S. officials said today. In an e-mail circulated to senior Homeland Security officials, Ridge praised the department as "an extraordinary organization that each day contributes to keeping America safe and free." He also said he was privileged to work with the department's 180,000 employees "who go to work every day dedicated to making our company better and more secure." As the Times notes, the US has not had another terrorist attack under Ridge's watch. Despite taking on such a difficult and unwieldy task, he has performed extremely well. We all owe a debt of thanks to Ridge....
December 3, 2004
Bush Picks Up Myers' Support For Intelligence Bill
George Bush has decided to make another push to get the intelligence-reform bill through Congress, and he now has new support to undercut objections from GOP House members that have blocked its passage. Joint Chiefs chair General Richard Myers, whose objections have been used to stall the bill from coming to the house floor, announced yesterday that a Congressional conference session addressed all of his concerns and that he now supports its passage: An Oct. 21 letter written by Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has until now been used by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) to strengthen opposition to the measure on the ground that it could harm the country's war fighters. ... "The issue that I commented on, I understand, has been worked satisfactorily in the conference report," Myers said at a breakfast with reporters yesterday. "That...
December 6, 2004
Bring A Crowbar And A Jackhammer
George Bush today appointed two new members of the Civil Rights Commission, replacing two whose terms have expired. However, at least one of them may need to be bodily removed from the offices as she threatens to stay put until she is good and ready to go: President Bush on Monday moved to replace Mary Frances Berry, the outspoken chairwoman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission who has argued with every president since Jimmy Carter appointed her to the panel a quarter century ago. But Berry balked at leaving now, arguing through a spokesman that she and vice chairman Cruz Reynoso, who also is being replaced, have terms that run until midnight Jan. 21, 2005. The White House maintained that their six-year terms expired Sunday and that Berry and Reynoso had been replaced. The last time Berry went to the mattresses with George Bush was almost exactly three years ago,...
December 7, 2004
Cracks In Partisanship On Social Security Appear
The first cracks in the partisan divide on Social Security appeared this evening, with Florida Congressman Allen Boyd (D-FL) announcing that he would support George Bush's plan to save the plan through privatization: President Bush's call for private accounts within Social Security drew an early expression of bipartisan support Tuesday when Florida Rep. Allen Boyd stepped forward to the disappointment of Democratic leaders. "There are some of us who are willing to work across party lines" on legislation to repair Social Security's solvency, he said. "This is the only bipartisan bill that I know of," Boyd added at a news conference where he said he would serve as the chief Democratic supporter of legislation drafted by Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona. And that's the entire problem with the Democratic approach to both Social Security specifically, and to bipartisanship in general. Bush received an inordinate amount of criticism for polarizing...
Berry Quits, A Day After Her Term Expired
Only in Washington could an official resign from an office she no longer occupied, but the Bush Administration won't complain anytime soon. Mary Frances Berry, along with Cruz Reynoso, decided to "resign" rather than battle the government in court and possibly against federal marshals, allowing two new Bush appointees to take their seats on the Civil Rights Commission: Mary Frances Berry, chairman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, resigned yesterday after more than two decades of criticizing the administrations, both Democratic and Republican, that she served. Berry, an independent, and Vice Chairman Cruz Reynoso, a Democrat, sent resignation letters to President Bush a day after the White House moved to replace the two. Both had resisted leaving Monday, arguing that their terms would not expire until midnight Jan. 21, 2005. The White House maintained that their six-year terms expired on Sunday, and that they had been replaced. In brief letters...
December 9, 2004
LA Times Misses The Point
The Los Angeles Times attempts to analyze the aftereffects of the political tussle over the intelligence bill that has now passed both chambers of Congress and is on its way to the White House. They conclude that Congress has put George Bush on notice that they can't be pushed around any more -- when the Times misses the fact that Bush just steamrolled them: President Bush has gotten a fresh education this week in how to deal with an increasingly feisty Congress as he heads into his second term. The protracted struggle to enact an overhaul of the nation's intelligence community showed that conservative powerbrokers in Congress could not be steamrollered as easily as when Bush first was elected. Republican leaders are not as willing to "win ugly" as when they rammed his Medicare bill through the House last year, with arm-twisting so aggressive that it drew a rebuke from...
Powell: I'm Not Running, Period
Colin Powell squelched speculation today that his retirement from the Cabinet had freed him up to run for political office. He categorically stated that he would not run for any political office in the future, according to the AP: Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday he won't seek political office, dismissing suggestions that he run for governor or senator in New York. Asked about a poll that shows him favored in a hypothetical matchup for the governor's race, Powell said, "I'm not going to be running for office even in my beloved home state of New York, as flattering as that poll might be." ... "I don't think I've ever said I wouldn't be interested in public life again," Powell said. "I think I've repeatedly said over the course of nine-plus years that I've had no interest in political office." Powell has been the center of speculation to replace...
December 10, 2004
What Does Social Security Privatization And Gay Marriage Have In Common?
After a prominent gay-rights organization hinted that they would back the Bush Administration's privatization policy for Social Security, dozens of LGBT activists wrote letters to every member of Congress denouncing the statement and swearing that they will not negotiate for their rights: Dozens of prominent advocates for gay rights sent a letter to every member of Congress yesterday stating that they would reject any plan to bargain for equal rights, and specifically decried a report that the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay political organization, was planning to "moderate" its positions and would possibly support President Bush's plan to create private Social Security accounts. The letter, titled "Where We Stand," was released by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) in response to an article in yesterday's New York Times. The article quoted officials from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) as saying that, in light of defeats for...
December 11, 2004
Call It The Shotgun Approach
After enduring days of innuendo, character assassinations, and pseudoscandals, Bernard Kerik finally withdrew his nomination for the top job at the Department of Homeland Security for a surprising reason -- hiring an illegal immigrant as a domestic worker: Bernard Kerik, New York City's former top cop, withdrew his name from consideration to be President Bush's homeland security secretary, a victim of the embarrassing "nanny problem" that has killed the nominations of other prominent officials. ... While assembling paperwork for his Senate confirmation, Kerik said he uncovered questions about the immigration status of a housekeeper-nanny that he employed. As homeland security secretary, Kerik would oversee the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. "I am convinced that, for personal reasons, moving forward would not be in the best interests of your administration, the Department of Homeland Security or the American people," Kerik said in a letter to Bush. He said he could not...
December 13, 2004
Brownstein: Beinart Is Wrong
Peter Beinart wrote a long column two weeks ago for the New Republic that called on Democrats to hearken back to post-WWII tradition and coalesce around a strategy of muscular liberalism in a Trumanesque fashion in order to restore their credibility on foreign policy and especially terrorism. Beinart argued that today's Democrats lack the anti-totalitarian fire they had during the Cold War and fail to recognize Islamofascism as the same enemy as Communist oppression. During his appearance on Hugh Hewitt when we filled in, we questioned Beinart's recollection of Democratic resistance to totalitarianism, especially in places like Nicaragua and Cuba, challenges that Beinart left unanswered. Ronald Brownstein picks up the thread in today's Los Angeles Times and also questions Beinart's analysis, this time in his assumptions regarding the circumstances in which Americans for Democratic Action formed and set Democratic foreign policy until the late 1960s: Beinart is surely right that...
The Other Shoes Keep Dropping On Kerik
As I suspected on Saturday, the nanny problem Bernard Kerik cited when he withdrew his nomination as DHS chief does not appear to be the only issue that his confirmation hearing would have revealed. Today, two new revelations about Kerik's tenure in New York demonstrate the poor job done in vetting his candidacy prior to the nomination. First, the Daily News reveals that Kerik managed to conduct two simultaneous extramarital affairs, using a "secret" corporate-rental apartment. One of the women was a publishing magnate, while the other worked for Kerik in Corrections: The first relationship, spanning nearly a decade, was with city Correction Officer Jeanette Pinero; the second, and more startling, was with famed publishing titan Judith Regan. His affair with Regan, the stunningly attractive head of her own book publishing company, lasted for almost a year. Dramatically, each woman learned of the existence of the other after Pinero discovered...
McCain: Still No Confidence In Rumsfeld
In an indication to everyone except the John Kerry Perpetual Campaign For Political Martyrdom that the presidential election is over, Senator John McCain made clear the feelings towards Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to which he alluded last week with only slightly veiled rhetoric. McCain bluntly told an AP interviewer that he had "no confidence" in Rumsfeld: U.S. Sen. John McCain said Monday that he has "no confidence" in Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, citing Rumsfeld's handling of the war in Iraq and the failure to send more troops. McCain, speaking to The Associated Press in an hourlong interview, said his comments were not a call for Rumsfeld's resignation, explaining that President Bush "can have the team that he wants around him." Asked about his confidence in the secretary's leadership, McCain recalled fielding a similar question a couple weeks ago. "I said no. My answer is still no. No confidence," McCain...
December 14, 2004
Lieberman Says No
CNN reports that the Bush administration has made at least two overtures to Senator Joe Lieberman to join the Cabinet -- but Lieberman has passed on both occasions: Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman has twice in recent days said "no" when approached about the possibility of a major job in the second Bush administration, CNN has learned. The Cabinet vacancy at the Department of Homeland Security was the subject of the latest overture, according to congressional and other government sources. Those sources said the earlier overture was to see whether Lieberman might be interested in becoming the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. I'm not sure why the White House would have considered Lieberman for the DHS post, except for Lieberman's role in creating the department. Senators do not make great executives, for the most part, which is one of the reasons why none have been elected directly from the Senate...
December 16, 2004
Intelligence Reform: The New Way To Get Kicked Upstairs
If anyone harbors doubts that the new intelligence-reform act represents anything more significant than an expansion of the American patronage system, this Washington Post report by Walter Pincus should remove them all. Titled "President Gets To Fill Ranks Of New Intelligence Superstructure," Pincus blithely lists the lengthy list of new managers sitting atop an already hidebound intelligence bureaucracy: President Bush is searching not only for a new director of national intelligence to become his chief adviser on intelligence but also for three other senior officials who will work atop the new organization created by the intelligence reform act he is scheduled to sign into law tomorrow. Along with the job of the intelligence director, or DNI, there is to be a principal deputy DNI, a director of a new national counterterrorism center, and a general counsel to the DNI, all of whom must be presidential appointees subject to Senate confirmation....
Eroding, Eroding
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld took another political body blow yesterday as a key Republican Senator called for his removal in the coming months. Joining John McCain's no-confidence remark earlier this week, Trent Lott told a Biloxi Chamber of Commerce audience that he wants Rumsfeld out in 2005: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should be replaced sometime in the next year, Sen. Trent Lott says. "I'm not a fan of Secretary Rumsfeld," Lott told the Biloxi Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. "I don't think he listens enough to his uniformed officers." ... Lott, speaking to the civic club Wednesday, said the United States needs more troops to help with the war and a plan to leave Iraq once elections take place in late January. The Mississippi Republican doesn't think Rumsfeld is the person to carry out that plan. "I would like to see a change in that slot in the next year...
December 17, 2004
Norm Coleman Sends Warning Message On Rumsfeld
Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman, usually a staunch ally of the Bush administration, sent a message to the White House yesterday with a warning that explanations about the slow supply of armor to Iraq has not satisfied him. He said he didn't want to point fingers, but he intends on opening hearings if better explanations are not forthcoming: Sen. Norm Coleman said he had "serious misgivings" about the process of providing armored vehicles for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I have reservations about what the secretary and the Army have done in this regard," the Minnesota Republican said, but later added, "I'm not at the point of pointing fingers. I don't who did this. I don't know what happened." Coleman said he anticipates an Armed Services Committee investigation, but if that doesn't happen he would consider looking into the matter as chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. This came at...
And Now The Loyalists Spring To The Defense
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld finally got a show of support from GOP leaders in the Senate after taking a beating all week long from his own party. Senators Bill Frist and Mitch McConnell both spoke out in Rumsfeld's defense today: "I am confident that Secretary Rumsfeld is fully capable of leading the Department of Defense and our military forces to victory in Iraq and the war on terror," Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said in a written statement. "Most importantly he has the confidence of his commanders in the field and our commander in chief." Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the GOP whip, said Rumsfeld "is an excellent secretary of defense and we are fortunate to have a man of his courage and vision serving the president at this critical time." It certainly took Frist and McConnell long enough to speak up. Perhaps the eruption of dissatisfaction with Rumsfeld among the...
December 19, 2004
Latino Advocates Learn Lesson From Election; NAACP Clueless?
Darryl Fears reports in today's Washington Post that the 2004 elections taught at least one ethnic-advocacy group the dangers of a strictly adversarial relationship with Republicans, and the incoming leadership has decided to shift directions: At [the National Council of] La Raza, a change in strategy is in the works. Yzaguirre, who was the group's president for more than 30 years, approached issues and politics with direct confrontation. "My posture has been we are going to award our friends and come down on our enemies," Yzaguirre said. "We are going to speak out on [Bush's] policies if they hurt our people." But [Janet] Murguia, who served as deputy director for legislative affairs for the Clinton White House and as a liaison between the Gore-Lieberman presidential campaign and constituent groups in 2000, said she is planning to improve La Raza's relations with the White House. "One of the first lessons you...
Rumsfeld Digs A Little Deeper (Updated)
In a development that hardly helps out the beleaguered Defense Secretary, Reuters reports that Donald Rumsfeld did not personally sign the sympathy notes sent to the families of American servicemen and women who died in Iraq. Lawmakers objected, with Senator Chuck Hagel mimicking John McCain's earlier statement of no confidence: Rumsfeld acknowledged that he had not signed the letters to family members of more than 1,000 U.S. troops killed in action and in a statement said he would now sign them in his own hand. "This issue of the secretary of Defense not personally signing the letters is just astounding to me and it does reflect how out of touch they are and how dismissive they are," Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record) said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "I have no confidence in Rumsfeld," Hagel added. More than in the kerfuffle relating to the uparmoring of Humvees,...
December 20, 2004
World Bank Chief Talking Transition
James Wolfensohn woke up his World Bank employees during an otherwise unremarkable end-of-year speech last week, when he suddenly mentioned "leadership succession", according to the Wshington Post's Al Kamen: "I would like to report to you on the Senior Management Team's annual 'strategic forum,' " he began, apparently in a desperate bid to reduce his audience. He droned on for a while about meeting "Millennium Development Goals," or, as we say in the biz, MDGs, and such. Then, just toward the end, came this: "I know that there is anxiety regarding leadership succession at the Bank." Oh, really? "We can expect clarity on the situation early in the new year, and I have no doubt that we will make an effective transition." Translation: Colin Powell becomes available after Condoleezza Rice's confirmation hearings for her appointment as Secretary of State. After she wins Senate approval, expect to see Powell approached to...
Another Point Of View On Rumsfeld
Earlier today, I updated my latest post on the controversy surrounding Donald Rumsfeld with some clarifications. Dafydd ab Hugh, a regular reader and often a vocal CQ critic, sent me a private reply that I found intriguing -- even though Dafydd still disagreed with me. Seeing as how most CQ readers feel I've strayed a bit off the reservation here, I thought you might like to read Dafydd's note, and Dafydd graciously allowed me to post it here. Dafydd responded to this point in my earlier post: I disagree strongly with those who believe Rumsfeld is indispensable. I think he's the best man for the job, but no one is indispensable, and the Bush administration should have a succession plan in place in any case. What if Rummy dies of a heart attack tomorrow, or simply decides to retire? If that causes us to lose the war, then our war...
December 21, 2004
Congressional Hypocrisy On 9/11 Reform
After holding the executive branch's feet to the fire to implement the 9/11 Commission reform recommendations in the intelligence agencies, Congress has decided to give itself a pass from enacting any reform on the legislative branch. The New York Times reports that recommendations to streamline intelligence oversight have gone unsupported by members who fear losing influence and power: In its unanimous final report in July, the commission cataloged years of turf battles and incompetence by the intelligence and counterterrorism agencies, especially the C.I.A. and the F.B.I., and suggested that Congress had to share the blame for the failure to disrupt the Sept. 11 terrorist plot. "Congressional oversight for intelligence and counterterrorism is now dysfunctional," the report said. "So long as oversight is governed by current Congressional rules and resolutions, we believe the American people will not get the security they need and want." The commission called either for the creation...
Democratic Marginalization Picks Up Speed
The marginalization of the Democratic Party continued to pick up pace in Kentucky, where a traditionally "blue" area saw three of its elected officials switch to the GOP. The Courier-Journal reported that the local party chairman resigned the same day: Three elected officials in the traditional Democratic stronghold of Shelby County defected yesterday to the Republican Party, the same day the local Democratic chairman resigned. The three officials cited varying reasons for their switch, including conflicts with national Democrats on such issues as abortion, guns and taxes, and said the GOP better represents their moral and economic values. "It certainly doesn't reflect my personal beliefs," Shelby County Attorney Chuck Hickman said of the Democratic Party, which he had been a member of for 24 years. He was joined by Simpsonville City Commissioner Cary Vowels and Shelby County Coroner Tommy Sampson. Four deputy coroners and Sampson's son, an emergency medical technician,...
December 22, 2004
The Growing Republican Majority
Bizjournals published a study it conducted on population shifts within the United States, and it concludes that red states will see more representation in Congress and the Electoral College after 2010 than now, and the gains will come at some expense to blue states: Arizona, Florida, Texas and Utah would each gain one seat in the U.S. House of Representatives if districts were reapportioned today, according to an analysis by American City Business Journals. Iowa, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, on the other hand, would each lose a seat. The U.S. Census Bureau released new state-by-state population estimates for 2004 Wednesday. ACBJ used those figures to hypothetically reapportion House seats today, six years in advance of the next scheduled reapportionment in 2010. The gains are split between red and blue states, although Iowa barely qualified as a red state this year. Momentum seems to be shifting towards the redder states,...
December 23, 2004
Democrats Rethinking Abortion, Or Merely Repackaging?
The Los Angeles Times picks up on a movement within the Democratic Party to moderate their views on abortion in order to capture the American political center again. Peter Wallsten and Mary Curtis report that the Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate have urged former Congressman and 9/11 Commission member Tim Roemer to run for DNC chair, against vehemently pro-abortion Howard Dean: After long defining itself as an undisputed defender of abortion rights, the Democratic Party is suddenly locked in an internal struggle over whether to redefine its position to appeal to a broader array of voters. The fight is a central theme of the contest to head the Democratic National Committee, particularly between two leading candidates: former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who supports abortion rights, and former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer, an abortion foe who argues that the party cannot rebound from its losses in the November...
Democrats To Push For End To Electoral College
After the 2004 elections, the Democrats looked at the voting pattern across the United States in the presidential election. Even worse than the state-by-state breakdown, the county map showing the level of support for John Kerry demonstrated the balkanization of the Democrats into the main urban areas, primarily on the coasts. Unsurprisingly, Democrats have lost enthusiasm for the Electoral College as they see less and less likelihood of holding onto anything but the large cities in the future, and Dianne Feinstein announced today that she will propose its demise: Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Wednesday that when Congress returns in January, she will propose a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a one-person, one-vote system for electing the nation's president and vice president. In introducing the amendment, the Democrat from San Francisco is joining Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, who last month introduced a similar proposal...
December 25, 2004
Kerry The E-Mail Santa?
John Kerry took a lot of flack for hoarding over $15 million during his presidential run rather than spending it on his own candidacy or to assist down-ticket campaigns. Now the Washington Post reports that Kerry may hold his large e-mail list as a lever with which to control the Democratic Party: The former Democratic presidential candidate built, over the course of his two-year campaign, one of the biggest e-mail lists in his party. More than 2.7 million supporters signed up to receive his campaign e-mails, which his advisers have said were critical to its fundraising success. Now, as Democrats survey the post-election landscape, some are wondering what Kerry might do with all those e-mail addresses. It is a relatively new question. Few cared what happened, for example, to Al Gore's e-mail list when his Democratic presidential campaign folded. But with the increasing maturation of the Internet as a political...
December 27, 2004
More NIMBY Weeping And Illogic From The Gray Lady (Update)
The New York Times takes a second bite at the prisoners-as-census-boosters meme today, this time in a foolish editorial by Brent Staples. Staples argues, as did the Times' editorial board five weeks ago, that the main motivation for mandatory prison sentencing springs from a desire to skew census counts, Congressional representation, and federal handouts: The mandatory sentencing fad that swept the United States beginning in the 1970's has had dramatic consequences - most of them bad. The prison population was driven up tenfold, creating a large and growing felon class - now 13 million strong - that remains locked out of the mainstream and prone to recidivism. Trailing behind the legions of felons are children who grow up visiting their parents behind bars and thinking prison life is perfectly normal. Meanwhile, the cost of building and running prisons has pushed many states near bankruptcy - and forced them to choose...
December 28, 2004
Protestors At Pentagon Aim To Destroy Morale
I received an e-mail from an active-duty officer currently posted at the Pentagon, decrying the stupidity of the moonbats that congregate outside the entrances to the facility to protest the war. Usually, the protests involve a handful of disorganized and mostly quiet people. This morning's protest, however, got ugly very fast: Captain Ed-- I'm a lieutenant colonel currently assigned to the Pentagon. The area around our Metro entrance is a popular location for moonbat protests; there's a nice lady who stands out there maybe once a week with a sign. Occasionally, there are others. Of course their signs accuse us Pentagon types of genocide, etc., but imbued in their citizenship is the right to be cluelessly ignorant. Those of us in queue to enter the building are instructed not to react. It's hard to comply, but the policy prevents escalation. This morning, it took every ounce of professionalism not to...
Washington Post Starts New Bush Meme, Trots Out Stinginess For An Encore
The Washington Post runs to the rescue of Jan Egeland by both reinforcing the UN undersecretary's assertions of American stinginess and creating a new smear against George Bush, this time for not exploiting the deaths of 60,000 people for his own political gain: The Bush administration more than doubled its financial commitment yesterday to provide relief to nations suffering from the Indian Ocean tsunami, amid complaints that the vacationing President Bush has been insensitive to a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. ... Although U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland yesterday withdrew his earlier comment, domestic criticism of Bush continued to rise. Skeptics said the initial aid sums -- as well as Bush's decision at first to remain cloistered on his Texas ranch for the Christmas holiday rather than speak in person about the tragedy -- showed scant appreciation for the magnitude of suffering and for the rescue and rebuilding work...
January 4, 2005
Clintons Losing Grip On Democrats?
In a move that calls into question Hillary Clinton's expected run for the presidency in 2008, Harold Ickes has pulled out of the race for chair of the Democratic National Committee: Former Clinton aide Harold Ickes and former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk let top Democrats know Tuesday that they won't be running for chairman of the Democratic National Committee. ... Ickes, a longtime Democratic activist, also let party members know he would not be running. "I just decided I probably did not have enough of the attributes (a chairman needs) to do the party justice," Ickes said in an interview. Ickes has strong ties to the Clintons. He served for years as Bill Clinton's deputy chief of staff and has been a big money man for both Bill and Hillary. While the DNC chair may have been more high-profile than usual for Ickes' comfort zone, having him ensconced at the...
January 5, 2005
Did Conyers' Staff Steal Food From The Hungry?
Drudge carried a report from the Detroit Free Press that the staff of Rep. John Conyers took turkeys from a Detroit food bank and passed them to their cronies, rather than to the poor people in Conyers' district. The Grinches at Conyers' office has thus far refused to provide an accounting of the food: The director of a Detroit food bank wants to know what happened to 60 turkeys -- 720 pounds of frozen birds -- that his charity gave to members of U.S. Rep. John Conyers' local staff two days before Thanksgiving to give to needy people. Conyers' Detroit office promised an accounting of any turkey distribution by Dec. 27, but the Gleaners Community Food Bank had received no paperwork as of Tuesday, said the charity's director, Agostinho Fernandes. Fernandes said he became suspicious that the turkeys didn't get to poor people after hearing from a friend that a...
January 6, 2005
Bostonian Proposes New Voting Process
Pennywit draws my attention to a comment on an earlier CQ post by Bostonian, which suggests a new way to vote with safeguards built in for each voter to ensure their vote was counted. In addition to making sure that every ballot is legal (for which many proposals have been floated), we need two things: 1) Independent verificiation of the totals 2) Certainty that every vote was counted For 1, when a voter submits his ballot, he provides one copy to a Republican and one copy to a Democrat. There's a unique ballot number on the ballot, which can be used to verify that the identical ballot was included in both totals. Both parties tally up the votes separately, compare the results, and if the error is too large, nail down every last discrepancy. For 2), the voter takes home a paper stub with the same ballot number, and he...
January 7, 2005
Kerry's Baghdad Disgrace
A time existed in American politics when politicians kept foreign-policy disputes at the shoreline. In a time of war, criticizing US policy from foreign locales used to be considered a craven and disreputable act. But having a sitting US Senator and a failed presidential candidate go to the theater of war to stage a protest against the current administration goes far beyond the pale: Baghdad -- Sen. John Kerry, whose seemingly shifting positions on the U.S. war in Iraq plagued him throughout his presidential campaign, came to this war- torn capital Wednesday to see for himself whether the country was moving toward stability or deeper into chaos. ... The senator said he was more interested in asking questions of soldiers, U.S. officials, Iraqis and even the journalists themselves instead of rehashing the political battles of the past campaign season. But in several instances, Kerry attacked what he called the "horrendous...
Hillary's Bagman Gets Invite To Club Fed
In a blow to her presidential aspirations and possibly her re-election run for the Senate, Hillary Clinton's money man from her first Senate run has been indicted on election-fraud charges stemming from one of her fundraisers. Her fundraiser failed to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in in-kind contributions, allowing Clinton to spend more hard cash in her campaign: The indictment of David Rosen, unsealed in Los Angeles, focuses on his fund-raising for an Aug. 12, 2000, gala for Clinton in Los Angeles. The New York Democrat was still first lady at the time. While the event allegedly cost more than $1.2 million, the indictment said, Rosen reported contributions of about $400,000, knowing the figure to be false. The indictment charged that Rosen provided some documents to the an FEC compliance officer but withheld the true costs of the event and provided false documents to substantiate the lower figure. The...
January 9, 2005
Bush To Get Serious On Curbing Federal Growth
The New York Times and other news outlets report this morning that George Bush has finally heard the outcry from traditional budget hawks in the GOP and will focus on curbing the growth of federal government. Bush plans on building enforceable caps into the next budget, putting a leash on Congress to prevent additions to entitlement spending: In his budget request to Congress, President Bush will try to impose firm, enforceable limits on the growth of federal benefit programs, and the chairmen of the Senate and House Budget Committees say they strongly supported that effort. Administration officials and Congressional aides said Mr. Bush would also seek cuts in housing assistance for low-income families, freezes or slight increases in most domestic programs, and larger increases for domestic security. The spending plan for 2006, like the appropriations enacted for this year, would give priority to military operations and domestic security over social...
January 12, 2005
Like They Need A Hole In The Head
After a three-cycle losing streak for Democrats, one would think that the party might take a look at the more extreme elements of their platform in order to broaden their appeal. However, longtime Senator Ted Kennedy -- from that incubator of political moderation known as Massachusetts -- urged Democrats to go farther in their progressivism: Democrats must do a better job speaking about the principles they believe in and that have guided the party, said Kennedy, D-Mass., in a speech to the National Press Club. "We cannot move our party or our nation forward under pale colors and timid voices," said Kennedy, who has served 42 years in the Senate. "We cannot become Republican clones. If we do, we will lose again, and deserve to lose." With his proteg John Kerry taking the opposite tack on abortion, Kennedy insisted that the path to winning elections lies not in regrouping towards...
January 14, 2005
President Bush Decries Armstrong Williams Arrangements
In a surprising but welcome slap at the rationalization provided by his own Cabinet officer, President Bush scolded the Department of Education for its surreptitious arrangement with conservative commentator Armstrong Williams. Bush not only denounced the payola, but called for all levels of government to learn from this mistake: President Bush expressed disapproval Thursday of the Education Department's decision to pay conservative commentator Armstrong Williams to promote the government's education policy. Bush said he wants his Cabinet to prevent a recurrence. There needs to be a clear distinction between journalism and advocacy, Bush said in an interview with USA TODAY, which reported last week that Williams had been paid $240,000 to advocate for the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. ... In the interview, Bush said, I appreciate the way Armstrong Williams has handled this, because he has made it very clear that he made a mistake. All of us,...
Bring It On ... But Don't
CNN reports that George Bush expressed "regret" over his July 2003 response to assertions that terrorists would attempt to drive American troops out of Iraq: President Bush says he now sees that tough talk can have an "unintended consequence." During a round-table interview with reporters from 14 newspapers, the president, who not long ago declined to identify any mistakes he'd made during his first term, expressed misgivings for two of his most famous expressions: "Bring 'em on," in reference to Iraqis attacking U.S. troops, and his vow to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." "Sometimes, words have consequences you don't intend them to mean," Bush said Thursday. "'Bring 'em on' is the classic example, when I was really trying to rally the troops and make it clear to them that I fully understood, you know, what a great job they were doing. And those words had an unintended consequence....
January 15, 2005
The California Earthquake On Rice
The AP reports this morning that the nomination of Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State has caused a faultline between California's two Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. While Feinstein accepted an invitation to introduce Rice to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for her nomination hearing, Barbara Boxer intends on using character assassination to push her anti-war views: Rice, Bush's national security adviser, lists California as her residence after having served for six years as provost of Stanford University, Feinstein's alma mater. It's customary for nominees to ask home-state senators to introduce them at confirmation hearings. Feinstein accepted Rice's invitation to introduce her to the committee, and praised her in a statement Friday as "the natural choice to be our country's next secretary of state." Boxer gave a hint Friday on how she is expected to greet Rice at the Tuesday hearing. "I personally believe that your loyalty to...
January 16, 2005
About That Poll
Time Magazine publishes a new opinion poll today that shows President Bush picking up more support in overall job approval ahead of the inaugural: President Bushs approval rating has risen to 53%, according to the latest TIME poll conducted January 12 and 13. His approval rating is up 4 points from his Dec. 13-14 approval rating of 49%. The Presidents approval numbers have improved across a variety of issues, including his handling of the economy (51% approve, up from 40% approve in September), his handling of the situation in Iraq (45% approve, up from 41% approval in September), and his handling of the war on terrorism (56% approve, up from 49% in September). I think some of these gains may result from the toned-down partisan environment that naturally occurs between the election and the opening of the new session of Congress. The major issue on Bush's plate continues to be...
January 17, 2005
Inaugural Sneak Peek: An End To The "Compensation Culture"
The London Telegraph reports that a key element in George Bush's inaugural speech this week will be a call for an end to the "compensation culture" that has hijacked medicine and other business in America. The message comprises a part of an entire domestic reform package that includes income taxes and the entitlement bureaucracy: Mr Bush wants to clamp down on the "tort" system of civil damages - intended to compensate victims of negligence and accidents - which costs the US economy $230 billion (123 billion), or two per cent of gross domestic product. Mr Bush plans to cap non-economic damages at $250,000 (133,500) per case, far less than the multi-million dollar awards that have become commonplace. Medical cases are the most visible examples, but soaring damages in class actions across the commercial sector would also be restricted. Reform would be popular with the public, who believe that lawyers are...
More Polling Shows Bush Gaining Support
Fresh on the heels of a six-point gain in the latest Time Magazine poll, AP-Ipsos shows George Bush making similar inroads among adults in general. The new polling shows George Bush gaining two-thirds support for his personal attributes, including intelligence: A majority of Americans say they feel hopeful about President Bush's second term and have a generally positive view of him personally, but they also express continued doubts about Iraq. ... Ahead of Bush's inauguration on Thursday, six in 10 people said they felt hopeful about his second term and in response to a separate question 47 percent said they were worried. Most said they were neither angry nor excited about his final four years in office. Considering the partisan atmosphere that has prevailed since the Democrats went crazy in the aftermath of the 2000 election -- and continued after this past election in Ohio -- a 60% "hopeful" rating...
January 19, 2005
Where Have We Heard This Before?
The AP reports on the ascendancy of Howard Dean for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee with a headline that smacks of deja vu -- "Dean Gaining Early Momentum in DNC Race": On Tuesday, the former Vermont governor announced he had the unanimous backing of the Florida delegation to the DNC and also the support of Democratic chairs in Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma, Washington state and Vermont. He plans house parties around the nation later this week, like the ones he used while trying to gain the Democratic presidential nomination. Dean dominated the Democrats' presidential race through 2003, raising more than $40 million and recruiting thousands of supporters through the Internet. But when the voting started in Iowa, Dean stumbled as Democrats rallied around a candidate they thought was more electable Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. I find the DNC raise mildly amusing but strategically negligible. The Democrats seem ready...
Oh, That Crisis!
I've wanted to write on this for some time, but Jon Henke at the must-read QandO beat me to it. The Democrats have accused the Bush Administration of crisis-mongering on Social Security, which they claim remains strong and solvent. However, that's a far cry -- almost literally -- from the rhetoric used by the last Democratic administration in Washington: * Gene Sperling - Clinton Economic Advisor: "this is a chance for both parties to actually show ... that we are saving more to meet the Social Security crisis in the future. If we don't do this, then we are just putting those burdens on a future generation." ... * Senator Kohl - Democrat: Wisconsin [March 22, 2000]: "Comprehensive Social Security Reform is still necessary. Today's changes will do nothing to hold off the coming crisis that will begin when we start drawing down the Social Security Trust fund in 2014....
Showing Their Class
Condoleezza Rice received her confirmation endorsement from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this afternoon on a vote of 16-2. The two voting against? Pending approval by the full Senate, Rice would be the first black woman to hold the job. She was confirmed by a 16-2 vote with Democrats John Kerry of Massachusetts and Barbara Boxer of California voting no. Other Democrats, including ranking member Joseph Biden of Delaware, had said they were reluctantly voting to elevate Rice to the nation's top diplomatic job. A vote by the full Senate was expected by Thursday. My first reaction is shock -- that John Kerry actually attended Senate business. After missing most of the last two-year session of Congress, he's now up to one in a row. No one should be terribly surprised at either vote, or by either Senator. After an incredibly condescending introduction where Kerry expressed gooey admiration for Rice's...
Opening Her Mouth And Removing All Doubt (Updated!!)
Sometimes I wonder if Barbara Boxer ever listens to herself and cringes. If so, yesterday certainly provided opportunities for winces galore as the senator from California kept providing evidence of her status as one of the least intelligent members of the upper chamber. In just her opening statement for her portion of Condoleezza Rice's confirmation hearing, she managed to embarrass herself and her constituents multiple times: Dr. Rice, before I get to my formal remarks, you no doubt will be confirmed -- that's at least what we think. We think there's no doubt? And her favorite color is plaid, too. And if you're going to become the voice of diplomacy -- this is just a helpful point -- when Senator Voinovich mentioned the issue of tsunami relief, you said -- your first words were, "The tsunami was a wonderful opportunity for us." Now, the tsunami was one of the worst...
January 21, 2005
Get The Nuclear Option Ready
The Democrats in the Senate have signaled their intent on turning up the obstructionism that cost them their party leader last election, and the New York Times reports that the signal did not go unrecognized by Republicans: Republicans in Congress seethed Thursday over Democrats' refusal to allow a quick vote on Condoleezza Rice's confirmation as secretary of state, a dispute that provided a quick reality check about the partisan divide on Capitol Hill just hours after President Bush was sworn in. "If this is the kind of comity we can expect for the rest of the session, we are not getting off to a good start," said Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, a member of the Republican leadership. "It is churlish." Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia, said, "You want continuity in this country, and this is a senior cabinet minister." He added, "This didn't win them any merit...
January 22, 2005
Bush To Submit "Tough Budget"
President Bush, fresh off his re-election and spectacular inaugural address, plans on pushing his leanest budget yet for next year, according to the Washington Times: President Bush will propose a virtual freeze on overall non-defense discretionary spending in next year's budget and will abolish or consolidate wasteful, duplicative programs, according to administration budget officials. Deep spending cuts are slated for housing and community development block grants, scientific research, agriculture and veterans programs, among other departments and agencies that, along with higher tax revenue from a growing economy, could shrink last year's $400 billion deficit by more than $150 billion, said budget officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The officials said the budget will essentially freeze aggregate discretionary spending at this year's levels. Last year, Congress kept the rise in discretionary appropriations, excluding defense and homeland security, to less than 1 percent as Mr. Bush requested. But overall non-emergency...
Northern Alliance Radio Today
Don't forget to tune in the Northern Alliance Radio Network today at noon CT. If you're in the Twin Cities, you can hear us on AM 1280 The Patriot. Tonight, of course, is the Minnesota Organization of Bloggers event at Keegan's Pub in downtown Minneapolis, one of our sponsors. We'll be meeting people from 5 pm until whenever. If you're a blogger, a blog fan, or just want to get a drink tonight, come on down and meet the Northern Alliance gang! I'll be there, along with Mitch, The Elder, Saint Paul, King Banaian, and all of the MOB. Bring an appetite for Keegan's excellent Irish fare as well!...
January 23, 2005
CNN: WaPo Report On Military Spy Unit Incorrect On Key Details
The Washington Post dropped a bombshell this morning with a report that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had formed a special intelligence unit in the armed forces that operated outside of CIA and Congressional oversight and reported directly to Rumsfeld. CNN now has a report confirming the existence of the intelligence unit, but contradicts the Post in several critical areas: He confirmed the SSB was formed after the September 11, 2001, attacks "to have as much flexibility as possible" and in response to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's ongoing concerns expressed at the highest levels of the department that the Pentagon did not have the capability to gather intelligence in the field on its own. The official confirmed that the SSB reports to Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby, director of the DIA, but that policies are set by Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone, one of Rumsfeld's most senior aides. ... When...
January 24, 2005
Babsy's Crying (Again)
Barbara Boxer must run through cases of Kleenex every week, crying her eyes out over the oddest issues. The tears this week come from her claims of victimhood at the hands of Condoleezza Rice after last week's confirmation hearings. Boxer claims that Rice "attacked" her when all Babs wanted was a nice, friendly little chat: Sen. Barbara Boxer says she is the real victim of last week's confirmation hearing for Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice, yet continued yesterday to question the national security adviser's honesty. "She turned and attacked me," the California Democrat told CNN's "Late Edition" in describing the confrontation during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. "I gave Dr. Rice many opportunities to address specific issues. Instead, she said I was impugning her integrity," Mrs. Boxer said. Did Rice beat up on poor, sensitive Babs in an unkind manner? Let's go to the transcripts, shall we, and see...
Hillary Can't Find Leadership Under Her Upturned Nose
Hillary Clinton told a Florida audience that America's leaders lack vision, scant days after one of the most inspiring and visionary inaugural speeches in decades. Laughably, she turned to her husband as an example of what America needs: "I don't see that thoughtful, visionary direction that got us where we are today," she told the crowd of hundreds. "The history of America is... to make sacrifices today for a better tomorrow. The progress that then occurred moved everyone forward. "That progress is at risk today," she said. President Dwight D. Eisenhower left a legacy of highways, John F. Kennedy the excitement over space exploration, and Lyndon B. Johnson created the legal framework for civil rights, Clinton said. "What are we investing in today?" "I believe that on both political and substantive grounds, my husband did it just right," she said, referring to former President Clinton. "The deficit reduction act didn't...
University Of Oregon: No Support For Troops On Campus
One of the most tepid and meaningless phrases that has sprung up during the war on terror has been "Support The Troops". Both sides of the partisan divide claim to "support the troops," even while some on one side continually denigrate their mission and demand a retreat. The phrase itself has enough generality to be imbued with almost any meaning desired. Now, however, even that thin cheer for our men and women on the front has come under attack at the University of Oregon. After a single complaint, the university's administration ordered all school vehicles freed of the magnetic "Support The Troops" ribbons that have enjoyed popularity among a wide swath of the public (via Kevin McCullough, ellipses in original): A yellow ribbon sticker that says "Support The Troops" has created a big stir at the University of Oregon. A day after a campus employee was told to remove the...
Dems Wooing Popular Candidate For Run Against Santorum
Democratic heavyweights have apparently settled on their first choice to run against Senator Rick Santorum in 2006, probably the most vulnerable of the GOP caucus up for re-election in the midterms. Yesterday's Tribune-Review reported that Senators Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer have encouraged Pennsylvania stats treasurer Robert Casey, Jr. to toss his hat into the ring: Based largely on the fact that Casey received 3.35 million votes in the treasurer election in November -- the largest vote total for any candidate running for any office in state history -- Casey is being wooed to run by some heavyweight Dems. The Philadelphia Daily News reported last week that Casey has been contacted by U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee head Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York. Casey also is slated to discuss a possible Senate campaign this week with [Governor Ed] Rendell. Santorum may...
January 25, 2005
Senate Democrats Extend Obstructionism To Cabinet Appointments
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid apparently learned nothing from his predecessor's defeat in last year's elections. The Democratic minority has decided to express its frustration at the marginalization they inflicted upon themselves by imbibing in the hair of the dog that bit them: Trying to show that they remain a force despite their reduced numbers, Senate Democrats on Monday threatened new hurdles for President Bush's cabinet choices and expressed deep misgivings about the planned Social Security changes at the heart of this year's Republican agenda. Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota said he was mulling whether to try to stall consideration of Michael O. Leavitt, Mr. Bush's choice for health secretary, unless Mr. Dorgan was guaranteed a vote on allowing importation of cheaper prescription drugs. In addition, a growing number of Democrats are raising issues about the selection of Alberto R. Gonzales as attorney general, a nomination initially headed for...
Senate GOP Agenda Missing Illegal Immigration And Gay Marriage
The conservative wing of the GOP will not delight in the Senate's agenda for this session of Congress. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist left illegal immigration and gay marriage of of the list of top Republican issues: Senate Republican leaders outlined their 10 top legislative priorities yesterday, focusing mainly on cutting taxes and restructuring Social Security. But two notable omissions -- changes to immigration laws and a ban on same-sex marriage -- underscored tensions with their conservative wing. ... The Senate Republicans' top 10 list calls for adding private accounts to Social Security, extending President Bush's tax cuts, limiting personal-injury lawsuits and expanding domestic oil exploration. But GOP Senate leaders moved cautiously on more contentious issues, including abortion, same-sex marriage and immigration. This will be news to conservatives like Rep. James Sensenbrenner, who eventually signed onto the 9/11 Commission "reforms" even though they included nothing about illegal immigration. The Bush...
Temper Tantrum Continues In Full Senate
As hard as I tried, I just couldn't get worked up about the day-long temper tantrum staged by the Senate Democrats in today's debate for the confirmation of Condoleezza Rice. Yes, the debate wasted time and money that could have been put to better use -- but probably wouldn't have been. The Democrats called Rice a liar and a Bush stooge, but that's been their level of rhetoric for two years now, and continually pointing it out grows wearisome. After a while, I have to start finding humor in the fact that the Democratic leadership has become so clueless as to completely miss the fact that they just staged a day-long parody of their last presidential campaign. It confirms for the American public that the Democrats have learned nothing from three successive electoral-cycle defeats and are likely to learn nothing after the next one, either. So, let's move on to...
January 26, 2005
McCain: Democrats "Sore Losers"
As Condoleezza Rice finally won her confirmation for Secretary of State despite the hijacking of the process for Democrats to extend their failed 2004 presidential campaign on the Senate floor, John McCain delivered the scolding that perhaps only he had the stature and the spine to dole out: On the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., suggested Democrats are sore losers. Rice had enough votes to win confirmation, as even her Democratic critics acknowledge, McCain said. "So I wonder why we are starting this new Congress with a protracted debate about a foregone conclusion," McCain said. Since Rice is qualified for the job, he said, "I can only conclude that we are doing this for no other reason than because of lingering bitterness over the outcome of the election." Rice eventually received 85 votes to confirm, with 13 votes against, the highest number ever for a Secretary of State....
January 27, 2005
DHS Dumps Civil Service For Performance-Based System
The Department of Homeland Security will jettison its civil-service pay system in favor of a performance-based compensation and evaluation system, starting next January, according to the Washington Post. The move comes two years after the issue caused former Senator Max Cleland to hold up passage of the bill creating DHS in a futile attempt to block such a move, eventually costing Cleland his Senate seat: The Bush administration unveiled a new personnel system for the Department of Homeland Security yesterday that will dramatically change the way workers are paid, promoted, deployed and disciplined -- and soon the White House will ask Congress to grant all federal agencies similar authority to rewrite civil service rules governing their employees. The new system will replace the half-century-old General Schedule, with its familiar 15 pay grades and raises based on time in a job, and install a system that more directly bases pay on...
January 28, 2005
Oregon U's Sticker-Ban Update
Kevin McCullough has a fresh column out on WND updating his readers on the University of Oregon decision to ban "Support Our Troops" magnetic stickers on university vehicles. Apparently, the outcry has had quite an impact on the administration: The university also admitted the situation had created a public-relations problem (as was cited in the New York Times) but believed it to be based on less-than-factual accounts being reported by said talk-radio shows and blogs. (This was complete nonsense as even a minimal reading of the blog coverage proves.) Additionally, the university said "someone" had "yellow ribboned" the trees encircling the administration building. And when asked what would happen to the ribbons on those trees the university said plainly that they did not break the rules so they would be allowed to remain up. On Wednesday afternoon, "William the brave" as he is now called, turned whistleblower on the university....
January 30, 2005
John Kerry's Tone Deafness Continues
It's beginning to be apparent that John Kerry plans to follow the bitter-loser strategy that unhinged Al Gore after the 2000 election. In his appearance on Meet the Press this morning, Kerry did everything but actually pour ice water on the set to douse the enthusiasm for the tremendous success of the Iraqi election: SEN. KERRY: ... it is significant that there is a vote in Iraq. But no one in the United States or in the world-- and I'm confident of what the world response will be. No one in the United States should try to overhype this election. This election is a sort of demarcation point, and what really counts now is the effort to have a legitimate political reconciliation, and it's going to take a massive diplomatic effort and a much more significant outreach to the international community than this administration has been willing to engage in....
All Democrats Can Talk About Is Running Away
I had no idea how influential our Democratic Senator from Minnesota, Brave Sir Mark Dayton, had become on his party's leadership. On a day when the force of American power and will allowed a long-oppressed people to defy Islamofascists and choose their own representative government, Democrats could only discuss bugging out. That continued with prepared remarks by Senate minority leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who demanded a timetable for retreat on the occasion of our tremendous victory: In a pre-State of the Union challenge to President Bush, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid intends to call Monday for the administration to outline an exit strategy for Iraq. ... "The president needs to spell out a real and understandable plan for the unfinished work ahead: defeat the growing insurgency, rebuild Iraq, increase political participation by all parties, especially moderates, and increase international involvement," Reid will say, according to his prepared remarks. "Most of...
Note To Democrats: You Should Have Said This
In the aftermath of the historic Iraqi election, the Democrats had the opportunity to get aboard the democracy bandwagon, or at least have the sense not to get run over by it. However, their leadership felt that a far better strategy for today was to denigrate the accomplishment of the brave Iraqis who defied terrorists to cast their votes in their first free elections in fifty years and demand a withdrawal. They would have been better off to follow the example of the European leaders whose approval they seem to crave so much. The BBC reports that those politicians have a much better sense of tone in handling the American victory: World leaders have praised the conduct of Iraq's first multi-party elections for more than 50 years. ... French President Jacques Chirac described them as a "great success for the international community", while a spokesman for German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder...
January 31, 2005
So Many Names, So Little Capacity For Thought
I have received e-mail today asking why I'm not making a bigger deal of this portion of the Meet the Press transcript from yesterday, in which John Kerry appears to accuse American intelligence service of running weapons to the Communists during Viet Nam: MR. RUSSERT: And you have a hat that the CIA agent gave you? SEN. KERRY: I still have the hat that he gave me, and I hope the guy would come out of the woodwork and say, "I'm the guy who went up with John Kerry. We delivered weapons to the Khmer Rouge on the coastline of Cambodia [emphasis mine]." We went out of Ha Tien, which is right in Vietnam. We went north up into the border. And I have some photographs of that, and that's what we did. So, you know, the two were jumbled together, but we were on the Cambodian border on Christmas...
February 2, 2005
Michigan Democrats Resist Audit
The Michigan state chair of the Democratic Party called demands from the DNC for an audit of campaign funds a political tactic designed to "tarnish" one of Howard Dean's main opponents in the race for the DNC chair. Mark Brewer refused to conduct an audit on the $8 million in question: The DNC has demanded an audit of the state party's books because its donors want to know where the money went. The request has been turned down, with Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer arguing that an audit is unnecessary. "We don't see a need for it. But we're happy to answer any questions that they may have," Brewer said. "There was nothing wrong that was done. That's why there was no need for an audit." Brewer said the complaints against him are really an attempt to tarnish the Michigan director of the Kerry-Edwards campaign, Donnie Fowler, in his campaign...
Live Blogging The SOTU Speech Tonight
I will be live-blogging the State of the Union speech tonight, on this post. It starts at 8 pm CT, and since I have TiVo, I may use it to scroll back when necessary to capture what was said. 7:59 CT - The escort committees have been selected and have gone off to fetch the President. I'm settling in for the duration. I expect a good speech, but nothing terribly surprising or even particularly memorable. The best parts will have to do with the Iraqi elections, to be sure. Watch for the Ted Kennedy close-up on that one... 8:02 - Don't forget that Hugh Hewitt will appear on Joe Scarborough at 11 pm CT to discuss the SOTU speech. I expect him to bring up Eason's Fables ... 8:09 - We share it with a "free and sovereign Iraq." Nice start. 8:13 - After the reference to Iraq, Bush went...
February 3, 2005
Poll Shows Bush Gained Converts With SOTU Speech
A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows that President Bush gave one of his most effective speeches last night, picking up converts for his strategies on Social Security and Iraq and wound up with an 86% positive response, his highest in 3 years: President Bush's State of the Union address raised support for his policies on health care and Social Security among people who watched the speech, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Wednesday night. The percentage of respondents who said the president's proposals in those areas will help the country rose 15 points from when the same question was asked of the same people in the two days before the speech. In the post-speech sample, 70 percent of respondents said Bush's policies on health care were positive, while 66 percent approved of the president's plan for Social Security. Bush showed almost as much improvement on Iraq, with 78 percent of...
Ward Churchill A Phony Native American: AIM
Ward Churchill, whose reference to certain 9/11 victims as "little Eichmans" drew such outrage, may have more to hide than first thought. Churchill has frequently touted his background as a Native American (Cherokee Nation) as his bona fides to teach and speak on Indian issues, among other causes. Now CQ reader Jim Walker notes a press release from the American Indian Movement and signed by well-known activist Dennis Banks that outs Churchill as a fraud: The American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council representing the National and International leadership of the American Indian Movement once again is vehemently and emphatically repudiating and condemning the outrageous statements made by academic literary and Indian fraud, Ward Churchill in relationship to the 9-11 tragedy in New York City that claimed thousands of innocent peoples lives. Churchills statement that these people deserved what happened to them, and calling them little Eichmanns, comparing them to Nazi...
TNR: Democratic Response To SOTU Bland, Indistinct
Inspired by our interview of Peter Beinart this evening on the Hugh Hewitt show, I decided to take a read through The New Republic to find out what the center-left has to say about the speeches last night by George Bush and the tag-team of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. I expected a defense of the Democratic response similar to that Beinart offerd Mitch and I in our interview -- that the two minority leaders had offered a serviceable if unspectacular counterpoint to Bush's "misleading" rhetoric on just about every topic. Instead, Michael Crowley writes a significant critique of both Pelosi and Reid along the same lines I wrote last night after their delivery of the Democratic response. Crowley refuses to tow the party line and scolds the Democrats for their vacuous, predictable ambiguity (subscription required): That congressional Democrats are still struggling to find their voice was plainly evident in...
February 7, 2005
The Non-Existent Cuts At The VA
The New York Times tries its best to hype up a controversy over veterans' benefits in the new budget submitted by the Bush administration, but the Gray Lady reveals herself as the painted lady for the Left instead. Robert Pear and Carl Hulse offer up this slanted look at the new budget under the headline "Bush Budget Raises Prescription Prices for Many Veterans." The qualifier "many" should raise eyebrows, although the reader has to scroll down to the tenth paragraph to discover what it means. Before that, the report uses selected quotes to imply that Bush has taken an axe to veterans' benefits: President Bush's budget would more than double the co-payment charged to many veterans for prescription drugs and would require some to pay a new fee of $250 a year for the privilege of using government health care, administration officials said Sunday. The proposals, they said, are in...
February 10, 2005
The Big Me Celebrates Alone
Bill Clinton opened his presidential library to great fanfare, with a big media splash and predictions of how it would draw large numbers of people eager to relive the supposedly heady days of light and magic of his presidency. So far, the Washington Times reports, those predictions have gone bust, with one notable exception: Although the library originally said it had drawn more than 100,000 visitors in the first six weeks of its opening, the National Archives and Records Administration, which operates the library, told U.S. News & World Report that only 42,045 visitors actually paid the $7 to enter. The rest of the visitors were VIPs, journalists and other nonpaying guests. Although Clinton supporters predicted that 50,000 persons would attend the star-studded Nov. 18 dedication, where actors Tom Hanks and Brad Pitt mingled with the locals, the true number was closer to 20,000, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette....
February 11, 2005
The Party Of "He's Touching Me, Mommy!"
The Democrats managed to reach a nadir in their fight to remain relevant yesterday when a group of senators demanded that President Bush force the GOP to abandon politics and leave their poor Minority Leader alone. Chuck Shumer announced that Bush faced a "new Democratic Party," one that apparently endorses the repeal of the First Amendment: Senate Democrats demanded Thursday that President Bush order a halt to personal attacks on the party's leader, Sen. Harry Reid, and expressed regret that they had failed to mount a stronger defense for his defeated predecessor. "This is a new Democratic Party," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said at a news conference called to release a letter telling Bush to muzzle his "political operatives." "It says to the president, `You will not intimidate us'," said Schumer, who likened the attacks on Reid to political knee-cappings. This kind of petulant whining, dressed up as muscular politics,...
February 14, 2005
Philly Salutes Cop-Killer's French Defenders
I missed this story over the weekend, but the Environmental Republican and Michelle Malkin have called attention to it today. Philadelphia deputy director of commerce Mjenzi Traylor used the mayor's office to welcome a delegation of French politicians and activists seeking the release of convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, and gave them ... liberty bells? French politicians and activists seeking a new trial and freedom for convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal were welcomed in a Friday rally at City Hall and given replicas of the Liberty Bell. Mjenzi Traylor, the city's first deputy director of commerce, told the crowd of about 150 that he was there to "make certain that we are receiving the message that you would like for us to deliver to Mayor Street." Maureen Faulkner, the widow of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner, later called that greeting an "absolute outrage." In what had to be a lesson in...
February 17, 2005
An Anachronism That Only Government Could Save
Two major dailies today note the resignation of PBS president Pat Mitchell and the precarious state of the government-run television service. The New York Times and Los Angeles Times both note the question of relevance for PBS and how difficulties in getting outside resources force it to play politics to stay alive: It was no accident that PBS found itself turning to Elmo, the popular "Sesame Street" character, to lobby on Capitol Hill this week. There were not many options. Public television is suffering from an identity crisis, executives inside the Public Broadcasting Service and outsiders say, and it goes far deeper than the announcement by Pat Mitchell that she would step down next year as the beleaguered network's president. ... "The biggest problem we've got is the structure we've got," Alberto Ibarguen, the chairman of PBS and the publisher of The Miami Herald, said in an interview yesterday. "It...
Democrat's Main Money Man Funded Lynne Stewart Defense
Yesterday, New York state GOP chairman Steven Minarik made a stupid remark about the Democrats being the party of "Barbara Boxer, Lynne Stewart and Howard Dean,", as if the entire party could be characterized by the recently convicted terrorist abetter Stewart, who passed operational messages from Sheikh Abdel Rahman to his followers. DNC chair Howard Dean called on Minarik to apologize or resign, and Gov. George Pataki rightfully called Minarik's remarks outside the "realm of appropriate political discourse." However, National Review's Byron York reveals today that the main money man for the Democrats in last year's election cycle, George Soros, partially funded Lynne Stewart's criminal defense, raising questions of propriety and political damage to the candidates Soros once backed: Billionaire financier George Soros, whose opposition to President Bush's conduct of the war on terror caused him to pour millions of dollars into the effort to defeat the president, made a...
February 19, 2005
More Cheney Rumormongering
World Net Daily reports on rumors supposedly floating around DC -- again -- that Dick Cheney will step down from his position in order to allow Condoleezza Rice to replace him as Vice President. The rumor has Cheney resigning due to his health sometime next year and Rice replacing him in time to build credibility as a presidential candidate for 2008: Vice President Dick Cheney likely will step down next year due to health reasons and be replaced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, according to a report by geopolitical expert Jack Wheeler. On his website, To the Point, Wheeler reports there's a "red-breasted rumor bird" flying around Capitol Hill that has whispered the same thing to most congressional committee chairmen. "We all know that Dick Cheney has been the best vice president of modern times, perhaps in American history," one such chairman told Wheeler. "And we know that he...
February 20, 2005
Kerry Refuses To Leave The Party After It's Over
Anyone who holds dinner parties on a regular basis has experienced the phenomenon of the Guest Who Would Not Leave at least once. Long after all the other attendees have gone home, they continue to pontificate despite the hosts' desire to simply go to bed and start again fresh the next day. Hints don't help, and neither does feigning illness. Only a demonstration of direct will to remove the guest from the defunct event gets the hosts off the hook. So it goes with John Kerry, the final guest to leave the 2004 election party, and the Democrats may have to gather the intestinal fortitude to explain to the Massachusetts Senator that he has to go: Since losing in November, the Massachusetts Democrat has delivered a series of speeches on healthcare, electoral reform and military preparedness. He helped lead the unsuccessful opposition to Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's pick for secretary...
Judas Preacher
The New York Times ran an article today based on conversations surreptitiously taped by a one-time preacher for the Assembly of God (according to a Fox News report) between himself and George W. Bush while the latter served as Governor of Texas. Douglas Wead used the tapes to write a book about his one-time friend and also to corroborate a passage that had come under criticism. Wead allowed the Times to listen to selected passages from these tapes, of which according to the Times the President remained unaware until the Times contacted the White House. Now, with no elections in Bush's future, nothing in the tapes released appear to damage him, and in fact show that Bush truly had concerns with the conservative urge to attack gays: Early on, though, Mr. Bush appeared most worried that Christian conservatives would object to his determination not to criticize gay people. "I think...
February 21, 2005
WaPo Editorial On Campaign Finance: Hair Of The Dog
Today's Washington Post editorial on campaign finance starts out promising, acknowledging that the current system has broken down so badly that -- like a car -- one wonders whether to fix it or junk it altogether. Unfortunately, as with cars, the Post allows its sentimental attachment to thirty years of disastrous post-Watergate government meddling that it opts for more repairs instead of junking the Edsel. Take, for example, their penultimate paragraph and their favorite proposal for "overhauling" campaign-finance rules. And don't forget to bring a map to follow along: The most powerful argument in favor of the current system, or some version of it, is helping less well-funded candidates compete for attention. Two members of the Federal Election Commission, Republican Michael Toner and Democrat Scott Thomas, have proposed raising the primary spending ceiling to as high as $200 million and letting candidates receive as much as $100 million in matching...
Gray Lady Incoherent On Public Broadcasting
The New York Times wrote an editorial on the slow demise of PBS that has to be read to be disbelieved. It argues that Bill Moyers is a centrist and that the problem with this government-financed program is too much accountability and not enough financing: Since its beginnings more than three decades ago, public television has served its audience best as an independent, creative medium, and its goal has been to avoid political and commercial taint. Now, the Public Broadcasting Service, that loose network of 349 public stations, is under assault politically and economically. The need for money to pay for expensive shows has driven it to sell commercial time, and as a result, each year offers less relief from the noisy commercialism on other channels. How can a government program ever be called "independent"? By that measure, Armstrong Williams is an independent voice among the punditry, having been freed...
John Edwards Won't Defer To Kerry In 2008
Showing that he learned a lesson from Al Gore's backstab of Joe Lieberman in the last election cycle, John Edwards told ABC that while he and John Kerry remained close, he would not defer to his former running mate in 2008 if Kerry decided to run again for the presidency: Former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards will not talk about whether he plans to run for the White House in 2008, but he is not pledging to stand aside if former running mate Sen. John F. Kerry tries again. ... "Not only are John Kerry and I friends, our families are close," Edwards said. "I have enormous respect for him. But I'll decide what's the right thing to do based on what's going on with my own family." Last time, Lieberman held off announcing his candidacy while Gore sat around growing his beard and transforming himself into a radical...
February 24, 2005
Wead Slinks Off-Stage
Doug Wead, who surreptitiously taped phone conversations with George W. Bush over a period of two years and began selectively releasing them this week, has had a sudden change of heart after receiving overwhelming, and justified, criticism. Wead now says he'll give the tapes to the White House and has begun cancelling media appearances, according to the New York Times: "My thanks to those who have let me share my heart and regrets about recent events," Mr. Wead wrote in the statement, posted on his Web site Wednesday. "Contrary to a statement that I made to The New York Times, I know very well that personal relationships are more important than history." Mr. Wead, an author who drew on the tapes obliquely for one page in his recently published book, "The Raising of a President: The Mothers and Fathers of Our Nation's Leaders," said, "I am asking my attorney to...
February 25, 2005
Chait Picks Wrong Example For Argument
Jonathan Chait takes on the Bush Administration by claiming that it turns its former associates-cum-critics into Stepford Wives, zombie-like creatures who follow set patterns of behavior after renouncing their heresies and slowly lurching into the sunset. Unfortunately for Chait's rather silly analysis, he relies on Doug Wead as a fulcrum for his point, which causes it to collapse rather quickly: Earlier this week, Wead was proclaiming that he made his tapes of Bush public for the sake of "history." Perhaps the large pile of money he stood to gain from his forthcoming book also factored into his decision. But within a couple days he was desperately backpedaling. On Wednesday, he announced that "I have come to realize that personal relationships are more important than history." He pledged to direct all book profits to charity and to hand the tapes over to Bush. Most presidents have to face betrayal sooner or...
Colin Powell, Unbound
Colin Powell has given one of his most extensive interviews after his resignation last month as Secretary of State, and the London Telegraph publishes it in tomorrow's edition. While Powell talks about several of the controversial moments of his term at State, he pointedly refused to discuss his thoughts about President George Bush, out of loyalty and a sense that his proximity still is too close to comment. The most controversial part of the interview comes in Powell's response to the WMD question. Powell leaves no doubt that he feels personally stained by the failure to find WMD, but he insists the administration's belief was genuine: And now Colin Powell becomes more direct: "I'm very sore. I'm the one who made the television moment. I was mightily disappointed when the sourcing of it all became very suspect and everything started to fall apart. "The problem was stockpiles. None have been...
February 28, 2005
The Party Of Abortion, Imposed On You By Hollywood
Rhode Island Democrats and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committe have focused on a candidate to challenge liberal Republican Lincoln Chaffee in next year's elections. Congressman Jim Langevin appeals most to Rhode Island voters, the DSCC has determined, and they have decided to work with him to unseat Chaffee. However, a group of people 3,000 miles away has decided that Langevin does not toe the abortion line sufficient to their tastes and have decided to inject themselves into Rhode Island politics. Guess where they live? Victoria Hopper, wife of the actor Dennis Hopper, enlisted 16 actors, producers and philanthropists to sign a letter objecting to the potential candidacy of Representative Jim Langevin, who is being recruited for the 2006 race by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The letter writers say they support the primary candidacy of Matt Brown, Rhode Island's secretary of state, for the seat now held by Lincoln Chafee,...
March 2, 2005
Byrd Compares Republicans To Nazis On Senate Floor
Senator Robert Byrd, defending the minority's right to filibuster on the Senate floor today, wound up his speech by comparing Republican efforts to eliminate the hijacking of the Senate on the Constitutional duty of confirming federal judges to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Not only did Byrd imply that the GOP equates to the worst mass murderers of the 20th century, he's so proud of doing so he's posted the speech to his own website: Many times in our history we have taken up arms to protect a minority against the tyrannical majority in other lands. We, unlike Nazi Germany or Mussolinis Italy, have never stopped being a nation of laws, not of men. But witness how men with motives and a majority can manipulate law to cruel and unjust ends. Historian Alan Bullock writes that Hitlers dictatorship rested on the constitutional foundation of a single law, the Enabling Law....
March 3, 2005
McCain-Feingold May Shut Down CQ
I have long railed against the back-door First Amendment violations of the McCain-Feingold Act, which purports to reform campaign financing but in reality acts to criminalize political speech. Now Federal Election Commissioner Bradley Smith explains exactly how MFA could mean the end of political blogging, as we get intimidated by the massive legal requirements that MFA might impose on CQ and other sites: Bradley Smith says that the freewheeling days of political blogging and online punditry are over. In just a few months, he warns, bloggers and news organizations could risk the wrath of the federal government if they improperly link to a campaign's Web site. Even forwarding a political candidate's press release to a mailing list, depending on the details, could be punished by fines. Smith should know. He's one of the six commissioners at the Federal Election Commission, which is beginning the perilous process of extending a controversial...
March 4, 2005
Texas Radio Stands With Blogosphere
Instapundit links to an expression of support for bloggers of all political stripes this morning from Dan Patrick of KSEV 700 AM and the blog Lone Star Times. Dan writes: LoneStarTimes.com is affiliated with KSEV 700 AM, an independently owned talk-radio station in Houston, TX. As such, we believe that we enjoy the "broadcast exemption" that prohibits the federal government from regulating our speech in the manner they are proposing for "mere" citizen bloggers. While we still need to talk to some sharp lawyers and nail down the details, if these restrictions come to pass, KSEV and LST are committed to working out a legally sound way in which individual bloggers of every ideological persuasion and partisan affiliation can somehow register with us and be credentialed as a press representative of KSEV and LST. Like Raoul Wallenberg handing out passports, we will start issuing press credentials to any blogger that...
McCain & Co. Counterattack, But Don't Disclose Previous Interests
Democracy Project notes that the campaign-finance reformers have come out to meet the blogswarm forming around Bradley Smith's revelations about the FEC and their new drive to regulate Internet speech as part of their "reforms". They now claim that Smith overstated the issue, that he has partisan motivations, and that he has always opposed campaign-finance reform anyway. However, here's what they don't tell you about those who are leading this counterattack: Let's say you favor, either through conviction or employment demands, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, commonly known as McCain-Feingold. You're stunned by a blogswarm born of a candid interview one of the commissioners of the FEC grants to an Internet publication. What do you do? Send out a press release written by a man who served on Al Gore's legal team during the Florida recount controversy in 2000, perhaps? A man who's employed by a lobbying firm...
An Open Letter To The United States Senate
Following the example of CQ reader Erp, I wrote a letter to Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold, and copied all 98 other Senators to express my outrage over the direction that the FEC has been forced to take in regulating political speech on the Internet. I encourage you to get involved and do the same, in your own words, in order to serve notice that we will not allow them to silence us. To the honorable Senators McCain and Feingold, et al: I have read with considerable dismay the effect that your recent lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission, upheld by Judge Colleen Kollar-Ketelly, will have on political speech on the Internet. I write a political media-watchdog blog, Captain's Quarters, which enjoys a not-insubstantial daily readership. No one pays me to do this; I operate my site and write on topics purely from personal convictions and a deep desire...
Bradley Smith/NRA News Interview At Redstate
Redstate has a transcript of FEC commissioner Bradley Smith's interview with Cam Edwards of NRA News. Smith explains why the ruling in their courtroom loss could mean bad news for bloggers: CS: Well, let me tell you some of the potential ramifications. I mean, some of the folks now, uh McCain and some of his allies, are out saying, Well, this would only apply to paid ads. Thats juthe FEC already treats paid ads as subject to the act. But nothing in the judges decision limits it to paid advertising, and it, she says anything thats coordinated, for sure we have to regulate. Now, what is coordinated under FEC regulations? Any republication of campaign material counts as a coordinated complication. That means, for a blogger, if you put up anything, or ah, from a campaign onto the blogsite, thats going to be republication of campaign material. If you get an...
Day By Day In The Age Of McCain-Feingold
Chris Muir gets it, as usual: Even in silence, Chris speaks volumes....
March 5, 2005
NY Times Reports On FEC Rulemaking
The New York Times reported the ongoing controversy over the FEC's requirement to regulate political speech over the Internet, heavily borrowing from Bradley Smith's C-NET interview and the rebuttal from the Democratic commissioners. However, their rebuttals did not explicitly rule out regulation, and in fact Ellen Weintraub's comments leave enough loophole room for a Mack truck. Anne Kornblut covers the outlines of the controversy but provides little analysis, allowing the dueling commissioners to define the problem: Anyone who decides to "set up a blog, send out mass e-mails, any kind of activity that can be done on the Internet" could be subject to Federal Election Commission regulation, Bradley A. Smith, a Republican commissioner, said in an interview posted Thursday on the technology news site Cnet.com. "It becomes a really complex issue that would strike deep into the heart of the Internet and the bloggers who are writing out there today,"...
March 7, 2005
Unions Choose Politics Over Membership
The AFL-CIO has decided to double its budget for electoral politics instead of investing $35 million into organizing efforts, despite a precipitous drop in membership rolls that goes back decades, the Washington Post reports this morning. The decision comes after a bitter debate between two factions of leadership which threatens the unity of the fifty-year-old organization: AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney last week won the latest round in a bitter internal clash over the future of the labor movement by insisting that more money go for future campaigns to unseat Republicans than for trying to shore up the federation's sagging membership. That showdown pitted Sweeney, AFSCME's Gerald McEntee and the Steelworkers' Leo Gerard against such powerhouse dissidents as the Teamsters' James P. Hoffa, the Service Employees' Andrew L. Stern and the Laborers' Terence M. O'Sullivan. ... By a 2 to 1 margin, the AFL-CIO's executive committee last week rejected the...
Council On Foreign Relations, Coming To A Theater Near You
The Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank with an impressive name if not necessarily an equally impressive track record, has decided to choose celebrity over cerebra. According to Al Kamen at the Washington Post, the CFR welcomes the following distinguished thinkers into their policy-wonk chambers: The venerable Council on Foreign Relations' list of new members, in addition to the usual diplomats, academics, Hill folk and media suspects, includes Michael Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss, Warren Beatty and Mike Medavoy. The most surprising aspect of those links showing political donations are how cheap most Hollywood celebrities are. Richard Dreyfuss made no donations at all during the 2004 cycle despite his rhetoric about George Bush and the evil of Republicanism, and only Michael Douglas spent more than a few grand. If the CFR expected the Hollywood crowd to pick up a few dinner tabs with their new memberships, they will be sorely disappointed....
March 8, 2005
Screaming Hypocrisy: NYT
The New York Times has signaled that Senator John McCain can expect no media blackout of his apparent conflict between his reformer persona and the coordination involving his action on behalf of Cablevision and their $200K donations to the Reform Institute. In an article that manages to almost completely miss the Cablevision connection, McCain still comes across as a hypocrite, raising big money for his pet causes through the supposedly independent 501(c)3 that employs his chief political advisor, Rick Davis: In a small office a few miles from Capitol Hill, a handful of top advisers to Senator John McCain run a quiet campaign. They promote his crusade against special interest money in politics. They send out news releases promoting his initiatives. And they raise money - hundreds of thousands of dollars, tapping some McCain backers for more than $50,000 each. This may look like the headquarters of a nascent McCain...
March 12, 2005
Rice Tempers Presidential Fever For GOP
Condoleezza Rice gave an extended interview to the Washington Times editorial board yesterday, and Bill Sammon reports that while Rice didn't specifically rule out a presidential run in 2008, she certainly didn't endorse the notion either. However, the Republican base may have second thoughts about Rice at the top of a ticket after hearing her center-right views on abortion that can best be described as somewhere between Rudy Giuliani and the Vatican: "I have enormous respect for people who do run for office. It's really hard for me to imagine myself in that role." She was then pressed on whether she would rule out a White House bid by reprising Gen. William T. Sherman's 1884 declaration: "If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve." "Well, that's not fair," she protested with a chuckle. "The last thing I can I really can't imagine it." I don't...
March 16, 2005
Democrats And Kristof Still Don't Get It
The latest fad sweeping the Left, the magic bean that supposedly will grow the Great Electoral Beanstalk, is "re-branding". Fittingly, John Kerry started this notion in post-election strategy sessions, where he correctly noted that the Democrats appeared to have lost the mainstream of American thought. However, instead of finding candidates who consistently represent that mainstream, re-branding just means having the same people who pushed the party out of the mainstream suddenly shift their positions back. In today's New York Times, Nicholas Kristof heartily endorses this strategy and nominates Hillary Clinton as the movement's avatar: If the Democratic Party wants to figure out how to win national elections again, it has an unexpected guide: Hillary Rodham Clinton. Senator Clinton, much more than most in her party, understands how the national Democratic Party needs to rebrand itself. She gets it - perhaps that's what 17 years in socially conservative Arkansas does to...
Moonbat Lemmings, Leftward March
Michelle Malkin has an excellent column today on plans by anti-war protestors to mark the second anniversary of the liberation of Iraq by staging protests all over the country this weekend. As Michelle notes, reality has no application for people who can't see a purple-stained finger for the victory it represents for freedom -- the same freedom that allows them to march in irresponsible protests such as these: With freedom on the move across the Middle East and beyond, aggrieved anti-war protesters here in the United States have nothing better to do this weekend than what they have always done: stand in the way. The most unhinged of left-wing activists, from breast-exposing pacifists to the conspiracy-mongers of MoveOn.org, will descend on New York, Washington and other major media markets to "mark the two-year anniversary of the U.S. bombing and invasion of Iraq." They will do so by clogging the streets,...
March 17, 2005
Two Clueless Editorials On Wolfowitz, And NYT Tears Down That Wall!
The New York Times and the Washington Post both editorialize on the nomination of Paul Wolfowitz to head the World Bank. The Times, following its reporting that trumpets the controversial nature of both Wolfowitz' move and the nomination of John Bolton to the UN, declares that the nomination disrespects the bruised feelings of the international community: When asked why he had nominated Paul Wolfowitz, a chief architect of the Iraq invasion, as the next president of the World Bank, President Bush repeatedly pointed out that as deputy defense secretary, Mr. Wolfowitz had managed a large organization. Even he seemed slightly flummoxed about why a job that is all about international cooperation should go to a man whose work has so outraged many of the nations with which he will be expected to work. Even those who supported the goals of the invasion must remember Mr. Wolfowitz's scathing contempt for estimates...
Investing in Realignment
In a recent Opinion Journal column, pollster John Zogby presents intriguing stats on the election pattern of the so-called "investor class." The participants were asked two questions "Do you consider yourself to be a member of the investor class" and "Who did you vote for?" According to Zogby, self-identified investors comprised 46% of the total vote in November 2004, and 61% of those individuals voted for President Bush. The "investors" Zogby refers to does not simply mean day traders on Wall Street, rather the term includes individuals who are simply saving money for retirement or a college education for their offspring. Zogby therefore predicts that regardless of whether the president wins regarding Social Security reform, his vision of an "ownership society" could spark a significant realignment in favor of the GOP. He concludes: To the president and Republicans: You may lose the battle over Social Security personal accounts, but ultimately...
March 18, 2005
Look Who Gets Social Security Choice
Ben Smith reports in today's New York Observer that while the Empire State's two Democratic Senators remain staunch foes of President Bush's plan to partially privatize Social Security, other Democrats in NYC have already transferred all of their funds into private accounts. Not only have they seen their investments grow, but at least one of them plans to demand full Social Security benefits despite not having paid into the system: The New York City program, which replaces Social Security entirely, goes much further than the "personal accounts" that President Bush has been pushing, which would be only a partial substitute for Social Security. New Yorks program has existed for more than a decade without attention or controversy, despite offering a useful counterpoint to the deeply polarized national debate. It is available to about 20,000 city government managers, political appointees and elected officials, although relatively few take advantage of it. Mr....
Barbara Boxer: Ex-Klansman "Love Of My Life"
One would think that after watching Trent Lott self-destruct while toasting former Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond on his 100th birthday, politicians would take care with their public statements supporting fellow party members with shady pasts. Barbara Boxer apparently didn't take any lessons from Lott's fall from grace, as she described former Klan member fellow Democrat Robert Byrd as "the love of my life" at yesterday's MoveOn appearance: Finally, Boxer made a strong effort to address the uncomfortable fact that she once, in 1994, opposed the filibuster, back when Democrats controlled the Senate and were less concerned about minority power. Now, like Byrd whom she called "the love of my life" she has had a change of heart and believes the filibuster is vitally important. "I thought I knew everything," Boxer confessed. "I didn't get it." "I'm here to say I was wrong," she continued. "I'm here to say I...
March 30, 2005
Photo IDs The New Form Of Jim Crow?
Three states have begun debating the need for better identification at polling places during elections, especially after seeing the voting debacles in Washington and Wisconsin. Seeing how a driver's license or a state-issued photo ID has become necessary for almost any business transaction in modern life, one might expect such a mundane requirement to attract little passion, let alone serious opposition. However, lawmakers in two of the three states -- Indiana and Georgia -- walked off the job and out of the debate in protest, and Wisconsin's governor again threatened to veto any legislation requiring identification at the polls: Legislation that would require voters to show photo identification before casting ballots has touched off fierce debate in three states, with opponents complaining the measures represent a return to the days of poll taxes and Jim Crow. Lawmakers in Georgia and Indiana walked off the job to protest the proposals, which...
March 31, 2005
TNR: Bush Deserves More Credit For Democracy's Spread
The New Republic's Martin Peretz ventures into nearly uncharted territory for the Left, even the center-Left, in the latest edition of TNR. He argues that George Bush deserves more credit for tranforming the Middle East than given him by the media and punditry, and takes them to task for their "churlishness": If George W. Bush were to discover a cure for cancer, his critics would denounce him for having done it unilaterally, without adequate consultation, with a crude disregard for the sensibilities of others. He pursued his goal obstinately, they would say, without filtering his thoughts through the medical research establishment. And he didn't share his research with competing labs and thus caused resentment among other scientists who didn't have the resources or the bold--perhaps even somewhat reckless--instincts to pursue the task as he did. And he completely ignored the World Health Organization, showing his contempt for international institutions. Anyway,...
Berger Cops To Misdemeanor
Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton's former National Security Advisor, will plead guilty to a single misdemeanor tomorrow for taking a raft of classified documents out of the National Archives just ahead of the 9/11 Commission's investigation: Former national security adviser Sandy Berger will plead guilty to taking classified material from the National Archives, a misdemeanor, the Justice Department said Thursday. ... The former Clinton administration official previously acknowledged he removed from the National Archives copies of documents about the government's anti-terror efforts and notes that he took on those documents. He said he was reviewing the materials to help determine which Clinton administration documents to provide to the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. He called the episode "an honest mistake," and denied criminal wrongdoing. Sorry, that explanation simply doesn't fly. As anyone who has ever held a clearance can testify, the security briefings regularly delivered to cleared...
April 1, 2005
The $21 Million Report
Remember Henry Cisneros? He served on Bill Clinton's Cabinet until 1999, when he pled guilty to lying to FBI investigators about paying off his mistress. Cisneros coughed up a $10,000 fine for the crime and left politics. However, the independent-counsel investigation his corruption touched off still continues to this day, and has racked up over $21 million in costs -- over a million of which was spent in the last half of 2004: Nearly a decade after he was appointed to investigate then-Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros, independent counsel David M. Barrett spent more than $1.26 million of federal money in the last six months of fiscal 2004, the Government Accountability Office reported yesterday. Since its inception, the Cisneros investigation has cost nearly $21 million, a total rivaling some of the largest independent counsel investigations in history. Much of the money has gone for pay and benefits, travel, rent and...
'It Was Not Inadvertent'
Today's more detailed report on Sandy Berger's plea deal in the Washington Post underscores the intent of Berger to hide and destroy information that would either embarass or incriminate himself or Bill Clinton before the 9/11 Commission could gain access to it. Far from the "accidental" removal he insisted occurred, Berger now admits to intentionally removing and destroying classified material, a condition of his plea bargain: The deal's terms make clear that Berger spoke falsely last summer in public claims that in 2003 he twice inadvertently walked off with copies of a classified document during visits to the National Archives, then later lost them. He described the episode last summer as "an honest mistake." Yesterday, a Berger associate who declined to be identified by name but was speaking with Berger's permission said: "He recognizes what he did was wrong. . . . It was not inadvertent." In return, the government...
Left Descends To Food Fights
The American Left, having apparently run out of rhetorical gas and losing every argument it makes on foreign and domestic policy, now has opted for food fights to stop debates. Pat Buchanon became the latest target of the Left's childishness at a Western Michigan University debate: Commentator and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan cut short an appearance after an opponent of his conservative views doused him with salad dressing. "Stop the bigotry!" the demonstrator shouted as he hurled the liquid Thursday night during the program at Western Michigan University. The incident came just two days after another noted conservative, William Kristol, was struck by a pie during an appearance at a college in Indiana. After he was hit, Buchanan cut short his question-and-answer session with the audience, saying, "Thank you all for coming, but I'm going to have to get my hair washed." If the attacks weren't so pathetic, they'd...
April 4, 2005
John Bolton Gets Petitions Of Support
John Bolton received public support for his nomination as the American ambassador to the UN, with 64 former defense strategists and arms-control specialists signing an open letter to Senator Richard Lugar. Led by luminaries such as Caspar Weinberger, James Woolsey, and Frank Gaffney, they argue that the 62 Bolton critics who sent a letter opposing his nomination have other motives in mind: Caspar W. Weinberger, a former secretary of defense, R. James Woolsey, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and 64 other retired arms control specialists and diplomats are lined up in support of John R. Bolton, whose nomination to be the American ambassador to the United Nations has stirred some opposition. In a letter planned for delivery on Monday to Senator Richard G. Lugar, the Indiana Republican who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, other committee members and Congressional leaders, they said the attack on...
April 6, 2005
NYT Plays Numbers Games With DeLay
The headline certainly sounds damning: "Political Groups Paid Two Relatives Of House Leader", a bold-type come-on that attracts the eye nicely. Philip Shenon's lead paragraph presses the case even more urgently, using a nice, large sum to get the readers' attention. But once one reads past the first couple of paragraphs -- and uses their elementary-school math -- one realizes that not only does the Gray Lady have nothing unusual to report, but that she's playing games with the numbers. Let's take a look at the lead first: The wife and daughter of Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, have been paid more than $500,000 since 2001 by Mr. DeLay's political action and campaign committees, according to a detailed review of disclosure statements filed with the Federal Election Commission and separate fund-raising records in Mr. DeLay's home state, Texas. Most of the payments to his wife, Christine A. DeLay, and...
Jimmy Karma
With the unprecedented announcement that President Bush would attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II, small notice was given to the fact that not every living ex-President would travel along with Bush to the Vatican. Bush's father and Bill Clinton -- the political Odd Couple these days -- were selected to attend, but Jimmy Carter got left off the list. (Gerald Ford is considered too frail for extended travel now.) Carter eventually griped publicly about the snub, but as the Prowler explains, he can hardly claim to be surprised after his actions over the past four years: According to White House sources, Carter's representatives, apparently from the former president's Carter Center, reached out to the White House over the weekend and offered to lead the U.S. delegation should the President or other senior Bush administration officials not be able to attend. "There was no misunderstanding. It wasn't Carter who...
Schiavo Memo Author Fesses Up, Resigns
After two weeks of guesswork and poorly sourced media releases, the Washington Post's Mike Allen reports tonight that the author of the idiotic Schiavo talking-points memo has confessed to his authorship of the document. Brian Darling, legal counsel to GOP Senator Mel Martinez of Florida, tendered his resignation along with his confession, both of which Martinez immediately accepted: The legal counsel to Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) admitted yesterday that he was the author of a memo citing the political advantage to Republicans of intervening in the case of Terri Schiavo, the senator said in an interview last night. Brian Darling, a former lobbyist for the Alexander Strategy Group on gun rights and other issues, offered his resignation and it was immediately accepted, Martinez said. Martinez said he earlier had been assured by aides that his office had nothing to do with producing the memo. "I never did an investigation, as...
April 10, 2005
Hillary's Move To The Middle Pays Off
A new poll by Rassmussen shows that Hillary Clinton's efforts to recast herself as a centrist has paid dividends. As Dana Milbank reports in today's Washington Post, Americans viewing Hillary as 'liberal' have dropped by eight points: A poll by Rasmussen Reports finds that the number of Americans viewing the former first lady as a liberal dropped from 51 to 43 percent in January. The number regarding her as moderate rose from 27 to 34 percent. After watching John Kerry get shredded over his liberal voting record in the Senate, especially on late-term abortions, Clinton and other Democrats (including Kerry) told their party that they had to find a way to moderate their views on abortion and religion if they wanted to connect to mainstream America again. Clinton immediately put this strategy into effect, talking about her faith in fairly generic terms and bemoaning abortions without ever taking a position...
April 14, 2005
Connecticut Gets It Right
In the long-running debate about gay marriage, the primary issue for conservatives across the board has been the ability of the courts to impose edicts ordering legislatures to provide it regardless of the sense of the people in each state. Massachusetts provided the first example of this; California may soon follow. Efforts to define marriage and civil-union issues in the legislatures in response are the constitutional and common-sense alternative, and Connecticut should be congratulated for allowing its representative government to resolve the issues equitably: Connecticut's House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday that would make the state the second to establish civil unions for same-sex couples, and the first to do so without being directed by a court. The state Senate overwhelmingly approved a civil-unions bill last week, and lawmakers said they expect to endorse the House version as early as next week. Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R) said Wednesday that...
April 19, 2005
More Republican Disarray In Senate
As if the constant retreat on judicial nominations didn't demonstrate the lack of effective GOP leadership in the Senate clearly enough, today's embarassment at the Foreign Relations Committee certainly underscored the fecklessness of the Republicans in garnering effective support for the President's agenda and nominees. Today's victim left twisting in the wind was played by John Bolton, and the role of Brutus was filled by George Voinovich (R-OH): The Senate Foreign Relations Committee delayed a scheduled vote Tuesday on President Bush's pick for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations when a Republican member balked at voting during a contentious hearing. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the committee's Republican chairman, had pushed for a vote on John Bolton's nomination Tuesday afternoon. That plan was derailed after a member of the panel's Republican majority joined Democrats in seeking a delay so the committee could consider new allegations about Bolton's conduct. "I've heard...
April 20, 2005
The Petty Scams Of TSA
After watching the corruption scandals of the Canadians and now the French, new allegations of abuse and theft at the Transportation Security Administration seem almost amatuerish and strangely unambitious. However, as CNN reports, it also demonstrates an agency that bloated almost overnight into a poorly-managed mess, with deep implications for national security: A Transportation Security Administration official spent $500,000 on art, silk plants and other decorations for a new operations center and then went to work for the vendor after leaving the agency, according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general. ... The inspector general found that the project manager and other TSA employees routinely violated agency policies to buy furniture, leather briefcases, coffee pots and other items. They concealed purchases of more than $2,500, including one for $47,449, by splitting them into several credit card transactions, the report said. The report said that higher-ups at...
April 28, 2005
NAACP Internal Report Concludes Mfume Cronyism Allegation 'Difficult To Defend'
Kweisi Mfume, former NAACP president, faces a scandal just as his campaign for the Democratic nomination for Maryland's open Senate seat gets launched. Mfume, who wants to replace Democrat Paul Sarbanes, has been accused of misusing his position at the civil-rights organization to assist women he reportedly either had inappropriate relationships or harassed in a sexual manner. According to the Washington Post, an internal NAACP report says that such allegations will be "difficult to defend" given the evidence presented: Members of the NAACP executive committee first saw the report detailing the allegations against Mfume at an October meeting in Washington, about a month before Mfume announced his decision to step down. The document has been a closely guarded secret -- one board member said the copies that were distributed were numbered and collected after the meeting. Most members reached this week declined to discuss it. The document was intended as...
Finally, An Energy Policy Worth Pursuing
George Bush spoke out yesterday about energy policy for a new push to get a comprehensive energy bill passed for the first time since his first election to the White House. Bush made an attempt yesterday to take his case directly to the people in order to press Congress to get past the gridlock and get some basic work accomplished to address the pressing needs for energy production in the US: President Bush presented a plan on Wednesday to offer federal risk insurance to companies that build nuclear power plants and to encourage the construction of oil refineries on closed military bases in the United States. Mr. Bush also proposed giving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the authority to choose sites for new terminals to receive liquid natural gas from overseas. ... "This problem did not develop overnight, and it's not going to be fixed overnight," Mr. Bush said in...
April 29, 2005
I'm Sorry You Paid Attention To Me
Coloradans who elected Ken Salazar thinking that he portrayed himself honestly as a moderate must have been shocked when he donned the mantle of theological expert this week and declared Dr. James Dobson the Anti-Christ. After waiting a couple of days for a miracle to deliver him unto the Lord, the Right Reverend Salazar finally figured out that his days as a prophet were numbered and offered perhaps this year's lamest apology in politics: Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar said Wednesday that he regretted calling Focus on the Family "the anti-Christ," saying he had misspoken. Salazar uttered the theological term, popularized in the 1970s movie "The Omen," in an interview with a Colorado Springs television station about his war of words with the conservative Christian group. "From my point of view, they are the anti-Christ of the world," Salazar told the station. Salazar, a first-term Democrat, said he was intending to...
Democrats Embrace Faith As A Strategy
In a dramatic shift of rhetoric, the Senate Minority Leader has indicated that Democrats will embrace faith as an electoral strategy for the 2006 electoral cycle ... as long as God coughs up a supernatural event or six: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid raised a few eyebrows yesterday on the Senate floor when he said it would take a "miracle" for Democrats to win enough races next year to take back the Senate. "I would like to think a miracle would happen and we would pick up five seats this time," he said during a floor debate over the filibusters of President Bush's judicial nominees. "I guess miracles never cease." How hypocritical can the Democrats get? For the past two and a half years, they have blocked executive nominations involving people of faith as "extremists" and "out of the mainstream". Senators thunder about the impending theocracy of the GOP majority,...
Stanley Kurtz Understands The Left's Attack On Faith
I wrote two essays today regarding the attack on religious belief by the secular Left in today's politics. From judicial nominees to citizens speaking their minds, the Left has gone on the offensive to portray religious belief as a kind of fascism, with citizens espousing traditional values as proponents of an American theocracy. Stanley Kurtz writes at length about this same phenomenon in National Review Online, specifically taking on Chris Hedges' article in Harper's about how Christians have supposedly declared war on America: Hedges is worried about extreme Christian theocrats called Dominionists. Hes got little to say about who these Dominionists are, and he qualifies his vague characterizations by noting in passing that not all Dominionists would accept the label or admit their views publicly. That little move allows Hedges to paint a highly questionable picture of a virtually faceless and nameless Dominionist Christian mass. Hedges seems to be worried...
May 1, 2005
Organizing The 'Theocracy' Witch Hunt In New York
As further evidence of the Left's efforts to chase the religious from all public debate, a conclave of secular humanists and Leftists have gathered in New York to strategize on the further marginalization of religious belief, issuing dire warnings of the impending secular Apocalypse by theistic Anti-Christs. The Washington Post reports that Democratic politicians, People for the American Way, and assorted anti-religious groups have assembled to hiss at pictures of Bill Frist, among other activities: Secular humanists and leftist activists convened here over the weekend to strategize how to counter what they contend is a growing political threat from Christian conservatives. Understanding and answering the "religious far right" that propelled President Bush's re-election is key to preventing a "theocracy" from governing the nation, speakers argued at a weekend conference. "The religious right now has an unprecedented influence on American politics and policy," said Ralph White, co-founder of the Open Center,...
May 3, 2005
House Ethics Violations: Not Just For GOP Any More
The attempt to ensnare House Majority Whip Tom DeLay in ethics violations may be backfiring on House Democrats, whose own ethical closets have a skeleton or two making an appearance. Two Democratic Congressmen have accepted travel money from the same lobbyist that involved one of DeLay's aides, and now Democratic outrage has given way to a series of rationalizations: At least two aides to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and two Democratic congressmen received travel expenses initially paid by lobbyist Jack Abramoff on his credit card or by his firm, internal records of the lobbying firm show. Longtime House ethics rules that applied to the 1996 and 1997 trips to the Northern Mariana Islands have strictly prohibited lawmakers and their staffs from accepting any congressional trips from lobbyists or their firms. DeLay's office and one of the lawmakers, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said they had no knowledge that Abramoff or...
May 4, 2005
GOP: Pelosi Silence On Democratic Ethics Issues 'Hypocritical'
After spending weeks screeching about the alleged ethical abuses of Republican Whip Tom DeLay, Congressional Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi suddenly came down with a case of laryngitis when several Democrats were found to have the same problems as DeLay in their travel arrangements. The GOP now wants Pelosi to back the same investigations for these Democrats as she demanded for DeLay, and calls her silence "hypocritical": House Republicans called Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi a hypocrite yesterday for not demanding investigations into new ethics questions that have arisen about the travel of her fellow Democrats. "She demanded an investigation into [Majority Leader] Tom DeLay, but hasn't said a word about these Democrats who have done the same thing," said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, North Carolina Republican. "If she doesn't call for investigations into her fellow Democrats, then it's clear she's being a hypocrite." Republicans are wondering why the California representative won't...
May 6, 2005
Open Mouth, Insert Foot, Repeat As Desired
As if the Democrats couldn't look more foolish than they already have this session, now Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has taken to calling George Bush names while the President represents the US at World War II memorials around Europe. Reid called Bush a "loser", in what has to be the oddest case of projection so far this year: In the course of a discussion on filibusters and Senate rules, Washington's top Democrat gave the 60 juniors a lesson in partisan politics, particularly about the commander in chief. "The man's father is a wonderful human being," Reid said in response to a question about President Bush's policies. "I think this guy is a loser. "I think President Bush is doing a bad job," he added to a handful of chuckles. He's a loser, eh? Let's take stock: A. He beat an incumbent VP for a popular President after two terms...
May 7, 2005
The Ghost Of Elections Past
Someone should tell John Kerry that the election is over. Today's New York Times has a profile of the erstwhile candidate, turning around a moribund and singularly unaccomplished 20-year Senate career by pushing a new government program of health insurance for kids in our St. Paul back yard. The reason for this sudden interest in legislation -- Kerry notoriously only has six pieces of legislation to his name after two decades in Congress -- is rather obvious to everyone, even Sheryl Stolberg: More than an ordinary senator, less than a presidential nominee, Mr. Kerry is a politician betwixt and between. He has more than $8 million in the bank and an e-mail list of three million supporters, yet must still prove himself to fellow Democrats, keeping his presidential prospects alive even as he insists it is too soon to talk about 2008. Mr. Kerry has made children's health care his...
May 9, 2005
Inside Out, The (New) John Kerry Story
The Boston Globe reports that John Kerry has transformed himself into that most hackneyed of political clichs, the "outsider" candidate, despite having spent the last twenty years in Washington DC. Using the hilarious notion of turning a twenty-year career in the Senate into outsider street cred, Kerry insists on firing up crowds by talking about how Washington ignores the little people: Gone was his stump speech railing against President Bush's Iraq war policy, the sluggish economy, and the Republican agenda; even mentions of Kerry's Senate career and Vietnam War service had disappeared. Instead, Kerry -- a veteran politician who has held office for 21 years -- took off his suit jacket and roamed a small stage in Louisiana's Old State Capitol to push a new message: Get angry at Washington. ''Washington seems more and more out of touch with the difficulties the average family is facing," Kerry told the crowd...
May 10, 2005
Schumer Eats His Words
If Charles Schumer wanted to turn public opinion against George Bush in the rhetorical battle over judicial nominations, his efforts have backfired on him, if the AP gives any indication. After Schumer's radio address decried Republican rhetoric for being "harsh", the wire ssrvice (through MS-NBC) reports today on Minority Leader Harry Reid instead as unprecedented in his personal attacks: In an institution that prides itself as a last bastion of civility, the Senates new Democratic leader has on occasion turned to playground taunts and name-calling in his four-month tenure. After accusing President Bush of lying about his role in a fight over judicial filibusters, Sen. Harry Reid last week called the president a loser. And Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan? Hes a political hack, according to the formerly soft-spoken Nevada Democrat. ... Late last month, Reid complained that Vice President Dick Cheneys pledge to break a tie if necessary and...
May 15, 2005
Will Wal-Mart Spoil Democratic Unity?
The Washington Post reports that one of the largest and most powerful unions in politics has attacked the Congressional Black Caucus for its engagement with Wal-Mart, the nation's largest employer of African-Americans. The SEIU has long targeted the world's largest retailer for what it calls worker exploitation, but the CBC has cozied up to Wal-Mart instead: The Service Employees International Union has angered a number of African American House members by protesting Wal-Mart's involvement in a Congressional Black Caucus fundraiser. The conflict between two mainstays of the Democratic Party began after Anna Burger, SEIU secretary-treasurer, wrote caucus members "to express our disappointment that the Congressional Black Caucus has given Wal-Mart an opportunity to fashion a false image as a friend of African Americans and of working people generally." SEIU and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. sponsored an April 27 caucus fundraiser. The union has criticized Wal-Mart's personnel practices as anti-labor. Caucus member...
May 16, 2005
GOP Outreach To African-Americans Continues
The Washington Times notes that GOP chairman Ken Mehlman continues to perform quietly (in relation to Howard Dean) but effectively in his outreach towards the African-American community. In a sign of increasing success, Mehlman's efforts resulted in the conversion of a key Pennsylvanian politician, touching off concern at the national level for Democrats: City Councilman Otto Banks, the biggest vote-getter in Harrisburg, Pa., held a campaign fundraiser in the Pennsylvania state capital Friday with the help of Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman that sent new fears rippling through Democratic ranks. Mr. Banks, 33, a political newcomer, stunned Harrisburg's black community when he left the Democratic Party in March to become a Republican, starting what Mr. Mehlman and other Republican officials say they hope will become a realignment trend that will consign the Democrats to permanent minority status. Mr. Mehlman said Friday that he met with Mr. Banks before the party...
May 18, 2005
More On GOP Outreach To Black Communities
Yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer also noticed that Ken Mehlman has been working quietly to develop new ties to the African-American community, as I noted Monday as a contrast to Howard Dean's stewardship of the DNC. The Inquirer remarks on Mehlman's success in developing candidates for strategic races in Pennsylvania, which just barely went into the Democratic column in 2004 and where Democrats can hardly afford to lose any further ground: Give us a chance, we'll give you a choice. That's the party mantra as Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, travels around the country speaking almost weekly to black and Hispanic audiences. The emphasis is on shared social values and economic opportunity. President Bush's backing of education reform, and recent increases in home ownership and small businesses among African Americans are touted. Outreach and advisory committees are being formed nationally, statewide and locally. Monday's news was the conversion of...
Dean: DeLay Worse Than Osama?
Howard Dean has a well-known problem of foot chewing, and he indulged himself again yesterday on his new favorite subject, Tom DeLay. Despite the lack of any criminal investigation into DeLay -- and the bogged-down ethics allegations that have now enveloped a host of Democrats along with the GOP House whip -- Dean just can't stop declaring DeLay guilty before even being indicted: "There's corruption at the highest level of the Republican Party, and they're going to have to face up to that one of these days, because the law is closing in on Tom DeLay," Dean said in a telephone interview before heading to an appearance today in Phoenix. "I think he's guilty . . . of taking trips paid for by lobbyists, and of campaign-finance violations during his manipulation of the Texas election process," Dean said. The DNC chairman sang a completely different tune in the winter of...
May 19, 2005
Howard Dean's Personal Prosecutor?
With Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean calling for Tom DeLay's immediate imprisonment despite a lack of a conviction or even indictment, one wonders how he can feel so confident about getting either one. Perhaps it helps when the Democrats have their own in-house district attorney with apparently no concern over any appearance of conflict of interest. The Houston Chronicle reports today that the supposedly non-partisan Travis County DA investigating charges of corruption among DeLay's staff spent last week fund-raising for the Democratic Party: Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who denies partisan motives for his investigation of a political group founded by Republican leader Tom DeLay, was the featured speaker last week at a Democratic fund-raiser where he spoke directly about the congressman. A newly formed Democratic political action committee, Texas Values in Action Coalition, hosted the May 12 event in Dallas to raise campaign money to take control...
May 22, 2005
Live Blog: Howard Dean
9:01 - On filibusters: "We need more than one party in charge." Perhaps the Democrats could start winning majorities in order to ensure that. 9:04 - Confronted with Democrats' quotes opposing filibusters in the past, Dean changes the subjects. Now he's complaining about Bush's "town meetings" as an example -- WTF? 9:05 - First reference to Tom DeLay! 9:07 - He brought crib notes for his interview to cover his Tom DeLay. Cute. 9:08 - Russert plays the "jail sentence" clip, and Russert slams him with his earlier Osama quote. Response: "I don't think I'm prejudging [DeLay]." Then he says a jury will decide that, even though he hasn't even been indicted. Russert then reads Barney Frank's quote and Dean refuses to acknowledge the issue, saying that his "admonishments" by the House equals a criminal conviction in court. 9:10 - Howard thinks he's Harry Truman! 9:13 - Retraction on DeLay?...
May 24, 2005
Zell Miller Interview At Red State Rant
Lance at Red State Rant had a unique opportunity to interview one of the most fascinating people in politics over the past few years, firebrand Zell Miller, who defied his party and endorsed George Bush in 2004. Lance asked several bloggers, including myself, to submit questions for the interview and graciously asked them on our behalf. The first half of the interview has been posted today, and the second half goes up tomorrow. Lance included one of my questions in today's post: CQ: For such a consumer nation, America seems to do poorly selling ourselves overseas. How do you think we can improve in this area so that people understand what we stand for and what we believe, in the most positive light? ZM: Well it would help if we had more in the media who understand that when they criticize America or the military or anything that relates to...
May 25, 2005
The Arrogant Regency
Tony Blankley writes today in the Washington Times that the new cabal of fourteen so-called centrists in the Senate represent a real threat to the traditional workings of Constitutional government. The bipartisan group resembles a regency, Blankley argues, and one that threatens to take over the entire business of the Senate: Well, it would seem that the Senate has been placed in to receivership by 14 self-appointed trustees, several of whom are among the Senate's most wanton exhibitionists. Some of these ladies and gentlemen can be seen almost daily preening in front of television cameras confessing their moral superiority over their colleagues by virtue of their lack of firm convictions and their unwillingness to be team players. ... Let no one assume that this little assemblage of selfless senators will limit the reach of their writ to the matter of judicial appointments. As if one couldn't guess, on Monday night...
May 26, 2005
CBS Poll: Behind The Numbers
"Bush Out Of Touch," reads the CBS headline from their poll released today, and indeed that is what one of the poll's results show. However, CBS doesn't tell its readers that Bush's overall approval ratings actually increased as well: Four months into his second term, President Bush is increasingly viewed as being out of touch with the American people, according to a CBS News poll. Six in ten Americans say the president does not share their priorities, while just 34 percent say he does the lowest numbers for Mr. Bush since the eve of his first inauguration. If there's any solace for Mr. Bush, it's that even fewer people, just 20 percent, say Congress shares their priorities. Overall, slightly more Americans (48 percent) disapprove of the job the president is doing than approve (46 percent). If readers click the link to the actual results, however, they will find that...
May 27, 2005
Reid: We're Tired Of You Amateurs, Losers, And Hacks Sniping At Us
Harry Reid continues to suffer from his terminal case of projection, the Washington Times informs us this morning. After months of bilious rhetoric from the Senate Minority Leader and his fellow Senate Democrats, Reid told the National Press Club yesterday that the country had tired of Republican partisanship: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid yesterday in a speech laying out Democrats' agenda accused Republican leaders of being so consumed with partisan political "sniping" that they've neglected a troubled economy and a weak national defense. "Democrats are the party of national security," Mr. Reid said at the National Press Club. "And we have an agenda to defend America from danger." ... Mr. Reid said Republicans have squandered the first five months of this Congress breaking the Democratic filibusters against President Bush's judicial nominees, intervening in the Terri Schiavo case and trying to change the rules in the House ethics committee. "Perhaps the...
The Comity Comedy Continues
Captain's Quarters would like to give the Captain Louis Renault award to the Seven Dwarves -- those Republican Senators who sold out the Constitution in the name of Senate "comity" and trust, who found out last night exactly how much value those commodities have on the other side of the aisle. After last night's filibuster of the confirmation of John Bolton left the US without an ambassador to the UN for another few weeks, these titans of insight expressed their shock that Democrats acted out of partisanship again: The vote against cutting off debate over the confirmation of John R. Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations, just as Congress was recessing for Memorial Day, left Republicans fuming and showed there is still some distance to travel to reach the new spirit of Senate comity that some believed was represented in the judicial pact announced Monday. ... Its authors...
May 28, 2005
McCain Rides To The Rescue Of Democrats Again
John McCain has decided to insert himself into the fray of yet another leadership debacle in the Senate, this time the John Bolton nomination to the UN. As Bill Frist embarrassed himself by scheduling Bolton for a floor vote by relying on the "comity" that McCain's last diplomatic effort yielded only to watch as the Democrats double-crossed him and filibustered Bolton, McCain launched his own initiative to reach an agreement -- by forcing the Republicans to capitulate yet again: One of John R. Bolton's leading Republican backers, Senator John McCain of Arizona, signaled his support on Friday for a compromise in which the White House might allow Senate leaders access to highly classified documents in return for a final vote early next month on Mr. Bolton's nomination as United Nations ambassador. The conciliatory signal from Mr. McCain came as Senate leaders traded blame over who was responsible for the miscalculation...
May 30, 2005
DeLay Travel Probe Reveals Massive Democrat Violations
The hounding of Tom DeLay continues to backfire on House Democrats, as the AP has discovered in a review of travel disclosures. Far from being a singular problem in the GOP Whip's office, it turns out that a number of Pelosi's comrades have also been remiss in disclosing their travel expenses and the people who paid them: Scrutiny of Majority Leader Tom DeLay's travel has led to the belated disclosure of at least 198 previously unreported special interest trips by House members and their aides, including eight years of travel by the second-ranking Democrat, an Associated Press review has found. At least 43 House members and dozens of aides had failed to meet the one-month deadline in ethics rules for disclosing trips financed by organizations outside the U.S. government. ... While most of the previously undisclosed trips occurred in 2004, some date back to the late 1990s. House Minority Whip...
Did Democrats Take Drug Money In Exchange For Pardon?
I missed this at Patterico's site the other day, but his intrepid and dogged work on exposing bias at the Los Angeles Times may have led to an even bigger story -- one the Times may have covered up for political reasons. This story reaches back to the final days of the Clinton Administration, when a flurry of questionable pardons flowed from the Oval Office. The most notorious was the pardon of Marc Rich, who later turned out to be heavily involved in the Oil-For-Food scam. However, a more damaging revelation never got published, thanks to the LA Times, which buried the story according to the LA Weekly. It centers on the pardon of Carlos Vignali, whose father donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to various Democrats who lobbied Clinton on the younger Vignali's behalf. The father also hired Hillary Clinton's brother, Hugh Rodham, as his representative for $200,000, which...
Is Religious Education An Official Government Duty?
CQ reader BR brings an unusual document related to the House travel kerfuffle to my attention. It appears that Caitlin O'Neill, who works for Nancy Pelosi, forgot to file her disclosure form (PDF) for a trip she took to Havana, Cuba. O'Neill, who BR says is the granddaughter of former Speaker Tip O'Neill, identifies the purpose of her trip -- as an official duty of Congress -- as "religious education". Has religious education become an official government duty? What would Pelosi's allies at the ACLU say about that? That's not the end of the unusual aspects of this trip. Expenses totaled almost $1400 for the five-day trip to Havana, including $400 for meals. Of course, the American taxpayer didn't get stuck with this bill, which is the reason O'Neill and Pelosi had to file the disclosure. The entire cost of O'Neill's trip was borne by the Universal Life Church. This...
May 31, 2005
Mid-Term Senate Race Tough For Democrats
Ronald Brownstein points out in today's LA Times what has been pointed out here and elsewhere in the blogosphere about the 2006 Senate races -- that Democrats will find themselves in an uphill battle to regain any of the ground they've lost over the past six years. The numbers will once again be against them, as they defend more seats than the GOP and in tougher states: Democrats are optimistic about their chances of ousting GOP senators in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, states that voted for Democratic presidential candidates John F. Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000. But the Democrats are unlikely to regain a Senate majority in 2006 or soon thereafter unless they can reverse the GOP consolidation of Senate seats in states that have supported Bush. Since 2000, both parties have gained Senate seats in the states they typically carry in presidential campaigns. But...
Most Notorious Political Whodunit Climax: Deep Throat Confesses
The mystery of the identity over "Deep Throat", Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward's mysterious inside source for their Watergate exposs, has intrigued Americans for over thirty years. The media has played a number of games and written millions of words in analyses trying to decipher the code, including the Washington Post which published the exposs and maintains a web site dedicated to the question of its source's identity. Today, according to Vanity Fair, the guessing game is over -- as Mark Felt has confessed to being the elusive mole inside the Nixon administration: W. Mark Felt, who retired from the FBI after rising to its second most senior position, has identified himself as the "Deep Throat" source quoted by The Washington Post to break the Watergate scandal that led to President Nixon's resignation, Vanity Fair magazine said Tuesday. "I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat," he told John...
June 1, 2005
The One That Got Away
Todd Foster of the News-Virginian writes today that he had the Deep Throat story three years ago, and would have published the explosive secret three years ago in People Magazine. However, several factors led People to decline the scoop -- mostly the family's demand for money, as well as the mental incapacity of Felt himself: I've been waiting three years for what happened Tuesday: That W. Mark Felt would be named "Deep Throat." Actually, he was outed as Deep Throat by relatives and an attorney who began pitching me the story in June 2002, when I was a regular contributor to People magazine. ... Ultimately the story died because of money. The Felt family and their attorney wanted a lot of money, and People magazine - with my blessing - backed away in what would have been a case of "checkbook journalism." Reputable news organizations don't pay a penny for...
June 3, 2005
Abramoff Was Ecumenical In His Lobbying, It Seems
Despite the Democrats' best efforts to paint controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff as a GOP tool -- especially in relation to Tom DeLay -- further investigation by the Washington Post shows that Abramoff put significant money into the coffers of leading Democrats as well. In fact, two of Abramoff's biggest winners were the present and former Senate Minority Leaders: Lobbyist Jack Abramoff and an associate famously collected $82 million in lobbying and public relations fees from six Indian tribes and devoted a lot of their time to trying to persuade Republican lawmakers to act on their clients' behalf. But Abramoff didn't work just with Republicans. He oversaw a team of two dozen lobbyists at the law firm Greenberg Traurig that included many Democrats. Moreover, the campaign contributions that Abramoff directed from the tribes went to Democratic as well as Republican legislators. Among the biggest beneficiaries were Capitol Hill's most powerful Democrats,...
Poll Shows Byrd In Trouble For Re-Election
Because he has been in the Senate for five decades, Robert Byrd has the reputation of being unbeatable if he chooses to run for re-election, even though West Virginia went for George Bush twice. A new poll suggests that this reputation may be seriously overblown, as he has come up in a dead heat against a Republican who hasn't even announced an intention to run in 2006 (via Don Surber): A new poll shows Sen. Robert Byrd and Rep. Shelley Moore Capito would run neck and neck in a possible campaign for the Senate seat now held by Byrd. An RMS Strategies Poll released today reports that 46 percent of 401 registered voters in West Virginia would vote for Byrd if the election were held now. A total of 43 percent picked Capito, R-W.Va., though she has not announced her intention to run. And 11 percent said they were undecided...
June 4, 2005
Harkin: Christian Broadcasters 'Our Taliban'
Robert Novak reports that stupid statements on Air America aren't limited to the liberal network's hosts. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin appeared on Randi Rhodes' show and called Christian broadcasters "our home-grown Taliban": On the day before Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen was confirmed by the Senate as part of a negotiated compromise, Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin called her "wacko." Harkin, appearing on liberal Randi Rhodes's national radio talk show, became animated as he said of Owen: "This is not a person to put on the bench for a lifetime appointment. This person is wacko! She's wacko!" On the same program, Harkin said Christian broadcasters are "sort of our home-grown Taliban." He added: "They have a direct line to God. And if you don't tune into their line, you're obviously on Satan's line." Thus goes the Democratic outreach to the Christian community. In fact, Harkin and Howard Dean have defined...
June 5, 2005
Frist: Vindication Will Be Mine ... Someday
Bill Frist gets a close look from the New York Times, complete with snarky photo caption and balanced in that people from both sides take their shots at the Senate Majority Leader. The result is that Frist appears somewhat out of touch with the Senate he leads -- not a terribly inaccurate picture, given what we've seen so far this session: With lawmakers returning from the Memorial Day recess, the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, faces a crucial test of whether he can re-establish his authority after a rapid sequence of events that many say diminished his standing and exposed a lack of experience in Congressional intrigue. Adversaries, independent analysts and even some allies say the Senate leader was wounded by a compromise on judicial nominees achieved last month by a handful of Republicans who bucked him, including Senator John McCain, a potential presidential rival in 2008. The damage to...
June 6, 2005
Washington Court Upholds Democratic Victory Despite Irregularities
A judge has denied a challenge to the election of Christine Gregoire as Governor in Washington despite finding irregularities of more than ten times the eventual margin of victory. John Bridges ruled that since no one could show with certainty how those voters voted, the election must stand as last counted: Gov. Christine Gregoire's narrow 2004 election victory was upheld this morning by a judge who said Republicans failed to show that voting problems in King County and elsewhere were the reason Gregoire won by 129 votes. ... Bridges said there was evidence that 1,678 illegal votes were cast in the 2004 election, including 1,391 votes by felons. However Bridges said there was no evidence that Gregoire benefitted from the illegal votes. Bridges said there was also no evidence of misconduct by election workers or that the probems with the election were the result of "partisan bias." The judge said...
June 9, 2005
Who Took Their Eyes Off Of The Western Pacific, And Why?
The Washington Times reports that the CIA has missed the rapid expansion of the Chinese military over the past ten years, raising questions once again about the effectiveness of the nation's intelligence infrastructure. Starting in the mid-90s, the Chinese expansion of their submarine, missile, and other defense technologies has created "surprise" at Langley, a word that has come up a lot lately at CIA headquarters: A highly classified intelligence report produced for the new director of national intelligence concludes that U.S. spy agencies failed to recognize several key military developments in China in the past decade, The Washington Times has learned. The report was created by several current and former intelligence officials and concludes that U.S. agencies missed more than a dozen Chinese military developments, according to officials familiar with the report. The report blames excessive secrecy on China's part for the failures, but critics say intelligence specialists are to...
Jesse Helms Remains Clueless
For Republicans around the country, the retirement of Jesse Helms has allowed many to breathe a little easier since 2003. While Helms' stalwart positions on foreign policy provided America much-needed backbone, especially in relation to the United Nations, his domestic views often caused unnecessary controversy and embarrassment. Helms routinely fell back into name-calling on AIDS and gay-rights issues and never renounced his segregationist past. Neither of these helped the GOP in reaching out to traditionally Democratic populations and made achieving majority status substantially more difficult than it had to be. Now Helms will publish his memoirs, "Here's Where I Stand," intending on setting the record straight. He apologizes for his earlier remarks on AIDS, but still refuses to back down on his opposition to the civil-rights movement: In his upcoming memoir, former Sen. Jesse Helms acknowledges he was wrong about the AIDS epidemic but believes integration was forced before its...
June 11, 2005
Democrats See Bolton Compromise, Raise The Ante
How can you tell when a negotiating partner acts in bad faith? When their demands escalate every time you suggest a compromise. The Senate Democrats have done exactly that in their fight to extend the filibuster on the confirmation of John Bolton to the United Nations. After seeing Pat Roberts try to get the White House to confirm that Bolton had not used his access to check on a short list of names, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd countered by adding more names to the list: Senate Democrats have prepared a list of approximately three dozen "names of concern" and are asking the Bush administration for assurances that John R. Bolton did not misuse his access to highly classified intelligence to seek information about them. ... A copy of the letter was provided to The New York Times by a Congressional Democrat. A Republican Congressional official expressed surprise at the...
Maryland Dems: Dean Has More Authority On Race Than Michael Steele?
The Maryland Democratic Party wants Lt. Governor and GOP Senate candidate Michael Steele to apologize for endorsing a book that encourages Republicans to challenge Democrats for African-American votes, describing the author as "divisive". Meanwhile, they refuse to call for Howard Dean to apologize for statements from his own mouth about Republicans being racist: The Maryland Democratic Party is calling for an apology from Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele for endorsing a book by an author who accuses Democrats of exploiting blacks but is declining to seek an apology from national party Chairman Howard Dean for describing Republicans as a 'white Christian party.' 'I don't think there is a double standard,' said Derek Walker, spokesman for the state Democratic Party. Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Terry Lierman, who has initiated a petition drive for Mr. Steele's apology, was unavailable for comment yesterday. The book, Back to Basics for the Republican Party, reminds...
You Mean The Filibuster Isn't The Center Of The Republic? (Updates Galore)
I want to note that the phrase "quaint Southern tradition" is unfair; lynching was a "quaint American tradition", as a number of people have told me via e-mail and comments, including a few here in the Upper Midwest. Six Meat Buffet weighs in on that and a few other points. And when Beth, Preston, and Rick tell you you're drunk ... well, it might be time to give the keys up for the evening.
June 12, 2005
Crafty Drafty Democrats
One of the discredited accusations Democrats used as a scare technique during the presidential campaign last year was the notion that George Bush planned to restart the draft after winning a second term. Kerry and other Democrats campaigned on college campuses around the country to get students to vote, telling them that only Kerry would keep them from involuntary induction into the armed services. Now that we're eight months past the election, however, the Democrats now insist that the draft should be considered: The United States will "have to face" a painful dilemma on restoring the military draft as rising casualties result in persistent shortfalls in US Army recruitment, a top US senator warned. Joseph Biden, the top Democrat of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made the prediction after new data released by the Pentagon showed the US Army failing to meet its recruitment targets for four straight months. "We're...
June 13, 2005
Disclosure Follies Continue
The measure of the Democratic desperation to "get" GOP whip Tom DeLay has come in the number of late disclosures on travel-related expenses made by recalcitrant House members of both political parties. The New York Times reports that almost exactly half of Congress, evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, have hurriedly filed travel expenses as required by House ethics rules -- some years late: With scrutiny being heaped on Representative Tom DeLay of Texas and other lawmakers over privately financed trips, dozens of members of Congress are moving to set their travel disclosures in order. Roughly 214 lawmakers - half Republicans and half Democrats - have filed reports late since July of last year, some waiting up to five years after taking a trip to properly disclose their travels, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, a nonpartisan group that tracks political spending. Travel records have been available for years but did not attract...
June 16, 2005
The Traveling Circus Continues To Expand
The rock that Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean picked up to throw at Tom DeLay continues to expose lots of worms instead, as the escapades of traveling Congressmen continues to expand. The Washington Post reports today that an analysis of the data now disclosed by representatives and their staffs show that some of them accept substantial travel from groups for which the Congressmen provide oversight through committee assignments: Senior House committee Republicans and Democrats frequently travel at the expense of companies and associations in the industries they oversee, according to financial records released yesterday. The trips are legal, as long as they are paid for by businesses and not by registered lobbyists. But the sheer volume of them -- along with the alluring destinations, not notably related to the business at hand -- could add impetus to calls for greater restrictions when the House ethics committee carries out a directive...
June 17, 2005
Ahh, Democrats ... They're So Cute When They Play Make-Believe
Dana Milbank, of all people, notes the folly of a handful of Congressional Democrats yesterday in pretending to hold a committee hearing on articles of impeachment for George Bush. Just like little girls having a tea party, the Democrats brought in realistic-looking props and played their parts just as if the meeting was real. It was so cute: In the Capitol basement yesterday, long-suffering House Democrats took a trip to the land of make-believe. They pretended a small conference room was the Judiciary Committee hearing room, draping white linens over folding tables to make them look like witness tables and bringing in cardboard name tags and extra flags to make the whole thing look official. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) banged a large wooden gavel and got the other lawmakers to call him "Mr. Chairman." He liked that so much that he started calling himself "the chairman" and spouted other...
June 20, 2005
Perhaps Neil Kinnock Is Writing Again
Inexplicably, disgraced former presidential candidate Joe Biden, the senior Senator from Delaware, has tossed his hat into the ring for 2008. In an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation", Biden answered the question most people wouldn't have bothered to ask: Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) said yesterday he plans to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 unless he decides later this year that he has little chance of winning. "My intention is to seek the nomination," Biden said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "I know I'm supposed to be more coy with you. I know I'm supposed to tell you, you know, that I'm not sure. But if, in fact, I think that I have a clear shot at winning the nomination by this November or December, then I'm going to seek the nomination." After reading this piece by Dan Balz, Post subscribers will be forgiven if their...
Ronnie Earle's Shakedown
Travis County DA Ronnie Earle has been gunning for Tom DeLay for years, trying to tie the long-time GOP House leader to political corruption -- and coming up empty, at least so far. However, NRO's Byron York notes that Earle has found others in violation of the law along the way, notably large corporations who have donated to DeLay campaign, forbidden by Texas law. Does he prosecute the corporations? Apparently only if they don't comply with the Ronnie Earle Clemency Program, which consists of demands for huge cash contributions to his own pet causes: Ronnie Earle, the Texas prosecutor who has indicted associates of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in an ongoing campaign-finance investigation, dropped felony charges against several corporations indicted in the probe in return for the corporations' agreement to make five- and six-figure contributions to one of Earle's pet causes. A grand jury in Travis County, Texas, last...
June 21, 2005
Frist Keeps Heat On Durbin
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist kept the heat on Dick Durbin yesterday, demanding that Minority Leader Harry Reid push Durbin to apologize to the American military and the Senate in a formal apology while in session. Reid rejected that request, stating that he stood by Durbin and his remarks: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist yesterday demanded that Sen. Richard J. Durbin make a "formal apology" on the floor of the Senate for comparing U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to Nazi and Soviet regimes and that he strike his remarks from the Congressional Record. In a letter to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Mr. Frist, Tennessee Republican, said previous bids by the Senate's No. 2 Democrat to clarify his remarks didn't go far enough. "Subsequent statements by Senator Durbin indicate only that he was regretful if people misunderstood his remarks," Mr. Frist said. "We do not believe his remarks...
Abramoff Got OK From House Lawyers On Trips -- Including An FEC Commissioner
In another setback for the efforts to "get" Tom DeLay by attacking lobbyist Jack Abramoff, his firm has produced documentation from Congress itself that advised Abramoff that his actions were legal. House lawyers advised Preston, Gates, & Ellis in 1996 that it could pay for trips taken by Representatives as long as clients eventually reimbursed the firm: A law firm under scrutiny for its role in arranging overseas trips for members of Congress says House ethics lawyers advised the firm several years ago that it could pay for some Congressional travel, an assertion that may bolster the argument of Representative Tom DeLay that he did nothing wrong in accepting lavish trips organized by the firm's star lobbyist. Internal memorandums and e-mail messages from the Seattle firm, Preston Gates & Ellis, say that the firm contacted two lawyers on the House ethics committee in 1996, when it began organizing large numbers...
Durbin Apologizes Weakly A Week Later (Updated!)
Fox News, AP, and other outlets report that Senator Dick Durbin has apologized for his comparison between the American military and Nazis, Khmer Rouge, and Stalinist genocidal maniacs: Under fire from Republicans and some fellow Democrats, Sen. Dick Durbin apologized Tuesday for comparing American interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp to Nazis and other historically infamous figures. "Some may believe that my remarks crossed the line," the Illinois Democrat said. "To them I extend my heartfelt apologies." His voice quaking and tears welling in his eyes, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate also apologized to any soldiers who felt insulted by his remarks. "They're the best. I never, ever intended any disrespect for them," he said. At least this is an apology, instead of a "statement of regret". However tearfully delivered, though, it still contains qualifiers that shift the responsibility to everyone but Durbin. "Some may believe that...
June 22, 2005
A Frontrunner Only The Exempt Media Would Select
Ron Fournier exposes the lack of insight most of the media have into the GOP with his soon-to-be-an-embarrassment column on the 2008 presidential race today, naming John McCain as the Republican frontrunner for the nomination: If you want to be the next president, it's time to start running unless your name is Hillary Rodham Clinton or John McCain. They can wait. And wait, as front-runners tend to do. "They're 800-pound gorillas," says Democratic consultant Jeff Link of Iowa. "They're well-known, well-liked and will be heavy favorites in their respective parties." ... McCain has the opposite problem. He is favored by a majority of Democrats and independents who would vote in a general election, but his support among Republicans is less than ideal. If he seeks the presidency, McCain's challenge would be maintain his appeal to moderates while highlighting in the GOP nomination fight his support of Bush on Iraq...
June 23, 2005
Preparing The Next Obstructionist Target
Senate Democrats have selected their next target for their new obstructionist tactics of demanding more and more documentation as an excuse to filibuster an executive nomination. In this case, however, they won't demand documentation on the nominee, but on the man whom the nominee will replace: The senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee has warned the Pentagon that he may block the nomination of a new defense policy chief unless documents involving the departing policy head -- Douglas J. Feith -- are turned over for review. The action by Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) threatens to hold up another important presidential appointment as lawmakers remain deadlocked with the Bush administration over the nomination of John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. That dispute, too, involves Democratic requests for documents the White House has refused to surrender. ... Levin has criticized Feith for portraying the relationship as...
The Crying Game Continues
The one Republican that Democrats hate more than George Bush appeared in New York yesterday to talk about the opposition party and how they failed to heed the lessons of 9/11. Karl Rove's criticisms enraged Democrats, who today demanded a retraction: Karl Rove came to the heart of Manhattan last night to rhapsodize about the decline of liberalism in politics, saying Democrats responded weakly to Sept. 11 and had placed American troops in greater danger by criticizing their actions. "Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers," Mr. Rove, the senior political adviser to President Bush, said at a fund-raiser in Midtown for the Conservative Party of New York State. Citing calls by progressive groups to respond carefully to the attacks, Mr. Rove said...
June 24, 2005
Which Clinton Will Run In 2008?
CQ reader Retired Military points out an effort that has gone pretty much unnoticed for the past four months; it's not breaking news, but it is curious. In February, House Democratic whip Steny Hoyer introduced a Constitutional amendment to repeal the 22nd Amendment, co-sponsored by Berman (D-CA), Pallone (D-NJ), Sabo (D-MN) and oddly enough, Sensenbrenner (R-WI). For those who don't have their Robert Byrd Pocket Constitution with them ("Don't leave the House without it"), the 22nd Amendment put term limits on the presidency. Why did four Democrats, including the House whip, decide to dump the 22nd amendment? Here's Hoyer's explanation: We do not have to rely on rigid constitutional standards to hold our Presidents accountable. Sufficient power resides in the Congress and the Judiciary to protect our country from tyranny. ... Furthermore, a lame duck President serving in his second term is less effective dealing with the Congress and the...
June 25, 2005
Roberts: Enough Is Enough On Bolton
Senator Pat Roberts, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair who has tried to act as an intermediary between the White House and the Senate Democrats on the confirmation of John Bolton as ambassador to the UN, pronounced that he's had enough of Democratic obstructionism on the topic. The New York Times reports that Roberts now has urged Bush to cease negotiating on Bolton and give him a recess appointment instead: The Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Friday that it would be a mistake for the White House to bend further to Democratic demands related to John R. Bolton's handling of intelligence material. In an interview, the chairman, Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, said he now expected that President Bush would grant a recess appointment to Mr. Bolton, whose nomination as ambassador to the United Nations has been blocked by Senate Democrats for more than a month. ......
June 27, 2005
'He Fooled Me'
L. Patrick Gray has long been a footnote in the annals of the Watergate scandals, a status that kept him in relative obscurity until recently. He had the misfortune of succeeding J. Edgar Hoover as the interim Director of the FBI, but rapidly lost the confidence of the Nixon White House when the President suspected that some of the Watergate leaks came from his top-level staff. That led to the notorious order to "let him twist slowly in the wind" that signaled the end of his aspirations to make his appointment official. In an extraordinary interview with George Stephanopolous yesterday, Gray talked about his betrayal by both Richard Nixon and his FBI assistant whom he admired until the moment, this year, when Gray discovered he had been stabbing him in the back all along: Former acting FBI chief L. Patrick Gray III said in a television interview broadcast yesterday that...
The Unbearable Lightness Of Being ... Bill Frist
Charles Babington takes a critical look at the presidential aspirations of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in today's Washington Post. While Frist has never come out as a contender for 2008, his candidacy has been widely expected, and earlier he seemed to have an inside track to frontrunner status thanks to his high profile and the success of extending the GOP majority after the last election. Unfortunately for Frist, a series of miscalculations and apparent reversals have left that reputation in tatters, to the point where Frist now has the reputation as lacking in either ability or enthusiasm for political battle. That reputation will likely sink Frist's ambitions for higher office, Babington writes: By noon last Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist seemed done with John R. Bolton's nomination to be U.N. ambassador. Bustling from the Capitol to have lunch with President Bush, he told reporters he planned no further...
June 28, 2005
Balk!
I saw this report about Republican reaction to a bid by an investment team that includes George Soros to buy the Washington Nationals, the new DC major-league franchise -- and I hoped that Roll Call had it wrong. The Washington Post also covered it in their sports section (link via Michelle Malkin), but unfortunately the story hardly improved in the retelling. GOP Congressmen John Sweeney and Tom Davis issued veiled threats to Major League Baseball if the latter allowed Soros to buy into the national pastime: Major League Baseball hasn't narrowed the list of the eight bidders seeking to buy the Washington Nationals and some Republicans on Capitol Hill already are hinting at revoking the league's antitrust exemption if billionaire financier George Soros , an ardent critic of President Bush and supporter of liberal causes, buys the team. "It's not necessarily smart business sense to have anybody who is so...
June 29, 2005
The Dumbest Controversy Ever
The New York Times eats up several column inches on what has to be the pettiest controversy of recent memory -- The Case Of The Missing Applause. As I remarked during my live blog, the lack of reaction to George Bush's speech appeared planned, as Bush spoke at a more rapid pace than normal, without the usual politician pauses that these addresses have. Carl Cameron confirmed immediately afterwards that the audience had been told to hold off on any reaction. Apparently no one else thought to check that out, at least at the NY Times, which results in this David Sanger report: So what happened to the applause? When President Bush visits military bases, he invariably receives a foot-stomping, loud ovation at every applause line. At bases like Fort Bragg - the backdrop for his Tuesday night speech on Iraq - the clapping is often interspersed with calls of "Hoo-ah,"...
June 30, 2005
Army Meets Recruiting Goal For June
The Army has come under considerable criticism for failing to meet its recruiting goals the past four months. Critics blame the war in Iraq for the shortfall, which has put the Army behind in its overall recruiting for the fiscal year. However, the Army has managed to meet its goal for June, according to the New York Times, which points out a different reason for lower recruitment: For the first time since January, the Army met its monthly recruiting goal in June, but it still faces what some senior Army officials say is a nearly insurmountable shortfall to meet the service's annual quota. Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a public forum at the Pentagon on Wednesday that the Army exceeded its June quota, but he gave no details. Senior Army officials said in interviews earlier in the day that the Army exceeded...
Likely Voters Running Away From Democrats
A new poll by Democracy Corps on behalf of the Democratic Party shows a significant erosion of support for the Democrats among likely voters: [T]he poll indicated 43 percent of voters favored the Republican Party, while 38 percent had positive feelings about Democrats. "Republicans weakened in this poll ... but it shows Democrats weakening more," said Stanley Greenberg, who served as President Clinton's pollster. Greenberg told the Christian Science Monitor he attributes the slippage to voters' perceptions that Democrats have "no core set of convictions or point of view." Obstructionism and a monopoly of gainsay has undermined the Democrats during wartime, and they cannot see it. The Democrats have vaulted their radicals to the leadership positions, people like Howard Dean, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi, all of whom think that saying "No!" amounts to responsible opposition. In all three cases, the leaders spend more time calling the GOP names and...
July 1, 2005
The Next Generation Of Republican Leaders
The New York Times reports on the burgeoning effort by the GOP to extend its reach into a crucial Democratic demographic. Black Republicans have started to run for offices across the country, a phenomenon that threatens the last bastion of lock-step Democratic voting, and their last hope of recapturing majority status in national elections: In Maryland, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, black Republicans - all of whom have been groomed by the national party - are expected to run for governor or the United States Senate next year. Several other up-and-coming black Republicans are expected to run for lower statewide offices in Missouri, Ohio, Texas and Vermont in 2006. It is not clear that local Republican organizations will embrace all of those candidates, and several face primaries. But national Republican leaders have been enthusiastically showcasing those blacks' campaigns, saying that whether those candidates win or lose, the party can still gain...
July 2, 2005
Dafydd: If It's Rove...
...Then he's off the hook legally. Again, a caution: I'm neither a lawyer, nor a law-school grad, nor a law-school admittee, nor even a wanna-be lawyer. (I was in the Navy once, so you can call me a sea lawyer.) I am, however, reasonably literate; so I will presume to give legal advice, secure in the knowledge that I have, in fact, nothing to lose! As Himself noted in Creepy Liar Strikes Again, Lawrence "Creepy Liar" O'Donnell now implies (without much credibility, and without explicitly making the claim) that the original leaker of Valerie Plame's name to Robert Novak was Karl Rove. O'Donnell says that e-mails from Time, Inc. between reporter Matthew Cooper and his editors at Time Magazine will prove this, though he does not claim to have actually seen the e-mail himself. So far as I can tell, O'Donnell, who is a producer of the NBC series the...
July 5, 2005
Pelosi Still Has More Trips To Disclose
After making Tom DeLay and his travel arrangements a major political issue this session, Nancy Pelosi has inadvertently created an embarrassment for dozens of Democratic lawmakers who found themselves in the same position as DeLay -- having outside funding for travel expenses go unreported and covered by lobbying groups in apparent violation of the House ethics rules. Now Pelosi herself has come under closer scrutiny as she revealed several questionable trips for herself: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) filed delinquent reports Friday for three trips she accepted from outside sponsors that were worth $8,580 and occurred as long as seven years ago, according to copies of the documents. ... The most expensive trip was not reported on Pelosi's annual financial disclosure statement or on the travel disclosure form that is required within 30 days of a trip. ... The unreported trip was a week-long 1999 visit to Taiwan, paid...
July 8, 2005
Another Democratic Cornerstone Goes Shopping
While the Democrats have watched the Republicans start to make inroads into the African-American demographic recently, trying to undermine their last lock-step traditional base, another key constituency has its leaders talking about looking outside the Democratic box as well. The president of the SEIU, the union that represents millions of government workers, warned the AFL-CIO that supporting Democrats exclusively will not benefit labor in the long run: Organized labor should help politicians who will advance labor's cause rather than simply supporting Democrats, says a union leader pushing for changes in the AFL-CIO. "We can't just elect Democratic politicians and try to take back the House and take back the Senate and think that's going to change workers' lives," said Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union. During a briefing Thursday, Stern said politics is only part of labor's strategy. He said "electing Democrats and taking back the House...
July 10, 2005
Sensenbrenner To Push Voting-Rights Renewal Legislation
Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner has told the NAACP that he intends on shepherding the renewal of expiring portions of the Voting Rights Act, a key issue for the NAACP and other minority groups. The GOP would like to use that effort to bolster its standing with these traditionally Democratic voters, as part of RNC chair Ken Mehlman's outreach efforts: House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) plans to announce today at the NAACP's annual convention that he will work to extend portions of the Voting Rights Act that are scheduled to expire in 2007, congressional aides said yesterday. Civil rights leaders recently reminded President Bush about the expiring passages and have been working to get congressional leaders' attention for the issue. Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman has made outreach to minorities and support for enforcement of the Voting Rights Act a hallmark of his chairmanship. ... "While...
Thin Reed On Rove
The Karl Rove-Valerie Plame link that Matt Cooper supposedly protected appears very weak after Newsweek released its story today on the mysterious sourcing for last year's leak. Newsweek does its best to pump up the volume in its lead: It was 11:07 on a Friday morning, July 11, 2003, and Time magazine correspondent Matt Cooper was tapping out an e-mail to his bureau chief, Michael Duffy. "Subject: Rove/P&C," (for personal and confidential), Cooper began. "Spoke to Rove on double super secret background for about two mins before he went on vacation..." Cooper proceeded to spell out some guidance on a story that was beginning to roil Washington. He finished, "please don't source this to rove or even WH [White House]" and suggested another reporter check with the CIA. The ellipsis here makes all the difference. What, exactly, did Cooper warn not to source to Rove? Readers have to move past...
Dafydd: If It's Rove... Part Deux
In an earlier post, Dafydd: If It's Rove..., I wrote the following: Lawrence "Creepy Liar" O'Donnell now implies (without much credibility, and without explicitly making the claim) that the original leaker of Valerie Plame's name to Robert Novak was Karl Rove. According to Michael Isikoff in a Newsweek story, luridly titled "Matt Cooper's Source: What Karl Rove told Time magazine's reporter," this implication appears to be false; while Rove was (one of) Cooper's sources, as O'Donnell claimed, it was nothing like the way the Left has portrayed it: it was not an attempt to retaliate against Wilson for speaking the truth; it was an attempt to warn Newsweek that Wilson's op-ed was, in fact, a lie. Cooper claims, in the now-famous Newsweek e-mail, that Rove told him that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA... but it appears that Rove did not even know her name, let alone that she was...
July 11, 2005
Hillary's Latest Insanity, And It Ain't Mad
Hillary Clinton has received criticism for her remarks comparing George Bush to Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Newman in her speech to the first Aspen Ideas Festival. She accused Bush of avoiding tough issues with the character's famous attitude: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton went on the attack against President Bush in a speech Sunday, accusing him of damaging the economy by overspending while giving tax cuts to the rich. ... "I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Newman is in charge in Washington," Clinton said referring to the freckle-faced Mad Magazine character. She drew a laugh from crowd when she described Bush's attitude toward tough issues with Newman's catchphrase: "What, me worry?" Hillary appears to have a problem with reality. Unemployment has reached its lowest point in years, down to 5%, lower than the average unemployment rate during her husband's terms in office. The economy continues its strong growth, showing an annual...
Dafydd: Hillary Will Never Be the Presidential Nominee
...Not in 2008, not ever. First, a note: the Captain is now back, so I suspect this will be my last post. I haven't yet spoken to him; but this blog is not really a multi-person venue. Yes, there is Whiskey and a couple of others; but they post rarely. For the most part, this is the labor of love of Captain Ed. Heck, it's called Captain's Quarters, not General Quarters! So unless I hear different, I will assume that as he stands up, I stand down. But I just wanted to leave with a final controversial prediction. I absolutely believe, conventional wisdom notwithstanding, that Hillary Rodham Clinton Rodham will never be the Democratic nominee for president. (She might not even be a candidate, if she thinks she's going to lose; but her ego may compel her to try, just as John Kerry's did.) The reason is fairly simple: because...
July 12, 2005
Dafydd: Bride of "If It's Rove"...
I have received a reprieve from the governor, just as some clod in a mismatched gray jacket and Navy-blue trousers was throwing the switch. I may post a few more. And I have one here that.... But wait -- No, really; you'd better be sitting down for this. Seriously, I don't want to shock your system. Think of me as William Castle: there's a nurse standing by with a blood-pressure machine, checking to make sure you're medically fit to read this next post. Okay, you in the red pullover! Take a hike! I can recognize a weak heart when I see one. Here we go: it turns out that... the Democrats lied! Here is Harry Reid today. Don't tell me he didn't say this; I saw him on video on Brit Hume, and I just had to back up the DVR and get it down exactly, because I could not...
Reparations: The New Ransom
The NAACP has decided to extort payments and concessions from companies that transacted business in support of slavery as their next project, along with lobbying cities to cease contracting with such firms until they cooperate with the group: The NAACP will target private companies as part of its economic agenda, seeking reparations from corporations with historical ties to slavery and boycotting companies that refuse to participate in its annual business diversity report card. "Absolutely, we will be pursuing reparations from companies that have historical ties to slavery and engaging all parties to come to the table," Dennis C. Hayes, interim president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said yesterday at the group's 96th annual convention here. "Many of the problems we have now including poverty, disparities in health care and incarcerations can be directly tied to slavery." Since slavery ended 140 years...
Hawaiians Want Race-Based Public Policy Too
Today's second entry in racial politics comes from an unlikely source -- the 50th state and tropical paradise, Hawaii. Activists for native Hawaiians who can trace their geneaology to the time of the Hawaiian monarchy want to establish an autonomous reservation system on the Pacific archipelago, similar to those granted to Native American tribes in North America. Despite the decades of corruption and poverty these examples created for Native Americans, Lawrence Downes and the New York Times considers this a splenid idea: Over decades, the islands emerged as a vibrant multiracial society and the proud 50th state. Hawaiian culture - language and art, religion and music - has undergone a profound rebirth since the 1970's. But underneath this modern history remains a deep sense of dispossession among native Hawaiians, who make up about 20 percent of the population. Into the void has stepped Senator Daniel Akaka, the first native Hawaiian...
A Mystery That They Could Solve Today
The New York Times plays the Rove card to the hilt today, putting their martyrdom of Judith Miller front and center while extending a mystery that the media created and the Times could immediately resolve. Instead, we get breathless accounts of non-comments from the White House that prompt 2,000-word front-page articles that wind up telling us nothing: Nearly two years after stating that any administration official found to have been involved in leaking the name of an undercover C.I.A. officer would be fired, and assuring that Karl Rove and other senior aides to President Bush had nothing to do with the disclosure, the White House refused on Monday to answer any questions about new evidence of Mr. Rove's role in the matter. With the White House silent, Democrats rushed in, demanding that the administration provide a full account of any involvement by Mr. Rove, one of the president's closest advisers,...
Podhoretz On Rove: I Told You So
John Podhoretz writes an excellent column for the New York Post today, asking readers to recall his words from the beginning of the Plame controversy in 2003. Podhoretz predicted that the entire kerfuffle would consist of an administration official explaining why Wilson got selected for the Niger assignment in the first place: I offered my speculation of what an administration official might have said to a journalist to explain just how Wilson a Clinton administration official got the assignment in the first place: "Administration official: 'We didn't send him there. Cheney's office asked CIA to get more information. CIA picked Wilson . . . Look, I hear his wife's in the CIA. He's got nothing to do. She wanted to throw him a bone.' " Hate to say I told you so, but . . . According to this week's Newsweek, Karl Rove said something very similar indeed...
Dafydd: Abbott and Costello Meet "If It's Rove"...
I probably should not assume that everyone is on the same page of the dictionary. But one of the commenters to a previous post of mine, Dafydd: Bride of "If It's Rove"..., raised a definitional point that deserves response. Attempting to prove that Bush indeed made some sort of "firing pledge," he notes a press conference on June 10, 2004 in Savannah, GA, in which the following exchange occurred: Q: Given -- given recent developments in the CIA leak case, particularly Vice President Cheney's discussions with the investigators, do you still stand by what you said several months ago, a suggestion that it might be difficult to identify anybody who leaked the agent's name? THE PRESIDENT: That's up to -- Q: And, and, do you stand by your pledge to fire anyone found to have done so? THE PRESIDENT: Yes. And that's up to the U.S. Attorney to find the...
July 13, 2005
The Laffer Curve Strikes Again
It seems that every twenty years or so, politicians have to get a reminder on economics regarding the relationship between effective tax cuts and tax revenues. Presidents Kennedy and Reagan both cut marginal tax rates and wound up sparking economic growth that generated billions of extra revenue. Within hours of hearing the leading Democratic presidential candidate excoriate President Bush for following their lead, the White House now shows that the budget deficit has dropped significantly and more tax has come into federal coffers than expected: For the first time since President Bush took office, an unexpected leap in tax revenue is about to shrink the federal budget deficit this year, by nearly $100 billion. On Wednesday, White House officials plan to announce that the deficit for the 2005 fiscal year, which ends in September, will be far smaller than the $427 billion they estimated in February. Mr. Bush plans to...
The Priorities Of The National Education Association
The NEA published its agenda for its July 7th Assembly, listing all the new action items under consideration and the action taken on each. How long does one have to read down the list before the NEA actually addresses an issue having directly to do with educating students? The first item? Third? Fifth? How about ... fifteenth? Here's what comes ahead of education at the National Education Association: 1. [Defeated, no description] 2. Fighting Wal-Mart 3. Investigating the positions of financial firms regarding Social Security privatization 4. Adding "multiethnic" and "other" as options on ethnicity questions 5. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the NEA and ATA 6. Forming coalitions to "protect" Social Security 7. Explaining the difference between two different pension plans 8. Requesting an article for their newsletter on "health problems from exposure to fragrance chemicals". 9. Getting outside funding to allow 25 more people to attent the EPA...
Santorum Shoots His Mouth Off ... Again
I like Rick Santorum. I really do. Unfortunately, the Pennsylvania Senator has a habit of talking without thinking about the consequences of his rhetoric. Earlier this year, he broke Godwin's Law and used Hitler for an analogy in reference to the Democrats and the judicial-nomination filibusters -- an analogy that actually made logical sense but was politically foolish. In his latest faux pas, he doesn't even have logic on his side: What drew the concentrated ire of the Bay State's congressional delegation was Santorum's decision this week to repeat his three-year-old comment that liberalism was at the root of the scandal over child sex abuse in the church. "Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture," Santorum wrote in a July 12, 2002 article for the Web site Catholic Online. "When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal,...
July 15, 2005
Senatorial Slapfight
The self-proclaimed world's greatest deliberative body and the chamber supposedly intended on being a "cooling saucer" for the passions of the day descended into the political equivalent of a playground slapfight yesterday. The pushing and shoving arose from the rapidly disintegrating effort to pin blame on Karl Rove for outing Valerie Plame as Senate Democrats attempted to strip him of his security clearances: The partisan fight over Karl Rove exploded onto the Senate floor yesterday, with Democrats trying to strip him of his security clearance and Republicans retaliating by trying to strip the chamber's two top Democrats of theirs. The moves, which came as amendments to a spending bill, both failed, but not before each side blamed the other for "juvenile" behavior and for poisoning a well of good feelings they said had existed in the past few weeks. ... Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, along with Minority Whip...
The Only Tactic They Know
Democrats in the Senate twice threatened more executive-nomination obstructionism if the White House refuses to meet their demands, this time on lower-level appointees. Both Barbara Boxer and Barack Obama separately told nominees to two EPA positions that they will block their confirmation unless mollified by the Bush administration on policy: Two Democratic senators suggested Thursday they may block one or more of President Bush's nominees to key Environmental Protection Agency posts unless they get answers they want from the agency. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said he wanted to know when the EPA would issue regulations for lead paint exposure from house remodeling. ... Obama told reporters after the hearing that he wanted a definite date from EPA officials about when they would issue the regulations, which by law were supposed to have come out in 1996. If that's not forthcoming, he said, he would use "whatever mechanisms I have available...
Novak Told Rove About Plame
The New York Times now has a source within the grand jury proceedings in the Robert Fitzgerald investigation into the alleged leak of Valerie Plame's status as a CIA operative. The new article for tomorrow's edition by David Johnston and Richard Stevenson reveals that Karl Rove spoke with Robert Novak before he released his column -- but that Novak told Rove about Plame, including her name, and not the other way around: Karl Rove, the White House senior adviser, spoke with the columnist Robert D. Novak as he was preparing an article in July 2003 that identified a C.I.A. officer who was undercover, someone who has been officially briefed on the matter said. Mr. Rove has told investigators that he learned from the columnist the name of the C.I.A. officer, who was referred to by her maiden name, Valerie Plame, and the circumstances in which her husband, former Ambassador Joseph...
July 16, 2005
More Democratic Fantasyland On 9/11
Cynthia McKinney has returned to her old tricks in Congress. Working through her new organization, 9/11 Citizens Watch, she plans on hosting a full-day "Congressional" briefing for Representatives and their staffs on the supposed lack of progress in investigating the 9/11 attacks. Much like the John Conyers "impeachment" panel based on the Downing Street Memos, McKinney and a couple of cohorts plan on offering their wild conspiracy theories in the guise of a sober, official hearing: On July 22, 2005, Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) will host a full-day briefing, co-sponsored by Rep. Ral Grijalva (D-AZ), and other sponsors, for Members of Congress and their staffs in the Caucus Room, Cannon House Office Building, Room 345, Independence Ave. & First Street SE, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. One year after the release of the 9/11 Commission Final Report many questions about what transpired on September 11, 2001 and who should...
July 17, 2005
Democrats And Their Kool-Aid
Dana Milbank and Charles Babington point out that Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman and New York Senator Chuck Schumer went to the same Brooklyn high school, James Madison. However, it appears that neither share that old school spirit with each other any longer, especially after Coleman singled out Schumer for "partisan attacks" in the Plame case: Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), a nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn and James Madison High Class of '66, took off Thursday after another nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn and James Madison High Class of '67, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). "The chairman of the Democratic Senate campaign committee" -- that would be Schumer -- is "sucking the oxygen out of that atmosphere of collegiality and constructive cooperation by trying to make a partisan issue of something that is being handled by a special counsel today," Coleman said in a news conference on the Wilson-Plame-Rove CIA leak...
Cooper: Rove Didn't Call Me, Didn't Mention Name Or Status Of Plame
Matthew Cooper has decided to write about his testimony to the grand jury investigating the leak of Valerie Plame's name and status to Robert Novak. In the new edition of Time Magazine, Cooper confirms that the New York Times version of events published late last week which had him calling Rove, not the other way around, was accurate: In his 2 1/2 hour testimony last Wednesday before the grand jury investigating the CIA leak case, TIME White House correspondent Matthew Cooper testified that when he called White House political advisor Karl Rove the week of July 6, 2003, Rove did not reveal Joe Wilsons wifes name and did not reveal her covert status to Cooper. But he did say that Wilsons wife works at the Agency on WMD. This was the first time Cooper had ever heard of Wilsons wife. ... Cooper writes that special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald asked me...
Will Someone Please Teach Godwin's Law To Congress?
Can ... we ... PLEASE ... get Congressmen and Senators to throw away the Nazi analogies? Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) became the latest idiot to get impaled on a historical swastika when he attempted to paint Islamofascist terrorists as worse than Nazis. That may have escaped notice, but then LoBiondo decided to up the ante by crediting Hitler with a rational motivation for killing six million Jews: Congressman Frank LoBiondo apologized for suggesting that Guantanamo Bay detainees were worse than Adolf Hitler because the Nazi dictator "sort of had a political rationale about what he was doing." The New Jersey Republican made the remark on a radio talk show this past week, describing his recent visit to the Naval Base in Cuba. Muslim terrorists, he said, were more evil than Hitler. "Hitler, in his philosophy, was, you know, he hated Jews, he was murdering Jews, and there were some people...
July 18, 2005
LA Times Still Can't Get Plame Facts Correct
The Los Angeles Times runs an article on the Plame leak today that manages to avoid advancing the story with any evidence and get the existing facts almost entirely incorrect, despite a number of revelations in the past few days from grand-jury leaks and the new article by Matt Cooper. Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten concoct their stew of "revelations" and bad fact-checking by relying on anonymous sourcing: Top aides to President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were intensely focused on discrediting former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV in the days after he wrote an op-ed article for the New York Times suggesting the administration manipulated intelligence to justify going to war in Iraq, federal investigators have been told. Perhaps that springs from the fact that Wilson not only lied in that op-ed -- on which I have written extensively -- but also had begun leaking false versions of...
July 21, 2005
The Secret S
UPDATE: Tom Maguire has some good analysis on this, which should shock no one.
Guess Who Wrote This?
It's time to play, "Guess The Author!", with your host, CQ. Here's how we play. I will give a quote about the Plame/Rove leak investigation, and readers have to guess who wrote it and when. The prize for guessing correctly -- well, lording it over your neighbors, feeling good, and so on. (Hey, this isn't Bob Barker, mm-kay?) Anyway, here's the quote, courtesy of CQ reader Andrew X: At the threshold, an agent whose identity has been revealed must truly be "covert" for there to be a violation of the Act. To the average observer, much less to the professional intelligence operative, Plame was not given the "deep cover" required of a covert agent. ... She worked at a desk job at CIA headquarters, where she could be seen traveling to and from, and active, at Langley. She had been residing in Washington -- not stationed abroad for a number...
July 24, 2005
Key Democratic Pillar Crumbles
One of the key political pillars of the Democratic Party has crumbled. Labor has split, perhaps permanently, over the role of politics in the union movement, and the largest unions have voted to leave the AFL-CIO: The four unions, representing nearly one-third of the AFL-CIO's 13 million members, announced Sunday they would boycott the federation's convention that begins Monday. They are part of the Coalition to Win, a group of seven unions vowing to reform the labor movement outside the AFL-CIO if necessary. The Service Employees International Union, with 1.8 million members, plans to announce Monday that it is leaving the AFL-CIO, said several labor officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the developments. The Teamsters union also was on the verge of disaffiliating, and would likely to be the first to follow SEIU's lead, the officials said. Two other boycotting unions...
July 25, 2005
More Hate-Crime Stupidity
The AP, in today's Washington Post, reports on racial disturbances in Buffalo, NY, which have resulted in an inconsistent application of hate-crime charges. Gang wars in two difference neighborhoods prompted differing reactions from Buffalo law-enforcement officials: Five black teenagers are accused of roaming through a city neighborhood late Friday, shouting racially charged threats and, after an exchange of words, stabbing three young white men in a fight. The five were charged with second-degree gang assault. A week earlier, five white men in another neighborhood were charged with attacking a black man with a baseball bat and shouting racial epithets. They were charged with assault as a hate crime. This points out one of the follies of hate-crime legislation. Here we have two similar incidents, involving similar motivations, and yet we have one group charged with hate crimes and another with just assualt. Both groups went out of their way to...
July 26, 2005
Democrats Offer (Non) Social Security Option
The Washington Post says that the Democrats have prepared a counterproposal for Social Security reform intended on competing with that of the Republicans. However, after reading the report by Mike Allen, it sounds as if the Democrats want to reform Social Security by ignoring it altogether: House Democrats intend to propose a retirement-savings plan today that will be their first leadership-backed alternative to Republican plans for a broad retirement-security package, which includes changes to Social Security. The Democratic plan, called AmeriSave, would increase incentives for middle-class workers to participate in 401(k) retirement accounts and individual retirement accounts. It would also create tax credits for small businesses that set up retirement accounts for their employees. ... The AmeriSave announcement is designed to partially preempt Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), who plans to focus on retirement security in September. Bush had proposed adding individual accounts to Social Security for...
July 27, 2005
Pincus Still Has Truth Issues
Walter Pincus extends his conflict of interest in covering Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame in today's Washington Post, continuing his role as a purveyor of misinformation. He and Jim VandeHei write that Patrick Fitzgerald has widened his investigation, but still hasn't come up with much: The special prosecutor in the CIA leak probe has interviewed a wider range of administration officials than was previously known, part of an effort to determine whether anyone broke laws during a White House effort two years ago to discredit allegations that President Bush used faulty intelligence to justify the Iraq war, according to several officials familiar with the case. Prosecutors have questioned former CIA director George J. Tenet and deputy director John E. McLaughlin, former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, State Department officials, and even a stranger who approached columnist Robert D. Novak on the street. In doing so, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has...
July 28, 2005
Durbin Inspires Hatred Of America
When Dick Durbin got up on the floor of the Senate and compared the detention center at Guantanamo Bay with the Nazi deathcamps, the killing fields of Cambodia, and the Stalinist gulags, we warned that he had handed our enemies a huge propaganda victory. When Ted Kennedy blew up over the Abu Ghraib abuses and turned them into a prime-time spectacle, we warned that publicizing them so widely would enrage our enemies. We suspected that Al-Jazeera had already looped the speech and the pictures and might play them continuously whenever the news got too slow. Perhaps we should also have pointed out that other people might want to use it for their own propaganda purposes. The Moscow Times has taken Durbin's correlation of Gitmo to the gulag to heart and used it to deliver the strangest and most venomous media attack on the American government outside of the Arab press:...
Democrats Eat Crow Over Lame Duck Claims
After declaring George Bush a lame duck in the opening months of his second term, the media has had to backtrack after the last couple of weeks. Instead of being a lame duck and despite sagging poll numbers, two separate media analyses now acknowledge that Bush has done remarkably well in pushing his legislative agenda. The New York Times reports in tomorrow's edition that Congress continues to bend to his will: In a flurry of last-minute action as it prepared to recess, Congress on Thursday passed or stood at the brink of final action on several hard-fought measures that had been at the top of Mr. Bush's summer to-do list and that at times had seemed to be long shots. The House narrowly approved a new trade deal with Central American nations early on Thursday morning, the final hurdle for a pact that was one of the administration's top economic...
July 29, 2005
Sloppy Work At State
John Bolton's nomination ran into another stumbling block yesterday when Senator Joe Biden asked Condoleezza Rice, seemingly out of the blue, to reaffirm Bolton's denial that he had been interviewed as part of any investigation for the past five years. At first this resulting in an unequivocal denial, but by the end of the day, the denial had transformed into a grudging admission: John R. Bolton, President Bush's nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations, failed to tell the Senate during his confirmation hearings that he had been interviewed by the State Department's inspector general looking into how American intelligence agencies came to rely on fabricated reports that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Africa, the State Department said Thursday. Reacting to a letter from Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said Mr....
July 30, 2005
Energy Bill Caps Powerful Legislative Session For GOP
What a difference a few weeks make! Less than two months after the Washington Post wrote off the second Bush term as moribund and Bush himself as a lame duck, the Post now joins the New York Times and AP in recognizing that rumors of Bush's political death are just a wee bit premature: After years of partisan impasses and legislative failures, Congress in a matter of hours yesterday passed or advanced three far-reaching bills that will allocate billions of dollars and set new policies for guns, roads and energy. The measures sent to President Bush for his signature will grant $14.5 billion in tax breaks for energy-related matters and devote $286 billion to transportation programs, including 6,000 local projects, often called "pork barrel" spending. The Senate also passed a bill to protect firearms manufacturers and dealers from various lawsuits. The House is poised to pass it this fall. Combined...
July 31, 2005
Rethinking Saint Colin
Today's Washington Post contains a glowing profile of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the changes she has made in the nation's foreign-policy arena. Robin Wright and Glenn Kessler note her many substantial and subtle changes at a department often seen as an obstacle to carrying out George Bush's foreign policy goals. In doing so, an undercurrent of unspoken criticism of Rice's predecessor seems apparent: Now six months on the job, Rice has clearly wrested control of U.S. foreign policy. The once heavy-handed Defense Department still weighs in, but Rice wins most battles -- in strong contrast to her predecessor, Colin L. Powell. White House staff is consulted, but Rice designed the distinctive framework for the administration's second-term foreign policy. In short order, she has demonstrated a willingness to bend on tactics to accommodate the concerns of allies without ceding on broad principles, what she calls "practical idealism." She also...
August 1, 2005
Gray Lady On Plame: Never Mind
The New York Times finally noticed in its wall-to-wall coverage of the Valerie Plame leak case that Plame hardly equated to the deep-cover agent her husband, Joseph Wilson, claimed her to be. Far from learning the name and occupation of Wilson's wife from a Deep Throat inside source at the White House, it turns out that all Robert Novak had to do was read a book: One of the most puzzling aspects of the C.I.A. leak case has had to do with the name of the exposed officer. Why did the syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak identify her as Valerie Plame in exposing her link to the C.I.A. in July 2003 when she had been known for years both at the agency and in her personal life by her married name, Valerie Wilson? Mr. Novak offered a possible explanation for the disconnect on Monday, suggesting in his column that he...
August 2, 2005
DNC: Please Never Take Us Seriously Again
My apologies and newfound respect go out to Jay Carson, who apparently got out of the DNC just before the roof caved in on common sense and rationality. The Howard Dean-led DNC has decided to deride President Bush for staying physically fit while in office: WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is a fact sheet released today by the Democratic National Committee: The White House this weekend announced that President Bush received good news during his annual physical. Doctors pronounced the President to be in "superior" physical condition, which media reports attributed to his rigorous, six day a week exercise routine. While President Bush has made physical fitness a personal priority, his cuts to education funding have forced schools to roll back physical education classes and his Administration's efforts to undermine Title IX sports programs have threatened thousands of women's college sports programs. "President Bush's has dropped the...
Americans Coming Together Falls Apart
John Fund notes in OpinionJournal's Political Diary (e-mail subscription only) that the grassroots organization Americans Coming Together has quietly closed its doors. I have not yet seen any press release announcing this; in fact, the ACT website says nothing at all about a cessation. However, ACT last updated its blog almost a month ago. Given all the political tussles this summer, it sounds as if no one's home at ACT. Fund writes: Last month, ACT quietly shut its doors and went out of existence. Remarkably, its demise attracted almost no media attention. But that doesn't mean it didn't teach its backers some lessons. Privately, some Democrats admit that ACT's emphasis on using paid workers to gin up voter turnout was eclipsed by Republican efforts to motivate volunteers to do the same work for free. In the end, ACT will stand as a monument to how big money in politics --...
A Storied Name Returns To Arizona Politics
Democrats hold the governorship in Arizona at the moment, but Janet Napolitano won't rest easily tonight after seeing who just tossed his hat in the ring for her job in 2006. Don Goldwater, the nephew of legendary Republican conservative and Arizona statesman Barry Goldwater, has decided to run for Napolitano's job: Republican Party activist Don Goldwater announced his candidacy Tuesday for governor in 2006, sounding some of the same conservative themes once heard from his uncle, 1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. "The state is headed in the wrong direction," said the 50-year-old candidate. "We must return to the basic principles of limited government, individual liberty and economic freedom." Goldwater said he would push for tax cuts and school choice and combat illegal immigration. He said he would fully enforce a voter-approved immigration law, including its requirement that voters produce identification at polling places. He called illegal immigration destructive to the...
Let The Lawsuits Begin
In Ohio's second Congressional district, the GOP has apparently held the seat against a well-funded challenge from a Democrat who recently returned from Iraq. Jean Schmidt beat Paul Hackett by four points and 3,500 votes, a margin that in ordinary circumstances would suggest that recounts would be pointless. However, given the high profile assigned to this race by Democratic activists trying their best to elect an anti-war veteran to Congress, Ohio's voters should expect more of the same hysterical charges of election stealing that we saw after the 2004 election. Barbara Boxer will be warming her voice up for the morning talk shows after her first cup of coffee, I presume. Lori at Polipundit has followed this story much more closely than I have, for reasons which I'll cover in a moment. She says that the media will spin this as a loss for Bush, even though she sees it...
August 4, 2005
Corzine Loaned Money To Girlfriend ... And?
When money gets moved between politicians and labor unions, conservatives get concerned about the relationship between the two and rightly suspect foul play. Of course, having union officials loan money to politicians, especially on a personal basis, raises an issue of impropriety or at least a conflict of interest. However, when the money goes the other direction on the basis of a clearly personal relationship, it hardly seems newsworthy ... except at the New York Times: Senator Jon S. Corzine provided a $470,000 mortgage to the president of a union that represents thousands of New Jersey state employees in late 2002, then forgave the debt two years later. The union president, Carla Katz, was Mr. Corzine's girlfriend at the time. The senator said on Wednesday that an investment company he owns gave her the mortgage, then canceled it in December 2004, several months after they had stopped dating. The loan...
August 6, 2005
Job Creation A Bummer For The Gray Lady
CQ frequently criticizes the New York Times, especially its editorial board, for its obvious and unacknowledged biases in its coverage (and non-coverage) and its analysis. We should consider how depressing it must be for those editorial-board members, whose staunch leftist politics have put it outside of the mainstream, to see the policies of their opponents achieve such success. George Bush has had an unbroken string of growth since putting his economic plan into place in 2002 and 2003, which has now resulted in a significant and unexpected (at the NYT, anyway) rise in tax revenues and a major drop in the federal deficit. Now the new job-creation numbers show that new work has picked up across the board. All of this happy news for Americans just seems to bring out the inner pessimist at the Paper of Record, however: Still, it's not robust. If jobs were being created today at...
August 8, 2005
Belafonte's Godwin Boat Song?
CNS News reports that Harry Belafonte once again sang a bit off-key while venturing into politics this past weekend, calling African-American conservatives "tyrants" and comparing the Bush administration to Hitler and the Nazis. Marc Morano interviewed the entertainer who has long championed civil-rights causes, but lately has used less civil language to do so: Belafonte used a Hitler analogy when asked about what impact prominent blacks such as former Secretary of State Powell and current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had on the Bush administration's relations with minorities. "Hitler had a lot of Jews high up in the hierarchy of the Third Reich. Color does not necessarily denote quality, content or value," Belafonte said in an exclusive interview with Cybercast News Service. "[If] a black is a tyrant, he is first and foremost a tyrant, then he incidentally is black. Bush is a tyrant and if he gathers around him...
August 9, 2005
Justice Sunday II ... With Disclosure!
I am pleased to announce that arrangements have firmed up for CQ to live-blog Justice Sunday II in Nashville, TN this Sunday evening. I received an invitation to join several other bloggers in providing live commentary for the event, which will feature such well-known and controversial speakers as Tom DeLay, Zell Miller, William Donahue, Dr. James Dobson, and quite a few others. It will be simulcast to a number of churches and other organizations via satellite and also accessible through their website. Just to make sure everyone understands the arrangements, I want to clearly state that JSII will pay for my travel arrangements to attend this event. In fact, they will pay the costs directly, instead of reimbursing me, so that cash does not change hands. Some CQ readers may wonder why I point this out, but I think Jeff Jarvis makes a good point in his blog yesterday about...
August 11, 2005
Jimmy Carter And The Cherry Briefing Book
Ask people about Jimmy Carter and the likely response will sound something like, "A good an honest man, a mediocre [or worse] President, and the best former President we've had." The latter part of that statement had been considered the common wisdom almost ever since Carter left office after having lost his bid for a second term to the Reagan Revolution, especially given his high-profile work with charities like Habitat for Humanity. Over the past decade, that carefully-built reputation for charity and honesty has slowly declined as Carter injected himself into foreign policy across three administrations, Democrats and Republicans alike, where he most definitely did not wait for an invitation before commencing to unconstructively meddle where voters clearly told him in 1980 they did not want him. The nadir came last month, when he openly campaigned against the Iraq War overseas in Britain, attempting to undermine US policy and support...
August 15, 2005
Obstructionism Blocking Reform Of FBI
The New York Times reports on an increasing tension between Congress and the FBI, souring relations between an otherwise well-regarded Robert Mueller and key decisionmakers. Congress blames Mueller and the FBI bureaucracy for slowing the pace of reforms, but neglects to mention that they have blocked the nominee for a key reform post for the past four months: Disputes between the Justice Department and some of its Congressional allies over the Federal Bureau of Investigation's performance, leadership vacancies and management issues are spurring tensions at a time when the department is seeking to remake its antiterrorism operations. Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, the influential chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an interview on Friday that he was deeply dissatisfied with the pace of reforms at the F.B.I. and that he hoped the national intelligence director's new role in overseeing its terrorism operations would spur greater accountability at...
August 16, 2005
Bill Clinton Rewrites History On Al-Qaeda
Bill Clinton tells New York magazine that he desperately wishes that the FBI had been able to "prove" that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda had masterminded the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000 so that he could have attacked Afghanistan instead of George Bush (Newsmax also reports this here): "I desperately wish that I had been president when the FBI and CIA finally confirmed, officially, that bin Laden was responsible for the attack on the U.S.S. Cole," Clinton tells New York magazine this week. "Then we could have launched an attack on Afghanistan early." "I dont know if it would have prevented 9/11," he added. "But it certainly would have complicated it. ... "I always thought that bin Laden was a bigger threat than the Bush administration did." Clinton has tried on more than one occasion to adapt history to make his eight-year turn in the White House...
Barbara Boxer Takes Big Money From Fed-Targeted Law Firm
The law blog Independent Sources notes that Barbara Boxer has taken a lot of money from one of the nation's most notorious class-action law firms -- a firm that currently finds itself the target of a federal bribery and corruption probe. Milberg Weiss donated more than $30,000 to her 2004 campaign and over $44,000 in her first Senate campaign -- enough to make Milberg Weiss her fourth-largest contributor for her entire Senate career. Who is Milberg Weiss? Currently one of its former partners is testifying to just that question to a federal grand jury: U.S. prosecutors have stepped up their criminal probe of law firm Milberg Weiss, a specialist in class-action cases, and have given immunity to two former partners at the firm, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The newspaper, citing unspecified lawyers close to the case, said a grand jury in Los Angeles heard secret testimony three...
August 19, 2005
Prayers For Harry Reid
CQ will add the Senate Minority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV), to our prayer list this evening. The Democratic caucus leader suffered a transient ischemic attack (TIA), a type of mini-stroke which usually leaves no permanent damage: The Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, suffered a brief mini-stroke Tuesday but suffered no complications and feels fine, aides said Friday. The 65-year-old minority leader, one of the Democratic party's most visible national leaders, was examined by doctors and now feels fine, his press secretary Tessa Hafen said. "There are no complications or any restrictions on his activities. He has undergone evaluations this week, and his doctors have recommended that he take advantage of the summer congressional recess for some downtime," Hafen said. All partisan politics aside, I understand what Senator Reid's family must be feeling tonight. A week before the First Mate's kidney transplant, she suffered a TIA -- actually, a...
August 22, 2005
The Coming Democratic Split?
While the media has focused on the low polling numbers for George Bush in recent weeks and have their analysts working overtime talking about how that could result in election setbacks in 2006 and 2008, scant attnetion has been cast on the Democrats and their inability to take advantage of the situation. Two articles in two different newspapers explain why the opposition cannot gain traction on Republican setbacks, as the Democrats continue to struggle through a ferocious power struggle fed by their DNC chief and the radical activists that back him. The Washington Post and the New York Times picks up on this battle, but look at it superficially in terms of specific issues rather than as the gestalt of the party itself. Both articles get headlines that start, "Democrats Split," but the Post looks at the war while the Times analyzes Democratic strategy on the Roberts nomination. The Post...
August 23, 2005
The Oklahoma Heartbreak
The AP reports that maverick Republican J.C. Watts has decided against a run for the governor's office in Oklahoma next year, disappointing conservatives in the Panhandle State: "I have determined that the timing for such an adventure is not right at this point in our lives," he said in a statement. He said he spent more than two months talking to voters across the state before reaching his decision. Watts is the second Republican to decide against making the race; Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin has announced she will run for re-election instead of running for governor. Their moves leave the GOP without a proven vote-getter with wide name recognition to challenge Gov. Brad Henry, the popular Democratic incumbent. Watts, 47, recently bought a home in the Washington, D.C., area, where he started a lobbying and consulting business after leaving Congress. I had an opportunity to meet Watts last year at...
August 25, 2005
Dafydd: Tales of the North Pacific
Hawaii has evidently decided that capitalism, while an interesting theory, doesn't really work. As Adam Savage says every week on Mythbusters, "I reject your reality and substitute my own!" (They have also decided that the whole "Constitution" thingie was a bust and are beavering away to institute Bantustans across the state; but that's a subject for a different post.) Four years ago, the Democratic Hawaii state legislature and Democratic Governor Benjamin Cayetano bowed to the high priests of fundamenalist liberalism and enacted Act 77, which set a "maximum pre-tax wholesale price of gasoline" in the islands, as well as capping the retail price. This applies both to gasoline from Hawaii's two refineries and also gasoline imported directly. (A 2004 amendment, Senate Bill 3193, removed the price controls from the retail side.) Evidently not wanting Gov. Cayetano to suffer the likely consequences of such price controls, the legislature delayed the original...
August 27, 2005
Ellsworth Saved, Thune Ascendant
Success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan. That proverb sounded particularly inapt in South Dakota yesterday when the Base Re-Alignment and Closure Commission announced that Ellsworth Air Force Base would be removed from the list of military facilities facing closure or significant reductions. Everyone knew that in this case, success and failure only had one father -- the man who unseated the Senate's Democratic leader on the promise to keep it open: Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) sat tense, crouched and glowering as the base-closing commission delivered its verdict about Ellsworth Air Force Base in the ballroom of a Crystal City hotel yesterday, then leapt up gleefully when the bomber base's death sentence was commuted. The 44-year-old's political career may have been spared as well. Last fall, Thune unseated Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) in part by claiming that a Republican tight with the White House would...
August 29, 2005
Camp Casey Diary From A CQ Reader
CQ reader Curtis Loftis decided to check out the digs at Camp Casey firsthand, trekking to Crawford for a couple of days to see how the anti-war demonstrations have been staged for himself. He sent me this e-mail on his return with his thoughts and observations. I thought it might interest the rest of the CQ community. Two Days In Camp Casey: A Conservative's odyssey in the belly of the beast. I arrived at the original Camp Casey at 2:30 in the afternoon. It was hot and dry and the assembled demonstrators were in a melancholy state. I quickly made friends, stressing cocktail conversation, not political discussion. My goal was not confrontation, but a desire to understand what was actually happening here in Crawfordand being incognito was the only way this would happen. After bonding with several nice ladies from the central coast of California, I drove with these new...
August 30, 2005
Virigina Withdrawal Presaging Presidential Brawl?
The Washington Post reports that Virginia Governor Mark Warner will not run against George Allen in the latter's bid for re-election next year, making the incumbent's bid look much easier than expected. Allen had geared up his campaign to run against the popular governor who could have put a major dent in Republican plans to hold and expand their Senate majority. Instead, Warner will have two years to prepare for an even bigger race -- one which might find him eventually pitted against the same opponent: Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) plans to announce Tuesday that he will not challenge Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) next year, leaving the popular Democrat free to explore a presidential bid, several close associates said Monday. Warner, who leaves office in January, will announce his decision on his monthly radio show on WTOP, said Virginia Democratic Party Chairman C. Richard Cranwell, a Warner confidant....
August 31, 2005
Yes, Virginia, There Really Are Communists, Just Not That Many
Dana Milbank and Alan Cooperman do a pretty good job of making John J. Tierney look like an alarmist nut based on their report of his presentation at the Heritage Foundation yesterday. His upcoming book apparently researches the funding and momentum behind the burgeoning anti-war protest industry and finds a lot of evidence that it primarily consists of unreconstructed communists. The Washington Post report of the event has Tierney painting a pretty broad brush on this score, however, and starts out by using what it believes to be a killer emotional rebuttal: Cindy Sheehan: anti-American communist? That was the accusation coming yesterday from the Heritage Foundation, which hosted author John J. Tierney Jr. for a forum titled "The Politics of Peace: What's Behind the Anti-War Movement?" ... Tierney, of the Institute of World Politics, identified five groups: ANSWER, Not in Our Name, Code Pink, United for Peace and Justice, and...
RFK Jr Releases Hot Gas Into The Political Atmosphere
Following on the heels of the Germans, Robert Kennedy Jr uses his science-challenged approach to also exploit Hurricane Katrina and the deaths of Americans in order to score a few political potshots at George Bush. Demonstrating the same hysterical scientific illiteracy that has characterized his scare campaign against vaccinations, Kennedy blames Mississippi governor Haley Barbour for killing his fellow citizens before their bodies have even been found, and suggests that God punished Mississippi specifically: As Hurricane Katrina dismantles Mississippis Gulf Coast, its worth recalling the central role that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour played in derailing the Kyoto Protocol and kiboshing President Bushs iron-clad campaign promise to regulate CO2. ... Now we are all learning what its like to reap the whirlwind of fossil fuel dependence which Barbour and his cronies have encouraged. Our destructive addiction has given us a catastrophic war in the Middle East and--now--Katrina is giving our nation...
September 1, 2005
"Stop The Worship Of The Gods Of War!"
What kind of protest would feature the above exhortation? Has an outbreak of sacrifice to the ancient Greek gods of Apollo and Mars occurred in the heartland of America? Not exactly, no. Anti-war groups are using this as a rallying cry to converge on Naval Air Station Brunswick in Maine on the day before the anniversary of 9/11 to protest a free air show by the Blue Angels, the Navy's crack aviator squadron (via The Corner): On Sat., Sept. 10th, Maine Veterans for Peace will be joined by other major peace and justice groups (see list of co-sponsors below) in a massive protest: . to protest the false god idolatry of the Blue Angels Air Show, whose "ooh-&-aah"performances have one purpose: to promote badly-lagging military recruitment to protest the obscene waste of American tax dollars to stage these Blue Angels' multi-million dollar extravaganzas . to protest Bush's immoral, monomaniacal Iraq...
Thank You, Mr. President
I normally have plenty of reasons to thank our current President, George Bush, and few reasons to thank either of the two who preceded him. However, tonight I offer praise to Bill Clinton, who took CNN's Suzanne Malveaux to task for playing partisan politics with the Katrina relief efforts and trying to embarrass his partner and new friend, George H. W. Bush (h/t: AJ Strata): MALVEAUX: Let me ask you this: There are some people at the New Orleans Convention Center who say that they have been living like animals -- no food, no water, no power. And they are the ones who are saying: Where are the buses? Where are the planes? Why did it take three days to see a real federal response here? Mr. Bush, you, whether it's fair or not, had gone through some administration criticism about your handling of Hurricane Andrew. G.H.W. BUSH: I sure...
September 6, 2005
Will A Katrina Probe Turn Into A Smear Campaign?
The Senate Homeland Security Committee announced earlier today that they would start an investigation into the comprehensive response to Hurricane Katrina, how flood aid got delivered, and why crucial hours and days passed seemingly without any significant efforts made to reach pockets of survivors in New Orleans. If handled properly, such an investigation can help clear the air and lower the venom surrounding the debate over the response and the responsibility for its shortfalls. It also holds a clear possibility to allow malicious actors to subvert it into an election-year vehicle to score partisan cheap shots: The Republican senator leading a Senate investigation into the government's response to Hurricane Katrina said on Tuesday it was "woefully inadequate" and it had raised doubts about the U.S. ability to cope with a terrorist attack. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, spoke as lawmakers prepared to provide a second round of emergency money...
September 7, 2005
Arnold Announces Permanent Retirement From Hollywood
The Governator will probably fulfill the prophecy of being unable to return home with his announcement today that he will veto the historic bill passed by the California Legislature last night legalizing gay marriage. The resultant fallout will enrage the liberal community, especially in Hollywood, where Arnold used to work: Schwarzenegger said the legislation, given final approval Tuesday by lawmakers, would conflict with the intent of voters when they approved a ballot initiative five years ago. Proposition 22 prevents California from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states or countries. "We cannot have a system where the people vote and the Legislature derails that vote," the governor's press secretary, Margita Thompson, said in a statement. "Out of respect for the will of the people, the governor will veto (the bill)." Despite his promised veto, Schwarzenegger "believes gay couples are entitled to full protection under the law and should not be...
September 9, 2005
Democrats Use Katrina Criticism For Political Fundraising
Hurricane Katrina has apparently given Democrats, desperate for an electoral victory after three successive cycles of losses at the national level, a new definition of flood aid. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee used an advertisement demanding the firing of the head of FEMA as an opportunity for people to donate to the DSCC in order to provide aid ... to Democratic politicians: A new Democratic effort to whip up indignation about the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina also tried to raise money for Democratic candidates. Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, issued an appeal Thursday urging people to sign an online petition to fire the Federal Emergency Management Agency's director over his handling of the Katrina response. After an inquiry from the Associated Press, the DSCC quickly pulled down the page and said they would give the Red Cross...
September 10, 2005
Flight 93 Memorial Intended To Offend
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette continues its coverage of the Flight 93 memorial in today's edition by noting that a number of people have seen a connection to the Crescent of Embrace at the heart of the memorial and its obvious Islamic symbolism. Paula Reed Ward reports that "online bloggers" started the controversy, which those involved in the design called "disgusting and repellent" (via Michelle Malkin): There's a growing outcry that one element of the newly chosen Flight 93 National Memorial represents Islam and is a slap in the face to the passengers and crew members who died on the hijacked plane four years ago. The winning design, announced Wednesday in Washington, D.C., includes what is called the "Crescent of Embrace." That element of the project calls for two rows of red maple trees to be planted around a bowl-shaped piece of land adjacent to the crash site. The trees, according to...
September 12, 2005
Der Spiegel Takes Liberties With Poverty Stats
The German magazine Der Spiegel provides an inept analysis of American economics and politics in today's hack job on Hurricane Katrina. The article starts off with a twisted take on poverty statistics: America is not only licking its wounds, but also confronting underlying race problems revealed by the floodwaters. Just how racially imbalanced is the world's richest country? Poverty under the Bush administration has climbed by 12 percent. ... On the same day the levees broke, Charles Nelson of the US Census Bureau in Washington presented the most recent report on income and poverty in the United States. The numbers and graphs he unveiled offered an appalling insight into the USA. The number of those in America living in poverty climbed by 1.1 million to fully 37 million people - the fourth jump in a row. While the official number of US poor dropped steadily during Bill Clinton's presidency, it...
Gray Lady Shrieking Over ID Requirement
Leave it to the Gray Lady to start shrieking over a state requiring the same level of identification it takes to cash a check as it will to cast a vote. Georgia passed a law requiring that voters present a state ID in order to identify themselves at polling booths for elections, a common-sense manner of avoiding the kind of voter fraud that Milwaukee experienced in the last presidential election. Despite the fact that Georgia will offer the IDs for free to indigent citizens, the New York Times still finds itself screaming about "poll taxes": In 1966, the Supreme Court held that the poll tax was unconstitutional. Nearly 40 years later, Georgia is still charging people to vote, this time with a new voter ID law that requires many people without driver's licenses - a group that is disproportionately poor, black and elderly - to pay $20 or more for...
September 15, 2005
Bush Speech: Better Late Than Never
I missed the live broadcast of George Bush's speech on Hurricane Katrina this evening from New Orleans, attending a board meeting of a local non-profit and having dinner with good friends. When I came home, I went right to the computer and watched it with the First Mate via stream on CNN before I read any other commentary, and while I heard it late, I welcomed the tone and the messages. In fact, I view his speech in exactly the same way. Bush did a marvelous job of touching on the despair, the heroism, the personal stories that touch hearts and motivate us to greater efforts, as well as the policy decisions that will spring from Katrina's aftermath. Unfortunately, this speech came about a week late. He may well undo the political damage done by the massive confusion of the first few days in the weeks and months ahead if...
September 17, 2005
The Governator Will Be Back
Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided to run for a full term as California's governor despite sagging poll numbers. In a suprisingly early announcement, Arnold told a San Diego audience that he had no intention of leaving his reforms unfinished: The announcement came at the end of a public forum here, after a carefully screened crowd questioned him about his efforts to revamp California's schools and its budget process. No one, however, asked him about his plans for next year, when his term expires, even though his appearance had been heavily promoted as the place for announcing his re-election bid. So he asked himself if he would run. "Of course, I'm going to finish the job," he said. "I'm a follow-through guy." "I'm not in there for three years," Mr. Schwarzenegger added. "I'm in there for seven years. Yes, I will run again." The crowd inside the auditorium applauded, as protesters outside...
September 20, 2005
Can We Look For Experience Over Expedience?
Count me among the many bloggers who have a bout of head-scratching over the appointment of Julie Myers to head the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency within the DHS. Since the GOP base has become increasingly restless anyway about the Bush administration's lack of focus on the southern border, one would hope that the President would at least have appointed someone who had experience and knowledge of the subject matter for him or herself, even if the topic does not interest Bush -- perhaps especially if the topic does not interest him. Apparently not. Instead, the White House proposes to put a 36-year-old bureaucrat with no immigration experience, no experience leading any organization this size, and whose last assignment consisted of being Bush's HR specialist. What gives? And get this -- for an HR specialist, she appears oddly ignorant of nepotism issues. She just married Michael Chertoff's chief of staff,...
September 21, 2005
Hillary 'Endorses' Blaming Bush For 9/11 Terrorism
One of the lessons a politician learns is to be careful what she autographs. According to the New York Sun, Hillary "endorsed" a protest placard that blamed George Bush for the 9/11 attacks: Mrs. Clinton concluded her remarks yesterday by saying, "We are better than this," and lamenting the "disgraceful treatment of the people left behind in the Gulf Coast." While departing the event, she was asked to "endorse" a sign held by a demonstrator blaming President Bush for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Iraq war, and the devastation wrought by Katrina. Mrs. Clinton autographed the poster. I doubt that Mrs. Clinton did this completely out of oversight, either. While she has made strides in reinventing herself as a Democratc moderate, helped in no small measure by her political party marching over a radical-Left cliff over the past few years, she needs to stay connected to that...
Dem Dirty Tricks In Maryland?
Maryland Democrats opposing Michael Steele's possible run for the Senate seat opened up by the retirement of Paul Sarbanes apparently got hold of his credit report, a violation of privacy laws. Two staffers have resigned, and the FBI apparently will investigate the campaign: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said Tuesday that two of its employees obtained the credit report of Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, a potential Republican challenger next year for the Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Paul Sarbanes. Phil Singer, spokesman for the committee, said in a statement issued in Washington that the two employees have resigned. He said the credit report was not used or disseminated to anyone, and the incident was reported to the U.S. attorney's office. "While the DSCC did not authorize the employees to access Mr. Steele's credit report, we regret that this incident occurred and apologize to Mr. Steele," the statement said....
September 22, 2005
Just When South Dakota Looked Safe ...
Look who might stage a comeback attempt in politics -- the former obstructionist and Senate Minority Leader, Tom Daschle. According to the AP, Daschle has quietly organized a new political-action committee and will start making policy speeches, the first in Iowa: Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle's interest in public office isn't necessarily latent: he has set up a new political action committee and plans a Jefferson-Jackson Day speech in the politically pivotal state of Iowa. ... Steve Hildebrand, director of the new committee and Daschle's former campaign manager, said the well-known Democrat from South Dakota "is not going to rule out opportunities to play important roles in public service." "It could be president, it could be vice president, it could be something else," Hildebrand said. "It could be nothing." He said Daschle's Iowa speech, scheduled for the state party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner Nov. 5, will probably be his most...
Schumer Staffers Get Free Vacation For Privacy Violation
Senator Chuck Schumer, who runs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, has long decried the potential for identity theft and the loss of privacy in the marketplace. In April of this year, Schumer introduced legislation to create an entire new bureaucracy for "data merchants", the Schumer-Nelson ID Theft Prevention Bill. What penalties does the Schumer-Nelson bill prescribe for violations? A thousand dollars per violation, for starters, and repeated violations probably would get escalated. So what did Schumer and the DSCC do with two staffers that got caught with Lt. Governor Michael Steele's (R-MD) credit report? Apparently gave them a two-month vacation with pay, according to the New York Post: Phil Singer, a spokesman for the Schumer-headed Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said two staffers were instantly suspended with pay in July after admitting they obtained the credit report of Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who is running for Senate. Sources...
Speaking Of The Usual Suspects
The groups that will gather in Washington DC for a major anti-war protest this weekend have financial ties to major leftist fundraisers like George Soros and Theresa Heinz Kerry, and beyond them to communist organizations and radical left-wing groups, the Washington Times reports today. The conduits for the rallies appear to be the ubiquitous front groups International ANSWER and the UPJ: The groups gathering in Washington this weekend to protest President Bush and the war in Iraq have ties to radical left-wing groups and communist organizations and have enjoyed the support of the left's biggest financial supporter, George Soros. ... The leaders of ANSWER, founded three days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, are connected to the Workers World Party, a Marxist group that has expressed support for such dictators as North Korea's Kim Jong-il, Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic and Iraq's Saddam Hussein. The latter two have been ousted from...
September 24, 2005
Frist Has Some Explaining To Do
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist faces a serious investigation into his finances after apparently directing the sale of stock while his assets supposedly remained in a blind trust -- and dumping family-business stock just before the bottom dropped out. Today's Page One story in the Washington Post reports that Frist specifically ordered the divestiture of family shares of the family business: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is facing questions from the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission about his sale of stock in his family's hospital company one month before its price fell sharply. The Tennessee lawmaker, who is the Senate's top Republican and a likely candidate for president in 2008, ordered his portfolio managers in June to sell his family's shares in HCA Inc., the nation's largest hospital chain, which was founded by Frist's father and brother. A month later, the stock's price dropped 9 percent in...
September 25, 2005
Frist's Smoke And Fire
Stephen Bainbridge and Power Line have done excellent work in examining the charges of insider trading that have prompted an investigation of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. That should surprise no one, of course; Stephen and Paul Mirengoff have outstanding legal minds and a wealth of knowledge on the regulations surrounding stock trading. However, both Stephen and Paul miss two aspects of this story. The first involves a separate legal question in my original post, but not referenced in either of their responses. The AP reported separately from the Washington Post that Bill Frist knew that he owned the HCA stock despite the trust supposedly being blind. His trustees informed him by letter that they had purchased a significant amount of the stock two weeks before he told people that he had no idea what kind of assets he had in that portfolio: Frist, asked in a television interview in...
September 28, 2005
When Johnny Met Cindy
Ever in search of ways to endear himself to the national media, John McCain met with so-called "Peace Mom" Cindy Sheehan, who returned the favor by calling McCain a "warmonger": Peace mom Cindy Sheehan didn't change her opposition to the war in Iraq after meeting Tuesday with one of its supporters, Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam veteran whom she called "a warmonger." ... "He is a warmonger, and I'm not," Sheehan said after meeting with McCain. "I believe this war is not keeping America safer."... Sheehan and McCain had met once before, shortly after the funeral of her son. Sheehan said Tuesday that McCain told her then that her son's death was "like his buddies in Vietnam" and that he feared their deaths were "for nothing." McCain, however, denied he made such a statement. McCain later told reporters that he had been misled into believing that her delegation included some...
DNC Supports Race Baiting, Paper Of Record Misses It Entirely (Update)
When Charlie Rangel called George Bush "our Bull Connor", I didn't pay much attention to the comment. Rangel, after all, often issues ridiculous and deplorable statements, and the notion that anyone can compare the firehose-directing, dog-siccing racist of Birmingham with the President who has put African-Americans into such jobs as Secretary of State -- twice -- shows more than just a little disconnect from reality. It demonstrates a full-blown schizophrenia and paranoia that Rangel all too often vents in his scratchy voice. A paranoid Rangel doesn't amount to news. Having the DNC back him up, as the New York Sun reports, is another matter entirely (subscription may be required): The Democratic National Committee yesterday refused to distance itself from Rep. Charles Rangel's comparison of President Bush to an infamous Southern segregationist, Theophilus "Bull" Connor, remarks the Republican National Committee identified as "hate speech" and urged the DNC to repudiate. ......
It Takes A Thief ...
In my Weekly Standard column today, I note the lack of media interest in the scandal that Hugh Hewitt dubbed "Chuckaquiddick". Senator Chuck Schumer runs the DSCC, which we found out last week had fraudulently obtained the credit report of Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele -- and had kept it quiet for over two months. I write that what this scandal needs is Congressional hearings, chaired by an expert on data privacy: Where would we find experts on data privacy in Congress to hold this hearing? For starters, we would need senators and congressmen like--well, like Chuck Schumer. Schumer, after all, co-authored and sponsored the Schumer-Nelson ID Theft Prevention Bill, introduced in April of this year to discourage the kind of actions that Barge and Weiner took on Schumer's behalf. At the time, Schumer himself said the following, a prescient warning about how someone's personal information could be abused: [O]ur...
DeLay Indicted By Partisan DA
A Travis County, Texas grand jury indicted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on a single charge of conspiracy to violate state campaign-finance laws earlier today, a long-awaited result of a years-long investigation by Travis County DA Ronnie Earle. The indictment will force DeLay to step down from his leadership position until either a trial or a dismissal. Roy Blunt will take over most of his responsibilities temporarily, with some falling to David Dreier and Eric Cantor: The indictment accuses DeLay of criminally conspiring to inject illegal corporate contributions into 2002 state elections that helped the Republican Party reorder the congressional map in Texas and cement its control of the House of Representatives in Washington. The four-page indictment alleged for the first time that DeLay himself participated in a conspiracy with others to funnel corporate money into the 2002 state election "with the intent that a felony be committed." In the...
September 29, 2005
Color The WaPo Editorial Board ... Skeptical
The indictment of Tom DeLay by DA Ronnie Earle has split the blogosphere into predictable battle lines, with liberal bloggers celebrating the indictment and conservatives, such as myself, pointing out the long history of partisanship that Earle has displayed in his pursuit of DeLay. Lost in the shuffle, for the most part, is the indictment itself. Apart from the arguable partisanship, the argument for a criminal indictment on the basis of the kinds of transactions alleged appears very weak, as even the Washington Post acknowledges: Nonetheless, at least on the evidence presented so far, the indictment of Mr. DeLay by a state prosecutor in Texas gives us pause. The charge concerns the activities of Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), a political action committee created by Mr. DeLay and his aides to orchestrate the GOP's takeover of the Texas legislature in 2002. The issue is whether Mr. DeLay and his...
September 30, 2005
Private Property Rights Making Comeback From Extinction?
Over the past thirty years, private property rights have steadily retreated in the face of an unprecedented hunt by environmentalists and grasping government agencies. Starting with the Nixon-era Endangered Species Act and reaching its nadir in the recent Kelo Supreme Court decision, owners of property have found their rights to hold and develop their property as they see fit increasingly restricted. Now, however, with the public outrage over Kelo still reverberating through political circles, Congress may finally push back on behalf of private property rights. On a mostly party-line vote, the House approved important restrictions on the application of the Endangered Species Act that requires the government to reimburse owners for the loss of any commercial value to their property under ESA enforcement, and not just only if all commercial value is lost: The House passed legislation yesterday that could greatly expand private-property rights under the Endangered Species Act, the...
So Who Was Miller Protecting?
The more that I think about the denouement of Judith Miller's three-month stay in prison, the less sense it makes. It didn't sound right to me last night when word leaked that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby had given her a personal assurance that she could name him as her source, even though he had repeatedly waived any confidentiality agreement before she went to jail. Now, having read some of the comments by her attorney Bob Bennett, it makes no sense at all. Power Line notes that Bennett blames Libby for not speaking up sooner and letting Miller off the hook: Miller's lawyer Bob Bennett is way out of line as he makes the rounds of the talk shows suggesting that Scooter Libby should have called Judith Miller earlier to personally assure her that she had his permission to testify. For example, he told Wolf Blitzer: Mr. Libby knew where Judy...
October 2, 2005
Will Fitzgerald Attempt A Conspiracy Indictment? (Update)
Most of us have wondered why Judith Miller's testimony about Scooter Libby held such importance to special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that he allowed her to walk away from a contempt charge merely to provide what appears to be corroborative testimony to what Libby has already told a grand jury. Miller wouldn't talk until Libby and his attorney practically had to beg her to do so, as Power Line notes with their discovery of the letters sent by Libby's attorneys to Bob Bennett, who represents Miller. Fitzgerald wound up giving Miller the same deal he gave Glenn Kessler at the Washington Post, which only required them to testify on a narrow basis about specific sources. Now the Post reports that inside sources in Fitzgerald's office tell them that the strategy has evolved. Instead of finding an act of criminal behavior, which they have apparently not found, Fitzgerald wants to create a...
Bad Day For Rangel On The Blogs
Rep. Charles Rangel had a bad day on the blogs yesterday. First Mark Tapscott completely discredits Rangel's assertions that the all-volunteer armed services draw disproportionally from poor families in his latest research. The Heritage Foundation compares recruitment data from 1999 to 2003 by zipcode and income levels, and finds that the Clinton-era recruitment relied more heavily on lower-income enlistees: Note the proportions of recruits from each of the five demographic quintiles, organized according to per capita income by zip code. The percentage of recruits from the poorest quintile is actually lower in 1999 and 2003 than the percentage for the richest quintile. In fact, the percentage difference between the richest and poorest quintiles increases between 1999 and 2003! And the highest percentage is actually in the second richest quintile of recruits, followed by the richest quintile. It is no exaggeration to say America's most prosperous families bear the greatest share...
October 3, 2005
Miller's Lawyer Wanted Same Deal A Year Ago
This revelation didn't receive a lot of notice, but the lawyer for Judith Miller told reporters yesterday that he asked Patrick Fitzgerald for essentially the same deal a year ago that sprang Miller from prison last week. This seems to indicate that Fitzgerald really wanted testimony from Miller on another matter and later on settled for testimony about Scooter Libby instead: Floyd Abrams, the attorney for New York Times reporter Judith Miller, said Sunday he had tried a year ago to reach an agreement with Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald concerning Miller's testimony about the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity. ... Appearing Sunday on CNN's "Reliable Sources," Abrams said: "I tried to get a deal a year ago. I spoke to Mr. Fitzgerald, the prosecutor, and he did not agree at that time to something that he later did agree to, which was to limit the scope of the...
October 4, 2005
The Second Indictment: Second Verse Stinks Worse Than The First
The grudge match between Ronnie Earle and Tom DeLay went from blatantly political to surreal yesterday after Earle managed to get an indictment within hours of empaneling a grand jury that had eluded him for months with a previous panel. After DeLay's attorney Dick De Guerin filed an expected motion for an expected dismissaal of the indictment Earle issued, one that lacked any mention of lawbreaking on DeLay's part, Earle's sudden ability to add money laundering to the charges raised eyebrows throughout the legal world: The new indictment was brought on the first day of deliberations by a newly empaneled grand jury in Austin. The grand jury that brought the original conspiracy charges against Mr. DeLay, and which had been investigating the lawmaker for months, was disbanded last week. Without an explanation from the prosecutors, local criminal law specialists seemed perplexed by Mr. Earle's actions, saying they may reflect an...
Cohen To Democrats: Think Or Shaddap
It's not often that the Democrats lose Richard Cohen, one of the Washington Post's op-ed writers. It usually happens in any week with two Tuesdays, but otherwise it takes a blatantly bad move on their part to raise his ire. Remarkably and to his credit, Cohen castigates Democrats over two issues that they widely see as great openings for themselves in reversing their political fortunes -- Tom DeLay's indictments and the mostly ill-informed criticisms of Bill Bennett. Cohen chides the Democrats for not only forgetting their manners but also their good sense in trying to make political hay out of either: That was especially the case last week when I started reading what Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, had to say about Tom DeLay, her Republican opposite. I fully expected boilerplate, something about innocent until proved guilty. But Pelosi crossed me up. DeLay, as it...
October 5, 2005
Kuwait Weighs Its Stance Towards Israel
Long one of the hard-line nations against Israel despite their American ties, Kuwait has served as a bastion of Arabic thought for decades. They housed Yasser Arafat and thousands of PLO activists during the group's heyday in the 70s and early 80s, when the entire movement went on the run. Now, however, the unilateral Gaza withdrawal has chnaged the calculations of the region, and Kuwait is no exception, the New York Times reports today: Kuwaiti newspapers in recent days have floated the idea that the country could take steps to reduce hostility toward Israel as a means of helping the Palestinians, prompting a quiet debate about Kuwait's decades-old strategy of isolating Israel. The discussion breaks long-held taboos and brushes at an emotionally explosive subject for Kuwaitis, who had long considered themselves among the standard-bearers for the Palestinian cause. But experts emphasize that it remains no more than a discussion at...
October 6, 2005
Grand Jury Shopping And Intimidation = Texas-Style Justice?
More about Ronnie Earle's legal practices as District Attorney for Travis County has come to light after garnering a snap indictment for money laundering against Rep. Tom DeLay. It turns out that Earle convened a third grand jury to add more charges -- because an unannounced second grand jury refused to indict DeLay at all, provoking Earle's ire: A prosecutor tried to persuade a grand jury that Rep. Tom DeLay tacitly approved illegal use of campaign money and became angry when jurors decided against an indictment, according to two sources directly familiar with the proceeding. "The mood was unpleasant," one source said Wednesday, describing prosecutor Travis County prosecutor Ronnie Earle's reaction. ... Little was previously known about the grand jury that refused to indict DeLay, who has maintained his innocence and accused Earle a Democrat of bringing the prosecution to politically damage him. Earle has denied the allegation...
October 7, 2005
Did Earle Break The Same Campaign Finance Law?
The Washington Times reports that Ronnie Earle may have broken the same laws on which he based the indictments of Tom DeLay and accepted campaign contributions from corporations. Stephen Dinan looked into Earle's campaign records after DeLay leveled the accusation yesterday and found evidence that Earle took money that violated state law, including union contributions: Rep. Tom DeLay said District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who is prosecuting him for trying to involve corporate money in Texas politics, has taken such contributions himself. "It's real interesting he has this crusade against corporate funds. He took corporate funds, and he's taken union funds, for his own re-election. That's against the law," Mr. DeLay told The Washington Times yesterday. A review of Mr. Earle's campaign-finance filings in Texas shows that he has received contributions from the AFL-CIO, including a $250 donation on Aug. 29, 2000. He also has received contributions listed on the disclosure...
Extremism Will Not Win Elections
Two leading Democratic analysts conclude that the Howard Dean approach to national politics will prove damaging to Democrats over the long term, and that a return to centrism provides the only realistic way for the opposition to compete for power. The two former Clinton aides claim that celebrating the base may mean more funding, but it alienates the mass numbers from the center needed to defeat Republicans: Since Kerry's defeat, some Democrats have urged that the party adopt a political strategy more like one pursued by Bush and his senior adviser, Karl Rove -- which emphasized robust turnout of the party base rather than relentless, Clinton-style tending to "swing voters." But Galston and Kamarck, both of whom served in the Clinton White House, said there are simply not enough left-leaning voters to make this a workable strategy. In one of their more potentially controversial findings, the authors argue that the...
October 17, 2005
Huh?
The AP tries its hand at political analysis tonight, looking ahead three years to the Democratic primaries and the impact that the Iraq War will have on potential candidates. Despite the anti-war zealots taking John Kerry on their shoulders after his 'yea' vote on the Iraq resolution -- and despite the continued good news from the Iraqis -- Liz Sidoti thinks that supporting votes for the war resolution may torpedo presidential campaigns in 2008: Potential Democratic presidential candidates who voted to give President Bush the authority to use force in Iraq could face a political problem they supported a war that their party's rank-and-file now strongly view as a mistake. Their pro-war votes cast three years ago could haunt them as they seek early support among die-hard Democrats and gauge whether to launch formal candidacies for the party's 2008 presidential nomination. "For a lot of activists, this...
October 18, 2005
Has The Conservative Movement Started To Crack?
One reads about the coming civil war among conservatives everywhere in the media these days -- how the Miers nomination has started an internecine squabble on the right that threatens to split the GOP, usually along secular/evangelical lines. Both the New York Times and Washington Post run feature articles on this topic today -- and both get the story essentially incorrect. The Times reports on the dismissal of an important conservative voice from a think-tank position in Dallas as a harbinger of civil war: In the latest sign of the deepening split among conservatives over how far to go in challenging President Bush, Bruce Bartlett, a Republican commentator who has been increasingly critical of the White House, was dismissed on Monday as a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative research group based in Dallas. In a statement, the organization said the decision was made after...
Chewing On Straw In The Plame Case
One CQ reader, Maestro, wonders in another thread why I have not written very extensively about the Plame case over the past couple of weeks. My last post came on October 3rd, and I didn't bother even linking to the Judith Miller release and article last week. One reason for the lack of follow-up is simply practical; my schedule has grown increasingly difficult and my blogging time more limited. This past weekend went to Marriage Encounter, and work and family issues have created less of a window for blogging. However, I have to say that apart from reading Tom Maguire's excellent coverage of the rampant speculation about the case, I find very little there there about the Plame case right now. Most of the data out in the open has been there for weeks and months, and the only real news has been how little real news has come out...
October 21, 2005
Wisconsin Governor Faces Bipartisan Probe On Contract Award
A travel-services contract awarded to a hefty financial contributor to Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle has triggered a joint state/federal investigation into potential bribery charges, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports this morning: Federal, state and Dane County authorities have launched a joint investigation into a travel contract given to the company of a major contributor to Gov. Jim Doyle, officials said Thursday. ... In March, Adelman Travel was awarded a three-year contract with the state worth up to $250,000 a year. Before and after bids were solicited and the contract awarded, the firm's owner, Craig B. Adelman, gave the $10,000 maximum allowed to Doyle's re-election campaign. A competing company, Omega World Travel of Fairfax, Va., led the bidding at one point in the process. But state officials said both bids were so close that they asked for head-to-head final prices - and Adelman won that competition. Also, a member of Adelman Travel's...
October 22, 2005
On The Nature Of Criticism
One of the themes that I see repeated in the blogosphere and in comments here on Miers, Abbas, and other threads here at CQ is that criticism of specific points of policy equates to a threat against the Administration. I can understand why people feel like this, especially on the Right; we have advanced our agenda by remaining remarkably united since 1994. That kind of unity has allowed us to make great electoral strides, gaining control of both houses of Congress and two terms in the White House, not easily done in during the times we have faced over the last decade. George Bush, in my opinion, has performed magnificently on a broad range of issues, including the judiciary. He has prosecuted the war on terror using the forward strategy of military engagement on the home turf of the terrorists rather than the United States. He has used that as...
October 25, 2005
Will Gray Lady's Attacks On Miller Stop Indictments?
Josh Gersten at the New York Sun reports today that the ongoing attacks on the credibility of Judith Miller at her own newspaper may have an unintended, ironic effect on the grand jury investigation headed by Patrick Fitzgerald. Given that her testimony and writing has been central to the efforts to tie Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to an alleged conspiracy to discredit Joseph Wilson, the continued disparagement of her truthfulness might well result in an inability to use her in support of any prosecution: Attorneys closely following the case said the sharp criticism Ms. Miller has received from her editors and colleagues may discourage the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, from bringing perjury charges against Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby. According to Ms. Miller and others who have testified before the grand jury investigating the leak, Mr. Fitzgerald has shown significant interest in whether Mr....
October 26, 2005
Steele For Senate
As expected, Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele announced yesterday that he will run for the US Senate seat left open by the retirement of Democrat Paul Sarbanes. In a speech given little attention by the media, Steele highlighted his personal success story as a motivator for his efforts in politics: Steele, 47, launched his campaign Tuesday with a 20-minute speech, evoking lessons he learned growing up in a poor household that he said was "rich in turning hope into action." I think Steele has a big future in the GOP, but he has to win this race to fully realize it. His ability to command an audience, combined with his relaxed and warm public persona and grasp of public policy show flashes of both Ronald Reagan and freshman Senator Norm Coleman. Kweisi Mfume may not admit it, but Steele could certainly peel enough of the African-American vote to make the...
Do Conservatives Know How To Dissent?
My Daily Standard column, "Family Squabbles", addresses the Harriet Miers debate and the vicious tone it has taken in the conservative punditry and blogosphere. I ask the questions: have we paid too much for our unity, and has our disinclination to engage in vigorous debate on policy created such a harbor of resentment that we can no longer disagree agreeably even among fellow conservatives? If we are to govern in the majority, we had better learn how to handle ourselves better when our interests conflict. We got to this position of controlling the levers of power through the efforts of people like Hugh Hewitt, George Will, Charles Krauthammer, George Bush, Ken Mehlman, Tom DeLay, and the various bloggers and grassroots organizers weighing in on vital policy issues every day. Calling each other "pimps", "shills", "hysterics", and other names may make for memorable rhetoric but it will undermine our own credibility...
That Didn't Take Long
One could easily predict that nutcases on the far Left would start peppering the Michael Steele campaign with increasingly personal attacks, thanks to his status as a conservative African-American. However, this must represent a world record reaction time, even for the lunatic Left. Steve Gilliard, who runs the News Blog, has a new post called "Simple Sambo wants to move to the big house," an echo of the oft-tossed 'house slave' epithet that black conservatives get. Gilliard includes a photo-shopped image of Steele depicting him in minstrel-show blackface. Gilliard excuses this racist imagery as acceptable given his own status as an African-American leftist. Disgusting is disgusting, regardless of whoever puts it up on their web site. All this proves is that racism has many faces, including those who insist that people of a particular ethicity must all think alike in order to be "authentic". I doubt that Gilliard will feel...
October 28, 2005
The Fitzmas That Fizzled?
The Left has spent the last two weeks crowing about "Fitzmas" -- the day special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald climbs down the chimney of good little Leftist boys and girls and leaves copies of indictments against Bush administration officials. Since Fitzgerald's grand jury expires today, I imagine a number of these hopeful dreamers spent at least last night with very little REM sleep. Unfortunately, if the New York Times has its story correct, they may find themselves sorely disappointed. It looks like only I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby will get served today: Associates of I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, expected an indictment on Friday charging him with making false statements to the grand jury in the C.I.A. leak inquiry, lawyers in the case said Thursday. Karl Rove, President Bush's senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, will not be charged on Friday, but will remain under...
Fitzmas Drizzles One Solid Indictment
I've had an opportunity to read through the indictment of Scooter Libby while waiting at the clinic with the First Mate. As I predicted, Libby resigned as soon as the indictment was made public: Friday's charges stemmed from a two-year investigation by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald into whether Rove, Libby or any other administration officials knowingly revealed the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame or misled investigators about their involvement. In the end, Fitzgerald accused Libby of a cover-up lying about his conversations with reporters. He was not charged with outing a spy. "Mr. Libby's story that he was at the tail end of a chain of phone calls, passing on from one reporter what he heard from another, was not true. It was false," the prosecutor said. "He was at the beginning of the chain of the phone calls, the first official to disclose this information outside the...
October 30, 2005
The Myth Of Dragging Wilson's Wife Into The Niger Case
Earlier today, I listened to "Late Edition" on CNN and heard Wolf Blitzer interviewing Gary Bauer about the Plame case. Normally that would cause me to either fall asleep from apathy or change the channel to something more interesting -- perhaps a re-run of pro bowling on ESPN XXIV. Before I reached the remote, however, I heard this exchange and my jaw hit the floor: BLITZER: But even if there were no criminal -- if there was nothing criminal about the release of the Valerie Plame, was it appropriate for senior officials in the Bush -- Bush White House, Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, to be talking about Joe Wilson's wife instead of simply arguing with him over the merits of the case. BAUER: Well, Joe Wilson's wife -- they have their own political agenda, which I think is fairly obvious as we have watched this unfold in recent months... BLITZER:...
November 1, 2005
Democrats Deny Open Government To American Electorate
In a move that has not occurred in twenty-five years, the Democrats shut the American public out of the Senate chamber and forced a secret session of the upper chamber this afternoon. Without warning, Harry Reid invoked Rule 21 and after an immediate second, chased out the press and Senate staffers, locked the doors -- and threw a tanrum over Joe Wilson: he US Senate held a rare secret session to discuss a scandal that led to the resignation of a top White House official last week and the intelligence used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Opposition Democrats requested the closed door session saying it was necessary to allow for a full, open debate on alleged manipulation of prewar intelligence. This shows the emptiness of Democrats, both in head and heart. As Bill Frist said afterwards, the minority party proves it has nothing to contribute except cheap political...
November 2, 2005
Democrats: Racism OK For Liberals Opposing Conservatives
The Democrats in Maryland have decided that they like racism, especially racist stereotypes such as slave gibberish and minstrel-show caricatures of African-Americans, and have publicly come out in favor of their use in political campaigns. While such imagery would get a Republican immediately denounced as a hatemonger, Democrats feel free to use them as long as their targets are conservative African-Americans, such as Michael Steele: Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his bid for the U.S. Senate are fair because he is a conservative Republican. Such attacks against the first black man to win a statewide election in Maryland include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an "Uncle Tom" and depicting him as a black-faced minstrel on a liberal Web log. ... "There is a difference between pointing out the obvious and calling someone...
November 3, 2005
Lying Liars Love Joseph Wilson
Today's Wall Street Journal has a can't-miss editorial published in its open-to-all OpinionJournal website. It excoriates the "Clare Luce Democrats," those who have again appointed Joe Wilson their poster boy for the Bush-lied meme that went down to defeat in 2004 when their party used it as the only plank in their platform. Harry Reid took up that strategy himself when he led the Senate into secret session, the first time in 25 years Rule 21 had been used without agreement between the two parties: Harry Reid pulled the Senate into closed session Tuesday, claiming that "The Libby indictment provides a window into what this is really all about, how this Administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq." But the Minority Leader's statement was as demonstrably false as his stunt was transparently political. ... We are now seeing the spectacle of Bush-hating Democrats adopting...
November 4, 2005
Maryland Democrats Condemn Racism But Not Racists In Party
After the Washington Times exposed Maryland Democrats as willing participants in racist attacks on Michael Steele and other black conservatives, the embarrassment has caused a number of Democrats to publicly eschew such tactics. Unfortunately, they refuse to condemn the people in their party who practice such behavior on behalf of the party, putting them in the awkward position of condemning racism while excusing the racists: U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin yesterday pledged not to use racially tinged attacks in his campaign for U.S. Senate but stopped short of repudiating fellow Maryland Democrats who have said such tactics are acceptable against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele because he is a black conservative Republican. "I have never in my entire life brought race into what I do in life, and it is not going to come in now, at this stage," said Mr. Cardin, a 10-term congressman who could face Mr. Steele...
Would You Like A Coup With That Leak?
[Vox Taciturn, who recently retired from blogging due to family obligations, happily takes me up on my offer to host his guest posts. Vox, a former member of the intelligence community, attempts to connect a few dots in today's post. -- Captain Ed] Anyone who isn't purposefully and willfully deluding themselves has seen the folly of Plame-gate: The alleged White House-driven plot to seek vengeance against truth-telling Joe Wilson. That Joe has been proven to be anything but a truth-teller is beside the point; the neo-cons attacked his wife, the mother of his children, and a dedicated public servant in covert status at the CIA. That a simple search of public information something any reporter could have done, something the FBI Special Agents working for Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald surely did, and something any foreign intelligence service would have done had they decided to do business with CIA front Brewster...
November 5, 2005
Warren Beatty, Stalker
Warren Beatty and his wife Annette Bening have attempted to shadow Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger through his last several appearances in support of his referenda in California's upcoming special election. Up to now, everyone assumed Beatty had finally decided to pull the trigger and run for governor next year, starting his long-rumored political career after seeing his movie career dry up over the past decade. However, Beatty announced today that he will not run for office next year, creating a lot of confusion among Californians about why he keeps following the Governator everywhere: Actors Warren Beatty and wife Annette Bening tried to crash a campaign appearance Saturday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the governor sought to drum up last-minute support for a group of statewide ballot measures. ... Beatty planned to shadow Schwarzenegger throughout the day as the governor campaigned. He has been repeatedly mentioned as a possible challenger to Schwarzenegger,...
November 6, 2005
The Shock Of Taking Political Stands In Business
Newsweek covers a story that has percolated a while in the blogs and at a lower profile in the media recently -- the backlash against the American Girls line of dolls produced by Mattel. Designed to provide a more wholesome image than the whore-image Bratz line and a more realistic image than mechanically impossible Barbie dolls, American Girls has had phenomenal success, especially among families that consider themselves more sensitive to self-image issues. Primarily, the AmGirl market focused on more socially conservative families. Unfortunately, AmGirl made the mistake of going overtly political by donating a $50K to Girls, Inc, which used to be known as The Girls Clubs, and promoting its charitable outreach. Girls, Inc explicitly promotes the upholding of Roe v Wade and homosexual rights on its website, which AmGirl devotees soon learned. Now AmGirl and GirlsInc executives proclaim themselves "shocked" that the partnership has created such a controversy:...
November 7, 2005
The Soft (And Quiet) Landing Of Gas Prices
One of the major media stories over the past two months has been the explosion of gasoline prices. Starting with the Iraq War but exacerbated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, gasoline prices have more than doubled over the past three years and have blown by the $2/gallon and $3/gallon milestones in record time. The media used gas pricing as a baseball bat on George Bush's energy policies and foreign policy. However, since the rebuilding efforts began after the twin hurricanes in the Gulf, prices have steadily fallen, but the media hasn't done much reporting on their decline. USA Today provides one exception: Retail gas prices plunged an average of 23 cents nationwide in the past two weeks, marking a return to pre-Hurricane Katrina levels, according to a survey. The weighted average price for all three grades declined to $2.45 a gallon on Friday, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly...
November 9, 2005
A Good Night For Democrats
Democrats executed a near-sweep in state elections last night, winning every contest except the mayor's race in New York City, where liberal GOP incumbent Michael Bloomberg's re-election has been a foregone conclusion for weeks. In the single bright spot for Republicans, Bloomberg won a fourth straight GOP victory in NYC (Rudy Giuliani also served two terms) and broke Giuliani's record margin of victory by beating the hapless Fernando Ferrer by 20 points. Other than that lone accomplishment, the Republicans took it on the chin. As expected, the New Jersey governor's race went to Jon Corzine, but not before his ex-wife got a chance to take a couple of below-the-belt shots at Corzine at the last moment. Despite some polling showing GOP candidate Doug Forrester pulling into a dead heat, Corzine sailed to an easy 11-point victory over Forrester. At best, the Republicans had only a longshot chance in New Jersey,...
Let's Talk About Leaks
After watching the Democrats go nuts for the better part of weeks after their much-ballyhooed "Fitzmas" fizzled out with one indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice, the Republicans have decided to climb aboard the anti-leak bandwagon. Congressional leaders have now demanded investigations into the leak of an actual CIA operation to the Washington Post, which promises more subpoenas for reporters and plenty of headlines for a CIA that has been increasingly exposed as a political player for the Democrats during the Bush administration: House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee noted that the leak, which said the CIA-run prisons are used to interrogate terror suspects, could threaten national security. "If accurate, such an egregious disclosure could have long-term and far-reaching damaging and dangerous consequences, and will imperil our efforts to protect the American people and our homeland from terrorist attacks," they...
November 10, 2005
Will The DoJ Probe The CIA For CYA?
A joint call for Congressional investigations into a rash of recent CIA leaks by Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist may get pre-empted by a criminal probe at the Department of Justice, Jonathan Allen reports for The Hill today: Rank-and-file members of the House and Senate intelligence committees said they were in the dark yesterday about the timing and logistics of a possible joint investigation into alleged leaks from the Central Intelligence Agency, and there were strong indications that congressional action could be preempted by a potential Justice Department probe. ... The Washington Post reported last week that the CIA has been operating secret prison camps in foreign countries to interrogate detainees. Many lawmakers said they could neither confirm nor deny the existence of such black sites. At least two lawmakers, including the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said yesterday that the intelligence panels should defer...
November 11, 2005
He's Ba-aaaaack ....
SCENE 157. A graveyard at dusk. Slo-mo with handheld. Howard DEAN walks through the gates of a cemetery, a handful of posies in his hand. He looks nervously to either side of the fog-shrouded graveyard, seeing no one. He continues until he stops at a headstone, where wreaths of fog clear away enough for the audience to read KARL ROVE, 1999-2005. Shaking his head, DEAN places the posies on the grave just in front of the headstone -- CUE SHRIEKING MUSIC -- when a gray hand shoots out of the fresh earth and grips DEAN'S arm. A panicking DEAN cannot get any air to scream and cannot pull away. His efforts only seem to assist the corpse from its grave as more of the arm breaks clear of the surface. Just when it looks like the head must appear, DEAN finally screams -- SCENE 158: DEAN'S Bedroom. DEAN: Yeee-aaaaaaaargh! MRS...
Bush Goes Back To Offense On Veterans Day
After months of crescendoing criticism over the intelligence which led to the war, George Bush has finally heard enough. Regardless of whether his relative silence on the subject of pre-war intelligence came from a desire to allow Patrick Fitzgerald a nonpartisan environment in which to investigate the Plame leak or a desire to look forward and not ahead, clearly his political enemies -- not just opponents, but very obviously political enemies -- wanted to do neither. More than 30 months after the fall of Saddam, Bush today reminded the nation that the intelligence from which he operated had not much changed from 1998 when Congress and President Clinton used it to justify an ineffective attack on Saddam Hussein and to declare regime change the official policy of the United States. In fact, the only significant change that did occur was the circumstances in which Bush had to consider the intelligence:...
November 12, 2005
Post: George Bush Homer Gets Roger Maris Treatment
Dana Milbank and Walter Pincus "analyze" the President's speech last night and try to rebut some of the details, claiming that "asterisks dot" the argument throughout the speech. Already used in the comments here in CQ, Milbank and Pincus -- the latter especially lacking any credibility after his depantsing by Joe Wilson's misinformation campaign -- still can't deny the overall truth of Bush's speech and the despicable hypocrisy at the center of the Democratic Party's campaign to smear him as a liar: The administration's overarching point is true: Intelligence agencies overwhelmingly believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and very few members of Congress from either party were skeptical about this belief before the war began in 2003. Indeed, top lawmakers in both parties were emphatic and certain in their public statements. Milbank and Pincus argue that Bush had access to more information than Congress did, such as...
Will Steele Split The Black Vote In Maryland?
The candidacy of Michael Steele for the Maryland Senate seat vacated by Paul Sarbanes has some Democrats worried about a split in their most loyal constituency -- the African-American vote. Steele became the first black candidate to win statewide office when he ran for Lieutenant Governor, and now his run for Sarbane's seat may have Maryland voters in a quandry: Black Maryland Democratic leaders say Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele's run for the U.S. Senate could put them at odds with black voters who would question their endorsing a white candidate, such as U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, over the black Republican. "I think at that point I'd be saying that I am endorsing the Democratic ticket," said Delegate Obie Patterson, Prince George's County Democrat and former chairman of the General Assembly's black caucus. "It would be a much more difficult task to rally the troops to get out and...
November 13, 2005
Shelby Cleared By Ethics Committee
The National Journal reports today that Senator Richard Shelby will be cleared of charges that he leaked classified material, bringing an end to a 15-month investigation. The leak concerned a translation of an Arabic-language intercept that preceded 9/11: The Senate Ethics Committee informed Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., late on Friday that after a 15-month inquiry into allegations that he had leaked sensitive national security information to the news media, that it had insufficient evidence that he had done anything wrong, and would not pursue the matter further, National Journal has learned. The Senate Ethics Committee inquiry commenced as a result of a referral from the Department of Justice to the committee on July 20, 2004, in which the department said that there existed what sources described as "credible and specific information" that Shelby might have leaked classified information to the press, and then possibly made false statements to federal investigators...
The Counter-Offensive Turns Into A Team Sport
The pushback against the ridiculous "Bush lied!" campaign taken up by Democrats in 2005 after they lost an entire electoral cycle on it in 2004 has broadened out past the White House to even the President's fair-weather friends in the GOP. Glenn Reynolds points to this exchange on Face The Nation, the CBS entry on the Sunday morning talking-head shows. Bob Schieffer tried to twist Bush's words into a complaint about criticism of war policy, and John McCain would not allow him to get away with it: SCHIEFFER: President Bush accused his critics of rewriting history last week. Sen. McCAIN: Yeah. SCHIEFFER: And in--he said in doing so, the criticisms they were making of his war policy was endangering our troops in Iraq. Do you believe it is unpatriotic to criticize the Iraq policy? Sen. McCAIN: No, I think it's a very legitimate aspect of American life to criticize and...
Jay's Bogus Journey?
A number of CQ readers caught something significant that I missed earlier in the quote from Jay Rockefeller. In trying to attack George Bush and fend off Chris Wallace, Rockefeller tells Wallace that he went out to Arab leaders to conduct his own foreign policy: SEN. ROCKEFELLER: No. The I mean, this question is asked a thousand times and I'll be happy to answer it a thousand times. I took a trip by myself in January of 2002 to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, and I told each of the heads of state that it was my view that George Bush had already made up his mind to go to war against Iraq that that was a predetermined set course which had taken shape shortly after 9/11. Now, what the hell was Rockefeller doing revealing his analysis of American foreign policy and the direction of war strategy to...
November 14, 2005
Norman Podhoretz Article At OpinionJournal
The Norman Podhoretz article that appears to have inspired the GOP to finally fight back against the ridiculous and intellectually dishonest "Bush lied!" Democrat campaign now appears at the Wall Street Journal's free opinion site, OpinionJournal.com. Podhoretz takes the main thrust of a counterargument that has rumbled around the blogosphere in simpler forms and uses the data to stage a devastating rhetorical rebuttal to those Democrats who used the same intelligence in 1998 and 2002 to make themselves look tough. Podhoretz begins: Among the many distortions, misrepresentations and outright falsifications that have emerged from the debate over Iraq, one in particular stands out above all others. This is the charge that George W. Bush misled us into an immoral or unnecessary war in Iraq by telling a series of lies that have now been definitively exposed. What makes this charge so special is the amazing success it has enjoyed in...
November 15, 2005
Senate GOP Plays Smart Tactics, Not Surrender (Updated)
Several CQ readers point out this article in today's New York Times, angry at what appears to be yet another Republican surrender to the Democrats on the national stage. The GOP has introduced a measure that will require the White House to publicly lay out a victory in Iraq and some sort of plan for the phased withdrawal of troops afterwards: In a sign of increasing unease among Congressional Republicans over the war in Iraq, the Senate is to consider on Tuesday a Republican proposal that calls for Iraqi forces to take the lead next year in securing the nation and for the Bush administration to lay out its strategy for ending the war. ... The proposal on the Iraq war, from Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, and Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, would require the administration to provide extensive new...
On Second Thought ...
I've been giving the matter of the Warner amendment considerable thought this afternoon, after reading a number of CQ commenters at lunch and listening to Hugh Hewitt in the way home. While I still think that the idea of getting Bush out in front on the war has its merits, one part of this has me convinced now that it was the wrong way to go about it. They waited until Bush left the country to do it. Now that, frankly, I missed when I first started writing this morning. If the Senate GOP wanted to send a message to the White House, the leadership should have had the courtesy to wait until the current occupant was home. Bush left for an important trip to China, where he especially needs to appear to be in charge of events back home. The GOP move could have waited for Bush to return,...
Not One Dime Adopts Its First Candidate
The National Republican Senatorial Committee wants to discourage conservative Republicans from having an option to the liberal Lincoln Chaffee, who has not only helped form the Gang of 14 which arrogated power from the majority on judicial nominations but also has attacked the Iraq War and George Bush for waging it. Even among RINOs, Linc Chaffee stands out as the extreme edge of a big-tent approach. Now, for some reason, the NRSC wants Rhode Islanders to stick with a Senator that more often than not betrays the GOP, going so far as to actively campaign against a conservative with the temerity to challenge Chaffee in the primary: Liberal Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee refused to support President Bush in the last election, opposed the GOP tax cuts and was the only Republican to vote against the use of military force in Iraq, a war he has likened to Vietnam. So why,...
Administration Official Told Bob Woodward About Plame's CIA Role Before Leak: Post
Tomorrow's Washington Post has a stunning new development in the Valerie Plame story, one that could unravel most of the investigation conducted by Patrick Fitzgerald. The paper reveals that its most celebrated reporter, Bob Woodward, learned of Valerie Plame and her employment at the agency from an unnamed administration official a month before Robert Novak revealed it in his column -- and it wasn't Karl Rove or Scooter Libby: Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward testified under oath Monday in the CIA leak case that a senior administration official told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame and her position at the agency nearly a month before her identity was disclosed. In a more than two-hour deposition, Woodward told Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald that the official casually told him in mid-June 2003 that Plame worked as a CIA analyst on weapons of mass destruction, and that he did not...
November 17, 2005
Bush Takes The High Road With Senate GOP Caucus
George Bush has decided to look at the Warner Amendment in much the way I first analyzed the situation, hailing the overall process that eliminated any call for a timetable to withdraw from Iraq. Speaking from Kyoto on his tour of Asia, Bush expressed his satisfaction with the defeat of the competing Democratic amendment that demanded a withdrawal schedule and told the press that the Warner approach sounded reasonable: President Bush said yesterday that it was "a positive step" for the Senate to defeat a Democrat-led effort to establish a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq. "The Senate, in a bipartisan fashion, rejected an amendment that would have taken our troops out of Iraq before the mission was complete," Mr. Bush said during a press conference in Kyoto with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. "To me, that was a positive step by the United States Senate." Mr. Bush rejected a...
Haven't Heard About Abramoff In A While?
If the name Jack Abramoff hasn't come up in quite a while, it shouldn't surprise anyone. After having had a turn as the favorite Democratic bogeyman on Republican corruption, the issue inexplicably slid off the radar as the Democrats instead talked more generically about the "culture of corruption." Now we know why -- it turns out that Abramoff took much more of an equal-opportunity approach to spreading the wealth on Capitol Hill than Democrats initially let on: Nearly three dozen members of Congress, including leaders from both parties, pressed the government to block a Louisiana Indian tribe from opening a casino while the lawmakers collected large donations from rival tribes and their lobbyist, Jack Abramoff. Many intervened with letters to Interior Secretary Gale Norton within days of receiving money from tribes represented by Abramoff or using the lobbyist's restaurant for fundraising, an Associated Press review of campaign records, IRS records...
November 18, 2005
NAACP Leader Switches Parties
Doug at Considerettes notes an interesting political story that should shake up South Florida politics, especially for those who want to toss race cards around during election season. Scott Maxwell at the Orlando Sentinel reports that the head of the NAACP for Florida's Orange County has responded to GOP outreach efforts by changing his party affiliation to Republican: "I've thought about this for two years," [Derrick] Wallace said Tuesday afternoon, just a few hours after returning from the elections office. "This is not a decision I made yesterday." It is, however, a decision that rang out like a shot among political circles. Republican Party leader Lew Oliver described himself as "extraordinarily pleased," while Democratic leader Tim Shea said he was disappointed. Wallace, a construction-company exec, was candid about the fact that his business life was a big part of his decision to change. "It's purely a business decision. Ninety percent...
November 29, 2005
Abramoff Client Heading Investigation
Democrats have tried painting Jack Abramoff's sleazy and allegedly criminal lobbying efforts as a strictly Republican scandal for the last several months, tying Abramoff chiefly to Tom DeLay. However, as the investigation into Abramoff continues, more and more ties to Democrats have emerged, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. Now it appears that the ranking Senate Democrat on the committee that has taken the lead in investigating Abramoff has more than a oversight connection to Abramoff himself: New evidence is emerging that the top Democrat on the Senate committee currently investigating Jack Abramoff got political money arranged by the lobbyist back in 2002 shortly after the lawmaker took action favorable to Abramoff's tribal clients. A lawyer for the Louisiana Coushatta Indians told The Associated Press that Abramoff instructed the tribe to send $5,000 to Sen. Byron Dorgan (news, bio, voting record)'s political group just three weeks after the North Dakota...
December 1, 2005
The Merry Christmas Project
My good friend Kevin McCullough has a great idea going at his blog. Since the ACLU seems intent on taking Christmas out of the holiday season, he wants to get as many bloggers to promote his idea to teach them what the season really means. His idea? Have as many readers as possible send Christmas cards to the New York office of the ACLU: We are excited to be launching the opportunity today...between now and Christmas we are asking you to send the ACLU direct "MerryChristmas" cards. And we aren't talking about these generic "happy holiday" (meaning nothing) type of cards... Go get as "Christmas" a Christmas card as you can find... something that says.. "Joy To The World", "For Unto Us A Child Is Born", but at least "Merry Christmas", put some of your own thoughts into it, sign it respectfully and zip it off in the mail to:...
December 2, 2005
Democrat 'Unity' Unravels On Iraq
The supposed unity of the Democrats on Iraq continued to unravel further yesterday, with more Democrats speaking out in favor of the cut-and-run strategy favored by Jack Murtha, while others insisted that none of them supported running away from the fight. The Post gives a pretty good scorecard for the confusion which once more bolsters the national perception of a party unworthy to hold responsibility for national security. Nancy Pelosi's wholehearted defection from the lawyerly constructions emanating from the Democratic caucus in the Senate has exposed the Democrats' disarray on an issue which seemed to resonate so well for them until the GOP forced their hand in the House two weeks ago: For months now, Democratic leaders have grown increasingly aggressive in their critiques of President Bush's policies in Iraq but have been largely content to keep their own war strategies vague or under wraps. That ended Wednesday when Pelosi...
December 5, 2005
Navy Ends Retreat On Ship Inventory
The Navy has determined that it must start expanding its shipbuilding immediately, after years of drastic reductions in the post-Cold War era has left the service at half of its peak strength. The New York Times reports that even a modest increase in ship-building may not get the necessary funding from Congress, however: The plan by Adm. Michael G. Mullen, who took over as chief of naval operations last summer, envisions a major shipbuilding program that would increase the 281-ship fleet by 32 vessels and cost more than $13 billion a year, $3 billion more than the current shipbuilding budget, the officials said Friday. While increasing the fleet size is popular with influential members of Congress, the plan faces various obstacles, including questions about whether it is affordable in light of ballooning shipbuilding costs and whether the mix of vessels is suitable to deal with emerging threats, like China's expanding...
John Kerry: American Soldiers Are Terrorists
John Kerry appeared yesterday on the CBS talking-head show, "Face The Nation", to discuss the war in Iraq with Bob Schieffer. Just as in his speeches on the Viet Nam War, Kerry has slipped into deep Left-speak in an attempt to gain national traction for his pose as a party leader. In fact, in language reminiscent of his infamous "Genghis Khan" speech before the Senate in April 1971, he yesterday referred to American soldiers as terrorists -- and then suggested that we leave terrorism to the new Iraqi army. From page 3-4 of the CBS transcript, emphasis mine (h/t:CQ reader Dave Z): SCHIEFFER: All right. Let me shift to another point of view, and it comes from another Democrat, Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. He takes a very different view. He says basically we should stay the course because, he says, real progress is being made. He said this is...
December 7, 2005
Hillary Facing Challenge From The Left?
Just when it appears that the GOP's efforts to unseat Hillary Clinton have collapsed with District Attorney Jeanette Pirro's wobbly candidacy for the Senate seat, Clinton may face even more challenge from the Left. Another anti-war candidate has announced his intention to run against Clinton, and this one has some union clout: A longtime labor advocate launched his challenge to Senator Clinton's reelection while another anti-war Senate hopeful yesterday suggested the two join forces against Mrs. Clinton in the 10-month lead-up to the Democratic primary. A former head of the National Writers Union, Jonathan Tasini, announced his bid in a 20-minute speech to supporters and members of the press at the W Hotel in Union Square. The address largely focused on his opposition to the Iraq war: He said Mrs. Clinton and other Democrats who voted for it "abdicated their responsibility to the American people and to the values of...
December 9, 2005
Hoist Upon Their Own Petard
The GOP has made no bones about taking the gloves off after spending the last few months pretending to rise above the ankle-biting rhetoric about the Iraq War from the Democrats. After watching them slowly tip over the edge in the past month, openly calling for a recognition of defeat in Iraq and an immediate evacuation of troops from the region, the Republicans have opened up on Democratic Party leaders such as their chairman, their Congressional leadership, and their last Presidential nominee for their vacillating and pusillanimous responses. I covered most of this recent history in my last Daily Standard column, "Rally Round The (White) Flag, Boys!" For their part, the Democrats loudly responded that they have been quoted out of context. Drudge now reports that the Republicans intend on fixing that problem with a few web ads, using the actual recorded statements of each to show the nation that...
December 10, 2005
Our New Bestest Buddy ... Joe Lieberman?
In the zero-sum game that has consumed our national politics in general and the Democrats specifically over the last month, Joe Lieberman has arisen as a new prize to be claimed -- or shunned. The Washington Post reports on the political damage that he may have done to his own party in coming back from Iraq and informing the nation that the Bush strategy has worked and will deliver victory if Democrats would simply not lose their nerve. Amazingly, the word "maverick" never once appears in Shailagh Murray's analysis: The Connecticut Democrat's strong public defense of Bush's handling of the Iraq war has provided the White House with an invaluable rejoinder to intensifying criticism from other Democrats. In public statements and a newspaper column, Lieberman has argued that Bush has a strategy for victory in Iraq, has dismissed calls for the president to set a timetable for troop withdrawal, and...
December 12, 2005
The Incredible Lightness Of Being Hillary
The Washingtom Post reports today on the missing 800-lb gorilla in the national debate on the Iraq War. Hillary Clinton has largely made herself AWOL from the debate, testing various formulations of vague anti-Bush criticisms without tipping over into anti-war rhetoric. That has led to criticism from both liberals and conservatives and left most wondering exactly where she stands on the war and the strategy needed. Hillary, however, isn't talking about it: At a time when politicians in both parties have eagerly sought public forums to debate the war in Iraq, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has kept in the shadows. Clinton has stayed steadfastly on a centrist path, criticizing President Bush but refusing to embrace the early troop withdrawal options that are gaining rapid favor in her party. This careful balance is drawing increasing scorn from liberal activists, frustrated that one of the party's leading lights has shown little...
December 14, 2005
Carl Levin Can't Handle The Truth
Democratic Senator Carl Levin has pledged to block an appointment for President Bush's choice of Pentagon spokesman based on the supposed attitude problem of the nominee, J. Dorrance Smith. What has caused this political obstructionism to rise again, this time in the Senate Armed Services Committee? Senator Levin doesn't appreciate what Smith thinks about ... al-Jazeera: J. Dorrance Smith, the nominee, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee in a closed session about an opinion article in which he accused U.S. television networks of helping terrorists through the networks' partnerships with al-Jazeera. The article has sparked concern among committee members and has prompted Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) to pledge to defeat Smith's nomination to be assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. "I have deep concerns about whether or not he should be representing the United States government and the Department of Defense with that kind of attitude and...
December 15, 2005
Trashing What Isn't Broken
In the days after 9/11, Americans resigned themselves to the inevitability of a series of terrorist attacks on our homeland. We tried to do whatever we could do to minimize the possibility of such an attack, but we all prepared ourselves and tried to do what we could to remain vigilant against terrorists. One element of that vigilance was the PATRIOT Act, which gave law enforcement the same kinds of power to pursue counterterrorism as they do in investigating child pornographers and organized crime suspects. That proved to be successful; we have yet to experience another successful attack on American soil, more than four years later. After that tremendous success, when key provisions of this legislation have reached a critical expiration date, the Democrats propose to force the calendar back to 9/10 and filibuster the renewal of the PATRIOT Act: The real fight will be later this week in the...
December 16, 2005
Ask Not What Windmills Do To My View ...
One of the more laughable hypocrisies of the environmental movement has been the proposed windmill farm called the Cape Wind project. The proposal involves the installation of hundreds of windmills in an area that should capture enough power to generate a significant amount of clean energy -- the kind of energy that environmentalists normally insist be part of our future. Most of the time, this kind of government spending gets high marks from limousine liberals like Rep. Robert Kennedy Jr, but not when the project gets built where their limousines park, as Kennedy's fine NIMBY whine in today's New York Times explains: AS an environmentalist, I support wind power, including wind power on the high seas. I am also involved in siting wind farms in appropriate landscapes, of which there are many. But I do believe that some places should be off limits to any sort of industrial development. I...
December 17, 2005
Presdent's Address: Live Blog
I will be reviewing the rare, televised weekly address by George Bush on the filibuster of the PATRIOT Act renewal. It will start in three minutes ... 9:07 - PA tore down the "wall" and received large bipartisan majorities ... 9:08 - The law did exactly what it was designed to do. Bush makes a powerful point when he says that the terrorist threat will not expire in two weeks. 9:10 - Surprise! Bush went on the offensive on the NSA leak -- he stresses that the NSA only worked on international communications, not domestic. He called the leak "illegal", and he took complete responsibility for the program. 9:12 - The program gets reviewed every 45 days, and the White House has to reauthorize it each time. Bush says he has done so over 30 times, and Congress has received "over a dozen briefings" -- hardly a surprise for Capitol...
December 18, 2005
Presidential Address Live Blog
I'll be live-blogging the Oval Office speech by George Bush in this post when it starts in 30 minutes. Keep checking back for updates ... 8:00 -- I wonder what color tie he'll be wearing? I'll be watching this on Fox ... 8:02 - Stressing the launch of a constitutional democracy and an ally in the heart of the Middle East; good point. 8:03 - Found "some capacity" to restart WMD programs but not the weapons themselves. He again took responsibility for the war, but reminds us that we rid the world of a "murderous dictator". "The world is better for it" -- yes, it is. 8:06 - He talks about the nature of the terrorists in plain language. He reminded us that on 9/11, we weren't in Iraq or Afghanistan and the terrorists attacked us anyway. 8:08 - Bush strikes the right notes in acknowledging the criticism of the...
December 19, 2005
Reid Discovers Democracy, Leaves Bad Taste In His Mouth
We've become like the House of Commons. Whoever has the most votes wins. It hasn't worked that way in 216 years. -- Harry Reid, on the likelihood of losing a vote on budget cuts and defense spending, including ANWR The Senate Minority leader shut down the Senate yesterday in yet another fit of pique brought on by reality. He discovered that a conference committee would shortly present a defense bill -- agreed upon by members of both houses -- that contained a provision allowing drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The thought of having a majority-rule vote on ANWR has driven Reid to threaten a complete shutdown of the Senate every time a presidential nomination comes to the floor, raising obstructionism to ever-new heights just in time for the next election cycle: House and Senate negotiators yesterday reached year-end deals on a $42 billion budget-cuts package and a...
Copperheadism Still A Tough Sell: AP-Ipsos
When Jack Murtha started talking about "immediate redeployment" and had it taken up by a chorus of Democratic Party leaders such as Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry, one had to wonder whether they had discovered some undercurrent of American defeatism in secret polling. After all, they had long searched for a resonant message on Iraq; their lack of coherence on the issue likely cost them the 2004 presidential election. Even up to the eve of the historic elections last week, the Democrats still insisted that we couldn't hope to beat the insurgency and the only realistic tactic left was retreat. If the Democrats hope to find resonance with the American public on that message, they will find themselves very much disappointed in 2006. In a poll taken before the Iraqi election and the strong speeches of George Bush shortly afterwards, Ipsos-AP discovered that the percentage of Americans believing in defeatism...
December 20, 2005
Stevens: I'm Here All Month, And Don't Forget To Tip The Waitresses
Senator Ted Stevens has raised the temperature in the Senate by attaching ANWR drilling to the defense appropriations bill that needed to get signed to keep the troops funded in the field. Senate Democrats howled at the supposed breach of rules, and Harry Reid has promised to block all sorts of Senate business as a result. Now Stevens has raised the ante on Reid, threatening to Grinch the Senate into working right through the holiday season and forcing them to give up their Christmas: It's an audacious power play, even for Sen. Ted Stevens. The wily and cantankerous Alaska Republican is trying to secure the mother of all pet projects for his state: oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Stevens has attached the provision to a popular defense spending bill and has put holiday plans of his Senate colleagues on hold as he dares Democratic and moderate Republican...
December 21, 2005
The Procrastinator's Ball
Late word out of Washington has the Senate ready to pass a six-month extension to Patriot Act that puts off a fight over the more controversial sections of the law. With time running out on the sunset provisions of Patriot, the Democrats wanted a three-month window and the Republicans wanted a full year -- which would have pushed the expiration past the next election. Instead, the Senate split the difference: The Senate neared passage of a six-month extension of the USA Patriot Act Wednesday night, hoping to avoid the expiration of law enforcement powers deemed vital to the war on terror. ... The extension gives critics — who successfully filibustered a House-Senate compromise that would have made most of the law permanent — more time to seek civil liberty safeguards in the law. Democrats and their allies had originally asked for a three-month extension, and the Senate's Republican majority had...
December 22, 2005
Frist Grip Slips
The debacle that occurred yesterday in the Senate for the GOP despite a ten-seat advantage demonstrates a continuing and apparently worsening leadership vacuum for the Republican caucus. Majority Leader Bill Frist once again failed to deliver on two key legislative issues for the White House -- ANWR drilling and the permanent extension of the PATRIOT Act -- and required the Vice President to cut off a diplomatic trip overseas to rescue a third objective of budget cuts for at least a show of some fiscal sanity. As the Boston Globe notes today, either Frist cannot whip the fractious caucus into line or has poor vote-counting skills, but either way he has performed poorly in his role as shepherd to the legislative agenda of the GOP: Senate majority leader Bill Frist, heading a 55-to-45 Republican majority, might have expected to deliver a pile of legislative gifts this month to the White...
December 27, 2005
Hillary And Chuck Line Up Defense Pork For Contributors
The New York Sun reports this morning that their two senators, Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, really know how to put the quid in quid pro quo. While Schumer in particular vehemently protested attaching an authorization for ANWR drilling to the Defense Department appropriation bill, he and Hillary both stuck spending amendments that directly benefitted serious contributors to their election coffers: Senators Clinton and Schumer are asking the Pentagon to spend $123 million of its wartime budget for New York projects that the Department of Defense didn't ask for - but that in many cases are linked to the senators' campaign contributors. ... Two New York congressmen sit on the House Armed Services Committee: Rep. John McHugh, a Republican of Watertown, and Rep. Steven Israel, a Democrat of Long Island. Many of the companies and executives who won earmarks this year donated money not only to Senator Clinton, who sits...
Gray Lady Still Pining For Her Lost Convicts
One of the silliest memes generated in the last few years is the counting of imprisoned convicts during the regular Census. The Gray Lady has long complained about the practice of counting American citizens as part of the Census in the counties where they are incarcerated, instead of either (a) counting where they would be living if the poor dears hadn't gotten themselves convicted, or (b) not counting them at all. It seems that the NIMBY-fueled practice of building prisons out in the hinterlands, where the attendant security and potential crime associated with jailkeeping becomes Someone Else's Problem, dilutes the political impact of the Big Apple: The first Constitution took for granted that enslaved people could not vote, but counted each slave as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of apportioning representation in Congress. This inflated the voting power of slaveholders and gave them much more influence in legislative...
December 28, 2005
Centrist Dems See 2006 Slipping Away, Too
Today's Washington Times reports on the qualms felt by centrist Democrats over recent efforts by their party to block national-security efforts by the Bush administration. Donald Lambro spoke with two influential DLC advisors, who express concern that the positions taken over the past month by Harry Reid and others in opposition to the Patriot Act and the NSA's efforts to surveil suspected terrorists on international calls will once again demonstrate that the Democrats cannot be trusted with national security decisions in the upcoming election: Some centrist Democrats say attacks by their party leaders on the Bush administration's eavesdropping on suspected terrorist conversations will further weaken the party's credibility on national security. That concern arises from recent moves by liberal Democrats to block the extension of parts of the USA Patriot Act in the Senate and denunciations of President Bush amid concerns that these initiatives could violate the civil liberties of...
Dems Pick Another Winner
After having the New York Times blow a secret defense plan all over its front page for the last two weeks and having Democratic Party leaders fall all over themselves in condemning the Bush administration for protecting the nation from attack, the Democrats will undoubtedly expect the American public to share their outrage. Unfortunately for Howard Dean, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi, the American electorate has proven themselves to be quite a bit more concerned with winning the war than with sharing the radical Left's paranoid fantasies: Sixty-four percent (64%) of Americans believe the National Security Agency (NSA) should be allowed to intercept telephone conversations between terrorism suspects in other countries and people living in the United States. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that just 23% disagree. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Americans say they are following the NSA story somewhat or very closely. Just 26% believe President Bush is the...
January 2, 2006
A Plaintive Cry For Relevancy
The AP notes with an overindulgence of respect the continuing efforts of John Kerry to run for president -- in any election that will tolerate him: It's almost as if Sen. John Kerry never stopped running for president. He still jets across the country, raising millions of dollars and rallying Democrats. He still stalks the TV news show circuit, scolding President Bush at every turn. His campaign Web site boasts of an online army of 3 million supporters. The Massachusetts Democrat, defeated by Bush in 2004, insists it is far too early to talk about the 2008 race, but some analysts assume he has already positioning himself for another shot at the White House. He still appears on national TV, but he still talks in the same lawyerly, noncommittal way about his own policies -- a habit that lost him the 2004 election. Kerry still hasn't formulated a coherent war...
January 3, 2006
Not One Dime's Candidate Gaining Ground
The Not One Dime campaign's first endorsed candidate, Stephen Laffey, has generated quite a bit of interest in his bid to unseat Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island. The New York Sun profiles Laffey in a Josh Gerstein article today, noting that Laffey's pro-Israel stance has helped boost his visibility: The mayor of Cranston, R.I., Stephen Laffey, 43, is hoping to unseat Lincoln Chafee, a Republican who was appointed to the Senate in 1999 after the unexpected death of his father, John Chafee, and who won election to his father's former seat the following year. The main fund-raising arm for Senate candidates, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is coming to Mr. Chafee's defense. About 11 months before the September 12 primary, the committee launched a series of television ads attacking Mr. Laffey's record on taxes and tarring him as a "slick" ally of the oil industry. The latter charge is taken...
The New Democratic Meme: Self-Immolation
Markos Moulitsas has lost it -- and the candidates who pay him for his services might have some explaining to do about their views on national security in the future. Kos wrote today that Republicans want to protect the United States out of a sense of cowardice (h/t: The Corner): When our nation was founded, we had men of real character and courage fighting for their nascent America, one in which liberty and freedom trumped the authorative tendencies of the monarchy. Patrick Henry gave words to those efforts: "Give me liberty or give me death!" ... These blowhards pretend they are macho even as they piddle on themselves in abject terror from every "boo!" that comes out of Osama Bin Laden's mouth. They like to speak about how tough they are, even though they send others to fight their battles and couldn't last a day in places like Iraq, or...
Let The Chips Fall Where They May
Congratulations should come from all Americans to Department of Justice prosecutors who got lobbyist Jack Abramoff to agree to a plea deal by acknowledging a years-long string of corrupt activity in Washington DC. The prosecutors got Abramoff to plead guilty to a wide range of offenses, guaranteeing that he will either cooperate to the bitter end or spend the rest of his life in prison: "I plead guilty, your honor," Abramoff said in flat, unemotional tones, accepting a plea bargain that said he had provided lavish trips, golf outings, meals and more to public officials "in exchange for a series of official acts." In one case, he reported payments totaling $50,000 to the wife of a congressional aide to help block legislation for a client. The aide worked for DeLay, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Public corruption aside, Abramoff admitted defrauding four Indian tribes and other...
January 4, 2006
Predictions Of Fallout From Abramoff
With the plea deal in place and the prospect of decades of hard time staring him in the face, Jack Abramoff has little choice but to cough up as many of his co-conspirators in the halls of power as he must in order to minimize his prison time, and to make that time as comfortable as possible. I doubt he will err on the side of discretion when calculating what he has to do to ensure his future life outside of the federal penal system, and so we can expect that all of the Abramoff skeletons will come tumbling out of the closet. That will lead to a strange season in national politics, with the Congress reeling from the scandal and the executive holding the field by default rather than by design. What does this mean for 2006 and 2008? Right now, here's how I see it: * All politics...
January 5, 2006
Clinton Pleads Out In Paul Fundraiser Case
Avoiding the coming rush on contribution cases coming with the Abramoff plea deal, Hillary Clinton struck a deal of her own yesterday, quietly settling the Hillywood Fundraiser albatross for the moderate sum of $35,000: A fund-raising committee for Senator Clinton's 2000 campaign has agreed to pay a $35,000 civil penalty and to concede that reports it made to the federal government understated by more than $700,000 donations to a California celebrity gala held to benefit her Senate bid. The agreement between the committee, New York Senate 2000, and the Federal Election Commission ends the campaign finance regulation agency's inquiry into a complaint filed in 2001 by an entrepreneur who financed the fund-raising concert, Peter Paul. "The civil payment assessed to New York Senate 2000 resolves the question of underreported in-kind contributions, and there will be no further action on this matter," an attorney for the fundraising committee, Marc Elias, said....
Kennedy Stays Bought
Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) has decided to buck the current fashion of donating the money given to him linked to Jack Abramoff clients to charity, while the rest of Kennedy's colleagues distance themselves from Abramoff-directed contributions as fast as possible. Kennedy insists that he has nothing to hide -- since he's been taking Indian gambling money for ten years and acting on their behalf for, coincidentally, the same amount of time: Rep. Patrick Kennedy, citing his support for American Indian causes, says he has no plans to return any of the $42,500 he took from tribes represented by GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff. "He's proud to have their support," Kennedy chief of staff Sean Richardson said Wednesday. "He's got direct personal relationships with tribes. ... He looks at it as a human and civil rights issue, the fact that they're still not treated with the dignity and respect they deserve." Kennedy,...
January 6, 2006
Buyer's Remorse
The Democrats in Congress who have repeatedly been briefed on the NSA program on warrantless international intercepts appear to have contracted some weird kind of buyer's remorse. After more than four years of updates, during which they raised few objections to the program and issued no requests for its termination, suddenly one such member wants her money back. Jane Harman made headlines yesterday by writing a letter to the White House calling the program "illegal", a charge which mystified her Republican counterpart at many a briefing in the past: In a sign of growing partisan division over domestic eavesdropping, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday defended the Bush administration's limited briefings for Congress on the secret program and accused the committee's top Democrat of changing her position on the issue. ... The Intelligence Committee chairman, Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, was responding to a statement Wednesday...
January 7, 2006
DeLay Steps Down
Tom DeLay officially made clear what the House Republican caucus had already begun to realize -- that current political conditions make it impossible for him to return to his leadership position regardless what happens with his legal issues in Texas. In a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who may also be replaced soon, DeLay officially and permanently resigned from GOP leadership: "During my time in Congress, I have always acted in an ethical manner within the rules of our body and the laws of our land," the Texas lawmaker told fellow Republicans in a letter informing them of his decision. Still, referring to criminal charges he faces in his home state, he added, "I cannot allow our adversaries to divide and distract our attention." DeLay temporarily have given up his leadership post after he was charged, but always insisted he would reclaim his duties after clearing his name. His...
January 8, 2006
Everyone Loved Jack
The Democrats intend on using the ongoing scandal surrounding Jack Abramoff as a way to talk about the supposed "culture of corruption" surrounding the GOP, and have referenced the disgraced lobbyist's donation lists to exploit the catchphrase, "[Republican] knew Jack". Well, according to CapitalEye, a whole lot of people knew Jack, and not just Republicans. CQ reader John K sends the link tonight with the list of Democrats to which Abramoff's attention was given. Make no mistake; the list contains more GOP politicians, and more money went to Republicans. That follows from the fact that the GOP controls more power, and has since the midpoint of Clinton's first term. But rather than it being a 20-1 phenomenon, the data shows it to be much closer to 2-1. Here's a summary of the last four electoral cycles: Cycle .......... Dems ..........GOP 2000 .......$216,470........$409,513 2002........$552,230.......$1,478,740 2004........$620,503........$843,835 2006........$152,470.......$177,500 In fact, the ratio comes...
January 9, 2006
The RNC Blogger Forum
Here's the lineup of bloggers for the forum, courtesy of Mary Katherine Ham: Tim from Townhall Capitol Report Michelle Malkin Capt. Ed Matt Margolis Ian Schwartz of The Political Teen Flip Pidot Pat Cleary of NAM Justin Hart of Rightside Redux Bob Hahn of RedState Mark Noonan of GOP Bloggers Quite a lineup ... check them all out....
RNC Blogger Forum: GOP Strategy
Our first event of the day was a meeting with RNC chair Ken Mehlman, who reviewed the strategy for the GOP in the upcoming electoral cycle. He opened the conference with some background remarks and then dove into the specifics of electoral and legislative strategy and took a number of questions from the assorted bloggers here at the RNC Blogger Forum. I'll post this and update as we go .... 1. Positive agenda for change -- Defending the status quo won't do. Need to be seen as reformers -- leadership already turning towards that. We need a smaller government to combat this kind of corruption. Reduce government, reduce corruption. But then how do we reform lobbying and government? Full and quicker disclosure. Keep in mind that what Jack Abramoff did was theft and kickbacks, and that should always be aggressively prosecuted. 2. Election is a choice, not a referendum --...
RNC Blogger Forum: The e-Campaign
The GOP wants to expand its reach through the blogosphere, as a senior strategist explained to us in the next segment. They want to be part of the larger conversation, which is why they have expended so much effort to connect to bloggers during this past year. They see the future in blogs that start focusing on narrower and more local races. We can expect the GOP to roll out more tools for bloggers to use for elections in the coming year in order to get the word out or expand fundraising. They don't want to turn us into shills for the RNC, but they want to give us the tools we need to get out the parts of the message we support. One of the problems that we have will be the credibility hit people take with close proximity to organized politics. If the GOP provides tools with no...
RNC Blogger Forum: Polling
We now go to background with key Republiscan strategists on polling. The numbers look better than reported in the press. The exact numbers are off the record, but they certainly seem compelling -- as long as the data doesn't put you to sleep. The GOP has had success over the Democrats in keeping their base happy, and the election will once again hinge on turnout. Even on specific issues, the numbers have recovered since the latest effort to get the news out to the GOP base. Alito has also gained respect from Americans on Alito, at least until today's hearings start. Summary -- Pros: Solid base that has grown Fewer ticket splits Stronger confidence on issues Cons: Voters want change Low presidential approval (although improving) Low Congressional approval...
RNC Blogger Forum: Upcoming Races (Update and Bump)
Our second briefing comes from a GOP strategist that gives us an idea of the 2006 electoral battleground on a national and state-by-state basis. The Senate races get the first review, especially the Casey/Santorum race in Pennsylvania; the GOP expects it to be "very intense", and will make a lot of use of the Internet. The GOP expects to see a lot of money get thrown behind Casey and for the Democrats to treat it as their Daschle race. Ohio and DeWine shows a problem with the GOP state scandals and a very unpopular Republican governor. They're hoping for a catfight in the primary between the Democrats. Missouri has Talent, who barely won the last time and is tied at the moment. It's a swing state that Bush carried in 2004, but still a risk for the GOP. Montana has another "testy" primary for the Democrats, but this may be...
RNC Blogger Forum: Economic Strategy
Our afternoon session started off with Keith Hennessey, Deputy Director of the President's Economic Council, who wanted to touch base with us on the day we topped 11,000 on the Dow Jones. He stressed that government does not create growth, but it can set the conditions for it -- and that is what Bush has tried to do with his economic policy. Productivity will remain the focus of the economic policy. Current projections show that productivity growth rate will continue at around 2.7%, ensuring shorter turnaround times for doubling the standard of living in the US. Social Security - Bush talked about this last Friday and the White House expects to continue its public push to address reform. There are two pieces to this puzzle: long-term solvency and transforming the program to an ownership model soon. Productivity does not address all of those problems -- IOW, we cannot grow ourselves...
RNC Blogger Forum: Nat'l Direction
The GOP has kept track of the president's approval rating and have been encouraged by the recent increase in support, according to a political strategist on the White House senior staff. The extreme polarization leads the White House to believe that the numbers won't flex in real terms much more above or below the current 45% or so that he currently has at the moment. Because the war will remain the central topic and economy will also be on everyone's mind, this polarization will tend to work towards the GOP's favor. All other topics will wind up relating to these two touchstones -- and both, it is implied, will be net pluses for Republicans by the time the 2006 elections roll around. The staff still knows its history, and that maintaining its full edge in Congress may be tough. As earlier, the White House expects to still have a majority...
RNC Blogger Forum: Surprise Visitors
In the afternoon session, the RNC moved us from their offices in a tony section of DC to an even tonier hotel, the Hay-Adams, to continue meeting with various strategists and political players inside the GOP. Being from out of town, I had no idea what a nice place the Hay-Adams was. As I explained to Patrick Ruffini, I'm more used to hotel employees holding doors to kick me out to the street than to welcome me inside. Nor was that the only surprise the RNC had in store for us. At the end of a series of meetings with strategists, we met with the most senior strategist one can find in the White House: Karl Rove. He spent quite a bit of time with us discussing different issues, but we did promise to keep the specifics off the record. I can tell CQ readers that Mr. Rove comes across...
January 10, 2006
RNC Blogger Forum: Senator Bill Frist
10:10 - Senator Frist has dropped in for a visit ... 10:13 - Blogs can help explain the procedural issues and questions that come up. 10:14 - Alito deserves a "fair and dignified hearing, and then a fair up-or-down vote". Nature of politics is that we can expect some protest, but that we keep the process moving. He will use "all the tools", but believes it "premature" to speak to the specifics of those tools at this point. Democrats will pull out "old ways" to defeat progress in America, and says we'll get some hints this week. More obstruction through procedural tools will arise - not necessarily filibusters, but slowdowns and postponements. 10:18 - The hold on Brett Kavanaugh: Senator Frist says he can't comment on the record at the moment for that, but he will likely address the process of "holds" in the coming year. 10:19 - Frist says...
RNC Blogger Forum: Senator Orrin Hatch
2:14 - If the Democrats were as interested in fighting terror as they are in fighting Alito, we'd all be safe. 2:16 - Very pleased with Alito's performance; says his demeanor and performance ranks up there with John Roberts. 2:17 - Kennedy and Biden blew the Vanguard issue out of all proportion. He reminded us that the agreement was that Alito would recuse himself from cases in the initial period of his service. 2:20 - Hatch, like Frist, expects a party-line vote. 2:22 - Abortion is the be-all, end-all issue that provides the main identity for Democrats. 2:27 - Hatch says the GOP is ready to counter a filibuster with the Constitutional option. He hopes that the Senate would move away from treating the Supreme Court nominations through a partisan filter. Republicans accepted Breyer and Ginsburg overwhelmingly because they were qualified, regardless of their personal beliefs. He recalled when the...
January 11, 2006
Senate Blogger Forum: Senator Grassley
We've been joined by Senator Chuck Grassley, a member of the committee, to give us his views on the progress of the hearings. The demeanor of the Democrats have surprised the newspeople, particularly since they don't seem to be getting the traction they wanted against Alito. Alito is so qualified that Grassley has never seen a nominee with this level of experience. That may have caused the Democrats to turn their demeanor to a more reserved level. Grassley met with Alito in November ... He is sincered, and he will wait until the last fact is laid before him before making a judgment. He's doing exactly what we expect judges to do -- react mildly and patiently to argument and respond thoughtfully and with an open mind. Grassley says Alito will be confirmed ... The incivility that comes at an honest, decent man like Alito distubs Grassley. America has to...
January 13, 2006
An Appeal from Center-Right Bloggers
Note: This first appeared on the Truth Laid Bear, who has headed this effort. We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership in the House of Representatives needs to be thoroughly and transparently free of the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and beyond that, of undue inlfuence of K Street. We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members. But we are certain that the public is disgusted with excess and with privilege. We hope the Hastert-Dreier effort leads to sweeping reforms including the end of subsidized travel and other obvious influence operations. Just as importantly, we call for major changes to increase...
January 14, 2006
Shame On CNS For Murtha Attack
CNS News Service reports on questions regarding the validity of the Purple Heart medals received by John Murtha during his service in Viet Nam, recalling the fight against John Kerry and his run at the Presidency. The strange and pointless investigation appears to have started when Murtha began his public campaign against the Bush administration and his Iraq policy: Having ascended to the national stage as one of the most vocal critics of President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq, Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman John Murtha has long downplayed the controversy and the bitterness surrounding the two Purple Hearts he was awarded for military service in Vietnam. Murtha is a retired marine and was the first Vietnam combat veteran elected to Congress. Since 1967, there have been at least three different accounts of the injuries that purportedly earned Murtha his Purple Hearts. Those accounts also appear to conflict with the...
January 16, 2006
The Pat Robertson Of New Orleans?
Perhaps the people of New Orleans can appreciate the irony of Ray Nagin and his outbursts, but it doesn't appear to play very well on a national stage. Nagin managed a daily double of foot-in-mouth disease today, first by declaring that hurricanes were God's punishment for the war in Iraq and also unnamed sins of the black community, and then used Martin Luther King Day to declare that New Orleans would once again be a "chocolate city": Mayor Ray Nagin suggested Monday that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other storms were a sign that "God is mad at America" and at black communities, too, for tearing themselves apart with violence and political infighting. "Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country," Nagin, who is black, said as he and other city leaders marked Martin Luther...
January 17, 2006
Hillary On MLK Day: Senate Democrats Are Slaves
Hillary Clinton told a crowd gathered for her Martin Luther King Day speech in Al Sharpton's Harlem church that Congress under Republican control is the same as slavery and that the Republican leadership act as the overseers: Martin Luther King Jr. fought four decades ago to free black Americans from the legacy of slavery. Yesterday, Senator Clinton compared the Republican leadership of the current House of Representatives to the very idea the civil rights leader dedicated his life to fighting. "When you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run - it has been run like a plantation," she said. "You know what I'm talking about." Mrs. Clinton, who was addressing a packed house at the Reverend Al Sharpton's annual Martin Luther King Day event at Canaan Baptist Church in Harlem, continued: "It has been run in a way so that nobody with a contrary point of...
Jon Stewart On The Democratic Campaign
Normally I'm not a big fan of Jon Stewart, but I left The Daily Show on tonight while I worked on a couple of other tasks. Stewart reviewed the pandering done by Hillary Clinton and Ray Nagin yesterday, as well as the shoutdown Nancy Pelosi received on Saturday when she (rationally) suggested to her constituency that their concerns on the war would best be addressed electorally in 2006 during a visit to San Francisco. At the end of the segment, titled "Donkey Show", Stewart noted this: So the Democratic platform appears to be ... Democrats are our government's slaves [Hillary added to graphic] ... New Orleans can't be rebuilt without Willy Wonka [Nagin added to graphic] ... and voting is for pussies [Pelosi added to graphic]. Good luck in 2006, everybody!...
January 18, 2006
Lobby Loophole Should Get Closed First
The Washington Post notes a rather large loophole in the new ethics package touted by the GOP for reforming Congress, one which could generate even more lobbying cash for the coffers of DC politicians, if handled correctly. While the proposal bans gifts and specific kinds of travel reimbursements, it ironically leaves others in place as long as lobbyists supplement them with cash: Lawmakers are about to bombard the American public with proposals that would crack down on lobbyists. Several prominent plans, including one outlined yesterday by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), would specifically ban meals and privately paid travel for lawmakers. Or would they? According to lobbyists and ethics experts, even if Hastert's proposal is enacted, members of Congress and their staffs could still travel the world on an interest group's expense and eat steak on a lobbyist's account at the priciest restaurants in Washington. The only requirement would...
Clinton Cover-Up In Barrett Report: Daily News
The New York Daily News reports that the long-awaited Barrett report on the investigation into Henry Cisneros will claim that the Clinton administration actively covered up a tax-fraud case against the former HUD Secretary, and that the Hillary crony in charge of the IRS at that time played a key role in killing the investigation: A special prosecutor's long-delayed report charges that a coverup at senior levels of the Clinton administration killed a tax fraud case against ex-cabinet member Henry Cisneros, the Daily News has learned. David Barrett's 11-year, $23 million probe, which will be released tomorrow, states in stinging terms that this Clinton coverup succeeded. Cisneros was forced to admit in 1999 that he had made secret payments to a mistress before serving as Clinton's secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Barrett investigated tax fraud charges stemming from those under-the-table payments. Then-IRS Commissioner Peggy Richardson, a close friend of...
January 19, 2006
Does John McCain Stand For Anything?
Senator John McCain, widely expected to run for President in 2008 and likely to garner significant support, has a reputation in the media as both a conservative and a "maverick" for opposition to his party's policies. He legitimized the Gang of 14 rebellion in the Senate last year and extended the standoff over Senate filibusters. McCain also pushed through one of the worst pieces of legislation ever to come out of Congress -- the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which violates the First Amendment by curtailing political speech by every organization except newspapers within 60 days of an election. He teamed up with George Soros and sucked up a lot of money for himself and his staff in that effort to end checkbook politics. Despite all of this, McCain still carries the patina of conservativism due to his staunch pro-life views. Or does he? In a new development, it seems that...
The Three Calls
The blogosphere made a bit of history today in an effort to push a reform effort onto the GOP by engaging three candidates for a critical leadership position in public campaigning for the effort. Usually, party leadership gets chosen in closed processes, elected among members of the House or Senate via back-channel negotiations, arm-twisting, vote-counting, and back-slapping. With a major ethics scandal staring the Republicans in the face, however, the blogosphere and talk radio (especially Hugh Hewitt) have demanded that the candidates address their wider constituencies and conduct the election in the open. Today that process resulted in unprecedented conference calls between leading House candidates for Majority Leader and center-right and conservative bloggers. Reps. John Shadegg, John Boehner, and Roy Blunt (current majority whip and front-runner for ML) held separate calls with a changing list of bloggers. CQ fortunately caught all three, but even had I not been able to...
Swann Takes Flight In PA
Former Pittsburgh Steeler great Lynn Swann has overtaken Governor Ed Rendell in the Rassmussen poll by two percentage points, after being down to Rendell by two touchdowns last November. This provides an ill omen for Democrats and their national strategy over the next two years if the Swann momentum continues: Our latest poll of the race for Pennsylvania governor shows Republican Lynn Swann, the former receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, narrowly leading Democratic Governor Ed Rendell 45% to 43%. Fifty-four percent (54%) of voters view Swann favorably; 47% view Rendell favorably. Swann formally declared his candidacy just two weeks ago, on January 4. But he has enjoyed early success in securing endorsements from two of six regional caucuses in his quest for the party nomination. The Republican state Committee will endorse a candidate on February 11. ... Although Swann has just announced his candidacy in a formal sense, he has...
January 21, 2006
Rove Outlines 2006 GOP Strategy
Leaving no doubt that he once again commands the strategy of the GOP, Karl Rove joined RNC chair Ken Mehlman for the winter meeting to lay out the battle plan for this year's midterm elections. Unsurprisingly, the GOP will push national security as its main theme: White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove offered a biting preview of the 2006 midterm elections yesterday, drawing sharp distinctions with the Democrats over the campaign against terrorism, tax cuts and judicial philosophy, and describing the opposition party as backward-looking and bereft of ideas. "At the core, we are dealing with two parties that have fundamentally different views on national security," Rove said. "Republicans have a post-9/11 worldview and many Democrats have a pre-9/11 worldview. That doesn't make them unpatriotic -- not at all. But it does make them wrong -- deeply and profoundly and consistently wrong." ... It was four years ago...
January 23, 2006
Leftists Against Free Speech And Dialogue
One of the least-welcome developments of the Internet has been the rise of e-graffiti, especially at places like Amazon.com, where the victims overwhelmingly have been conservative writers. It appears that those who oppose conservative thought have little love for free speech when practiced by those who disagree with them, and their only intellectual recourse is to deface websites that sell the books written by conservatives. Kate O'Beirn's book, Women Who Make The World Worse attracted not just the usual flood of phony reviews from Kate's detractors but also a hacked picture of the book's cover. That hack job, in all senses of the word, is not only obvious but childishly so. One could make an argument -- a specious argument, but at least an argument -- that Kate's approach to her subject generates the ill will it received. However, Fred Barnes' book about George Bush, the newly-released Rebel In Chief,...
January 24, 2006
Dionne Comes Close To The Answer
The Washington Post's E. J. Dionne comes close to unlocking the mystery of Democratic incompetence in dealing with Republican electoral strategy. Dionne notes that Karl Rove, the GOP's master of electoral politics since 2000, has always shown a rather remarkable openness and honesty about how the Republicans plan to handle the electoral battle, and the Democrats have never come up with an answer: Perhaps it's an aspect of compassionate conservatism. Or maybe it's just a taunt and a dare. Well in advance of Election Day, Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, has a habit of laying out his party's main themes, talking points and strategies. True Rove junkies (admirers and adversaries alike) always figure he's holding back on something and wonder what formula the mad scientist is cooking up in his political lab. But there is a beguiling openness about Rove's divisive and ideological approach to elections. You wonder...
January 26, 2006
The Return Of Raese
John Raese officially announced his return to electoral politics tonight, almost twenty years after his last effort to unseat a corrupt GOP governor in a primary, to take on Robert Byrd's re-election campaign for the Senate: A multimillionaire businessman entered the GOP race to challenge Sen. Robert C. Byrd on Wednesday, hoping to deny the 88-year-old incumbent Democrat a record ninth term. John Raese, 55, said he would campaign on a platform touting free enterprise and reduced regulation, among other issues. "What I'm going to run on is a rebirth of capitalism," he said. The National Republican Senatorial Committee heralded the filing by Raese, a former state GOP chairman who has sought office before. Raese, in fact, sought office in 1984 by squaring off against Byrd's colleague Jay Rockefeller for what was then an open Senate seat. Rockefeller outspent Raese 6-1 and wound up winning by a whisker over the...
Did We Mention That He's Facing Re-Election?
Senator Robert Byrd, a man whom I've often criticized, managed to get two things right today on the Senate floor -- and in doing so, demonstrated the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of his fellow Democrats in the body as a whole and especially on the Judiciary Committee. The Political Teen has the video, and Michelle Malkin has the transcript of Byrd's remarks in supporting Samuel Alito's confirmation while scolding Democrats for their outrageous conduct during his hearing: Regardless of any Senator's particular view of Judge Alito, I think we can all agree that there is room for improvement in the way in which the Senate and indeed the nation have undertaken the examination of this nominee. Let me be clear. I mean no criticism of the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee or any particular member of that ccommittee. I feel compelled to address this issue. Not to point fingers....
January 27, 2006
NYT/CBS Poll Undersamples Republicans, Still Shows Approval For NSA Program
The New York Times reports this morning on "mixed support" for the NSA surveillance program it exposed last month just as the Patriot Act came up for renewal. Fifty-three percent of all respondents support electronic monitoring of communications without warrants if necessary to protect national security and save lives: In a sign that public opinion about the trade-offs between national security and individual rights is nuanced and remains highly unresolved, responses to questions about the administration's eavesdropping program varied significantly depending on how the questions were worded, underlining the importance of the effort by the White House this week to define the issue on its terms. The poll, conducted as President Bush defended his surveillance program in the face of criticism from Democrats and some Republicans that it is illegal, found that Americans were willing to give the administration some latitude for its surveillance program if they believed it was...
January 28, 2006
John Kerry, Blog Boy Of The Left
The Washington Post discerns a strategy emerging from John Kerry and his actions this week in yodeling a filibuster demand from the Swiss Alps to block the confirmation of Samuel Alito. Kerry has decided that the blogs and the leftist activists that control them own the Democratic Party future and has aligned himself with them for better or worse, as seen in Jim Vandehei's report in today's Washington Post: Liberal activists seemed to have slightly more influence with their campaign to persuade Senate Democrats to filibuster the Supreme Court nomination of Samuel A. Alito Jr. Despite several polls showing that the public opposes the effort, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) on Thursday strongly advocated the filibuster plan -- and wrote about his choice on the Daily Kos, a Web site popular with liberals. Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), a leading liberal and critic of the Iraq war, told reporters Kerry's...
Gifts From The Left
Apparently, Dianne Feinstein's reversal on the filibuster of Samuel Alito didn't pacify Cindy Sheehan enough. The former Bush gadfly now wants to take on the California Senator in a primary fight for her re-election: Cindy Sheehan, the peace activist who set up camp near President Bush's Texas ranch last summer, said Saturday she is considering running against Sen. Dianne Feinstein to protest what she called the California lawmaker's support for the war in Iraq. "She voted for the war. She continues to vote for the funding. She won't call for an immediate withdrawal of the troops," Sheehan told The Associated Press in an interview while attending the World Social Forum in Venezuela along with thousands of other anti-war and anti-globalization activists. "I think our senator needs to be held accountable for her support of George Bush and his war policies," said Sheehan, whose 24-year-old soldier son Casey was killed in...
January 31, 2006
Isn't This What Got Abramoff In Trouble?
Amid stories of Congressional influence using expense-paid junkets and gifts, the AP reports on an odd meeting yesterday in which it paints lobbying efforts involving both in a much different light. A group of rich New Orleans residents, irritated that most of Congress has not yet come to the devastated city to see the destruction for themselves, passed out bonbons and offered all-expenses-paid trips to the Crescent City to get more money for reconstruction: "You ask us who we are? I'll tell you. We're nobody," said the handsomely coifed blonde from New Orleans. Her self-effacing demeanor disarmed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who smiled and appeared relaxed as Anne Milling, 65, moved in for the kill. "We're no one. We're a group of nonpolitical, nonpartisan ladies who are passionate about New Orleans. We're mothers and housewives and businesswomen — and we can't believe that 87 percent of the House of...
SOTU Psychotics On Parade
The inevitable parade of nutcases will be in full flower tonight as the President delivers his State of the Union speech, as Stephanie Mansfield reports for the Washington Times. She also covered a couple of pre-speech events that sound absolutely hilarious, in a clueless-1960s-flashback manner: Liberal activists -- among them graying leftovers from the Vietnam-era antiwar movement -- plan to gather near the Capitol tonight, banging pots and pans to drown out President Bush's State of the Union address. Yesterday, opponents of the Iraq war kicked off their latest round of demonstrations with an "Impeachment Forum" held downtown in a private dining room at Busboys and Poets. Featured speakers were 78-year-old former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark; longtime war protester Marcus Raskin, 71, who is head of the Institute for Policy Studies; and Cindy Sheehan, mother of an American soldier killed in Iraq. ... Last week, the group "World Can't...
State Of The Union: Live Blog
I'll be live-blogging the State of the Union at this post starting at 8 pm CT. Keep checking back ... 7:12 CT - Michelle has a number of links to other live-bloggers, but her son's stomach bug will consume her attention during speech-time. 7:15 - Hugh Hewitt talks about Cindy Sheehan's acceptance of a pass to sit in the gallery for the State of the Union speech, and he's soliciting responses for George Bush if she tries to disrupt the speech. Call him at 800-520-1234 for your suggestions ... 7:41 - Cindy Sheehan's invitation came from Rep. Lynn Woolsey, not from the White House ... 7:42 - La Shawn Barber will be checking on references to illegal immigration at her excellent blog ... 7:46 - I just read my secondary e-mail account and discovered that Hosting Matters will be moving CQ to a new server, since our traffic has caused...
February 1, 2006
T-Shirt Politics, Or The Right To Bare Arms
Apparently last night's State of the Union speech kept the Capitol police rather busy last night. They arrested Cindy Sheehan and ejected Rep. Bill Young's wife, both for wearing t-shirts that had political messages on them. The actions had Capitol police backpedaling this evening, issuing apologies and suggesting that officers might need more training: Capitol Police dropped a charge of unlawful conduct against anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan on Wednesday and apologized for ejecting her and a congressman's wife from President Bush's State of the Union address for wearing T-shirts with war messages. "The officers made a good faith, but mistaken effort to enforce an old unwritten interpretation of the prohibitions about demonstrating in the Capitol," Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said in a statement late Wednesday. "The policy and procedures were too vague," he added. "The failure to adequately prepare the officers is mine." The extraordinary statement came a day...
February 2, 2006
The Middle Choice
The House GOP held their leadership election today, and in a decision between staying with business as usual or embracing reform, the Republicans chose a path somewhere in between the two. John Boehner of Ohio becomes the new Majority Leader of the House, beating current Majority Whip and former front-runner Roy Blunt on the second ballot: Rep. John Boehner of Ohio won election Thursday as House majority leader, promising a steady hand and a helping of reform for Republicans staggered by election-year scandal. Boehner, who replaces indicted Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, said the GOP "must act swiftly to restore the trust between Congress and the American people." He defeated Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri on a vote of 122-109 by House Republicans after trailing his rival on an inconclusive first round. My preference would have been John Shadegg of Arizona, the true outsider in this race. He had no...
February 6, 2006
Carville And Begala Reinvent The Wheel
James Carville and Paul Begala write a lengthy editorial for the Washington Monthly, offering their view of campaign reform. It should come as no surprise that their preferred method of reform involves turning elections into yet another expensive government program, but what is so amusing is that they make it into such a Byzantine affair that it practically turns into self-parody. First, the pair make the argument that members of Congress are underpaid: First, we raise congressional pay big time. Pay 'em what we pay the president: $400,000. That's a huge increase from the $162,000 congressmen and senators currently make. Paul, especially, has been a critic of congressional pay increases. But he is willing to more than double politicians' pay in order to get some of the corrupt campaign money out of the system. You see, the pay raise comes with a catch. In return, we get a simple piece...
February 7, 2006
The Dionne Amnesia (Update and Bump)
E. J. Dionne, one of the best liberal columnists in America, suffers from a strange attack of amnesia in today's Washington Post. He argues that the tax cuts have crippled the American budgeting process, which I'll get to momentarily, but he also lays the blame on George Bush's father for disavowing his compromise with Democrats on taxes in 1990: The roots of our fiscal madness, on display once again yesterday with the unveiling of President Bush's new budget and its deficit in excess of $350 billion, were planted on Oct. 27, 1990. Ironically, that's the day when the first President Bush embraced the last genuinely bipartisan budget reduction package to include both tax increases and spending cuts. It can be seen in retrospect as one of Bush 41's admirable long-term achievements. (Another, of course, was his success in driving Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.) In tandem with Bill Clinton's tax...
Using The Dead As Soapboxes, Part II
I suppose after having watched the Paul Wellstone funeral here in Minnesota four years ago, I shouldn't be shocked by Democrats turning bipartisan shows of respect at memorial services into partisan sniping. President Bush and his family had to endure the bad taste of several speakers who used Coretta Scott King's funeral as a forum to snipe at his politics: Speakers took a rare opportunity to criticize U.S. President George W. Bush's policies to his face at the funeral on Tuesday of Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Civil-rights leader the Rev. Joseph Lowery and former President Jimmy Carter cited Mrs. King's legacy as a leader in her own right and advocate of nonviolence as they launched barbs over the Iraq war, government social policies and Bush's domestic eavesdropping program. ... Lowery, former head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King helped...
February 8, 2006
Scranton Bows Out In PA
Former lieutenant governor Bill Scranton has bowed out of the race for governor in Pennsylvania, leaving the endorsement to the frontrunner and last remaining candidate, Lynn Swann. The former Steeler great will have no further Republican competition before the primary on May 16th: Bill Scranton dropped out of the governor's race Tuesday after it became clear that Republican Party leaders planned to endorse former Pittsburgh Steelers star Lynn Swann for the nomination. Swann is seeking to become Pennsylvania's first black governor. Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell is running for a second term in November. Swann had locked up more than enough unofficial support to win the endorsement of GOP leaders Saturday. Scranton exits after having watched his campaign manager commit the season's most spectacular blunder so far. James Seif had engaged in a TV debate with Swann campaign aide Ray Zaborney, during which he claimed that "the rich white guy in...
Democrats Offer Nothing: Pelosi
The New York Times reports today on the problems facing the Democrats, who hope to gain enough seats in the upcoming midterm elections to take back control of Congress. Although the midterms for a second-term President usually see a significant gain for the party out of power, Democrats have a sneaking suspicion that they have not positioned themselves to take advantage of the situation: Democrats described a growing sense that they had failed to take full advantage of the troubles that have plagued Mr. Bush and his party since the middle of last year, driving down the president's approval ratings, opening divisions among Republicans in Congress over policy and potentially putting control of the House and Senate into play in November. Asked to describe the health of the Democratic Party, Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said: "A lot worse than it...
Post: Bush Reaches Out
The Post reports on yesterday's appearance by President Bush at Coretta Scott King's funeral and provides an analysis that seems more than a little off the mark in its details. Michael Fletcher decides that Bush has finally started reaching out to the black community as a result of Hurricane Katrina, but in the details notes that Bush has "reached out" to the black voters all along -- but chose to bypass the political leadership that had opposed him so bitterly in 2000: It was the type of eloquent tribute that Americans have come to expect from their president when an iconic figure passes. But the presidential gesture took on added significance because it marks the latest step in the administration's effort to repair its frayed relations with many black civil rights and political leaders. "President Bush was where he should have been," said Bruce S. Gordon, the new president of...
Political Funerals And Partisanship
My concern is when we use national moments to reflect and to mourn and to be respectful and we turn them into political diatribes, you know, against the president or, you know, against the Democrats or whatever. It’s just disrespectful; and that’s not what the family wanted, that’s not what the nation wants to see. That doesn’t help heal people. That doesn’t help bring people to a better place. It just exacerbates wounds and makes things more, I guess, poisonous, if you will. And, it just left a bad taste in my mouth and I was hoping for better than what I saw. -- Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, Tony Snow Show, 2/8/06 Many in the blogosphere have begun to debate the Coretta Scott King funeral, with some on the right arguing -- as I did earlier -- that it turned into another partisan exploitation in the same manner as the...
February 9, 2006
Chaffee Stacks Up Better Than Laffey In General Election
New polling numbers have shown that Stephen Laffey, the Not One Dime candidate for the GOP nomination in Rhode Island's Senate race, does not do as well against expected Democratic competition as does Lincoln Chaffee, the current incumbent and GOP gadfly. In preliminary polling, Chaffee holds a razor-thin edge against both Democrats, but Laffey trails both rather badly: Chaffee/Whitehouse: 40%/34% (38%/25% in September) Chaffee/Brown: 38%/36% (41%/18% in September) Laffey/Whitehouse: 29%/44% (25%/35% in September) Laffey/Brown: 24%/47% (26%/30% in September) These numbers show a couple of issues. First, it demonstrates that Matt Brown has tremendous momentum right now against Sheldon Whitehouse. In four months, Brown turned a 32-16 deficit against the then-frontrunning Whitehouse into a 31-25 lead. His is the campaign that will give the GOP the biggest headache, apparently, and the numbers reflect that. Even the incumbency doesn't get Chaffee out of the margin of error against him, even though Chaffee...
When Harry Met Jack
After weeks of harping on the emerging Jack Abramoff scandal as an example of the Republican "culture of corruption" and debating for the last day about the proximity to George Bush that Abramoff had, Democrats may find the investigation hits too close to home to continue celebrating. The AP reported earlier today that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid intervened on four separate occasions on behalf of Abramoff clients and that Reid coordinated on legislative efforts with the lobbyist's office: Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid wrote at least four letters helpful to Indian tribes represented by Jack Abramoff, and the senator's staff regularly had contact with the disgraced lobbyist's team about legislation affecting other clients. The activities _ detailed in billing records and correspondence obtained by The Associated Press _ are far more extensive than previously disclosed. They occurred over three years as Reid collected nearly $68,000 in donations from Abramoff's...
February 10, 2006
Schumer Gasses On Gas
CQ's unofficial lawyer in New York, Eric Costello, tells us that Senator Chuck Schumer became incensed earlier this week when reviewing Homeland Security funding. According to the New York Post on February 7th, Schumer railed about the amount of funding that went to the US Virgin Islands. He pointed out that the DHS expenditure for the USVI came to $29 million since 2001, infuriating the Empire State's senior Senator: Sen. Charles Schumer blasted Homeland Security officials yesterday for sending millions in federal funds to fortify the idyllic U.S. Virgin Islands against a terror attack. The Post reported yesterday that the feds have doled out $29 million in the last four years to secure the island paradise - spending $42 for each territorial resident, or almost three times the $15 per New Yorker. "It is just incredible that the Virgin Islands would get more money than New York," said Schumer. "I...
February 11, 2006
Rising From The Dead
The Patriot Act appears headed for an easy renewal after the White House and Senate Republicans reached a compromise on a few minor tweaks to aasuage civil-liberties concerns. House Speaker Denny Hastert signaled that the House would back the new version, and even the man who bragged that he'd killed the law said he'd now vote for it: Legislation to renew the anti-terror Patriot Act was cleared for final congressional passage Friday when House Speaker Dennis Hastert blessed a day-old compromise between the White House and Senate Republicans. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid also indicated he will vote for the bill when it comes to a vote, possibly next week. The legislation gives federal agents expanded powers to investigate suspected terrorists in the United States, and the Bush administration has said it is one of the key weapons in the war on terror. ... The changes, worked out over several...
February 13, 2006
Dems Push Hackett Under A Bus
Remember Paul Hackett? He's the Iraq War veteran who got backing from the Democrats and a good chunk of the liberal blogosphere to run in a special election for a Congressional seat and made a respectable showing in a strong Republican district. He announced his candidacy for the Senate race and expected to make a hard run against Mike DeWine in a state that has had its share of GOP scandals. However, Hackett finds himself out of the race and out of politics, the victim of a Democratic campaign to push him out in favor of Sherrod Brown: Paul Hackett, an Iraq war veteran and popular Democratic candidate in Ohio's closely watched Senate contest, said yesterday that he was dropping out of the race and leaving politics altogether as a result of pressure from party leaders. Mr. Hackett said Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Harry Reid of...
February 14, 2006
The Cost Of Silliness
Today's Washington Post reviews the cost associated with the turnover created by the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that protects gays in the miltary as long as they keep their mouths shut about their orientation. The Post reports on a UC Santa Barbara study that compares the cost estimates of the GAO and their own research, and determines that the GAO underestimated the cost by about 50%: The financial costs to the U.S. military for discharging and replacing gay service members under the nation's "don't ask, don't tell" policy are nearly twice what the government estimated last year, with taxpayers covering at least $364 million in associated funds over the policy's first decade, according to a University of California report scheduled for release today. Members of a UC-Santa Barbara group examining the cost of the policy found that a Government Accountability Office study last year underestimated the costs of firing...
Dionne Has A Point
Today's column by E.J. Dionne looks at a place that many consider mythology: the middle ground on abortion. The effect of Roe v Wade has created such polarization that absolutists have held rhetorical attention for years. Only recently have people on both sides attempted to reach out for a pragmatic solution that allows everyone to maintain their political positions while cooperating on reducing abortions, a development that Dionne challenges both sides to support: [T]here is a new argument on abortion that may establish a more authentic middle ground. It would use government not to outlaw abortion altogether but to reduce its likelihood. And at least one politician, Thomas R. Suozzi, the county executive of New York's Nassau County, has shown that the position involves more than soothing rhetoric. Last May Suozzi, a Democrat, gave an important speech calling on both sides to create "a better world where there are fewer...
Another Split For Labor
The American labor movement suffered another blow today as more unions left the AFL-CIO, citing ineffective management, a lack of focus on organizing, and bloated budgets. Over a million members will leave the tottering alliance, leaving the union movement more politically fractured than ever: The national labor movement suffered a new split yesterday when two major construction unions — the laborers and the operating engineers — announced that they were quitting the Building and Construction Trades Department of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. The unions also said they would soon announce the creation of a rival building trades group, the National Construction Alliance, that would include the carpenters, the bricklayers, the iron workers and the Teamsters. The new group, officials from the two unions said, would have more than 1.5 million members and would be more vigorous than the Building and Construction Trades Department in unionizing construction workers. "We cannot stand idly by,...
February 15, 2006
NSA Probe Losing Steam On Capitol Hill
Congress has lost its taste for a protracted political battle with the Bush administration over the NSA intercept program and may kill a proposed investigation into the controversial effort. According to Charles Babington at the Washington Post, a fierce defense of the project by George Bush and a wider briefing of Congress has blunted the knee-jerk antagonism for the program: Congress appeared ready to launch an investigation into the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program last week, but an all-out White House lobbying campaign has dramatically slowed the effort and may kill it, key Republican and Democratic sources said yesterday. The Senate intelligence committee is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a Democratic-sponsored motion to start an inquiry into the recently revealed program in which the National Security Agency eavesdrops on an undisclosed number of phone calls and e-mails involving U.S. residents without obtaining warrants from a secret court. Two committee...
February 16, 2006
AP/AOL Poll: Rice 2nd Most Important Black Leader
Despite the best efforts of the leftists and some in the media to discount conservative African-Americans as lackeys and house slaves, their own community has begun to recognize them for their leadership. An AP/AOL poll released yesterday shows that blacks selected Bush administration officials as two of their three most important leaders, and has Condoleezza Rice in the number-two position: Jesse Jackson and Condoleezza Rice get the top support among blacks asked to name the nation's "most important black leader," according to an AP-AOL Black Voices poll. Next come Colin Powell and Barack Obama. Many blacks question whether any one person can wear the leadership mantle for such a large and diverse group of people. At the same time, two-thirds in the poll said leaders in their communities were effective representatives of their interests. When blacks were asked to come up with the person they considered "the most important black...
February 19, 2006
The Wrong Tipping Point
Newsweek, in its new article titled "A Real Racial Tipping Point," argues that we have finally reached a point where race may not matter as much in politics. But Newsweek picks the wrong tipping point in its focus: It is not just that so many blacks—in both parties—are running for top positions, but that their candidacies are seen as something other than symbolic. In Tennessee, Harold Ford Jr. has his heart set on the U.S. Senate, as do Michael Steele and Kweisi Mfume in Maryland, as does Keith Butler in Michigan. And then there are the people running for governor: Deval Patrick in Massachusetts, Ken Blackwell in Ohio, Lynn Swann in Pennsylvania—not to mention the host of candidates running for other lofty posts. Mfume, a former congressman, predicts that 2006 will be a "watershed year... in terms of African-American participation in both parties." Carol Moseley Braun, the only black woman...
Alan Simpson Sums Up The DC Press Corps
Fox's Chris Wallace interviewed former Senator Alan Simpson about the Cheney shooting brouhaha that overwhelmed the news in Washington and the nation this week. Simpson's response conveyed a tremendous disdain for the reporting that followed, but his summation of the entire DC press corps should become an instant classic. Here's the transcript: WALLACE: So, many up here, Senator -- and we love your tour of this whole event -- what does the last week tell us, or should tell us, about Washington, about the politicians, about the press corps? SIMPSON: Well, it tells you that you should listen to Lindsay Graham and Evan Bayh and that really there is cooperation. But what it really tells you -- what are we going to expect out of our national press corps, and especially the Washington press corps, when something really happens? How are we to trust, after a whole week of absolute...
February 20, 2006
More Leaders Objecting To Ports Deal
The deal allowing the state-owned Dubia Ports World to take over management of major American ports has raised more objections from Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle. DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff tried to assuage fears of security breaches, but the criticism continued: U.S. terms for approving an Arab company's takeover of operations at six major American ports are insufficient to guard against terrorist infiltration, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said yesterday. "I'm aware of the conditions, and they relate entirely to how the company carries out its procedures, but it doesn't go to who they hire, or how they hire people," said Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.). "They're better than nothing, but to me they don't address the underlying conditions, which is how are they going to guard against things like infiltration by al Qaeda or someone else, how are they going to guard against...
Hackett Identified Intelligence Gap
Apparently, Paul Hackett had done his homework in preparing for the Democratic primary election for the campaign to unseat Senator Mike DeWine. His team had analyzed their opponent, Rep. Sherrod Brown, and discovered that Brown had consistently voted to reduce or eliminate funding for the intelligence community during his years in Congress, leading to a large liability in a general election against DeWine. Instead of reacting to the intelligence gap, the Democrats tossed Hackett under the bus in favor of Brown -- whom they claim is more electable: Congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown voted to cut intelligence funding more than a dozen times before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a record that Paul Hackett's campaign advisers called proof that Mr. Brown could not win in November. A consultant hired by Mr. Hackett, Mr. Brown's onetime Democratic opponent for Senate, estimated the funding cuts would have totaled billions...
February 21, 2006
Backstabbers At State Unhappy With Changes
The Washington Post runs a report that shocks no one at all. The effort by Condoleezza Rice at the State Department to consolidate the bureaucracy and bring it into line with the policy of the elected government has created hard feelings among some of the rank and file careerists, who apparently liked their ability to ignore the chain of command and undermine appointees. Some of them have run to the Post and Glenn Kessler to complain about their treatment in the Rice regime: A State Department reorganization of analysts involved in preventing the spread of deadly weapons has spawned internal turmoil, with more than half a dozen career employees alleging in interviews that political appointees sought to punish long-term employees whose views they considered suspect. Senior State Department officials deny that and say an investigation has found that the proper personnel practices were followed. But three officials involved in the...
February 24, 2006
Stacking The Deck
I haven't posted much about the pending prosecution of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby for alleged perjury before the grand jury investigating the leak of Valerie Plame's status as a CIA employee. The case moved from the political to the legal with the unsealing of the indictment, and most of the revelations coming from the case has consisted of the normal legal machinations that amount to nothing noteworthy. However, the Washington Post notes one development that appears rather strange. The judge in charge of the case has barred the defense from learning the identity of another goverment official who reportedly discussed Plame's status with the press: Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, charged with perjury in the CIA leak case, cannot be told the identity of another government official who is said to have divulged a CIA operative's identity to reporters, a federal judge ruled Friday. ... During a...
February 26, 2006
Perhaps We Could Harness Teddy's Hot Air Instead
It looks like the windmills proposed for Nantucket Sound have run into a hurricane of regulation, thanks to the efforts of Ted Kennedy and his pals in the (exclusive) neighborhood. Apparently, clean energy only takes priority when it only inconveniences the hoi polloi: A proposal before Congress that would limit the construction of wind turbines near shipping lanes could effectively doom plans to build the country's first offshore wind farm near Massachusetts, the project's supporters say. Officials at Cape Wind Associates LLC say that the rule, being considered as an amendment to a bill in a House-Senate conference committee, would rule out so many crucial sections of Nantucket Sound that there would not be enough space for their 130-windmill complex. "This is a dire moment for us," said Mark Rodgers, a Cape Wind spokesman. He said the rule "would be totally fatal" for the project. Congressional opponents claim that the...
DP World Makes Concessions, Pledges Cooperation
George Bush has avoided a difficult confrontation with Congress over the sale of port management to Dubai Ports World as the state-owned UAE company volunteered significant concessions to ease concern over the sale. Not only has DP World requested another investigation of its own operations and the sale, it also has offered to restructure its company to please its new American customer: The Bush administration said Sunday it will accept an extraordinary offer by a United Arab Emirates-based company to submit to a second — and broader — U.S. review of potential security risks in its deal to take over significant operations at six leading American ports. The plan averts an impending political showdown. The Treasury Department said in a statement it will promptly begin the review once the company formally files a request for one. It said the same government panel that earlier investigated the deal but found no...
Taking A Stand For Private Property Rights
Fox reports that a North Carolina retail and commercial bank has taken an unprecedented stand on behalf of private property rights, potentially opening a new front against eminent domain after the Kelo decision. BB&T has announced that it will refuse to underwrite any development involving the transfer of private property through eminent domain to commercial developers: Banks give away millions of dollars in charitable donations and loan guarantees to the underserved each year, but BB&T may have just become the first bank in recent memory to withhold money from developers who don't line up with the bank's view of eminent domain law. The North Carolina-based bank, which employs more than 28,000 people in 1,400 branches in 11 states, announced last month that it would no longer approve loans for developers who want to pursue commercial enterprises on land seized by the government using the power of eminent domain, or taking...
February 27, 2006
Red Cross Donations Go To Celebrity Parties
The Red Cross has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on promotion of its executives in the media and on celebrity parties instead of assistance to disaster victims, the Washington Post reports today: The American Red Cross paid consultants more than $500,000 in the past three years to pitch its name in Hollywood, recruit stars for its "Celebrity Cabinet" and brand its chief executive as the face of the Red Cross -- just a year before ousting her, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. In a $127,000 contract, a Houston corporate image company agreed to create a plan to make Red Cross chief executive Marsha J. Evans the face of the organization as part of a "senior leadership branding project" that ran from October 2003 to November 2004. At the same time, Evans was laying off workers at the Red Cross's blood-services operations and at its Washington headquarters,...
Oh Lord, It's Hard To Be Humble
Hillary Clinton has a rather large ego, although that's hardly news to anyone paying attention to politics for the last fourteen years. She makes the mistake of assuming that people think about her as often as she thinks about herself -- and so now says she's convinced that Karl Rove is obsessed with her: Reacting to a new book quoting Karl Rove as saying she will be the 2008 Democratic nominee for president, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that President Bush's chief political strategist "spends a lot of time obsessing about me." The former first lady also said she believed Rove, national GOP Chairman Ken Mehlman and other Republicans are using her to divert attention from Republican problems as the 2006 congressional elections approach. "Karl Rove is a brilliant strategist. So, if I were thinking about this," she told WROW-AM radio in Albany, "I'd say, why are they spending...
February 28, 2006
Bush Likes Blogs
Matt Drudge reported earlier today that the White House has carefully noted the rise of the political blogosphere, as reported by Bill Sammon in his new book Strategery. According to Drudge, Sammon quotes the president as "fascinated" by the rise of the new media and its challenge to the Exempt Media: President Bush, for the first time, is hailing the rise of the alternative media and the decline of the mainstream media, which he now says “conspired” to harm him with forged documents. “I find it interesting that the old way of gathering the news is slowly but surely losing market share,” Bush said in an exclusive interview for the new book STRATEGERY. “It’s interesting to watch these media conglomerates try to deal with the realities of a new kind of world.” Daniel Glover at Beltway Blogroll notes that at least in the section quoted by Drudge, Bush never actually...
March 1, 2006
Supreme Court Not Sympathetic To Campaign Finance Limits
Yesterday, Vermont had to defend campaign-finance limits that have been challenged all the way to the Supreme Court, where the state found a rather cold reception. Chief Justice John Roberts had Vermont's attorney general, William Sorrell on the defensive and sounding somewhat evasive as Roberts wondered why Vermont's electorate just doesn't throw corrupt people out of office: The chief justice challenged the attorney general's assertion that money was a corrupting influence on Vermont's political system, the state's main rationale for its law. "How many prosecutions for political corruption have you brought?" he asked the state official. "Not any," Mr. Sorrell replied. "Do you think corruption in Vermont is a serious problem?" "It is," the attorney general replied, noting that polls showed that most state residents thought corporations and wealthy individuals exerted an undue influence in the state. The chief justice persisted. "Would you describe your state as clean or corrupt?"...
Talk About Triangulation
The Democrats have seized the center stage for opposing the Dubai ports deal, claiming that the questionable decision to approve the transfer of port operations to state-owned Dubai Ports World shows that the Bush administration puts profits ahead of national security. Hillary Clinton in particular has assailed the decision and promised to push legislation to block the deal. Perhaps sje should consult with the man who helped the UAE firm defend the deal ... former President and current husband, Bill Clinton: Bill Clinton, former US president, advised top officials from Dubai two weeks ago on how to address growing US concerns over the acquisition of five US container terminals by DP World. ... It came even as his wife, Senator Hillary Clinton, was leading efforts to derail the deal. Mr Clinton, who this week called the United Arab Emirates a “good ally to America”, advised Dubai’s leaders to propose a...
March 4, 2006
Eight For The Duke
A federal judge in San Diego gave Randy "Duke" Cunningham eight years in prison for bribery, tax evasion, and mail and wire fraud for his corruption as a Republican Congressman and influential member of House committees on defense. Cunningham pleaded guilty and hoped to avoid the ten-year maximum allowed under his plea deal: U.S. District Judge Larry Allan Burns in San Diego spared the disgraced Republican lawmaker the 10-year maximum sentence sought by prosecutors, the maximum available under a court-approved plea agreement, but ordered the longest term ever given to a congressman. Cunningham, who was taken into custody immediately, also was ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution. ... In November, Cunningham admitted to federal charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and income-tax evasion, acknowledging he underreported his income in 2004. He resigned from Congress after his guilty plea, and in a tearful statement to reporters at the time, said...
March 6, 2006
To Boldly Stop Going?
Aviation Weekly reports that the US has mothballed an aircraft capable of space flight that has operated secretly for over a decade but now finds itself the victim of shrinking budgets. The unacknowledged plane can, according to sources that AW has worked for years without receiving evidentiary proof, enter space with a two-stage booster system and insert satellites into low orbit (h/t: Jim O): For 16 years, Aviation Week & Space Technology has investigated myriad sightings of a two-stage-to-orbit system that could place a small military spaceplane in orbit. Considerable evidence supports the existence of such a highly classified system, and top Pentagon officials have hinted that it's "out there," but iron-clad confirmation that meets AW&ST standards has remained elusive. Now facing the possibility that this innovative "Blackstar" system may have been shelved, we elected to share what we've learned about it with our readers, rather than let an intriguing...
March 7, 2006
GOP Conservatives Take A Stand
After six years of wondering what happened to the GOP's reputation for fiscal sanity, House conservatives have prepared an alternative budget that aims to uphold what brought Republicans to power in the first place -- an insistence on smaller government and significant reductions in federal spending: With Congress heading into a politically perilous budget season, influential House conservatives plan this week to propose an austere alternative spending plan that would pare more than $650 billion over five years, balance the budget and drastically shrink three cabinet agencies. The legislation, part of a push by some Republicans to re-establish themselves as champions of fiscal restraint, was taking shape as President Bush struck a similar theme on Monday by asking Congress to grant him line-item veto power to eliminate federal spending that he might judge wasteful. ... Senior aides say the conservatives' plan would wring about $350 billion from Medicare, Medicaid and...
A Direct Assault On Judicial Activism
South Dakota apparently set off a trend in state legislatures with its comprehensive abortion ban, signed into law yesterday by Governor Mike Rounds. Since Roe, no legislature has dared to so openly flout the Supreme Court's dictate on abortion rights. Now, however, states have queued up similar legislation in an effort to follow South Dakota into the battle against judicial activism: Leaders on each side of the abortion debate said South Dakota's law had stirred new support and fervor for their causes. Abortion rights advocates reported a flood of donations, volunteers and membership requests since the abortion bill began drawing national attention last month. Opponents said they, too, had had a flood of calls, including numerous donations to a defense fund to fight what is expected to be expensive litigation on behalf of South Dakota. Already, the state's move seems to have emboldened legislators opposed to abortion elsewhere. For months,...
DeLay Wins Primary
Texas Republicans in CD-22 have sent a message to Ronnie Earle and the media by overwhelmingly selecting Tom DeLay to run for re-election to Congress. The former Majority Leader trounced his three GOP challengers, taking two-thirds of all votes and outpolling the closest candidate by over 35 points: Rep. Tom DeLay won the GOP nomination to the House on Tuesday, beating three challengers in his first election since he was indicted and forced to step aside as majority leader. With 14 percent of precincts reporting, DeLay had 10,005 votes, or 64 percent. His closest challenger, environmental attorney Tom Campbell, had 4,049 votes, or 26 percent. "I have always placed my faith in the voters, and today's vote shows they have placed their full faith in me," DeLay said in a statement. "Not only did they reject the politics of personal destruction, but they strongly rejected the candidates who used those...
Are The Democrats Coming Apart?
A coalition of Democrats have begun an effort to wrest control of the Democratic Party away from the train wreck of Howard Dean's chairmanship. This coalition, led by former Clintonista Harold Ickes and funded by George Soros, has selected Ickes to head a data-mining project intended on giving better voter information to key Congressional campaigns: A group of well-connected Democrats led by a former top aide to Bill Clinton is raising millions of dollars to start a private firm that plans to compile huge amounts of data on Americans to identify Democratic voters and blunt what has been a clear Republican lead in using technology for political advantage. The effort by Harold Ickes, a deputy chief of staff in the Clinton White House and an adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), is prompting intense behind-the-scenes debate in Democratic circles. Officials at the Democratic National Committee think that creating a...
March 8, 2006
Libertarian Forum Steps Out From The Pack
Dana Milbank writes about the animosity within the Cato Institute's form on public policy that featured Bruce Bartlett and Andrew Sullivan. Both speakers have long been critics of the Bush administration, with the latter eventually endorsing John Kerry in the last presidential election. Milbank sounds somewhat surprised by the lack of rhetorical defenders on display at Cato: If the ancient political wisdom is correct that a charge unanswered is a charge agreed to, the Bush White House pleaded guilty yesterday at the Cato Institute to some extraordinary allegations. "We did ask a few members of the Bush economic team to come," explained David Boaz, the think tank's executive vice president, as he moderated a discussion between two prominent conservatives about President Bush. "We didn't get that." Now why would the administration pass up such an invitation? Well, it could have been because of the first speaker, former Reagan aide Bruce...
March 9, 2006
Thou Shalt Not Eat With Thine Lobbyists
No doubt Congress needs to set ethical standards and hold members accountable to them in regard to their relationships with lobbyists, especially when it comes to gifts, travel, and contributions. The prevailing attitude that our representatives can be bought produces a corrosive cynicism in the American electorate that decreases the enthusiasm for oversight and actually increases the opportunities for corruption. However, it's hard to take this effort seriously when it starts by forcing politicians to pick up the tab for dinner: Facing accusations that lawmakers are not serious about breaking the tight bond between Capitol Hill and K Street, the Senate voted Wednesday to bar members of Congress and their aides from accepting gifts and meals from lobbyists. The meals and gifts ban, approved unanimously by voice vote, was the full Senate's first major decision on lobbying law changes in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal. The ban is...
March 10, 2006
Gray Lady Pushes Guilt By Indirection, Ignores Corruption
The New York Times tries mightily to attach Jack Abramoff to George Bush in today's paper but misses wildly. Despite headlining Philip Shenon's report with "$25,000 to Lobby Group Is Tied to Access to Bush", the money never went to Bush or any funds connected to him, and all it got was an invitation to an event in which George Bush gave a speech: The chief of an Indian tribe represented by the lobbyist Jack Abramoff was admitted to a meeting with President Bush in 2001 days after the tribe paid a prominent conservative lobbying group $25,000 at Mr. Abramoff's direction, according to documents and interviews. The payment was made to Americans for Tax Reform, a group run by Grover G. Norquist, one of the Republican Party's most influential policy strategists. Mr. Norquist was a friend and longtime associate of Mr. Abramoff. The meeting with Mr. Bush took place on...
March 13, 2006
Feingold Goes Off The Reservation
Senator Russ Feingold attempted to start his 2008 presidential campaign with a bang. In a move anticipated for the past few days, the Wisconsin Senator followed his opposition to the Patriot Act with a motion to censure George Bush for his approval of the NSA intercept program that has helped keep America safe from attack since 9/11. As soon as he introduced the motion, he fled the well of the Senate as the Republicans attempted to schedule an immediate vote on the censure: Democrats distanced themselves Monday from Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold's effort to censure President Bush over domestic spying, preventing a floor vote that could alienate swing voters. A day of tough, election-year talk between Feingold and Vice President Dick Cheney ended with Senate leaders sending the matter to the Judiciary Committee. Republicans dared Democrats to vote for the proposal. "Some Democrats in Congress have decided the president is...
March 14, 2006
Armitage The Plame Leaker? Maybe ...
Matt Drudge leaked a portion of an article appearing in the new Vanity Fair which quotes Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee as confirming that Richard Armitage, the right-hand man to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, was the first government official to leak Valerie Plame's status to the press. Armitage has been one of the prime suspects for those who, like Tom Maguire, have followed the case closely. However, Bradlee's own paper delivers quite a walkback in today's report from Jim VandeHei: In an article to be published in the magazine today, Bradlee is quoted as saying: "That Armitage is the likely source is a fair assumption." Armitage was deputy secretary of state in President Bush's first term. In an interview yesterday, Bradlee said he does know the identity of Woodward's source and does not recall making that precise statement to a Vanity Fair reporter. He said he has no...
GOP Weakening On Spending Cuts
The Washington Post reports that the Republicans have run into trouble in maintaining their drive for fiscal sanity, with moderate members balking at budget cuts during an election year. Jonathan Weisman writes that several Homeland Security priorities will get more funding than their initial budget requests, putting pressure on Congress to raise taxes: House and Senate Republicans will seek this week to increase spending on port security, homeland defense, health care and education in a clash with GOP leaders struggling to regain the mantle of fiscal discipline for their party. With the Senate taking up a budget blueprint for 2007 and the House voting on a $91 billion emergency spending bill, lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol will face key tests of their budget-cutting mettle in the coming days. The federal budget deficit is expected to reach $371 billion this year, despite robust economic growth. But GOP leaders insist...
Feingold Isolated By Angry Caucus
Senator Russ Feingold has discovered the key difference between leadership and grandstanding. The former involves motivating a group of people to follow your lead by engaging the group's enthusiasm for your direction. The latter involves making decisions for others without bothering to consult them. Democrats have made clear that Feingold is a party grandstander and not a leader: Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold accused fellow Democrats on Tuesday of cowering rather than joining him on trying to censure President Bush over domestic spying. "Democrats run and hide" when the administration invokes the war on terrorism, Feingold told reporters. Feingold introduced censure legislation Monday in the Senate but not a single Democrat has embraced it. Several have said they want to see the results of a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation before supporting any punitive legislation. Republicans dismissed the proposal Tuesday as being more about Feingold's 2008 presidential aspirations than Bush's actions. On...
March 15, 2006
The Vanishing Democrat
Dana Milbank manages to eschew the orange stocking cap today in order to bring us a delightful look at the rarest of species -- Democratic politicians with nothing to say: Democratic senators, filing in for their weekly caucus lunch yesterday, looked as if they'd seen a ghost. "I haven't read it," demurred Barack Obama (Ill.). "I just don't have enough information," protested Ben Nelson (Neb.). "I really can't right now," John Kerry (Mass.) said as he hurried past a knot of reporters -- an excuse that fell apart when Kerry was forced into an awkward wait as Capitol Police stopped an aide at the magnetometer. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) brushed past the press pack, shaking her head and waving her hand over her shoulder. When an errant food cart blocked her entrance to the meeting room, she tried to hide from reporters behind the 4-foot-11 Barbara Mikulski (Md.). "Ask her...
March 16, 2006
Russ Feingold -- Karl Rove's Secret Weapon
Just a week ago, George Bush appeared to be on the political ropes. Thanks to conservative disappointment, his approval ratings had sunk to the dreadful level of the mid-30s, and his own party had administered a legislative rebuke on a national-security matter. The Democrats had the rare opportunity of having the GOP at war with itself rolling into the midterm elections and for the first time had considered the possibility of retaking control of the House after twelve years of minority status. And then along came Russ Feingold: Republicans, worried that their conservative base lacks motivation to turn out for the fall elections, have found a new rallying cry in the dreams of liberals about censuring or impeaching President Bush. The proposal this week by Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, to censure Mr. Bush over his domestic eavesdropping program cheered the left. But it also dovetailed with conservatives'...
Ken Mehlman Visit - The Live Blog
RNC chairman Ken Mehlman and GOP e-Campaign Director Patrick Ruffini have flown to Minnesota to conduct a roundtable conference on the latest in Republican efforts for the midterm elections and 2008 presidential campaign. A gaggle of bloggers have come to the state Republican headquarters in St. Paul, where we will live-blog the conference and the Q&A afterwards. We're about to get started ... 5:25 PM - Ron Carey, Minnesota GOP chair, is introducing everyone. After a brief welcome and an affirmation of the importance of blogging for getting the Republican message past the mainstream media, Patrick spoke about the commitment to technology. 5:27 - Mehlman talks about the movement from mass marketing to mass customization and then to mass collaboration. He considers this the future of political communication and organization. 5:29 - Ken sets out the stakes. He also notes that bloggers serve as "umpires" -- we make sure that...
Feingold Jumps The Shark (Updated)
How can a leftist politician tell when he's gone too far? If Minnesota senator Mark "Brave Sir Robin" Dayton criticizes him as a grandstander, that says something pretty significant about the credibility of the politician: Sen. Russell Feingold's move to censure President Bush caused a bout of shyness among some Democrats this week, but Minnesota Sen. Mark Dayton is not among them. On Thursday, he called the resolution irresponsible and dangerous, and accused Feingold of grandstanding. "I thought it was premature and overreaching and primarily motivated by his 2008 presidential candidacy rather than the best interests of our caucus and the nation," Dayton said of the measure introduced by his colleague from Wisconsin that would formally rebuke Bush for his domestic spying program. Dayton said Democrats were "blindsided" by the move. "I think it's very dangerous territory for the democracy that we have in this country to be playing around...
March 17, 2006
How Bad Is The Bush Slide Anyway?
Several national polls have declared George Bush's approval rating to have collapsed into the mid-30s, dropping downwards preciptously during the Dubai Ports World debate. However, at least some of these have had questionable methodology, especially the CBS poll that had a 13-point disparity between Democrats and Republicans in their sample. Yesterday, Rasmussen Reports put out a little-noticed press release stating that their daily tracking poll shows a much different story: Forty-two percent (42%) of American adults now approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. That's just two points above the lowest level ever measured by Rasmussen Reports. Fifty-seven percent (57%) disapprove. The President earns approval from 44% of men and 40% of women. That's not great news, of course, and a 15-point deficit between approval/disapproval would not get anyone elected. However, Rasmussen does not show the dramatic erosion that other polls have claimed, and...
Charity Begins At Home
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has split after an internecine fight between Democrats on how funds have been allocated to candidates. Six members of the caucus have disassociated themselves from their fundraising committee after its chair, Joe Baca (D-CA), directed its PAC contributions to the campaigns of local races instead of federal races -- and the local candidates in question just happen to be Bacas: Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., who chairs the Building Our Leadership Diversity Political Action Committee, or BOLDPAC, defended the decision to give $3,300 each to Joe Baca Jr., a member of the California Assembly who's running for state Senate, and to Jeremy Baca, who is running for California Assembly. "We should not discriminate against any member who has a family member who wants to serve in public office, whether it's mine or anyone else's," said Baca. He said the decision to give to his sons was made...
March 21, 2006
Vanishing Species: Rockefeller Republicans and Jackson Democrats
One of my favorite columnists, E.J. Dionne, laments the reduction of liberal Republicans in elective office during the past generation. He cites the retirement of Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-NY, as a sign of increasing conservative control over the GOP: Boehlert chose to retire in the year when National Journal, the political world's answer to Sports Illustrated, featured him as the ultimate "Down the Middle" guy. In its Feb. 25 issue, the magazine published its annual ratings, which showed that Boehlert's votes were more liberal than those of 52.2 percent of House members and more conservative than 47.8 percent. Boehlert's district includes the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, and it's hard to move the ball more to the middle of the plate than he does. It's been downhill for his brand of Republicanism from the moment he set foot in Washington as a congressional staffer in 1964. That's the year...
Business As Usual Is No Excuse
After writing about the interesting manner in which political contributors put money into John Doolittle's family bank account on Sunday, Eric Hogue also questioned the practice on his radio show yesterday. SactoDan noted the exchange between Rep. Richard Pombo and Hogue, as well as a call-in from California state senator Dave Cox -- both of whom (unsurprisingly) defended Doolittle and the practice of paying political spouses commissions on fundraising. SactoDan reports: 11th district US Congressman Richard Pombo of Tracy, interviewed on the Eric Hogue Show on KTKZ Radio (1380AM, 105.5 FM) this morning was asked about the practice. Pombo's wife is involved in his campaign. Pombo confirmed that his wife has received a salary, and at times has received commissions based on the amounts raised. He said if she wasn't doing it, he'd have to hire some other fundraising organization to do it, or if she worked somewhere else, there...
March 22, 2006
WaPo's Positive Review
The Washington Post editorial board gave George Bush a glowing review on his press conference yesterday, showing the extent to which Bush succeeded in the forum he likes the least. The praise comes as a surprise for the normally critical Post, but the clear ease and openness that Bush demonstrated in this last press conference has them asking for more: PRESIDENT BUSH should hold more news conferences. In his hour-long exchange with reporters at the White House yesterday, he was considerably more effective in explaining and defending his commitment to the war in Iraq than in the three carefully worded speeches he has delivered in the past week. In his sometimes blunt, sometimes joking and sometimes unpolished way, he sounded authentic -- no more so than when he was asked what had become of the "political capital" he claimed after the 2004 election. "I'd say I'm spending that capital on...
March 25, 2006
Stealing Steele Sinks Schumer's Staffer
The low-key saga of Chuckaquiddick continued yesterday with the guilty plea of Laura Weiner, a staffer at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chaired by Chuck Schumer, for impersonating Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele and stealing his credit report by fraud. The Washington Post reports on the extent to which she misrepresented herself in order to gain access to Steele's personal information: A Democratic researcher pleaded guilty yesterday to misrepresenting herself on a Web site as Michael S. Steele, Maryland's lieutenant governor and a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, and fraudulently obtaining his credit report last summer. Under a plea agreement reached with prosecutors, the misdemeanor charge against Lauren B. Weiner, a former staff member of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, could be dropped in a year if she completes 150 hours of community service and commits no other offenses. ... According to the prosecutor's statement, which Weiner said was...
March 26, 2006
Answering RedState On Phelps
I received a kind note from Smagar at RedState informing me that he had written a rebuttal to my post about Fred Phelps and the legislation passed to ban funeral protests. I wrote that legislation banning public political protests -- even those as despicable as the Phelps tactics -- begins a slide that follows the BCRA in creating an unacceptable government-approval process for public speech. It also disturbs me to lose even a little ground on free speech to the likes of Fred Phelps: These protests embarrass and outrage every community where they occur, as the should. Those who give their lives in defense of our country deserve a respectful farewell, and their families deserve peace and space to mourn. These ghouls use their right to free speech to act like mindless hyenas. However, they do have the same right to free speech, a small technicality that both houses of...
March 27, 2006
Strib: Let's Ignore The Constitution
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune once again demonstrates why it remains on the fringe of the newspaper industry. Their news section shows flashes of brilliance, but their editorial board continues to display the lunacy of the political outliers, and today's editorial gives a great example. The Strib today argues to allow a handful of states to hijack the Electoral College, defy the Constitution, and capture the presidency for the most populous states: This country could form a more perfect union by accepting a novel idea: that the president of the United States should be elected by the people of the United States. That's not the way it's done, of course, and, given the Constitution's enshrinement of the Electoral College, things aren't likely to change. To quit the college would take approval of two-thirds of both houses of Congress and three-quarters of state legislatures, so fuggedaboudit. But now comes a gaggle of bipartisan...
March 28, 2006
The Untrue Always Disappoint, E.J.
E.J. Dionne makes a discovery that has echoes going back into antiquity -- that someone willing to betray their old friends are damned likely to betray their new friends as well. The press has conducted a love affair with John McCain for the past few years, dubbing him a "maverick" while McCain adopts a posture du jour to ensure as much camera time as possible. The center-left punditry cheered McCain when he kneecapped his own party's majority in the Senate and created an unprecedented star chamber to approve judicial nominees. They feted him while he played footsie with the notion of joining John Kerry's ticket as his running mate, denying his interest while defending Kerry publicly. And they adored McCain when he granted them a monopoly on political debate in the final 60 days of any federal election. John McCain was their kind of guy ... at least until John...
This Should Keep The Beltway Press In A Dither
White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card will resign today, according to the AP: White House chief of staff Andy Card has resigned and will be replaced by budget director Josh Bolten, an administration official said Tuesday, in a White House shake up that comes amid declining poll standings for President Bush. The move comes as Bush has been buffeted by increasing criticism of the drawn-out war in Iraq and as fellow Republicans have suggested pointedly that the president bring in new aides with fresh ideas and new energy. Card came to Bush recently and suggested that he should step down from the job that he has held from the first day of Bush's presidency, said the administration official. After a flurry of stories generated by the gaggle questioned why Bush hadn't shuffled the deck, a Card finally drops out. That should keep the reporters busy talking about something that...
Democrats Finally Agree On National-Security Message: Invade Pakistan
The Democrats plan to announce their new national-security strategy for the 2006 election tomorrow, but Liz Sidoti at the AP reports that advance word has already leaked on the broad strokes. The message? Get tough on Osama while retreating in the face of his friends: Congressional Democrats promise to "eliminate" Osama bin Laden and ensure a "responsible redeployment of U.S. forces" from Iraq in 2006 in an election-year national security policy statement. In the position paper to be announced Wednesday, Democrats say they will double the number of special forces and add more spies, which they suggest will increase the chances of finding al-Qaida's elusive leader. They do not set a deadline for when all of the 132,000 American troops now in Iraq should be withdrawn. "We're uniting behind a national security agenda that is tough and smart and will provide the real security George Bush has promised but failed...
March 29, 2006
Senate Ends Anonymous Holds, Holds Off On Other Reform
In a little-noticed action yesterday, the Senate ended the much-abused practice of anonymous "holds" on legislation, a parliamentary trick by members that allow them to stop progress on legislation without allowing a vote. It came as part of an overall reform effort that will fall short in other areas, but this change may hold real promise: The Senate on Tuesday voted to strip its members of the power to secretly place a "hold" on legislation they oppose, a parliamentary tool that has allowed a single senator to derail bills or nominations while leaving no fingerprints. ... The proposal to do away with the anonymous holds, used by senators to signal to Senate leaders their objection to legislation, won overwhelming support on a vote of 84 to 13. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who cosponsored the amendment, argued that requiring disclosure of a senator relying on the...
New Democratic Image On Security A Hit!
Today the Democrats launched their mission to revamp their image on security and national defense. They have long complained about a national perception of their party as wimpish, but Cynthia McKinney decided to set the record straight -- by slugging a cop: According to two sources on Capitol Hill, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., walked through a metal detector in a House of Representatives office building. When an officer asked her to stop, McKinney kept walking. The officer followed her and tapped her on the shoulder. McKinney then allegedly turned around and hit the officer in his chest with her cell phone. Members of Congress are not required to stop for the metal detectors, but that policy should change soon. Obviously, some members have less emotional stability than others. Cynthia McKinney probably has less than anyone. So will this be the new Democratic program to...
March 30, 2006
Color The LA Times Unimpressed
One media outlet on which Democrats could rely for sympathetic treatment for their new "plan" on national security would be the Los Angeles Times. Its political analyst, Ron Brownstein, is not known for pandering to conservatives either. The combination should have provided the best opportunity for the Democratic plan to resonate with the national media. Unfortunately, the Democrats developed a "plan" that not even the LA Times could like, and Brownstein tells why: Sharpening their election-year message, leading Democrats on Wednesday released a plan that promised to strengthen America's security but offered few details about how they would achieve their sweeping goals. ... Though Democrats were spirited in their denunciations of Bush's record on national security, they offered limited insights into the actual policies they would pursue if returned to power. The party document said Democrats would double the size of the military's special forces, pass legislation improving veterans' medical...
Gallup Throws Doubt On Political Polling
Editor & Publisher noted yesterday that Gallup reported a shift in party identification in the US; Democrats outpoll Republicans in party identification -- by a single point: In a (perhaps) historic shift, more Americans now consider themselves Democrats than Republicans, the Gallup organization revealed today. Republicans had gained the upper hand in recent years, but 33% of Americans, in the latest Gallup poll, now call themselves Democrats, with those favoring the GOP one point behind. But Gallup says this widens a bit more "once the leanings of Independents are taken into account." However, that's not exactly how Gallup itself headlines its results: Americans are about as likely to identify as Republicans as they are Democrats according to a review of recent Gallup polls. However, once the leanings of independents are taken into account, the Democrats gain an advantage. Democrats have been on par with, or ahead of, Republicans in party...
Swann Leads Rendell
NFL Hall-of-Famer Lynn Swann's campaign for governor in Pennsylvania has generated more than its share of skepticism. Some questioned whether the former Pittsburgh Steeler could translate his home-state popularity into real political support, especially against an experienced and wily pol like Ed Rendell. The skeptics appear to have miscalculated in this case, however: Pro Football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann held a slight lead over Gov. Ed Rendell in a statewide poll released Thursday, but more than a third of registered voters indicated they hadn't settled on either candidate. Thirty-five percent of those surveyed in the IssuesPA/Pew Poll said they were likely to vote for Swann, a retired Pittsburgh Steelers star and Republican campaigning to become the state's first black governor. Twenty-nine percent said they would probably support Rendell, a Democrat and former Philadelphia mayor who is running for a second four-year term. Among the rest, 34 percent were considered...
March 31, 2006
Dems Try To Starve NSA As First Act Of Their New Security Plan
The Democrats announced their new platform on national security earlier this week, promising to reverse decades of image problems on national defense and foreign policy with a policy statement long on sloganeering but dreadfully short on specifics. Yesterday they underscored their new commitment to securing America by attempting to starve the National Security Agency in a fit of pique over the work performed by the agency in terrorist surveillance. The Los Angeles Times soft-pedals this while reporting some serious pushback to the monster created by the 9/11 Commission in the intelligence community: Republicans on the House panel defeated a Democratic push to suspend hundreds of millions of dollars in spy agency funding until the Bush administration provided more information about a controversial domestic espionage program being conducted by the National Security Agency. ... Republicans on the committee defeated a Democratic amendment that sought to force the Bush administration to reveal...
Ending The 527 End-Around
The Republicans in Congress have decided to tackle the end-around to campaign-finance reform that the 2004 election produced in the form of tax-exempt 527 organizations. While Congress and the White House signed into law the most profound curbs on political speech in a century in order to supposedly rid the political process of money, organizations like MoveOn took in millions from benefactors like George Soros with no oversight whatsoever. After having been caught unaware in 2004, the GOP wants to close that loophole for 2006 and 2008. The New York Times reports that the effort may come too late, as money has found other holes in the system to exploit: To many Republicans, the liberal activist organization MoveOn.org is a political boogeyman that they hope to chase off with new restrictions on so-called 527 groups. But the pursuit may turn out to be fruitless. Like other major groups planning to...
April 1, 2006
How To Clear The Room (Democrat Style)
The New York Times notes that the call to censure President Bush for his approval of a program to conduct surveillance on an enemy in wartime without treating it as a law-enforcement project has made lots of headlines but won few converts, even among Bush's opposition in the Senate. David Kirkpatrick reports that Russ Feingold's push to officially scold Bush has Democrats oddly silent: Although few Senate Democrats have embraced the censure proposal and almost no one expects the Senate to adopt it, the notion that Democrats may seek to punish Mr. Bush has become a rallying cause to partisans on both sides of the political divide. Republicans called the hearing to give the proposal a full airing as their party sought to use the threat of Democratic punishment of the president to rally their conservative base. Five Republicans at the hearing took turns attacking the idea as a reckless...
April 2, 2006
McCain: Isolate Russia
John McCain appeared on Meet The Press this morning and spoke about the relationship between the administration and a powerful political figure. No, it wasn't Jerry Falwell, although his comments on the preacher has his former admirers on the left rather annoyed today. McCain told MTP that Bush should isolate Russia and Vladimir Putin by shunning the G-8 meeting in Moscow, advice which Bush declined: Sen. John McCain said Sunday the United States should respond harshly to Russia’s anti-democratic actions and suggested that President Bush is reconsidering his assessment of Russian President Vladimir Putin. After meeting Putin for the first time in June 2001, Bush said he had been able to gain “a sense of his soul” and had found Putin to be “very straightforward and trustworthy.” Recalling Bush’s assessment just months after taking office, McCain said: “Look, we all say things that are stupid. ... I’m sure that the...
April 3, 2006
DeLay Steps Down, This Time For Good
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay will resign from Congress this summer according to reports in Time Magazine's website and the New York Times. At turns defiant and nostalgic, DeLay told Time that although he thought he could win in November, he didn't want to run in a race that would turn out to be a personal referendum: "I'm going to announce tomorrow that I'm not running for reelection and that I'm going to leave Congress," DeLay, who turns 59 on Saturday, said during a 90-minute interview on Monday. "I'm very much at peace with it." He notified President Bush in the afternoon. DeLay and his wife, Christine, said they had been prepared to fight, but that he decided last Wednesday, after months of prayer and contemplation, to spare his suburban Houston district the mudfest to come. "This had become a referendum on me," he said. "So it's better for...
April 5, 2006
The Gang That Couldn't Vet Straight
I'm not sure what's going on at the Department of Homeland Security, but significant background checks certainly are not. The agency first slated to be run by Bernard Kerik until the press performed his background check instead of the White House has another winner on its hands, a deputy press secretary with a late-night hobby: Brian J. Doyle, DOB 4/7/50, the Deputy Press Secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Public Affairs in Washington, D.C., was arrested this evening at his residence in Silver Springs, Maryland, on 23 Polk County charges related to the use of a computer to seduce a child and transmitting harmful materials to a minor. Doyle's arrest is the result of a joint investigation by the Polk County Sheriff s Office, working with Florida’s 10th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Jerry Hill s office, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Inspector General s...
April 6, 2006
A Step In The Right Direction
The House passed a bill slamming the lid on 527 advocacy groups of the kind that proliferated in the last presidential election and removed the limits for national parties to coordinate funds with specific candidates. The measure passed on a party-line vote, 218-209: The House approved campaign finance legislation last night that would benefit Republicans by placing strict caps on contributions to nonprofit committees that spent heavily in the last election while removing limits on political parties' spending coordinated with candidates. The bill passed 218 to 209 in a virtual party-line vote. Lifting party spending limits would aid Republican candidates because the GOP has consistently raised far more money than the Democratic Party. Similarly, barring "527" committees from accepting large unregulated contributions known as "soft money" would disadvantage Democrats, whose candidates received a disproportionate share of the $424 million spent by nonprofit committees in 2003-2004. The 527 committees, named for...
Grand Jury To Decide McKinney's Fate (Update & Bump)
Prosecutors investigating the assault by Rep. Cynthia McKinney on a Capitol Police officer last week have decided to present the case to a grand jury to determine whether an indictment is warranted, CNN reported last night: No more he-grabbed-she-slapped -- whether U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney should be charged over a confrontation with Capitol Police last week will be decided by a grand jury, perhaps as soon as next week, said federal law enforcement sources familiar with the case. Prosecutors have decided to present the case, and the grand jury will begin hearing testimony Thursday, the two sources said. Senior congressional sources said that two House staff members -- Troy Phillips, an aide to Rep. Sam Farr, D-California, and Lisa Subrize, executive assistant to Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Michigan -- have been subpoenaed to testify. The Justice Department and the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, which is handling the case,...
Still Crying Over The Lost Fitzmas
The New York Sun reported today that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has testified that he released information from a National Intelligence Estimate in 2003 to a reporter prior to its publication. Predictably, the media and the blogosphere has overreacted, proving once again that most people do not understand classified materials, unclassified materials, and the process used to classify documents. The Josh Gerstein article is pretty straightforward: A former White House aide under indictment for obstructing a leak probe, I. Lewis Libby, testified to a grand jury that he gave information from a closely-guarded "National Intelligence Estimate" on Iraq to a New York Times reporter in 2003 with the specific permission of President Bush, according to a new court filing from the special prosecutor in the case. The court papers from the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, do not suggest that Mr. Bush violated any law or rule. However, the new disclosure could...
April 8, 2006
McKinney Losing Steam In Her District
Cynthia McKinney used to be a big hitter in DeKalb County, where Atlantans have sent her to Congress since 1992. In recent years, however, her increasingly erratic behavior and rhetoric has cooled the ardor of voters in one of Georgia's most populous counties; they even retired her for a cycle in 2002 after her claim that George Bush had advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks . They elected her again in 2004 when the woman who beat her in '02 ran for the Senate instead (and lost). Now the Los Angeles Times reports that DeKalb voters have once again begun to consider McKinney a liability: The lawmaker has received little if any support from colleagues of either party, and a federal grand jury is mulling whether to bring criminal charges against her. In McKinney's suburban Atlanta district, the altercation has created doubts about her fitness for office. Khalil King, a...
This Is What I Meant About Vetting
On Wednesday, I wrote about the scandal at the DHS surrounding Brian Doyle, the deputy press secretary for the agency who got caught trying to seduce a 14-year-old girl over the Internet. My post criticized the Bush administration for its inability to vet candidates for positions with public exposure, so to speak. A number of commenters reasonably disagreed, making a good point about the difficulty of vetting for personal perversions that necessarily remain in the shadows. Unfortunately for Doyle, the Bush administration, and those of us who support Bush, Doyle's hobbies had already been exposed prior to his 2001 hiring for the Transportation Safety Administration. His former employer, Time Magazine, had to discipline Doyle in 2000 for using company computers to collect adult pornography, according to fellow Time-Warner media outlet CNN: A Department of Homeland Security spokesman charged with soliciting a minor over the Internet was disciplined in a previous...
April 9, 2006
Air Leaks Out Of Leak Story
After forty-eight hours of hyperbole and hypocrisy surrounding allegations that George Bush "leaked" portions of the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq in July 2003, the AP now reports that Bush never asked anyone to divulge the information via a private conversation and never had Scooter Libby in mind as a conduit. Instead, the President declassified the information and delegated the release to Dick Cheney: President Bush declassified sensitive intelligence in 2003 and authorized its public disclosure to rebut Iraq war critics, but he did not specifically direct that Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, be the one to disseminate the information, an attorney knowledgeable about the case said Saturday. Bush merely instructed Cheney to "get it out" and left the details to him, said the lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case for the White House....
Joe Going Solo?
A local blogger has a political scoop this weekend involving Joe Lieberman. The ConnecticutBLOG reports that Senator Lieberman just upped the ante on Democrats hoping to replace him in the primary with a more leftist candidate: Joe Lalli: Ned Lamont has already stated that he would support you if you won the Democratic nomination and Zell Miller once stated that he would always be a member of the Democratic party. Can you make similar promises? LIEBERMAN: Will I always be a member of the Democratic party? I hope there's not a primary. I'm confident if there is one, I'll win it, but I'm not gonna rule out any other option for now because I feel so strongly that I can do better for the State of Connecticut for the next six years in the United States Senate that I want to give all the voters a chance to make that...
April 10, 2006
Kingston Conference Call
Due to a mild back injury, I'm home officing today, and so I had an opportunity to participate in a conference call with Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) on a range of topics, including immigration, earmark reform (porkbusting), Iran, Iraq, energy independence, and more. What follows below are the rough notes on the call, which I found fascinating and enlightening. Pay special attention to what Rep. Kingston has to say about enthusiasm for earmark reform; apparently some politicians pay lip service rather than push for real reform. (What a shock!) Also, the Congressman makes a very important point about applying earmark reform to all committees within the House and not just Appropriations. Here are my notes. The first few paragraphs cover Kingston's opening statement, and the rest come from the questions asked of the gaggle: Represents five military installations, ~25,000 in Iraq. Making economic and military progress – have 241,000 soldiers...
April 11, 2006
Connecticutting Their Nose
Joe Lieberman once represented the Democratic Party on a national ticket that came within an ace of winning the White House. He donated a million dollars back to the Connecticut Democratic Party in the same year when he won re-election to the Senate while just missing as Vice-President. He has, for the most part, voted with his caucus, usually deviating only when the nutcases and die-hard obstructionists take over. What does Lieberman get in return? The brother of the national chairman campaigning for a primary rival: At the Connecticut Democratic Party's annual Jefferson Jackson Bailey fund-raising dinner last month, James H. Dean was among the guests invited to sit at the table of Ned Lamont, a Greenwich cable television executive who is planning a primary challenge to Senator Joseph I. Lieberman over the senator's support for the war in Iraq. ... Mr. Dean lives in Fairfield, near Greenwich, and he...
Making Excuses For McKinney
In the contretemps over the (latest) Cynthia McKinney incident, one could see a predictable dynamic play out. First would come the denunciations of the Congresswoman for attacking a police officer doing his duty at a security checkpoint. Next would come McKinney's claim to have been victimized by official racism. After that, people would chide McKinney for making race an issue ... and then would come the meme that McKinney's race-card exploitation has a point. Ruth Marcus carries the ball for the unconscious-guilt lobby in today's Washington Post: Even before the latest altercation, McKinney was known -- accurately -- as a hotheaded conspiracy theorist inclined to play the race card at the drop of a congressional ID pin. The details of McKinney's run-in with an officer who stopped her as she walked around a security checkpoint aren't yet known, but it's already obvious that McKinney needs to read "All I Really...
April 12, 2006
Fizzlemas Strikes Again!
Those waiting for the Fitzmas That Never Came must suffer from terrible disappointment, and this week they have yet more reason to be morose. Patrick Fitzgerald delighted them with an extraordinary court filing that accused Scooter Libby of misrepresenting the National Intelligence Estimate and the uranium-procurement story as a consensus analysis by American intelligence. It turns out that St. Fitz did some misrepresentation of his own: The federal prosecutor overseeing the indictment of Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, yesterday corrected an assertion in an earlier court filing that Libby had misrepresented the significance placed by the CIA on allegations that Iraq attempted to buy uranium from Niger. Last week, Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald wrote that, in conversation with former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Libby described the uranium story as a "key judgment" of the CIA's 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq,...
April 14, 2006
Ignatius Makes A Case
I have struggled the past couple of days about what I think regarding the full-court press by former generals calling for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation. When Rumsfeld took the job as Defense Secretary prior to the war on terror, I fully expected that some generals would retire and fire broadsides at him for his plans to overhaul the DoD. Rumsfeld is a radical innovator, and the changes he proposed to transform the American military from a Cold War barrier to a nimble and flexible rapid-response force in the new global environment was bound to make old-school brass very uncomfortable. The generals that now speak out against Rumsfeld are from that part of the military most likely to have objected to his reforms. Also, the criticisms they have levelled at the SecDef have more to do with the policy of the administration than with Rumsfeld's performance in carrying them out, although not...
April 15, 2006
Retired Generals Defend Rumsfeld
And now, at least one media outlet brings us the other side of the Rumsfeld debate. The Washington Times reports on three now-retired generals who worked closely with Donald Rumsfeld during the war on terror and who support his continued tenure as Secretary of Defense: "I think what we see happening with retired general officers is bad for the military, bad for civil-military relations and bad for the country," retired Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs under Mr. Bush, said in an interview with The Washington Times. He said he would elaborate his views in an op-ed essay. "I'm hurt," said retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael P. DeLong, who was deputy commander of U.S. Central Command during the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and briefed Mr. Rumsfeld at the Pentagon. "When we have an administration that is currently at war, with a secretary...
Who Leaked The Report First?
Murray Waas wrote a rather sensational story for the National Journal yesterday about the Scooter Libby case in which he alleges that Dick Cheney told Libby to leak a classified report to the press. Again, as with so much in this case, the truth of the matter depends on reading the full context of the situation, and Waas fails to provide it. Fortunately, Steve Spruiell at NRO's Media Blog stayed on top of it. Waas reports on the pedigree of the "leak" without noting that the same information had already been leaked and misrepresented on several occasions by its author: Vice President Dick Cheney directed his then-chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on July 12, 2003 to leak to the media portions of a then-highly classified CIA report that Cheney hoped would undermine the credibility of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, a critic of the Bush administration's Iraq policy,...
April 17, 2006
The Fever Swamp Strikes Again!
Michelle Malkin linked to a thuggish effort on the campus of UC Santa Cruz to push military recruiters off campus through physical intimidation last week. Their attempt worked, but now the organizers of this effort have cried foul over Michelle's decision to post their contact information from their own press release on her blog. As usual, the idiots who cannot read a press release blame Michelle for revealing their private numbers and have started the usual racist and sexist insults and threats against her. (None of them are terribly original, and some of them hurl epithets referencing Chinese ethnicity, apparently believing all Asians must be alike.) Even better, leading MS-NBC nutcase Keith Olbermann picked the day when a suicide bomber killed nine people at a falafel stand to choose Michelle as his World's Worst Person of the Day -- for reprinting the information organizers proudly publicized themselves. Even the Daily...
A Shortsighted Policy
The efforts by anti-war protestors at UC Santa Cruz to run military recruiters off campus, while successful, portends a dangerous trend for the Left. For a generation, universities around the country have kept the ROTC and recruiters off campus, ostensibly due to the ban on homosexuals serving in the military but more clearly due to an anti-military point of view. After the Supreme Court upheld the Solomon Amendment that gives the federal government the ability to cut off federal funding to colleges who block access to military recruiters, the students themselves have escalated the battle by driving them off campus through intimidation, as they did at the home of the Banana Slugs. This represents a short-sighted policy by those on the Left, which comes as a piece from their reflexive dislike for all things military (the Left, as opposed to liberals). When they organize to force the military from their...
April 18, 2006
Clearing The Decks?
It appears that incoming White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten has a strong mandate from George Bush to make sweeping changes to staff and Cabinet, according to reports by the New York Times and Washington Post this morning. At least for now, it looks as though no one's job is secure among Bush advisors, as the polls continue to show a slide in confidence in the approach to the midterm elections: The new White House chief of staff put the West Wing and official Washington on notice on Monday about potentially substantial changes in the way the White House is staffed and operates. Meeting first thing Monday with senior White House aides, the new chief, Joshua B. Bolten, said it was time to "refresh and re-energize" President Bush's team, the White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, said. Mr. Bolten also said anybody who was considering leaving within the year...
April 19, 2006
NIMBYs, BANANAs, And Applebaum
Anne Applebaum writes a must-read column in today's Washington Post about modern-day Luddites and the impact they have on energy production in the US. As gasoline nears $3 per gallon again just in time for the summer driving season, one would expect environmentalists and proponents of renewable energy to take advantage of the economics and push for new power production facilities to demonstrate their worth. However, as Applebaum notes, a more sinister force than NIMBYism has throttled the entire field for decades: The problem plaguing new energy developments is no longer NIMBYism, the "Not-In-My-Back-Yard" movement. The problem now, as one wind-power executive puts it, is BANANAism: "Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything." The anti-wind brigade, fierce though it is, pales beside the opposition to liquid natural gas terminals, and would fade entirely beside the mass movement that will oppose a new nuclear power plant. Indeed, the founders of Cape Wind...
The Opening Gambit
The new White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten made two moves today in his new assignment to bring change to the West Wing and a fresh set of faces to national policy. Neither of the two moves came as much of a surprise, as Scott McClellan left and Karl Rove left his policy post as deputy chief of staff to focus on the midterm elections: Karl Rove, the president's most influential adviser and a dominant force in the Bush administration since its beginning, surrendered key policy responsibilities today while press secretary Scott McClellan announced his resignation. Both moves were part of the makeover promised earlier this week by a White House seeking to reverse sagging public opinion ratings. Rove will remain deputy chief of staff to President Bush, but he will drop his portfolio as policy coordinator -- a job he assumed a year ago -- and once again...
April 21, 2006
Heritage Resource Bank: Slowing The Growth Of Government
The morning's second session here at the Broadmoor Hotel featured a discussion on the subject of slowing government growth and returning to limited government. Former attorney general Edwin Meese moderated the panel, which included John Caldara, John Fund, Tracie Sharp, Mark Hillman, and Greg Lindsay. The topic brought out some divergent opinions from the panelists, especially when Caldara said that limited-government conservatives should quit accommodating the GOP and start attacking them. He said that the Harriet Miers appointment proved how out of touch the Republicans have become after twelve years of majority and five years in the White House, and how going on offense can succeed in making necessary changes. John Fund was more sanguine, noting that while conservatives might be getting pessimistic about the upcoming midterms, liberals have been positively morose about what they see is the tide of history turning against big government and socialist approaches to problems....
Plugging The Leak
The CIA has terminated an intelligence officer after discovering his communications with the media that resulted in leaking classified information. The agency has not identified the officer or the project from which information was leaked but characterized the disclosures as "damaging": A CIA officer has been relieved of his duty after being caught leaking classified information to the media. Citing the Privacy Act, the CIA would not provide any details about the officer's identity or assignments. It was not immediately clear if the person would face prosecution. The firing is a highly unusual move, although there has been an ongoing investigation into leaks in the CIA. "The officer has acknowledged unauthorized discussions with the media and the unauthorized sharing of classified information," said CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano. "That is a violation of the secrecy agreement that everyone signs as a condition of employment with the CIA." ... The CIA officer...
April 22, 2006
A Sting Operation?
Rick Moran at Right Wing Nuthouse wonders if the story on CIA detention centers might not have been a sting operation to unmask leakers at Langley. The possibility comes up because on the same day that the CIA terminated Mary McCarthy for her communications to the press, the New York Times reports that European investigators cannot find any evidence that the detention centers ever existed: The European Union's antiterrorism chief told a hearing on Thursday that he had not been able to prove that secret C.I.A. prisons existed in Europe. "We've heard all kinds of allegations," the official, Gijs de Vries, said before a committee of the European Parliament. "It does not appear to be proven beyond reasonable doubt." ... Mr. de Vries said the European Parliament investigation had not uncovered rights abuses despite more than 50 hours of testimony by rights advocates and people who say they were abducted...
April 23, 2006
It Rises From Its Grave!
Once again, the Rice-for-Cheney meme has arisen like a zombie from a bad movie, only now it walks the earth in London where the Times reports that Republicans have urged the change on George Bush. Supposedly, the only way to address the dissatisfaction within GOP ranks will be to push Dick Cheney out as VP and nominate Condoleezza Rice as his replacement: REPUBLICANS are urging President George W Bush to dump Dick Cheney as vice-president and replace him with Condoleezza Rice if he is serious about presenting a new face to the jaded American public. They believe that only the sacrifice of one or more of the big beasts of the jungle, such as Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, will convince voters that Bush understands the need for a fresh start. The jittery Republicans claim Bush’s mini-White House reshuffle last week will do nothing to forestall the threat...
More Financial Influence At Chez Clinton (Updates)
The New York Times reports on a highly lucrative position given to Bill Clinton by billionaire financier Ronald Burkle, the man who claims to have been extorted by a New York Post gossip columnist, Jared Paul Stern. Supposedly Burkle got infuriated by reports that he would be purchasing a modeling agency for the former president to oversee, and the Post columnist required over $200K to keep any other salacious rumors from reaching Page 6. However amusing the proposition of Bill Clinton working in modeling agency may be, the Times uncovers a more problematic relationship between Burkle and Clinton given the likelihood of a Hillary Clinton presidential run: After leaving the White House in 2001, former President Bill Clinton was inundated with business and job offers, from investment-bank partnerships to seats on corporate boards. He turned them all down, with one exception: He agreed to be an adviser to a family...
April 25, 2006
Bush Wants Investigation Of Gas Prices
George Bush has called for an investigation into escalating gas prices in order to ensure that gouging and illegal manipulation of the markets has not caused the increases. Bipartisan calls for a probe reflect a growing populist concern that oil companies have unduly profited from the squeeze in oil markets: President Bush is ordering an investigation into whether the price of gasoline has been illegally manipulated, his spokesman said Monday. During the last few days, Bush asked his Energy and Justice departments to open inquiries into possible cheating in the gasoline markets, said White House press secretary Scott McClellan. Bush planned to announce the action Tuesday during a speech in Washington. ... House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., urged Bush in a letter Monday to order a federal investigation into any gasoline price gouging or market speculation. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada...
New Ideas Same As The Old Ideas
There are really no new ideas in politics, no new grand themes -- only a replay of older themes dressed up in new packaging. That's the conclusion one has to reach when reading E.J. Dionne's column today on the beginning of a new national center-left movement. Dionne describes perfectly the mechanism for stirring new movements to life, but he misses the point when it comes to the nature of the philosphies that govern them: "New ideas," "bold visions," "detailed solutions" and "courageous policies" almost never originate with politicians, especially politicians in the middle of election campaigns. Political consultants, with a few honorable exceptions, don't do "vision" either. Politicians typically pick up their ideas from intellectual entrepreneurs, professional visionaries and impatient ideologues who wonder why the parties they support seem to stand for little. Ronald Reagan could not have become, well, Ronald Reagan, if William F. Buckley Jr. and his allies...
Snow Takes The Job
Tony Snow has accepted the post of White House press secretary, CNN reports tonight. The Fox News anchor and syndicated radio host will travel the DC circuit in reverse, making him perhaps the highest-profile media player to take on the role of media liaison: Fox News anchor Tony Snow has formally accepted the job as White House press secretary, according to three Republican sources familiar with his discussions with the White House. The sources said his appointment to succeed Scott McClellan will be announced Wednesday morning. Snow has been focusing on family, finances and his health, as he battles colon cancer, sources familiar with his deliberations said Monday. Neither Snow nor the White House would comment. Tony Snow is one of the more gracious people in the radio industry, which I learned during the Republican National Convention, and hopefully he will tackle this opportunity with his customary relish. It is,...
April 26, 2006
Feingold -- A Lame Comedian And Worse Politician
Senator and presidential candidate Russ Feingold has already redefined the political campaign as satire with almost two years to go before the first primary. His political-action committee has a television ad out already, and it accuses President Bush of spying on his political opponents and wishing to make himself king. However, when challenged about the misinformation contained within the video, Feingold's spokesman tried convincing people that it was intended as a joke: Advisor: So Mr. President, how's our commander in chief feeling these days? President (off-screen): Yeah, I'm fine, fine. Advisor: Oh, you're a lot better than fine. The war's over like you said. Missions accomplished Georgie baby. President (off screen): Huh? Advisor: I'm sorry, that probably doesn't seem appropriate for the king of the United States. Yes I said "King." Think about it. You don't have to settle for just being President GW. The war still got everyone running...
Culture Of Corruption, Side 2
The Abramoff corruption scandal got just a teensy bit wider today when Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow resubmitted her campaign finance reports from 2002 and 2003 to show that she took donations from Indian tribes connected to the disgraced lobbyist. Stabenow had originally reported the donations as an individual contribution: Sen. Debbie Stabenow's campaign has corrected her campaign finance reports to show that some donations from 2002 and 2003 came from an Indian tribe then represented by now-disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, not an individual as she reported at the time. Stabenow's campaign originally reported that $4,000 in donations came from Christopher Petras, who was the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe's legislative director at the time. The donations came during a period in which Stabenow and other Michigan lawmakers sought funding for the tribe and wrote letters to federal regulators on the tribe's behalf. ... The wealthy Mount Pleasant, Mich., tribe, which operates...
Cancel Fitzmas: Attorney
The Associated Press story on the new testimony of Karl Rove to the grand jury investigating the leak of the identity of Valerie Plame to the media buries a critical part of a statement by Rove's lawyer deep in the article. The AP reports on Rove's return visit to special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's panel by emphasizing the potential peril for the White House political advisor: Top White House aide Karl Rove made his fifth grand jury appearance in the Valerie Plame affair Wednesday, undergoing several hours of questioning about a new issue that has come to light since the last time he testified. Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald declined to comment at the conclusion of the grand jury session. Rove appeared at ease as he left the U.S. courthouse, joking to journalists to "move to the back" as the White House aide, his lawyer and several reporters entered an elevator to...
April 29, 2006
Professional Courtesy?
The Washington Post has uncovered an even seedier level of corruption surrounding disgraced former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) and the defense contractors that made him a millionaire. According to sources within a federal investigation, money wasn't the only thing the contractors stuffed into the Duke's pants, and Cunningham may not have been alone: Federal authorities are investigating allegations that a California defense contractor arranged for a Washington area limousine company to provide prostitutes to convicted former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) and possibly other lawmakers, sources familiar with the probe said yesterday. In recent weeks, investigators have focused on possible dealings between Christopher D. Baker, president of Shirlington Limousine and Transportation Inc., and Brent R. Wilkes, a San Diego businessman who is under investigation for bribing Cunningham in return for millions of dollars in federal contracts, said one source, who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. ... The...
May 1, 2006
When Gas Meets Hot Air
We can now file the $100 gasoline rebate idea into the political remainder bin, as no one appears to want to buy this pandering as policy. While the Democrats have been careful not to directly oppose it -- they claim that it could form part of an overall response to high energy prices -- the GOP's base has busied itself ridiculing it, and rightly so: The Senate Republican plan to mail $100 checks to voters to ease the burden of high gasoline prices is eliciting more scorn than gratitude from the very people it was intended to help. Aides for several Republican senators reported a surge of calls and e-mail messages from constituents ridiculing the rebate as a paltry and transparent effort to pander to voters before the midterm elections in November. "The conservatives think it is socialist bunk, and the liberals think it is conservative trickery," said Don Stewart,...
May 2, 2006
Did We Say 'I Told You So' Yet?
When the Bush administration started off its second term by focusing its domestic agenda on entitlement reform, primarily on Social Security, it warned that the fiscal stability of these entitlements was eroding at a faster rate than predicted and pointed out the need for reform now, rather than waiting for the coming collapse. Democrats pounded the administration for its "scare tactics" and insisted that the programs had plenty of stability. Now the administration has released new numbers indicating that the erosion has picked up a little speed: The financial condition of Medicare and Social Security deteriorated in the last year, the Bush administration reported Monday, and it warned again that the programs were unsustainable in their current form. Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund, a widely watched gauge of the program's solvency, will run out of money in 2018, two years earlier than projected in last year's report, the trustees said....
May 3, 2006
Hizzoner Likes Eminent Domain
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a man who became a billionaire through the free-market trading of private property, has decided that he likes having the ability to confiscate it from other people now that he's in office. He escalated his campaign to stop Congress and the New York legislature from imposing stricter limits on the use of eminent doman after the dreadful Kelo decision last year: Mayor Bloomberg is stepping up his campaign to prevent lawmakers in Albany and Washington from restricting the city's power to seize private property for redevelopment. In recent weeks, Mr. Bloomberg has traveled to Washington to meet with members of Congress on the issue. He also convened a group of 100 Manhattan-based political donors for a lunch at which he handed out a wallet card of priorities, including "Eminent Domain - Oppose legislation that would cripple affordable housing and responsible re-development (like Times Square)." Yesterday,...
Talking Business And Politics With ExxonMobil
I had the opportunity to take part in a conference call earlier this evening with several fine bloggers and Ken Cohen, Vice President of Public Affairs at ExxonMobil. As you might imagine, Mr. Cohen has a busy job these days fending off calls for federal investigations and explaining free-market economics to anyone who bothers to listen. The purpose of this conference call was to allow bloggers an opportunity to ask Big Oil questions about their issues and to get some perspective on the volatile energy market. Cohen started off with a very short statement, preferring to move quickly to a Q&A rather than a prepared presentation. He spoke of the lack of education most consumers have about the nature of the energy markets and the effects that politics and global tensions have on pricing. Oil is a commodity, just the same as oranges, pork bellies, and a range of other...
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Cohen: Colbert "A Bully"
The debate over the performance of Stephen Colbert has already lasted long past its expiration date, but Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen's shares his reaction to the performance. The reliably liberal Cohen correctly identifies Colbert for what he was at the White House Correspondents Dinner: ... Colbert was not just a failure as a comedian but rude. Rude is not the same as brash. It is not the same as brassy. It is not the same as gutsy or thinking outside the box. Rudeness means taking advantage of the other person's sense of decorum or tradition or civility that keeps that other person from striking back or, worse, rising in a huff and leaving. The other night, that person was George W. Bush. Why are you wasting my time with Colbert, I hear you ask. Because he is representative of what too often passes for political courage, not to mention...
May 4, 2006
Taliban Man Ups The Ante
The admission of former Taliban ambassador-at-large Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi into a non-degree program at Yale has caused an eruption of anger at the storied Ivy League institution. Despite catcalls from the press and alumni, Yale has refused to reconsider its supposedly prestigious "get" in light of his service to a brutally oppressive regime. Now Hashemi has escalated the stakes for Yale and its detractors by applying for admission into a degree program, creating another tripwire for further controversy: A student at Yale University who was once a roving ambassador for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has applied for admission to a degree-granting program, putting new pressure on university officials in an emotionally charged political debate over his presence at Yale. The student, Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, 27, began taking courses at Yale last summer in a nondegree program for untraditional students. After an article about his experience appeared in The New...
The Strange Case Of Patrick Kennedy
Word got out today that Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) crashed his car in the wee hours this morning. Despite suspicions on the part of the responding officer that Kennedy was intoxicated, other officers drove him home without ever conducting a field sobriety test or a Breathalyzer, causing an eruption of criticism about law enforcement in the capital: Rep. Patrick Kennedy crashed his car near the Capitol early Thursday, and a police official said he appeared intoxicated. Kennedy said he had had no alcohol before the accident. ... Kennedy appeared to be intoxicated when he crashed his car into a barrier on Capitol Hill early Thursday morning, said Louis P. Cannon, president of the Washington chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police. Cannon, who was not there, said the officers involved in the accident were instructed by an official "above the rank of patrolman" to take Kennedy home. No sobriety tests...
CFR Explains Basic Oil Economics
The Council on Foreign Relations has released a short primer on oil economics to its website. After our conference call with ExxonMobil's Ken Cohen yesterday, CQ readers had many questions about the data Cohen provided us. CFR, a think tank on foreign policy and economics that tends towards the center-left, may have more credibility on this topic for some readers than an oil-company executive. Lee Hudson Teslik explains the effects of global supply and demand: How does global oil supply affect the price of American gasoline? Given the extent to which the price of crude oil affects the price of gasoline, any fluctuation in the world's crude market can have a significant impact on the gasoline market. In 1960, many of the world's largest oil suppliers formed an organization through which they could coordinate production and ensure consistent supply, thereby providing stability in an otherwise very volatile market. This group,...
May 5, 2006
A Flash Of The Obvious
The AP reports that the major reason for George Bush's erosion in the polls has been a loss of support among conservatives instead of the center. The poll reveals that conservatives help drive the "wrong direction" number in the political polls: Angry conservatives are driving the approval ratings of President Bush and the GOP-led Congress to dismal new lows, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that underscores why Republicans fear an Election Day massacre. Six months out, the intensity of opposition to Bush and Congress has risen sharply, along with the percentage of Americans who believe the nation is on the wrong track. ... • Just 33 percent of the public approves of Bush's job performance, the lowest of his presidency. That compares with 36 percent approval in early April. Forty-five percent of self-described conservatives now disapprove of the president. • Just one-fourth of the public approves of the job Congress...
Party Or Principle?
Earlier today I posted on the declining job-approval ratings for President Bush and Congress, slippage that Ipsos attributes to dissatisfaction among the GOP base. Fox News has a poll showing a five-point rebound in the last three weeks, but it still has Bush below 40% and a solid majority disapproving of his performance. It comes as no surprise to traditional Reagan or Goldwater conservatives that the key GOP base has become so restive, and I pointed out a few of the reasons why dissatisfaction runs so high for both the administration and Congress. More than a few of the disillusioned have insisted that they will not support GOP candidates this fall. They propose to either vote for third-party candidates or to stay home and vote with their silence. These sound like good solutions, but in a binary political system – which is what we have, whether we approve or not...
Goss Abruptly Quits, Leaves Questions Behind
After only twenty months on the job, Porter Goss has resigned as head of the CIA, which at one time he considered the pinnacle of his career. What would make this longtime Congressional representative and one-time agency operative suddenly leave in the middle of revamping the intelligence agency? No one who's talking knows, and no one who knows is talking: CIA Director Porter J. Goss said today that he is "stepping aside" after less than two years on the job, ending a tumultuous tenure at an agency shaken by recent intelligence failures, internal turmoil and a massive reorganization that reduced its leadership role in the U.S. intelligence community. In an appearance with Goss at the White House, President Bush announced that the director "offered his resignation" this morning and that "I've accepted it." Neither the president nor Goss, who sat to Bush's right as he made the announcement in the...
Who Comes After Goss?
While many still wonder what prompted the resignation of Porter Goss from his position as CIA Director, others have already started looking ahead to his eventual replacement. Goss has offered to remain in place while George Bush selects his successor, but the process will likely take place over the weekend. Sources within the White House have already warned the press to be ready for an announcement as early as Monday. The AP reports late this evening that the search will likely narrow to a handful of possibilities: Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden; Frances Fragos Townsend; David Shedd, Negroponte's chief of staff; and Mary Margaret Graham, Negroponte's deputy for intelligence collection. The common thread among four of the five are that they work for the current Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte. Only Townsend works outside of Negroponte's control, an interesting dynamic and one which may impact Congressional hearings down the...
May 6, 2006
Hayden May Have Helped Goss Out The Door
According to news reports over the past day, it appears that Porter Goss got helped out the door rather than leaving on his own accord. According to CNN, General Michael Hayden will get the nod to replace Goss, but an article in the Los Angeles Times this morning says that Hayden and his boss, John Negroponte, had a critical role in creating the opening in the first place. Doyle McManus and Peter Spiegel report that Goss fell victim to efforts by Negroponte and Hayden to win a turf battle over the component intelligence agencies of the National Intelligence directorate: After a little more than a year in his newly created job, John D. Negroponte, the director of national intelligence, has won an initial battle to establish authority over the vast U.S. intelligence community — Porter J. Goss, who resisted Negroponte's moves to limit the autonomy of the CIA, is gone....
Hayden May Have Helped Goss Out The Door
According to news reports over the past day, it appears that Porter Goss got helped out the door rather than leaving on his own accord. According to CNN, General Michael Hayden will get the nod to replace Goss, but an article in the Los Angeles Times this morning says that Hayden and his boss, John Negroponte, had a critical role in creating the opening in the first place. Doyle McManus and Peter Spiegel report that Goss fell victim to efforts by Negroponte and Hayden to win a turf battle over the component intelligence agencies of the National Intelligence directorate: After a little more than a year in his newly created job, John D. Negroponte, the director of national intelligence, has won an initial battle to establish authority over the vast U.S. intelligence community — Porter J. Goss, who resisted Negroponte's moves to limit the autonomy of the CIA, is gone....
Be Careful What You Wish For
My friend John Hinderaker at Power Line feels that a confirmation-hearing spectacle for General Michael Hayden to succeed Porter Goss as CIA director would provide a boon for Republicans. He relishes the thought of Democrats attacking Hayden on the NSA surveillance program: To all of this I say: great! Hardly anything would give the Republican faithful a bigger boost than the spectacle of Senate Democrats attacking an Air Force general for trying to protect America against terrorism. Please, Democrats, please don't deny us this opportunity. And could we possibly schedule the hearing closer to November? I hope he's correct, if Hayden actually gets the nod. However, given the nature of Goss' departure and the hostility the NSA program has created among members of both parties in Congress, I suspect that any Hayden hearing will rapidly become a debacle. All one has to do is to review the committee that will...
We Found The Oil Conspiracy!
Ever since prices began spiking at the gas pumps last year, people have demanded an investigation into why the costs of filling one's tank has skyrocketed. Conspiracy theories have abounded, especially in the blogosphere, complete with energy executives deliberately overbidding for crude oil and artificially holding down refinery capacity. Now, however, the New York Times has found the conspiracy in Washington DC, where they meet every day under a big dome and plot to run our lives and spend our money: Nine months after Congress passed major energy legislation, one provision affecting gasoline formulas is helping to drive the price of gas up much faster than the rising price of crude oil. And because the new gasoline recipe contains less energy, mileage per gallon is declining. On Friday, the 270th day after President Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the law ended the requirement that gasoline sold in...
The Spectre of Specter Descends On Hayden
Earlier today I wrote that the nomination of General Michael Hayden would present Democrats in the Senate a golden opportunity for mischief, and also noted that a few Republicans might be tempted as well. Tomorrow's Washington Post confirms the latter, as Arlen Specter told an interviewer that he planned to hold up Hayden's confirmation as leverage for a more complete briefing on the NSA surveillance program: Not only Democrats expect to use a Hayden nomination to revisit the legality of the surveillance, however. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who has held four hearings on the matter, said he may try to hold up Hayden's confirmation if the administration does not provide more information about the eavesdropping. He said he would try to persuade fellow senators to use the confirmation as "leverage." "I was briefed by General Hayden and I got virtually no meaningful information," Specter said in an...
May 7, 2006
Democratic Agenda: The Two-Year Republican Hate-In
The Democrats have announced their agenda if they succeed in taking back the House in November, and as predicted, it focuses on exactly what the Democrats have done for the past six years: hating Republicans. Rather than having much of a legislative agenda, the Democrats plan to run on the promise to launch endless investigations of Republicans and the administration: Democratic leaders, increasingly confident they will seize control of the House in November, are laying plans for a legislative blitz during their first week in power that would raise the minimum wage, roll back parts of the Republican prescription drug law, implement homeland security measures and reinstate lapsed budget deficit controls. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said in an interview last week that a Democratic House would launch a series of investigations of the Bush administration, beginning with the White House's first-term energy task force and probably including the...
The Hayden Flier Hits Serious Turbulence
The nomination of General Michael Hayden to succeed Porter Goss as CIA Director generated some surprising opposition today by an influential Republican Congressman. Peter Hoekstra, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee and a reliable supporter of the war on terror, objects to military leadership at the CIA: A leading Republican came out against the front-runner for CIA director, Gen. Michael Hayden, saying Sunday the spy agency should not have military leadership during a turbulent time among intelligence agencies. ... Despite a distinguished career at the Defense Department, Hayden would be "the wrong person, the wrong place at the wrong time," said the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich. "There is ongoing tensions between this premier civilian intelligence agency and DOD as we speak," Hoekstra said. "And I think putting a general in charge — regardless of how good Mike is — ... is going to...
May 8, 2006
Feinstein: I'm Inclined To Support Hayden
Neil Cavuto interviewed Senator Dianne Feinstein about the nomination of General Michael Hayden as the replacement of Porter Goss at the CIA. Far from hostile to the appointment, Feinstein praised Hayden as a "superb choice" for the Director position. She claimed than anyone familiar with the intelligence community would have listed Hayden as one of the three top picks for the position, and that while she would not commit to any vote before a thorough hearing, at the moment she was "inclined" to support Hayden's nomination. Here is a rough transcript of the interview: DF: ... Good to be here, Neil, but I think you have that a little bit wrong. I haven't been blasting that choice at all. As a matter of fact, I think that he is a very competent intelligence professional, which I think the CIA needs at this particular point in time. The only problem with...
May 9, 2006
Smoother Landing For Hayden?
The New York Sun reports that although the nomination of General Michael Hayden to be director of the CIA has aroused some complaints, few Democrats have openly and directly opposed his appointment. David Donadio writes that a retirement from the Air Force might be enough to get a relatively painless confirmation: Although committee members were hesitant about expressing their support for General Hayden yesterday, few Democrats offered serious reservations to his nomination, and several Republicans expressed wholehearted support. There was a widespread feeling, however, that General Hayden might smooth his passage through the committee if he were to resign from the military. "General Hayden is more than qualified for the position of CIA director," Senator Bond, a Republican of Missouri, said. "The job of CIA director is to track down and stop terrorists. That's exactly what General Hayden has been doing. His exemplary military background and his recent assignment running...
Will Rage Undo The Democrats?
Two items from prominent opinion journalists point to a meltdown in the Democratic base even as they close in on a vulnerable GOP in midterm elections. Jonah Goldberg and Richard Cohen have one thing in common: irrational e-mail. However, while the conservative Goldberg received one ludicrous rant regarding the Jewish conspiracy to control oil, Cohen received thousands of hysterically angry e-mails denouncing him as an administration stooge -- for writing that Stephen Colbert bombed at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Cohen responds in amazement in today's column, "Digital Lynch Mob": It seemed that most of my correspondents had been egged on to write me by various blogs. In response, they smartly assembled into a digital lynch mob and went roaring after me. If I did not like Colbert, I must like Bush. If I write for The Post, I must be a mainstream media warmonger. If I was over a...
Loyalty Oaths At HUD?
Government bureaucracies serve at least one benign purpose in democracies -- they should ensure that citizens will get impartial treatment when it comes to services and contracts. Unfortunately that system failed according to one of the men supposedly in charge of a good-sized section of one, and now the Bush administration has to answer why its HUD Secretary steered contracts according to the political preferences of their recipients: Once the color barrier has been broken, minority contractors seeking government work may need to overcome the Bush barrier. That's the message U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson seemed to send during an April 28 talk in Dallas. Jackson, a former president and CEO of the Dallas Housing Authority, was among the featured speakers at a forum sponsored by the Real Estate Executive Council, a national minority real estate consortium. After discussing the huge strides the agency has made in...
May 10, 2006
GOP Finally Agrees On Tax Cuts
With a roaring economy and 4.7% unemployment fueled by a recovery launched by George Bush's tax cuts, one would suppose that extending these reductions would be almost assumed in Congress, or at least by the Republicans that enacted them in the first place. However, in a measure of how rudderless the GOP caucus has become, party leaders finally reached an agreement on extending the cuts while Democrats objected to its costs: House and Senate Republican negotiators reached a final agreement yesterday on a five-year, nearly $70 billion tax package that would extend President Bush's deep cuts to tax rates on dividends and capital gains, while sparing about 15 million middle-income Americans from the alternative minimum tax. Republican leaders hope to pass the agreement swiftly. House consideration is scheduled for tonight, with the Senate likely to send the measure to the White House for the president's signature by the end of...
Jackson: You Can Trust Me Now
After telling a Dallas audience that he had killed a deal with a contractor because of his political affiliation, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson found himself in the middle of a firestorm of criticism. After several House and Senate members called for an investigation into Jackson's contract awards practices at HUD and demanded his resignation, Jackson now denies he ever denied any contract on the basis of politics. In a press release at the HUD website, Jackson does his best Emily Litella impression by essentially saying, "Never mind": I deeply regret the anecdotal remarks I made at a recent Texas small business forum and would like to reassure the public that all HUD contracts are awarded solely on a stringent merit-based process. During my tenure, no contract has ever been awarded, rejected, or rescinded due to the personal or political beliefs of the recipient. In other words, Jackson wants to have...
May 11, 2006
Have Conservatives Washed Their Hands Of Bush?
The Washington Post draws the correct conclusion of the low approval ratings for George Bush and his administration by reporting on the discontent among conservatives that have sunk his presidency to near-historic lows. Although Bush has not reached the nadir seen by two other wartime presidents (Nixon and Truman both descended to 23%), the loss of conservative support has dealt a body blow to presidential influence in this midterm election: Disaffection over spending and immigration have caused conservatives to take flight from President Bush and the Republican Congress at a rapid pace in recent weeks, sending Bush's approval ratings to record lows and presenting a new threat to the GOP's 12-year reign on Capitol Hill, according to White House officials, lawmakers and new polling data. Bush and Congress have suffered a decline in support from almost every part of the conservative coalition over the past year, a trend that has...
Pelsoi: What, Us Impeach?
Nancy Pelosi has backpedaled on her coy remarks about the possibility of impeaching George Bush if the Democrats win control of the House in November. She told the Washington Post last week that "you never know where [investigations] lead to," when asked about impeachment with her demand for numerous Congressional investigations into the Bush administration. When that touched off a roar of protest from Republicans and even some Democrats anxious to avoid rallying conservatives to the polls in the midterms, Pelosi meekly changed course: Seeking to choke off a Republican rallying cry, the House's top Democrat has told colleagues that the party will not seek to impeach President Bush even if it gains control of the House in November's elections, her office said last night. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) told her caucus members during their weekly closed meeting Wednesday "that impeachment is off the table; she is not interested...
May 12, 2006
Once Burned
The Washington Examiner spells out conservative angst in its latest editorial, "Conservatives Won't Be Fooled Again". The Examiner notes the increasing disconnect between the administration and the conservative agenda, and warns Karl Rove that base-inflaming rhetoric will not work in these elections absent a concrete return to conservative principles in government: Bush won two presidential elections thanks in large part to conservatives to whom he appealed as the true heir to the Reagan Revolution. But the Gipper wouldn’t recognize Bush’s version of “conservative” government: Federal spending and debt have exploded. Ditto the unfunded liabilities of major entitlement programs. Federal regulation has been vastly expanded in education and health care. As National Taxpayers Union President Dr. John E. Berthoud told The Examiner, “You can’t tax like Reagan while spending like Dean.” Even worse, Bush’s refusal to veto pork-barrel spending has compromised the efficacy of his tax cuts. Indeed, “limited government” never...
No Sitting, Just No Dimes
I have written extensively on the malaise and disaffection rising in conservative ranks, a trend reflected in declining approval ratings for both George Bush and Congress. I wrote yesterday that movement conservatives may be washing their hands of the Bush administration, frustrated by its big-government approach and its vacillation on border security. Some took this as an indication that I have joined an effort to convince conservatives to sit on their hands this November -- in other words, to boycott the midterm elections in order to teach the GOP a lesson. Nothing could be further from the truth. As I wrote a week ago, we have no particular requirement to keep our voices silent when any of our elected representatives enact bad policy or fail to act in what we see as the best interests of the nation. In fact, we have a duty to do so when we can...
May 13, 2006
On The 'Lesser Of Two Evils'
After my post yesterday on the responsibility of making a meaningful choice in the November election, quite a few commenters made a point about refusing to choose between the "lesser of two evils". I want to address that thought and start a new comment thread for your reaction. The phrase "lesser of two evils" gets a lot of use in politics, but it gets taken too literally in order to make an excuse for inaction. In the literal sense, it almost never applies anyway. Not many political figures in American history have been downright evil. We have had incompetents, malcontents, benighted fools, the hopelessly naive, and Jimmy Carter, but thankfully only a handful of outright crooks and genuinely evil men and women. The odds of having two choices in an election where both are evil are very, very slim. Perhaps if David Duke ran against Tom Metzger for Congress, that...
CQ, The NY Post, And The NSA
The New York Post has adapted my lengthy post about the NSA phone-call database into a column for today's edition titled "Sacrificing Here". I argue that both sides have a point about the program, but that the sacrifice is not only limited and reasonable for the war effort, but that it's practically been the only one we've been asked to make: Ba[s]ically, the NSA is building a powerful tool for determining the behavior of people inside the United States (and outside, as well). Is such a tool reasonable under the circumstances we face now? That's ultimately a political question, not a legal one - and the answer depends on whether people see a greater danger in terrorists or their government. In my opinion, the effort is reasonable and limited. The calls themselves go unmonitored, and the records contain no billing information or even names in their raw form. With the...
Falkenrath: NSA Programs Show Hayden As The Right Man For War
Richard Falkenrath, the former deputy Homeland Security advisor to the President and now a fellow at the center-left Brookings Institute, writes a passionate defense of the NSA phone-call database in today's Washington Post. He also pushes back against the notion that the involvement of General Michael Hayden in the two controversial NSA surveillance programs disqualify him to lead the CIA. In fact, as Falkenrath explains, it underscores his potential value at Langley: The potential value of such anonymized domestic telephone records is best understood through a hypothetical example. Suppose a telephone associated with Mohamed Atta had called a domestic telephone number A. And then suppose that A had called domestic telephone number B. And then suppose that B had called C. And then suppose that domestic telephone number C had called a telephone number associated with Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The most effective...
May 14, 2006
Air Force Investigating Alternative Fuels
The New York Times has an interesting report on an effort by the US military to develop alternate fuel sources for the Air Force. The branch spends almost $5 billion a year on fuel and has the most vulnerability to price swings. Developing a safe and effective alternative could allow the military to decrease its dependence on crude oil, and one of the leading candidates for its replacement can be found in abundance in the US: When an F-16 lights up its afterburners, it consumes nearly 28 gallons of fuel per minute. No wonder, then, that of all the fuel the United States government uses each year, the Air Force accounts for more than half. The Air Force may not be in any danger of suffering inconveniences from scarce or expensive fuel, but it has begun looking for a way to power its jets on something besides conventional fuel. In...
One Sick Child Away From Being Fired
Ruth Marcus looks at an issue for mothers in the workplace that often gets little coverage from the media. With media conglomerates aiming for prized demographics, usually any discussion of workplace challenges for mothers revolve around high-powered executives hitting glass ceilings as they attempt to balance family and career concerns. For most working women, that dilemma would represent a slice of heaven, for more often they worry about keeping their jobs at all when family emergencies hit: As the author, law professor Joan C. Williams, writes, "The media tend to cover work/family conflict as the story of professional mothers 'opting out' of fast-track careers" -- an "overly autobiographical approach" that, however unintentionally, misrepresents the full nature of the problem and skews the discussion of potential solutions. Guilty as charged. Williams studied almost 100 union arbitrations that, she writes, "provide a unique window into how work and family responsibilities clash in...
May 15, 2006
Behind The USA Today Poll
Two major polls attempted to take the temperature of the American electorate in the immediate aftermath of the revelation of NSA data-mining through billions of phone call records. The Washington Post reported that 63% of all Americans did not mind that the telephone carriers, excepting Qwest, had voluntarily given those records to the NSA. Almost in the same time frame, a USA Today/Gallup poll showed a bare majority against it -- but even that poll had contradictory internal information: A majority of Americans disapprove of a massive Pentagon database containing the records of billions of phone calls made by ordinary citizens, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. About two-thirds are concerned that the program may signal other, not-yet-disclosed efforts to gather information on the general public. The survey of 809 adults Friday and Saturday shows a nation wrestling with the balance between fighting terrorism and protecting civil liberties. By 51%-43%,...
May 16, 2006
Mfume Lashes Out At Democrats
Kweisi Mfume has trailed fellow Democratic candidate Benjamin Cardin for the nomination to replace Senator Paul Sarbanes in November's midterm election since both candidates declared for the race, and Mfume now believes that the party has deliberately favored Cardin. The former NAACP gave an angry interview to the Washington Times in which he hinted that the Democrats may wind up sacrificing his support if he loses: Maryland U.S. Senate candidate Kweisi Mfume said yesterday that Democrats risk losing the senatorial election because "old-line party bosses" are undermining his campaign and alienating black voters. Mr. Mfume also would not say whether he would endorse Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, the front-runner for the Democratic Senate nomination, if he should lose to the lawmaker in the September primary. "I can say that there will be people who will feel disaffected [if I am not the nominee]," Mr. Mfume told editors and reporters at...
May 17, 2006
The Victory In Primaries For Conservatives
Over the past week, many of us have written on the frustration felt by conservatives (especially fiscal conservatives) over the past few years. Some believe that the only manner in which to serve notice on the GOP that it cannot take conservative votes for granted is a massive walkout, a boycott of the 2006 midterms and perhaps even the 2008 presidential elections. Others, such as myself, believe that conservatives will marginalize themselves by doing so and will prove themselves incapable of being reliable partners in any kind of ruling coalition. Today we have an example of what can be accomplished through active engagement rather than disengagement. In Pennsylvania, primary voters have unseated the two Republican leaders in the state Senate that gave the body an unpopular pay raise, joining thirteen of their incumbent House colleagues in getting the boot: Angry taxpayers on Tuesday tossed out the two Republican Senate leaders...
In Defense Of Mark Tapscott
Over the past couple of weeks, many conservative bloggers have debated the future of the conservative movement and the potential electoral strategies that we feel will most benefit the cause. Over the course of that time, the bloggers have appeared to separate us into two camps: Geraghtyites (from Jim Geraghty at TKS) and Tapscottians (from Mark Tapscott at the Washington Examiner and Tapscott's Copy Desk). While I fall rather squarely into the realist Geraghty camp, I must say a few words in Mark's defense. First, I think people have misinterpreted Mark's position. What people call Tapscottian really follows more closely to the writings of Stephen Bainbridge. The professor has already announced his intention to withdraw his support from the GOP this fall and potentially in 2008 as a protest against their performance on a range of issues over the past few years. I don't agree with Stephen, but he's entitled...
May 18, 2006
What, Me Impeach?
Congressman John Conyers redefines disingenuity in today's Washington Post by proclaiming Republicans dishonest when they say that he wants to impeach the President. All he wants, he says, is some answers from the Bush administration: As Republicans have become increasingly nervous about whether they will be able to maintain control of the House in the midterm elections, they have resorted to the straw-man strategy of identifying a parade of horrors to come if Democrats gain the majority. Among these is the assertion that I, as the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, would immediately begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush. I will not do that. I readily admit that I have been quite vigorous, if not relentless, in questioning the administration. The allegations I have raised are grave, serious, well known, and based on reliable media reports and the accounts of former administration officials. ... So, rather than seeking...
Even The Gray Lady Gets The Message In PA
The New York Times recognized the Pennsylvania Earthquake which removed at least thirteen Republican incumbents in Tuesday's primaries from a state legislature that rejected conservative values. Jason DeParle reports that conservatives nationwide have taken heart from this victory, and even includes a mention of CQ: A revolt among Pennsylvania conservatives gained national attention on Wednesday after challengers toppled at least 12 state lawmakers they deemed insufficiently committed to small government and fiscal restraint. Among those losing their positions in a Republican primary on Tuesday were the two State Senate leaders, Robert C. Jubelirer and David J. Brightbill, who had 56 years of incumbency between them and vastly outspent their upstart rivals. Facing a tire salesman with little political experience, Mr. Brightbill, the majority leader, outspent his opponent nearly 20 to 1 and still captured just 37 percent of the vote. ... The results drew cheers from conservatives nationally, many of...
May 19, 2006
The Hammer Drops On Big Legal
A federal grand jury returned an indictment alleging fraud, corruption, and kickbacks at one of the most prominent legal firms in the class-action lawsuit industry. Milberg Weiss also has two of its partners under personal indictment for a criminal racketeering conspiracy, and the feds want over $200 million in restitution: The future of one of the country's leading class-action law firms, Milberg Weiss, is in grave doubt after a federal grand jury returned a criminal indictment yesterday accusing the firm of engaging in a secret, 25-year-long conspiracy to kick back attorneys fees to investors who served as named plaintiffs in more than 150 lawsuits brought against publicly-traded American companies. Two top Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schlman LLP partners, David Bershad and Steven Schulman, were charged personally with criminal racketeering conspiracy. In addition, prosecutors are demanding that the firm forfeit $216.1 million, the sum Milberg Weiss earned in cases allegedly tainted...
May 20, 2006
Congress Shocked To Discover Problems With Air Marshals
A report released to the AP last night will inform Congress of what readers of CQ and Michelle Malkin have known for eighteen months -- that the management of the Federal Air Marshal Service has repeatedly undermined the mission through robotic insistence on dress codes and travel policies that do everything except tape a "Kill Me First" sign on the backs of supposedly covert agents. The House Judiciary Committee has finally addressed the complaints of air marshals who have watched in utter frustration while FAMS places every obstacle they can find between the agents and their mission: A report to be taken up by Congress next week is harshly critical of the Federal Air Marshal Service, concluding that more steps need to be taken to preserve the anonymity of the marshals. The draft report by the House Judiciary Committee, a copy of which was provided to The Associated Press on...
May 21, 2006
Caught Red-Handed (Update: Jefferson's National Guard Story Connected?)
Video killed the radio star, the song tells us, and it holds its dangers for politicians on the take as well. The AP reports that the FBI has video of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) taking bribes, the latest in a series of setbacks to Democratic attempts to paint corruption as a one-party problem: A congressman under investigation for bribery was caught on videotape accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from an FBI informant whose conversations with the lawmaker also were recorded, according to a court document released Sunday. Agents later found the cash hidden in his freezer. At one audiotaped meeting, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., chuckles about writing in code to keep secret what the government contends was his corrupt role in getting his children a cut of a communications company's deal for work in Africa. As Jefferson and the informant passed notes about what percentage the lawmaker's family might receive,...
May 22, 2006
Conservative Angst A Product Of Unrealistic Expectations?
The Washington Post ran a column yesterday by Richard Vigurie titled "Bush's Base Betrayal" that listed the bill of particulars of conservative outrage. Vigurie appears to have left nothing off the list in his attempt to nail his theses to the virtual Witenburg Castle Church as he advances the argument for a philosophical split within the GOP. Unfortunately, Vigurie lets conservatives off the hook with a bit of revisionist history: Republicans were desperate to retake the White House, conservatives were desperate to get the Clinton liberals out and there was no direct heir to Reagan running for president. So most conservatives supported Bush as the strongest candidate -- some enthusiastically and some, like me, reluctantly. After the disastrous presidency of his father, our support for the son was a triumph of hope over experience. Once he took office, conservatives were willing to grant this Bush a honeymoon. We were happy...
Sharpton, The Voice Of Democratic Reason?
How sad is it when Al Sharpton has the moral high ground among Democratic politicians? Alabama Democrats should get rid of a candidate who denies the Holocaust and another who has advocated killing illegal immigrants, activist Al Sharpton said Monday. While state party officials say they are powerless to remove the pair from the ballot because the June 6 primary is so close, Sharpton said: "There's no room for these two men in our big tent." Larry Darby, seeking the party's nomination for attorney general, denies the Holocaust occurred and recently spoke at a gathering of National Vanguard, which describes itself as a "pro-white" organization. Harry Lyon, who wants to become the Democrats' gubernatorial candidate, has advocated killing illegal immigrants as a way to keep them out of Alabama. Every party attracts its share of lunatics. It wasn't that long ago that Republicans had to disavow David Duke, and a...
May 23, 2006
White House Wins The Staredown
For those who thought the Bush administration had run out of steam, they may want to check the gauges again. Despite an outcry over his involvement in two controversial NSA surveillance and analysis programs, the Senate Intelligence Committee approved General Michael Hayden's appointment as Director of the CIA. In the end, only three Democrats opposed the appointment, a stunning victory for the White House after being accused of doubling down on the NSA programs by nominating the man who ran them: Gen. Michael Hayden moved a step closer Tuesday to becoming the nation's 20th CIA chief, where he will take over a spy agency looking for a leader to steer it through troubles ranging from al-Qaida to Washington politics. The Senate Intelligence Committee recommended confirmation, 12-3, with three of the panel's seven Democrats voting against him. If the Senate approves him before Memorial Day, as expected, Hayden could be sworn...
May 24, 2006
Subpoenas Not Enough?
The corruption case of William Jefferson took a strange turn yesterday when several Republican members of Congress objected to the execution of a subpoena on the uncooperative subject of the investigation. House Speaker Dennis Hastert questioned the constituionality of the FBI search, and House Majority Leader John Boehner predicted that the Supreme Court would have to decide the issue: Justice Department and FBI officials yesterday vigorously defended a weekend raid on the Capitol Hill office of Democratic Rep. William J. Jefferson (La.), arguing that the unprecedented tactic was necessary because Jefferson and his attorneys had refused to comply with a subpoena for documents issued more nine months ago in a bribery investigation. ... House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) complained directly to President Bush yesterday about the FBI raid, while House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) predicted a constitutional showdown before the Supreme Court. "My opinion is that they...
ACLU: Now We Like Speech Codes
In a development that really plumbs the depth of hypocrisy, the American Civil Liberties Union now wants to impose speech codes on its own board while decrying restrictions on free speech everywhere else. Under new guidelines that the ACLU has taken under serious consideration, directors will be urged to make happy or keep their mouths shut: The American Civil Liberties Union is weighing new standards that would discourage its board members from publicly criticizing the organization's policies and internal administration. "Where an individual director disagrees with a board position on matters of civil liberties policy, the director should refrain from publicly highlighting the fact of such disagreement," the committee that compiled the standards wrote in its proposals. "Directors should remember that there is always a material prospect that public airing of the disagreement will affect the A.C.L.U. adversely in terms of public support and fund-raising," the proposals state. This comes...
Post: Hastert, Boehner Have No Clue
The Washington Post provides an analysis of the Congressional privilege asserted by Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader John Boehner which finds no grounds for their objections to the search warrant executed by the FBI earlier this week. In fact, as Charles Lane points out, the Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear that the Speech and Debate clause of the Constitution cannot shield members from legitimate investigations into corruption: "An official legislative act is immune, but interference with anything beyond that" is not covered by the constitutional provision that shields Congress from executive and judicial branch interference, said Michael J. Glennon, a former legal counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who teaches at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. The precise materials sought in the raid were blacked out in a publicly released copy of the search warrant, but Jefferson (D-La.) said in a court filing yesterday...
May 25, 2006
FBI Ramps Up Public-Integrity Investigations
The FBI has added more than 200 agents to their task force on investigations of public corruption, an increase of 50% over 2004, in preparation for the upcoming midterm elections. The Hill reports that an explosion in such cases in the last national election has convinced them to add more staff to focus specifically on election law: Illegal fundraising schemes appear to have grown in number and sophistication as candidates have needed to raise more and more money to be competitive. Several members of Congress have recently found themselves caught up in fundraising controversies. In the past year and a half, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reassigned nearly 200 agents to the problem of public corruption, bringing to 600 the total number of agents working on public-integrity cases. While the Justice Department’s increased focus on public corruption has been talked about in Washington, the FBI’s elevation of such...
Post: Congress Hysterical (Update: Someone's Listening)
The Washington Post scolds Congressional leaders for their hysterical overreaction to the execution of a duly authorized search warrant on the offices of William Jefferson, and underscores the point by noting that the subpoena hardly came as a surprise to anyone on Capitol Hill: THE UPROAR over the FBI's search of Rep. William J. Jefferson's congressional office is understandable but overblown. A demand yesterday by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that the Justice Department return the papers it seized goes way too far. Constitutional provisions designed to protect lawmakers from fear of political retribution, such as the speech-and-debate clause, counsel restraint and caution in circumstances such as these. They do not transform congressional offices into taxpayer-funded sanctuaries. No one wants to have FBI agents pawing through lawmakers' files. Prosecutors and agents need to exhaust other avenues of obtaining evidence before doing so. If...
Bush Provides Ladder For Congressional Climbdown
George Bush tossed a lifesaver to Denny Hastert and the rest of the imperial Congress today by temporarily sealing the evidence seized from the legislative offices of Rep. William Jefferson, the target of an FBI corruption investigation. Sealing the records gives both branches more time to work out their differences, Bush said, but made clear that prosecutors would eventually gain access to the material: President Bush personally ordered the Justice Department today to seal records seized from the Capitol Hill office of a Democratic congressman, marking a remarkable intervention by the nation's chief executive into an ongoing criminal probe of alleged corruption. ... In a six-paragraph statement, Bush said he issued the order to give the Justice Department and angry lawmakers more time to work out an agreement on how to resolve the conflict. The materials, which have been described in court filings as two boxes of documents and copies...
May 26, 2006
Does Congress Even Read What They Pass Into Law?
I'm doing a little lunchtime browsing, and this story almost made me spit out my sandwich. The Wall Street Journal reports on the hysteria brewing in the halls of Congress over the raid on Rep. William Jefferson's office, rehashing mostly what we already know. Later in the article, however, Jeanne Cummings and Brody Mullens tie the story to the expansion of the FBI's public integrity unit to underscore the discomfort members of Congress feel right now. The report quotes a Republican close to the House caucus that apparently reveals a strain of illiteracy among our elected representatives: Frustration between the House and the Justice Department stems in part from the probe of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Mr. Abramoff in January pleaded guilty to trying to bribe members of Congress, and has been cooperating with federal investigators. Much of the evidence that has emerged suggests Mr. Abramoff curried favor with lawmakers by...
May 27, 2006
Hastert Grabs The Lifesaver As Gonzalez Threatens To Quit
George Bush has successfully quelled the Congressional grab for perpetual immunity from criminal prosecution as well as a potential rebellion at Justice, deftly using a cooling-off period to allow both sides to climb down from their hard-line positions. House Speaker Denny Hastert, having presumably checked his In box and re-read the Constitution, now agrees that the FBI can conduct searches of Congressional offices when armed with a valid search warrant: House leaders acknowledged Friday that FBI agents with a court-issued warrant can legally search a congressman's office, but they said they want procedures established after agents with a court warrant took over a lawmaker's office last week. "I want to know exactly what would happen if there is a similar sort of thing" in the Senate, Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Friday, shortly after summoning Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to his office. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., concurred: "I...
A Cheer For Bill Frist
We have not shied away from offering criticisms of the Republican leadership in Congress when they have failed to deliver on the GOP agenda. Fairness dictates that we recognize their effort in delivering victories as well. Senator Bill Frist deftly navigated a large amount of hostility towards two Bush appointees while getting them confirmed. Brett Kavanaugh heads to the 4th Circuit and General Michael Hayden will take over the CIA after Frist pushed their nominations through the Senate. On Kavanaugh, Frist managed to avoid the filibuster than some had threatened: White House aide Brett M. Kavanaugh won Senate confirmation as an appeals judge yesterday after a three-year wait, a new victory for President Bush in a drive to place a more conservative stamp on the courts. Bush said Kavanaugh who was confirmed 57 to 36, will be "a brilliant, thoughtful and fair-minded judge." Kavanaugh had been praised by Republicans but...
A Disintegration In Party Branding?
A number of us have debated over the last couple of weeks whether conservatives can get true representation within the Republican Party. The debate has caused many to despair over the upcoming midterm elections, fearing that the infighting in the GOP may hand Democrats control of the House. However, the Los Angeles Times reports that Democrats have similar internal stresses that may leave them unable to take advantage of the opportunity this fall: The liberal challenge to Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) escalated Friday when the political arm of MoveOn.org, an influential online advocacy group, endorsed the political newcomer opposing his bid for renomination. Gaining the support of MoveOn's political action committee was Ned Lamont, a businessman who wants to unseat Lieberman largely because of the veteran lawmaker's staunch support for the war in Iraq. The group announced its backing after polling MoveOn's members in Connecticut. MoveOn has emerged as a...
May 29, 2006
Frist: Congress Not Above The Law
Showing more political acumen than his House counterpart, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist waited a few days before publicly commenting on the raid on Rep. William Jefferson's offices. Frist put that time to good use, and instead of accusing the executive branch of assuming dictatorial powers for simply executing a judicially-approved search warrant, he acknowledged that members of Congress have no privilege that allows them to ignore court orders or that turn Capitol Hill into a sanctuary for wayward politicians: After a week of bipartisan outrage over an FBI raid on a congressman's office, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist weighed in yesterday, saying that he was "okay" with the search and saw no constitutional problems with it. "No House member, no senator, nobody in government should be above the law of the land, period," Frist said of the search of the office of William J. Jefferson (D-La.), who has been...
May 30, 2006
Let's Get Ready To Rumble
Democrats who have busied themselves painting corruption as an exclusively Republican affair have hit a number of obstacles to that message -- Reps. William Jefferson and Alan Mollohan prominent among them. Now the Democrats have to add their own leadership -- again -- as the Senate Minority Leader has been exposed as taking favors from a notoriously corrupt industry while he intervened on their behalf: Senate Democratic Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) accepted free ringside tickets from the Nevada Athletic Commission to three professional boxing matches while that state agency was trying to influence him on federal regulation of boxing. Reid took the free seats for Las Vegas fights between 2003 and 2005 as he was pressing legislation to increase government oversight of the sport, including the creation of a federal boxing commission that Nevada's agency feared might usurp its authority. He defended the gifts, saying that they would never...
May 31, 2006
What Are They Hiding?
The Democrats have a deep divide on electoral strategy, the Los Angeles Times reports, which has its basis in policy, at least indirectly. Instead of a party debate between moderates and leftists on the nature of the Democratic legislative agenda, however, the party cannot decide whether to be honest with the American public: With President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress facing bleak approval ratings, many Democrats are increasingly confident that the public is ready to hear the party's alternative policy ideas as the 2006 campaign heats up. The question is whether the Democrats have an alternative ready to present. ... On one side are those who believe the Democrats must present a sharp alternative to Bush's direction — as Republicans did with their "Contract with America" before sweeping into control of Congress in 1994. "It is a time to move toward offense and toward talking about the big things that...
McCain Bypasses Party Building
If a candidate for the presidency had an ambivalent relationship with his party, would he (a) go out of his way to show loyalty to the party by appearing on behalf of its candidates for lower office even when the two disagree on one issue, or (b) stiff the candidate by backing out of a promised appearance over said disagreement? If you answered (a), you're one step ahead of John McCain: Arizona Sen. John McCain on Tuesday canceled an appearance for a Republican congressional candidate who has attacked his opponent for supporting McCain's immigration bill. McCain, R-Ariz., was scheduled to speak Wednesday at a breakfast fundraiser for Brian Bilbray, who is locked in a close runoff race with Democrat Francine Busby for the San Diego-area seat left vacant by disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. The event was expected to raise at least $65,000. The winner of the June 6...
Fahrenheit Jimmy Carter? Er, No
The Canada Free Press site has reported that Jimmy Carter's Carter Center has taken a large amount of contributions from the bin Laden family over the past several years, reminding some of the specious lines Michael Moore attempted to draw between Osama bin Laden and George Bush in his film Fahrenheit 9/11. The only problem with this latest revelation is that it uses the same bad assumptions Moore used in smearing Bush for fun and profit on the silver screen: Ex-U.S. President Jimmy Carter is in league with Osama bin Laden. A paper trail shows that more than $1 million has been funneled from Bakr M. Bin Laden on behalf of the Saudi Bin Laden Group to The Carter Center. That’s an impressive bit of investigative journalism that comes your way, not courtesy of the New York Times and company, but from Melanie Morgan, Chairman, Censure Carter Committee. "An investigation...
June 1, 2006
Santorum Collapsing In PA
The latest Rasmussen poll delivers bad news to Republicans hoping to hold or expand their majority in the US Senate. Incumbent and key conservative Rick Santorum has fallen far behind his challenger, Robert Casey Jr, with only five months left in the campaign: The latest Rasmussen Reports election poll in Pennsylvania shows Republican Senator Rick Santorum solidifying his standing as most vulnerable congressional incumbent this election season. Santorum now trails Democratic challenger Bob Casey 56% to 33% (see crosstabs). Our latest survey of the governor's race also brings good news for the Democrat in that contest. Last month, Santorum trailed by thirteen percentage points. The incumbent began 2006 down by 20 points and closed to within single digits by March. That was before the Primary Election solidified Casey's position as the Democratic nominee. Santorum continues to flounder with his base, attracting support from only 67% of GOP voters. Casey now...
Zionist Conspiracist Runs For Congress
The trouble with using elections to clean house is keeping even worse choices from reaching office. Voters can see this dynamic in play in Northern California, where a former Congressman has decided to challenge House Resources Committee chair Richard Pombo for his seat in the Republican primary. However, Pete McCloskey has a lot of his own baggage to carry: A former congressman and longtime critic of America's alliance with Israel is hoping voter anger over bribery and ethical breaches in Washington will help him unseat a powerful committee chairman in a Republican primary in California next week. Paul McCloskey Jr., 78, known as "Pete," is challenging Richard Pombo, 45, who has spent seven terms in Congress and presides over the panel that oversees energy and public land issues, the House Resources Committee. In an interview with The New York Sun yesterday, Mr. McCloskey, who served in Congress between 1967 and...
Hastert's Folly Revealed
The latest ABC poll shows that House Speaker Denny Hastert miscalculated badly by erupting with outrage over the raid on Rep. William Jefferson’s offices. An overwhelming majority of Americans approve of the search performed by the FBI regardless of party affiliation: In the rift between Congress and the Justice Department, Americans side overwhelmingly with law enforcement: Regardless of precedent and the separation of powers, 86 percent say the FBI should be allowed to search a Congress member's office if it has a warrant. That view is broadly bipartisan, this ABC News poll finds, ranging from 78 percent among Democrats to 94 percent of Republicans. … Sixty-five percent of Americans give a negative rating to the ethics and honesty of members of Congress. More, 54 percent, rate their own member's ethics positively, but that's down from 69 percent in a 1989 poll. Nonetheless, support for FBI searches is about equally high...
Reid Forswears Freebies (Updated and Bumped)
After a chorus of apologists insisted that Harry Reid would have broken the law by buying his own tickets to boxing matches, the AP reports that Reid has now acknowledged that he misstated Senate ethics rules in defending his acceptance of tickets from the Nevada Athletic Commission. Reid's staff now says that he will no longer accept gifts from the NAC: Reversing course, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid’s office acknowledged Wednesday night he misstated the ethics rules governing his acceptance of free boxing tickets and has decided to avoid taking such gifts in the future. ... The announcement came after The Associated Press confronted Reid’s office early Wednesday with conclusions from several ethics experts that the Senate leader misstated congressional ethics rules in trying to defend his actions. ... Manley said Wednesday night that Reid “misspoke when he said the rule applies only to senators who represent the state agency.”...
June 2, 2006
Eine Kleine Chin Musik
E.J. Dionne notes the extension of the hysteria in Congress over the raid on William Jefferson's Capitol Hill office, and likens it to a baseball game. The Congressional Republicans think they are employing a brushback pitch, but in this case they look more like the St. Louis Cardinals in the final game of the 1985 World Series. They have melted down beyond all sense, conducting silly hearings and making threats of impeachment against officials in the Department of Justice, in an attempt to intimidate anyone with the temerity to investigate corruption in DC: In baseball, the hurler intimidates the batter with a brushback pitch. In soccer, the official warns an unruly player by pulling out a yellow card. Politicians in legal jeopardy thunder and moan, threatening prosecutors while cloaking their pressure tactics in the grand language of constitutional rights and democracy. ... The hearing was dominated by talk of abuses...
The Truth Behind The Numbers (Updated And Bumped)
The DHS awards of block grants for the Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) touched off a fiery round of criticism, with some calling for George Bush to fire DHS chief Michael Chertoff after seeing funding cut to New York City and Washington, DC. However, a look at the numbers calls the accuracy of this blamethrowing into serious question. First, the reaction: New York City will receive $124 million — the largest amount under the Urban Area Security Initiative. But that's just 60 percent of the $208 million given in 2005. The cut comes primarily because the Homeland Security Department determined that New York has no national monuments or icons. ... Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York and chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, called the cut in funding “indefensible and disgraceful.” “As far as I’m concerned the Department of Homeland Security and the administration have declared...
More Data On DHS Grants
Using the material at the Department of Homeland Security website, I have created a spreadsheet listing the grant allocations on state and urban area levels for both fiscal year 2006 and FY 2005. The data on these years tell an interesting story. While New York and Washington DC have howled the loudest about the reduction in grants to their cities, eight urban areas saw bigger cuts by percentage. And although the two cities' percentage lost from FY 2005 allocations to both cities is substantial (40.4% each), their combined share of the Urban Area Security Initiative grants still accounts for a quarter of all UASI grants this year. The following cities have seen higher percentages of the FY05 UASI grants disappear in FY06: Phoenix - 60.79% Denver - 49.76% New Orleans - 49.60% Pittsburgh - 49.46% Buffalo - 48.53% San Diego - 45.96% Dallas/Ft Worth/Arlington - 43.22% Columbus - 42.96 Fifteen...
June 3, 2006
The Democratic Lineup
Earlier today, the AP published a helpful list of the members of their House caucus that would assume control of the various committees if the Democrats win control of the lower chamber in the mid-term elections. While the list reflects the current ranking members of the existing panels, at least one comes as a surprise. Jane Harman has served as the ranking member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence since 2002. Upon gaining control of the House, one would expect Harman to ascend to the chair of this panel. However, she has lost favor with Nancy Pelosi for her support of the war in Iraq and other aspects of the overall war on terror. Harman also was one of the Congressional contingent that received briefings on the two NSA programs that caused such an uproar the past couple of months, until the Democrats found out that the American electorate...
June 5, 2006
One Last Word On New York City's Finances
The cuts to the DHS grant program of 34% from fiscal year 2005 have created a wailing and gnashing of teeth in New York, where elected officials have made accusations that DHS chief Michael Chertoff has "declared war" on the Big Apple for cutting UASI funding by 40%, along with Washington DC. The DHS did not help its case when their evaluation of the city's application resolved that NYC had no monuments or national icons, although as Newsweek reported yesterday, that description unfairly portrayed the analysis: The "risk" score sheets, based partially on classified data that included "suspicious incidents," "FBI Cases" and "Intelligence Community Reports," said New York had no "national monuments and icons," four "banking and finance" institutions with assets greater than $8 billion and two nuclear facilities. (The D.C. region was rated as having 18 monuments or icons, 2 major banking or finance institutions and 7 nuclear facilities.)...
Fighting The Symptom And Not The Disease
President Bush, as expected, spoke today on behalf of efforts to amend the Constitution to establish a definition of marriage outside the reach of judicial mischief. To no one's surprise, the definition establishes "one man, one woman" as the national standard. He gave this statement at a speech this afternoon, some of which I heard live and the rest from a recording of the event: This week, the Senate begins debate on the Marriage Protection Amendment, and I call on the Congress to pass this amendment, send it to the states for ratification so we can take this issue out of the hands of over-reaching judges and put it back where it belongs -- in the hands of the American people. The union of a man and woman in marriage is the most enduring and important human institution. For ages, in every culture, human beings have understood that marriage is...
June 6, 2006
When He's Right ...
Unfortunately, E.J. Dionne paints a fairly accurate picture in his column today regarding the sudden reappearance of the Marriage Protection Act. While Bush has always supported the traditional definition of marriage, he has not pursued the Constitutional option with much vigor until his polling numbers showed significant erosion among his base. Suddenly, the MPA has received front-burner status: This month's offensive by President Bush and his allies in Congress against gay marriage and flag burning proves one thing: The Republican Party thinks its base of social conservatives is a nest of dummies who have no memories and respond like bulls whenever red flags are waved in their faces. The people who should be angry this week are not liberals or gays or lesbians, but the president's most loyal supporters. After using the gay-marriage issue shamelessly in the 2004 campaign, Bush and Republican leaders left opponents of gay marriage out in...
June 7, 2006
CA-50 Race Too Close To Call (Update & Bump)
The polls have closed in California's primary election, and the most significant contest looks like a real squeaker. With only 11% of precincts reporting, Republican Brian Bilbray leads Democrat Francine Busby by eight points in the race to replace the disgraced Randy "Duke" Cunningham. The early absentee returns should have given Bilbray a better lead at this stage; this one will probably go to the wire. I'll update this in the morning. UPDATE: Bilbray won, but shy of a majority: Republican Brian Bilbray beat Democrat Francine Busby early Wednesday in a close race to replace imprisoned former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in the 50th Congressional District, a contest seen as a gauge of voter attitudes for the national midterm elections. ... Bilbray also said that running in a heavily Republican district was an advantage, to a degree. “It can also be a big negative, because people were really hurt by...
More On Jefferson's Corruption
As the voters in CA-50 put the corruption of Randy Cunningham behind them, the voters of William Jefferson's district got more information on his sellout. The New York Times reports that the FBI has acquired documentary evidence of bribery regarding Jefferson's efforts on behalf of a foreign power, albeit in a strange reversal: The Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the Maryland home of the vice president of Nigeria last summer in search of bribe money that the bureau believed had been paid to him by Representative William Jefferson, according to documents released on Tuesday. The documents included an affidavit signed by an F.B.I. agent who said that the Nigerian vice president, Atiku Abubakar, now a candidate for president of that oil-rich West African nation, asked for at least half of the profits of a technology company controlled by Mr. Jefferson that was seeking to do business in Nigeria. About the...
June 8, 2006
How To Overcome Conservative Battle Fatigue
My debut at the Examiner as a founding member of the Blog Board of Contributors appears today, discussing the manner in which conservatives can defeat political fatigue and exert more influence over policy. Other bloggers and I have discussed this topic extensively, and in my column I attempted to bring all of the elements together: Many conservative voices have asked recently whether the Republican Party has any capability of representing conservative values. After all, Republicans have controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress for the past five years, yet we have seen discretionary spending go through the roof, an explosion of earmarks, a curious lack of the veto, and a belated and misguided effort at border control that hearkens back to the failed Simpson-Mazzoli amnesty bill of 1986. Under these circumstances, conservatives may wonder with some justification whether a continued association with the GOP unfairly tarnishes true conservative...
More Corruption?
The Los Angeles Times reported earlier today that the stepdaughter of a powerful Congressional committe chairman benefitted from a relationship with a company that had business before her stepfather's panel. Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), chair of the ultrapowerful House Appropriations Committee, oversaw the granting of over $11 million in earmarks to Trident Systems, whose founder and president hired his stepdaughter to run his political action committee: A political fundraising committee headed by a defense contractor has paid thousands of dollars in fees to the stepdaughter of House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) at a time when the contractor has been lobbying Congress for funding. Lewis' stepdaughter, Julia Willis-Leon, has been paid more than $42,000 by the Small Biz Tech Political Action Committee, according to campaign finance records. The PAC is led by Nicholas Karangelen, founder and president of Trident Systems Inc. Records show the company received at least $11.7...
June 9, 2006
Dionne: Realism Is Not The Enemy Of Idealism
E.J. Dionne takes a hard look at the failure of Proposition 82 and gives liberals a truth they need to hear -- that tax and spend policies will not succeed any longer, even in a state as liberal as California. He advises liberals to start considering reality when it comes to proposing large and expensive government programs, and to make sure that they have a convincing argument before spending a lot of money trying to convince people to buy: While the political world was obsessed with the Republican victory in a special election for a California congressional seat, the truly sobering news for liberals was in the statewide voting. Proposition 82, the ballot measure that would have guaranteed access to preschool for all of California's 4-year-olds, went down to resounding defeat, 61 to 39 percent. Not only that, voters also rejected a $600 million bond measure for the state's libraries....
June 10, 2006
Anti-Semitism In Virginia Democratic Primary?
Forbes Magazine reported on a potentially explosive story when it relayed accusations that campaign material for James Webb used anti-Semitic imagery to combat his opponent in the upcoming Virginian Democratic primary for the Senate, Harris Miller. According to Forbes, the drawing used stereotypical cartoon images about Jews to show Harris as a greedy manipulator, charges that came from the Harris Miller campaign itself: Senate candidate James H. Webb, President Reagan's former Navy secretary, was criticized by his Jewish opponent Friday over a campaign flier that depicted the opponent with a hooked nose and cash spilling from his pockets. The flier was intended for distribution among labor groups. It was titled "Miller the Job Killer," referring to Webb's opponent for the Democratic nomination in Tuesday's primary, businessman Harris Miller. The flier, drawn in comic-book cartoon style, depicts Miller with a grotesquely hooked nose and cash overflowing from his suit pockets as...
Murtha, The Gift That Keeps On Giving
Rep. John Murtha inadvertently provided a rare moment of unity last fall when he demanded an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. House Republicans took him at his word and introduced a bill to that effect, and the measure only gained three votes -- none of them Murtha's, as it turned out. He later complained that the bill misrepresented his position and that he meant to give the Pentagon six months to leave, although even the most precipitous retreat would take nearly that long to organize and execute, given our deployment throughout Iraq. Now he apparently intends to provide that kind of unity again, among Republicans at least, by throwing his hat into the ring for a key Democratic leadership post -- that doesn't even exist yet: Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.), one of the Democrats' leading antiwar voices, startled his political colleagues yesterday by announcing he would seek a senior leadership...
Corruption In Nevada Judiciary
The Los Angeles Times has a blockbuster report this morning on a judicial system in Nevada that has allowed corruption into the state's justice system, an embarrassment that has benefited organized crime, casinos, and the judges themselves. By allowing a classification for jurists as "senior judges" to escape rules of accountability, the predictable outcomes have occurred: One Nevada judge was nearly indicted on blackmail charges. Another ruled repeatedly for a casino corporation in which he held more than 10,000 shares. Still another overruled state authorities and decided in favor of a gambling boss who was notorious as a mob frontman, and whose casino did the judge a $2,800 favor. Yet the Nevada Supreme Court has conferred upon these judges a special distinction that exempts them from some of the common rules of judicial practice and reduces their accountability. They are among 17 state judges whom the high court has commissioned...
June 13, 2006
Fizzlemas
Karl Rove will not face any charges stemming from the leak of Valerie Plame's identity or of any cover-up in its aftermath, the New York Times reports. The decision brings an end to the politically-charged waiting game that had some of George Bush's opponents salivating for Rove's head: The prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case on Monday advised Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, that he would not be charged with any wrongdoing, effectively ending the nearly three-year criminal investigation that had at times focused intensely on Mr. Rove. The decision by the prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, announced in a letter to Mr. Rove's lawyer, Robert D. Luskin, lifted a pall that had hung over Mr. Rove who testified on five occasions to a federal grand jury about his involvement in the disclosure of an intelligence officer's identity. In a statement, Mr. Luskin said, "On June 12, 2006, Special...
Kerry's 'So Is Your Mama' Mature Response
Regardless of whether a voter trends liberal or conservative, one expects their leaders to display a certain level of maturity in their public pronouncements. John Kerry's office has demonstrated their own level of maturity by calling Karl Rove fat in response to his criticism of their stamina in the Iraq War, and Raw Story has the specifics: The move comes one day after Rove called plans to exit Iraq proposed by Senator Kerry and Representative John Murtha (D-PA) "profoundly wrong" "cut and run" strategies. "They may be with you for the first few bullets," Rove said, "but they won't be there for the last tough battles." Both Kerry and Murtha are decorated service veterans. "The closest Karl Rove ever came to combat," said Kerry spokesman David Wade, "was these last months spent worrying his cellmates might rough him up in prison. This porcine political operative can't cut and run from...
America's Most Wanted Politicians
Almost three weeks ago, I posted about a new FBI focus on public corruption, adding more than 200 agents for their work in discovering and stopping bribery and malfeasance by public officials. At the time, the FBI stated that most of the new effort would go to investigating illegal campaign contributions rather than an increased effort to catch outright bribery and payoffs. Now the FBI wants to clearly show a broad effort in this fight -- and they're hoping to use some new Internet tools to help them succeed: Even with stories about public corruption probes flooding the morning papers, Internet and cable news airwaves, the FBI's new Web site for individuals to report malfeasance and just plain bad behavior hasn't made splashy headlines. But the site, reportcorruption.fbi.gov, is up and running and the G-Men are paying attention. ... Tipsters from any walk of life are welcome to report suspicious...
June 14, 2006
Truman The Unilateralist
After making references to Harry Truman in recent speeches, George Bush received criticism from Democrats who complained that Bush falsely assumed Truman's mantle in foreign affairs. They claimed that Truman set the standard for multilateralism through his founding of the United Nations, bringing his predecessor's dream to fruition. Max Boot answers them in today's Los Angeles Times by reminding them that even Truman found the UN and an insistence on multilateralism to be a hindrance to American security: WHEN HE delivered the West Point commencement address last month, President Bush compared his efforts to stand up to terrorists to Harry Truman's efforts to stand up to communists during the early years of the Cold War. Liberal pundits were outraged. How dare this Republican cite a sainted Democrat as his inspiration? Commentators such as Peter Beinart, the former New Republic editor, suggested that Bush should instead learn from Truman about the...
Rare But Necessary Bipartisanship
On occasion, a candidate for election demonstrates such poor judgement that both Democrats and Republicans wind up endorsing the same person in the general election. This usually happens in local and state races for legislative or executive positions. In North Carolina, the voters face this unusual situation in the state Supreme Court race after one of the major-party candidates started violating Godwin's Law as if it were the 55-MPH speed limit: The leaders of the state's Democratic and Republican parties have asked voters not to cast ballots for state Supreme Court candidate Rachel Lea Hunter, whose fiery rhetoric in recent weeks has included comparing the actions of a black congressional candidate to that of a slave. "She's unstable and unqualified, and the thought of her serving on the highest court in North Carolina is scary," state Republican party chairman Ferrell Blount said Tuesday. Blount's comments came after Hunter, a former...
June 15, 2006
Jefferson Ousted In Democratic Power Play
Rep. William Jefferson, whose freezer held over $90,000 when the FBI searched it in connection with an ongoing bribery and corruption probe, has lost a vote by the House Democratic Caucus to retain his committee seat on the Ways and Means Committee. The lopsided vote affirmed Nancy Pelosi's influence as caucus leader, but may have caused a bitter racial split among her colleagues: House Democrats, determined to make an election-year point about ethics, voted to strip Rep. William Jefferson of his committee assignment Thursday night while a federal bribery investigation runs its course. Members of the rank and file approved the move after Jefferson refused for weeks to step aside on his own, and despite claims by some members of the Congressional Black Caucus that he was being treated unfairly. Officials said the vote was 99-58. The action must be ratified by the full House, and Jefferson left open the...
June 16, 2006
The Criminalization Of Political Differences
Michael Barone pens a must-read editorial for the Wall Street Journal that reflects on the charged political environment of the past few decades. He remarks on how the media have changed its approach to political coverage and how the political landscape has adapted to it: It has been a tough 10 days for those who see current events through the prisms of Vietnam and Watergate. First, the Democrats failed to win a breakthrough victory in the California 50th District special election--a breakthrough that would have summoned up memories of Democrats winning Gerald Ford's old congressional district in a special election in 1974. Instead the Democratic nominee got 45% of the vote, just 1% more than John Kerry did in the district in 2004. Second, U.S. forces with a precision air strike killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on the same day that Iraqis finished forming a government. Zarqawi will not be available...
McKinney Walks
Rep. Cynthia McKinney will not face charges for her assault on a Capitol Hill police officer in an incident started by her refusal to stop and show identification at a security checkpoint. The Washington Post reports that the grand jury could not find probable cause for an indictment, according to the office of the US Attorney handling the case: A grand jury has declined to indict Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) in an incident at a House office building where she admitting hitting a police officer who tried to stop her from entering after she failed to show identification. The grand jury found "no probable cause" after an "extensive and thorough" investigation, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. "We respect the decision of the grand jury in this difficult matter," U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein said in the release. The grand jury's...
McKinney Walks
Rep. Cynthia McKinney will not face charges for her assault on a Capitol Hill police officer in an incident started by her refusal to stop and show identification at a security checkpoint. The Washington Post reports that the grand jury could not find probable cause for an indictment, according to the office of the US Attorney handling the case: A grand jury has declined to indict Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) in an incident at a House office building where she admitting hitting a police officer who tried to stop her from entering after she failed to show identification. The grand jury found "no probable cause" after an "extensive and thorough" investigation, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. "We respect the decision of the grand jury in this difficult matter," U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein said in the release. The grand jury's...
June 17, 2006
2006 Agenda 2.0
The Democrats have announced their latest version of the electoral agenda for the 2006 midterms, but they selected an unusual news day for its release. Politicians use Friday afternoon to release information that they hope will see little coverage, and in reviewing Agenda 2.0, one can understand why: Their plan, presented at a news conference, included promises to raise the minimum wage, make college tuition tax deductible, eliminate subsidies for oil and gas companies, negotiate lower drug prices for the prescription plan passed last year, increase stem cell research and restore a pay-as-you-go policy for federal budgets. They noted that Congress had not increased the minimum wage, now at $5.15, since 1997, a fact that Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, declared "immoral." Their proposal to raise it to $7.25, they said, would benefit seven million workers. They rejected the argument that such a raise would shrink...
Lieberman: Put National Interest Above Partisan Interest
David Broder's column in tomorrow's Washington Post reviews the conundrum of Joe Lieberman, a leader in a Democratic Party that has largely stopped following him. Lieberman knows why his party, especially the state party, appears poised to throw him under the bus, and he forcefully answers their complaints about the Iraq War: "I think we did the right thing in overthrowing Saddam, and I think we are safer as a result," he continued. "Second, while I have been very critical of the Bush foreign policy before the war and the Rumsfeld-Bush policies in Iraq after Saddam was overthrown, I also made a judgment I would not invoke partisan politics on this war." That was the point of a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece Lieberman wrote last November endorsing the president's announced strategy to defeat the insurgency and establish a democratic government in Iraq. That article infuriated Lamont and launched his...
June 18, 2006
CNN: Democrats Congressional Support Eroding
The efforts of Democratic caucuses in both houses of Congress to set a mid-term election agenda have had a definite effect on their standings with the electorate -- they've eroded them significantly. According to CNN, Democrats have lost seven points and the majority in support for a generic party preference, while Republicans have remained steady: When registered voters polled were asked if they were more or less likely to vote for a candidate Bush supported, 47 percent said they were less likely, while only 27 percent said they were more likely. Twenty percent said it made no difference. The sampling error for the question was plus or minus 4 percentage points. However, the poll showed that Democrats have so far not been able to capitalize on Bush's political difficulties. When voters were asked which party would be their choice for Congress in November, 45 percent said Democrat and 38 percent...
June 21, 2006
Now Kerry Irritates Democrats, Too
For a man who wants to capture his party's nomination for President in less than two years, John Kerry has spent more than his fair share of time putting his putative allies on the spot over the Iraq War. After a number of Democrats tried fashioning a non-binding Senate resolution that would eliminate a specific timetable to avoid the charge of a cut-and-run strategy, Kerry undercut them by simply resubmitting his original proposal with a deadline only six months further out than the last: When Senator John Kerry was their presidential nominee in 2004, Democrats fervently wished he would express himself firmly about the Iraq war. Mr. Kerry has found his resolve. But it has not made his fellow Democrats any happier. They fear the latest evolution of Mr. Kerry's views on Iraq may now complicate their hopes of taking back a majority in Congress in 2006. As the Senate...
June 22, 2006
Kerry Doubles His Support!
John Kerry has managed to double his support for the cut-and-run amendment he offered to the defense authorization bill. He got 13 votes instead of six by extending the deadline for withdrawal from Iraq to July 2007 rather than the end of the year. Roll call to follow shortly ... UPDATE 10:53 CT: Bill Nelson of Florida voted against the Levin resolution, crossing party lines. The so-called "cut and jog" appears headed to defeat as well. Ben Nelson of Nebraska also voted against it -- but of course, Linc Chafee (R-RI) voted to support it. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) also voted against it. So far all of the red-state Democrats appear to be coming out against it. 10:59 - Joe Lieberman voted against the Levin resolution. While that remains consistent with Lieberman's previous support for the war and the long-term strategy -- recall that he alone among his caucus acknowledged the...
June 23, 2006
Navy Missile Intercept Test A Success
The Navy conducted a successful missile test yesterday that has implications for the current standoff with North Korea. The defense system intercepted a medium-range test missile near its apogee after booster separation: A Navy ship intercepted a medium-range missile warhead above the earth's atmosphere off Hawaii in the latest test of the U.S. missile defense program, the military said Thursday. The military had initially scheduled the test for Wednesday but postponed the drill after a small craft ventured into a zone that had been blocked off for the event. The USS Shiloh detected a medium-range target after it was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, then fired a Standard Missile-3 interceptor. The interceptor shot down the target warhead after it separated from its rocket booster, more than 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean and 250 miles northwest of Kauai, the Missile Defense Agency said in a statement....
Barone: Bush Gets Stronger
Has George Bush gained strength through the debate over the war policy in Iraq? Michael Barone writes that the Democrats have profited from bad news in Iraq over the past few months, but now that the war effort has seen a string of victories, Bush can play Republican unity into recovering his political strength. However, Barone rightly surmises that Bush's bad fortunes may have been overplayed from the start: Things are looking up for George W. Bush and maybe for his party. The Democrats failed to win the special election in the 50th Congressional District of California June 6. Abu Musab Zarqawi was killed on June 7. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said he would not seek an indictment of chief Bush adviser Karl Rove on June 12. Bush made a dazzling surprise trip to Baghdad on June 13 and followed up with a confident press conference the next day. The...
June 27, 2006
The Roberts Letter And Its Lack Of Significance
Senator Pat Roberts chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and has a rather large influence on how our intelligence agencies conduct their business. For that reason, the following letter from Roberts to John Negroponte, the Director of National Intelligence, seems rather tepid at best: June 27, 2006 The Honorable John D. Negroponte Director of National Intelligence Washington, D.C. 20511 Dear Mr. Director: Unauthorized disclosures of classified information continue to threaten our national security – exposing our sensitive intelligence sources and methods to our enemies. Numerous, recent unauthorized disclosures of sensitive intelligence programs have directly threatened important efforts in the war against terrorism. Whether the President’s Terrorist Surveillance Program or the Department of Treasury’s effort to track terrorist financing, we have been unable to persuade the media to act responsibly and protect the means by which we protect this nation. To gain a better understanding of the damage caused by...
June 28, 2006
Cannon Wins The Primary
Rep. Chris Cannon beat his Republican primary opponent, John Jacobs, last night in what supposedly was a bellwether race on illegal immigration. Hardliners on border security had targeted Cannon in the primary despite his support for the House border-enforcement bill because he also supported a compromise with the US Senate. His twelve-point victory belies the earlier analysis that Jacobs had pulled even with Cannon: The five-term incumbent defeated political newcomer John Jacob on Tuesday 56 percent to 44 percent — or 32,306 votes to 25,589 votes — with all precincts reporting but an unknown number of absentee ballots to be counted. "This is a big margin of victory. It says a lot about Republicans getting together and solving this problem," he said. ... Last December, Cannon voted for a House bill that would toughen border security, criminalize people who help illegal immigrants and make being in the U.S. without the...
June 29, 2006
Bush Economy Continues To Impress
Although the national media has not covered it in any depth whatsoever, the Bush economy has turned into one of the strongest booms in the last several years. Despite predictions that it had run its course, the opening quarter of this year shows that we continue to expand at a phenomenal rate of 5.6%: The economy sprang out of a year-end rut and zipped ahead in the opening quarter of this year at a 5.6 percent pace, the fastest in 2 1/2 years and even stronger than previously thought. The new snapshot of gross domestic product for the January-to-March period exceeded the 5.3 percent growth rate estimated a month ago, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The upgraded reading — based on more complete information — matched economists' forecasts. The stronger GDP figure mostly reflected an improvement in the country's trade deficit, which was much less of a drag than previously...
June 30, 2006
Obama's Prayer For The Democrats
EJ Dionne takes note of the controversy created by former left-wing hero Barack Obama, who alienated a number of pundits when he scolded Democrats for eschewing religion in their politics. Dionne, whose writings often touch on matters of faith, schools Democrats to pay attention to Obama when he counsels an outreach to the faithful: [T]here is often a terrible awkwardness among Democratic politicians when their talk turns to God, partly because they also know how important secular voters are to their coalition. When it comes to God, it's hard to triangulate. So, when a religious Democrat speaks seriously about the relationship of faith to politics, the understandable temptation is to see him as counting not his blessings but his votes. Thus did the Associated Press headline its early stories about Barack Obama's speech to religious progressives on Wednesday: "Obama: Democrats Must Court Evangelicals." Well, yes, Obama, the senator from Illinois...
July 1, 2006
Ronnie Earle Gets Some Comeuppance
A federal judge issued a little-noticed ruling that spells trouble for Travis County DA Ronnie Earle and his obsession with Tom DeLay. Dryly calling Earle's efforts "innovative", Judge Mike Lynch ruled that political groups broke no state laws against political coordination, one of the keystones of Earle's efforts to indict DeLay (h/t: CQ reader Gregg G): A state district judge dealt a crippling blow Thursday to the nearly four-year prosecution of the Texas Association of Business, throwing out a felony indictment against the state's largest business organization. District Judge Mike Lynch ruled that 2002 pre-election ads produced by the group did not expressly advocate the election or defeat of Texas legislative candidates. Travis County prosecutors had said the group broke state election law by using corporate money to support candidates. Lynch's ruling put in doubt two other similar indictments pending against the organization by also discounting prosecutors' alternative theory that...
Fox Poll Shows Bush Solidifying The Base
A new poll by Fox News shows Bush gaining support, especially from his base, in the wake of the Democrats' attempts to force a withdrawal from Iraq. His overall job approval has held steady at 41%, up from the low 30s before the retreat/withdrawal/redeployment strategies of the Democrats took center stage. The good news for the White House does not end there: President Bush’s job rating is holding ground as 41 percent of Americans say they approve of his performance and 50 percent disapprove. Earlier this month, soon after terrorist leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi was killed by a U.S. airstrike, Bush hit 40 percent for the first time in months. His current approval rating is 8 percentage points higher than his record low of 33 percent earlier this year (April 18-19). The partisan divide is evident throughout many of the poll results, including the president’s job rating: most Republicans (79...
July 2, 2006
Maryland Primary Has Democrats Split On Race
The Washington Post reports that the Maryland race to replace the retiring Paul Sarbanes has split the Democratic Party on race. Referring to the candidates' "ethnicity", the Post's new poll shows that Kweisi Mfume and Benjamin Cardin have polarized Maryland's Democratic base: Former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume leads U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin in what is shaping up to be a racially polarized Democratic Senate primary in Maryland, even as roughly a third of the electorate has not settled on a candidate, according to a new Washington Post poll. For the first time in Maryland history, both major parties have the potential to nominate an African American, and the poll suggests that the hopes of all of the major candidates will depend on their ability to cross racial boundaries for support. As they stand, the racial divisions are stark: In the primary, Mfume, who is black, gets 72 percent of...
Congress Will Override Supreme Court On Tribunals
Congress appears ready to overrule the Supreme Court and establish military tribunals for detainess in the war on terror, allowing for the most efficient process possible to determine the culpability of terrorists captured in the act. Senators from both parties have determined that the Supreme Court has forced them to act to keep al-Qaeda operatives from exploiting the civil court system: The US Congress is ready to craft legislation to prosecute Guantanamo war-on-terror prisoners after the government's plan for military trials was rejected by the Supreme Court, top senators said. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told the Fox News Sunday television program that Congress could conceivably pass a new law allowing the government to try the prisoners by military commissions by September. ... Democratic Senator Jack Reed told Fox News that the minority Democrats are likely to cooperate with Republicans and the White House to pass the legislation enabling detainee trials....
July 3, 2006
Lieberman Starts His Independent Bid (Updated)
Senator Joe Lieberman has begun his preparations for re-election as an independent, in case Ned Lamont beats him in the primary. The Hartford Courant reports that Lieberman announced his intention to collect signatures ahead of the August 8th primary, a necessary step given Connecticut's August 9th deadline for submissions: Lieberman, 64, a three-term senator whose outspoken support of the war in Iraq has brought months of grief and inspired a strong primary challenge from Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont, announced his decision this afternoon at a brief press conference at the State Capitol. "I've been a proud, loyal and progressive Democrat since John F. Kennedy inspired my generation of Americans into public service and I will stay a Democrat, whether I am the Democraitic party's nominee or a petitioning Democratic candidate on the November ballot," Lieberman said. He added that he would, even if re-elected as a petitioning candidate, remain a...
July 4, 2006
Whither Lieberman In The Caucus?
Tom Maguire at Just One Minute picked up the same news report as I did on Joe Lieberman's decision to run as an independent. The anger from the Democratic base has pushed him into making that decision by giving their support to Ned Lamont, supposedly for being outside the mainstream of Democrats, especially on the war. However, Tom points to the Poole analyses for the past three sessions of Congress -- and the Democratic base seems somewhat misinformed. In the 109th Congress, for instance, Lieberman's position finds him the 17th most conservative Democrat out of a caucus of 44 -- hardly an extremist among Senators. Lieberman occupies the 16th most conservative slot in his caucus in the 108th Congress. In the 107th, Lieberman came in at almost the dead center, at #20. Joe Biden and Joe Lieberman have almost identical scores in the last two sessions, and Harry Reid has...
Whither Lieberman In The Caucus?
Tom Maguire at Just One Minute picked up the same news report as I did on Joe Lieberman's decision to run as an independent. The anger from the Democratic base has pushed him into making that decision by giving their support to Ned Lamont, supposedly for being outside the mainstream of Democrats, especially on the war. However, Tom points to the Poole analyses for the past three sessions of Congress -- and the Democratic base seems somewhat misinformed. In the 109th Congress, for instance, Lieberman's position finds him the 17th most conservative Democrat out of a caucus of 44 -- hardly an extremist among Senators. Lieberman occupies the 16th most conservative slot in his caucus in the 108th Congress. In the 107th, Lieberman came in at almost the dead center, at #20. Joe Biden and Joe Lieberman have almost identical scores in the last two sessions, and Harry Reid has...
A Parade Of Celebration
We just returned from the annual Independence Day Parade here in Eagan, and we had a wonderful time with our daughter-in-law's family, who have a tradition of serving brunch before the parade. We had the perfect day for a parade -- sunny but not too hot, a cool breeze, and a spot in the shade. The FM had to use her wheelchair to get to the spot on the route as she is still on oxygen. and I needed a folding chair because my back can't take sitting on the ground, but other than that, it was a fine traditional celebration of our independence. The festivities started with Old Glory (click on images to enlarge): It had real heroes on display. Here we have our local fire department: And although you can't see him in this picture, we have Jared Swyter, a returning soldier from Iraq, who was adopted by...
July 5, 2006
Lieberman Gets A Little Help From His Friends
What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me? Just as Ringo Starr got by with a little help from his friends, so Joe Lieberman hopes to do with a big assist from key members of his caucus. Some heavy hitters on the Left will come to Connecticut to rally support for Lieberman in the primary: Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware, Barbara Boxer of California and Ken Salazar of Colorado plan to campaign in Connecticut for Lieberman between now and the Aug. 8 primary. Their goal is to reassure the party faithful of the three-term senator's loyalty to Democratic causes, including women's issues, labor and the environment. "It will be a reminder to voters of the work he's done on progressive issues," Lieberman spokeswoman Marion Steinfels said Wednesday. "Some of his colleagues wanted to come here and campaign for him...
Cindy Sheehan: I'd Rather Live Under Hugo Chavez Than George Bush
Cindy Sheehan continues to embarrass all of the politicians who hitched their wagons to her star when she spent last summer haranguing George Bush for a second meeting with him to protest her son's death in Iraq. When she restricted herself strictly to bashing Bush on the war, the Democrats loved her, turning her into a national celebrity. However, when she used that attention into a platform for a radical leftist agenda, the same politicians who feted her suddenly caught a case of collective amnesia. And for good reason, as it turns out. Her latest foolish and embarrassing stunt came today when she embraced Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez and declared that she would rather live under his rule than that of the duly elected President of her native country. That wasn't all she had to say, either: O'Donnell: Would you rather live under Hugo Chavez than President George Bush? Sheehan:...
Cindy Sheehan: I'd Rather Live Under Hugo Chavez Than George Bush
Cindy Sheehan continues to embarrass all of the politicians who hitched their wagons to her star when she spent last summer haranguing George Bush for a second meeting with him to protest her son's death in Iraq. When she restricted herself strictly to bashing Bush on the war, the Democrats loved her, turning her into a national celebrity. However, when she used that attention into a platform for a radical leftist agenda, the same politicians who feted her suddenly caught a case of collective amnesia. And for good reason, as it turns out. Her latest foolish and embarrassing stunt came today when she embraced Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez and declared that she would rather live under his rule than that of the duly elected President of her native country. That wasn't all she had to say, either: O'Donnell: Would you rather live under Hugo Chavez than President George Bush? Sheehan:...
July 6, 2006
Governator Will Be Back?
Supposedly written off after a disastrous special election torpedoed his referendums, Arnold Schwarzenegger appears ready to utter his famous movie line to Californians this November. New polling shows that the Governator has moved out of a virtual tie with Democratic challenger Phil Angelides to a seven-point lead, all of which came from undecided voters: The former movie star moved further ahead of State Treasurer Phil Angelides -- who won the Democratic nomination for governor in March -- with a 44 percent to 37 percent lead in the Survey and Policy Research Institute's June 26-30 poll. That was up from a 40 percent to 37 percent margin in March. The survey attributed Schwarzenegger's surge to his decision to send California national guard troops to the Mexican border in the fight against illegal immigrants, as well as the adoption of a compromise state budget. Initially, Schwarzenegger had captured the imagination of Californians...
Larry King-George Bush Liveblog
8:00 CT - Liveblogging the interview. King starts off by getting Bush to admit that turning 60 is "traumatic". 8:01 - North Korea. Bush knew the missiles were "teed up", but says that seven launches took him by surprise. Says he's talked to the other parties in the multilateral talks and they all agree that a strong response is needed. 8:03 - Bush says no to bilateral talks: "We tried that before and it didn't work." He insists on the multilateral approach. Bush tells King that the US has taken the lead, and this is why the multilateral talks have existed at all. 8:05 - Laura Bush scores a couple of points by telling King that they spent the time watching the shuttle launch instead of Kim's fireworks. 8:06 - King asked Bush if Iraq was a diplomatic failure. Classic Bush response: "Well, yeah, after seventeen failed UN resolutions." He...
July 8, 2006
Kudlow Overplays A Winning Hand
Larry Kudlow takes issue with the media for underreporting and distorting the Bush administration's record on the economy in his Townhall column today. Kudlow has an excellent point, as media outleys have all but ignored the Bush economic engine and the tax cuts that fuelled it. Unfortunately, Kudlow distorts it himself in an attempt to gild the lily: Did you know that just over the past 11 quarters, dating back to the June 2003 Bush tax cuts, America has increased the size of its entire economy by 20 percent? In less than three years, the U.S. economic pie has expanded by $2.2 trillion, an output add-on that is roughly the same size as the total Chinese economy, and much larger than the total economic size of nations like India, Mexico, Ireland and Belgium. This is an extraordinary fact, although you may be reading it here first. Most in the mainstream...
July 9, 2006
Presidential Pardons And Presidential Connections
Another of Bill Clinton's presidential pardons has been shown to have financial connections to the Clinton family. The Washington Times reports that Anthony Rodham, Hillary Clinton's brother, got six-figure "loans" on which he never made payments from a company whose owners got pardoned for bank fraud: Anthony D. Rodham, one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's two brothers, got the loans from United Shows of America Inc. after its owners obtained the presidential pardon in March 2000 over the objections of the Justice Department. Michael E. Collins, trustee for United Shows, filed papers in Alexandria bankruptcy court seeking the return of $107,000 plus $46,034 in interest from Mr. Rodham, 51, for the loans he received from the carnival company, which went bankrupt in 2002. Mr. Rodham "received the benefit of the loans without making any repayment," reads a related document filed last year in bankruptcy court in Nashville, Tenn. ... According...
This Race Brought To You By Texas Democrats
Thanks to an ill-considered lawsuit by Texas Democrats, Tom DeLay may wind up running for office to regain the seat he just resigned in Congress: A source close to the ex-Congressman tells TIME that DeLay is planning an aggressive campaign to retake the House seat he quit in June if an appeals court lets stand a ruling by a federal judge last week that his name must stay on November's ballot—even though he has moved to Virginia. "If it isn't overturned, Katy bar the door!" says a G.O.P. official. "Guess he'll have to fire up the engines on the campaign and let 'er rip." The Democrats sued to keep DeLay's name on the Texas ballot after his resignation, reversing the stance they took with Frank Lautenberg after Robert Torricelli had to resign for ethics violations. Back then, in 2002, the Democrats sued to get Torricelli's name off the ballot, claiming...
July 10, 2006
Judge: Jefferson Raid Completely Legal
The FBI raid on William Jefferson's Congressional offices did not violate the law, a federal judge has ruled, and denied an effort by Congress to force the FBI to return materials that they had subpoenaed earlier. Judge Thomas Hogan rejected arguments that such efforts constituted an offense against the balance of power and accused Congress of trying to turn Capitol Hill into a "sanctuary": Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan said members of Congress are not above the law. He rejected requests from lawmakers and Democratic Rep. William Jefferson to return material seized by the FBI in a May 20-21 search of Jefferson's office. In a 28-page opinion, Hogan dismissed arguments that the first-ever raid on a congressman's office violated the Constitution's protections against intimidation of elected officials. Jefferson's theory of legislative privilege "would have the effect of converting every congressional office into a taxpayer-subsidized sanctuary for crime," the...
Le Parti, C'est Moi, or It's My Party And I Can Cry If I Want To
I've made a point of defending Joe Lieberman's efforts to stand against the folly of the netroots in Connecticut, but he went a little far out on the limb today. When he filed papers to allow him to run as an independent, Lieberman made a rather silly mistake by creating his own political party in doing so: Lieberman also filed papers with the secretary of the state's office Monday to create a new party called Connecticut for Lieberman. Marion Steinfels, Lieberman's campaign spokeswoman, said the 25 people who signed on to help Lieberman form the Connecticut for Lieberman party will oversee the petition drive. ... Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said Lieberman will be able to secure a higher position on the November ballot by creating a new party rather than petitioning his way on as an individual. Bysiewicz said Lieberman would be fifth on the ballot under the...
July 11, 2006
GOP Heading For Schism? How About The Democrats?
EJ Dionne looks past the midterms to the next presidential cycle, and sees trouble ahead for the GOP. In his latest column, Dionne predicts that Republicans will find themselves foundering on the future direction of the party, a debate that Dionne says the GOP has mostly avoided since 1994: As it looks beyond the elections of 2006, a Republican Party known for ideological solidarity is on the cusp of a far more searching philosophical battle than are the Democrats, historically accustomed to bruising fights over the finer points of political theory. The coming Republican brawl reflects the fact that President Bush will leave office with no obvious heir, and Bushism as a political philosophy has yet to establish itself in the way that Reaganism did. Moreover, the four top candidates in most polls for the GOP's 2008 presidential nomination -- Sen. John McCain, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, Gov....
A Bush Comeback
Gallup reports that approval ratings for George Bush have staged a strong rally over the last nine weeks. In early May, Bush had only a 31% approval rating and a 65% disapproval rating. Now, however, his approval rating has reached 40% for the first time since February: President George W. Bush's job approval rating has edged up slightly higher in Gallup's latest poll, and is now at 40% for the first since early February. The July 6-9 poll finds 40% of Americans approving and 55% disapproving of the job Bush is doing as president. After averaging 42% approval in January and early February, Bush's ratings began to decline in mid-February, ultimately dropping to his administration's low point of 31% in early May. Since that time, Bush's approval ratings have shown a slow, gradual improvement. It sounds like a grudging admission from Gallup. Gaining nine points in as many weeks while...
Novak: I Got Plame's Name From Who's Who
(Well, okay -- one last post. -- CE) Robert Novak has finally spoken out on his involvement in the investigation on the Valerie Plame leak case. In tomorrow's column, Novak explains that Plame's name came from a reference book, and that he used his contacts in the administration merely for passive confirmation. The Drudge Report saw the text, and printed excerpts (via Stop the ACLU): BOB NOVAK, My Leak Case Testimony: ‘I learned Valerie Plame’s name from Joe Wilson’s entry in ‘Who’s Who in America’… MORE Published reports that I took the Fifth Amendment, made a plea bargain with the prosecutors or was a prosecutorial target were all untrue… MORE… My primary source has not come forward to identify himself… Bill Harlow, the CIA public information officer who was my CIA source for the column confirming Mrs. Wilson’s identity. I learned Valerie Plame’s name from Joe Wilson’s entry in ‘Who’s...
July 12, 2006
Pelosi Losing Grip On Caucus?
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has dreams of becoming the first woman to wield the Speaker's gavel if the Democrats can take control of the House in the mid-term elections. However, according to Roll Call, the Democratic caucus has increasingly lost interest in her, with participation in caucus meetings dropping below 25%: With attendance typically struggling to crack the 50-Member mark, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) is cracking the whip, demanding that her fellow Democrats attend three “crucial” Caucus meetings between now and the August recess — an order supplemented by a fellow leader’s hint that failure to cooperate could be detrimental to Members’ futures. In a “Dear Colleague” letter sent early Tuesday afternoon, Pelosi told Members that attendance will be taken at the weekly hour-long sessions this morning and each of the next two Wednesdays, with Democrats using the sessions to discuss their “New Direction” agenda. “These crucial...
Misdirected Outrage At A Democratic Mistake
A lot of people have found themselves offended by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's latest advertisement. The DCCC uses a brief shot of flag-draped coffins of dead American servicemen to argue that the country has "taken a turn for the worse." Some object to this as crass exploitation, calling it "disgusting", among other epithets. The DCCC certainly invites criticism with its use of that imagery, but we should be careful with our moral outrage. The Democrats have every right to campaign on a belief that the Iraq War has failed, all evidence to the contrary. Part of that argument involves the loss of American life, and like it or not, that is certainly a rational basis on which to argue the war's value. My objection to this does not come so much from their use of the imagery, but from their inability to provide a coherent argument about how to...
July 13, 2006
Anti-Missile Test 'Phenomenal'
The Army had a "phenomenal" success in the latest test of the American anti-ballistic missile defense system. Jason Gibbs reports for the Las Cruces Sun-News that a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile intercepted and destroyed a warhead and its contents: Hundreds of miles above southern New Mexico, it was a picture-perfect impact between two missiles. ... The pre-dawn art show was the result of the third of five tests planned at White Sands Missile Range to determine the effectiveness of THAAD — Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile. And military officials said the test went better than they could have hoped. "This was phenomenal," said U.S. Army Col. Charles Driessnack, the project manager for the Missile Defense Agency's THAAD program. "It performed as expected." The test demonstrated the THAAD's ability to "completely destroy that warhead so that no chemical or nuclear residue would contaminate areas" below the explosion,...
Bush Agrees To FISA Oversight On NSA Program
Senator Arlen Specter says that the White House will support a bill that allows the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to rule on the constitutionality of the Terrorist Surveillance Program. The bill makes the submission to the FISA judges voluntary, and Bush agreed to approve the legislation and submit the program as long as it remains voluntary: The White House has conditionally agreed to a court review of its controversial eavesdropping program, Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter said Thursday. Specter said President Bush has agreed to sign legislation that would authorize the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to review the constitutionality of the National Security Agency's most high-profile monitoring operations. ... Specter said the legislation, which has not yet been made public, was the result of "tortuous" negotiations with the White House since June. "If the bill is not changed, the president will submit the Terrorist Surveillance Program to the Foreign...
Attention, Perjury Fans!
Valerie Wilson. née Valerie Plame, has filed a lawsuit against Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and a cast of thousands for conspiring to ruin her career. The former CIA analyst who arranged for her husband to investigate claims that Saddam Hussein had tried to purchase uranium, and who subsequently leaked misleading information about his findings, wants monetary damage for her career losses: The CIA officer whose identity was leaked to reporters sued Vice President Dick Cheney, his former top aide and presidential adviser Karl Rove on Thursday, accusing them and other White House officials of conspiring to destroy her career. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Valerie Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador, accused Cheney, Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby of revealing Plame's CIA identity in seeking revenge against Wilson for criticizing the Bush administration's motives in Iraq. ... The lawsuit accuses Cheney, Libby,...
Taking A Stroll Through The Garden Of Half-Truths
I've had a chance to review the lawsuit filed on behalf of Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson, and it has an amusing take on reality that I heartily recommend to all interested parties. Quite frankly, the defense will have a delightful time if this ever gets to court. This is one of those moments when one wonders what color the sky is in another's world. We can start on page 6 of the PDF file, where the plaintiffs lay out the facts of the case. Paragraph 18b starts us off down the primrose path (emphases mine): On May 6, 2003, the New York Times published a column by Nicholas Kristof which disputed the accuracy of the "sixteen words" in the State of the Union address. The column reported that, following a request from the Vice President's office for an investigation of allegations that Iraq sought to buy uranium from Niger,...
July 14, 2006
Super-Size Fasting
Michelle Malkin has decided to join in Cindy Sheehan's "rolling fast". How's it working out? Morgan Spurlock could make a documentary. Michelle is a riot in this edition of The Vent. Enjoy -- and be sure to have your ice-cream floats handy....
Talk About A Bad Draw!
Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame have run into a bit of bad luck in their lawsuit against Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, and ten random Republicans. CQ reader Denis K took a peek at the complaint and noticed something that I had missed earlier -- the judge assigned to the case. Wilson and Plame drew Judge John D. Bates -- and a quick glance at his rulings will no doubt have the Left fuming. For instance, Judge Bates ruled in January 2005 that Michael Newdow would suffer no harm if the President said a prayer at his inauguration. Newdow, most known for using his (non-custodial) child as a means to attack the Pledge of Allegiance, lost his bid to enact a prior restraint on the President's speech at his own inauguration simply because Newdow planned to attend. If that doesn't get the Democratic Underground in a fury, they may...
July 15, 2006
So Much For The DCCC Advertisement
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee finally withdrew the advertisement they released last week after a hailstorm of criticism that wound up including at least two of the candidates the DCCC intended to help. DCCC chair Rahm Emanuel had defended the use of flag-draped military coffins as a political argument, but the argument failed to overcome the criticism: Democrats pulled an Internet ad that showed flag-draped coffins Friday after Republicans and at least two Democrats demanded it be taken down on grounds the image was insensitive and not fit for a political commercial. The ad by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called for a "new direction" and displayed a staccato of images, including war scenes, pollution and breached levees as well as a photograph of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay doctored to look like a police mug shot. ... Democrats had featured the video ad for nearly two weeks on...
July 16, 2006
Chatting With Mark And Michelle
Yesterday turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year here in Minnesota, with temperatures hitting 99 degrees and enough humidity to make it feel like the world's biggest sauna. Of course, that didn't stop our radio station, AM 1280 The Patriot, from having its Patriot Picnic, a listener-appreciation day with free food and live radio broadcasts by the Northern Alliance Radio Network. Since I'm still recovering from my back surgery, my son drove me to the picnic and I brought a special folding chair to keep me comfortable for my two-hour appearance. You can hear it for yourselves at Townhall's podcasts. I felt fortunate to be there, because we had an opportunity to interview Mark Kennedy, the MN-06 Congressman running for Mark Dayton's open Senate seat this November. We kept Mark for the entire first hour, and if you've never heard Mark in a live interview,...
July 17, 2006
Democrats Go Underground For Think-Tank Funding
The Internet Age and the rise of the blogosphere has forced a new openness in governance. The open-source communication method routinely strips secrecy and renders political processes transparent, and across the political spectrum, has demanded honesty and full disclosure from political operations. However, the Washington Post reports that Democratic efforts to establish leftist think tanks require secrecy in their funding, and moderate Democrats have started to object: An alliance of nearly a hundred of the nation's wealthiest donors is roiling Democratic political circles, directing more than $50 million in the past nine months to liberal think tanks and advocacy groups in what organizers say is the first installment of a long-term campaign to compete more aggressively against conservatives. A year after its founding, Democracy Alliance has followed up on its pledge to become a major power in the liberal movement. It has lavished millions on groups that have been willing...
July 19, 2006
McKinney Stumbles Into Runoff
Cynthia McKinney got a slap in the face from her constituents yesterday, failing to garner the 50% needed to avoid a primary runoff after political neophyte Hank Johnson fought his way to a virtual tie with the incumbent in yesterday's primaries. McKinney vowed to win the runoff on August 8th, but the majority of the vote in the three-way race appears to oppose her return to Congress: U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney is headed to a runoff against a relatively unknown challenger in a Democratic primary she was expected to win with ease. The controversial 4th District incumbent, accused of striking a Capitol Hill police officer last March, narrowly led former DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson. ... Recognizing his daughter’s polarizing effect, former state representative Billy McKinney on Tuesday night discounted Johnson’s showing in the primary. “There’s a love and hate of Cynthia McKinney,” he said. “Mickey Mouse would get a...
McKinney Stumbles Into Runoff
Cynthia McKinney got a slap in the face from her constituents yesterday, failing to garner the 50% needed to avoid a primary runoff after political neophyte Hank Johnson fought his way to a virtual tie with the incumbent in yesterday's primaries. McKinney vowed to win the runoff on August 8th, but the majority of the vote in the three-way race appears to oppose her return to Congress: U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney is headed to a runoff against a relatively unknown challenger in a Democratic primary she was expected to win with ease. The controversial 4th District incumbent, accused of striking a Capitol Hill police officer last March, narrowly led former DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson. ... Recognizing his daughter’s polarizing effect, former state representative Billy McKinney on Tuesday night discounted Johnson’s showing in the primary. “There’s a love and hate of Cynthia McKinney,” he said. “Mickey Mouse would get a...
Bush Casts First Veto On Embryonic Stem-Cell Funding
George Bush waited 2,006 days to cast the first veto of his presidency, and it comes on an issue for which he has threatened a veto for at least 2006 days. As Congress considered a bill authorizing federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, Bush warned that he would not allow it to become law, and he made good on that promise this afternoon: President Bush today used the first veto of his presidency to stop legislation that would have lifted restrictions on federally funded human embryonic stem cell research. "This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others," Bush, speaking at the White House, said after he followed through on his promise to veto the bill. "It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect. So I vetoed it." ... The Senate voted 63 to 37 yesterday...
Will Israel Rescue Joe Lieberman?
The ongoing battle in Connecticut's primary has taken a back seat to the war erupting between Israel and Hezbollah. However, the conflict may have its own impact on the Ned Lamont - Joe Lieberman race, as the AP reports, while the New York Times notes that Lamont has struggled to find more issues than just the war to attract voters: Pro-Israel groups, afraid of losing one of their staunchest supporters in Congress, are pouring money into beleaguered Sen. Joe Lieberman's campaign as he tries to fend off a tougher-than-expected primary challenge. ... Pro-Israel political action committees have donated to the Connecticut senator's campaign and have urged their national membership to give generously now and later, if Lieberman is forced to run as an unaffiliated candidate. "Joe Lieberman, without exception, no conditions ... is the No. 1 pro-Israel advocate and leader in Congress," said Mark Vogel, chairman of the National Action...
Check The Temperature In Hades
George Bush will finally make an appearance at the NAACP national convention Thursday evening, after five years of snubs by the White House: After six years in office, President Bush has agreed to address the NAACP at its annual national convention in Washington, the White House announced yesterday. ... With the appearance, Bush will avoid becoming the first president since Warren G. Harding to snub the predominantly black organization throughout his term. The president's change of heart followed a change in the NAACP's leadership. Bruce Gordon, the new president, is a former telecommunications executive who is more moderate than his predecessors. "Yes, they have political disagreements," Snow said, but "Bruce Gordon . . . and the president have good relations." So why now? The civil-rights organization has been anything but civil to Bush. He addressed the national convention before being elected to the presidency, but the NAACP repaid him by...
July 20, 2006
Clinton Wears Out His Welcome
Remember the fanfare when Bill Clinton decided to house his offices in Harlem after the end of his presidency? The community turned out in droves to welcome the man that some called "the first black President," declaring that his decision to lease offices in the area would spark an economic resurgence. His decision and the $354,000 lease created headlines for weeks. Today, that decision has created different headlines. His formerly enthusiastic neighbors now blame him for the increasing gentrification of Harlem, raising rents and displacing the disadvantaged: Harlem residents gathered outside President Clinton's office yesterday to protest against the former president as a symbol of Harlem's gentrification and the displacement of its residents. The Harlem Tenants Council hosted the protest at 125th Street between Lenox and Park avenues that was attended by about 40 mostly elderly, African-American residents of the area. A HTC co-founder, Nellie Bailey, said the primary goal...
Clinton Wears Out His Welcome
Remember the fanfare when Bill Clinton decided to house his offices in Harlem after the end of his presidency? The community turned out in droves to welcome the man that some called "the first black President," declaring that his decision to lease offices in the area would spark an economic resurgence. His decision and the $354,000 lease created headlines for weeks. Today, that decision has created different headlines. His formerly enthusiastic neighbors now blame him for the increasing gentrification of Harlem, raising rents and displacing the disadvantaged: Harlem residents gathered outside President Clinton's office yesterday to protest against the former president as a symbol of Harlem's gentrification and the displacement of its residents. The Harlem Tenants Council hosted the protest at 125th Street between Lenox and Park avenues that was attended by about 40 mostly elderly, African-American residents of the area. A HTC co-founder, Nellie Bailey, said the primary goal...
Lieberman Slides Into Second
Joe-Mentum apears to have failed the former Democratic VP candidate in his upcoming primary. Ned Lamont has cruised into the lead despite worries over his single-issue campaign according to a new Quinnipiac poll, 51-47: Anti-war Connecticut U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont has surged to a razor-thin 51 - 47 percent lead over incumbent Sen. Joseph Lieberman among likely Democratic primary voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. This compares to a 55 - 40 percent lead for Sen. Lieberman among likely Democratic primary voters in a June 8 poll by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. ... "Lamont has turned what looked like a blowout into a very close Democratic primary race," said Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D. "Lamont is up, while Lieberman's Democratic support is dropping. More Democrats have a favorable opinion of Lamont, who was largely unknown last month, and see him as an acceptable...
Voinovich Has Another Mood Swing
Senator George Voinovich single-handedly derailed the confirmation of John Bolton to the post of UN ambassador, at one point crying on the floor of the Senate about the effect of Bolton's brand of diplomacy on his grandchildren. Grampa must have finally discovered that Bolton has no intentions of blowing up the world, and now very belatedly casts his support for Bolton's nomination: My observations are that while Bolton is not perfect, he has demonstrated his ability, especially in recent months, to work with others and follow the president's lead by working multilaterally. In recent weeks I have watched him react to the challenges involving North Korea, Iran and now the Middle East, speaking on behalf of the United States. I believe Bolton has been tempered and focused on speaking for the administration. He has referred regularly to "my instructions" from Washington, while also displaying his own clear and strong grasp...
July 21, 2006
Bill Clinton Has Lieberman's Back
No one should experience any shock over Bill Clinton's efforts to bolster the Democratic Leadership Council, the centrist caucus in the party, nor his campaigning for one of its founders. Yesterday's announcement that Bill Clinton would publicly support Joe Lieberman should have been a foregone conclusion: Former President Bill Clinton is slated to campaign on behalf of the three-term incumbent Monday in Waterbury, Lieberman's campaign spokeswoman said today. ... Clinton and Lieberman have known each other since Clinton worked on Lieberman's first campaign for state Senate in 1970, when Clinton attended Yale University in New Haven ... Clinton, in a recent speech at the Aspen Institute conference, defended Lieberman and his staunch support for the war in Iraq. He questioned why antiwar Democrats are seeking to oust a fellow Democrat, saying that instead of seeking to retire Republicans they were pursuing "the nuttiest strategy I ever heard in my life."...
A Change Of Implant
I spent an hour this afternoon in the company of one of the most interesting men in American politics: Karl Rove. He came to Minnesota to attend fundraisers for Michele Bachmann and Mark Kennedy and to meet with state Republican Party leaders to consult on the ongoing efforts. The White House called earlier this week to arrange a meeting with bloggers, and several of us managed to squeeze this unique opportunity into our busy schedules: Michael from Minnesota Democrats Exposed, Andy from Residual Forces, and Gary from Kennedy vs The Machine. Rove had just come from the Bachmann luncheon, where they raised $50,000 for her campaign. The Kennedy event comes later tonight. He mentioned how impressed he was with Michele and her family. She and her husband have managed professional careers and five children -- yet made time to provide a home for 23 foster children. He felt that both...
July 22, 2006
Bolton Redux
The surprise reversal of Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) on John Bolton's performance at the UN prompted the White House to resubmit his nomination to the Senate for confirmation. With all of the trouble occurring in the Middle East and the ongoing failure of the UN to seriously reform itself, one would normally expect the Democrats to avoid the obvious political trap of obstructionism and allow the Senate to quietly confirm Bolton. However, Joe Biden has never let common sense dictate his actions, and he appears poised to snatch defeat from the jaws of apathy: Senate Republicans on Friday set a date for a confirmation hearing on John R. Bolton, who is serving as United States ambassador to the United Nations on a presidential appointment, as the White House renewed its effort to secure Senate approval of Mr. Bolton’s appointment. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced that it would hold a...
July 23, 2006
Many Ways Of Saying 'No'
The veto record of George Bush -- an extraordinarily short one -- gets analyzed in the New York Times today, which points out that Bush has not vetoed bills before because he had little cause to do so. Instead, the Times focuses on the rather nuanced manner in which Bush has managed to avoid vetoing legislation from a Congress completely controlled by his own party: Franklin Delano Roosevelt rejected or failed to sign 635 bills during his 12 years in office, using his veto power to keep Congress — run by his fellow Democrats — subservient. Harry S. Truman vetoed 250 bills; Dwight D. Eisenhower, 181. Bill Clinton used one of 37 vetoes to reject a law banning a particular type of abortion. But until last week, when President Bush vetoed a bill to expand federally supported embryonic stem cell research, the incumbent president — a man who has taken...
ACLU To Fred Phelps' Rescue
We have yet another reason to despise the American Civil Liberties Union. They have decided to act on behalf of the "Reverend" Fred Phelps and his gang of gay-baiting haters, claiming that a Missouri law that bans picketers at military funerals violates their right to free speech: A Kansas church group that protests at military funerals nationwide filed suit in federal court, saying a Missouri law banning such picketing infringes on religious freedom and free speech. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit Friday in the U.S. District Court in Jefferson City, Mo., on behalf of the fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church, which has outraged mourning communities by picketing service members' funerals with signs condemning homosexuality. ... The law bans picketing and protests "in front of or about" any location where a funeral is held, from an hour before it begins until an hour after it ends. Offenders can face...
Not Learning To Quit While Behind
Dennis Hastert still hasn't learned when to quit. The House speaker told Fox News Sunday that he may appeal an order by a federal judge that allows the FBI to begin a review of records seized through a search warrant from Rep. William Jefferson's office: House Speaker Dennis Hastert said Sunday he may challenge a judge's order allowing FBI agents to examine documents seized at a Louisiana congressman's Capitol Hill office in a bribery probe. Hastert said he believed Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., was "in big trouble" and that the House would not be joining in support of Jefferson himself. But he said the House separately might seek to make clear its position that the Justice Department cannot randomly and wantonly search lawmakers' offices. "The gentleman from Louisiana is in big trouble, as far as I'm concerned. And we're not trying to protect him," said Hastert, R-Ill. "But there has...
July 24, 2006
New, Improved John Kerry -- Now With Even Less Substance!
John Kerry's long battle with incoherence continues today, as the Detroit News reports. Kerry, trying to resurrect his presidential hopes, attacked George Bush for the war yesterday -- but this time he griped about the war in Lebanon, claiming it never would have happened had Kerry won the election: U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D- Mass., who was in town Sunday to help Gov. Jennifer Granholm campaign for her re-election bid, took time to take a jab at the Bush administration for its lack of leadership in the Israeli-Lebanon conflict. "If I was president, this wouldn't have happened," said Kerry during a noon stop at Honest John's bar and grill in Detroit's Cass Corridor. Bush has been so concentrated on the war in Iraq that other Middle East tension arose as a result, he said. "The president has been so absent on diplomacy when it comes to issues affecting the Middle...
Playing Dress-Up In Chicago With Radical Nostalgists
In what could literally become a blast from the past, the reorganized Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) will hold a national convention next month in Chicago. The meeting comes 37 years after the original SDS radicals created havoc on the streets of the city, especially their militant wing, The Weathermen: Students for a Democratic Society, the "New Left" organization whose numbers swelled on college campuses in the 1960s, has resurrected itself and is planning its first national convention in 37 years. Next week, on August 4-7, the reconstituted group returns to Chicago, the same city where SDS had its headquarters and where rioting erupted at the 1968 Democratic Party convention. "We're attempting to have a convention that is unifying, to heal the wounds of the last convention," an SDS New York regional coordinator, Thomas Good, 48, said. "Our radical ideas include health care for everyone and stopping torture as...
Specter Defends Himself -- Poorly
Senator Arlen Specter tried to convince people that his new FISA compromise bill with the White House amounts to, well, a compromise, instead of the surrender that it obviously is. Specter finds himself stuck between an unconstitutional incursion on wartime powers, and a program he calls a "festering sore" even as he guarantees its continuance: President Bush's electronic surveillance program has been a festering sore on our body politic since it was publicly disclosed last December. Civil libertarians, myself included, have insisted that the program must be subject to judicial review to ensure compliance with the Fourth Amendment. The president has insisted that he was acting lawfully within his constitutional responsibilities. On its face, the program seems contrary to the plain text of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which regulates domestic national security wiretapping. The president argues, however, that his inherent constitutional powers supersede the statute. Without knowing...
Why The Chickenhawk Slur Makes No Sense
Jeff Jacoby puts an end to the "chickenhawk" slur in today's Boston Globe. He points out that, if the people who fling the insult actually believed what they say, they would have to abdicate on decisions regarding peace as well as war: You hear a fair amount of that from the antiwar crowd if, like me, you support a war but have never seen combat yourself. That makes you a ``chicken hawk" -- one of those, as Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, defending John Kerry from his critics, put it during the 2004 presidential campaign, who ``shriek like a hawk, but have the backbone of a chicken." Kerry himself often played that card. ``I'd like to know what it is Republicans who didn't serve in Vietnam have against those of us who did," he would sniff, casting himself as the victim of unmanly hypocrites who never wore the uniform,...
Tennessee's Ford Dynasty Transforms Into An Edsel
With Bill Frist retiring from the Senate after this year, the open seat allows Democrats an opportunity to close the gap on the GOP. The Tennessee Democrats have turned to Rep. Harold Ford Jr, who has held TN-09 for five terms following the eleven his father served in the same seat. The Democrats had to believe that Ford was the right man at the right time -- popular, strong political connections, charismatic, and an unabashed moderate. According to the latest data at Rasmussen, which has not been released as an article, the Democrats appear to have made a mistake. Ford not only has not captured the imagination of the Volunteer State, right now polls show him losing to all three Republicans vying for the nomination in head-to-head races. Ford badly trails the GOP favorite, Bob Corker, by 12 points. He trails the other two candidates within the margin of error...
July 26, 2006
New York Senators Backing Away From Bolton Filibuster
Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton both joined a filibuster against the confirmation of John Bolton as ambassador to the UN last year, having received some additional political cover by George Voinovich's tearful opposition. Now that the White House has resubmitted Bolton for confirmation after Voinovich's reversal, one might expect them to follow Joe Biden into a repeat of a Democratic filibuster. However, the New York Sun reports that both have come under pressure from constituents to support Bolton, enough so that they have refused to openly give their positions on his confirmation: As the Senate prepares to consider anew the nomination of John Bolton as United Nations ambassador, Senators Schumer and Clinton are facing increasing pressure from pro-Israel groups to renounce another Democratic filibuster in light of the escalating war in the Middle East. The Foreign Relations Committee is set to hold a hearing on the nomination tomorrow, and several...
Stop Helping Me!
I'm sure that will be the message from the Bob Casey campaign after they see Al-Jazeera's endorsement of the Democrat running against Rick Santorum for the Senate. Casey did not pursue this particular seal of approval, obviously, but the terror apologists' appeal to readers to "vote Democratic" doesn't portend a groundswell of support in any case: Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) remarks at the National Press Club on Wednesday July 19th 2006 calling for regime change in Iran and described "Islamic fascism" as the "great test" of this generation, as threatening to the United States as last century's German Nazism and Soviet communism was inappropriate. These prejudicial remarks were derogatory, and highly unbecoming for a member of US senate. The Senator rhetoric in a public forum demeans both himself and the party he represents, particularly at a time when entire Middle East is in turmoil. Muslim of Lehigh Valley strongly...
July 28, 2006
McCain Abandoning Campaign Reform?
The New York Sun reports that presumed presidential candidate John McCain has quietly removed himself from campaign-finance reform efforts in Congress. After infuriating conservatives with his efforts to impose speech limits -- and with the mostly unsuccessful efforts to muzzle the blogosphere -- McCain's name no longer appears on a public-financing campaign bill that he had at one time co-authored: The quartet of lawmakers behind every major federal campaign finance restriction in the past decade is suddenly missing one of its members. The elided surnames of the four men, "McCain-Feingold-Shays-Meehan," have become synonymous with so-called campaign finance reform, but Senator McCain, a Republican of Arizona, is conspicuously absent from the latest effort. On Wednesday, Senator Feingold, a Democrat of Wisconsin, Rep. Martin Meehan, a Democrat of Massachusetts, and Rep. Christopher Shays, a Republican of Connecticut, introduced a bill to revive the crumbling system for public financing of presidential campaigns. The...
McKinney Losing Big To Johnson
CQ readers may have been surprised to see an advertisement for a Democrat appearing on the site. However, Hank Johnson has made an extraordinarily large effort to expand his reach in the upcoming primary runoff for Cynthia McKinney's seat in Congress. That effort seems to have paid off for Johnson, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Johnson has 25 points over the controversial incumbent with a little over a week to go before the election: A new poll by Insider Advantage shows challenger Hank Johnson with a hefty lead over incumbent Cynthia McKinney in the Democratic run-off for the 4th District congressional race. The poll shows Johnson leading McKinney, 46 to 21 percent, with a third of voters undecided. The survey recorded the responses of 489 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 5 percent. Run-offs are notorious for low turnout, which often makes telephone surveys unreliable....
Pander Bears
Instead of the donkey as a party mascot, the Democrats may want to consider a more exotic animal. Peter Beinart has a suggestion -- the pander bear. Beinart scolds Democrats for mindless and ineffective pandering to the pro-Israeli crowd by demanding that Nouri al-Maliki make himself into a sock puppet for America when he came to address Congress: After years of struggling to define their own approach to post-Sept. 11 foreign policy, Democrats seem finally to have hit on one. It's called pandering. In those rare cases when George W. Bush shows genuine sensitivity to America's allies and propounds a broader, more enlightened view of the national interest, Democrats will make him pay. It's jingoism with a liberal face. The latest example came this week when Democratic senators and House members demanded that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki either retract his criticisms of Israel or forfeit his chance to address...
Shooter In Seattle
A gunman killed at least one and injured five others in a Jewish center in Seattle today, and local reports say he did it for political purposes. Seattle's KING-5 television station reports that the man introduced himself as a Muslim before firing indiscriminately: One person has been killed and at least five others have been injured in a shooting at the Jewish Federation at 2031 Third Ave. in downtown Seattle. One suspect has been taken into custody. Police have taken one person into custody but there may be more suspects in or around the building. Sources told KING 5 the suspect is a Pakistani man with a criminal background. He is from the Tri-Cities but his citizenship is unknown. Officials are on the way to the Tri-Cities to interview his family. According to the Seattle Times, a man got through security at the Jewish Federation and told staff members, "I'm...
July 29, 2006
McKinney Equates Security Stop With Bush-Merkel Neckrub
Cynthia McKinney has decided to go down swinging in the runoff for her primary seat. However, she's not swinging at Hank Johnson, the man trying (and so far succeeding) in squeezing her out of Congress. Instead, McKinney keeps trying to use Bush Derangement Syndrome as a lever with her constituents, and has attempted to explain away her assault on a police officer by claiming molestation -- and using Bush as an excuse: At Thursday's news conference, McKinney told reporters her altercation with a Capitol police officer in March had no effect on the primary election results and said the fallout was created by people who had a political agenda. "One of the things that the press was a party to was the ... spiraling of an incident," she said. McKinney likened her response — she allegedly struck an officer after he grabbed her from behind — to that of German...
Whistleblowing Does Not Mean Going To The Press
The Washington Post reports that a federal grand jury has issued a subpoena to Russell Tice, an officer in the National Security Agency whose employment was terminated after stories about classified programs began appearing in the press. The Department of Justice has tasked the panel with investigating possible violations of the Espionage Act, and Tice's admissions of contacts with journalists appears to be a good place to start: A federal grand jury in Alexandria is investigating unauthorized leaks of classified information and has issued a subpoena to a fired National Security Agency officer who has acknowledged talking with journalists about the agency's warrantless surveillance program, according to documents released yesterday. The 23-member grand jury is "conducting an investigation of possible violations of federal criminal laws involving unauthorized disclosure of classified information" under the Espionage Act and other statutes, according to a document accompanying the subpoena. The demand for testimony from...
July 30, 2006
Gray Lady vs WaPo On Lieberman (Update)
With the Connecticut primary approaching, one could expect local newspapers to consider endorsements, even though papers do not usually endorse candidates until the general election. Having not one but two national newspapers outside of the contest endorse primary candidates is even more unusual -- but given the exposure of Connecticut's Senate race, it seems utterly predictable that the New York Times and the Washington Post would feel it necessary. The Gray Lady likes Ned Lamont, and that should come as no surprise, either. The one issue on which Lamont seeks to oust Joe Lieberman is the war in Iraq, which the Times has opposed from the beginning: This primary would never have happened absent Iraq. It’s true that Mr. Lieberman has fallen in love with his image as the nation’s moral compass. But if pomposity were a disqualification, the Senate would never be able to call a quorum. He has...
Webb Tangled
Virginia supposedly offered one of the brightest hopes for a Democratic takeaway in this year's Senate race. James Webb, a former Reagan official and a best-selling novelist, challenged potential Presidential aspirant and leading conservative George Allen, who has served as Governor and Senator in the state. Early polls showed Allen vulnerable to Webb, but the latest surveys show that Webb has dropped back rather dramatically: Republican Sen. George Allen has a 16-point lead over Democratic challenger Jim Webb in the latest independent statewide poll, published Sunday, but a fifth of the electorate is still undecided. ... Forty-eight percent backed Allen and 32 percent supported Webb in the Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. survey of registered voters likely to vote in the Nov. 7 election. However, 20 percent of the 625 respondents surveyed statewide by telephone July 25-27 said they had not decided between Allen, a former governor seeking a second...
July 31, 2006
No Bolton Filibuster: Schumer
Chuck Schumer confirmed that he may change his position on the confirmation of John Bolton and now considers a filibuter "unlikely", removing one of the key struts to Harry Reid's obstructionism during Bolton's last confirmation attempt. Bolton's defense of Israel appears to have changed his mind: A Democratic filibuster of John Bolton's nomination as United Nations ambassador is "unlikely," Senator Schumer said yesterday. Mr. Schumer supported an effort last year to block Mr. Bolton's nomination from gaining a full Senate vote, but he confirmed that he is considering changing his position. ... Mr. Schumer said he had not made a final decision on which way to vote and that a lot of Democrats were also contemplating their position. The Democrats would need the support of 41 of their 45 members in the Senate to block Mr. Bolton's nomination. Three Democrats crossed over to oppose a filibuster last year, meaning that...
GOP To Harris: We Love You .. Now Get Lost
One of the more embarrassing campaigns for the GOP this cycle is the Senate race in Florida. The election should give Republicans a chance at a pickup; after all, George Bush won the state twice and his brother Jeb remains very popular as governor. However, the Republican candidate has squandered all of these advantages and has dropped far behind the incumbent, Bill Nelson. The national party decided in May that Harris has no chance in the general election, and apparently did not get shy about sharing that opinion: The state Republican Party bluntly told Rep. Katherine Harris that she couldn't win this fall's Senate election and that the party wouldn't support her campaign, a letter obtained Monday by The Associated Press shows. Party Chairman Carole Jean Jordan made a last-ditch attempt in the confidential May 7 letter to force Harris out of the race for the nomination to challenge Democrat...
August 1, 2006
Meet The Rightroots Candidates (Update & Bump)
[Good questions from commenters -- see update below!] A group of conservative bloggers have worked on a developing a list of candidates in critical races this fall, not just for a show of support but also to allow our readers a single point where they could contribute to their campaigns. John Hawkins at Right Wing News began to organize this a couple of weeks ago, and we have selected a slate of Congressional and Senatorial races we think will get the most benefit from organized grassroots support on the Internet. We call this effort Rightroots, and our site, powered by ABCPac, launched this evening. The selection committee comprised the following bloggers: John Hawkins from Right Wing News Robert Bluey from Human Events Online Mary Katherine Ham from Townhall Erick Erickson from Redstate Patrick Hynes from Ankle Biting Pundits Lorie Byrd from Wizbang! We have selected fourteen Congressional races and four...
Rightroots: The Kingston Challenge (Updated!)
Our first day of the Rightroots initiative has started off very well -- and has received quite a bit of notice. In less than a day, we have already raised almost $7,000 for the eighteen key candidates we have endorsed in our effort to hold both houses of Congress. Now we have been challenged by Rep. Jack Kingston, one of the most blogosphere-savvy Congressmen in office, to raise a goodly amount of money by the end of the week -- and he's ready to open up his own checkbook if we make it: FROM THE DESK OF CONGRESSMAN JACK KINGSTON Dear Friends, I commend the efforts of the Rightroots movement for providing a forum which seeks to help the Republican Party secure our majorities in the House and Senate, and might even push some competitive races over the finish line in November. I strongly believe that small donations from a...
August 2, 2006
The Coming Democratic Meltdown
The Howard Dean experiment at the DNC appears to have created division, distrust, and chaos, as many of us predicted last year when Dean took the job. The Washington Post reports that party leaders have begun to craft back-channels to undermine Dean's authority, bringing their efforts for a national program for the midterms to a shambles: At a meeting last week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) criticized Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean for not spending enough party resources on get-out-the-vote efforts in the most competitive House and Senate races, according to congressional aides who were briefed on the exchange. Pelosi -- echoing a complaint common among Democratic lawmakers and operatives -- has warned privately that Democrats are at risk of going into the November midterm elections with a voter-mobilization plan that is underfunded and inferior to the proven turnout machine run by national Republicans. The Senate and House...
Lieberman In Blackface?
I missed most of this today, but this kind of politicking embarrasses everyone associated with it: Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton visited Mount Aery Baptist Church in Bridgeport to announced their endorsement of challenger Ned Lamont in his campaign against Sen. Joseph Lieberman. A picture of Lieberman in 'blackface' on a Lamont supporter's blog drew criticism from both sides. ... This campaign has apparently hit a new low today with something offensive, and that is putting it mildly. The popular Huffington Post blog, which has strongly supported Lamont's candidacy, posted a picture today depicting President Clinton and Joe Lieberman in an Amos n Andy-type doctored picture obviously taken from the Waterbury rally last Monday. In the picture, Lieberman is drawn in blackface and Clinton is wearing dark sunglasses. Lamont's campaign manager Tom Swan condemned this, calling it very offensive and said he requested that it be removed. He also...
August 3, 2006
Walk, Don't Run 2006
According to the Washington Note, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has made Hillary Clinton an offer she will probably refuse. Reid, with his eyes on Clinton's negatives, has offered to step down from his leadership position in favor of Hillary -- as long as she pledges not to run for President in 2008: Some high level Democratic Party political insiders have shared with TWN details of a potential shift in vectors for several of the major political stars in that party. First of all, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, whom most give high marks for the manner in which he has stewarded the Dems in the Senate despite the absence of a clear Democratic Party chief, has sent private signals to Senator Hillary Clinton and other stalwarts of the party that he "would like to" step down from his post in early 2009. Reid has not stated definitively that he...
August 4, 2006
TN Primary A Corker
Bob Corker has won the GOP nomination in the Tennessee primary to see who will attempt to hold Bill Frist's seat in November. Corker took almost half of the vote, easily outpacing his two rivals, who have already conceded: Former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate on Thursday after a bitter primary campaign to decide the party's nominee to replace Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist. With 82 percent of precincts reporting, Corker had 190,490, or 48 percent of the vote, to Bryant's 136,993, or 35 percent. Hilleary had 64,758, or 16 percent. ... Corker will face Democratic U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. in November. Ford, who had no serious opposition in the Democratic primary, had 262,115 votes, or 80 percent, with 82 percent of precincts reporting. Ford, who hosted a Nashville fundraiser Thursday night with former President Clinton, would be the first black U.S. senator...
Don't Stand So Close To Me
John Dickerson in Slate takes Ned Lamont to task for feigning ignorance of the blogroots he cultivated in his run for Joe Lieberman's seat now that one of the blogroots leaders has embarrassed his campaign. While everyone understands that Jane Hamsher ran the minstrel-show photoshop of Lieberman on her own accord, Lamont clearly lied about knowing nothing of blogs and bloggers: "I don't know anything about the blogs," he said according to Dan Balz in the Washington Post. "I'm not responsible for those. I have no comment on them." Oh my. If Lamont wants to get to Washington, he's going to need to learn one of the most important senatorial clichés: "I'd like to revise and extend my remarks." He can't run from the bloggers. And he can't run from Hamsher, who has raised money for him, boosted him tirelessly, and even helped him shoot a video blog. He's their...
Run Away!
After Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's maiden speech focused on the critical need for entitlement reform, done on a bipartisan basis, we hoped that this would prompt a new dialog on correcting the bloated programs to stave off the impending finanical crisis they will cause. Today's Washington Post editorial scolds the Democrats for rejecting this promising start for Paulson: YOU MIGHT THINK that a call from the new Treasury secretary for reform of entitlements would get a respectful hearing from Democrats. If entitlement programs are not reformed, they will squeeze out other spending programs that Democrats care about; they will create a budget crunch that no responsible party could want. But some Democrats do not appear to understand this. Yesterday an e-mail sent out on behalf of Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, dismissed Henry M. Paulson Jr.'s comments on "privatizing" Social Security, adding that this policy has been "soundly rejected...
The Unbearable Lightness Of Ned Lamont's Honesty
This week has provided some revelation about the honesty of Ned Lamont, whose primary run to unseat Joe Lieberman has captured the nation's attention. Earlier today I posted about his sudden case of amnesia when one of his key blogosphere supporters decided to use race-baiting to attack Lieberman on Lamont's behalf. Now it appears that Lamont used Wal-Mart, the liberal bete noir, as a punching bag without telling anyone that he owned a chunk of the retailer's stock: Connecticut millionaire businessman Ned Lamont, who sharply criticized the employment practices of Wal-Mart this week in his campaign to unseat Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Democrat primary, owns stock in the company, Senate records reveal. "This is about waking up Wal-Mart, and this is also about waking up corporate America," Mr. Lamont said Wednesday at a Bridgeport rally against the retail giant, hosted by many of the same liberal bloggers who have...
Not The End
One of my favorite columnists, E.J. Dionne, asks an interesting question about the future of conservatism in today's Washington Post. It relates to the ongoing debate over whether conservatives should stay within the GOP or create an ideologically pure movement: Is conservatism finished? What might have seemed an absurd question less than two years ago is now one of the most important issues in American politics. The question is being asked -- mostly quietly but occasionally publicly -- by conservatives themselves as they survey the wreckage of their hopes, and as their champions in the Republican Party use any means necessary to survive this fall's elections. ... President Bush, his defenders say, has pioneered a new philosophical approach, sometimes known as "big-government conservatism." The most articulate defender of this position, the journalist Fred Barnes, argues that Bush's view is "Hamiltonian" as in Alexander, Thomas Jefferson's rival in the early republic....
More Racism From The Left
It appears that Democratic racism has spanned the nation from coast to coast. After a Ned Lamont campaign volunteer* posted a blackface picture of Joe Lieberman at the Huffington Post, the leader of the California state senate referred to conservatives demanding an end to illegal immigrations with a racial slur: The state Senate leader ridiculed some San Diego-area opponents of illegal immigration yesterday by describing them as “crackers,” often used as a disparaging term for poor, white people in the South. During a media briefing, Oakland Democrat Don Perata was asked about whether it was politically wise going into an election to push a bill that would give illegal immigrants the ability to obtain driver's licenses. “No. Let's face it. Immigration is a red-meat issue,” Perata said. “You've got all these crackers down in Southern Cal – ah, where is it, San Diego, taking on the governor. You know, even...
August 5, 2006
Santorum Sneaking Up On Casey
Don't look now, but the one Republican incumbent in the Senate that the media has given up for dead may just be making a comeback. Real Clear Politics notes a new Pennsylvania poll that shows Rick Santorum has erased a double-digit deficit to Bob Casey and may have the momentum back on his side: Santorum started closing the gap in late spring, those polls found, and seems to have momentum. An April Morning Call/Muhlenberg College survey showed Casey 8 percentage points ahead. Keystone had Casey up 16 points in February, and then 6 points in May. To be sure, two other statewide polls still show the race to be a blowout. June surveys by Quinnipiac College and Rasmussen Reports both put Casey ahead by double digits. But experts and the candidates themselves have long said they expected the race to tighten. And behind the horserace numbers, the latest Morning Call/Muhlenberg...
August 6, 2006
The Last Honest Man?
Robert Kagan assesses the Joe Lieberman issue in today's Washington Post as an attack on principles, specifically the courage to refrain from recanting to gain popularity. Lieberman's sin has not been a divergent voting record from his party; he has consistently voted with the mainstream of his caucus. Lieberman simply would not change his mind on the wisdom of deposing Saddam Hussein, despite the rise of the anti-war radical Left: Lieberman stands condemned today because he didn't recant. He didn't say he was wrong. He didn't turn on his former allies and condemn them. He didn't claim to be the victim of a hoax. He didn't try to pretend that he never supported the war in the first place. He didn't claim to be led into support for the war by a group of writers and intellectuals whom he can now denounce. He didn't go through a public show of...
Lawsuit Fatigue In Politics
US News has an interesting article on the unforeseen political backlash against the gay-rights movement for their pursuit of public policy via lawsuit. It looks like the constant demand for judicial imposition of public policy has finally lost legitimacy with the American public, regardless of the cause: For advocates of same-sex marriage, the outlook is dark, that early enthusiasm tempered by a wave of anti-gay-marriage voter initiatives and a string of courtroom losses. And more court decisions and initiatives expected this year could result in devastating setbacks. "We may face a reality by the end of this year that is so radically different ... that we may have to completely rethink and rework how we're going to move forward," says Ed Murray, a gay Washington State representative. Jordan Lorence of the conservative Alliance Defense Fund is more blunt: "One side is clearly prevailing, and one is losing." The losses may...
August 7, 2006
Hollywood Splits On Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger has managed to split the Hollywood lockstep support for the Democratic Party. According to the Guardian (UK), the Governator has convinced Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg to support his Republican re-election to office: Arnie, it seems, has friends in high places. Some leading Hollywood liberals - the mythic entity said to prowl the hills of Los Angeles dispensing money and influence - are siding with the Republican governor. While Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg have pledged their support for Mr Schwarzenegger in his bid to be re-elected in November, Democrats are hoping that as long as they can count on Barbra Streisand and Warren Beatty, all may not be lost. Mr Schwarzenegger has always promised to do away with the partisanship of modern politics. The latest defections from the Democrats suggest he may be succeeding with those of director Spielberg and his DreamWorks studio co-founder, Katzenberg, a significant...
Return Of McGovernism
Marty Peretz of the New Republic tells OpinionJournal that he's seen the Connecticut political movement before, and it looks a lot like 1972 all over again. The singleminded and simpleminded peace platform has returned to plague the Democrats once again, and this time the party has no Scoop Jacksons left to rescue the party from its radical-Left activists: I was there, a partisan, as a graduate student at the beginning, in 1962, when the eminent Harvard historian H. Stuart Hughes (grandson of Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes) ran for the U.S. Senate as an independent against George Cabot Lodge and the victor, Ted Kennedy, a trio of what in the Ivies is, somewhat derisively, called "legacies." Hughes's platform fixed on President John F. Kennedy's belligerent policy towards Cuba, which had been crystallized in the "Bay of Pigs" fiasco. The campaign ended, however, with Hughes winning a dreary 1% of the...
Another Reason For Republicans To Vote This November
Republicans have grumbled about the performance of Congress and the White House for the last two years and have threatened to stay home for the mid-terms to deliver a statement about their dissatisfaction. They argue that only a loss of power in Congress will get recalcitrant GOP politicians to listen to their complaints. However, such a move could have far-reaching consequences, as Byron York notes in today's National Review column: There’s a word you won’t find in the text of Democratic Rep. John Conyers’s new “investigative report” on the Bush administration, “The Constitution in Crisis: The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, and Coverups in the Iraq War, and Illegal Domestic Surveillance.” And the word is…impeachment. Yet the 350-page “Constitution in Crisis,” released last week, is, more than anything else, a detailed road map for the impeachment of George W. Bush, ready for use should Democrats win control...
August 8, 2006
Ney Says Nay
Embattled Ohio Republican Bob Ney has withdrawn from his re-election bid even after easily winning the primary nomination. His ties to Jack Abramoff effectively torpedoed his chances, and with two weeks to go before a filing deadline would have closed off any chance to replace him on the ballot, Ney decided to retire instead: Representative Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican entangled in the corruption scandal centered on the former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, announced Monday that he would abandon his bid for re-election. The Justice Department has signaled for months that criminal charges against Mr. Ney, and possibly other Republican members of Congress and aides who were close to Mr. Abramoff, were only a matter of time. “Ultimately this decision came down to my family,” Mr. Ney said in a statement announcing his decision not to seek a seventh term. “I must think of them first, and I can no longer...
Will Moderates Survive In The Democratic Party?
Today, Connecticut voters go to the polls to for their primary, an election that has received national attention due to Ned Lamont's challenge to incumbent Joe Lieberman. Lieberman, who has a solidly Democratic voting record in his long tenure, got targeted by anti-war activists due to his friendly relationship with George Bush and his ongoing support of the war in Iraq. E.J. Dionne casts this as a preview for the midterm elections, but then argues that Democrats really aren't targeting moderates: Republican supporters of Bush and the war are claiming that a Lamont victory would signal a dovish takeover of the Democratic Party by activists organized by anti-Bush bloggers -- and would show that there is no room left in Democratic ranks for moderates. The most over-the-top version of this argument came from William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard. "What drives so many Democrats crazy about Lieberman is not...
The Other Primary Battle
While the nation focuses its attention on the Connecticut primary, another key election will take place in Georgia, although it apparently caught the Los Angeles Times by surprise. Calling the race an "unforeseen struggle", the Times recounts the efforts of Cynthia McKinney to overcome a huge popularity deficit and her own paranoid conspiracy theories to retain her Congressional seat. The article by Jennie Jarvie wants to blame white people for McKinney's woes, but if readers get far enough into the article, we find that black people have had enough of McKinney as well: Indeed, the outspoken McKinney, an African American Democrat whose campaign slogan is "Backbone in politics," is struggling to be reelected to the House after a significant number of voters in the northern, predominantly white areas of her suburban Atlanta district voted against her in last month's primary. McKinney, 51, who had earlier been expected to win a...
A Tale Of Two Primaries (Update: Joementum!)
I'll be keeping an eye on both spotlighted primaries, in Connecticut and Georgia, as the evening rolls along. It won't be a live-blog as much as an occasionally updated post on how the evening progresses. 7:45 - The first result that one can actually access comes from Georgia. Hank Johnson, who has advertised on my blog in the last few weeks, appears to have opened up a wide lead on Cynthia McKinney. With 10% of precincts reporting, he's leading 75%-25%. This looks like the laugher I predicted, although that gap appears closer to a Robin Williams-scale laugher. Joe Lieberman trails Ned Lamont in Connecticut 60%-40% with 4% of precincts reporting, according to some sources, but it's hard to tell. The CT Secretary of State didn't buy enough bandwidth to keep the site running. Sounds like what happened to Lieberman's campaign site. 7:53 - Lieberman narrows the gap! ... to 13...
Lieberman Vows To Run In November
As I predicted, the close race has encouraged Joe Lieberman to go for the rematch against Ned Lamont. He conceded defeat in the primary, but vowed to run as an independent in the November general election: Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman (news, bio, voting record) conceded defeat on Tuesday in the Democrat primary to a challenger who attacked the former vice presidential nominee's support for the Iraq war and accused him of being too close to President George W. Bush. In a speech to supporters, the three-term senator also said he will file to run as an independent candidate in the autumn election. Had Lamont beaten Lieberman decisively tonight, Lieberman may have concluded that an independent run would waste time and money. As late as a week ago, Lamont looked to be cruising to such a victory. However, a botched response to a grotesque blackface picture of Lieberman by a prominent...
August 9, 2006
A Democratic 'Disaster'? Not Quite
Joe Lieberman filed his paperwork for an independent run at re-election after losing the primary last night, as expected. Predictably, his colleagues in the Democratic Party have endorsed the winner, Ned Lamont, as they have little choice but to support the party process. Many pundits have argued that this augurs a 1972-style collapse for the Democrats -- but that may overstate the situation more than just a little: Top Democrats on Capitol Hill abandoned Sen. Joe Lieberman one by one Wednesday and threw their support to Ned Lamont, the anti-war challenger who defeated him in the primary. But Lieberman said his conscience demands that he run as an independent in November. "I think it would be irresponsible and inconsistent with my principles if I were to just walk off the field," Lieberman said in an interview with The Associated Press a day after his loss to the political newcomer in...
August 10, 2006
Will Lieberman's Independent Run Strengthen CT Republicans?
The New York Times reports that some Democrats fear they will lose the chance to unseat three House Republicans in Connecticut if Lieberman insists on his independent bid for re-election. The internecine war breaking out among Nutmeg State Democrats may bring out enough moderates to keep the seats in the hands of the GOP: Senator Joseph I. Lieberman’s defeat on Tuesday in the Connecticut Democratic primary quickly spilled over into the battle for the House on Wednesday. Leaders of both parties said the Senate fight could influence three races in Connecticut considered crucial in controlling the House. Republicans said a general election matchup in which Mr. Lieberman ran as an independent against Ned Lamont, the winner of the primary, could hinder Democrats in their efforts to unseat three incumbent representatives who are top Democratic targets. Democrats disputed that and said the high-intensity Senate fight could help the Democratic challengers for...
Ms. Me Blames Everyone Else For Loss
You know, we're going to miss Cynthia McKinney when she finally leaves the national stage. Her self-absorption and paranoid conspiracy theories entertained us as often as they appalled us. Fortunately, the soon-to-be former Congresswoman has generously bestowed large measures of both after her constituents firmly gave her the boot in a runoff election on Tuesday. For a woman who regularly makes herself the center of attention, she certainly knows how to spread blame everywhere else: Ms. McKinney and her supporters contend that Republicans mounted a campaign to vote her out of office, as they did four years ago when crossover voting helped elect her Democratic challenger, Denise Majette. “We aren’t going to tolerate any more stolen elections,” Ms. McKinney said in her concession speech, though crossover voting is legal in Georgia. “This is just like 2002,” said Nina Winfrey, 62, a resident of Rockdale County and a “die-hard Cynthia fan”...
August 11, 2006
Espionage Act Covers Everyone
The government can prosecute anyone connected with the release of classified information, even if the suspects hold no clearance, a federal judge ruled in the AIPAC case. While the ruling primarily affects the lobbyists involved in the espionage investigation, it has far-reaching implications for others, particularly reporters: In a momentous expansion of the government's authority to regulate public disclosure of national security information, a federal court ruled that even private citizens who do not hold security clearances can be prosecuted for unauthorized receipt and disclosure of classified information. The ruling (pdf) by Judge T.S. Ellis, III, denied a motion to dismiss the case of two former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) who were charged under the Espionage Act with illegally receiving and transmitting classified information. ... The Judge ruled that any First Amendment concerns regarding freedom of speech involving national defense information can be superseded by...
Lamont Support Dropping
If the netroots plan on riding Ned Lamont all the way to the Senate floor, the independent campaign of Joe Lieberman has an unpleasant surprise waiting for them. According to a new Rasmussen poll, Lieberman has a lead over Lamont in a three-way race. Lieberman also has better favorability ratings than Lamont by a significant margin. Their previous survey, taken shortly before the election, showed the two men tied in a three-way race. Rasmussen will have the specific numbers out shortly (at this link), but the trends have reversed themselves in the last days of the primaries -- and Connecticut voters have changed their minds about Lamont. We saw this in the close finish between the two men. Polling had indicated that Lamont had opened a substantial gap on Lieberman; in the end, it came to less than four points. The Lamont campaign stumbled badly in the last hours on...
At Least It Wasn't Blackface
The saga of Ned Lamont and his clueless campaign continues this evening, as his top aide prepares an apology to a town that voted heavily for Joe Lieberman. After the election results came into campaign headquarters, Tom Swan referred to Waterbury in particularly unpleasant terms: Democrat Ned Lamont's campaign manager said he would apologize to the mayor of Waterbury for describing the city that backed his opponent, Sen. Joe Lieberman, as a place "where the forces of slime meet the forces of evil." Tom Swan said the comment made Tuesday, after the city voted heavily for Lieberman in the Democratic Senate primary, was in the context of a broader discussion of state politics in which former Mayor Philip A. Giordano was the "slime" and former Gov. John G. Rowland was the "evil." Doesn't this sound like a Lamont excuse? After all, Swan's boss was the one who said that he...
August 12, 2006
Does Chafee Equal Lieberman For The GOP?
Now that the left wing of the Democratic Party has kneecapped Joe Lieberman, a staunch liberal but a hawk on Iraq, some have accused the conservatives of the GOP of committing a similar mistake with Lincoln Chafee, the liberal Senator from Rhode Island. The fiscal conservatives at the Club for Growth have supported Chafee's primary opponent Steven Laffey in a bit to unseat the incumbent, and it appears that Chafee may be in danger of losing his re-election bid before November: Fresh off their first victory over a Republican incumbent, GOP conservatives seeking party purity on taxes and spending are focused on ousting moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. The Club for Growth and its 36,000 members spent around $1 million to help challenger Tim Walberg unseat first-term Rep. Joe Schwarz in Michigan's Republican primary on Tuesday. The win came despite Schwarz's support from President Bush and the...
August 13, 2006
Captive Test Subjects?
The New York Times reports on a disturbing suggestion from the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine that urges the government to allow testing of pharmaceuticals on prisoners. The idea is hardly new, but that is part of the problem. The practice came to a screeching halt in the mid-70s as abuses came to light: Until the early 1970’s, about 90 percent of all pharmaceutical products were tested on prison inmates, federal officials say. But such research diminished sharply in 1974 after revelations of abuse at prisons like Holmesburg here, where inmates were paid hundreds of dollars a month to test items as varied as dandruff treatments and dioxin, and where they were exposed to radioactive, hallucinogenic and carcinogenic chemicals. In addition to addressing the abuses at Holmesburg, the regulations were a reaction to revelations in 1972 surrounding what the government called the Tuskegee Study of Untreated...
August 15, 2006
That Old Rugged -- And Now Federal -- Cross
The struggle to keep a landmark San Diego cross on public land took a new turn on Monday, as George Bush signed a bill making the land under the monument federal territory. That removes one particular legal threat to the 29-foot-tall cross, long visible for miles to Southern Californians, but brings up new challenges on the federal level: President Bush on Monday signed a law transferring a 29-foot-tall Latin cross high on a hill in San Diego to the federal government, stepping into a long-running dispute over the separation of church and state. Mr. Bush, in the latest unusual action designed to save the Mount Soledad cross, in the La Jolla district, sided firmly with cross supporters who acknowledge that it is the pre-eminent symbol of Christianity but contend that it forms part of a secular war memorial. An atheist, Philip K. Paulson, has fought the cross, built in 1954,...
The Problem Is Leadership
E.J. Dionne presents an intriguing look into Democratic Party politics at the mid-terms, and relates a story of disunity and disarray. Unfortunately, though, Dionne misses the bigger problem with the Democrats, focusing on self-image rather than the real issue: The Democratic Party has a self-image problem. Talk to Democrats at every level about the strong position the party is in for this fall's elections and the conversation inevitably ends with a variation of: "Yeah, if we don't blow it." Karl Rove's greatest victory is how much he has spooked Democrats about themselves. This, in turn, leads to a problem among political elites and, especially, fundraisers: While Republicans believe in their party and in the cause of building its organization from bottom to top, Democratic sympathizers tend to focus on favorite causes and favorite candidates, notably in presidential years. The reference to Karl Rove reveals much about the root problem with...
Killing Me Softly With Macaca
I've been a fan of Senator George Allen for the past couple of years, and I have repeatedly referred to him as someone who could put a good face on conservatism in the upcoming melee for the presidential nomination. Having served one term each as governor and in the US Senate, his long experience on the national stage and as an executive gives him a leg up on most of his competition. Unfortunately, his mouth has pretty much wiped it all out, and I think Senator Allen can probably stick a fork in his hopes for the time being: At a campaign rally in southwest Virginia on Friday, Allen repeatedly called a volunteer for Democrat James Webb "macaca." During the speech in Breaks, near the Kentucky border, Allen began by saying that he was "going to run this campaign on positive, constructive ideas" and then pointed at S.R. Sidarth in...
August 16, 2006
Maybe He Can Invent Cold Fusion, Too
Americans have earned their skepticism about the promises of politicians during campaigns, usually treating them with several grains of salt when made. That reflects not only the disinclination of politicians to fulfill them, but also the grandiose nature of the promises they make. Campaign promises have to make headlines and tend towards the fantastic. However, Benjamin Cardin has offered a promise that makes others look positively banal: With a month to go before primary voters head to the polls to choose Senate nominees, Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin kicked off yesterday a weeklong effort to highlight his congressional record and vision on health care by making the mother of all campaign promises - to cure cancer. Cardin, a Democrat from Baltimore County, gathered with cancer survivors and doctors in Lutherville to detail his efforts to expand cancer screening and his plans to fight the disease. "We are going to lick cancer...
Throwing Her Weight Around For The Last Time
New Jersey Attorney General Zulima Farber resigned last night after a state ethics panel harshly criticized her for interfering with the citation of a friend at a traffic stop. Farber had a state trooper drive her to where officers had stopped her friend because of a seat-belt infraction and subsequently found him to have a suspended driver's license, putting undue pressure on the officers: On May 26, Ms. Farber received a call from her companion, Hamlet E. Goore, saying that he had been stopped at a seat-belt enforcement checkpoint in Fairview, in Bergen County, and the police determined that he had a suspended license and an expired registration. Ms. Farber was taken to Fairview in her state car, driven by a trooper. But she has said she did not intercede in any way and did not speak to any police officers. She did acknowledge, however, that Mr. Goore had told...
August 17, 2006
Democrats Declare War On Wal-Mart
The Democrats have finally found a unifying theme for the mid-term elections, one that appears to unite all ends of the political spectrum in their party. Instead of fighting a war on terrorism, though, they have decided to fight a war against Wal-Mart. Claiming that attacking a retailer with the lowest prices somehow champions the poor, Democrats of all strips have enlisted in the latest cause: Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, a likely Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, delivered a 15-minute, blistering attack to warm applause from Democrats and union organizers here on Wednesday. But Mr. Biden’s main target was not Republicans in Washington, or even his prospective presidential rivals. It was Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer. Yes, not Islamofascist terrorists, not oppressive dictatorships, not drug cartels nor organized crime -- Wal-Mart. Among Democrats, Mr. Biden is not alone. Across Iowa this week and across much of...
August 18, 2006
Mel Had The Good Grace To Get Drunk First
At least Carter-era UN Ambassador and former Mayor Andrew Young didn't call a police officer "sugar tits" when unleashing his bigoted tirade: The civil rights leader Andrew Young, who was hired by Wal-Mart to improve its public image, resigned from that post last night after telling an African-American newspaper that Jewish, Arab and Korean shop owners had “ripped off” urban communities for years, “selling us stale bread, and bad meat and wilted vegetables.” In the interview, published yesterday in The Los Angeles Sentinel, a weekly, Mr. Young said that Wal-Mart “should” displace mom-and-pop stores in urban neighborhoods. “You see those are the people who have been overcharging us,” he said of the owners of the small stores, “and they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they’ve ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it’s Arabs.” Mr. Young, 74, a former...
August 20, 2006
LA Times Attacks Gibson, Silent On Young
Two days after the bigoted tirade Andrew Young unleashed in a Los Angeles periodical against Jews, Koreans, and Arabs, the Los Angeles Times attacks anti-Semitism ... by bashing Mel Gibson: WHAT DOES IT TAKE to get yourself excommunicated from the church of celebrity? Allegations, even unproved, that you slaughtered your ex-wife (O.J. Simpson) or that you are a child molester (Michael Jackson) can make you radioactive, but it remains to be seen whether Mel Gibson's poisonous anti-Semitic tirade is enough to end his Hollywood career. Judging from Gibson's offer (made during his sentencing on drunk driving charges Thursday) to make public service announcements, he doesn't seem to think so. Let's hope he is wrong. Gibson is guilty of more than just driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.12%. He broke one of Hollywood's most sacred rules — never let the public see what you're really like — proving himself to...
The Culture Of Corruption Redux
When the Democrats adopted the "culture of corruption" meme as their campaign theme earlier this year, we noted that the culture hardly respected party lines. The leader of the Senate Democratic caucus, Harry Reid, took contributions from clients of Jack Abramoff and intervened on their behalf at least four times, and Abramoff hired one of Reid's staffers and started holding fundraisers for the Senate Minority Leader in Abramoff's offices. Now COGirl at Hang Right Politics points us towards a Los Angeles Times report on the "culture of corruption" surrounding Harry Reid and a new real-estate development outside of Las Vegas. Reid has intervened on behalf of a powerful developer to gain government concessions while the developer puts money into Reid's campaigns -- and pays Reid's sons' salaries: One of the most inhospitable places in the country, Coyote Springs Valley is so barren that, until recently, its best use was thought...
Kerry Couldn't Find Mainstream With Both Hands And A Flashlight
John Kerry pontifcated about Joe Lieberman on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopolous, claiming that Lieberman doesn't represent mainstream Connecticut: Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., blasted a fellow Democrat, Sen. Joe Lieberman, for continuing his bid in the Connecticut Senate race despite a narrow loss to newcomer Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary earlier this month. "I'm concerned that [Lieberman] is making a Republican case," Kerry told ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" in an exclusive appearance. Kerry accused the 2000 Democratic vice presidential candidate of "adopting the rhetoric of Dick Cheney," on the issue of Iraq. "Joe Lieberman is out of step with the people of Connecticut," Kerry added, insisting Lieberman's stance on Iraq, "shows you just why he got in trouble with the Democrats there." Kerry called Lieberman's independent bid a "huge mistake" and applauded businessman-turned-politician Lamont as "courageous" for challenging Lieberman on the war. Democrats seem intent...
August 21, 2006
Was Armitage The Plame Leaker?
Enthusiasts of the Valerie Plame leak case have long offered Richard Armitage, Colin Powell's aide at State in that period, as one of the likely suspects. The Armitage option gained some credibility this evening as the Associated Press reports that Armitage met with Bob Woodward on June 13, 2003, in the same time frame as Plame's connection to Joe Wilson got communicated to reporters:Then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met with Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward in mid-June 2003, the same time the reporter has testified an administration official talked to him about CIA employee Valerie Plame. Armitage's official State Department calendars, provided to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act, show a one-hour meeting marked "private appointment" with Woodward on June 13, 2003. ...When contacted at home Monday night, Woodward declined to discuss his meeting with Armitage or the identity of his source in the CIA leak...
August 22, 2006
Do Electronic Voting Machines Pose A Threat To Democracy?
Most of the opposition to electronic voting machines comes from the same lunatic left that insisted on replacing punch ballots with high-tech solutions in the wake of the 2000 presidential election. To a nation sick of hearing about pregnant, dimpled, and hanging chads, this appeared to be a good investment in electoral confidence. Now, however, touch-screen voting and the venerable Diebold corporation appear at the center of every paranoid conspiracy theory, the latest version of which came from Cynthia McKinney after Hank Johnson beat her like a bass drum in a marching band. Marc Danziger argues in today's Washington Examiner that we should not leave the issue with just the conspiracy theorists. He says that electronic voting machines are far less secure than the average nickel slot in Laughlin, a situation that should concern all voters: Let me be very clear: The machines in use to count your vote aren’t...
August 23, 2006
Wanted: Conservative Blogger Liaison
Hillary Clinton took a look around the blogospheric Left in the midst of its Ned Lamont campaign and decided she needed an ambassador to bloggers, and hired Peter Daou. According to National Journal's Hotline, George Allen's campaign has reached a similar conclusion about the blogospheric Right: Burned by a blog-induced firestorm over an an off-hand comment at a campaign rally, Sen. George Allen's campaign is seeking a conservative blog maven who can blunt future attacks and help rally conservatives in the state and elsewhere behind Allen's campaign. The search is one of several steps Allen's brain trust will take in the next few weeks to retool his campaign. Several Republicans close to the campaign said Allen was deeply frustrated at what one Republican called "the inept response and lack of ability of his team to handle crisis management in an effective and professional manner." Today, Allen's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams,...
When Harry Met Harvey
The New York Post runs a column from yours truly in today's edition, an adaptation of an earlier post that reviewed the relationship between Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Nevada developer Harvey Whittemore. Harry and Harvey combined their efforts to create a new commercial and residential development outside of Las Vegas that will enrich Harvey, has put tens of thousands of dollars of contributions into Harry's coffers, and resulted in gainful employment of one Reid son as a lawyer and a lobbyist -- including lobbying his father: The leader of the Senate Democratic caucus, Nevada's Sen. Harry Reid, took contributions from clients of convicted influence-peddler Jack Abramoff and intervened on their behalf at least four times. Abramoff, for his part, hired one of Reid's staffers and started holding fundraisers for the senator in the Abramoff offices. Now The Los Angeles Times reports on the "culture of corruption" surrounding Reid...
You Can Lead A Horse To Slaughter ...
... but you can't make Congress think. Actually, while we have watched at least one and maybe two terrorist plots against airlines get stopped at the last moment this month, Congress has busied itself with making sure that the feds can stop you from leading a horse to slaughter, as I've posted on today's Heritage Foundation Policy Blog: H.R. 503 will amend the Horse Protection Act to enact federal bans on sales, donations, transport, and possession of horses for slaughter. That may be bad enough for fans of federalism, who will rightly wonder about the constitutional basis for federal protection of horses. However, the text at the end of the bill should get some attention -- "Section 12 of the Horse Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1831) is amended by striking “$500,000” and inserting “$5,000,000”." In a month when we have seen at least one, and now possibly two, terrorist plots...
August 24, 2006
Jon Henke On Dean Vs Allen
Virginian and neo-libertarian Jon Henke delivers a spanking to Howard Dean, who went on Hardball yesterday to castigate George Allen for not thinking before he speaks. If that seems like a heapin' helpin' of projection, well, Jon would agree with you. In fact, Jon put together quite a collection of Howard's Greatest Hits, lest anyone not think that the DNC chair is not an expert at running the mouth while leaving the brain disengaged. Be sure to read the whole thing. In fact, thinking about it, perhaps George Allen's staff might think about giving Jon a shout. They're looking for an intelligent blogger, one who understands politics and writes well about it. If Allen's team is serious, Jon would be a great choice, assuming he's interested....
August 25, 2006
Doesn't Know Class From A Hole In The Ground
One of the sure signs of an incompetent is his impulse to catalog other's failures when criticized, instead of focusing on his own responsibilities. Ray Nagin will give a demonstration of that principle on Sunday, August 27th, in an interview with CBS News. When asked about the lack of progress in clearing the rubble from Hurricane Katrina, Nagin petulantly scolded New York for its "hole in the ground": Confronted by accusations that he’s taking too long to clean up his city after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin defended himself by remarking on New York City’s failure to rebuild Ground Zero. Nagin made the remarks in an interview conducted by CBS News National Correspondent Byron Pitts which will be broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Aug. 27, at 7 p.m. EDT. On a tour of the decimated Ninth Ward, Nagin tells Pitts the city has removed most of the debris...
For Cantwell, Dishonesty Is The Best Policy
Maria Cantwell faces a tough re-election bid against businessman and former Slade Gorton aide Mike McGavick this fall for her Senate seat. Rasmussen shows her clinging to a six-point lead in Washington against her challenger, down five points from June. That lead will probably shrink or disappear after a dishonest shell game her campaign played today in issuing a vicious personal attack on McGavick after he revealed a DUI from 1993: U.S. Senate candidate Mike McGavick, in an unsolicited confession of "the very worst and most embarrassing things" of his personal and professional life, revealed Thursday he was charged with drunken driving 13 years ago. ... He said that to his knowledge, no news media or political antagonists had been aware of the DUI charge. Past news reports have mentioned the Safeco layoffs and the 1988 attack ad that aired when Gorton ran against Democrat Mike Lowry. McGavick revealed the...
August 26, 2006
No Surprise
For some reason, people seem to believe that Joe Lieberman should campaign for Democrats who endorse his opponent. At least they seem surprised when Lieberman refuses: Declaring himself a "non-combatant," U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, in remarks at a New Haven press event Friday, raised anew the question of whether his "independent" candidacy will help Republicans hold onto three Congressional seats in Connecticut -- and control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Lieberman -- who after losing an Aug. 8 Democratic primary to Ned Lamont has launched a third-party bid to hold onto his seat in the Nov. 7 general election -- was asked whether he still endorses Diane Farrell, Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy, three Democrats looking to unseat endangered Republican incumbents Chris Shays, Rob Simmons and Nancy Johnson. “I’m a non-combatant,” Lieberman declared. “I am not going to be involved in other campaigns. I think it’s better if I...
The Katherine Harris Follies Continue
Easily the most dysfunctional Republican campaign this year is the Senatorial bid of Katherine Harris in Florida. Her staff keeps walking out on her, and in a state where Republican Governor Jeb Bush remains very popular and George Bush won twice, she trails by almost 30 points to Bill Nelson. And just when the GOP thought Harris couldn't possibly get any worse, she told people that God wants the US to dump its secular traditions: Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) said this week that God did not intend for the United States to be a "nation of secular laws" and that the separation of church and state is a "lie we have been told" to keep religious people out of politics. "If you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin," Harris told interviewers from the Florida Baptist Witness, the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist State...
August 27, 2006
Just A Plame Waste Of Time
Michael Isikoff and David Corn have a new book coming out that reveals the inside details of the leak that allowed Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA agent to be uncovered. As widely speculated, the leak came from Richard Armitage, Colin Powell's key deputy, and it came without malicious intent: In the early morning of Oct. 1, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell received an urgent phone call from his No. 2 at the State Department. Richard Armitage was clearly agitated. As recounted in a new book, "Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War," Armitage had been at home reading the newspaper and had come across a column by journalist Robert Novak. Months earlier, Novak had caused a huge stir when he revealed that Valerie Plame, wife of Iraq-war critic Joseph Wilson, was a CIA officer. Ever since, Washington had been trying to...
Most Democratic Candidates Rejecting Withdrawal Timetable
Democrats in competitive Congressional races have distanced themselves from the activist wing of their party, rejecting calls for a timetable to withdraw from Iraq and backing the Bush administration's insistence on victory instead of retreat. This surprising survey redefines the "mainstream" of political thought in a manner that some Democrats will strongly dislike: Most Democratic candidates in competitive congressional races are opposed to setting a timetable for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, rejecting pressure from liberal activists to demand a quick end to the three-year-old military conflict. Of the 59 Democrats in hotly contested House and Senate races, a majority agree with the Bush administration that it would be unwise to set a specific schedule for troop withdrawal, and only a few are calling for substantial troop reductions to begin this year, according to a Washington Post survey of the campaigns. The large number of Democrats opposed to a...
August 28, 2006
Economic Simplemindedness Of The Wal-Mart War
The war Democrats have declared on Wal-Mart on behalf of the poor will make that constituency worse off, Sebastion Mallaby concludes in his Washington Post column today. Not only does the cost savings at Wal-Mart and other big-box discounters allow poor families to save 25% on their food bills, it provides a better economic safety net than food stamps: Hillary Clinton and Sen. John Kerry have attacked Wal-Mart for offering health coverage to too few workers. But Kerry's former economic adviser, Jason Furman of New York University, concluded in a paper last year that Wal-Mart's health benefits are about as generous as those of comparable employers. Moreover, Clinton and Kerry know perfectly well that market pressures limit the health coverage that companies can provide. After all, both senators have proposed expansions in government health provision precisely on the premise that the private sector can't pay for all of it. The...
Time To Legalize Hemp? And Perhaps Marijuana?
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has a decision to make on hemp. The California legislature delivered a bill legalizing the plant for industrial purposes last week, a measure jointly authored by a San Francisco liberal and an Orange County conservative: Seven states have passed bills supporting the farming of industrial hemp; their strategy has been to try to get permission from the Drug Enforcement Administration to proceed. But California is the first state that would directly challenge the federal ban, arguing that it does not need a D.E.A. permit, echoing the state’s longstanding fight with the federal authorities over its legalization of medicinal marijuana. The hemp bill would require farmers who grow it to undergo crop testing to ensure their variety of cannabis is nonhallucinogenic; its authors say it has been carefully worded to avoid conflicting with the federal Controlled Substances Act. But those efforts have not satisfied federal and state drug...
August 29, 2006
Who Won From The Plame Flameout?
It's easy to add up all of the people who lost in the collapse of Valerie Plame leak case after Michael Isikoff and David Corn revealed that Richard Armitage originally gave the information to Robert Novak. Joe Wilson watched his carefully-constructed and mostly false version of events come apart at the seams. Novak lost his job at CNN (later catching on with Fox) and came under tremendous criticism for his refusal to act to free other journalists from legal action. Patrick Fitzgerald put a lot of tarnish on his previously sterling reputation for extending a criminal investigation for years after the culprit confessed five days into the Department of Justice probe. Judith Miller lost the respect of her peers because of a belief that she protected Bush administration officials and acted as a mouthpiece for them, an assessment that none of her colleagues bothered to revisit after the Isikoff/Corn story...
August 30, 2006
California Adopts HillaryCare
The California Assembly passed a bill on a party-line vote yesterday that would eliminate private health care and force Californians into a single-payer state-run medical system. It now falls to Arnold Schwarzenegger to determine whether he will reverse his previous stand against state-run health care or adopt the Golden State version of HillaryCare (via CQ reader Kurt K): The Democratic-controlled Legislature is on the verge of sending Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a bill that would create a state-run universal health care system, testing him on an issue that voters rate as one of their top concerns in this election year. On a largely party-line 43-30 vote, the Assembly approved a bill by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, that would eliminate private medical insurance plans and establish a statewide health insurance system that would provide coverage to all Californians. The state Senate has already approved the plan once and is expected...
August 31, 2006
Democratic Purity Campaign Hits Black Incumbents As Well
The Washington Times reports that the campaign to unseat the solidly liberal Joe Lieberman from the Senate for his opposition to the war is no isolated incident, nor are representatives of the Democrats' most loyal constituency immune from the purity purge. Black incumbents in the house have also been targeted in primary campaigns for insufficient party loyalty and supposedly conservative sympathies, none of which has to do with the war: The trend of incumbent Democratic lawmakers facing primary challenges from the left is not sparing black lawmakers, despite their generally being among the party's more liberal representatives and blacks being the party's most loyal constituency. Rep. Albert R. Wynn, Maryland Democrat, is facing a strong primary challenge from Prince George's County lawyer Donna Edwards, who says he is too conservative to represent his predominantly black constituency. The most unlikely Congressional Black Caucus member, Rep. Bobby L. Rush, Illinois Democrat, faced...
Can Laffey Win?
Last November I selected Steven Laffey as Not One Dime's official candidate of the 2006 elections in his attempt to unseat Republican incumbent Lincoln Chafee. At the time, the task of beating Chafee seemed Herculean. Now, however, it looks like Laffey may have overtaken Chafee and garnered a commanding lead heading into the primary on September 12th: U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee may lose his seat to challenger Steve Laffey, according to a new statewide Republican primary voter poll released today by the Bureau of Government Research and Services at Rhode Island College. The survey was conducted August 28-30, 2006, at Rhode Island College by Victor L. Profughi, director of the Bureau of Government Research and Services. It is based on a statewide random sample of 363 likely Republican primary voters in Rhode Island. The sample was proportioned among the state’s geographic regions to reflect the likely voter contribution from each...
September 1, 2006
Kean Overtakes Menendez
Thomas Kean Jr has overtaken Democratic incumbent Robert Menendez in the New Jersey Senate race, according to Rasmussen's latest poll. Kean created a 12-point shift in the past month, going from six points down in July to six points up at the end of August. This puts a serious crimp in the Democrat's plans to take over the Senate in these midterms. They need to hold all of their current seats before they can possibly hope to gain enough to take control of the upper chamber. Losing New Jersey makes that all but impossible. Expect the Democrats to start spending a lot of money to rescue Menendez in the coming days....
An Exclamation Point On The Plame Denouement
The Washington Post's editorial board takes a shot at Joe Wilson, one of their anonymous sources three years ago, as the full impact of the discovery of Richard Armitage as the Valerie Plame leaker takes effect. The editors place the blame for Plame's unmasking where it always belonged -- on Wilson himself: [I]t now appears that the person most responsible for the end of Ms. Plame's CIA career is Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming -- falsely, as it turned out -- that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials. He ought to have expected that both those officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would point to his wife. He diverted responsibility...
Workers Of The World, Rise Up Against Your (Democratic) Oppressors!
With the Democrats demanding a raise in the federal minimum wage and campaigning on the issue to highlight their sympathy for American workers. That sympathy, as Power Line noted earlier this evening, doesn't even extend beyond their own payroll. Democratic canvassers in Wisconsin have walked off the job as the Democratic Party refuses to pay them the existing minimum wage: Alex Scherer-Jones began working for Grassroots Campaigns to fight the Bush administration and elevate the fortunes of the Democratic Party. The 21-year-old MATC student left feeling exploited and sour: "I went in there being very idealistic and it kind of ruined my idealism." The job involves going door to door asking people to give money to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, using talking points that include a call to raise the minimum wage. For this, Scherer-Jones says he was paid far less than the state minimum wage of $6.50 an...
September 4, 2006
Casey: Social Security Just Fine
Robert Casey Jr took on Rick Santorum in a debate for the upcoming general election, and the Democratic challenger shows that he has more studying to do before the big final. Even Tim Russert couldn't believe Casey's prescription for Social Security's ills was to "do nothing": "I don't think you're talking about a crisis," the Democrat said during an hourlong debate yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press." Mr. Casey said the program -- raided for years by federal lawmakers to pay for other government programs -- will fix itself. "So [we'll have] double the people on Social Security and Medicare, and life expectancy approaches 80. And the solution is 'do nothing'?" moderator Tim Russert asked. Mr. Casey suggested reinstating the estate tax and then hoping for a booming economy to "grow" the program out of the peril that actuarial tables and demographics predict. "You want to grow the economy by...
Losing The House?
The New York Times paints a pretty depressing picture for the GOP in the upcoming midterms, but has little data on which to base its analysis. The article by Robin Toner and Kate Zernike seems long on anecdotes and short on actual polling: After a year of political turmoil, Republicans enter the fall campaign with their control of the House in serious jeopardy, the possibility of major losses in the Senate, and a national mood so unsettled that districts once considered safely Republican are now competitive, analysts and strategists in both parties say. Sixty-five days before the election, the signs of Republican vulnerability are widespread. Indiana, which President Bush carried by 21 percentage points in 2004, now has three Republican House incumbents in fiercely contested races. Around the country, some of the most senior Republicans are facing their stiffest challenges in years, including Representative E. Clay Shaw Jr. of Florida,...
September 5, 2006
The Democrats Write A Letter
Yesterday, the Democrats released an open letter to George Bush demanding a change in policy for Iraq and the war on terror. The letter takes five paragraphs to get to the point, and even then doesn't do much more than present general goals rather than any clear changes to current policy: Therefore, we urge you once again to consider changes to your Iraq policy. We propose a new direction, which would include: (1) transitioning the U.S. mission in Iraq to counter-terrorism, training, logistics and force protection; (2) beginning the phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq before the end of this year; (3) working with Iraqi leaders to disarm the militias and to develop a broad-based and sustainable political settlement, including amending the Constitution to achieve a fair sharing of power and resources; and (4) convening an international conference and contact group to support a political settlement in Iraq, to...
September 6, 2006
GOP Spent Millions ... On Lieberman? Doubt It!
I know the White House would prefer to see Joe Lieberman beat Ned Lamont in the Connecticut general election, but the story reported by Insight Magazine seems pretty far-fetched. Yesterday evening, the online publication asserted that the White House has funneled millions of dollars in Republican contributions to Lieberman's independent re-election bid: The White House funneled millions of dollars through major Republican Party contributors to Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s primary campaign in a failed effort to ensure the support of the former Democrat for the Bush administration. A senior GOP source said the money was part of Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove's strategy to maintain a Republican majority in the Senate in November. The source said Mr. Rove, together with Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, directed leading pro-Bush contributors to donate millions of dollars to Mr. Lieberman's campaign for re-election in Connecticut in an attempt that he...
Even The Gray Lady Has Run Out Of Patience
The unmasking of Richard Armitage as the source for the leak of Valerie Plame's identity has brought about a hail of recriminations on independent prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. Most people now understand the entire exercise as a waste of time and an example of prosecutorial malfeasance, given that the culprit confessed on the fifth day of a three-year investigation. Now even the New York Times editorial board -- which has some responsibility for stirring up the political firestorm that resulted in Fitzgerald's appointment -- says that the time has come for Fitzgerald to either show his cards or fold: It’s conceivable that Patrick Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor, has evidence that suggests the information in the memo was used in some illegal manner. Or his investigators may have learned something troubling about the second, unknown, source cited in Mr. Novak’s column, or about some other illegal activity. But whatever it is needs...
September 7, 2006
Spending Updates At The Heritage Blog
The Heritage Foundation Policy Blog has two new posts this week on federal spending and entitlement reform, written by yours truly. Pork Proportionality looks at an article in The Hill which looks at the allocation of earmarks in conjunction with elections and the risk involved in the campaigns. For practiced skeptics, this will not provide any shock, but perhaps the direct correlation will surprise some. In the second, Medicare Shell Games, I point out how Congress and the White House decided to show a savings in the Medicare program this fiscal year. Hint: the end of the fiscal year comes in four weeks. It also has some great links to Heritage recommendations by Dr. Robert Moffitt for entitlement reform. Be sure to read both, and keep your eye on the Heritage blog now that Congress has returned from vacation....
A Rumor A Day Keeps The Fringies Away
Does anyone else get the distinct feeling that we're seeing a whispering campaign getting started against Joe Lieberman? Two days ago, Insight reported the all-but-unbelievable allegation that the Republicans sent millions of dollars into Joe Lieberman's campaign -- in the middle of a brutal midterm campaign where the GOP's control of Congress is in real danger. Today, the gossip du jour in Connecticut has Lieberman replacing Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon: Since Senator Joseph I. Lieberman lost last month’s Democratic primary in Connecticut, a rumor has gained new life — particularly among his liberal critics — that President Bush might nominate him to replace Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, should Mr. Rumsfeld be ousted as many Democrats have demanded. Mr. Lieberman, now running as an independent, has denied any interest in the job, and the White House has said it stands behind Mr. Rumsfeld. But that did not stop...
How I Will Spend 9/11
As we approach the fifth anniversary of 9/11, many people wonder how best to spend the day in remembrance of the attacks that killed almost 3,000 of our fellow Americans, almost all of them civilians. Some will spend the day in prayer, while others will watch the several retrospectives on the attacks that will be featured on television. Others may prefer to ignore the event and avoid the controversy and hype. I'll be doing something different. I have been invited to a panel discussion at Macalester College in Saint Paul on Monday evening on the Iraq war. The debate is sponsored by Democracy for America, which has invited three other speakers to debate the war. The speakers include Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Univ. of St. Thomas Peace and Justice Studies professor; Phil Steger, Friends for a Nonviolent World director; and Lou Ellingson. Swift Boat retired Navy captain and small business owner. Lou...
Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory
After the story broke on the artistic license taken by ABC in its upcoming miniseries on the 9/11 attacks, Clinton administration officials and Democrats in general had a good case for protesting. After all, Republicans had bitterly criticized CBS for its miniseries, "The Reagans", when it proved overly dramatized and factually inaccurate, eventually getting it pulled to another Viacom outlet (Showtime). However, not content with merely reasonably protesting questionable script choices, the Democrats in Congress have issued a thinly-veiled threat against ABC's broadcast license: We write with serious concerns about the planned upcoming broadcast of The Path to 9/11 mini-series on September 10 and 11. Countless reports from experts on 9/11 who have viewed the program indicate numerous and serious inaccuracies that will undoubtedly serve to misinform the American people about the tragic events surrounding the terrible attacks of that day. Furthermore, the manner in which this program has been...
September 8, 2006
Armitage 'Fesses Up
Richard Armitage finally confesses to his role as the leaker who revealed Valerie Plame's name and status to two different reporters. He claims that he could not speak out until Patrick Fitzgerald released him from his pledge to remain silent -- and said George Bush wanted it that way: Expressing regret for his actions and apologies to his administration colleagues, Richard L. Armitage, the former deputy secretary of state, confirmed Thursday that he was the primary source who first told a columnist about the intelligence officer at the center of the C.I.A. leak case. “It was a terrible error on my part,” Mr. Armitage said in an interview, discussing his conversations with reporters. He added: “There wasn’t a day when I didn’t feel like I had let down the president, the secretary of state, my colleagues, my family and the Wilsons. I value my ability to keep state secrets. This...
Monkey Festing?
Just a couple of weeks after Democrats went into high dudgeon over the poor treatment given one of their oppo researchers at a George Allen event and claiming Allen is a closet racist, the James Webb campaign has pulled much the same kind of boner. Staffers have organized a protest at an Allen event celebrating ethnicity that they have termed "Monkey Fest": Imagine: You are on the road looking for a quick place to grab a bite to eat and up ahead of you – just past the stop light are a dozen furry and yellow-peeled creatures – a gathering of monkeys, gorillas, and bananas. They are dead serious about their message: “Racism is NOT a family value.” But they are having a great time monkeying around with yellow balloons and bananas to give away. You think to yourself: “Perfect! A free snack!” as you pull over, park, and join...
Cantwell Provided $11 Million To Lobbyist/Advisor's Clients
Senator Maria Cantwell, running in a tight race for re-election in Washington, provided millions of dollars in federal spending to clients of a lobbyist that also serves as an advisor on her campaign. The AP reports that Cantwell's former campaign manager, Ron Dotzauer, represents clients who got $9.6 million in earmarks on a dam project and another client that received $2 million for biotechnology efforts: Cantwell, a Democrat who is in a tight re-election race, has reported for years that former campaign manager Ron Dotzauer owes her between $15,000 and $50,000 for a personal loan predating her first Senate election in 2000. Dotzauer now runs a lobbying firm. The loan was still listed as outstanding on the financial disclosure report Cantwell filed in May. The senator's office said Dotzauer continues to advise informally Cantwell's campaign as an unpaid adviser. Since last fall, Cantwell has helped persuade Senate appropriators to set...
September 11, 2006
Pilots Fight Background Checks For Flight Schools
On the day when we remember the 2,996 people killed by terrorists who used their limited flight-school training to turn commercial airliners into guided missiles, the New York Sun reports that the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association plans to fight a New York law requiring background checks for students at flight schools. In the five years after 9/11, only New York has such a requirement: The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is considering filing a lawsuit against New York to block legislation signed by Governor Pataki that would require flight training schools to force its student applicants to undergo background checks before they start instruction. The Maryland-based association, which had lobbied aggressively against the legislation, is claiming that the state lacks jurisdiction over aviation security requirements for student pilots. It also is warning that the checks would drive away business from New York flight schools by making it more difficult...
September 12, 2006
Zogby: Santorum Within Range
The internal poll leaked from the race for the Pennsylvania Senate seat late last week appears to have been accurate. According to a new Zogby poll, Rick Santorum has come from twenty points down to a 47-43 gap, almost within the poll's margin of error. Bob Casey, Jr has squandered a massive lead and has lost the momentum. In fact, Republicans have suddenly gained momentum almost across the board: In two of the other hottest Senate contests this fall, vulnerable GOP incumbents have suddenly closed the gap on their challengers. Republicans Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Mike DeWine of Ohio, both of whom were down by wide margins essentially all year, have suddenly narrowed the edge of their Democratic challengers to four points. The survey shows that in Pennsylvania, the presence of third-party candidates suggests an even closer race, with left-wing candidates siphoning votes from moderate Democrat Bob Casey Jr....
Gas Prices Tumbling
In another bad omen for Democrats hoping to ride a wave of voter anger into power, gas prices have dropped dramatically over the last few weeks. USA Today reports what every driver has noticed when they hit the pumps: Gasoline prices continue to tumble, almost free-falling toward levels not seen in five months. The nationwide average for regular was $2.618 a gallon, the Energy Information Administration reported Monday. That was 10.9 cents lower than a week earlier. "The reason prices are going down so far so fast is that they shouldn't have been that high in the first place. Two reasons they were: fear and speculation," says Mike O'Connor, president of the Virginia Petroleum, Convenience and Grocery Association. It represents gasoline distributors who operate about 4,000 stations. ... Although motorists worried that once the $3 barrier was pierced, prices never would fall much, the current drop-offs are logical, Gamson says:...
September 13, 2006
Angelides Staff Hacks?
Last week, anonymous sources released an audio file of a telephone conversation in which Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made reference to a Latina legislator as "very hot". The heat may now focus on the Governator's political opponent in the upcoming election, as the campaign of Phil Angelides acknowledged that they released the audio: The campaign of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Democratic rival acknowledged Tuesday that it downloaded — and leaked to the media — a recording of a private meeting in which the governor described a Hispanic legislator as having a "very hot" personality. But Cathy Calfo, campaign manager for Democrat Phil Angelides, said the campaign had done nothing wrong because the file was available publicly on the governor's Web site. "No one hacked," Calfo said at a news conference to address the role played by the Angelides campaign, first reported by The Sacramento Bee. "They accessed information that was available to...
Primaries Offer Few Surprises
The final series of primaries swept through several states last night, and unlike in previous years, they featured interesting and competitive races in many places. None of them produced any big surprises, however, as the frontrunners won across the board. In Rhode Island, Lincoln Chafee kept his re-election bid on track by holding off a surprisingly strong bid by Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey. The final margin of victory appears to have been around eight points, indicating a tough race for Chafee in November. Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse has kept a thin lead over Chafee in polling over the last few months, but his margin has narrowed in the last few weeks. Laffey has promised to support Chafee and endorsed him last night in his concession speech, but that may not be enough to get Republicans who have tired of Chafee's voting record to come to the polls. I had endorsed Laffey...
Novak Tees Off On Armitage
The other shoe has dropped in the Armitage-Plame scandal, and I don't mean Valerie Plame's addition of Richard Armitage to her lawsuit. Robert Novak, now free to discuss the sourcing for his infamous column that unmasked Plame as a CIA "operative", says that Armitage has gotten stuck in the spin cycle in his mea culpas over the past two weeks. In facr, far from the inadvertent disclosure between friends that Armitage paints it, Novak explains that the disclosure was quite deliberate: A peculiar convergence had joined Armitage and me on the same historical path. During his quarter of a century in Washington, I had no contact with Armitage before our fateful interview. I tried to see him in the first 2 years of the Bush administration, but he rebuffed me — summarily and with disdain, I thought. Then, without explanation, in June 2003, Armitage’s office said the deputy secretary would...
September 14, 2006
Ask. Tell. Enlist.
Once again, the issue of gays in the military has arisen during a tough recruiting period and questions about the reserve strength of the armed forces. The New York Times reports that gay-rights groups have seen this situation as a potentially propitious moment to breathe new life into the debate, five years into the war on terror: As the Pentagon’s search for soldiers grows more urgent, gay rights groups are making the biggest push in nearly a decade to win repeal of a compromise policy, encoded in a 1993 law and dubbed “don’t ask, don’t tell,” that bars openly gay people from serving in the military. The policy, grounded in a belief that open homosexuality is damaging to unit morale and cohesion, stipulates that gay men and lesbians must serve in silence and refrain from homosexual activity, and that recruiters and commanders may not ask them about their sexual orientation...
September 15, 2006
Will Gas Prices Continue Tumbling?
As I drove home from work yesterday, I noticed that local gas stations now sell regularl unleaded at $2.17 per gallon, a level I have not seen in many months, perhaps before Hurricane Katrina took a large part of our production off line. Now analysts predict that oil prices may start a free-fall if the winter proves mild, perhaps sending pump prices to levels not seen in years (via Power Line): The recent sharp drop in the global price of crude oil could mark the start of a massive sell-off that returns gasoline prices to lows not seen since the late 1990s — perhaps as low as $1.15 a gallon. "All the hurricane flags are flying" in oil markets, said Philip Verleger, a noted energy consultant who was a lone voice several years ago in warning that oil prices would soar. Now, he says, they appear to be poised for...
Bush Ratings Rally Contributing To GOP Support?
With the midterms approaching, George Bush's approval ratings have started peaking, Rasmussen reports, with a 47% approval rating. That's his best rating since mid-February, and Rasmussen says that's no coincidence. In February the White House took a beating over the abortive Dubai ports deal, a story that broke just days before that last peak. That issue caused massive conservative outrage, probably unfairly, and dropped Bush into the 30s, where he spent most of the spring. Now he has rebounded, and in time for the elections -- and that's no coincidence either. With control of Congress at risk, conservatives have rethought their anger towards the Bush administration. Rasmussen notes that 85% of Republicans now approve of Bush's performance, a large improvement from the mid-60s. Whether that comes from 9/11 retrospectives or from a renewed sense of Bush's commitment to the war on terror, it seems to have some coattails. For instance,...
September 16, 2006
Na Na Ney Ney Goodbye
Bob Ney became the first lawmaker to admit corruption in connection with Jack Abramoff yesterday, pleading guilty to conspiracy and false statements regarding gifts he received. Ney came up with a new excuse for his abrupt fall as he entered his plea: Representative Bob Ney of Ohio admitted Friday that he had effectively put his office up for sale to corrupt Washington lobbyists and a foreign businessman in exchange for illegal gifts that included lavish overseas trips, the use of skyboxes at sports arenas in the Washington area and thousands of dollars worth of gambling chips from London casinos. In a plea agreement announced by the Justice Department, Mr. Ney, a six-term Republican who once seemed poised to rise far in the House leadership, admitted to a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy and to making false statements about the gifts. With the agreement, Mr. Ney became the first member of Congress to...
September 17, 2006
Jefferson's Corruption Goes Beyond Bribery (Bumped)
When the FBI found $90,000 of cash in William Jefferson's freezer and raided his office on Capitol Hill, many observers believed that law enforcement suspected the Louisiana Congressman of the usual pedestrian corruption -- taking money from special interests and shooting federal money into their pockets, as well as his. However, as Christopher Drew reports in the New York Times, Jefferson had a much more far-reaching abuse of power in mind. Instead, he had conspired to wrest control of iGate from its founder, Vernon Jackson, and exploit the company for the benefit of his family: For nearly five years, the inventor and the congressman had carried the message that Mr. Jackson’s company, iGate, could help close the “digital divide” by delivering high-speed Internet access to poor blacks around the world. They had flown to Africa to seek business opportunities, and they had talked up iGate to potential partners at the...
September 18, 2006
AP Prefers Anecdotes To Real Data
As we approach the midterms, the media will attempt to kneecap Republicans on one of the issues where they can point to real success: the economy. Over the last three years, as the last of the tax cuts came into force and provided more incentive for investment, the economy and job growth have both erupted, resulting in one of the biggest booms over the last twenty years -- and this just after the 9/11 attacks designed to crush our capacity for growth. In doing so, media sources will avoid talking about real data and go on a search for individuals experiencing hard times, arguing a standard that no economy can be good for the nation as long as a few individuals have not prospered from it. Meet Liz Sidoti, who takes that approach in a release today from the AP, one that will no doubt be reprinted in thousands of...
September 19, 2006
Union Shifts To Lamont After Primary
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has switched its endorsement from Joe Lieberman to Ned Lamont in a curious about-face after the primaries. Before Lieberman lost to Lamont, AFSCME had enthusiastically supported the incumbent with his long record of union-friendly votes. Somehow that became less of a concern to AFSCME leadership in the five weeks since: The switch by the union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, is the biggest labor boost Mr. Lamont has received since winning the Democratic primary last month. The support of the union, which represents about 35,000 members, shows that Mr. Lamont has chipped away at enough of Mr. Lieberman’s union support to make it most likely that the state A.F.L.-C.I.O., the umbrella group of state labor organizations, will stay neutral in the Senate general election. Both Mr. Lieberman and Mr. Lamont had lobbied the municipal union for its...
Funny, She Doesn't Look Reporterish
One of the strangest moments in the recent history of political debates took place yesterday in Virginia, where former Reagan aide James Webb is challenging incumbent George Allen for the Senate. Instead of asking a question about issues that Senators will address in future sessions of Congress, a television reporter decided to ask Allen whether his mother has Jewish blood: At a debate in Tysons Corner yesterday between Republican Allen and Democrat Webb, WUSA-TV's Peggy Fox asked Allen, the tobacco-chewing, cowboy-boot-wearing son of a pro football coach, if his Tunisian-born mother has Jewish blood. "It has been reported," said Fox, that "your grandfather Felix, whom you were given your middle name for, was Jewish. Could you please tell us whether your forebears include Jews and, if so, at which point Jewish identity might have ended?" Allen recoiled as if he had been struck. His supporters in the audience booed and...
September 21, 2006
Democratic Nonsense On Allen's Heritage Made Clear
Today's Washington Post explodes the myth that Senator George Allen hid his Jewish heritage from voters out of shame or fear of the reaction from Virginia voters. After a whispering campaign by Allen's political opponents regarding the religion of his grandfather Felix Lumbroso, whom the Nazis jailed in Tunis during the African campaign, Allen finally confronted his mother last month about the rumors, when she confirmed that she had been raised as a Jew in North Africa. Michael Shear went to the source, interviewing Etty Allen herself: Henrietta "Etty" Allen said Wednesday that she concealed her upbringing as a Jew in North Africa from her children, including Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), until a conversation across the dining room table in late August. She said Allen asked her directly about his Jewish heritage when he was in Los Angeles for a fundraiser. "We sat across the table and he said, 'Mom,...
Deal Reached On Terror Interrogations
The White House reached agreement on language that will allow the CIA and military intelligence to interrogate captured high-value terrorists using techniques proven to work while complying with the Supreme Court's Hamdan mandate to bring all such detentions in compliance with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. The agreement allows Republicans to push through the new legislation as a united group and to bridge differences between the Senate and House. It caps a four-day effort to meet three dissenting Republicans in a compromise all could support: The White House and rebellious Senate Republicans announced agreement Thursday on rules for the interrogation and trial of suspects in the war on terror. President Bush urged Congress to put it into law before adjourning for the midterm elections. “I’m pleased to say that this agreement preserves the single most potent tool we have in protecting America and foiling terrorist attacks,” the president...
September 22, 2006
Even The British Can Diagnose Democratic Fecklessness
The fading fortunes of the Democratic Party in the run-up to the midterm elections have become common knowledge even thousands of miles away. Only a few weeks ago, Democrats confidently discussed the chair assignments in a House run by a Speaker Pelosi instead of a Speaker Hastert. Now that confidence has deflated, and even the Times of London can diagnose the bumblings of a national party with no real agenda: AFTER months of near-euphoria among Democrats and a growing certainty among pollsters that the party will win control of the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate in November’s midterm elections, doubts are beginning to creep in. ... To the dismay of Democrats, still scarred by the way that Mr Bush used the spectre of terrorism — and their perceived weakness on the issue — to win re-election in 2004 and gain seats for Republicans on Capitol Hill in 2002,...
September 24, 2006
The October Surprise Meme Arises Again
At one time, paranoid conspiracists comprised only the lunatic fringe of American politics. Yesterday, former Senator Gary Hart reminded us of why Democrats have managed to lose three straight elections that they should have won by announcing that the Bush administration would attack Iran in order to win the midterm elections: It should come as no surprise if the Bush Administration undertakes a preemptive war against Iran sometime before the November election. Were these more normal times, this would be a stunning possibility, quickly dismissed by thoughtful people as dangerous, unprovoked, and out of keeping with our national character. But we do not live in normal times. And we do not have a government much concerned with our national character. If anything, our current Administration is out to remake our national character into something it has never been. Hart has it exactly backwards: we have an opposition party that has...
September 25, 2006
McCain Can't Keep His Mouth Shut
During the negotiations over the legislation intended to authorize CIA detentions and interrogations of terrorists, officials in all agencies and in Congress took pains to avoid specifying the kinds of techniques approved or forbidden by the competing proposals. The CIA and the White House explicitly told reporters that revealing those techniques could allow terrorists to prepare for future interrogations. So it probably surprised everyone when John McCain decided to reveal the limits within the compromise legislation on national television yesterday: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) named three measures that he said would no longer be allowed under a provision barring techniques that cause serious mental or physical suffering by U.S. detainees: extreme sleep deprivation, forced hypothermia and "waterboarding," which simulates drowning. He also said other "extreme measures" would be banned. McCain's remarks were unusual because public officials involved in the lengthy public debate about U.S. interrogation practices have rarely made specific...
'A Rather Hyperactive Imagination'
The campaign for Senate in Virginia has descended into one of the most mud-filled dirty contests in recent history. Not since the nomination of Clarence Thomas has a political campaign stooped as low as have the supporters of Jim Webb against incumbent George Allen. Ken Shelton, one of Allen's long-time critics and once a college-football teammate of Allen, suddenly recalled -- after several years of opposing Allen politically -- that Allen regularly used a particularly vile racial epithet during his years at the University of Virginia: "Allen said he came to Virginia because he wanted to play football in a place where 'blacks knew their place,'" said Dr. Ken Shelton, a white radiologist in North Carolina who played tight end for the University of Virginia football team when Allen was quarterback. "He used the N-word on a regular basis back then." A second white teammate, who spoke on the condition...
September 26, 2006
Rice Strikes Back
Condoleezza Rice stepped out of character for just a moment yesterday and responded forcefully to allegations Bill Clinton made during his Fox News Sunday interview with Chris Wallace. The New York Post reports that the Secretary of State allowed herself a rare moment of anger when defending herself against Clinton's attacks on the Bush administration: Rice hammered Clinton, who leveled his charges in a contentious weekend interview with Chris Wallace of Fox News Channel, for his claims that the Bush administration "did not try" to kill Osama bin Laden in the eight months they controlled the White House before the Sept. 11 attacks. "The notion somehow for eight months the Bush administration sat there and didn't do that is just flatly false - and I think the 9/11 commission understood that," Rice said during a wide-ranging meeting with Post editors and reporters. "What we did in the eight months was...
Deer In The Headlights
The stories accusing George Allen of using the N-word continue to look stranger and stranger. Yesterday's revelation that Larry Sabato, Virginia's most well-known political scientist, joined another former Allen classmate, Christopher Taylor, in publicly accusing Allen of using the racial epithet. However, these sourcings have also begun to look rather peculiar. Now Sabato appears to be backing away from his first-person claim, telling Chris Matthews that he was relaying information from other sources and declining to identify them: Sabato, who made his comments during an interview on Chris Matthews' "Hardball" program on MSNBC, later declined to specifically identify his sources. "My sources are former classmates who came to me with stories that matched up," Sabato said late Monday night. "I never solicited them. They came to me during the past few months." Initially, Sabato's claims suggested that Allen used the word around Sabato himself, but the two never spent any...
September 27, 2006
The Washington Post Fact-Checks A Useless Debate
Last week I wrote about the futility of the debate about who did what regarding terrorism before 9/11. All sides have once again dragged out their shibboleths all over again, and once again the debate has done nothing to make the nation safer -- but it has at least prompted a fact-checking exercise at the Washington Post. Granted, it comes at the end of the article, but at least someone bothered to do it in a rational manner: And Jay Carson, a spokesman for Bill Clinton, rejected Rice's contention: "Every single fact that President Clinton stated in his interview is backed up by the historical record -- including the 9/11 commission report. Everything President Clinton said was flatly correct." Some of Clinton's statements on Fox have drawn scrutiny. He said that after the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, "I had battle plans drawn to go into Afghanistan, overthrow...
The Real NIE Revelations
The Bush administration's decision to declassify the conclusions of the National Intelligence Estimate yesterday revealed two truths about politics and the intelligence community, neither of which appear very complimentary. First, the Democrats allowed themselves to get outfoxed on national security yet again by allowing themselves to get hysterical and seriously misrepresent the conclusions of the NIE. As the Washington Post reports, Democrats made a lot of extraordinary claims about the NIE, which the report itself doesn't support: President Bush took the extraordinary step of releasing portions of the classified report, which was completed in April, to counter assertions made after information from the document was leaked to media outlets over the weekend. Reports based on those leaks said the report blames the war in Iraq for worsening the global terrorist threat -- an interpretation that the administration calls a distortion of its contents. Speaking at a White House news conference...
Party Time In The Twin Cities!
I decided to do a little lunch-time blogging, which I normally avoid these days, and it turns out I picked the right moment for it. The AP reports that the Republican Party has selected the Twin Cities for its 2008 national convention: The four-day event will be held at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., home of the National Hockey League's Minnesota Wild. By choosing the Twin Cities for 2008, the GOP will ensure plenty of news converge in media markets in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa _ all battleground states in the 2004 election and ones expected to be competitive in the next presidential race. Minnesota had been seen by some as an unlikely host, with just 10 electoral votes and the nation's longest streak of voting for Democratic presidential candidates. In 2004, Democrat John Kerry won the state 51 percent to 48 percent. The last Republican to...
September 28, 2006
House Sends Detainee Bill To Senate
The controversial legislation that establishes military tribunals and the rules for trying captured terrorists passed the House yesterday afternoon, on a somewhat bipartisan vote. It now heads to the Senate for debate, but so far it appears to have enough support to pass: The House this afternoon approved a new approach to interrogating and trying terror suspects and the Senate opened debate on the legislation, as Congress sought to create a system that could wring information from terrorists and bring them to justice in a way that meets court scrutiny. Despite serious objections from some Democrats and a few Republicans, the legislation appeared headed to approval, delivering Republicans and President Bush one of the accomplishments on national security they hoped to achieve before the election. The bill passed the House by a vote of 253 to 168. “The time to act is now,” said Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader,...
September 29, 2006
Did The Washington Post Miss Its Own Story Yesterday?
The Washington Post editorial board attempts to recap the mudslinging in the George Allen-James Webb race for Allen's Senate seat, but while announcing that it considers allegations of decades-old use of racial epithets germane, it fails to account for all of the accusations in the contest. This seems rather odd, since the Post slams Allen for his alleged use of the N-word but never mentions the allegations reported yesterday about Webb's use of it and purported race-based assaults on Watts residents. What's odd about that? That story got reported ... by the Washington Post: DID REPUBLICAN Sen. George Allen use racial slurs years ago? Did his Democratic challenger, James Webb? Does it matter, in a race between two candidates with long public records and substantial differences on Iraq, health care, the economy and other critical issues? Yes, it does matter. Mr. Allen said he does not recall having used what...
Stabenow In Trouble? Maybe
The Democrats have salivated over the historic trend of midterms, hoping to gain enough seats in both chambers of Congress to wrest control away from the Republicans. However, a series of polls shows that their hopes in the Senate may come to naught as they may prove unable to hold the seats they already have. The latest to show weakness is Debbie Stabenow in Michigan, where anti-incumbent fervor and a lackluster record have threatened her first-term seat: The fever among voters to throw incumbents out of office -- furiously stoked by Democrats in Washington -- might backfire in this state, where Republicans are riding a surge of voter discontent. With Democrats holding both Senate seats and the governor's mansion, Michigan is suffering the worst economy of any state in the nation. The state's unemployment rate is nearly twice the national average of 4.7 percent, and the auto industry is losing...
Foley's Folly (Updated)
Sometimes people say that politics make them feel unclean, but this story will amplify that exponentially. Rep. Mark Foley, a Republican from Florida with an almost-assured re-election bid, has resigned from Congress after harrassing a teen-age intern. His abrupt departure leaves his organization bereft of its chair -- the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children: Saying he was "deeply sorry," Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned from Congress today, hours after ABC News questioned him about sexually explicit internet messages with current and former congressional pages under the age of 18. A spokesman for Foley, the chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, said the congressman submitted his resignation in a letter late this afternoon to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. ... They say he used the screen name Maf54 on these messages provided to ABC News. Maf54: You in your boxers, too? Teen: Nope, just...
September 30, 2006
A Perspective On Democratic Outrage Over Mark Foley
The Republican leadership in the House has plenty for which to answer over their laissez-faire treatment of Mark Foley when allegations of improper contact with underage pages first came to their attention. Despite knowing of Foley's "inappropriate" behavior this spring, Majority Leader John Boehner did nothing about it, after hearing that the parents of the page wanted the matter dropped. Regardless, the actions of Foley reflected badly on the GOP and the House, and action should have been taken at the time to punish Foley. Surely, the Republicans could at least have removed him from the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children. However, Democratic protestations on this matter seem rather hypocritical, given the history of their party and page scandals: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who introduced a privileged resolution friday night to require an ethics probe, criticized Republican leaders, who she said, "have known of the egregious...
Hastert Knew While Foley Flew
Well, well, well. It appears the Republicans actually can make the Foley controversy worse. As if it wasn't bad enough that John Boehner knew about Foley's track record of sexual harassment of his underage pages, now it turns out that Speaker Denny Hastert lied about what he knew and when he knew it. Roll Call reports that Thomas Reynolds (R-NY), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told Hastert about Foley's predatory actions in late winter or early spring of this year: National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds (N.Y.) issued a statement Saturday in which he said that he had informed Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) of allegations of improper contacts between then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and at least one former male page, contradicting earlier statements from Hastert.' GOP sources said Reynolds told Hastert earlier in 2006, shortly after the February GOP leadership elections. Hastert's response to Reynolds' warning...
October 1, 2006
What's The Difference Between The Mafia And Congress? Scale
Ever wonder how caucuses in the House choose their leadership? In the Senate, it comes from seniority. In the House, they determine it like a multi-level marketing plan. As the New York Times reports, money talks ... loudly: To move up the ladder in Congress, you must do more than win votes. You are, quite literally, expected to pay your dues. If you are a rank-and-file member of the House, the amount is up to $100,000. If your ambitions are to preside over a powerful committee, the duty is $300,000. For a top party leader, the tally can climb beyond $600,000. Make those checks payable to the Republican or Democratic Congressional campaign committees. ... Four years after Congress tried to reduce the influence of money in politics by rewriting the rules of how campaigns are financed, Republicans and Democrats alike have found myriad replacements for the river of financial contributions...
October 2, 2006
Whatever Happened To ... Katie Barge?
A couple of local bloggers have tracked down one of the Democratic operatives responsible for stealing Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele's confidential credit report last year. My NARN colleague Michael Brodkorb found Katie Barge, late of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, now working for Media Matters: Prior to founding Media Matters, David Brock met with a number of leading Democratic Party figures, including Senator Hillary Clinton, former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, and former Vice President Al Gore. Today, more than a few of the organization’s roughly 30 staff members are Democratic operatives. Among these are Media Matters’ chief communications strategist Dennis Yedwab, who is also the Director of Strategic Resources at Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Brock’s personal assistant, Mandy Vlasz, is a Democratic pollster and a veteran consultant to Democratic campaigns, including the 2000 Gore/Lieberman campaign. Katie Barge, the Director of Research at Media Matters, formerly presided over...
October 3, 2006
Rate Of Increase In Federal Budget Highest Since 1990
Brian Riedl at the Heritage Foundation has taken a look at the growth in federal spending, and sounds the alarm in a new analysis. Riedl points out the shell game played by Congress in this session that has allowed spending to increase at the highest rate in sixteen years: Federal spending in 2006 is set to rise 9 percent, the largest increase since 1990 and enough to earn Congress near failing grades from the Heritage Foundation’s third quarter report card.[1] Most families facing steep new expenses would cut back on additional spending. However, the Senate is preparing to bust fiscal year (FY) 2007 discretionary spending caps by at least $32 billion to: 1. Reimburse the Pentagon for the $9 billion raided from its budget earlier this year and given to domestic programs, as well as fund additional defense and border security programs ($26.8 billion in total); 2. Fund another massive...
When He Tells Us He Got Abducted By Aliens, Call Me
After having salacious messages to teenage boys exposed by ABC News last week, disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley disappeared, later turning up at a mental-health facility claiming that he suffers from alcoholism. When that apparently didn't turn down the heat, his lawyer dragged out another pop-culture form of victimhood in a supposedly "blockbuster" press conference: Former Rep. Mark Foley's attorney said Tuesday that his client was molested between the ages 13 and 15 by a clergyman. Foley had represented the West Palm Beach district for 12 years and was seeking re-election until his sudden resignation last week after the disclosure of lurid online communications with teenage congressional pages. "This is part of his recovery," Roth said, declining to identify the clergyman or the church. Ah, yes. Alcoholism has become rather passe' these days, what with Bob Ney ostentantiously checking himself into a treatment center after his guilty verdict for corruption....
October 4, 2006
A Conversation Among Conservatives
Last night, I had the opportunity to participate in a round-table discussion with a few excellent bloggers of the Right regarding the Foley debacle and its implications. The conference call was hosted by Conservatives With Attitude and is now podcasted here. Joining hosts Michael Ross and Michael "A.J. Sparxx" Illions were myself, Lorie Byrd of Wizbangblog, Betsy Newmark of BetsysPage and John Hawkins of RightWingNews. I enjoyed the discussion, even though I was in the minority on the issue. We talked for about forty minutes or so, and I think CQ readers will enjoy the debate. We decided afterwards that we would like to make this a semi-regular affair, so keep your eyes peeled for more podcasted debates with this panel in the future....
October 7, 2006
I Love Canadian Troops, Too!
Readers of CQ know that I follow Canadian politics and have become something of a Canada-phile ever since the Gomery Inquiry. Canadians, I have found, are friendly, gracious people, and their country has a well-deserved reputation for hospitality. I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the Canadian military, which has a long tradition of honorable service, and they are currently adding to and enhancing that reputation in Afghanistan in the fight against radical Islamist terrorists. Too many Americans seem disinterested in our northern neighbor and close ally. I'm always delighted when Americans take an interest in Canadians -- even when those Americans are Democrats. Michelle Malkin reports that the Democratic Party made a big show of "supporting the troops", and to be fair, they didn't specify their nationality: That picture looked pretty strange to one of Michelle's military readers, and a little poking around turned up where...
October 8, 2006
DNC Still Can't Find An American Soldier To Support
The Democratic Party website has been changed since the discovery that they used a picture of a Canadian soldier on the page that proclaimed their support for "our troops". Apparently, though, they still can't find a picture of an American soldier to support: Does anyone at the DNC know what an American soldier looks like? They accuse the Republicans of hiding behind the flag all too often. This appears to be a much more blatant example than anything I've seen from the GOP. UPDATE: Even the photo at the top of the page is suspect. Fred, in the comments, notes that the people cheering with fists upraised comes from a stock-photo website....
October 9, 2006
Pelosi Speech A Revelation In More Than One Way
Hugh Hewitt points to a speech by Nancy Pelosi that seems rather interesting in light of today's nuclear test by North Korea -- but also in another way that Hugh missed. Pelosi spoke in April 2003 to accept an award -- to which we'll soon return -- from the Global Security Institute. In that speech, she gives her perspective on missile defense, even post-9/11, which the Democrats might want to bury: "Some of our most significant foreign relations achievements over the last 30 years were our agreements with the former Soviet Union to reduce the size of our nuclear arsenals – the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the START treaties. "Yet by shredding the ABM Treaty and flirting with the unthinkable – 'usable' battlefield nuclear weapons – the Bush Administration turns the clock back on three decades of arms control. "The United States must not create new nuclear weapons and ignite new...
October 10, 2006
Paper Trails At The Voting Booth
E. J. Dionne tackles the controversy over electronic voting machines that has arisen since their rushed implementation following the 2000 presidential election. Dionne argues that a little paranoia isn't always a bad thing: Sometimes, paranoids are right. And sometimes even when paranoids are wrong, it's worth considering what they're worried about. I speak here of all who are worried sick that those new, fancy high-tech voting systems can be hacked, fiddled with and otherwise made to record votes that aren't cast or fail to record votes that are. I do not pretend to know how large a threat this is. I do know that it's a threat to democracy when so many Americans doubt that their votes will be recorded accurately. And I also know that smart, computer-savvy people are concerned about these machines. The perfectly obvious thing is for the entire country to do what a number of states...
October 11, 2006
Allen Stock-Option Story Pays Thin Dividends
I haven't followed the latest controversy in the Allen-Webb campaign for the Virginia Senate seat, mostly because I found it less than compelling. Apparently, so do Virginia voters; they have Allen up by six points according to last week's Rasmussen poll despite the Webb campaigns weird smears of Allen as a secret Jewish racist. This kerfuffle revolves around stock options owned by Allen in 2000 that supposedly didn't get disclosed. The Webb campaign, boosted by Bloomberg News, claims that they were worth $1.1 million dollars at one point (emphasis mine): In March 2000, Allen held 60,000 options when Xybernaut shares closed at an all-time high of $23.75. That would have made the options worth $1.1 million, less commissions and fees, had Allen exercised them. At that time, Allen could have paid $5.47 and $1.56 respectively for two groups of options, sold them and pocketed the difference. He was awarded another...
India To Refine America's Gasoline
America has not built a new refinery in almost 30 years, and the increaded demand for gasoline has our existing refineries operating at near-maximum capacity. The Bush administration has often proposed easing environmental rules that handcuff refiners from opening new facilities in order to meet the new and varied demands for different mixtures for regional requirements, but to no avail. Now a massive new refinery has been built for American production of gasoline, but Americans might be surprised to discover its location: Sitting on the edge of the water in the Gulf of Kutch on India's western shore is one of America's dirty secrets. A mass of steel pipes and concrete boxes stretches across 13 square miles (33sq km) - a third of the area of Manhattan - which will eventually become the world's largest petrochemical refinery. The products from the Jamnagar complex are for foreign consumption. When complete, the...
It's The Economy, Even If The Media Doesn't Report It
Bill Clinton got elected on the James Carville slogan, "It's the economy, stupid." Fourteen years later, it's the media playing stupid, as a roaring economy has been treated with more secrecy than national-security programs by newspapers and television news channels. Michael Barone points out the hypocrisy: The Labor Department Friday announced that the number of jobs increased between April 2005 and March 2006 not by 5.8 million but by 6.6 million. As an editorial in the Wall Street Journal notes, "That's a lot more than a rounding error, more than the entire number of workers in the state of New Hampshire. What's going on here?" The most plausible explanation, advanced by the Journal and by the Hudson Institute's Diana Furchgott-Roth in the New York Sun, is that lots more jobs are being created by small businesses and individuals going into business for themselves than government statisticians can keep track of....
Harry Reid And The Culture Of Corruption
Once again, we discover why the Democrats quietly dropped their "culture of corruption" theme for the upcoming midterms. The AP catches Harry Reid without a disclosure on real-estate deals that netted him $700,000 in profit: Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't personally owned the property for three years, property deeds show. In the process, Reid did not disclose to Congress an earlier sale in which he transferred his land to a company created by a friend and took a financial stake in that company, according to records and interviews. The Nevada Democrat's deal was engineered by Jay Brown, a longtime friend and former casino lawyer whose name surfaced in a major political bribery trial this summer and in other prior organized crime investigations. He's never been charged with wrongdoing - except for a 1981 federal securities...
October 12, 2006
Cowboy Diplomacy Looks Pretty Good These Days
After ridiculing George Bush as a unilateralist cowboy for most of his term in office, the New York Times demands more unilateralism from the White House in its editorial today. The Gray Lady wants Bush to start bypassing the United Nations on a range of issues, a rather startling 180-degree turn: Closing our eyes for another two years isn’t an answer. Washington needs to assert its leadership, no matter how tattered, on all these fronts. We suspect that cargo inspections and a cutoff of military and luxury trade will not be enough to get North Korea to back down. But having started there, Mr. Bush now needs to tell China and Russia that all future relations will be judged on how they hold the North to account. Beijing and Moscow would find it harder to say no if Mr. Bush made a clear pledge — no caveats and no fingers...
Reid Offers To Disclose His Land Deal ... Five Years Late
Harry Reid, stung by the AP's exposure of his complicated land deals with a lobbyist he helped make rich through his personal interventions in Congress, has told the Senate Ethics Committee that he will file amended disclosure statements that would reveal his business relationships for the first time. Reid claims the amendment would be "technical": The Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said his office contacted the Senate ethics committee on Wednesday and offered to correct his financial disclosure statements if they misrepresented his ties to a land deal in his home state in which his family made a profit of about $700,000. In a statement, Mr. Reid did not acknowledge errors in the disclosure forms but said he was ready to make a “technical correction” if the ethics committee determined that adjustments were needed. ... In 2001, the timeline showed, ownership of the land was transferred to a...
October 13, 2006
Reid's Interventions And Family Connections, 2003 Edition
I spent most of the evening last night performing some research into the various machinations of the Harry Reid real-estate transactions that netted him a 175% return on his initial $400,000 investment, and the manner in which he hid his partnership with Jay Brown from the Senate. In this research, I discovered a Los Angeles Times article from June 2003 that outlines a lot of the structure that appears to have allowed Reid to ensure his success in his real-estate ventures. Not surprisingly, it shows Reid and his family at the center of efforts to promote developments that benefitted Reid and his cronies: Over the years, Reid has used legislation to move federal land into private hands and private land into the public realm. He says he has done so to preserve scenic and environmentally sensitive areas while freeing up more land for urban growth. Such was the case with...
October 14, 2006
Sea Of Blue? (Updated)
We're a little more than three weeks out from the midterm elections, and a sense of pessimism can be sensed from the Right. It's expressed best, although briefly, by Power Line, which takes a look at the polling reports at Real Clear Politics and sees a "sea of blue". Dafydd at Big Lizards sees most of the races that give Power Line the blues as too close to call. Hugh Hewitt remains as optimistic as ever, but Hugh is an undying font of optimism anyway. I'm inclined to lean towards Dafydd's analysis, which you should read in full. The GOP will no doubt lose seats in the midterms, but I'm not sure that the Democrats have enough momentum to wrest control of either chamber. The Senate races are more of a national campaign, but the Democrats have to pick up six seats -- and they're likely going to lose New...
October 15, 2006
A Mild Rebuke From The Home Town Paper
Harry Reid's financial shenanigans have caused a bigger stumble than he first thought. After hanging up on an AP reporter who asked about the undisclosed transaction that hid his partnership with a controversial Las Vegas attorney, Reid has sounded a much more humble tone. He now promises to cooperate with the Ethics Committee on the Patrick Lane LLC land deal that netted him a 175% profit on his six-year investment in real estate, during a time when he pushed hard for freeing federal land in Clark County to spur development. The Las Vegas Review-Journal sounds unconvinced in its editorial today: The Associated Press on Wednesday reported that our own Sen. Reid may have violated Senate rules by failing to report the 2001 transfer of land he owned "to a partnership in which he maintained a personal stake." Three years later, Sen. Reid made $700,000 when the partnership sold the real...
October 16, 2006
Getting Reid Into The Mainstream Media
The New York Post runs a column I wrote this weekend covering the Harry Reid land deal that has exposed his murky connections to Nevada developers and the legislation that he sponsors to benefit them. Titled "Reid's Smelly Windfall: Back-$cratching With Developers", it brings a wider audience to the controversy: Reid has now told the Senate Ethics Committee that he'll amend his past disclosure statements to for the first time cover the business relationships that AP has exposed. But he calls the amendment "technical" - which suggests it won't explain why his original "disclosures" misled the public on the nature of a partnership that made him a $700,000 windfall. ... What Reid failed to disclose was his 2001 transfer of ownership of two parcels of land to Patrick Lane LLC - an entity in which he was partnered with one Jay Brown. AP notes that Brown is a lobbyist, with...
New York Times: House, Senate Races A Toss-Up
The New York Times has a new election-projection site that covers the Senate, House, and governor races from all around the country. Dan at Riehl World View points out that the Gray Lady seems to have a much different analysis than what we've seen from conventional wisdom, and that the GOP seems to be in the thick of it yet. In the Senate, the NYT shows that the GOP has 47 solid seats with two leaners: Virginia and Arizona. That might come as a surprise to Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, where he has held a solid lead on Jim Pederson the entire campaign. Rasmussen has Kyl with a double-digit lead in its last two polls. Democrats only have 40 solid seats, with eight leaners, including Minnesota. The latest MinnPoll shows Klobuchar up by over 20 points, which is laughable, and even the NYT understands that. Other leaners include Pennsylvania, Ohio,...
Meet The Proposed House Leadership, Part I
If the Democrats take over either or both chamber of Congress, the commitee chairs will obviously switch, in most cases to the existing ranking member of each panel. For the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which determines tax policy, a Democratic majority would place Charles Rangel in charge. Robert Novak gives Chicago Sun-Times readers a taste of what people can expect from a Rangel-led committee: Republican-oriented tax lobbyists are interpreting late-campaign solicitations as a requirement for a ticket to enter the office of Rep. Charles Rangel as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in a Democratic-controlled House. Both free-lance and corporate lobbyists have received telephone solicitations for Rangel's leadership PAC (political action committee), which distributes funds to Democratic congressional candidates who need them. Rangel is virtually unopposed in his Harlem district. The lobbyists, who give almost exclusively to Republicans, are told that the contribution would be ''a nice...
October 17, 2006
Weldon Under Investigation, Names Leaker
Rep. Curt Weldon, who had championed the investigation into the Able Danger project and had been a strident critic of the 9/11 Commission, faces a grand jury investigation into allegations of corruption involving his daughter and a Russian energy corporation. FBI agents raided the houses of his daughter and a close political ally, while Weldon insisted that the investigation was politically motivated: Federal agents raided the homes of Rep. Curt Weldon's daughter and one of his closest political supporters yesterday as part of an investigation into whether the veteran Republican congressman used his influence to benefit himself and his daughter's lobbying firm, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The investigation focuses on actions the Pennsylvania congressman took that may have aided clients of the business created by his daughter, Karen Weldon, and longtime Pennsylvania political ally Charles Sexton, according to three of the sources. ... The investigation focuses on...
How Dare You Attack Me, And By The Way, Here Are A Couple More Disclosures
Harry Reid went on offense yesterday ... of a sort. Claiming that his failure to properly disclose his partnership with Jay Brown -- an attorney with ties to a zoning-commission bribery case and reported links to organized crime -- amounted to a Republican plot to make him look dishonest, Reid filed amended disclosures five years after the fact to note the transfer of his properties into his and Brown's LLCs. His big offensive ground to a halt, though, when he revealed two other land transactions that had never been disclosed, and another mini-scandal erupted involving his use of campaign funds: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has been using campaign donations instead of his personal money to pay Christmas bonuses for the support staff at the Ritz-Carlton, where he lives in an upscale condominium. Federal election law bars candidates from converting political donations for personal use. Questioned about the expenditures by...
October 18, 2006
The Left Hates Gays?
Apparently, the Left hates gays and believes that private sexual preferences belong on the front page. BlogActive, a site known for outing closeted gays in politics, now claims that Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) has engaged in homosexual activity in the bathrooms of Union Station. Michael Rogers writes: I have done extensive research into this case, including trips to the Pacific Northwest to meet with men who have say they have physical relations with the Senator. I have also met with a man here in Washington, D.C., who says the same -- and that these incidents occurred in the bathrooms of Union Station. None of these men know each other, or knew that I was talking to others. They all reported similar personal characteristics about the Senator, which lead me to believe, beyond any doubt, that their stories are valid. He'd better hope they're correct, or he will have one hell...
Guest Blogger: Senator Rick Santorum
Please welcome Senator Rick Santorum as a guest blogger to Captain's Quarters. I asked the Senator to give me his analysis of his race and his look at the tone of the election. As you can see from his post, Senator Santorum responds quite clearly on all counts. He's figured out the blogging style as well, and perhaps we can get him to join us again soon. The Fight – We Must Keep It Up The debates are over, and I’m feeling great. Yet, I can’t deny that the heat is on to ensure voters understand the choice they’re making before they go to the polls in 20 days. And campaigning hard we are … yesterday I was in Philadelphia for several events and today I’ll be spending dusk ‘til dawn campaigning back home in Southwest PA. Those reading this blog hopefully understand the stakes in this year’s Election (Btw:...
October 19, 2006
A Little Judicial Restraint Bites The GOP In Florida
A Florida judge exercised judicial restraint and deference to the legislature in an election ruling yesterday, but don't expect the GOP to jump with joy over it. Leon County judge Janet Ferris ruled that polling places cannot post signs explaining that Mark Foley's votes will count for Joe Negron in the midterm election November 7th: A judge on Wednesday barred election supervisors from posting signs in polling places explaining that votes cast for former Representative Mark Foley would go to the substitute candidate. The judge, Janet E. Ferris of Circuit Court in Leon County, issued her decision days before voters can begin casting ballots under the early voting system of Florida. Judge Ferris, ruling on a complaint by the Florida Democratic Party, said the Legislature had not authorized such postings in its law on replacement candidates. The law requires the original candidate’s name to be the ballot if the change...
Rush: I'm Not At War With Bloggers
Rush Limbaugh spoke at length yesterday on his show, explaining his criticism of Glenn Reynolds for the "pre-mortem" that gave the Instapundit a rare long-form post this past weekend. Rush says that his motives have been misunderstood: Now, I got a couple of e-mails I was checking here during the break from people who say, "Oh, no, Rush! Don't get in a war with conservative bloggers. If the media rips you guys apart, it's all over." I am not at war with conservative bloggers. I quote countless posts from many blogs on this program. I use them as resources. I'm referring to one blog post, and I don't even know who it is. This all got started when I cringed when I saw the use of the term "premortem" on a blog site called Insta-Pundit. It hurt me; it irritated me as much as when Tom Davis, congressman from Virginia,...
Economic Hypochondria
George Will has an excellent column in today's Washington Post that touches on the most frustrating aspect of national election coverage -- the economy. He uses a perfect phrase, "economic hypochondria", to describe the irrational gloom that pervades the coverage of a massive economic expansion: "Worst economy since Herbert Hoover," John Kerry said in 2004, while that year's growth (3.9 percent) was adding to America's gross domestic product the equivalent of the GDP of Taiwan (the 19th-largest economy). Nancy Pelosi vows that if Democrats capture Congress they will "jump-start our economy." A "jump-start " is administered to a stalled vehicle. But since the Bush tax cuts went into effect in 2003, the economy's growth rate (3.5 percent) has been better than the average for the 1980s (3.1) and 1990s (3.3). Today's unemployment rate (4.6 percent) is lower than the average for the 1990s (5.8) -- lower, in fact, than the...
October 20, 2006
Speaker [Fill In The Blank]?
One of the Republican nightmares of these midterm elections can be expressed in two words: Speaker Pelosi. If the GOP loses control of the House, Nancy Pelosi would move from Minority Leader to the Speaker's chair, and assume the third position in line of succession to the Presidency. Republican candidates have spoken about the need to keep the San Francisco Leftist from that position and hope to inspire conservatives to turn out on Election Day to prevent it. However, the Washington Times reports that Democrats might not elect Pelosi as Speaker if they gain a thin majority: Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's prospects for becoming the nation's first female House speaker depend not only on a Democratic victory in November but also on her ability to prevent any Democrats from voting against her -- primarily centrists opposed to her liberal stances. At least one Democratic House candidate has pledged not to...
The Instapundit Surprise
Earlier this week, Glenn Reynolds posted a "pre-mortem" analysis on the GOP and why they may have trouble motivating voters to the polls. Many criticized Glenn for engaging in defeatism (and not just Glenn), but many do not realize that Glenn has never been much of a Republican. He's more a thinking Libertarian -- what Jon Henke calls neo-Libertarians -- who has voted with the GOP because of their strong national-security stance. I've been reading Glenn for years and understood that, but can also understand those who lacked that context for their reactions to his long post. Those who faulted him for his early analysis might want to take a look at Glenn's latest on the subject. He voted through an early-voting effort in Tennessee, and of course the big race for Volunteers is the election to replace the retiring Bill Frist. Glenn had interviewed Harold Ford and offered praise...
October 23, 2006
Casting My Vote
As it happens, I will likely be out of town on Election Day this year, so for the second time in my life, I applied for absentee ballots for the midterm elections for both the First Mate and I. Yesterday we filled out the ballots and today I'll send them off in the mail. I rather like the absentee ballot process. It gives me a little time to research the issues with the ballot in front of me, an opportunity I probably would not take otherwise. For the FM, it gives her the ability to take her time while I walk her through the voting process; even though the election officials allow me to assist her in the booth, she feels rushed and pressured with the amount of time it takes for me to read the ballot to her. Both of us supported the Republican candidates on our ballot, and...
A Spoiler In Indiana?
Democratic plans to recapture control over the House may run into an unexpected buzzsaw in Indiana. Incumbent Democrat Julia Carlson has blown a 20-point lead and now trails Republican Eric Dickerson, according to a local poll (via Right Wing News): The WTHR poll -- conducted by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, Iowa, and based on responses of 468 likely voters in the 7th Congressional District -- was startling, though, particularly in the wake of a poll of 400 likely voters, taken in September for WISH (Channel 8), that showed Carson with a lead of 20 percentage points. WTHR reported its poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Dickerson, a former auto dealer, has run his race largely on his own. He beat the Republican Party's endorsed candidate in the primary and has run his campaign with virtually no state or national support since....
James Webb, Meet Al Gore
During the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore's assertion that he had created the Internet inspired a cavlacade of criticism that continues to this day. Gore, who did help foster the growth of the Internet but could hardly claim to have created it, gained a reputation as a braggart and an egotist. Politicians used to bloviating about their accomplishments took notice and more care in ensuring that the facts supported their statements. Apparently James Webb did not get that memo. He recently claimed credit on his campaign website for proposing and leading the "fight" to include an African-American soldier in the Vietnam War soldier's memorial: In 1982 he first proposed, then led the fight for, including an African American soldier in the memorial statue that now graces the Vietnam Veterans memorial on the National Mall. Today, one of the men who truly can claim to have "led the fight" makes clear...
October 24, 2006
It's The Economy, Stupid MSM
Investor's Business Daily took the mainstream media to task over its coverage of the economy in its editorial yesterday, making the case that media outlets have a political bias against Republicans. Despite an economic boom that has created 6.6 million jobs, increased federal tax revenues, and tamed inflation while generating strong growth, the media has relentlessly focused its coverage on negative, anecdotal stories (via Newsbeat1): You are v-e-r-y tired. . . . You will believe everything I say. . . . Just keep your eye on President Bush's sinking polls. . . . Pay no attention to that low jobless rate . . . or the shrinking budget deficit . . . or the record Dow. That, it seems, is the spell that's again been cast over a strangely receptive public as the Nov. 7 election nears. Despite an economic boom that's nothing short of amazing, especially given the obstacles...
GOP Not Sharing The Wealth?
In a season where the balance of power remains at serious risk in the Senate, the Washington Times reports that some Republican Senators do not appear anxious to help protect their majority. Senators with large campaign warchests and who do not face the voters this year have made only nominal transfers to the NRSC, allowing the Democrats to gain a large advantage in the final days of the midterms: Senate Republicans with enormous campaign war chests are refusing to transfer significant amounts of money to help fellow Republicans who are cash-strapped and face defeat in the final weeks of the campaign. The stinginess alarms some of the Republican Party's top campaign strategists, especially because it is in such stark contrast to the millions of dollars that Democrats have transferred to their candidates in need. Control of the Senate will come down to a half-dozen close races next month, and both...
Meet The Proposed House Leadership, Part II
The New York Sun reviews the possible ascension of John Conyers to the chair of the House Judiciary Committee and its potential for impeachment mischief. Despite demurrals from Nancy Pelosi, Conyers has continued to sharpen his pencils in preparation for an opportunity to bring charges against George Bush, and a Democratic majority would provide that opening: John Conyers, a Democrat of Michigan, is now in line to become the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which has the authority to begin hearings and an investigation into whether the planning and selling of the Iraq war was a constitutional crime. Last week, the Washington Post first reported that if Ms. Pelosi, a Democrat of California, becomes House majority leader, she will keep the seniority system intact for selecting committee chairmen in Congress. An aide to Ms. Pelosi confirmed the report yesterday. Mr. Conyers's office has released two reports in the last year...
Meet The Democratic Leadership, Part III
Jane Harman serves on the House Intelligence Committee as the ranking Democrat on the critical national-security panel. As such, her seniority should get her the chair in the event of a Democratic majority after the midterms. However, personal and political conflicts with fellow Californian Nancy Pelosi will likely get her and her experience passed over in favor of a disgraced former federal judge: Representative Jane Harman has gained national prominence as the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, but even her supporters now concede that she is unlikely to become chairman if her party wins control of the House. Standing in her way is another California lawmaker, Representative Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats’ speaker-in-waiting, who would have the power to pick the leader of each committee. The relationship between the two has soured in recent years over political rivalries and policy disputes, and Congressional officials on both sides of the...
October 25, 2006
Misunderestimated, Again
The conventional wisdom of these midterms casts George Bush as Kryptonite to Republicans in close races, with candidates practically stumbling over themselves to achieve maximum distance from the President. The New York Times reports that conventional wisdom seems to have misunderestimated Bush again, even in a slanted news piece that offers an analysis that it proves wrong after the jump: President Bush cannot show up just anywhere in the waning days of this midterm campaign. But there is a certain class of Republicans who are somewhere between eager and willing to have him at their sides. There are those facing ethical questions or struggling to recover from gaffes. There are those desperate for the cash Mr. Bush can bring in just by showing up for lunch. There are those who need the president to turn out a demoralized base. And there are those who, like Vern Buchanan, the Republican candidate...
October 26, 2006
Is It Time For A Moon Shot On Energy?
On May 25th, 1961, President John Kennedy told the nation that America would go to the moon. The Soviet Union had beaten the US to space, launching its Sputnik satellite in 1957 and stunning Americans, who thought of the USSR as a backwards Asian nation. One month before this joint session of Congress, the Soviets beat us again, sending Yuri Gagarin into orbit in April as the first man in space and the first to orbit the earth. Alan Shepard only made it to suborbital space three weeks before this speech, a sterling achievement but a disappointment after Gagarin's mission. Kennedy faced an anxious Congress and made his bold statement: First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will...
My Two Cents On Rush
The Anchoress filled in for me today, and admirably, in two excellent posts; if you haven't read them, then for goodness' sake, start scrolling immediately. On the latest of these, though, I have to take exception with one point, where I think she has inadvertently erred. She had this comment about Rush Limbaugh's commentary on Michael J. Fox: Like Betsy Newmark, I basically think - from what I've read - that Limbaugh was very foolish in his initial response to the McCaskill ad by Fox. I'm not excusing his bloviating, but I do think I understand why Limbaugh lost it. Several CQ readers objected to this characterization of Rush's commentary, and I think rightly so. The Anchoress relied on the media's reporting on his commentary, rather than the transcript. Here is what Rush said about Fox: I must share this. I have gotten a plethora of e-mails from people saying...
October 27, 2006
Blogger Roundtable On The Economy
Once again this week, I was pleased to join Nick Gillespie of Reason Magazine and its Hit & Run blog and Judd Legum of Think Progress for another Internet chat rountable hosted by the AP's Otis Hart. This time we debated the economy and its import to the upcoming elections. Here's a taste of the conversation: asap: How do you balance the notion of free trade with the plight of American workers and the state of the environment? Edward Morrissey: I don't know that I see a "plight" when unemployment is 4.6% and private industry compensation grows faster than the rate of inflation ... Edward Morrissey: Free markets find more efficient use of resources, which tends to degrade the environment less, although not perfectly, obviously. Post-communist Eastern Europe is a great example of that. Nick Gillespie: for starters, the state of the american environment has never been better. in every...
Kean More Than Holding His Own
Thomas Kean, Jr has shown surprising strength against an incumbent Democrat in New Jersey, not normally known for its kindness to Republicans. He has tied Robert Menendez in the latest New York Times/CBS poll -- and that seems surprising in itself, considering the track record of CBS polls: Thomas H. Kean Jr., the Republican challenger for United States Senate in New Jersey, has capitalized on his father’s reputation to offset voters’ qualms about his inexperience. Senator Robert Menendez has been buoyed by discontent with President Bush. The result in this heavily Democratic state is an extremely tight race, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll. The poll suggests that Mr. Kean, a state senator, has done surprisingly well in a year when other Republicans are struggling even on friendlier turf not because of Mr. Kean himself, but because of his father, former Gov. Thomas H. Kean, one of...
You Only Get A Bigger Fire
I love politcs. I know that convention dictates that we all disparage politics, belittling the people who engage in it and questioning the sanity of those who closely follow it, but my three-year run as a blogger makes demurrals less than believable. Democracies run on politics, and I feel strongly that citizens need to engage the processes in order to achieve a truly representative government. With all of this comes a wide range of behaviors in political campaigns. Some, such as Mark Kennedy's latest advertisement, demonstrate the honor that many politicians truly have in their efforts to provide leadership. Others, such as Patty Wetterling, remind us that some will sacrifice honesty for winning if necessary. And then we have the George Allen - James Webb campaign for the Senate seat in Virginia, which I think may have set a record for mudslinging. This contest started off badly and never really...
October 28, 2006
Isn't This What We Want In The Senate?
Rick Santorum is facing the fight of his life to win re-election to the US Senate, against Bob Casey, Jr, his Democratic challenger. He has struggled to get himself back into position to compete against Casey after starting off twenty points behind. Recently, Casey delivered a horrendous performance in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, which has helped put some wind behind Santorum's sails; Casey gave an incoherent dissertation on terrorism that had jaws dropping across Pennsylvania and the nation. I've put the passage in the extended entry, and the most disturbing part of it is that the Inquirer endorsed Casey anyway. Instead, Santorum has been focused on national security and terrorism in a way that reveals Casey as the pretender he is. His new stump speech, which borrows its title from Winston Churchill (deliberately, I'm sure), is called "A Gathering Storm", and it lays out the challenge in front...
Michael Steele Corrects The Record
Michael Steele has produced a devastating advertisement in response to the ads flooding Maryland on behalf of Benjamin Cardin featuring Michael J. Fox. Fox claims to support Cardin because Steele opposes stem-cell research. However, Steele actually supports stem cell research, while Cardin voted against the kind of legislation Fox wants to pass. Steele found a spokesperson who will make the hypocrisy clear for Maryland voters -- his sister: I’m Dr. Monica Turner. Congressman Ben Cardin is attacking Michael Steele with deceptive, tasteless ads. He is using the victim of a terrible disease to frighten people all for his own political gain. Mr. Cardin should be ashamed. Here’s something you should know about Michael Steele. He does support stem cell research, and he cares deeply for those who suffer from disease. How do I know? I’m Michael Steele’s little sister. I have MS, and I know he cares about me. Dr....
The Anchoress Clarifies
Earlier this week, The Anchoress wrote two provocative and intelligent posts here at CQ (lucky me!), including one that criticized Rush Limbaugh on a particular point for the Michael J. Fox brouhaha. She has clarified her remarks but stands her ground in this new post. Be sure to read it all....
October 29, 2006
The Condescension Of HAVA
George Will has another excellent column today, this time on the paternalistic and condescending nature of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Enacted in 2002 amid a panic induced by one close presidential election -- the second such election in 208 years, spread across 50 states -- HAVA took voting-infrastructure decisions away from the states and spent billions of dollars on the notion that the world's oldest representative democracy had citizens that were just too stupid to vote correctly: For over two centuries before Congress passed HAVA, Americans voted. Really. Unlike today, those who were elected -- Clay, Webster, Lincoln and lesser lights -- often were more complex and sophisticated than the voting machinery. Using pencils to make marks on paper and later using machines to punch holes in paper ballots, voters -- without federal help; imagine -- caused Congresses and presidents to come and go. States ran elections; some...
Strange Resignation Talk
Jules Crittendon, one of my favorite columnists, usually has a gimlet-eyed bead on the truth and excellent analysis, which is why he should be a must-read for anyone interested in national politics. Every once in a while, and less often than I do, Jules throws a shoe -- and today's the day. Jules demands Bush administration resignations in order to rescue the war in Iraq, and he wants them in the next week ... from Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney? [T]he United States must remain committed to Iraq. We must quietly apply pressure on Iraqi leaders to take control of their country, to look beyond personal, partisan, sectarian objectives. We must increase the number of U.S. advisors attached to Iraqi army and police units. We must put enough troops in Iraq to destroy the Shiite militias, and hand bellicose Iran’s proxy forces another defeat, on top of their defeat in...
October 30, 2006
What Does Bob Casey Do As Treasurer?
Rick Santorum will hold a press conference later this morning to discuss the record of his opponent for the Senate, Bob Casey Jr, in his previous position as state Treasurer. Santorum will point out that Casey invested Pennsylvania pension funds in a series of companies that do business in Iran. Appearing with Santorum to discuss the role of state treasurers in investment decisions will be Sarah Steelman, Missouri State Treasurer. Santorum bases his allegations on a series of investments by Pennsylania pension funds such as PSERS and SERS. The two funds have invested a total of $175 million in companies that do business with the mullahcracy. These investments seem rather focused on China, which brings up a raft of other questions about what Pennsylvania pensions support. This list is for SERS: CHINA PETROLEUM AND CHEMICAL 4,086,635 CHIYODA CORP Y50 2,086,923 PETROCHINA CO 'H'CNY1 7,327,793 PTT PUB CO THB10 (ALIEN MKT)...
Have Conservatives Changed The Paradigm?
It would be the highest irony if the evidence of conservative evolution came on the occasion of a bruising midterm election, but two stories by the media today appears to indicate that conservatives have successfully changed the paradigm of politics over the last generation. A CNN poll indicates that a majority of Americans now believes that government tries to do too much, while the New York Times reports that Democrats have begun producing less liberal candidates in order to win seats in Congress. Both together show that the Reagan Revolution has continued to influence politics well past the end of his administration. The CNN poll shows that the current polarization does not apply to the question of government's size: A quarter century after the Reagan revolution and a dozen years after Republicans vaulted into control of Congress, a new CNN poll finds most Americans still agree with the bedrock conservative...
October 31, 2006
Steele Steals Prince George's County
Michael Steele picked up an important endorsement yesterday; in fact, he picked up several of them, all Democrats, and all from the Democratic bastion of Prince George's County. The county executive and five of the county councilors joined more Democrats from the community in repudiating the Democratic Party's disregard for their county and their lack of African-American candidates: A coalition of black Democratic political leaders from Prince George's County led by former county executive Wayne K. Curry endorsed Republican Michael S. Steele's bid for the U.S. Senate yesterday. The support from Curry, five County Council members and others barely a week before Election Day reflects their continued disappointment that the Democratic Party has no African American candidates at the top of the ticket and a sense that the county is being ignored, officials said. "They show us a pie, but we never get a slice," said Major F. Riddick Jr.,...
Back To One-Note Campaigning
After watching his remarkable primary victory dissolve into a pathetic also-ran campaign for the general election, Ned Lamont has decided to return to the one-note campaign that energized anti-war activists earlier. The endorsed Democratic candidate for Connecticut's Senate seat has decided to spend the last week of the campaign focused on the Iraq War: Returning to the issue that won him the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate in August, Ned Lamont has begun intensifying his attacks on Senator Joseph I. Lieberman over the Iraq war with television and Internet advertisements as well as campaign appearances, and aides said on Monday that the emphasis would continue through Election Day. “We’re going back to our roots, so to speak,” said Tom D’Amore, a senior adviser to Mr. Lamont. “They don’t want to talk about that issue, and we don’t want it to go away. Not just because they don’t want...
Not Shying Away From National Security
Rick Santorum continues to rely on national-security issues as his main focal point for the home stretch to the midterm elections. Despite the advice of analysts, Santorum refuses to subjugate issues such as terrorism and Iran in favor of economic and social issues, declaring the war on terror and all its implications the most critical points of consideration for voters: In an election season in which the Republican Party's leaders and pollsters are advising GOP candidates to emphasize the economy and avoid the Iraq war and national security, Pennsylvania's junior senator prefers to address hometown crowds by invoking the nearly unpronounceable name of the Iranian president. When Senator Santorum is on the stump, he delivers "The Gathering Storm," a speech named after the first volume of Winston Churchill's history of World War II. In the speech, he lists recent threats and atrocities perpetrated by Islamist terrorists and orchestrated by Iran....
What Spooks Lorie Byrd?
Lorie Byrd talks about what frightens her in these midterm elections at The Examiner today: The scariest political scenarios are similar to those in the movies because control over the outcome there is also in our hands. So instead of yelling, “Don’t go in there,” to characters on a movie screen, what I find myself wanting to yell each election season is, “Get out there and vote.” Those on the right, not wanting to see “The Return of the Tax Monster” and those on the left wishing an end to the 12-year run of “The Creatures from the Red States” can do something about it. Not only can citizens vote to keep their political nightmares from coming true, but they can still contribute money to candidates they would like to see win, as well as volunteer for their campaigns and volunteer to help their preferred political party “get out the...
John Kerry Supports The Troops As Special-Education Cases (Updated!)
John Kerry has never hidden his contempt for the armed forces very well, not even when he served as an officer in the Navy. Yesterday the mask slipped a little bit, as John Ziegler at KFI notes on his website, and Allahpundit mirrors at Hot Air. At a political rally for California's Democratic challenger to Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor, Phil Angelides, Kerry told the Pasadena City College crowd to study hard and get an education -- or wind up like the losers in the military: “You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.” Wow. Just wow. It's worth recalling that Kerry at one time aspired to command these same men and women from the White House, and...
November 1, 2006
Provocateur Ejected For Provoking
A man who bragged about becoming a provocateur now claims victimization when he fulfilled the promises he made on his website. Mike Stark, a liberal blogger and a law student, tried to rush George Allen and yelled a question about Allen purportedly spitting on his first wife. Hot Air posted the video last night, and the AP reports on his intentions: Mike Stark, a liberal blogger and first-year University of Virginia law student, approached Allen at an event in Charlottesville, loudly asking, "Why did you spit at your first wife, George?" according to witnesses. Three men, all wearing blue Allen lapel stickers, immediately grabbed Stark, dragged him backward and slung him to the carpet outside a hotel meeting room, according to video captured by WVIR-TV in Charlottesville. Allen's campaign said in a news release that Stark "aggressively went after Senator Allen ... screaming that he answer inappropriate questions." ... In...
Why Nancy Pelosi Thinks Alcee Hastings Is Qualified
Over the last few weeks, I have pointed out that the man Nancy Pelosi wants to head the House Intelligence Committee if the Democrats win control of the House, Alcee Hastings, got impeached and removed for corruption from the federal bench by a Democratic Congress twenty years ago. For a potential Speaker who likes to talk about "draining the swamp" of Republican corruption, giving a disgraced judge the gavel to a committee critical to national security seems not just strange but dangerous in a time of war. However, Ruth Marcus tells a story in her Washington Post column today that explains Pelosi's enthusiasm for Hastings: The evidence against Hastings is circumstantial, but it's too much to explain away: a suspicious pattern of telephone calls between Hastings and Borders at key moments in the case; Borders's apparent insider knowledge of developments in the criminal case; Hastings's appearance at a Miami hotel,...
Kerry's Schedule Starts To Lighten Up (Updated)
John Kerry may have some spare time to spend with the family. After his ridiculous comments on Monday and the equally ridiculous explanation on Tuesday, Iowa Congressional candidate Bruce Braley has asked Kerry to stay away from their scheduled campaign appearance this week: A Democratic Congressional candidate from Iowa is canceling a campaign event later this week with Senator John Kerry. Bruc[e] Braley says Kerry's recent comments about the Iraq war were inappropriate. Braley is running against Republican Mike Whalen in Iowa's First District congressional race. It's a contest considered to be one of the most competitive House races in the country. Will we see more of this? Kerry has scheduled events here in Minnesota for Tim Walz and a party-building event for the DFL (Minnesota's Democrats) today. Tonight he goes to Pennsylvania to campaign for Bob Casey, Jr, and the Braley campaign event was scheduled for tomorrow. Will Walz...
I'm Sorry You Didn't Understand My Genius, Part 37B
John Kerry has issued an apology, a day after insisting he would never apologize for his joke about George Bush (if you can read his mind) or American troops (if you quote him accurately). Here's the statement in its entirety: As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop. I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended. It is clear the Republican Party would rather talk about anything but their failed security policy. I don’t want my verbal slip to be a diversion from the real issues. I will continue to fight for a change of course to...
November 2, 2006
Revisiting The Revolution
The Washington Examiner runs my new Blog Board column today on the transformation of American politics by Ronald Reagan. I touched on this a few days ago and extended my thoughts for the Examiner column: After an economically and politically disastrous decade, Ronald Reagan won election and immediately began changing the paradigm. He insisted that government created more problems than it solves and that the power of free markets would always outperform government agencies in creating economic opportunity. His policies transformed the American economy and began a massive growth cycle that has continued with only occasional lulls ever since. During his time, Reagan received plenty of criticism for his view of government. Now, however, it appears that the message has finally become accepted wisdom. CNN shows that a majority of Americans believe that government tries to do too much, even now, while only 37 percent believe it does not do...
Air America (Intellectually) Bankrupt
If anyone wants to know why Air America can't hack it financially, a read of Jackie Guerra's op-ed piece at ABC News will demonstrate the network's intellectual bankruptcy. Guerra, who hosts the "Workin' It" show on the network, repeats the debunked claim that minorities and the poor are overrepresented in the military: Serving our country in the military is a great service, one which we all admire and revere, but it's more than that. It's also a job. And it's a job that many Americans sign up for not only out of a sense of patriotic duty, but also because it often seems the best of few options. As a Mexican-American from Los Angeles, I find it especially meaningful that Kerry's comments came at Pasadena City College, just a few miles from the high schools of East Los Angeles, where on many campuses, military recruiters outnumber guidance counselors 5-1. At...
The Rest Of The Story On The Allen 'Assault'
Various left-wing bloggers voiced their outrage when blogger/activist Mike Stark got leveled after trying to push his way through to George Allen at a hotel this week. CNN video showed Stark trying to get around campaign staffers to shout at Allen about spitting on his first wife, a charge Allen's former spouse denied and called "baseless". The same staffers tossed Stark to the ground when he refused to back away, prompting accusations of goonery by Allen's campaign. However, a series of photographs from the event by the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star shows that Allen's staff had good reason to worry about Stark. He assaulted one staffer in his attempt to get to Allen, something that the CNN cameras wouldn't have caught. Here's a slideshow of Stark's actions before the confrontation that everyone saw on the video (see update below). Very obviously, Stark had become violent before the altercation we saw on...
November 4, 2006
Kerry's Big Dig
John Kerry has made himself the gift that keeps on giving. After supposedly botching a joke about President Bush and telling a college audience that a lack of education and hard work would get them "stuck in Iraq", he took criticism from Republicans and some Demicrats for two days. He finally apologized for both screwing up the joke and the fact that no one understood his genius, and the controversy finally started to recede. However, Kerry -- who has never learned the First Rule Of Holes -- decided to keep right on digging yesterday by posting a Seattle newspaper's editorial on his campaign web site that says he was right in either interpretation: Republicans evidenced their election desperation by braying about an offhand comment that Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., made at a California college rally. "Education" Kerry said "-- if you make the most of it and you study hard...
Where's The Plan?
George Bush has hit his stride on the campaign trail, pushing hard to protect the Republican majorities in Congress. He has tried talking up the economy and the war on terror, but he also has not shied from the Iraq war. In fact, in campaign stops, he has advised voters to demand a plan from the Democrats who have criticized the war: President Bush yesterday said Republicans nationwide are running on a strong record of accomplishment as he ridiculed Democrats seeking to take control of the House and Senate, asking: "What's your plan?" "The truth is, the Democrats can't answer that question. Harsh criticism is not a plan for victory. Second-guessing is not a strategy. We have a plan for victory," the president said to cheers from 5,000 supporters packed into the Springfield Exposition Center. ... The president has honed his campaign rally speech into a laundry list of Republican...
Jack Carter Tries To Exploit Gold Star Mother, Backfires
Jack Carter, son of former President Jimmy Carter, has tried to unseat Republican incumbent John Ensign for the Senate seat this election, and has made a poor show of it. He currently trails Ensign by double digits -- Rasmussen has him down 12 points -- and so has started to feel the sting of desperation. That would explain his campaign's disrespectful attempt to use a Gold Star mother as a campaign prop, an effort that appalled Eleanor Dachtler (via CQ reader Alex M): Hoping to generate attention for his boss late in an underdog campaign, an aide to Democrat Jack Carter solicited the mother of an Iraq war casualty to appear alongside the Senate candidate at a rally or news conference last week. But if it was looking for a willing ally, the Carter camp evidently picked the wrong mother. Eleanor Dachtler of Las Vegas said she was insulted by...
Republican Surge In Senate?
We seem to be seeing a late-breaking trend towards Republicans, according to Rasmussen. Their daily review of races show momentum shifting back towards the GOP in some key contests: Tennessee: Bob Corker pulling away from Harold Ford Missouri: Dead heat between Jim Talent and Claire McCaskill; both have had slight leads in the last few polls Virginia: James Webb has dropped his five-point lead over George Allen, and it's now a dead heat Maryland: Michael Steele has pulled into a tie with Benjamin Cardin, despite the heavy Democratic Party registration advantage Montana: Conrad Burns has come back from double-digit deficits to tie Jon Tester These races will come down to voter turnout efforts. Republicans have claimed the momentum in these races, and an enthusiastic effort to get voters to the polls will get them elected. Control of the Senate remains in our hands -- but we have to get to...
November 5, 2006
WaPo Spins Republican Resurgence
The Washington Post attempts to spin its election coverage this morning by burying the big story of Republican resurgence in the polls below four paragraphs of declaring Democrats the winners at the midterms. In fact, their own polling shows voters returning to the GOP even on the generic Congressional ballot in the final days of the midterm election cycle: Two days before a bitterly fought midterm election, Democrats have moved into position to recapture the House and have laid siege to the Senate, setting the stage for a dramatic recasting of the power structure in Washington for President Bush's final two years in office, according to a Washington Post analysis of competitive races across the country. In the battle for the House, Democrats appear almost certain to pick up more than the 15 seats needed to regain the majority. Republicans virtually concede 10 seats, and a split of the 30...
Chafee Takes The Lead
I know, I know, he's not my favorite Senator by a long shot -- but Lincoln Chafee looks like he may hold onto a Senate seat most analysts thought was lost weeks ago. Ironically, in a period in which Republicans appear to have gotten their second wind, Chafee's own resurgence can be attributed to his meager GOP ties: If Sen. Lincoln Chafee wins re-election in Rhode Island on Tuesday - and a new McClatchy Newspapers-MSNBC poll indicates he might - it will be because he is one of the most rebellious Republicans in Congress. Although Chafee had been trailing Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in previous polls, the latest McClatchy poll showed him with 46 percent support, compared to 45 percent for Whitehouse. About 9 percent of voters remained undecided. While Chafee's slim lead was within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, it was the first...
Maryland Democrats Watch African-American Voters Defect
Maryland Democrats have big problems in this election. The choice to back Benjamin Cardin over Kweisi Mfume has had serious consequences on their election prospects, and they may well lose a Senate seat to the GOP because of it. Now it also looks like the Democrats may have thrown away their chance to grab the governorship as black leaders endorsed incumbent Republican Robert Ehrlich over Martin O'Malley: Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. received the endorsement yesterday of a half-dozen black ministers who could sway Democratic voters in the battlegrounds of Prince George's County and Baltimore to cross party lines in the election Tuesday. Mr. Ehrlich, a Republican, stood on a street corner in South Baltimore surrounded by the ministers and touted his record of reaching out to minorities and implementing policies for urban voters, including programs for drug treatment instead of prison time. "This is an agenda for people...
30 Minutes To Victory!
Note: This post will ride near the top all weekend long. It's come down to the ground game. If Republicans want to ensure that the GOP continues to control Congress after the midterms, we need to get organized in the final hours. The Republican Party has a great way for the blogging community to get involved and to help get voters to the polls. We need people to man the phones and encourage voters to cast their ballots, and now readers can work from home to do it. Simply click here or on the logo above to volunteer, and the Republican Party will assign you a short list of people to call. It shouldn't cost you any more than 30 minutes to complete your calls, and you can use your free cell phone minutes on the weekend, so it won't cost you any money at all. Let me give...
Making The Right Calls
I just finished making the calls for the Get On The Phone effort by the Republican Party. When my sister came into town this weekend, I had to juggle the schedule around -- I originally planned to make my calls on Saturday, but that didn't work out. Now, I have made my living in call centers for almost twenty years, but making these calls makes me a little more nervous than normal. That's been true every time I've volunteered, but every time I've always been glad I did. I get to talk with nice people and let them know we're counting on them, and they almost always react positively. Tonight was no exception. The GOP assigned me a district in Missouri, where Jim Talent is fighting off a challenge from state auditor Claire McCaskill. All that I needed to do was to remind people that the election was on Tuesday,...
Rebounding Across The Polls
The Washington Post poll wasn't the only one to pick up on a shift in momentum, as it turns out. Gaius Arbo at Blue Crab Boulevard points readers to the latest from Pew Research, which now shows the generic Congressional ballot within the margin of error: A nationwide Pew Research Center survey finds voting intentions shifting in the direction of Republican congressional candidates in the final days of the 2006 midterm campaign. The new survey finds a growing percentage of likely voters saying they will vote for GOP candidates. However, the Democrats still hold a 48% to 40% lead among registered voters, and a modest lead of 47%-43% among likely voters. The narrowing of the Democratic lead raises questions about whether the party will win a large enough share of the popular vote to recapture control of the House of Representatives. The relationship between a party's share of the popular...
November 6, 2006
Will The Exit Polls Leak?
The networks insist that they will not release exit polling data until the polls actually close in this election, the Washington Times reports. They recall only too well the disaster that ensued when incomplete -- and as it turned out, inaccurate -- exit polling hit the wires, creating an expectation of a John Kerry landslide that never materialized. That promise will not keep the networks from playing a bit of partisan hardball with their analysts, however (h/t: Newsbeat1): The 2006 elections have garnered more broadcast coverage than the last midterm elections, much of it billing them as bringing political change, and although the networks have vowed that they will not make any premature calls tomorrow night, virtuous reserve may not stem partisan flirtations. ... Election-night coverage will feature big names and multiple components. ABC, NBC and CBS will offer hourly updates and one-hour specials at 10 p.m. ABC will use...
Still Time Left To Make The Right Calls
We've less than thirteen hours before the polls open, and we still need plenty of volunteers to help get out the vote. For instance, in my write-in campaign to become the Mayor of Eagan, we have people at campaign headquarters right now, helping to spread the message. My son has pledged to make a phone call after he finishes working out of the licks for the expert level of Guitar Hero, which I'm assuming means within the next half hour. I just got done walking around my local gas station, and I'm encouraged by the response there as well. The pump accepted my credit card, and the attendant even said hello over the loudspeaker. Momentum is building, and I think I'll even reach that heretofore unexpected level of twenty write-in votes! However, we need more of an effort for the rest of the Republicans. After this weekend, CQ readers have...
A Look Inside That Pew Poll (Updated!)
Bump -- Welcome Rush Limbaugh listeners! Please see update below. Pew Research has published its crosstabs for the poll that shows the Republicans tightening up the race, which I linked last night. The internals deliver even more bad news to the Democrats, as significant leads in several demographic categories have been cut drastically or wiped out entirely. The last Pew Research poll was taken in early October. In a month, the Democrats have lost non-minorities altogether. The gap among all whites went from +5 Democrats to +5 GOP, a ten-point swing. White females had supported Democrats by a 15-point margin and a majority (55-40), but now give the GOP a 2-point lead. The Democrats have also lost the middle class, a big problem in this election. Households earning between $50K-$75K and $30K-$50K have both slipped to the GOP. The former switched from a 14-point margin for the Democrats to an...
November 7, 2006
Free Trade The First Casualty Of A Democratic Win
The Times of London shows tremendous interest in the American midterm elections in its edition today, with a number of articles analyzing the potential effects of the midterms. One area that Bronwen Maddox expects to feel a big impact is free trade. Maddox writes that a Republican loss of Congress will spell the end to free-trade agreements with Europe and the world: IF THE Democrats win back the House of Representatives today, that is the end of the enthusiasm in the US for free-trade deals — to its own cost, to that of developing countries and, most certainly, to Europe. ... The first casualty would be President Bush’s “fast-track” negotiating power, which gives him congressional authorisation to conclude trade deals. It runs out next summer and a Democratic House would almost certainly not renew it. With that goes any chance of the US helping to revive the Doha round of...
The Times Signals A Retreat
Adam Nagourney tries to lower expectations a bit in today's New York Times, dashing cold water on some of the more enthusiastic predictions for today's elections. He also notes that those inflated expectations may lead to a big let-down in the ranks of Democrats -- and a round of recriminations as well: In most midterm elections, an out-of-power party picking up, say, 14 seats in the House and five seats in the Senate could call it a pretty good night. But for Democrats in 2006, that showing would mean coming up one seat shy of taking control of both the Senate and the House. And it would probably be branded a loss — in the case of the House, a big one. For a combination of reasons — increasingly bullish prognostications by independent handicappers, galloping optimism by Democratic leaders and bloggers, and polls that promise a Democratic blowout — expectations...
Kinsley: Democratic Platform Embarrassing
Bump to top, and welcome Instapundit readers! Michael Kinsley, no friend to the GOP, decided to take a look at the suddenly-scarce Nancy Pelosi's plan for governance if and when the Democrats take control of Congress. Kinsley expected a platform of reasonable competence, one he could promote -- apparently in the final hours of the midterm cycle. Instead, he found it to be a rehash of the worst Democratic stereoptypes, full of euphemisms for surrender and a slew of spending initiatives to break the federal budget: What will a Democratic House of Representatives under Speaker Nancy Pelosi be like? The Republicans have been painting an unattractive portrait of Democrats roasting young children on a spit in the Capitol rotunda and whatnot. Hoping for a more encouraging view, I picked up "A New Direction for America," a 31-page manifesto released to little acclaim by House Democrats in June. By all means,...
It's Your Turn Now
We've covered the issues. We've profiled the candidates. We've debated the implications of a shift in power in Congress. The time for talking has expired, and the time for action has arrived. We need to get conservatives to the polls today. Pick up the phone and ask your friends if they need a ride to the precinct. Invite your neighbors to carpool with you to the polling station. Do what you can to get as many voters to the polls today. I'll be off the air until this afternoon, when I get a chance to set up for the CNN blogger event. I'll post my predictions at that time, as the Examiner and NRO both asked me over the last couple of days to put them to paper. In the meantime, don't worry about predictions and polls, and concentrate on helping to get out the vote. Here in Minnesota, I...
Exit Polling Data Leaking Out
I hate to say I Told You So, but ... well ... Preliminary exit poll results indicate that nearly six in 10 voters today disapprove of the way President Bush is handling his job. About four in 10 approve. That's down from 53 percent approval in 2004, and 67 percent just before the 2002 midterm elections. About four in 10 "strongly" disapprove of the president's work, more than double the number of strong approvers. Intensity of sentiment for and against, by contrast, was about equal in 2004: Thirty-three percent strongly approved of the president's performance, and 35 percent strongly disapproved. And in 2002, strong approvers dominated, quite a contrast from today. I said earlier this week that the networks couldn't resist using the exit poll data for longer than an hour after they got it in confidence. As it turns out, I had the timing exactly correct. And what did...
Election Night: House
I'll be following house races on this blog post. According to my two predictions published today by the Examiner and National Review Online, I'm expecting tough news on this front: House: This has been a tough race to call for the lower chamber. The Democrats tried to nationalize the election, and they had a lot of success early in the cycle, but they’ve lost their grip on the generic congressional ballot in all of the late polling. Unfortunately, they need only 15 seats, or 3.4 percent of the districts, to switch in order to wrest control from the GOP. Our friends at Real Clear Politics have a chart which shows the disparity between Republican and Democratic seats at risk, and that will make the difference. The House will go from 232-202-1 to 222-213, giving Nancy Pelosi a narrow advantage. We're going to keep a close eye on this, especially in...
Election Night: Senate
And on this post, I'll be tracking the Senate contests from around the nation. I earlier predicted a net loss for the GOP of two seats at the Examiner and NRO: Senate: Right now, the GOP has a 55-44-1 advantage. I see the Democrats picking up two seats, with a possibility of a third. Rick Santorum and Mike DeWine will almost certainly lose, and Santorum’s loss will really hurt the GOP. I expect either Jim Talent or George Allen to get edged out, but it’s such a toss-up that I’m going to figure that they’ll win at least one. Michael Steele will win Paul Sarbanes’s open Maryland seat, adding one back in for the GOP. Corker, Burns, Chafee all win, and on Wednesday we will all wonder why anyone counted Jon Kyl as anything but a solid Republican hold. In the end, the split will be 53-45-2 (Sanders and Lieberman)....
Election Night: Atmosphere
I arrived here at Tryst a about a half-hour ago or so, and it's quite the zoo. Scott Johnson and I shared a cab over from the hotel, and we almost missed the place -- although we couldn't figure out why, since CNN has two huge vans in front of the coffee shop. Right now, we have people staring at us through the windows, probably wondering (a) what the heck is going on, and (b) where they're going to go for their coffee fix. I figured that we would have a quiet atmosphere, sort of lounge-like, and that we would be mostly focused on our computers. Instead, this is a madhouse, but a fun one. I'm ensconced near the buffet table (naturally), in a comfortable couch. Surrounding me is Nick Gillespie from Reason, John and Joe from Americablog, and Robert Bluey from Human Events Online. I've met La Shawn Barber,...
Election Night: Minnesota
I'm opening up a separate thread for the Minnesota races, in order to keep all of that commentary together. Minnesotans had some tough choices to make, and so far it looks like they've followed the predictions. The only surprise so far is that Hatch has opened an eight-point lead on Pawlenty, but we're also seeing 43% of all MN-05 precincts reporting with the other districts in single digits -- so this lead is likely illusory. Bachmann leads Wetterling by just two points in MN-06 .... let's hope she stretches that out a bit as more precincts report. 10:14 ET - Hatch is stil up by nine points. However, at this point, Hennepin County has reported 60% of its precincts, which makes this a very distorted result. Hatch is up 14 points in Hennepin, which may not be enough to beat the rest of the state. 59% of Ramsey also has...
Did Catholics Switch To The Democrats?
I just received a release from the Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good with some potentially disturbing news. They claim that large numbers of Catholics switched their votes from the GOP to the Democrats in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia. The swing in each state was as follows: SUMMARY OF CATHOLIC VOTE SWING: OH - 47 points PA – 22 points VA - 15 points That would explain Santorum's loss in Pennsylvania. It would be interesting to see more in-depth analysis of these exit polls to determine why they changed their votes this year....
November 8, 2006
Final Thoughts
I'm back at the hotel after the CNN blogger bash, and I'd like to wrap up with a few final thoughts. I don't think anyone can honestly look at the results tonight and say that we saw anything less than a trip to the woodshed for the Republicans. We may hold the Senate by the barest of margins, but the House is gone in a substantial manner. Some will make comparisons between this six-year election and those past (1986, 1974, 1958) and claim a moral victory in containing the losses, but that simply won't fly. This is a big loss, and it will hurt the GOP and the Bush administration. Even if we do hold the Senate, we will have to find compromise candidates for the federal bench, and also look forward to more taxes and regulation. Free trade is a goner. The prosecution of the war on terror will...
What Happened?
National Review Online had the first of the post-mortems up this morning, featuring input from several political writers on the cause and meaning of the midterm results. It's an interesting mix of analyses; Republican disunity, Democratic play-acting get some play. Kate O'Beirne and I tend to believe that this reflects Republican performance more than anything else, and Kate believes it started from the White House down: During the “Iraq War Mid-terms,” Republicans were going to lose seats this year but could have limited the damage. I predict that in the future they will police their ranks and lean on the crooks and cheats in their midst to step aside. If it is true that “corruption” was a top concern for voters, Republicans could have insulated themselves some by delivering on ethics reform. Maybe they will learn that there are worse things than giving up their perks - like giving up...
Kingston Meets The Bloggers
Just before boarding my flight, I had a chance to participate in a blog conference call with Rep. Jack Kingston about the effects of the midterm loss. Kingston, who came to Congress in 1992, is one of the few Republicans to have operated in the minority. Here are my unedited notes from the call, which I had to leave early. He appreciates what’s going on in the blogs. He thinks that we have learned a lesson which we shouldn’t have had to do the hard way. You have to deliver on the name brand, which is clean government, competence, and fiscal responsibility. In 1994, we got elected on the Contract with America, and showed the American people that we would follow up on those promises. We got a little too used to holding the gavel. We started using spending to shore up weak districts, and that horse-trading led to even...
Dissipation Complete
Virginia has finished counting its ballots, and the final count makes James Webb the winner of the Senate race this evening, retiring incumbent George Allen, who at one time appeared to be a front-runner for the 2008 Presidential nomination. The decision gives the Democrats 51 seats and control of the Senate, putting Harry Reid in charge of the upper chamber: Democrats wrested control of the Senate from Republicans Wednesday with an upset victory in Virginia, giving the party complete domination of Capitol Hill for the first time since 1994. Jim Webb's squeaker win over incumbent Sen. George Allen gave Democrats their 51st seat in the Senate, an astonishing turnabout at the hands of voters unhappy with Republican scandal and unabated violence in Iraq. Allen was the sixth Republican incumbent senator defeated in Tuesday's elections. The Senate had teetered at 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans for most of Wednesday, with Virginia hanging...
November 9, 2006
Herding Cats, Or Blue Dogs
Now that the Democrats have won control of both chambers of Congress, their real challenge has begun -- big-tent governing. The Democrats took control by nominating center-right candidates to replace Republicans, and now they will have to find ways in which to unify their caucus to get their issues advanced. As the departing Republican leadership can tell them, it's not as easy as it looks: They wear cowboy boots, chew tobacco, love hunting, hate abortion, want less government spending — and some voted for Ronald Reagan. Now they are headed to Congress as Democrats. Although the Democrats’ victory was above all an overwhelming repudiation of the conflict in Iraq, it was also built on the back of moderate, often conservative candidates recruited to compete in traditionally Republican territory. When Congress returns in January, both the House and Senate will see something of an ideological shift, with an influx of freshmen...
GOP Outreach To Black Community Needs More Work
One of the apparent defeats from the midterm results came in response to the Republican effort to field black candidates for significant offices. Those candidates lost in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, and it shows that the GOP has to work more to make inroads into a community with a lot of distrust for them: Memo to Republican chief Ken Mehlman regarding recruiting black candidates: Try again. Republicans had hoped to brand 2006 as the year of the black Republican. But with high-profile failures in Maryland’s Senate race and in governor contests in Ohio and Pennsylvania, prospects for GOP gains among black voters turned up short this year and gave scant hope for 2008. Michael Steele, Maryland’s lieutenant governor, lost by almost 10 percentage points to Rep. Ben Cardin. Ken Blackwell, a conservative darling who would have been Ohio’s first black governor, lost by almost 24 percentage points; Lynn Swann lost...
President Bushenegger
So what's next for George Bush after having his party stripped of Congressional control? The final two years of a two-term presidency normally get devoted to The Legacy, as Oval Office occupants start to look longingly at the history books and wonder how their own presidencies will be recorded in them. No President wants The Legacy to be gridlock and can-kicking, and so Bush has made moves towards the Democrats in a manner similar to what Arnold Schwarzenegger did in California after a series of ill-conceived referenda: If Bush was willing to dismiss Rumsfeld, which the president said only a week ago that he had no intention of doing, it was in part because he and his party have so much at risk. Tuesday's elections proved to be a reaction not only against the war and the corruption scandals that have scarred Congress but also against the kind of base-driven...
Time To Start Campaigning?
La Shawn Barber makes the case for cancellation of all political vacations and an immediate start to the 2008 campaign in her Examiner editorial today. She writes that conservatism won even while the Republicans lost, and that conservatives have to continue the fight: Republican politicians may have been ousted, but conservative policies prevailed, particularly the ban on so-called same sex marriage. Something similar happened during the 2004 presidential election. In response to a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling declaring the state’s ban on homosexual “marriage” unconstitutional, all 11 states with measures protecting marriage passed those measures, including states that [former presidential candidate] Sen. John Kerry won. Despite clearly supporting certain conservative ideals, voting Americans rejected the men behind the policies. ... Our system of government has its problems, but it’s still the best around. Democrats wanted their chance to govern, now they have it. Campaigning for 2008 begins —now. It's...
Pence, Shadegg Gain Support For House GOP Leadership
Mike Pence and John Shadegg, two strong fiscal conservatives, have picked up some support in their newly-launched campaign for House leadership. John Hawkins and Robert Bluey -- my blogging partner at the CNN event -- both report that Tom Tancredo and Steve King have decided to back Pence, at least, as House Minority Leader. The move comes as a bit of a surprise, at least concerning Tancredo, who criticized Pence earlier on his support for a moderate normalization program similar to that in the Senate. King sent out a press release, which stated in part: Republicans have lost seats in Congress because we needed more fiscal discipline, lacked clarity on the Global War on Terror, and were not aggressive enough on our fiscal and social agenda. We now need an articulate and committed Minority Leader who can be the most effective spokesman for our agenda. Mike Pence is the best...
November 10, 2006
Return Of The Realists
I find it very helpful to read international publications to see how outsiders perceive America and our politics. Especially in foreign policy, it helps to keep from developing a parochial perspective. After all, one of the major goals of any foreign policy is to convince other nations to follow our leadership. With Robert Gates replacing Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon, it's worth checking to see if the foreign press have come to the same conclusion as we have. At least in London, they have: Two years ago they were the pariahs of neoconservative Washington, a group of soft-spined old timers who refused to see that the only way to defeat America’s enemies was with the lethal might of the US military. But within hours of Donald Rumsfeld’s enforced resignation on Wednesday, and in the clearest of signs that President Bush has turned to his father to dig him out of...
The New Guru, Same As The Old Guru
Now that the Democrats have won their Congressional majorities, they now have to govern for the first time in 12 years. They made a lot of campaign promises, especially regarding Iraq, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus wants to make sure those get honored. To that end, they have turned to a new guru on war -- one who led Democrats to a massive defeat via his own defeatism in 1972: George McGovern, the former senator and Democratic presidential candidate, said Thursday that he will meet with more than 60 members of Congress next week to recommend a strategy to remove U.S. troops from Iraq by June. If Democrats don't take steps to end the war in Iraq soon, they won't be in power very long, McGovern told reporters before a speech at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. "I think the Democratic leadership is wise enough to know that if they're going...
Steele For RNC Chief
The Washington Times reports this morning that Michael Steele will have his choice of high-profile jobs after losing a tough race to Benjamin Cardin for Maryland's open Senate seat. With Ken Mehlman's announcement of his resignation as Republican National Committee chair, many have openly speculated that Steele will get the nod as his replacement. However, Karl Rove wants Steele in Bush's Cabinet, possibly to lead HUD: Also last night, Republican officials told The Times that Mr. Steele, who lost his bid for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, has been sought out to succeed Mr. Mehlman as national party chairman. Those Republican officials said Mr. Steele had not made a decision whether to take the post, as of last night. Other Republican Party officials said some Republican National Committee (RNC) members, including state party chairmen, have mounted a move to have Mr. Steele succeed Mr. Mehlman. But they said that President...
November 11, 2006
Surviving The Midterms
I got an e-mail from a fellow blogger I greatly respect (who will remain anonymous), expressing his despondency after the losses in the midterm elections. Watching the Democrats grab control of both chambers of Congress deeply affects him, as he has spent so much of himself trying to assist the Republican cause for the past few years. Now, he can't see his way clear to any cause for optimism, and he asked for my advice -- and since I think more than a few of the CQ community may feel the same way, I figured I'd post my thoughts on the subject. I'm neither depressed nor giddy at the thought of working from the opposition, at least on legislative matters. Some conservatives tried to temper the loss with large doses of optimism, claiming to feel "liberated" at the prospect of being unchained in some manner from the GOP yoke. Criticism...
November 12, 2006
Return To First Principles
In the aftermath of the midterm election loss, which stripped power from Republicans in both chambers of Congress, supporters wondered what went wrong and how to recover from the blow. Why did voters reject the GOP after twelve years in power, and how do Republicans convince them to return to power in 2008? Mitch and I discussed this at length on our show yesterday, and we had all four inbound lines lit for almost the entire two hours. One common thread among all of the calls was that the Republicans had forgotten why voters gave them a majority in the first place. The 1994 revolution brought a mandate for reform. Voters had tired of a Congress that passed laws that they refused to apply to themselves, of a federal government that kept growing, and a perception of the legislature as corrupted by a murky appropriations process and lobbyists ready to...
You Can't Fall In Love With The Data
Newsweek reports on the first electoral disappointment for Karl Rove in four cycles and tries to dissect why he wound up so incorrect in his forecasts. Rove, who had famously insisted that news organizations had inferior polling data late in the campaign, saw his predictions of marginal losses explode in an election-day meltdown that those same polls had predicted for weeks: How did the man they call Bush's brain get it so wrong? Rove's miscalculations began well before election night. The polls and pundits pointed to a Democratic sweep, but Rove dismissed them all. In public, he predicted outright victory, flashing the V sign to reporters flying on Air Force One. He wasn't just trying to psych out the media and the opposition. He believed his "metrics" were far superior to plain old polls. Two weeks before the elections, Rove showed NEWSWEEK his magic numbers: a series of graphs and...
Jumpin' Joe?
Joe Lieberman fired a warning shot across the bow of the Democrats in his Meet the Press appearance this morning. When asked whether he would consider following Jim Jeffords' example and switch parties, Lieberman pointedly left his options open: Sen. Joe Lieberman on Sunday repeated his pledge to caucus with Senate Democrats when the 110th Congress convenes in January, but refused to slam the door on possibly moving to the Republican side of the aisle. Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if he might follow the example of Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont, who left the Republicans in 2001 and became an independent, ending Republican control of the U.S. Senate, Lieberman refused to discount the possibility. "I'm not ruling it out but I hope I don't get to that point," he said. "And I must say -- and with all respect to the Republicans who supported me in Connecticut --...
November 13, 2006
Gates Not Likely To Back Down On Iraq, Terror
The Washington Times' Rowan Scarborough, who has had good contacts within the Bush administration, reports today that the new nominee to replace Donald Rumsfeld will have the same goals in Iraq and the war on terror, but bring a new management style to improve the chances of success. The White House views Robert Gates not as a dramatic shift but as a course correction: Defense Secretary-designate Robert M. Gates is not expected to rein in the aggressive global war on al Qaeda started by predecessor Donald H. Rumsfeld or reverse the transformation of the Army, but instead focus on how to win in Iraq and get American troops home, current and former Pentagon officials say. "He definitely is not seen as someone wimping out on the global war," said a Pentagon adviser. "How he does it, and what tools, and who he entrusts with them, that's a whole different issue."...
The Politics Of The Personal
Nancy Pelosi surprised political analysts by injecting herself into an intraparty fight over the House leadership position. Despite Steny Hoyer's efforts to win the midterms as Minority Leader, Pelosi endorsed John Murtha to replace him in the majority. Her first effort as Speaker-elect gives a preview of Pelosi's leadership style and the importance of personal relationships over political pragmatism: House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) endorsed Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) yesterday as the next House majority leader, thereby stepping into a contentious intraparty fight between Murtha and her current deputy, Maryland's Steny H. Hoyer. The unexpected move signaled the sizable value Pelosi gives to personal loyalty and personality preferences. Hoyer competed with her in 2001 for the post of House minority whip, while Murtha managed her winning campaign. Pelosi has also all but decided she will not name the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.)...
The Definition Of Political Insanity ...
... is electing the same leadership after an embarrassing failure and expecting a different result. Robert Novak explores this weird psychosis that will apparently afflict the Republican House caucus this week, as it prepares to return John Boehner and Roy Blunt to their current leadership positions, now in the minority: The depleted House Republican caucus, a minority in the next Congress, convenes at 8 a.m. in the Capitol Friday on the brink of committing an act of supreme irrationality. The House members blame their leadership for tasting the bitter dregs of defeat. Yet, the consensus so far is that, in secret ballot, they will re-elect some or all of those leaders. In private conversation, Republican members of Congress blame Majority Leader John Boehner and Majority Whip Roy Blunt in no small part for their midterm election debacle. Yet, either Boehner, Blunt or both are expected to be returned to their...
An Underwhelming Choice For RNC
The Republican National Committee selected its new chairman to replace Ken Mehlman. Instead of Michael Steele, who made his interest clear, the GOP selected Senator Mel Martinez -- a choice that has underwhelmed conservatives: Sen. Mel Martinez, the first-term lawmaker who previously served in President Bush's Cabinet, will assume the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, GOP officials said Monday. Martinez, 60, will replace current chairman Ken Mehlman, who will leave the post in January at the end of his two-year term, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting a formal announcement. Martinez will remain in the Senate. Mike Duncan, the RNC's current general counsel and a former party treasurer, will run the day-to-day operations at the party's Capitol Hill headquarters. Martinez was tapped in 2001 as President Bush's secretary of Housing and Urban Development. He resigned in 2003 to run for the open Senate...
November 14, 2006
Pelosi's Unforced Error
Nancy Pelosi has won few plaudits for her first major decision as presumptive Speaker of the 110th Session of Congress. Throwing her support to John Murtha over Steny Hoyer has caused an eruption of criticism and indignation from within her own political coalition, who wonder how a party leader could campaign against corruption and then support one of the biggest porkers in Congress for a leadership position. Rather than attract support for passing over Hoyer, Pelosi has inspired public opposition to her decision -- the latest from Charles Rangel, her choice to chair the Ways and Means Committee: Some of Mr. Hoyer's backers in New York are asking why the likely new speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, has endorsed Mr. Murtha rather than the Maryland congressman, who is the minority whip and the second-ranking Democrat. Rep. Charles Rangel of Harlem, who called Mr. Murtha "a...
Pence, Shadegg, For Leadership
Republicans have to make some changes in order to rebuild trust with the American electorate. We have to understand who we are, what makes us Republicans, and how best to build a platform that will focus on those qualities and make them relevant for the largest possible number of voters. We need to agree on a set of First Principles that unite us and allow us to defend liberty, property, and our nation. Under rational circumstances, we would have that debate and then select the leadership that would allow us to champion those policies. However, the Republican House leadership has decided to go backwards by selecting leadership first, on Friday, November 17th. Even stranger, the GOP has the same leadership that allowed the party to fritter away its majority in the lead for re-election to leadership. John Boehner and Roy Blunt have been loyal Republican Congressmen. However, as the Club...
Lungren's Record
Earlier today, I wrote about Rep. Dan Lungren being a good option for Republican Conference Chairman. Commenters and e-mailers then sent conflicting information about Lungren's track record on abortion and gun control. Unfortunately, I was at the office and then at the hospital (long story, but nothing wrong) and could not do much more than advise readers to be careful. Now, however, Lungren has issued a statement to bloggers about his record, and some research has developed a more specific picture of his positions on these two important issues: As someone who supports the sanctity of human life and a definition of marriage which has served as a foundation for our society, it is my belief that the transformation of the judiciary into a third policymaking branch presents unparalleled challenges to the notion of the Separation of Powers. If unchecked this trend threatens to turn the political branches into little...
Abramoff To Turn On Democrats Next?
The Jack Abramoff probe may turn on the same Democrats who tried exploiting the scandal for electoral advantage this year. ABC reports that federal prosecutors have taken statements from the disgraced lobbyist that implicate, in Abramoff's words, "six to eight seriously corrupt Democratic senators": Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff is scheduled to report to federal prison tomorrow, over the objections of federal prosecutors who say they still need his help to pursue leads on officials he allegedly bribed. Sources close to the investigation say Abramoff has provided information on his dealings with and campaign contributions and gifts to "dozens of members of Congress and staff," including what Abramoff has reportedly described as "six to eight seriously corrupt Democratic senators." The sources say Abramoff was about to provide information about Bush administration officials, including Karl Rove, "accepting things of value" from Abramoff. The Rove mention seems a little odd. After all, Rove...
November 15, 2006
Hollywood Only Likes One Kind Of Green, Baby
When UCLA started researching Southern California polluters by industry, one would have expected the usual suspects to rise to the top of the list. Certainly, the oil refineries rank as the worst aggregate polluter in the greater Los Angeles area, as most would guess; I grew up near them, and it's no great shock. However, can anyone guess which SoCal industry managed to beat aerospace manufacturing, hotels, and semiconductor manufacturers for second place? The Guardian has a surprise for Californios and movie lovers: The city of Los Angeles is principally famous for two things: glittering movies and suffocating smog. Now researchers have found that the two are not unconnected. A study by the University of California Los Angeles shows the film and television industry to be the second largest polluter in the Los Angeles area. Only the region's oil refineries pump more pollutants into the air, it says. While Hollywood...
Lamar Alexander For Minority Whip
Captain's Quarters has no hesitation in endorsing Lamar Alexander for the position of Minority Whip in the next session of the Senate. While I have regard for Senator Alexander, this decision has far more to do with his competition than with the Tennessean himself. Opposing Alexander is none other than Trent Lott from Mississippi. Lott had been Majority Leader until an unfortunate remark at Strom Thurmond's birthday party caused a political firestorm. That's not the problem with his candidacy for Whip; he's been punished for his carelessness in hailing Thurmond's Dixiecrat presidential run. My opposition comes from Lott's attitude towards pork, and especially his attitude about the people who oppose pork spending. One of the major legislative reforms that came out of the last session of Congress was the Coburn-Obama spending database. Bill Frist managed to expertly get that through in the last days of the legislative calendar. However, that...
Hail The (Re)Conquering Hero!
Guess who's the most popular belle at the Democratic ball in DC? None other than Joe Lieberman, who had to run as an independent after party activists defeated him in the primaries with neophyte Ned Lamont. After having to endorse Lieberman's opponent, and in some cases campaigning against their long-time colleague, Democrats now line up to shake his hand ... or kiss it: “It was all very warm, lots of hugs, high-fives, that kind of stuff,” said Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon marveled, “One senator after another kept coming up and shaking his hand.” And Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas noted, “I gave him a hug and a kiss.” Mr. Lieberman received a standing ovation at a caucus luncheon after Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, who is poised to become the majority leader, declared, “We’re all family.” I'm tempted to ask where exactly Lincoln kissed...
Profiles In Courage, Democrat Leadership Version
Charles Rangel on Monday: "My kind of politics is, if you do your job, you are supposed to be rewarded ... I think Steny [Hoyer] has done his job. I cannot think of any reason why this [John Murtha's challenge] is happening." Charles Rangel on Tuesday: Pelosi called incoming Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) yesterday morning just hours after he had told the New York Sun, “I think Steny has done his job. I cannot think of any reason why this is happening,” prompting the paper to run the headline “Rangel Backs Hoyer for Leader.” “I don’t know what article she had seen, but she had thought it was an endorsement of Steny,” Rangel said. Rangel told her it was not an endorsement but reiterated his earlier statement that “nobody had given me any reason not to support Steny.” Golly, what will Charles Rangel say today? Let's...
Quick Hits On Ethics
Well, it's certainly been a fine day for ethics in government. Trent Lott returned to Republican leadership by 25-24 vote of the now-minority GOP caucus: Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, ousted from the top Senate Republican leadership job four years ago because of remarks considered racially insensitive, won election to the No. 2 post Wednesday for the minority GOP in the next Congress. But Lott deferred to newly elected party leader Mitch McConnell when asked whether he feels vindicated by the 25-24 secret ballot. "The spotlight belongs on him," Lott said of his Kentucky colleague, unanimously chosen to succeed Sen. Bill Frist as the top-ranking Senate GOP leader. But Lott's comeback-kid victory was generating the most buzz in the Capitol hallways. Lott, who was pressured to step down from the Senate's top spot more than four years ago, returned to the center of power by nosing out Sen. Lamar Alexander, who...
November 16, 2006
Demeaning Everything That Touches Him
I lived in the Los Angeles area in 1994, when Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman got butchered to death at Simpson's Brentwood home. I watched OJ as he drove his white Ford Bronco all over the area, and I lived through the subequent trial, acquittal, lawsuit, and conviction. When the larger community split along racial lines on OJ's guilt or innocence, I lived through that as well. All I can say is that a lot of those people will have to eat their words after OJ's new book gets published, but the thought of it brings no satisfaction. Any time OJ makes the news, it demeans anyone connected to the case and the coverage, and this time it comes courtesy of Regan Books: O.J. Simpson created an uproar Wednesday with plans for a TV interview and book titled "If I Did It" — an account the publisher pronounced "his...
Are The House Democrats Revolting?
... against Nancy Pelosi, that is? According to Robert Novak, the impending Speakership of Nancy Pelosi has a number of them gravely concerned, and for the same reason that I pointed out on Monday. With her unexpected endorsement of John Murtha's challenge to Steny Hoyer and her demotion of Jane Harman on the Intelligence committee, Pelosi has made clear that her rule will find its basis on personal whim rather than any concern over the philosophical direction of the party: The damage to her was irrevocable when she wrote her colleagues Sunday urging them to pick Murtha over Rep. Steny Hoyer. Close associates of Hoyer say her letter stunned him, and he was not alone. While Pelosi had made it clear that she would vote for Murtha, the public endorsement was unexpected. Although Pelosi's apologists had stressed that this was not a public campaign, but a pro forma endorsement, she...
The Return Of The Blue Dogs
Nine of the 28 seats gained by Democrats in the midterm elections came from the success of "Blue Dogs", conservative Democrats who convinced voters in previously Republican districts to trust them with reform. The Los Angeles Times now counts 44 of the faction in the House Democratic Caucus, and reports that they have begun to bark for their conservative policies: They helped propel the Democrats to victory in last week's election, and now the "Blue Dogs" want their reward: a decidedly conservative fiscal policy that begins with a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. The coalition of moderate and conservative House Democrats on Wednesday introduced nine members who were newly elected to Congress, bringing its numerical strength to 44. That's more than enough, if all 44 join with the Republican minority in January, to block the initiatives of the more liberal House leadership headed by Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco)....
Whither The GOP?
After the midterm elections, many of us hoped that the Republican Party would return to conservative First Principles in an attempt to recapture the energy that propelled them to majority status in 1994. Refocusing on the bedrock principles of limited government, fiscal discipline, strong national defense, and ethical governance would allow the GOP to reconnect to voters that grew to mistrust the Republicans after the last six years of big-government bloat and pork-barrel politicking. Unfortunately, the leadership elections show that Republicans have not listened to their constituents, both present and former. Both House and Senate caucuses have chosen to support an old guard that led them back into the wilderness last week. At least in one case, John Boehner, some Republicans can justify that decision by noting that Boehner was in the wrong place at the wrong time, since he only served as Majority Leader since January, when Tom DeLay...
'Government Changed Us'
Earlier today, I posted my thoughts about the potential candidacy of John McCain for the presidency and the conflict between his track record and his rhetoric on conservatism and the way forward after the midterms. In response, his staff sent me an advance copy of the speech McCain will deliver tonight to GOPAC, part of his opening efforts of the 2008 presidential campaign. The entire speech will be in the extended entry. It's a good speech, and I think McCain correctly diagnoses the problems facing the GOP, not from the midterms but the problems that caused the midterms. He succinctly makes the point in this passage: Americans had elected us to change government, and they rejected us because they believed government had changed us. ... Hypocrisy, my friends, is the most obvious of political sins. And the people will punish it. We were elected to reduce the size of government...
A Chat With Mitch McConnell
The new Senate Minority Leader spent a little time between votes chatting with a few bloggers, including myself, this afternoon. I took my lunch on the conference call, which Senator McConnell's staff arranged to address questions and concerns about the change in leadership in the Senate as well as their strategy for the next session of Congress. McConnell spoke mostly extemperaneously. He made a couple of points in a short statement at the beginning of the call, mostly reminding people of the challenges and benefits of being in the Senate minority. "49 is not irrelevant," he pointed out, noting that it only takes 41 to block undesirable legislation. As we have experienced in the majority, the filibuster threat allows the minority to have a lot of influence in shaping legislation. McConnell organized the last old-fashioned filibuster in 1994, "going to the mattresses" in an overnight session to block an egregious...
November 17, 2006
All Eyes On Harman And Hastings
Nancy Pelosi managed to lose a major battle and a good portion of her prestige as Speaker before she even ascends to the position. Yesterday her caucus rebuffed her attempt to purge her longtime partner in caucus leadership, Steny Hoyer, based on personal animosities going back to the 2001 caucus leadership race -- which she won. Now the new Speaker may have to reconsider her other notorious exile threat, Jane Harman: House Democrats chose Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland as their new majority leader on Thursday, rejecting the choice of the incoming speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and straining the unity of the new majority party. In an indication that rank-and-file members would be willing to break from Ms. Pelosi, Democrats chose Mr. Hoyer over Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania by a decisive vote of 149 to 86. Mr. Hoyer overcame a concerted push by Ms. Pelosi on behalf of...
How Conservatives Can Set The Agenda For The GOP
Over the last week, I have written several posts on the meaning of the midterm debacle for the Republicans, and how their approach to leadership selection underscores their inability to understand it. While Democrats attracted centrists and independents who stopped trusting the GOP to deliver on their promise of fiscal responsibility and clean government -- promises which won them control of Congress in 1994 -- the GOP has continued to promote the same leadership that led them to the midterm debacle. In some cases, that may make tactical sense, but the symbolism of these choices communicates an unwillingness to change from past strategies that led them to embrace big government, bloated budgets, and pork-barrel politics, all of which inevitably brings corruption and defeat. The ascension of Trent Lott as Minority Whip seems especially significant in this regard. Many tried to excuse this by saying that the GOP needs infighters, or...
November 19, 2006
A Look At Blogs, Elections, And Political Parties
Jon Henke, one of my earliest friends in the blogosphere, spent the last three months trying to rescue a flailing George Allen campaign in Virginia, landing himself in the middle of one of the biggest mud-flinging campaigns of the election season. Having had that kind of experience, Jon had a unique vantage point from which to see the interaction between political parties, voters, and the blogosphere. He's written his post-mortem, in which he congratulates the liberal blogs for their impact: Perhaps the biggest success of the Leftosphere happened here in Virginia, as Jim Webb took a long-shot campaign and, with a significant boost from the netroots, capitalized on the general anti-Republican zeitgeist and the missteps of George Allen to pull out a win. Make no mistake, without the netroots, Webb would not have won. He may not even have been close. It was a long-cultivated activism/outreach/media-hounding New Media campaign that...
November 20, 2006
Forced To Govern, Part 1
The Democrats spent the last six years sniping from the sidelines without publicizing much of their own agenda. They made the valid point that any agenda they would propose would not get to the floor of the House or Senate under Republican control, and they concluded that they had no responsibility to formulate one -- at least not publicly. For three straight electoral cycles, they ran as the anti-GOP, and they finally succeeded in the last election in wresting control of Congress. Ubfortunately, that forces the Democrats to actually pursue a political agenda -- and from what they've shown the voters, that should result in a very short time at the helm. First, Charles Rangel decided to revive the draft again, an idea he floated three years ago to the delight of Republicans: The incoming Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means panel says he will introduce a bill...
Forced To Govern, Part 2
It seems that the Democrats have hit on a theme for their agenda, now that they have control of both chambers of Congress. Voters will recognize this theme, as Democrats have used it for decades as a lever for power -- market distortion. In yet another example of why Democrats represent a difference from Republicans, Chuck Schumer laid out a government-interference model for economics that will disincentivize industry and create inflationary pressures without any corresponding increase in productivity: Senator Schumer, who concentrated his party's firepower on Iraq during an election in which he masterminded a narrow victory in the Senate, laid out the Democratic Party's less talked about domestic agenda yesterday. "It's high time that Congress address issues that matter to the average family," Mr. Schumer, who was recently elected no. 3 in the Senate and will oversee the party's policy and strategy, said yesterday in New York. Although Mr....
What The GOP Leadership Elections Communicate
In the aftermath of the midterm elections, the Republican caucuses in Congress rushed into leadership elections without taking any time to analyze the failures that led them to lose control in both chambers. Instead, they hurriedly reaffirmed their existing leadership, which sent the strange message that they believed themselves on the right track. Even worse, the one change they made sent a message that the GOP would go backwards in their efforts to rebuild trust with the American electorate. In my Washington Examiner column this morning, I reflect on the message that Trent Lott's elevation sends to voters in 2008: Rather than digest the message and the data from the election, the GOP ran pell-mell to re-elect the same leadership that lost the midterms. John Boehner and Roy Blunt are capable representatives, but they provided the leadership that continued to abuse earmarks for political gain, and ran the Republican House...
November 21, 2006
The Play The GOP Left In The Locker Room
The Democrats intend on making a show out of a series of reforms in the opening days of their new Congressional majorities. Rather than offer a comprehensive packages of reform initiatives, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will break them out into separate House rules -- which will allow them to dominate the reform agenda for days and weeks: Despite divisions among Democrats over how far to go in revising ethics rules, House leaders plan a major rollout of an ethics reform bill early next year to demonstrate concern about an issue that helped defeat the Republicans in the midterm elections. But they will do it with a twist: Instead of forwarding one big bill, Democrats will put together an ethics package on the House floor piece by piece, allowing incoming freshmen to take charge of high-profile issues and lengthening the time spent on the debate. The approach will ensure that...
November 22, 2006
How Could You Tell?
A new study by the University of Wisconsin reports that Midwestern voters got more exposure to political advertisements than election coverage in the broadcast media. Local and regional news services turned themselves into tip sheets rather than reporting on the policy issues at stake in the election: A study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's NewsLab found that in the month before the Nov. 7 elections, television stations in seven Midwest markets aired an average of 4 minutes and 24 seconds of political ads and 1 minute and 43 seconds of election news during a typical 30-minute broadcast. The study analyzed early and late evening newscasts on 28 stations in five states. The markets were Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Cleveland, Columbus, Ohio, and Wisconsin's Madison and Milwaukee. Most regions featured competitive gubernatorial, Senate or House races that resulted in significant spending on political advertising. Ken Goldstein, a political scientist who directed...
Bush, The Internationalist?
Tom Tancredo reminds people today why he will forever remain a fringe element in American politics. Tancredo told World News Daily that George Bush -- widely seen (unfairly) as a unilateralist -- is in reality an internationalist who wants to eliminate national borders altogether (via Hot Air): "People have to understand what we're talking about here. The president of the United States is an internationalist," said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. "He is going to do what he can to create a place where the idea of America is just that – it's an idea. It's not an actual place defined by borders. I mean this is where this guy is really going." Tancredo lashed out at the White House's lack of action in securing U.S. borders, and said efforts to merge the U.S. with both Mexico and Canada is not a fantasy. "I know this is dramatic – or maybe...
November 23, 2006
Rummy's Exit Reflecting On Bush
The abrupt departure of Donald Rumsfeld may have delighted critics of the war in Iraq, but dismayed many in Washington DC, especially others who serve at the pleasure of the President. Robert Novak reports on questions being asked about George Bush and the one quality of leadership that has garnered him the most admiration -- loyalty: Donald Rumsfeld, one week after his sacking as secretary of defense, was treated as a conquering hero, accorded one standing ovation after another at the conservative American Spectator magazine's annual dinner in Washington. The enthusiasm may have indicated less total support for Rumsfeld's six-year record at the Pentagon than resentment over the way President Bush fired him. Rumsfeld had recovered his usual aplomb as he basked in the Spectator's glow. But the day after the election he had seemed devastated -- the familiar confident grin gone and his voice breaking. According to administration officials,...
November 24, 2006
The Generational Thumpin'
John Podhoretz takes a look at the analysis of the midterm vote provided by Jay Cost at RCP and discovers a very alarming shift away from the Republican Party. The trend portends not just a one-time loss of control of Congress, but perhaps another generation of Democratic control, unless Republicans can convince independent and centrist voters that they've learned from their mistakes: According to vote-cruncher Jay Cost of Realclearpolitics.com, 54 percent of the ballots in open races were cast for Democrats and 46 percent for Republicans. Between 2004 and '06, the GOP's share of the vote fell an astonishing 10 percentage points. Cost puts it like this: "Republicans should thus count themselves very lucky. With this kind of vote share prior to 1994, the Democrats would have an 81-member majority, as opposed to the 29-member majority they now enjoy." Only certain structural changes in U.S. politics since 1990 prevented that...
November 27, 2006
We Gotta Draft 'Em Because They're So Dumb
Charles Rangel has decided to take up where John Kerry left off, only this time he's not kidding about our military men and women being a collection of lazy dolts. The proposed chairman of the House Ways and Means committee and therefore one of the most powerful Democratic leaders in Congress told Fox News that only those with no options for a decent career would enlist in the military. Here's the video from Power Line: I want to make it abundantly clear: if there’s anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career...
November 29, 2006
We Love You Alcee, Especially When You Leave
It looks like House Democrats have convinced Nancy Pelosi that appointing an impeached federal judge to chair the Intelligence Committee gives them a rather bad start on cleaning up Dodge. Alcee Hastings did not care much for Pelosi's decision to pass him over for the slot, vowing to "haters" that he'll be back: In a decision that could roil Democratic unity in the new House, Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi passed over Rep. Alcee Hastings Tuesday for the chairmanship of the Intelligence Committee. Hastings, currently the No. 2 Democrat on the panel, had been aggressively making a case for the top position, supported by members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Critics pointed out that he had been impeached when he was a federal judge and said naming him to such a sensitive post would be a mistake just as the Democrats take over House control pledging reforms. "I am obviously disappointed with...
November 30, 2006
Another Campaign Pledge Bites The Dust
In the wake of Nancy Pelosi's backing of John Murtha and Alcee Hastings for key leadership positions in the new, supposedly clean Democratic-controlled Congress, one might think the Democrats would avoid the stigma of breaking another campaign promise before they even officially come to power. The Washington Post reports that they don't appear to care, though, now that they won the midterm elections, as they prepare to back away from a widely-publicized promise: It was a solemn pledge, repeated by Democratic leaders and candidates over and over: If elected to the majority in Congress, Democrats would implement all of the recommendations of the bipartisan commission that examined the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But with control of Congress now secured, Democratic leaders have decided for now against implementing the one measure that would affect them most directly: a wholesale reorganization of Congress to improve oversight and funding of the nation's...
Mehlman: Don't Try To Out-Democrat The Democrats
Outgoing RNC chair Ken Mehlman waxed valedictory tonight in a speech to Republican governors. He told the audience, at least one of whom has presidential ambitions for 2008, that the GOP abandoned the core principles that once had voters trusting them to clean up Washington DC: The sting of Republican electoral defeats still fresh, the GOP chairman suggested Thursday the party has strayed and challenged it to refocus on core principles and reform. "We work for the people," Ken Mehlman, the outgoing chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in a speech to a meeting of GOP governors. He reminded the crowd that "good policy makes good politics — and, for Republicans, this must be a time for self-examination when it comes to our policy." ... "Our nation is stronger and better when Republicans are the party running the government. But, ladies and gentleman, our party should never be the...
December 1, 2006
Another Example Of Democrats Reforming Congress?
Justin Rood at TPM Muckraker asks whether Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats will have another corruption issue in caucus leadership. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) served as ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Science, State, Justice, Commerce and Related Agencies and under normal circumstances would take the chair from Frank Wolf, the current Republican chair. However, Rood points to an ugly conflict of interest that would immediately present itself if he does: The FBI's probing Mollohan for possible violations of the law arising from his sprawling network of favors and money which connects him to good friends via questionable charities, alarmingly successful real estate ventures, and hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarked funds. The investigation appears to be active and ongoing. We're told that the Feds continue to gather information on the guy. Yet the Democrats look poised to make Mollohan the chairman of the panel which controls the...
December 4, 2006
Has Bush Surrendered On Presidential Prerogative?
Two changes in the Bush administration's key foreign policy posts make it appear that the White House has signalled a full retreat on its executive prerogative. Ambassadors John Bolton and Zalmay Khalilizad have tendered their resignations, from the UN and Iraq respectively, withdrawing from the two most controversial posts in the foreign service. Following the abrupt departure of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, the Bush hardliners seem to be exiting stage right in reaction to the mid-term losses for the Republicans. Bush had a few words about Bolton's departure: President Bush, in a statement, said he was "deeply disappointed that a handful of United States senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up or down vote he deserved in the Senate." "They chose to obstruct his confirmation, even though he enjoys majority support in the Senate, and even though their tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive...
December 5, 2006
When Muslims Decide The Composition Of Holocaust Panels ...
... then we will truly have lost the war on terror. Yesterday CAIR issued a statement demanding the removal of Dennis Prager from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council for a matter completely unrelated to the Holocaust. Prager had objected to newly-elected Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison's plans to use a Qur'an for his oath of office rather than the Bible: In a syndicated column last week, Mr. Prager asserted that a new Democratic congressman from Minnesota, Keith Ellison, was tearing at the bulwarks of American society by seeking to use the Muslim holy book at his swearing-in next month. "He should not be allowed to do so — not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American civilization," Mr. Prager wrote. "Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one...
Harman Starts Looking Better To The Left?
One has to wonder what strategy Nancy Pelosi has decided to pursue in the next session of Congress. After a couple of major missteps in the days following the Democratic Party's midterms successes, she has managed to transform what had they described as a mandate for clean government and an end to the American involvement in Iraq into a serious muddle. First she champions two men for key leadership posts that have serious questions of corruption in their backgrounds. Now the man she selected to replace one of them wants to back the Pentagon and expand the American commitment in Iraq (via Hot Air): In a surprise twist in the debate over Iraq, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, the soon-to-be chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he wants to see an increase of 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops as part of a stepped up effort to “dismantle the militias." The soft-spoken...
That Was Quick
Robert Gates made a bungee appearance at the Senate Armed Forces Committee today for his confirmation hearings to replace Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon. Some expected the hearings to provide some fireworks and an opportunity for grandstanding -- but in the end, it looks like all sides just wanted to get it done quickly: Robert M. Gates, President Bush’s nominee to be defense secretary, won unanimous approval today from a Senate panel after testifying that the United States was not winning in Iraq and that American failure there could ignite “a regional conflagration” in the Middle East. At one point, Mr. Gates said it was “too soon to tell” whether the American invasion in 2003 had been a good idea. He added: “My greatest worry if we mishandle the next year or two and leave Iraq in chaos is that a variety of regional powers will become involved in Iraq,...
December 6, 2006
Changing The Work Ethic
The Democrats scored a front-page hit today with Steny Hoyer's announcement that House members will work a full-time schedule while Congress is in session. The new Majority Leader has designed a schedule that will require members to work from Monday evening to Friday afternoon, a plan that has some members of both parties grumbling: Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, the Maryland Democrat who will become House majority leader and is writing the schedule for the next Congress, said members should expect longer hours than the brief week they have grown accustomed to. "I have bad news for you," Hoyer told reporters. "Those trips you had planned in January, forget 'em. We will be working almost every day in January, starting with the 4th." The reporters groaned. "I know, it's awful, isn't it?" Hoyer empathized. For lawmakers, it is awful, compared with what they have come to expect. For much of this...
December 7, 2006
Remember Reform?
The Democrats came back to the majority in both chambers of Congress in good part due to their ability to tie Republicans to lobbying scandals and petty (and not so petty) corruptions. Nancy Pelosi promised to "clean up Congress" as one of her top priorities when she takes the gavel in January. Apparently, that leaves her a few weeks to let the Democratic caucus to cozy up to lobbyists: Democrats may be promising a clampdown on lobbyist freebies once they take control of Congress. But ahead of that push, party leaders are collecting lobbyists' checks, while Democratic staffers angle for jobs inside their well-appointed offices.Verizon Communications Inc. earlier this week sponsored a reception for newly elected Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill. Illinois Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean was the beneficiary of a Tuesday night fund-raiser in the new Capitol Hill offices of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In addition to retiring Ms....
A Baby! Stone The Crows!
Somehow the national crisis of Mary Cheney's pregnancy escapes me. The news that Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter is expecting her first child has activists across the political spectrum in a strange dither: Conservative leaders voiced dismay Wednesday at news that Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Dick Cheney, is pregnant, while a gay-rights group said the vice president faces "a lifetime of sleepless nights" for serving in an administration that has opposed recognition of same-sex couples. Mary Cheney, 37, and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, 45, are expecting a baby in late spring, said Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for the vice president. ... Family Pride, which advocates on behalf of gay and lesbian families, noted that Virginia last month became one of 27 states with a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. ... "Unless they move to a handful of less restrictive states, Heather will never...
Cleanse The Code
I had the opportunity to participate in a conference call with Senators Larry Craig and Ron Wyden regarding the Cleanse The Code project, a tax reform effort to simplify the ungainly regulations that currently exist. I've taken notes of the opening remarks: Ron Wyden (D-OR): There have been 15,000 changes in the tax code since the last revision, and now stretches out to 55,000 pages. None of this has made tax compliance any easier; we spend more on tax compliance than education. We either have to keep adding more regulations or "drain the tax swamp". We need a one-page 1040, which the adminstration wants as well. This is a natural opportunity for bipartisanship, and much of the activist model comes from 1986, another bipartisan effort. The last tax reform took place during the second term of a Republican president working with a Democratic Congress. It can happen again. Larry Craig...
December 9, 2006
Oh, When They Get Behind Closed Doors ... Watch Out
Oh, no one knows what goes on behind closed doors ... I'm old enough to remember the old Charlie Rich ballad when it was a huge crossover hit. While the song talked about private love, the new session of the Senate may need the same reference to talk about its new approach to public policy. Harry Reid has called for a closed-door session of the entire Senate to kick off the 110th Congress, excluding the press and the public: Senate Democrats, who campaigned on a pledge of more openness in government, will kick off the 110th Congress with a closed meeting of all 100 senators in the Capitol. Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who will be the majority leader when the new Congress convenes Jan. 4, announced yesterday "a joint caucus meeting" for senators only, to be held that morning in the old Senate chamber, a cozy, seldom-used room. ......
Wasn't He On The Intel Committee Already?
Nancy Pelosi has struggled through a headache of her own making ever since tossing Jane Harman out of the House Intelligence Committee chair. She attempted to place Alcee Hastings into the slot, even though Hastings got impeached from the federal bench for corruption in the late 1980s. When her caucus rebelled, she instead selected Silvestre Reyes, who surprised the caucus with his support of an expanded US presence in Iraq. Now, according to CQ's Jeff Stein, Reyes has little understanding of America's explicit enemy in the war on terror: ... Reyes can’t answer some fundamental questions about the powerful forces arrayed against us in the Middle East. It begs the question, of course: How can the Intelligence Committee do effective oversight of U.S. spy agencies when its leaders don’t know basics about the battlefield? ... The dialogue went like this: Al Qaeda is what, I asked, Sunni or Shia? “Al...
December 10, 2006
The Freezer Money Wasn't Needed, Apparently
In a sign that people will vote for crooks as long as they consider them a member of the team, William Jefferson has won re-election to the House of Representative. The Louisiana Democrat won 57% of the vote in a runoff against a fellow Democrat despite having been caught with $90,000 cash in his freezer during a federal corruption investigation: Voters looked past a federal bribery investigation of Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) and reelected the eight-term congressman in a runoff election Saturday. Jefferson grabbed a commanding lead over state Rep. Karen Carter, a fellow Democrat, almost as soon as the polls closed in the New Orleans district. With 44 percent of the precincts reporting, Jefferson, had 61 percent of the vote. Louisiana's 2nd District was one of the nation's last unresolved midterm races, and the runoff election put Jefferson in danger of becoming the only Democratic incumbent to lose...
Greenwald Pounds Emanuel
In the wake of the final Ethics Committee report on the Mark Foley scandal, we have discovered what we expected -- that the Republicans shrugged off the scandal until it blew up in their faces, and that the Democrats knew about it long before the October Surprise release (in September, in this case) prior to the midterms. It shows both parties in a poor light, both of them sublimating ethical concerns and the safety of the pages to electoral interests. On page 76 of the report, the Ethics Committee makes clear that the Democratic House leadership had copies of the e-mails as early as October 2005 -- and withheld them. Today, no lesser liberal blogger than Glenn Greenwald blasts the Democrats, and especially Rahm Emanuel, for lying about their involvement in the scandal: At the height of the Mark Foley scandal in October -- when Democrats were pounding Denny Hastert...
Murphy's Law
In my experience, any time one goes to work for the government, it conducts a proctological background check that takes weeks or months to complete. They ask for every piece of information that one could possibly imagine, including all of the places one has lived for what seems their entire life, the names of neighbors and co-workers, and the nature of all the positions one has held. That kind of check gets conducted for entry-level positions where any kind of security clearance is required; it gets more involved the higher the clearance gets. So it comes as a rather large and unpleasant surprise that the White House and the Pentagon had no idea one of their top lawyers had been disbarred in Texas: A top Air Force lawyer who served at the White House and in a senior position in Iraq turns out to have been practicing law for 23...
Lactose Intolerance
Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. Ralph Waldo Emerson's advice has informed American self-perception of their economy: inventive, individualistic, and dynamic. However, milk apparently gets different treatment than mousetraps, as Dutch immigrant and dairyman Hein Hettinga just discovered: In the summer of 2003, shoppers in Southern California began getting a break on the price of milk. A maverick dairyman named Hein Hettinga started bottling his own milk and selling it for as much as 20 cents a gallon less than the competition, exercising his right to work outside the rigid system that has controlled U.S. milk production for almost 70 years. Soon the effects were rippling through the state, helping to hold down retail prices at supermarkets and warehouse stores. That was when a coalition of giant milk companies and dairies, along with their congressional allies, decided to crush Hettinga's initiative. For...
December 12, 2006
Governor Moonbeam Becomes AG Sunbeam?
When Californians returned former Governor Jerry Brown to statewide office, this time as Attorney General, pundits around the nation waited in anticipation for any hint of a return to his old ways, which earned him the nickname Governor Moonbeam. It apparently didn't take long, as everyone at the California Department of Justice discovered yesterday when they opened their e-mail. Brown wants the staff to clearly understand his priorities as chief law-enforcement officer in the Golden State. CQ's inside source sent over the full text of the e-mail (emphases mine): To everyone within the Department of Justice: I am very much looking forward to joining you on January 8, 2007, as your new Attorney General. These are busy weeks, as I wind up my work as Mayor of Oakland and get ready to assume office. Bill Lockyer and key members of his executive staff have been extraordinarily helpful in smoothing the...
December 14, 2006
Pray For Tim Johnson (Updated)
Tim Johnson, the senior Senator from our neighbor South Dakota, has taken ill and may have suffered a stroke: Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S. D., has been hospitalized with symptoms described as stroke-like. The seriousness of his illness has not been disclosed. ... Johnson became disoriented during a call with reporters at midday, stuttering in response to a question. He appeared to recover, asking if there were any additional questions before ending the call. Johnson spokeswoman Julianne Fisher said he had walked back to his Capitol office after the call with reporters but appeared to not be feeling well. The Capitol physician was called and Johnson was taken by ambulance to the George Washington Univeristy Hospital in D.C. for evaluation. A statement released by Johnson's office said, "Senator Tim Johnson was taken to George Washington University Hospital this afternoon suffering from a possible stroke. As this stage, he is undergoing a...
Flying Imams A Campaign Stunt
The obvious nature of the provocation made by six Muslim clerics on a US Air flight last month has people wondering what purpose it served for them. Did the imams intend to make a name for themselves in the Muslim victimhood campaign? Did they want to test the security procedures of the airline to determine their capabilities? Kathryn Kersten has a different answer in today's Star Tribune column -- and it's one that encompasses many of the guesses: On Dec. 1, a curious report on the grounded-imams incident at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport appeared on the website of the Iranian Quran News Agency. The report quoted extensively from Madhi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. The foundation is the American arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, "the world's most influential Islamic fundamentalist group," according to the Chicago Tribune. Bray's initial statement about the incident had an...
December 15, 2006
Two States Suspend Executions
California and Florida suspended executions today after controversy erupted from a botched lethal injection earlier this week. While the officials who implemented the moratoria in each state said the stoppage should be temporary, it might create pressure to rethink executions in both states: Gov. Jeb Bush suspended all executions in Florida after a medical examiner said Friday that prison officials botched the insertion of the needles when a convicted killer was put to death earlier this week. Separately, a federal judge in California extended a moratorium on executions in the nation's most populous state, declaring that the state's method of lethal injection violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled in San Jose that California's "implementation of lethal injection is broken, but it can be fixed." In Florida, medical examiner Dr. William Hamilton said Wednesday's execution of Angel Nieves Diaz took 34 minutes...
December 16, 2006
Ghouls In Search Of A Story
After suffering a stroke and surviving surgery, Senator Tim Johnson has begun his recovery and appears to be improving. Reports have him conscious and communicating with family and doctors, which indicates that he will recover significantly from the incident. No further surgeries are expected, according to the medical staff. One would think that all of the above would have ended the speculation about replacing Johnson and affecting the partisan balance of the Senate. However, the New York Times simply cannot stop itself from journalistic ghoulishness in pursuing an increasingly remote chance that any of that will be necessary: In the tornado of talk about Senator Tim Johnson’s political future after his surgery to stem bleeding in the brain, one man has stayed mostly out of sight and mostly silent but for conveying his prayers through spokesmen. Gov. Mike Rounds, a Republican whose duty it would be to appoint a replacement...
December 19, 2006
Democrats Disappoint Bono
Acclaimed U2 rocker and aid activist Bono tried getting the Democrats to support George Bush's commitments to African aid after they take control of Congress, but left disappointed. It seems that Bono has discovered the blessing and curse of divided government: Meetings in Washington last Thursday between rock star Bono and Democrats, including Senate leader Harry Reid of Nevada, yielded a nice photo-op but not much else, according to Bono. Bono, the U2 frontman and anti-poverty activist, was on Capitol Hill to seek assurances that $1 billion in planned U.S. spending to fight AIDS and malaria in Africa would not be lost if Congress freezes agency budgets in the coming year. Bono said he also was seeking to close a "commitment gap" between what President Bush has requested for anti-poverty efforts and what Congress has agreed to spend in the past. After meetings with incoming Senate Majority Leader Reid, House...
Buck Passing As An Art Form
One of the more egregious developments of the Watergate era has been the rise of the "independent investigator". Having burned both parties, one might expect such constructs to fall out of favor in Washington, but that would underestimate the desire of politicians to shirk responsibility for difficult tasks. An unsigned OpinionJournal editorial today covers the proposed expansion of the buck-passing state: Congressional mores could certainly use an upgrade, but it pays to beware of reformers promising to clean up politics by letting someone else do the dirty work. Exhibit A is the strange new enthusiasm for an "independent" office of public integrity for Congress. One warning sign is that the proposal is being marketed by the same folks who gave us "independent counsels" such as Lawrence Walsh and Ken Starr for the executive branch, as well as the glories of "campaign finance reform." Instead of the current practice of having...
December 20, 2006
End Of The Country Club At LSC ... Maybe
Three months ago, I wrote about the financial shenanigans at the Legal Services Corporation, which provides low-income Americans with legal assistance. The LSC had used its Congressional mandate and ever-increasing budgets to get itself some fancy Georgetown digs and treat its lawyers to limousines for cross-town traffic in DC instead of cabs. They leased the new offices specifically for the spacious meeting rooms, but instead held their conferences in resort destinations like San Juan. The days of wine and roses (and expensive Death by Chocolate desserts) have come to an end, however: The $13 per person "high tea" service and $12 bagel breaks will be gone from the January directors meeting of the government's legal aid program for the poor. And the meeting will be held at the headquarters conference room rather than the upscale hotel used in the past. After severe criticism from Congress, stinging reports from a financial...
A Little Song, A Little Dance, National-Security Documents Down Your Pants
The Inspector General of the National Archives has released his report on the security breach committed by Sandy Berger. Unlike the characterization given for the theft of classified data from the Archives by his political allies, the IG clearly accuses Berger of intentionally stealing the documents for their later destruction: Inspector General Paul Brachfeld reported that when Berger was confronted by Archives officials about the missing documents, he said it was possible he threw them in his office trash. The report said that when Archives employees first suspected that Berger _ who had been President Clinton's national security adviser _ was removing classified documents from the Archives in the fall of they failed to notify any law enforcement agency. ... "In total, during this visit, he removed four documents ... Mr. Berger said he placed the documents under a trailer in an accessible construction area outside Archives 1 (the main...
December 21, 2006
The Common Ground In 2007
George Bush held a press conference today to smooth the way for better relations between Democrats and Republicans in the last two years of his presidency. In a performance that recalled his old promise to be a uniter in Washington, Bush talked about the common ground that could be found between Congress and the White House -- and it has a familiar ring to it: Eager to show he heard the message of voters who stripped his party of majorities in both the House and Senate in the November elections, Bush said he'll work hard on what he called "an interesting new challenge" — trying to find common ground with Democrats who will lead Congress for the first time in his presidency. "I don't expect Democratic leaders to compromise on their principles, and they don't expect me to compromise on mine," he said. "But the American people do expect us...
Subsidizing The Elimination Of The Small Farmer
When the topic of farm subsidies arises, it evokes an image of a subsistence small operator, barely keeping up with the bills, while employing and supporting a large family. Politicians from my region of the country sell this narrative when funding massive subsidy programs for agriculture, telling voters across the country that the federal government has to secure the food supply by supporting price structures to keep the small farmer from bankruptcy. However, as the Washington Post reports, this portrait of the American farmer has more in common with Norman Rockwell than modern-day agriculture -- and these very subsidies are the reason: Today, most of the nation's food is produced by modern family farms that are large operations using state-of-the-art computers, marketing consultants and technologies that cut labor, time and costs. The owners are frequently college graduates who are as comfortable with a spreadsheet as with a tractor. They cover...
December 24, 2006
A Little Holiday Snark For Monica
Even eight years after her stained blue dress made international headlines and almost destroyed Bill Clinton's presidency, Monica Lewinsky still inspires some of the silliest commentary across the political spectrum. Today's example appears in the Washington Post, where Libby Copeland uses Lewinsky's award of a post-graduate degree as an occasion for a large dose of holiday snark: Lewinsky, 33, is known more for her audacious coquetry than for her intellectual heft, and the notion of her earning a master of science degree in social psychology at the prestigious London university is jarring, akin to finding a rip in the time-space continuum, or discovering that Kim Jong Il is a natural blond. Even more staggering, the same bubbly gal who once described the act of flashing her thong at the president as a "small, subtle, flirtatious gesture" has now written a lofty-sounding thesis. Its title, according to Reuters: "In Search of...
December 26, 2006
One Is The Loneliest Number (Updated!)
NOTE: Be sure to read the updates. It seems that the troops who got "stuck in Iraq", according to John Kerry, have not accepted the explanation Kerry gave for his little joke before the midterm elections. Radio host Scott Hennen got an e-mail from a serviceman in Iraq that shows Kerry having a private lunch in a mess hall full of soldiers: "This is a true story.....Check out this photo from our mess hall at the US Embassy yesterday morning. Sen. Kerry found himself all alone while he was over here. He cancelled his press conference because no one came, he worked out alone in the gym w/o any soldiers even going up to say hi or ask for an autograph (I was one of those who was in the gym at the same time), and he found himself eating breakfast with only a couple of folks who are obviously...
Gerald Ford Passes
CNN and FOX is now reporting that Gerald Ford has died (via Michelle Malkin). No links yet, but CNN is covering it wall to wall at the moment. We can expect plenty of analysis of Ford's impact on American politics, but to me he will always be the Accidental President. Plucked from near-obscurity to be Nixon's VP in the wake of Spiro Agnew's resignation, he never appeared at ease in the glare of presidential scrutiny. He soon garnered an undeserved reputation as a klutz, thanks to Chevy Chase, but in truth he was a star athlete. His was the first presidency to get defined by video bites and cheap shots, but unfortunately he was not the last. His first action as President pretty much ensured his defeat in the 1976 election. He pardoned Richard Nixon, an act that still inspires debate among people all along the political spectrum. Critics accused...
December 27, 2006
Should Ford Have Pardoned Nixon?
One of the most contentious decisions in American political history will get thoroughly revisited in the coming days now that Gerald Ford has passed away at the grand old age of 93. The Accidental President had enjoyed a polite and unspoken consensus among political pundits not to thrash out that question too much while he was alive, but it will no doubt get more analysis now. In fact, in the blogosphere, two people from both sides of the divide have already asked the question. Jeralyn Merritt from TalkLeft (via TMV) and Jack Yoest from Reasoned Audacity (via The Corner) both feel that Ford short-circuited a needed path to justice, while Charmaine Yoest in the same Reasoned Audacity post believes Ford did the right and necessary thing to move us past Watergate. Certainly, I think Ford pardoned Nixon for the purpose Charmaine notes. Ford built a reputation for a tough but...
Reid On Ford Funeral: I'm Busy
The death of a former President usually means that the leadership of all three branches of the government gather to mourn on behalf of the nation and to pay final respects to those once chosen to lead it. These events come rarely and allow for a moment of ceremonial unity in the political world. Not every politician attends, but leadership is expected to make their appearances. However, incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his chief deputy Dick Durbin apparently can't be bothered. They had a junket scheduled to tour Macchu Picchu, and by golly, no dead President will convince them to reschedule: Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will miss the state funeral for former President Gerald Ford at the Capitol Rotunda on Saturday night, opting instead to lead a delegation to South America with an expected stop at the Machu Picchu Inca ruins. Reid, D-Nev., left Wednesday afternoon...
December 29, 2006
Nifong In Trouble
Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong faces charges of ethical violations at the North Carolina Bar Association due to his inflammatory and misleading comments to the press during the rape investigation of three Duke lacrosse team members. The statements that the NCBA highlights look especially questionable, given the withdrawal of the specific counts of rape last week, and the complaints could result in Nifong's disbarment: The North Carolina Bar Association filed ethics charges Thursday against the prosecutor in the Duke University rape case, accusing him of saying misleading and inflammatory things to the media about the lacrosse players under suspicion. The punishment for ethics violations can range from admonishment to disbarment. Among the four rules of professional conduct that District Attorney Mike Nifong was accused of violating was a prohibition against making comments "that have a substantial likelihood of heightening public condemnation of the accused." The comments made by Nifong come...
December 30, 2006
Don't Call Hitchens For My Eulogy
Christopher Hitchens has begun to build a reputation as an anti-eulogist, the kind of pundit who gets contrarian whenever a significant political figure passes away. In the midst of the mourning over Ronald Reagan, Hitchens released a scathing attack on the deceased President, dredging up the tired memes of his purported idiocy, although he managed to find a few stinging examples of his rhetorical mistakes. Now Hitchens remembers Gerald Ford in much the same manner: One expects a certain amount of piety and hypocrisy when retired statesmen give up the ghost, but this doesn't excuse the astonishing number of omissions and misstatements that have characterized the sickly national farewell to Gerald Ford. One could graze for hours on the great slopes of the massive obituaries and never guess that during his mercifully brief occupation of the White House, this president had: 1. Disgraced the United States in Iraq and inaugurated...
December 31, 2006
Ed Koch's Hero
Ed Koch has apparently agreed to start blogging for the Jerusalem Post, and his first entry covers the man he considers his hero. To the readers of JPost's blog it may come as a surprise, but not to people who have followed Hizzoner for the past few years: President George W. Bush, vilified by many, supported by some, is a hero to me. Why do I say that? It's not because I agree with the President's domestic agenda. It's not because I think he's done a perfect job in the White House. George Bush is a hero to me because he has courage. The President does what he believes to be in the best interest of the United States. He sticks with his beliefs, no matter how intense the criticism and invective that are directed against him every day. The enormous defeat President Bush suffered with the loss of both...
January 2, 2007
This Is Not Your Father's Democratic Majority
With their newly-minted majority just hours away from inauguration, the Democrats have made many plans on how they will run Congress over the next two years. However, the New York Times reminds us that the new majority has some fractious potential thanks to the large percentage who have never served in the majority -- and thanks to another factor the Times neglects to mention: Those divergent outlooks over how best to fulfill the Democratic promise to clean up the House are just one illustration of a friction that could develop in the new Congress as the party takes control after 12 years in exile. While most attention will be focused on the divide between Republicans and Democrats, members of the new majority have their own differing perspectives, corresponding largely to length of service, that could ultimately prove more crucial to their success or failure. Of 233 Democrats who will be...
Remove Conyers
With the new Democratic majority sounding off about cleaning up Congress, one might think they would consider their own proposed leadership first. After trying to push Alcee Hastings and John Murtha into the upper echelons of the House, Nancy Pelosi now has to consider the newly-admonished House Judiciary chair's future. If Pelosi is serious about cleaning up Congress, the Examiner says that John Conyers must go: Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., is scheduled to become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, but only because he agreed when Pelosi previously made clear that she intended him not to waste time on impeachment proceedings against President Bush. But now we learn that Conyers has his own problems with obeying the law. There is so much wrong with the Conyers situation that Pelosi shouldn’t have to think twice about nixing Conyers’ chairmanship. ... Pelosi should withdraw Conyers’ appointment as chairman of the House Judiciary...
January 3, 2007
Favoritism Shown For Clinton Pal?
Here's a story that managed to fly under the radar during Christmastime. Suzanne Magaziner, the wife of Clinton friend and organizer Ira Magaziner and herself a major activist with ties to the new Governor in Massachusetts, got her drunk-driving charges mysteriously dismissed despite failing a Breathalyzer and field sobriety tests (via Newsbeat1): A politically wired campaign fund-raiser with ties to Gov.-elect Deval Patrick and former President Clinton has been cleared of drunken driving charges, despite allegedly failing sobriety tests and blowing over the legal limit on a Breathalyzer. Suzanne Magaziner, a Patrick campaign organizer married to ex-Clinton adviser Ira Magaziner, was busted April 4 in Mansfield after a trucker spotted her swerving on Interstate 95, the Sun Chronicle of Attleboro reported. State police who pulled over Magaziner, 54, said she had bloodshot eyes, alcohol on her breath and failed sobriety tests. She also reportedly blew a .12 on a breath-alcohol...
A Challenge To The New Congress
On the eve of the transition in Congress, George Bush has written a rare opinion piece in today's Wall Street Journal. In it he challenges the Democrats to working in a bipartisan manner on national security and fiscal responsibility, but the Democrats may have their own ideas on both subjects: In the days ahead, I will be addressing our nation about a new strategy to help the Iraqi people gain control of the security situation and hasten the day when the Iraqi government gains full control over its affairs. Ultimately, Iraqis must resolve the most pressing issues facing them. We can't do it for them. But we can help Iraq defeat the extremists inside and outside of Iraq--and we can help provide the necessary breathing space for this young government to meet its responsibilities. If democracy fails and the extremists prevail in Iraq, America's enemies will be stronger, more lethal,...
The Nature Of Youthful Indiscretions
... is that they should be handled discreetly. However, the tabloidesque nature of national politics over the last generation has eliminated discretion, and it appears the next example of this will be Barack Obama. The Washington Post manages to both raise Obama's youthful choices on drugs and then question their applicability to a man two decades past their use: Long before the national media spotlight began to shine on every twist and turn of his life's journey, Barack Obama had this to say about himself: "Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man. . . . I got high [to] push questions of who I was out of my mind." The Democratic senator from Illinois and likely presidential candidate offered the confession in a memoir written 11 years ago, not long after he graduated from law school and well before he...
Quick Hits
I'm waiting for the opening kickoff of the Sugar Bowl after having worn my Notre Dame sports shirt all day today. They LSU Tigers just won the coin flip and will let the Fighting Irish get the ball first, so we should see some fireworks from Brady Quinn shortly. While that goes on, I have a few stories I want to note ... First, let's offer our best wishes and prayers to Michelle Malkin and Curt from Flopping Aces in their upcoming trip to Iraq. Eason Jordan has proven as good as his word, in this instance at least, in honoring his offer to Michelle and extending it to Curt to search for the elusive Captain Jamil Hussein, the AP source that the wire service still insists is legitimate. Michelle and Curt plan to do more than poke around for the suddenly-missing AP source. They're also going to embed with...
January 4, 2007
A Strange Change
John Negroponte has given up his Cabinet-level position in order to work for Condoleezza Rice at State. Replacing him will be another retired military officer, which may revive some of the concerns regarding military control of the intelligence community: John D. Negroponte, whom President Bush installed less than two years ago as the first director of national intelligence, will soon leave his post to become the State Department’s second-ranking official, administration officials said Wednesday. Mr. Negroponte will fill a critical job that has been vacant for months, and he is expected to play a leading role in shaping policy in Iraq. But his transfer is another blow to an intelligence community that has seen little continuity at the top since the departure of George J. Tenet in 2004 as director of central intelligence. ... On paper, the director of national intelligence outranks the deputy secretary of state, raising questions about...
Abuse Of Power, Revisited
Some people question whether the charges against Richard Nixon regarding his abuses of power in office had more to do with politics than with real abuses. CNN reports on newly-released information that demonstrates Nixon's abuse, although its report focuses on another incident with much less import: The former president's darker side was further revealed on Wednesday by newly released FBI files which show the agency ran criminal background checks on Senate witnesses critical of William Rehnquist's nomination to the Supreme Court in 1971 at the request of the Nixon administration. The disclosures were among 1,561 pages released by the bureau under the Freedom of Information Act. The New York Sun picks the story up as well, although they also relegate it to a minor position: The files also describe the FBI's efforts in 1971 to support Rehnquist's nomination as an associate justice. The bureau conducted background checks on two Phoenix,...
What You Don't Know About The Federal Minimum Wage
Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats have placed a significant minimum-wage increase at the top of their agenda for the 110th Congress. President Bush has signaled his willingness to approve it, using the increase as a lever for tax relief on small businesses. One would imagine that this show of bipartisanship springs from a national crisis, but George Will explains that the effort will benefit only a few, and not even the few that the politicos assume: Democrats consider the minimum-wage increase a signature issue. So, consider what it says about them: Most of the working poor earn more than the minimum wage, and most of the 0.6 percent (479,000 in 2005) of America's wage workers earning the minimum wage are not poor. Only one in five workers earning the federal minimum lives in families with earnings below the poverty line. Sixty percent work part time, and their average household income...
January 5, 2007
The Predictable Problems Of The DNI
The resignation of John Negroponte has produced criticism of his stewardship of American intelligence as DNI from members of Congress that insisted on creating the position. The Los Angeles Times reports that Negroponte has wanted to leave the position for weeks due to the lack of authority over the component intelligence agencies, although that did not keep Negroponte from doing some empire-building as DNI: Negroponte's departure as national intelligence director has been rumored for weeks, and officials close to him have said that the career diplomat is eager to return to the State Department, particularly in such a senior role. Negroponte is expected to play a leading role in revamping the State Department's Iraq policy by putting more pressure on the fledgling government there and enlisting more help from regional allies. Intelligence veterans said it was clear that Negroponte had been chafing under the limitations of his position as intelligence...
The Tax Line In The Sand
It looks like the Republicans have found their theme for the next two years of Democratic control of Congress. A slew of press releases from the GOP yesterday focused on the spectre of tax-raising by Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and their controlling caucuses. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney became the first top-level Republican primary candidate to sign the Tax Pledge, joining most of the Republican caucuses in Congress: Seeking to broaden his appeal as a presidential candidate beyond those Republicans attracted by his reputation as a social conservative, Governor Romney is making a play for economic conservatives by focusing on taxes. Moments before Mr. Romney, whose term as governor ended this week, entered the offices of his presidential exploratory committee for the first time as a private citizen, he warned that the new Democratic Congress would succumb to raising taxes. "The Democratic agenda seems to be surrounding the idea of raising taxes...
January 7, 2007
A New Source For Stem Cells?
The controversy over stem cells has now thrown its shadow over three national elections. While adult and umbilical stem cells have contributed to actual therapies, embryonic stem cells have not -- and yet their flexibility has presented a tantalizing subject for medical researchers for several years. The leadership of the Democratic Congress is widely expected to propose federal funding for human embryonic stem-cell (hEsc) research, setting up a showdown with the Bush administration. Now, however, researchers at Harvard have found stem cells with the same flexibility as hEsc, but without the need to damage embryos in any way: Scientists say they have discovered a new source of stem cells that could one day repair damaged human organs. The Harvard University team say they have recovered functioning stem cells from amniotic fluid - the liquid that surrounds the baby in the womb. ... The Harvard scientists say the stem cells they...
January 9, 2007
The Healthinator?
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed mandatory universal health-care coverage for all Californians, a plan that will get its funding from taxes on small businesses and medical-industry professionals. California would become the third state to require all residents to carry health insurance, and Schwarzenegger plans on enforcing it through wage garnishments if necessary: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Monday proposed a system of universal health insurance for Californians that would make the nation's most populous state the third to guarantee medical coverage for all its residents. "Prices for health care and insurance are rising twice as fast as inflation, twice as fast as wages. That is a terrible drain on everyone, and it is a drain on our economy," Schwarzenegger said. "My solution is that everyone in California must have insurance. If you can't afford it, the state will help you buy it, but you must be insured." ... Schwarzenegger's plan would...
January 11, 2007
If This Was A Fight, They Would Have Called It
The case of the Duke non-rape has gotten even stranger, if such a thing could be possible. The lawyers defending the Duke University students accused of the sexual assault have filed a motion that outlines all of the ways in which the accuser has changed her story since her allegations made national headlines: The statement layers new and contradictory accounts over the woman's previous statements: * In her latest statement she said the attack ended at midnight. In previous accounts, the woman said the gang-rape ended shortly before she left in the car driven by Kim Roberts, the second dancer. Roberts called 911 as she was driving away at 12:53 a.m., according to police records. This new account leaves 50 minutes unaccounted between the end of the rape and the departure from the party. The new statement runs contrary to time stamped photos of the party, which show the two...
January 13, 2007
Nifong Wants A Forfeit?
Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong, under fire for a series of unethical acts in his pursuit of a rape and sexual assault case against three Duke University students, asked to have the state replace his office on the case. Nifong's own legal troubles with the state Bar over his actions has made it impossible for him to continue as prosecutor: Durham, N.C., District Attorney Mike Nifong has requested that he have himself removed from prosecuting the Duke lacrosse rape investigation. ABC News broke the story, first reporting Nifong's recusal Friday afternoon. Three Duke lacrosse players, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans, were indicted in 2006 on charges of rape, sexual assault, and kidnapping after a lacrosse team party on the night of March 13. Rape charges were dropped in December after the accuser could not recall key details of the alleged attack. A source close to the investigation said...
January 14, 2007
Return Of Employer Clinics
The fight over health-care costs keeps centering on employers, and now the largest of them may decide to operate health clinics directly in order to reduce their financial exposure. Toyota, Pepsi, and a host of other large corporations have opened their own primary care centers, allowing their employees free access in the hope that the companies can hold costs to a minimum and focus their insurance on more specialized treatment and hospitalizations: Frustrated by runaway health costs, the nation’s largest employers are moving rapidly to open more primary care medical centers in their offices and factories as a way to offer convenient service and free or low-cost health care. Within the last two years, companies including Toyota, Sprint Nextel, Florida Power and Light, Credit Suisse and Pepsi Bottling Group have opened or expanded on-site clinics. And many employers are adding or planning to add even more clinics, which were experimented...
Return Of Employer Clinics
The fight over health-care costs keeps centering on employers, and now the largest of them may decide to operate health clinics directly in order to reduce their financial exposure. Toyota, Pepsi, and a host of other large corporations have opened their own primary care centers, allowing their employees free access in the hope that the companies can hold costs to a minimum and focus their insurance on more specialized treatment and hospitalizations: Frustrated by runaway health costs, the nation’s largest employers are moving rapidly to open more primary care medical centers in their offices and factories as a way to offer convenient service and free or low-cost health care. Within the last two years, companies including Toyota, Sprint Nextel, Florida Power and Light, Credit Suisse and Pepsi Bottling Group have opened or expanded on-site clinics. And many employers are adding or planning to add even more clinics, which were experimented...
January 16, 2007
Kucinich To Bring Back The Fairness Doctrine
The continuing impact of the Democratic takeover of Congress has just gotten worse. In a little-noticed development from this weekend, Dennis Kucinich announced that he would use his position on a House government-reform subcommittee to focus on the Federal Communications Commission -- and that the Fairness Doctrine may make a comeback: Over the weekend, the National Conference for Media Reform was held in Memphis, TN, with a number of notable speakers on hand for the event. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) made an surprise appearance at the convention to announce that he would be heading up a new House subcommittee which will focus on issues surrounding the Federal Communications Commission. The Presidential candidate said that the committee would be holding "hearings to push media reform right at the center of Washington.” The Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee was to be officially announced this week in Washington, D.C.,...
January 19, 2007
Vigilance, Not Overreaction (Updated)
First Amendment issues remain foremost among my concerns, both as a blogger and as an American citizen. So when Congress appears to take action to infringe on my rights to self-expression, I take notice: The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of GrassrootsFreedom.com, regarding legislation currently being considered by Congress to regulate grassroots communications: "In what sounds like a comedy sketch from Jon Stewart's Daily Show, but isn't, the U. S. Senate would impose criminal penalties, even jail time, on grassroots causes and citizens who criticize Congress. "Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill currently before the Senate, would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate to 500 or more members of the public on policy matters, to register and report quarterly to Congress the same as the big K Street lobbyists. Section 220 would amend existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive...
January 20, 2007
Duke Contemplates Its Own Navel For Fun And Profit
The sorry spectacle of the Mike Nifong prosecution of three Duke lacrosse players for sexual assault despite the repeatedly changing story of the accuser and the utter lack of physical evidence has captured the nation's attention for the past several months. One of the secondary issues in the case involves Duke University's abandonment of its students, suspending them after Nifong filed the charges without any consideration to the possibility of their innocence. Duke reversed itself earlier this month, allowing the three students to resume normal actvities at the university, after Nifong's prosecutorial misconduct became too clear to allow Duke's betrayal to stand. Even before that reversal, Duke had not completely washed its hands of the lacrosse players charged in the case. As CQ reader azbookrat discovered, Duke hs no compunction about using them and the case as the subject of a women's studies course in the upcoming semester. Here's the...
January 23, 2007
GOP Gets Reform Religion ... A Bit Late
The Republicans in Congress have begun to press for more radical reform of the legislative branch, pushing for broader measures than the Democratic majority wants to pass. This includes a wider range of qualifying crimes for which to revoke Congressional pensions, a subject that came up when it was revealed that Randy "Duke" Cunningham would still receive his lucrative retirement despite imprisonment: The House yesterday started considering a bill by Rep. Nancy Boyda, Kansas Democrat, that denies federal pensions to members of Congress convicted of bribery, perjury and conspiracy offenses related to the lawmaker's office. A vote could come as soon as today. Separate bills by Mr. Terry and Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, Illinois Republican, would have withheld the pension from lawmakers convicted of a longer list of felonies, including some unrelated to abuse of office -- ranging from white-collar embezzlement crimes to political crimes such as securing campaign contributions...
Public Financing Of Elections, 1976-2006
Hillary Clinton may not have killed it herself, but she delivered the coup de grace to public financing of presidential campaigns by refusing federal matching funds for both the primaries and the general election. The increasingly irrelevant fund had been on life support since the 2004 election, when both candidates eschewed its spending limits for private financing: The public financing system for presidential campaigns, a post-Watergate initiative hailed for decades as the best way to rid politics of the corrupting influence of money, may have quietly died over the weekend. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York became the first candidate since the program began in 1976 to forgo public financing for both the primary and the general election because of the spending limits that come with the federal money. By declaring her confidence that she could raise far more than the roughly $150 million the system would provide for...
Bush To Focus On Domestic Agenda (Update & Bump)
In his next-to-last State of the Union speech, George Bush will focus more on his domestic agenda, attempting to find some common ground with the Democrat-controlled Congress. The New York Times reports that global warming and expanded health care will get featured status in a venue where national security has dominated the past five years: Carrying some of the worst public approval ratings of any president in a generation, President Bush is heading into his State of the Union address on Tuesday night seeking to revitalize his domestic agenda but facing stiff resistance over the initiatives the White House has previewed so far. Administration officials said Monday that among Mr. Bush’s proposals would be a plan to help states provide health care coverage to people who lack insurance by diverting federal aid from hospitals, especially public institutions. The provision is likely to draw loud criticism from municipalities across the nation...
A Preview With Tony Snow
Tony Snow met with a group of bloggers this afternoon to give a preview of the State of the Union speech. Joking about the wonkishness of the blogger class, Snow spent over a half-hour reviewing the policy aspects of the SOTU address tonight. Bush will focus on domestic policies in the first half of the speech. The White House wants to focus on a number of new and existing policy proposals in the hopes of inspiring bipartisanship. Among their proposals will be new efforts on health care, leveraging the market rather than a top-down government approach to win cheaper and more flexible health insurance for self-employed Americans. Bush also wants to push new energy policies that will probably have more appeal to the Democrats, including a hike in CAFE standards and more support for alternative fuels. Snow insists that the war on terror will get equal time with the domestic...
State Of The Union: Live Blog
Show going live now -- click the icon below to join! I'll be live-blogging the State of the Union speech at this link, starting shortly before it commences at 8 PM CT. Be sure to keep checking back here for constant updates during the speech. Also, don't forget that we will launch my new Blog Talk Radio show with a special 90-minute review of the President's speech. You can click the link below to go directly to the host page of CQ Radio at BTR, where you will find the call-in number and the player. Of course, you can listen to the show using the player on my right sidebar (just above the Blogad strip), and call in to talk at 646-652-4889. After this, we will have a weekly show on Thursday nights at 9 pm CT, and Blog Talk Radio archives all of the shows for those who miss...
January 24, 2007
Howard Hunt Dies At 88
Howard Hunt, the man who masterminded the burglary at the Watergate office complex that eventually destroyed the Nixon presidency, died from a long bout of pneumonia at 88. Hunt had a colorful career that involved him in some of the nation's more questionable activities before landing him in prison for conspiracy: Howard Hunt, the CIA officer who helped to plan the Watergate break-in that led to the downfall of US President Richard Nixon has died, aged 88. Mr Hunt, who was jailed over the incident, had died after a lengthy bout of pneumonia in Miami, his son said. The accidental discovery of the Watergate burglary snowballed into the country's biggest political scandal. The conspirators wanted to plant bugs to spy on the Democrats during the Republicans' re-election campaign. While working for the CIA, Mr Hunt recruited four of the five actual burglars, and always stressed he preferred to be known...
Nifong Faces More Serious Charges
Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong may have lawyered up just in time. The North Carolina State Bar amended its complaint against Nifong today to include more serious charges than in their original action, including claims of material misrepresentation to the judge and the willful withholding of exculpatory evidence: The North Carolina Bar filed an amended complaint today, accusing Nifong of withholding DNA evidence from the defense and making misrepresentations to the presiding judge in the case. The bar has accused Nifong of conduct that involves "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation." Nifong also allegedly violated a rule that "prohibits an attorney from knowingly making false statements of material fact." Previously, Nifong had been charged with making inappropriate and potentially prejudicial comments about the sexual assault case against Duke lacrosse players. Nifong's comments were made in a series of public interviews early in the case. These new charges put the NCSB...
January 25, 2007
Minimum Wage Gets The Senate Treatment
Now we know why Nancy Pelosi and the new Democratic majority would not allow debate or amendment on the minimum-wage increase they passed as part of their 100 Hours effort. It turns out that sticking small businesses with a big bill without any effort to cushion the impact with tax breaks doesn't enjoy the kind of popularity that Pelosi & Co claimed: Prospects for an increase in the minimum wage suffered a setback today in the Senate, where a move fell short, at least for now, to raise the minimum by $2.10 an hour without tax breaks for small businesses The 54 “yes” votes were six short of the number needed to shut off debate and move on to consideration of the bill, which easily passed in the House two week ago. That bill would increase the wage to $7.25 from the current $5.15 in three steps, but without tax...
January 27, 2007
Gates, The Anti-Rumsfeld
The appointment of Robert Gates to replace Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense pleased many who blamed the long-serving Cabinet officer for the "hard slog" in Iraq, as Rumsfeld himself put it. Among those most pleased are members of the media, who have felt the brunt of Rumsfeld's scorn when they asked questions he deemed ignorant or ill-informed. Julian Barnes of the Los Angeles Times stops just short of writing hosannas to Gates: If there was any question that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates would go to almost any length to demonstrate he was the anti-Rumsfeld, he dispelled it Friday. In his first-ever Pentagon news conference, Gates' manner and method could not have been more different than those of his controversial predecessor — starting with the room. ... Stylistically, Gates refrained from scoffing at reporters, from restating their questions on more favorable terms and from challenging the premises of inquiries....
Another Success For Missile Shield
Early this morning, an American anti-ballistic missile shot down a medium-range target over the Pacific Ocean, another in a string of successful tests aimed at building an umbrella against nuclear attacks on North America: The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency shot down a dummy target missile over the southern Pacific Ocean during a test of the U.S. missile defense shield early Saturday, according to an agency spokeswoman. First, a dummy ballistic missile was fired from a U.S. mobile launch platform in the Pacific Ocean in a simulated attack. Moments later, an interceptor missile was fired from the agency's missile range facility on Hawaii's Kekaha Island and struck the dummy warhead over the Pacific Ocean, military footage showed. The mobile, ground-based system is designed to protect the United States from short to intermediate-range high altitude ballistic missile attacks in the North American region, agency spokeswoman Pam Rogers said. The system "intercepts missiles...
Kerry Slams US In Davos Summit
There's something about the Davos economic summit that drives American leftists to slam their own country while abroad. Two years ago, Eason Jordan lost his job at CNN over his accusations in Davos that the US military had a policy of assassinating journalists in war zones. Today, John Kerry used the forum to scold the Bush administration for its foreign policy while specifying two issues that predate it: Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry slammed the foreign policy of the Bush administration on Saturday, saying it has caused the United States to become "a sort of international pariah." The statement came as the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee responded to a question about whether the U.S. government had failed to adequately engage Iran's government before the election of hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005. Kerry said the Bush administration has failed to adequately address a number of foreign policy issues. "When we walk away...
January 29, 2007
DC Police Paint Graffiti As Victory
I'm not in the habit of reporting on demonstrations, simply because I think they're too easy to organize for any purpose. The news that "tens of thousands" of anti-war activists gathered on the National Mall for a rally seemed about as newsworthy as a Democratic campaign speech attacking George Bush. These things happen, and for the most part, their banality renders them meaningless. However, the reaction of the police in Washington DC to acts of vandalism are worth noting. The police stood by and watched as "anarchists" spray-painted graffiti on the steps of the Capitol -- and then insisted that they had thwarted the protest: Anti-war protesters were allowed to spray paint on part of thewest front steps of the United States Capitol building after police wereordered to break their security line by their leadership, two sources told The Hill. According to the sources, police officers were livid when theywere...
Land Baron Harry
Bumped to top from the weekend. The Los Angeles Times continues its in-depth look at the remarkable finances of Harry Reid, who came into politics a humble man and who apparently intends on leaving it a land baron. The LAT reports on a transaction that gave Reid a 160-acre parcel of land at one-tenth its value, which coincidentally came from a lubricants distributor who shortly afterwards became the intended beneficiary of a Harry Reid-sponsored piece of legislation (via Hang Right Politics): It's hard to buy undeveloped land in booming northern Arizona for $166 an acre. But now-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid effectively did just that when a longtime friend decided to sell property owned by the employee pension fund that he controlled. In 2002, Reid (D-Nev.) paid $10,000 to a pension fund controlled by Clair Haycock, a Las Vegas lubricants distributor and his friend for 50 years. The payment gave...
January 30, 2007
Bush Orders Political Oversight Of Agency Rulemaking
The Gray Lady gets hysterical this morning over the executive order signed by President Bush requiring oversight of agency rulemaking. Bush's order requires federal agencies to submit impact reports that justifies additional regulation not authorized by Congress as well as an annual report of the cumulative effect of their entire regulatory position, and it creates a White House appointee to conduct the oversight. One might consider this common sense, unless one has a bad case of Bush Derangement Syndrome: President Bush has signed a directive that gives the White House much greater control over the rules and policy statements that the government develops to protect public health, safety, the environment, civil rights and privacy. In an executive order published last week in the Federal Register, Mr. Bush said that each agency must have a regulatory policy office run by a political appointee, to supervise the development of rules and documents...
The COLA-Free Congress, Courtesy Of The GOP
Republicans blocked the normally smooth process towards Congress granting itself its annual cost-of-living increase yesterday, a move that will certainly not sadden taxpayers but will leave Representatives around $2800 lighter. The GOP ended the amicable understanding between the two parties that discouraged any challenges to COLA increases after the Democrats violated an agreement between them not to use the COLAs for the basis of political attacks: House Democratic leaders Monday abandoned attempts to revive an annual pay raise cherished by rank and file lawmakers, a decision prompted by lingering GOP anger over last year's campaign. Lawmakers' pay will be frozen at $165,200 for this year in a dispute fueled by the Democrats' use of the issue in last year's campaign, violating a yearslong understanding that the competing parties would not attack each other over pay raises. At issue is the annual congressional cost of living adjustment, or COLA, under which...
February 1, 2007
Bush The Populist?
George Bush has decided to do some Clintonian triangulating in the last two years of his presidency on issues outside the war, it now seems. He surprised observers by using a well-received speech on the economy to Wall Street executives to scold them on income inequality, which he acknowledged has grown over the last generation. While speaking to cheers when reviewing the booming economy, Bush warned them to mind the executive compensation packages that have grown exponentially: President Bush acknowledged Wednesday that there is growing income inequality in the United States, addressing for the first time a subject that has long concerned Democrats and liberal economists. "The fact is that income inequality is real -- it's been rising for more than 25 years," Bush said in an address on Wall Street. "The reason is clear: We have an economy that increasingly rewards education and skills because of that education." In...
Air Force To Become Pelosi Air
It didn't take long for Nancy Pelosi to create the imperial Speakership. She has requested that the Pentagon supply her with military aircraft at all times, and not just for herself, but also for her staff, her colleagues, and her family: The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pressing the Bush administration for routine access to military aircraft for domestic flights, such as trips back to her San Francisco district, according to sources familiar with the discussions. The sources, who include those in Congress and in the administration, said the Democrat is seeking regular military flights not only for herself and her staff, but also for relatives and for other members of the California delegation. A knowledgeable source called the request "carte blanche for an aircraft any time." "They are pressing the point of her succession and that the [Department of Defense] needs to play ball with the speaker's...
A Crack In The Caucus
One of the key constituencies of the new Democratic majority in the House has started to crumble. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has split along gender lines, a rebellion against the caucus chair led by my old representative from California: A firestorm erupted Wednesday within the Congressional Hispanic Caucus when California Rep. Loretta Sanchez quit in protest of Rep. Joe Baca's chairmanship and alleged mistreatment of women. Sanchez, in her fifth term representing California's 47th District, reportedly is furious at fellow California Democrat, Baca, for alleged derogatory remarks. In an interview with Politico.com she accused him of calling her a "whore." ... Sanchez's protest of Baca's chairmanship of the caucus — which represents 21 Hispanic House Democrats — dates back to November 2006, when she voted against him for the leadership post. Four other women members, including Sanchez's sister, Rep. Linda Sanchez, abstained. Just a few weeks ago, four female lawmakers...
February 2, 2007
Florida Dumps Touch-Screen Voting
Florida has decided to end its use of electronic voting machines, reversing a decision made at the height of the controversy over the 2000 election. The state will opt for the optical-scan technology that retains the paper trail necessary to ensure the ability to conduct recounts when necessary: Gov. Charlie Crist announced plans on Thursday to abandon the touch-screen voting machines that many of Florida’s counties installed after the disputed 2000 presidential election. The state will instead adopt a system of casting paper ballots counted by scanning machines in time for the 2008 presidential election. Voting experts said Florida’s move, coupled with new federal voting legislation expected to pass this year, could be the death knell for the paperless electronic touch-screen machines. If as expected the Florida Legislature approves the $32.5 million cost of the change, it would be the nation’s biggest repudiation yet of touch-screen voting, which was widely...
February 3, 2007
George Soros: America Needs 'De-Nazification'
It's hard to get surprised by Leftist characterizations of conservatives as fascists The epithet flows so freely that even members of the Senate have used it, the last time by an ex-Klansman. The latest version of the insult comes from George Soros, speaking at the Davos Economic Forum last week about the situation in Iraq. Claiming that the US needs to cleanse itself from conservatives, Soros compared the process necessary to that used by the US in Germany: He went on to say that Turkey and Japan are still hurt by a reluctance to admit to dark parts of their history, and contrasted that reluctance to Germany's rejection of its Nazi-era past. "America needs to follow the policies it has introduced in Germany," Soros said. "We have to go through a certain de-Nazification process." This is highly inflammatory and, quite frankly, anti-American. We do not purge people from the political...
February 4, 2007
The Momentum Of Reform Slows
Nancy Pelosi got a Democratic majority in the midterm elections by promising to clean up Congress, to drain the swamp of corruption in Washington, and especially to disconnect lobbyists from legislation. That reform appears to have been derailed, as the Washington Post explains in an editorial, by Democrats more interested in keeping fundraising from lobbyists than in draining swamps: DISTURBING, though not particularly surprising, rumblings are emanating from the House of Representatives to the effect that some Democrats are balking at requiring lobbyists to disclose the campaign contributions they arrange or collect for lawmakers. This important requirement was included in the lobbying and ethics package that recently passed the Senate; Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Martin T. Meehan (D-Mass.) have introduced the same measure in the House and want to see it included in the lobbying legislation that the House plans to take up in the next few months....
Is This Five Years Too Late?
George Bush went into the lion's den yesterday, addressing the new Democratic Party majority in Congress in a closed-door meeting intended to help smooth the way for bipartisanship. By all accounts, Bush did well, using self-deprecating humor to defuse the tension between the White House and Congressional Democrats. The meeting may come too late, though, to bridge the partisan gulf on the war: President Bush, forced by circumstance to reach out to some of his strongest adversaries, appealed directly to House Democrats on Saturday to work with him to reform the immigration system, limit the cost of Social Security, curb the consumption of gasoline and balance the federal budget. Visiting the Democrats' annual retreat for the first time since 2001, the president told lawmakers there are "big things" they could accomplish by working together and sought to defuse any bad blood with self-deprecating humor. He opened his public remarks with...
February 6, 2007
Reid's Dilemma
Harry Reid has a dilemma on his hands. His control over the Senate rests on a single vote; even if Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota recovers enough to return to the Senate, the loss of one member of Reid's caucus will allow Dick Cheney to cast the deciding vote on control of the upper chamber. While this isn't news, an article posted yesterday by the New Yorker reveals that the debate on Iraq may push the Senate's only independent to rethink his loyalty: Iraq is the reason that Lieberman calls himself an “independent Democrat.” Democratic voters in Connecticut abandoned him in last year’s primary, favoring the antiwar candidate Ned Lamont. Lieberman ran as an independent, and beat the ineffectual Lamont in the general election in large part because Republicans voted for him. In the campaign, Lieberman said that he would join the Democratic caucus if elected, and his victory...
February 7, 2007
We're More Equal Than You Are
Betsy Newmark offers an interesting comparison of the late suffragette movement and the sudden Momminess quotient in politics today, and argues that women have gone backwards in their attempt to gain political ascendancy. Instead of arguing equality between the genders, politicians such as Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Barbara Boxer appear to argue that giving birth creates a difference between themselves and others (in Boxer's case, even between women) in such a manner that would create a huge backlash against anyone arguing that the difference might make them worse candidates: And if women are going to use their status as mothers as a qualification for higher office, should voters then ask about their parenting skills and which candidate raised better children? After all, running as a mom means that their mommy skills are now part of the political calculus. Why should gender matter in politics today? Have we returned to...
February 11, 2007
The Liberal Case For Strict Constructionism?
Imagine my surprise when the New York Times ran an op-ed yesterday on the evils of an overly large federal government and the wisdom of following the Constitutional framework for sovereign states united in common defense. Gar Alperovitz writes approvingly of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest speech comparing California to the nation-states of Athens and Sparta, and warns that America is getting too big to be a "functional democracy", recommending regional interstate alliances on such issues as health care and environmentalism: SOMETHING interesting is happening in California. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to have grasped the essential truth that no nation — not even the United States — can be managed successfully from the center once it reaches a certain scale. Moreover, the bold proposals that Mr. Schwarzenegger is now making for everything from universal health care to global warming point to the kind of decentralization of power which, once started, could...
February 14, 2007
Be My (Political) Valentine
National Review asked a number of political junkies to identify their political "Valentines" as a celebration of Valentine's Day today. Top-drawer conservative writers such as Mona Charen, Lucianne Goldberg, and Kathryn Jean Lopez all contribute to the symposium, and were kind enough to include me as well. I don't think CQ readers will find themselves shocked at my choice: One never forgets their first love, and it serves as a comparison for those that follow. For me, politics has been no different. While I have appreciated political figures over the years, such as Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain (who I supported in 2000), none have ever had the same effect on me. Perhaps, someday, another Reagan will appear. Until then, I’ll remember the man who inspired my love of politics. Interestingly, this was the only Valentine received by the Gipper. Lady Margaret Thatcher got three of them, including...
February 16, 2007
Dollar Bill On Homeland Security?
William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson, under investigation for corruption, has been assigned to the House Homeland Security Committee, the Washington Post reports. The Congressman's last brush with security was having subpoenas served on his office and FBI agents raiding it, after earlier finding $90,000 in his freezer: Rep. William Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat who's facing an ongoing federal corruption probe, is being granted a spot on the Homeland Security Committee, according to Democratic aides. The appointment will be announced Friday, according to one aide who requested anonymity because the decision isn't yet official. Jefferson was removed from his seat on the Ways and Means Committee, one of the most important panels in Congress, by Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) last summer in an attempt to show how seriously Democrats viewed the allegations of corruption. But the move by Pelosi, who was still minority leader at the time, infuriated members of the...
February 21, 2007
NRSC Gets It
Yesterday, I scolded the National Republican Congressional Committee for not dumping the $15,000 it had received from a man who used a false identity to contribute funds to the GOP. Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari used the name Michael Mixon to become one of the NRCC's high-profile donors until the US government indicted him this week on terror-financing charges and investor fraud. They wanted to wait to see what happened at trial with Alishtari before deciding whether to part with his money. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has more sense, even if they have less cents to show for their wise decision. Rebecca Fisher e-mailed me that the NRSC will donate its share of Alishtari's largesse to charities aimed at supporting our military and their families: In light of the recent charges filed against a former donor, the National Republican Senatorial Committee will donate the sum total of the former...
February 24, 2007
Who's Carrying The Hatchet At Justice, And Why?
Another US attorney has resigned, apparently forced from her job by the Department of Justice, making a total of eight since the beginning of December. Since one normally sees this kind of turnover in the fast-food or housekeeping industries, it does not seem too nosy to ask what the hell is going on at Justice: An eighth U.S. attorney announced her resignation yesterday, the latest in a wave of forced departures of federal prosecutors who have clashed with the Justice Department over the death penalty and other issues. Margaret Chiara, the 63-year-old U.S. attorney in Grand Rapids, Mich., told her staff that she was leaving her post after more than five years, officials said. Sources familiar with the case confirmed that she was among a larger group of prosecutors who were first asked to resign Dec. 7. ... Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty told senators earlier this month that...
Investigators: Florida Voters Still Can't Read A Ballot
An investigation by Florida election officials into an 18,000-vote gap in a 2006 Congressional district last November has concluded that the voting machines worked properly, but that Floridians once again could not comprehend the ballot. The conclusion by a blue-ribbon panel of university researchers will likely doom efforts of the Democratic runner-up to get a new election: Florida election officials announced yesterday that an examination of voting software did not find any malfunctions that could have caused up to 18,000 votes to be lost in a disputed Congressional race in Sarasota County, and they suggested that voter confusion over a poor ballot design was mainly to blame. The finding, reached unanimously by a team of computer experts from several universities, could finally settle last fall’s closest federal election. The Republican candidate, Vern Buchanan, was declared the winner by 369 votes, but the Democrat, Christine Jennings, formally contested the results, claiming...
February 26, 2007
The Mote And The Beam Of Global Warming (Updated: Gore Responds)
After last night's Oscar win, Al Gore has ridden a wave of good press about his efforts to end global warming. Having Leonardo DiCaprio try to push Gore into a Presidential run in front of a billion people worldwide has to be heady stuff for the former VP and erstwhile candidate. I'm sure Gore left feeling energized -- although not as energized as his mansion in Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research (via Hot Air): The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average. Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359. Since the...
February 27, 2007
This Is Draining The Swamp?
I have a new opinion piece in today's Examiner, part of the Blog Board series that Mark Tapscott has pioneered at the newspaper chain. Today's essay looks at the efforts by Democrats to meet their campaign rhetoric, drain the swamp and end the "culture of corruption", efforts that appear almost non-existent at this point: Democrats won control of Congress by emphasizing Republican scandals and corruption and promising clean government. The start of the 110th Congress has not demonstrated much of a commitment to making that a reality, and the start of the 2008 primary campaign leaves even less hope that the Democrats will address corruption. ... National Review highlighted a new effort by recently ascendant progressives that has more than a ring of familiarity. The well-connected Campaign for America’s Future announced that it will take back K Street from conservatives, and that the new Democratic majority has helped lead the...
Democrats Hit Reverse On Hitting Reverse
Democrats have delayed further consideration to restrict or cripple the Iraq war deployments, apparently stunned by the lack of cohesion among their own caucuses and fearful of the backlash their efforts might produce. Harry Reid has delayed the progress of a Joe Biden bill to revoke the 2002 AUMF, and Nancy Pelosi has started to distance herself from John Murtha (via Memeorandum): Democratic leaders backed away from aggressive plans to limit President Bush's war authority, the latest sign of divisions within their ranks over how to proceed. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Monday he wanted to delay votes on a measure that would repeal the 2002 war authorization and narrow the mission in Iraq. Senior Democrats who drafted the proposal, including Sens. Joseph Biden of Delaware and Carl Levin of Michigan, had sought swift action on it as early as this week, when the Senate takes up a...
March 1, 2007
Democrats Have To Double Down On Dollar Bill
Normally, committee assignments get approved by voice vote with no opposition. The political parties have plenty of incentives to allow themselves to police their own, and confrontation will breed more confrontation later. However, the Republicans have decided to risk it in order to force individual Democrats in the House to cast a vote approving the assignment of William Jefferson to the Homeland Security Committee, despite an ongoing corruption probe: House Republicans plan to force a floor vote on the appointment of Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.), who is the subject of a federal bribery investigation, to a seat on the Homeland Security Committee. The decision to put Jefferson on the panel was made by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), and House Democrats endorsed the move at a private meeting Tuesday night, but his appointment must be confirmed by a vote on the House floor. Such an action would normally be a...
March 2, 2007
An Infusion Of Backbone At State?
The administration has had to fight for its policies on the war for the last several months, if not longer, a task that got tougher after the announcement of the surge in Baghdad and Anbar. The Republicans in the Senate, and to a lesser extent in the House, have had to battle the Democrats on a series of efforts to cripple the surge and defund the war, with varying degrees of unity. On that score, the White House seems determined to make itself clear on its direction: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has tapped Eliot A. Cohen, a prominent writer on national security strategy and an outspoken critic of the administration's postwar occupation of Iraq, as her counselor, State Department officials said yesterday. Cohen would replace Philip D. Zelikow, a longtime Rice associate who left the administration earlier this year to return to teaching history at the University of Virginia....
March 3, 2007
White House: Prosecutors Did Not Follow Priorities
The termination of seven US Attorneys resulted from a lack of performance to the priorities of the Bush administration and at least in one case was prompted by a complaint from a Republican Senator regarding that issue. Sources within the Department of Justice made clear that the political appointees fell out of favor when they did not meet the policy goals of the White House on immigrations and firearms, among other issues: The White House approved the firings of seven U.S. attorneys late last year after senior Justice Department officials identified the prosecutors they believed were not doing enough to carry out President Bush's policies on immigration, firearms and other issues, White House and Justice Department officials said yesterday. The list of prosecutors was assembled last fall, based largely on complaints from members of Congress, law enforcement officials and career Justice Department lawyers, administration officials said. One of the complaints...
March 5, 2007
Domenici Prompted Dismissal Of One US Attorney
One of the eight federal prosecutors terminated in the last three months lost his job after a Republican Senator told the Department of Justice that his state needed a replacement. Pete Domenici admitted yesterday that he requested the change from the DoJ after a long period of frustration with the speed of prosecutions in New Mexico: Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, said Sunday that he had urged the Justice Department to dismiss the state’s top federal prosecutor, who in December was one of eight United States attorneys ousted from their jobs. In addition, Mr. Domenici said in a statement that last year he called the prosecutor, David C. Iglesias, to ask about the status of a federal inquiry in New Mexico. The case centered on accusations of kickbacks in a statehouse construction project in which a former Democratic state official was said to be involved. “I asked...
The Bummer Of A Big Tent
The Democratic win in last year's midterms gave more credibility to the anti-war wing of Congressional Democrats, who spent most of 2006 trying to get reporters to show up to press conferences, and mostly unsuccessfully. With the new majority, these members of the so-called Out of Iraq Caucus have received much more attention and regularly get their message into the mainstream. However, they have begun to discover that all of the seats they won in November came from districts that don't appreciate a cut-and-run policy: Now, with a change in power in Congress and a new military strategy to increase the number of American troops in Iraq, the members of the group — most of them liberals — are suddenly much in demand, finding themselves at the center of the debate over the war. Yet even with a majority of Americans opposing the war, the caucus is struggling to overcome...
Incivility
I wanted to write something about the degenerative effects of incivility in politics in the wake of the comments and commentary today. Instead, a CQ reader sent me a link to a speech three years ago by Heritage Foundation president Dr. Edwin J. Fuelner. In speaking to the graduating class of Hillsdale College on May 8, 2004, Dr. Fuelner warned the young men and women that our democracy depends on the healthy exchange of ideas and arguments -- and that incivility degrades the social compact on which that debate depends: This is the real danger of incivility. Our free, self-governing society requires an open exchange of ideas, which in turn requires a certain level of civility rooted in mutual respect for each other's opinions and viewpoints. What we see today I am afraid, is an accelerating competition between the left and the right to see which side can inflict the...
March 6, 2007
Libby Convicted On Perjury, Obstruction
I'm hospiblogging at the moment, as the First Mate has had problems today with her blood pressure, so I'm just catching up to the news that Scooter Libby got convicted on four of the five charges he faced in his trial: A federal jury today convicted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby of lying about his role in the leak of an undercover CIA officer's identity, finding the vice president's former chief of staff guilty of two counts of perjury, one count of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice, while acquitting him of a single count of lying to the FBI. The verdict, reached by the 11 jurors on the 10th day of deliberations, culminated the seven-week trial of the highest-ranking White House official to be indicted on criminal charges in modern times. Under federal sentencing guidlines, Libby faces a probable prison term of 1 1/2 to three...
March 7, 2007
Pardon Me?
Speaking of pardons, Al Kamen of the Washington Post has a contest to pick the date when Scooter Libby will get his from George Bush: U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton has set June 5 for sentencing. He has discretion to order Libby immediately to prison or let him stay out until his appeals are exhausted. So, assuming that Bush -- who could pardon immediately if he wanted -- won't allow Libby to spend time behind bars, he might need to act then. If not, the next likely pardon time would be when the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit announces its decision on Libby's appeal. That can take many months. The court recently has been averaging about 15 months from appeal to decision. By that schedule, it could rule on Libby's appeal in September 2008, right before the election. If Libby loses the appeal, Walton may decide then...
How Damaging Is The Libby Conviction?
Analysts and Democrats waited only moments after the conviction of Scooter Libby before tying the case around the neck of Vice President Dick Cheney. Following Patrick Fitzgerald's comment in his summation that a "cloud" hovers over the Vice President, many claim that Libby's conviction means the end of Cheney's influence in American policy, and perhaps the start of a process that would end in his removal from office: With Tuesday’s verdict on Mr. Libby — guilty on four of five counts, including perjury and obstruction of justice — Mr. Cheney’s critics, and even some of his supporters, said the vice president had been diminished. “The trial has been death by 1,000 cuts for Cheney,” said Scott Reed, a Republican strategist. “It’s hurt him inside the administration. It’s hurt him with the Congress, and it’s hurt his stature around the world because it has shown a lot of the inner workings...
OK, Now Maher's Really Said Something Offensive
At the same time as the Ann Coulter dustup, Bill Maher came under criticism for saying on his HBO show that "more people would live" if radical Islamist terrorists had succeeded in killing Dick Cheney. Maher, who lost his last show by favorably comparing the relative courage of the 9/11 terrorists to American pilots in Yugoslavia, regularly makes outrageous statements like this, and predictably the same people who celebrated Cheney's blood clot found nothing wrong with his endorsement of vice-presidential assassinations. However, this time Maher has gone too far. Earlier today, I got a press release from Playboy (a press release I read only for the articles, I assure you) announcing the magazine's latest installment of their storied Playboy Interview. Maher was asked about Barack Obama, and he used the "a" word: On Barack Obama: “Barack Obama is exciting. Everyone says he’s a rock star, which is one of the...
Libby Juror: Please Reverse Us
After the OJ Simpson jury's post-trial remarks, I honestly thought I'd never hear anything less intelligent from a juror. Apparently, I was wrong. After having voted to convict Scooter Libby on four felony counts, Ann Redington told Chris Matthews that she wants George Bush to pardon Libby and effectively reverse her decision: Saying “I don’t want him to go to jail,” a member of the jury that convicted I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby of perjury and obstruction of justice in the CIA leak case called Wednesday for President Bush to pardon Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff. The woman, Ann Redington, said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Hardball” that she cried when the verdicts against Libby were read Tuesday. She said Libby seemed to be “a really nice guy.” ... “He seemed like a ton of fun. ... I didn’t want to see him and his wife and say...
March 8, 2007
No Pardon In The Near Future
President Bush quashed speculation that he would issue an immediate pardon for Scooter Libby after his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice. He told reporters yesterday that he will wait for Libby's legal options to be exhausted before he looks into a pardon: President Bush said yesterday that he is "pretty much going to stay out of" the case of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby until the legal process has run its course, deflecting pressure from supporters of the former White House aide to pardon him for perjury and obstruction of justice. Libby's allies said Bush should not wait for Libby to be sentenced, and should use his executive power to spare Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff the risk of prison time for lying to a grand jury and FBI agents about his role in leaking the name of an undercover CIA officer. But the prospect of a...
March 9, 2007
Senate Republicans Turn On Gonzalez Over Firings
Senate Republicans have turned on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales after his explanations over the dismissals of eight US Attorneys failed to convince the Senators that Justice had good reasons for their termination. Normally staunch GOP defenders of the administration like Jon Kyl of Arizona scolded Gonzales yesterday in a hearing, and the White House has begun to retreat on interim replacement powers as a result: Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales agreed yesterday to change the way U.S. attorneys can be replaced, a reversal in administration policy that came after he was browbeaten by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee still angry over the controversial firings of eight federal prosecutors. Gonzales told Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and other senior members of the committee that the administration will no longer oppose legislation limiting the attorney general's power to appoint interim prosecutors. Gonzales also agreed to allow the committee to interview five...
March 10, 2007
Did Privatization Undo Walter Reed?
The focus of blame for the deplorable conditions of a portion of Walter Reed Army Medical Center has now fallen on the Army's decision to privatize its maintenance workforce. After the canning the Secretary of the Army and the commander in charge of Walter Reed, critics blame a contract with a KBR subsidiary -- and a sister of Halliburton -- for the poor state of the facility: The scandal over treatment of outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center has focused attention on the Army's decision to privatize the facilities support workforce at the hospital, a move commanders say left the building maintenance staff undermanned. Some Democratic lawmakers have questioned the decision to hire IAP Worldwide Services, a contractor with connections to the Bush administration and to KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary. Last year, IAP won a $120 million contract to maintain and operate Walter Reed facilities. The decision reversed a...
March 12, 2007
Gonzalez Takes Fire From All Sides
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has begun taking fire from both Democrats and Republicans for the actions of the Department of Justice. While Senator Chuck Schumer called for his resignation yesterday over the firings of eight US Attorneys and the errors made by the FBI in domestic surveillance, Republican Congressman Thomas Davis accused Gonzales of stonewalling on dropped leak cases: The top Republican on the House's main investigative committee, Rep. Thomas Davis of Virginia, is charging the Justice Department with stonewalling his inquiries about the FBI's assertion that it closed several leak investigations because of a lack of cooperation on the part of other government officials. In January, Mr. Davis asked the Justice Department about a report in The New York Sun that at least three leak inquiries were shut down after officials at the "victim agency" ignored phone calls and canceled meetings with FBI agents assigned to the probes. The...
The Democrats And CAIR
CAIR will hold an event in a tony venue tomorrow in the DC area, a panel discussion on the effect of global attitudes towards Islam on American policy. The venue? A conference room in the Capitol building, courtesy of New Jersey Democrat Bill Pascrell. The organization got access to the room despite the history of CAIR leadership in support of terrorism: A House Democrat has arranged for a conference room in the Capitol building to be used tomorrow by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group criticized for its persistent refusal to disavow terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. The District-based group also is singled out by other Democratic lawmakers and some law-enforcement officials because of financial ties to terrorists. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., New Jersey Democrat, reserved the basement conference room for CAIR's panel discussion Tuesday titled "Global Attitudes on Islam-West Relations: U.S. Policy Implications."...
March 13, 2007
Harriet Miers Wanted All US Attorneys Fired
The start of the process that eventually saw seven US Attorneys fired last December (and another earlier) began with Harriet Miers, the White House counsel who had briefly been a Supreme Court nominee, according to the Washington Post. Unhappy with a lack of progress in fighting voter fraud, Miers requested through aides that Alberto Gonzales fire all 93 prosecutors at once after the 2004 elections, a move the Attorney General considered too disruptive: The White House suggested two years ago that the Justice Department fire all 93 U.S. attorneys, a proposal that eventually resulted in the dismissals of eight prosecutors last year, according to e-mails and internal documents that the administration will provide to Congress today. The dismissals took place after President Bush told Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales in October that he had received complaints that some prosecutors had not energetically pursued voter-fraud investigations, according to a White House...
March 14, 2007
The Trap That Gonzales Fell Into
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has fallen into a tough spot, either through his ignorance or by his own machinations. Gonzales testified to Congress that the White House had no involvement in the firings of eight US Attorneys, but a series of memos and e-mails show that his aide planned the terminations with senior White House staff: Emails between White House aides and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's chief of staff show an orchestrated effort to fire several U.S. attorneys, counter to Mr. Gonzales's previous assertions that the firings weren't instigated by the White House. The emails released yesterday appear to conflict with statements Mr. Gonzales and other top Justice Department officials made to members of Congress in testimony and letters explaining the prosecutor dismissals. Some lawmakers and former Justice Department officials say Mr. Gonzales, a longtime friend of President Bush who previously served as White House counsel, seems to be acting...
Democrats Hijack Homeland Security For Unions
Democrats promised in the midterm elections to immediately implement the remaining recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, which they claimed the Republicans ignored. Yesterday, the Senate passed the bill Democrats introduced to meet that obligation, even though it missed one key provision and added unionization for Homeland Security workers, which the Commission never included in its recommendations: The Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation yesterday to implement many of the remaining reforms suggested by the Sept. 11 commission, answering its three-year-old call for better emergency communications; more money for cities at high risk of terrorist attacks; and tighter security for air cargo, ports, chemical plants and rail systems. In a sign of how far the politics of homeland security have shifted since the Democrats seized Congress, senators voted 60 to 38 -- with 10 Republicans and no Democrats crossing ranks -- to force a fresh national security confrontation with President Bush, who has...
Simpson: Dump Ban On Gays In Military
With the recent remarks of General Peter Pace regarding homosexuality still reverberating through the national media, former Republican Senator Alan Simpson weighs in on the ban on gays serving in the military. One of the original supporters for the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, Simpson has changed his mind: As a lifelong Republican who served in the Army in Germany, I believe it is critical that we review -- and overturn -- the ban on gay service in the military. I voted for "don't ask, don't tell." But much has changed since 1993. My thinking shifted when I read that the military was firing translators because they are gay. According to the Government Accountability Office, more than 300 language experts have been fired under "don't ask, don't tell," including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. This when even Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently acknowledged the nation's "foreign...
March 15, 2007
The Popeye Strategy For Iraq
... or perhaps a better title for this post could be, "Vegetarian Pork To Fight Radical Islamists". The Democratic leadership in Congress has had to add some farm subsidies to the supplemental for our troops in Iraq in order to convince their caucus to support them. Which crops will get the subsidies? See if you can finish this lyric -- "I'm strong to the finish, 'cause I eats me --": This just in from Congressman Jon Porter (R-NV): The US Congress is preparing to vote on legislation to provide additional funding for our troops in Iraq. In order to persuade many of their colleagues to vote for the measure, the Democrats have loaded the supplemental with language to provide resources for unrelated projects including aid to salmon fishermen, dairy subsidies and $25 million for spinach producers. Nice. Setting aside the facts that a) agricultural subsidies suck monkey bums and...
March 16, 2007
Bush Calls In The Cavalry On Prosecutor Firings
With new memos fueling the fire over the dismissals of eight federal prosecutors and a botched job of explaining them to Congress, the Bush administration needs some professional assistance in cleaning up the mess. Recognizing this, the White House has reached out to one of the GOP's best political consultants to start negotiating behind the scenes with Congress to smooth the tension over Alberto Gonzales' poor handling of the issue: It was hardly a social call when Fred F. Fielding, the new White House counsel, turned up Wednesday afternoon on Capitol Hill. He had come to negotiate with Democrats, who are investigating whether politics played a role in the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors and demanding testimony from Karl Rove and other top aides to President Bush. But Mr. Fielding’s real task is even bigger and more delicate: to serve as the point man for the White House as it...
March 17, 2007
The Dubiousness Of Political Loyalty
Peggy Noonan writes about the widespread impulse to act politically out of personal loyalty rather than agreement on policy on the part of American voters. In today's Wall Street Journal (subscription only), she decries the superficiality of brand loyalty, but interestingly, she doesn't extend that past candidates and campaigns. She recounts speaking with a friend who told Noonan that he supported Hillary because he had known her for years, and he was a "loyal person": I was puzzled. You're loyal. So what? You have a virtue, good. But that doesn't mean the person you're loyal to should be my president. That's not enough. And I said this, in a more polite and less concise way. Which made him defensive. "You should talk," he said. "You were loyal to Reagan." "No, I wasn't," I said. "I agreed with him." I didn't know Reagan when I went to work with him; I...
The Mountain The Administration Made Of A Molehill
The explanations keep shifting on the firing of eight federal prosecutors, creating a sustained firestorm out of what should have been a nine-day wonder. Karl Rove may now have to testify before a Senate committee to answer questions about the genesis of the plan to cull out those US Attorneys the administration felt did not support their policies: “The first rule of damage control is get to the bottom of it, figure out what the worst is, conduct an internal investigation, collect all the evidence and then dump it out in one fell swoop,” said David R. Gergen, who has advised presidents of both parties. “Instead, they have made the mistake in this prosecutor story of apparently not knowing themselves what they had.” Indeed, the administration’s changing explanations for the dismissals seem to be at the heart of the current clash, which both Republicans and Democrats say could cost Attorney...
March 19, 2007
The Loose Cannon At Justice
The Bush administration faces another week of drip-drip disclosures in the controversy over the terminated federal prosecutors. Most of the damage will come from the work of Kyle Sampson, who recently resigned as Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, as today's revelation by the Washington Post indicates. Sampson sent out a memo to the White House counsel's office informing them that Carol Lam represented a "real problem" a day after she informed the Department of Justice that she needed search warrants in an expansion of the Randy "Duke" Cunningham corruption case: The U.S. attorney in San Diego notified the Justice Department of search warrants in a Republican bribery scandal last May 10, one day before the attorney general's chief of staff warned the White House of a "real problem" with her, a Democratic senator said yesterday. The prosecutor, Carol S. Lam, was dismissed seven months later as part of an effort by...
March 20, 2007
Finally, Something On Which We Can Agree?
The Washington Post reports on the latest document dump in the controversy over the fired US Attorneys, and it now has a tangential connection to the Plame investigation. The ranking of federal prosecutors by Kyle Sampson in a category of USAs who had not distinguished themselves, a column from which the Department of Justice selected two other prosecutors for termination, included Patrick Fitzgerald -- who was, at the time, investigating the leak of Valerie Plame's identity: U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald was ranked among prosecutors who had "not distinguished themselves" on a Justice Department chart sent to the White House in March 2005, when he was in the midst of leading the CIA leak investigation that resulted in the perjury conviction of a vice presidential aide, administration officials said yesterday. The ranking placed Fitzgerald below "strong U.S. Attorneys . . . who exhibited loyalty" to the administration but above "weak...
March 21, 2007
Bush Digs In, Democrats Double Down
George Bush took the only option left open to him yesterday by his Department of Justice -- defending executive privilege. He defiantly stated at a press conference that he would not allow his advisors to testify under oath in the controversy over the dismissals of eight federal prosecutors, but he did offer to provide them for "conversations" with Congressional inquiries into the issue: Inviting a showdown with congressional leaders over the firing of U.S. attorneys, a defiant President Bush on Tuesday refused to make White House political strategist Karl Rove available for public questioning under oath. Bush agreed to let lawmakers interview Rove and former White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers in private, but the concessions failed to placate Democrats, who have accused the White House and Justice Department of dismissing eight federal prosecutors for political reasons. The House and Senate Judiciary committees readied plans for today and Thursday to...
March 23, 2007
On Second Thought, Nuclear Looks Pretty Green
With all of the concern over greenhouse gases and global warming hysteria rising, some environmentalists have taken a second look at a technology they helped abandon years ago. Nuclear power has begun gathering momentum as a green alternative to coal and oil, although the front-line environmental organizations have not yet budged: "No Nukes" was once a familiar rallying cry for environmentalists opposed to nuclear power and all its scary risks. With global warming a rising concern, some environmentalists are rethinking nuclear power because it emits zero greenhouse gases. "You can't just write nuclear off," says Judi Greenwald, director of innovative solutions with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, an environmental research and advocacy group. "I think everybody feels you have to at least look again" at nuclear power. ... Besides Pew, at least three leading environmental organizations — Union of Concerned Scientists, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Environmental Defense...
Krauthammer: Gonzales Must Go
Charles Krauthammer has called for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign. Krauthammer doesn't believe that the administration did anything illegal in firing the federal prosecutors, but instead believes that Gonzales has demonstrated an incompetence that disqualfies him from his Cabinet position: Alberto Gonzales has to go. I say this with no pleasure -- he's a decent and honorable man -- and without the slightest expectation that his departure will blunt the Democratic assault on the Bush administration over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. In fact, it will probably inflame their blood lust, which is why the president might want to hang on to Gonzales at least through this crisis. That might be tactically wise. But in time, and the sooner the better, Gonzales must resign. It's not a question of probity but of competence. Gonzales has allowed a scandal to be created where there was none. That is quite...
March 24, 2007
Did Gonzales Lie About His Involvement?
The termination of eight federal prosecutors has been compared by supporters of the Bush administration to the abrupt dismissal of all 93 US Attorneys by Bill Clinton in 1993. Today, they may be comparing Alberto Gonzales' use of the word "involved" to Clinton's questioning of the definition of "is" after a memo shows that Gonzales had more connection with the termination process than he claimed: Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales met with senior aides on Nov. 27 to review a plan to fire a group of U.S. attorneys, according to documents released last night, a disclosure that contradicts Gonzales's previous statement that he was not involved in "any discussions" about the dismissals. Justice Department officials also announced last night that the department's inspector general and its Office of Professional Responsibility have launched a joint investigation into the firings, including an examination of whether any of the removals were improper and...
WFB, The Documents, And The Gonzales Problem
I had not planned to return to the topic of the firings of the eight federal prosecutors tonight, but a column by William F Buckley and a review of the document dump clarified certain issues in the story. Buckley, I believe, captures the essence of the massive failure seen in the Department of Justice in this instance. He notes the plenary authority of both the President to fire political appointees and of Congress to conduct investigations into the conduct of the executive branch. He warns conservatives to refrain from constraining the latter for momentary political benefit: It is obvious that there are Democrats in Congress who want an opportunity to forage for crimes in the matter of the discharged U.S. attorneys. Nobody has come up with a description of exactly what crime might have been committed and should be investigated. What is being conjectured is that an industrious investigating committee...
March 25, 2007
The Downside Of Anger
George Will writes today about the caustic and self-involved nature of anger in American life in his column today, a topic that has bubbled in my mind for quite a while. He writes more generally about the effect that it has on politics, but anger is the germ of another related problem in politics that Will doesn't address: Wood notes that there is a "vagueness and elasticity of the grievances" that supposedly justify today's almost exuberant anger. And anger is more pervasive than merely political grievances would explain. Today's anger is a coping device for everyday life. It also is the defining attribute of an increasingly common personality type: the person who "unless he is angry, feels he is nothing at all." That type, infatuated with anger, uses it to express identity. Anger as an expression of selfhood is its own vindication. Wood argues, however, that as anger becomes a...
March 26, 2007
Has Chuck Hagel Read The Constitution?
Chuck Hagel floated the I-word yesterday during his appearance on ABC's "This Week". He warned that George Bush could face impeachment unless he adopted a policy on Iraq more to the liking of Congress. Hagel, who wants to run for the Republican nomination for President in 2008, has apparently learned the word impeachment in some other resource than the Constitution: Some lawmakers who complain that President Bush is flouting Congress and the public with his Iraq policies are considering impeachment an option, a Republican senator said Sunday. Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and a frequent critic of the war, stopped short of calling for Bush's impeachment. But he made clear that some lawmakers viewed that as an option should Bush choose to push ahead despite public sentiment against the war. "Any president who says 'I don't care' or 'I will not respond to...
Gonzales Explains While His Aide Takes The Fifth
Two major developments took place in the controversy over Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the firings of eight federal prosecutors late last year. Gonzales offered his first public explanation of the apparent discrepancy between his statement on March 13th and the release of a memo on Friday, while one of his aides revealed that she would invoke her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination if forced to testify. First, Marcia Goodling announced through her attorney that she would not cooperate in any Congressional probe into the firings and the documentation: The senior counselor to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales will refuse to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the unfolding U.S. attorneys scandal, invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, her attorneys said today. Monica M. Goodling -- who is on an indefinite leave of absence from Gonzales's office -- also said that at least one senior Justice Department official...
March 27, 2007
Misreading McConnell
The Washington Post reports that Senate Republicans, led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, appear to have retreated from defending the White House on the supplemental funding bill for the Iraq war. The decision to forego a cloture battle gets analyzed as am increasingly unhappy GOP caucus forcing Bush to fight the battle on mandatory timetables alone: Unwilling to do the White House's heavy lifting on Iraq, Senate Republicans are prepared to step aside to allow language requiring troop withdrawals to reach President Bush, forcing him to face down Democratic adversaries with his veto pen. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) announced the shift in strategy yesterday, as the chamber took up a $122 billion war spending package that includes a target date of March 31, 2008, for ending most U.S. combat operations in Iraq. The provision, along with a similar House effort, represents the Democrats' boldest challenge on the war,...
Prayers For Tony Snow
I did not hear until well after I had left the house today that Tony Snow has been diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer, this time in his liver: White House press secretary Tony Snow, who has become the face of the Bush presidency over the last year, has cancer again. Snow's deputy, Dana M. Perino, broke into tears at an off-camera briefing this morning as she announced that the cancer has spread to his liver. Doctors discovered it when they operated on Snow on Monday to remove a small growth that had developed in his lower abdomen. President Bush, in brief remarks to reporters later in the White House Rose Garden, asked Americans to pray for his ailing spokesman, who he said called him this morning from the hospital to pass on the information that his cancer had returned. "His attitude is one that he is not going to...
March 28, 2007
The Flexible Loyalty Of Jim Webb
The case of the loaded gun got a little stranger yesterday after Senator Jim Webb spoke to reporters about the incident. His senior aide, Phillip Thompson, had just spent his 45th birthday being arraigned for carrying what Thompson claimed was Webb's gun through a Capitol Hill security checkpoint. However, while Webb charmed the press corps with his explanation for why he violates District of Columbia gun laws, he made it clear that Thompson can expect no public support for his assistance in doing so: The complaint laid out Thompson's version of events: "The defendant stated that he was in possession of a pistol and two magazines belonging to Senator Jim Webb. The defendant further stated that he inadvertently left the gun that he was safekeeping from the previous days." Webb may be pleased to know that, according to the complaint, "the weapon was test fired and is operable." And how...
March 29, 2007
Culture Of Corruption, Democrat Style
The new Congress has barely made it past its start before a new face has been put on lobbyist influence. Dianne Feinstein, the senior Senator from California, has resigned her leadership position on a subcommittee which put billions of dollars into her family's business (via QandO): SEN. Dianne Feinstein has resigned from the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee. As previously and extensively reviewed in these pages, Feinstein was chairperson and ranking member of MILCON for six years, during which time she had a conflict of interest due to her husband Richard C. Blum's ownership of two major defense contractors, who were awarded billions of dollars for military construction projects approved by Feinstein. As MILCON leader, Feinstein relished the details of military construction, even micromanaging one project at the level of its sewer design. She regularly took junkets to military bases around the world to inspect construction projects, some of which were...
Democrats To Propose Largest Tax Hike In History
House Democrats today will propose the largest tax hike in American history, one which will add more poor people to the tax rolls and which will further burden millions of small businesses. They will position this as fiscal discipline while refusing to trim federal spending, according to Robert Novak: The new Democratic majority begins dancing the next phase of the tax-and-spend minuet in the House of Representatives today. Following the example set by their Senate brethren last Friday, House Democrats will adopt a budget resolution containing the largest tax increase in U.S. history amid massive national inattention. Nobody's tax payment will increase immediately, but the budget resolutions set a pattern for years ahead. The House version would increase non-defense, non-emergency spending by $22.5 billion for next fiscal year, with such spending to rise 2.4 percent in each of the next three years. To pay for these increases, the resolution would...
March 30, 2007
A Bad Time To Pick A Fight
Let's see. The US is in the middle of a fight to secure Iraq, drive the Taliban out of Afghanistan, and end Islamist terrorism. Iran won't stop developing nuclear weapons, Syria assists them in funding and supplying Hezbollah, and Lebanon can't keep control over the sub-Litani region to keep Iranian proxies from antagonizing Israel. We have few allies in the region that supplies most of the world's industrial energy. Under those circumstances, one would presume that the US would choose its fights carefully with those nations inclined to support us, and only risk their ire for the most pressing of national interests. One would presume that, but one would not have considered the foolishness of Democratic foreign policy: A planned vote in Congress that would classify the widespread killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish government early in the 20th century as genocide is threatening to make bilateral relations unusually...
March 31, 2007
Feed A Foe, Starve A Friend
Let me see if I get this straight. The Democrats want to condemn Turkey for a genocide that the Ottoman Empire committed before the Turks overthrew them, in order to invest Congress with a certain level of moral authority, if not historical illiteracy. At the same time, Nancy Pelosi -- who has pushed for the condemnation of our Muslim ally in the war on terror -- now wants to fly to Damascus to hang on the words of our enemy in the same war (via the indispenable Memeorandum): House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will visit Syria next week, her office announced yesterday, prompting the White House to call the trip "a really bad idea." ... The White House accuses Syria of sponsoring state terrorism and of fanning sectarian violence in Iraq. The Bush administration has cut off most high-level contacts with Damascus since former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri was...
The Great Rimpau Medical Co-Op Experiment
One of the ways we're passing the time here at the hospital is watching DVDs of classic TV shows, and today we're watching the Bob Newhart Show. The third season DVD has an episode called "The Great Rimpau Medical Arts Co-Op Experiment," a very funny episode from 1974 which shows the result of the various doctors in the office forming a co-op for medical care between the associates and their families. The episode starts with Bob complaining that the plastic surgeon on the floor of his office charged him $85 to remove a wart. That got everyone talking about forming a co-op for free medical care. However, as soon as they did, everyone started filling each other's schedules with a never-ending stream of complaints. Bob tries to organize everyone into group therapy, with disastrous results. It occurred to me while I watched this play out to its comedic conclusion that...
April 1, 2007
Dowd Bails On Bush
I have met Matthew Dowd, Bush's chief electoral strategist, on two occasions. The first time we met came at the Republican National Convention, when he briefed the bloggers on the first day, talking about campaign strategies and how the GOP would eventually prevail over John Kerry. After that, we met briefly during the Alito hearings, when the Senate Republican Caucus invited bloggers to cover that from within the Hart building. He has always struck me as a straight shooter and a reasonable man, someone whose loyalty to the Bush administration rested on rational rather than emotional bases. For that reason, the New York Times article on his disaffection both surprised and disappointed me (via TMV): A top strategist for the Texas Democrats who was disappointed by the Bill Clinton years, Mr. Dowd was impressed by the pledge of Mr. Bush, then governor of Texas, to bring a spirit of cooperation...
April 2, 2007
Roll Tape
One of the fired US Attorneys got ousted for protesting an FBI policy that forbids taping interrogations of suspects in most criminal investigations. According to the New York Times, Paul K. Charlton tried to demand taped interviews before filing criminal charges in his district in order to press the agency to change its policy. Instead, after a couple of high-profile plea bargains, Charlton found himself out the door: Paul K. Charlton, the United States attorney in Arizona, was ousted after spending months protesting a Federal Bureau of Investigation policy that, for practical purposes, forbids the taping of almost all confessions, in stark contrast to the practice of many local law enforcement agencies in Arizona and other locations across the country. Mr. Charlton blamed the F.B.I. policy for the resulting plea bargain in the Navajo reservation assault case, as well as the acquittal of a defendant in a child sexual abuse...
The Friends Of Dollar Bill Jefferson
The case of William Jefferson continues, although the media has not given it much attention of late. The Louisiana Congressman who hid $90,000 in his freezer until an FBI raid discovered it, still fights the subsequent raid on his House offices as unconstitutional. In this effort, Jefferson has attracted a number of strange bedfellows: Embattled Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.), the target of a two-year public-corruption probe, is finding himself with strange bedfellows these days. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), former House minority leader Robert Michel (R-Ill.) and Scott Palmer, former chief of staff for Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), are among those who have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, backing Jefferson's argument that the controversial FBI raid on his office last May was unconstitutional. "These former leaders of the House had concerns about the integrity and independence of the institution,...
Democrats To Widen Their Offensive
Now that they have settled into their offices, the Democrats now want to focus even more on their main enemy. They plan to challenge the Bush administration on a host of issues, most of which have direct correlation to key special interest groups that form their base: Even as their confrontation with President Bush over Iraq escalates, emboldened congressional Democrats are challenging the White House on a range of issues -- such as unionization of airport security workers and the loosening of presidential secrecy orders -- with even more dramatic showdowns coming soon. For his part, Bush, who also finds himself under assault for the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, the conduct of the Iraq war and alleged abuses in government surveillance by the FBI, is holding firm. Though he has vetoed only one piece of legislation since taking office, he has vowed to veto 16 bills that have passed...
April 5, 2007
The Politics Of The Petty
Senate Democrats are outraged over the recess appointment of Sam Fox by President Bush, just a few days after the White House withdrew his nomination for Ambassador. Fox, who contributed to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign in 2004, ran afoul of John Kerry on the Foreign Relations committee: President Bush, defying Senate Democrats, gave recess appointments yesterday to three controversial nominees, including, as ambassador to Belgium, Republican donor Sam Fox, who had contributed to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group whose ads helped doom Sen. John F. Kerry's 2004 presidential bid. Kerry (D-Mass.), who grilled Fox about his $50,000 contribution to the group during testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in February, had complained that Fox never disavowed his actions and that he should not be confirmed. "It's sad but not surprising that this White House would abuse the power of the presidency to reward a...
Pelosi's Pratfall
Nancy Pelosi's amateurish fumble in Syria left the Washington Post less than impressed. In an editorial titled "Pratfall in Damascus," the Post doesn't stop at scolding Pelosi for demonstrating why egotistical Representatives should not insert themselves into diplomacy. It also questions her motives and accuses her of attempting to create a shadow presidency: Ms. Pelosi was criticized by President Bush for visiting Damascus at a time when the administration -- rightly or wrongly -- has frozen high-level contacts with Syria. Mr. Bush said that thanks to the speaker's freelancing Mr. Assad was getting mixed messages from the United States. Ms. Pelosi responded by pointing out that Republican congressmen had visited Syria without drawing presidential censure. That's true enough -- but those other congressmen didn't try to introduce a new U.S. diplomatic initiative in the Middle East. "We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a...
April 6, 2007
The Nature Of Political Appointments -- And Opposition
Jules Crittenden scores a bulls-eye today in a post regarding the recess appointment of Sam Fox as Ambassador to Belgium. After all the screeching from Democrats about firing prosecutors over their politics, John Kerry and his allies attempted to deep-six Fox for his engagement against Kerry in 2004, and Jules wonders where the Democrats draw lines: If it’s wrong for the president to fire political appointees over their politics, doesn’t that make it wrong for senators to oppose political appointees over theirs? Wait a minute. I’m getting confused. The president fired them over their performance, but the Senate only gave a damn about Fox’s politics. So much crap flying around these days, its hard to sort out what’s what. But I think the Dem Cong might need to start holding hearings about itself. But when I see moves like this, I realize I’m starting to really enjoy the Dem Cong....
April 7, 2007
Major Surprise On Jobs
The economy continues its growth under the stewardship of the Bush administration. Unemployment fell to 4.4%, a five-year low, as the nation added 180,000 jobs last month. Wages also rose faster than inflation in March, indicating continuing strength and real gains for workers: It just keeps going. The job market showed little sign of losing its vigor last month as wages climbed and job growth rose, the Labor Department reported yesterday. Economists said the numbers were consistent with an economy that was being supported by strong consumer spending, with considerable hiring in businesses like restaurants, bars, department stores and educational services. In all, the Labor Department said that employment outside the farming sector grew by 180,000 in March. And in another sign of the job market’s resilience, employment growth in January and February was stronger than the government first reported. The national unemployment rate also edged down last month to...
An I-Pod For Every Airhead
I know CQ readers often complain about the lack of i-Pods for kids today. This community has always understood the relationship between i-Pod users and the world around them, and how educational these devices are when worn in a teaching environment. That's why I know CQ readers will fully support Michigan lawmakers when they propose to buy an i-Pod for every student, despite a $1 billion state budget deficit -- just like the editorial board of the Detroit News, who titled their editorial, "An iPod for every kid? Are they !#$!ing idiots?": We have come to the conclusion that the crisis Michigan faces is not a shortage of revenue, but an excess of idiocy. Facing a budget deficit that has passed the $1 billion mark, House Democrats Thursday offered a spending plan that would buy a MP3 player or iPod for every school child in Michigan. No cost estimate was...
April 9, 2007
Newt: Gonzales Should Spend More Time With His Family
Newt Gingrich became the latest and most high-profile Republican to call for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign. In an interview with Fox's Chris Wallace, Gingrich assailed for mishandling an "artificial" crisis and wondered aloud how Gonzales could remain an effective force for the Bush administration: Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, today became the latest Republican to criticize Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales for the controversial dismissals of eight United States attorneys and said Mr. Gonzales should consider stepping down. “This is the most mishandled, artificial, self-created mess that I can remember in the years, in the years I’ve been active in public life,” Mr. Gingrich said on “Fox News Sunday.” “You know, the buck has to stop somewhere, and I’m assuming it’s the attorney general and his immediate team,” Mr. Gingrich went on. Asked by the interviewer Chris Wallace whether Mr. Gonzales should resign,...
April 11, 2007
Stem Cell Controversy And Bad Timing In Congress
The Senate will once again attempt to loosen the restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, applied in September 2001 by the Bush administration. They expect to gain a veto-proof majority for the upper chamber, but the House will likely split much more closely, and Bush has pledged to veto the legislation once it gets to his desk: Launching an emotional political and ethical drama that is widely expected to climax with the second veto of George W. Bush's presidency, the Senate yesterday began a two-day debate over the use of taxpayer dollars for embryonic stem cell research. The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, to be voted on late today or tomorrow, would loosen Bush's Aug. 9, 2001, ban on federal funding for research on stem cells that were isolated from human embryos after that date. The House passed a nearly identical bill in 2005, as did the Senate...
Next Up: Disbarring Nifong
ABC News reports that the North Carolina Attorney General will drop all charges against the Duke lacrosse players originally accused of raping an exotic dancer at a party over a year ago. After the DNA produced no matches for the students and the victim kept changing her story, prosecutors belatedly discovered that they had no case: The office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper will announce that he is dismissing all charges against three Duke Lacrosse players, ABC News has learned from sources close to the case. The three players, Reade Seligmann, David Evans and Collin Finnerty, were facing charges of first degree kidnapping and first degree forcible sexual offense. The charges stem from an off-campus party on the night of March 13, 2006. ... The reasons that will be cited for the dismissal are not yet known, though the case has been riddled with criticism and colored by...
Fun Facts About The 110th Congress
The Democrats won majorities in both chambers of Congress in part by promising that they would change the way Congress conducts business, both in terms of ethics and productivity. Calling the Republican-led 109th a "Do-Nothing Congress", Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid promised more action, longer work weeks, and a blockbuster first 100 days. How has that worked out? Not particularly well. The 110th has managed to get all of two bills passed into law by the end of their first 100 days: H.J.Res.20 - Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2007 (02/15/07) NATO Freedom Consolidation Act of 2007 (04/10/07) That's it -- one continuing appropriation and the NATO act. The continuing resolution was itself a leftover from the 109th Congress, about which the Democrats complained endlessly in the opening weeks of the 110th. At least it gave them something to do. CQ readers might ask what previous Congresses did in their first...
Duke, Don, & Fred: The Omnibus Post
Let's take a moment to update three stories from today after the major developments that occurred in all three. First, the Attorney General of North Carolina dropped all charges against the Duke lacrosse players as expected, but he went much farther than that. Roy Cooper did everything but confirm that Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong committed prosecutorial misconduct: We believe that these cases were the result of a tragic rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations. Based on the significant inconsistencies between the evidence and the various accounts given by the accusing witness, we believe these three individuals are innocent of these charges. We approached this case with the understanding that rape and sexual assault victims often have some inconsistencies in their accounts of a traumatic event. However, in this case, the inconsistencies were so significant and so contrary to the evidence that we have no credible...
April 12, 2007
Imus Gets The Boot
Don Imus will no longer appear on CBS Radio. A day after losing his MS-NBC televised simulcast of his show, CBS president Les Moonves terminated Imus and left him unemployed a week after his offensive remarks about the women's basketball team at Rutgers: CBS brought the tumultuous weeklong crisis over racially insensitive remarks by the radio host Don Imus to an end late this afternoon when it canceled the “Imus in the Morning” program, effective immediately. The move came one day after MSNBC, which has simulcast Mr. Imus’s radio program for the past 10 years, removed the show from the cable network’s morning lineup. The two moves together mean that Mr. Imus, who has been broadcasting his program for more than 30 years, no longer has a home on either national radio or television. ... In a statement, Mr. Moonves said, “Those who have spoken with us the last few...
April 13, 2007
Vaporware
It seems as though the firing of eight federal prosecutors and the bumbling manner in which the administration handled the fallout has no bottom in sight. Like a thread that, once pulled, continues unraveling an entire garment, the situation continues to generate embarrassment and expose poor management -- at best. The latest form that the scandal has taken is the acknowledgement from the White House that some political aides may have used the Republican National Committee e-mail servers for official government business, and that some of the missing e-mails may have pertained to the termination of the US Attorneys: The White House said Thursday that missing e-mail messages sent on Republican Party accounts may include some relating to the firing of eight United States attorneys. The disclosure became a fresh political problem for the White House, as Democrats stepped up their inquiry into whether Karl Rove and other top aides...
The Law Of Unintended Consequences
Don Imus started a brushfire of criticism for the latest in a series of racially insensitive remarks last week, ultimateky costing him his broadcasting platforms at CBS and NBC. Much of the demand for his termination came from the efforts of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, two former Democratic presidential candidates (2004 and 1988, respectively), who fired up demands for boycotts against Imus' sponsors. Their success may present a problem for their party, however, as Democrats routinely used Imus to access independent white male voters who comprised a large part of his audience: They came by the hundreds that hot August day in tiny Johnson City, Tenn., gathering on an asphalt parking lot to meet Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. It was not just that he might become the state's first black senator. More than that, even in Republican eastern Tennessee, the Democratic congressman was a celebrity — a regular...
April 14, 2007
Another Document Dump, Another Misleading Statement
The Department of Justice executed another Friday-afternoon document dump -- that time-honored method for politicians to avoid press coverage of their peccadilloes -- and uncovered yet another refutation of earlier statements by its senior officials. This time, the documents disprove the testimony given repeatedly that the replacements for the fired attorneys had not been selected before the termination of the prosecutors: The attorney general's former top aide identified five Bush administration insiders as potential replacements for sitting U.S. attorneys months before those prosecutors were fired, contrary to repeated suggestions from the Justice Department that no such list had been drawn up, according to documents released yesterday. E-mails sent to the White House in January and May of 2006 by D. Kyle Sampson, then chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, name potential replacements for U.S. attorneys in San Diego, San Francisco, Little Rock and Grand Rapids, Mich. The...
April 15, 2007
Practice Run
With his Congressional testimony just two days away, Alberto Gonzales has opted for a practice run in today's Washington Post. The beleaguered Attorney General pleads his case directly to the American public. He categorically states that he would never ask for a resignation of federal prosecutors for malign purposes, but afterwards the case gets somewhat weaker: My decision some months ago to privately seek the resignations of a small number of U.S. attorneys has erupted into a public firestorm. First and foremost, I appreciate the public service of these fine lawyers and dedicated professionals, each of whom served his or her full four-year term as U.S. attorney. I apologize to them, their families and the thousands of dedicated professionals at the Justice Department for my role in allowing this matter to spin into an undignified Washington spectacle. What began as a well-intentioned management effort to identify where, among the 93...
April 16, 2007
I Joined Blog Talk Radio Just In Time ...
... if the Democrats succeed in scaring people into re-enacting the Fairness Doctrine. According to Adam Thirer in City Journal, the Left believes that Blog Talk Radio might be part of the problem, however. Despite the explosion of communications outlets and choices for the consumer over the last twenty years since the demise of the Fairness Doctrine, Chicken Little on the Left continue their hysteria over media consolidation -- and their solutions will do far more damage to free speech than anything they decry (via Michelle Malkin): Throughout most of history, humans lived in a state of extreme information poverty. News traveled slowly, field to field, village to village. Even with the printing press’s advent, information spread at a snail’s pace. Few knew how to find printed materials, assuming that they even knew how to read. Today, by contrast, we live in a world of unprecedented media abundance that...
April 18, 2007
Corzine Hit At 91 MPH
Governor Jon Corzine's car was traveling at 91 MPH just before it hit a guard rail in the accident that almost killed him, New Jersey's superintendent of state police admitted yesterday. Corzine wanted to make a meeting between Don Imus and the women's basketball team of Rutgers to facilitate an apology after Imus' offensive remarks. Originally, the superintendent discounted speed as a factor: Leading up to the accident in which Gov. Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey was critically injured, the state trooper at the wheel of his sport utility vehicle was driving at 91 miles per hour, the superintendent of the state police said this afternoon. In a telephone news conference, the superintendent, Col. Rick Fuentes, said: “With regard to the speed of the governor’s vehicle, all investigative data points to a speed of approximately 91 m.p.h. five seconds before impact with the guide rail. The vehicle’s speed at...
April 19, 2007
Gonzales To The Hill
In about 40 minutes, Alberto Gonzales will go to Capitol Hill for a hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee to save both his job and what's left of his credibility. The Washington Post reports that Gonzales will admit to mistakes made by him and his department during and after the terminations of the federal prosecutors. The loyalty of George Bush has bought him enough time to make this last pitch to the Senate and to the American people: As Gonzales heads to Capitol Hill today for a long-anticipated public interrogation about the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, at issue is the very concept of loyalty in Bush's world. With any other president, many in Washington say, the attorney general would already be gone. Bush has defied the drumbeat from both parties to remove Gonzales, but even the White House considers today's Senate hearing make or break. Few moments...
Gonzales Hearing: Live Blog
I will be live-blogging the appearance of Alberto Gonzales at the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning at this post. I'm waiting for the hearing to start on C-SPAN now. Keep checking back .... 8:39 CT - It's already started, and Leahy's giving the committee's opening statement. Gonzales is shaking his head when Leahy asserts that Gonzales wanted to politicize the DoJ. Normally, people refrain from reacting to these statements ... 8:42 - Leahy's managed to throw in Katrina and torture in the three minutes of his speech I caught. It sounds like Leahy has no problem politicizing this hearing beyond the issue of the fired attorneys. 8:43 - Arlen Specter says the purpose of the hearing is to determine whether Gonzales should continue in his post. I hadn't realized that they had issued articles of impeachment. Specter says that Gonzales has an opportunity to re-establish his credibility and to justify...
Coburn To Gonzales: Spend More Time With Your Family
I stopped live-blogging the Senate Judiciary Committee testimony of Alberto Gonzales at the lunch break, and at that time Gonzales appeared to be struggling to explain himself even to the Republicans on the panel. Apparently it got no better for the Attorney General after the committee came back into session. Charles Grassley (R-IA) wondered why Gonzales's story kept changing, and Tom Coburn (R-OK) bluntly told him to quit: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales confronted a fresh call for his resignation from a fellow Republican Thursday as he struggled to survive a bipartisan Senate challenge to his credibility in the case of eight fired prosecutors. "The best way to put this behind us is your resignation," Sen. Tom Coburn bluntly told Gonzales, one GOP conservative to another. Gonzales disagreed and told the Oklahoma senator he didn't know that his departure would put the controversy to rest. ... After a long morning in...
Coburn To Gonzales: Spend More Time With Your Family
I stopped live-blogging the Senate Judiciary Committee testimony of Alberto Gonzales at the lunch break, and at that time Gonzales appeared to be struggling to explain himself even to the Republicans on the panel. Apparently it got no better for the Attorney General after the committee came back into session. Charles Grassley (R-IA) wondered why Gonzales's story kept changing, and Tom Coburn (R-OK) bluntly told him to quit: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales confronted a fresh call for his resignation from a fellow Republican Thursday as he struggled to survive a bipartisan Senate challenge to his credibility in the case of eight fired prosecutors. "The best way to put this behind us is your resignation," Sen. Tom Coburn bluntly told Gonzales, one GOP conservative to another. Gonzales disagreed and told the Oklahoma senator he didn't know that his departure would put the controversy to rest. ... After a long morning in...
April 20, 2007
The Nature Of Accountability And At-Will Employment (Updated)
We have had a lot of dialog on the performance of Alberto Gonzales over the past few weeks, and yesterday's live-blog and follow-up post has crystallized a few arguments on both sides. Chief among them are that a boss can fire anyone at any time with no consequences, and that criticism of Gonzales makes one less Republican and/or conservative. I'm going to challenge both of those here. First, anyone who thinks that at-will employment in the United States means in practical terms that a boss can fire anyone at any time with no reason whatsoever has never managed or employed people. These days, that's not even true during probationary periods. Had I walked up to one of my employees in my past job who had been with the company for any length at all and just told them to clear out their desk without ever having communicated any performance issues...
Doolittle Does The Right Thing
Congressman John Doolittle stepped down from his position on the House Appropriations Committee after FBI agents raided his home in connection to a Jack Abramoff investigation. Doolittle had previously come under suspicion for his unusual arrangement with his wife's consultantcy, which allowed the Doolittles to keep 10% of all political contributions -- including those from Abramoff clients -- as personal property: Less than a week after the FBI raided the Northern Virginia home of his wife, Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.) gave up his coveted seat on the House Appropriations Committee yesterday amid concerns that he had used that post to advance the interests of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and other allies. "I understand how the most recent circumstances may lead some to question my tenure on the Appropriations Committee," the conservative nine-term congressman wrote in a letter to House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). "Therefore, I feel it...
April 21, 2007
Hillary Pandering To The Pimp Culture
Hillary Clinton takes two shots over her involvement in the degrading language of gangster rap. Last night, the women's basketball team at Rutgers blew off a meeting with their neighboring state's Senator, claiming Imus fatigue and a renewed sense of perspective on victimhood after the Virginia Tech shootings. This morning, Colbert King blasts Hillary for taking almost a million dollars from a fundraiser hosted by a man who gets rich on lyrics that would make Don Imus blush. First, the Rutgers team passed on a chance to meet with Hillary and hear her sympathy for their victimhood: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton finally dropped by Rutgers to meet with the school's women's basketball coach -- but the players themselves skipped the half-hour meeting, citing their studies and Imus fatigue. Clinton had been scheduled to meet with Scarlet Knight coach C. Vivian Stringer and an assistant, and possibly some of the players,...
April 23, 2007
Gonzales On The Watch List
Note: We will be discussing Gonzales on CQ Radio today, so be sure to join the conversation! According to Newsweek, which has multiple articles on Alberto Gonzales in its April 30th issue, Republicans on Capitol Hill have told the White House that the Attorney General has to go if the Bush administration wants to see any progress on its legislative agenda, including immigration. The Judiciary Committee's most vocal Democrat has suggested a list of replacements which would receive quick and painless confirmation as an incentive: With that performance, Gonzales lost the Hill. When he spoke with the attorney general on Friday, Sessions urged Gonzales to "take the weekend" to determine whether he can still "be an effective leader," he said later in a statement. Rep. Adam Putnam, chairman of the House Republican Conference, called on Gonzales to step down—echoing a position that a group of top House GOPers privately delivered...
April 25, 2007
Subpoenaville
Democrats turned up the heat on the White House today by approving several subpoenas and granting immunity to a key aide to Alberto Gonzales. Monica Goodling, who had notified Congress that she would invoke the Fifth Amendment if subpoenaed, will have to testify now that the House Judiciary Committee voted almost unanimously to shield her from prosecution: In rapid succession, congressional committees Wednesday ramped up their investigations of the Bush administration by approving a subpoena for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and granting immunity to a key aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. By 21-10, the House oversight committee voted to issue a subpoena to Rice to compel her story on the Bush administration's claim, now discredited, that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa. Moments earlier in the committee chamber next door, the House Judiciary Committee voted 32-6 to grant immunity to Monica Goodling, Gonzales' White House liaison, for her...
The Five Myths Of Harry
These have floated in and out of the blogosphere in various forms, but I thought it would be useful to CQ readers to see the counterarguments to Harry Reid's assertions in one easy format. I asked for some research from a friend connected to Capitol Hill on rebuttals, and he put together the resources on this. Enjoy. MYTH #1: General Petraeus Says The War Is A “Lost Cause” SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): Gen. Petraeus "Told" Our Troops That "They’re Fighting For A Lost Cause." CNN BASH: "Is there something to that, an 18- and 19-year-old person in the service in Iraq who is serving, risking their lives, in some cases losing their life, hearing somebody like you back in Washington saying that they're fighting for a lost cause?" REID: "General Petraeus has told them that.” BASH: "How has he said that?" REID: "He said the war can't be won militarily....
April 26, 2007
When David Dumped Harry
The port side of the blogosphere rings with rage over David Broder's Washington Post column today. Talking Points Memo has called for a "blogswarm" to shout down Broder for the unforgivable offense of pointing out that Harry Reid has been as incompetent as Alberto Gonzales [not quite -- see update below]: Here's a Washington political riddle where you fill in the blanks: As Alberto Gonzales is to the Republicans, Blank Blank is to the Democrats -- a continuing embarrassment thanks to his amateurish performance. If you answered " Harry Reid," give yourself an A. And join the long list of senators of both parties who are ready for these two springtime exhibitions of ineptitude to end. ... [C]onsider the mental gyrations performed by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) as he rationalized the recent comment from his majority leader, Harry Reid, the leading light of Searchlight, Nev., that the war in Iraq...
More Questions About The Charlton Firing
The firing of US Attorney Paul Charlton in Arizona took a dark twist yesterday from the fallout of the Department of Justice investigation of Rep. Rick Renzi. Alberto Gonzales told Congress that he had fired Charlton over a policy dispute over the FBI's general refusal to tape interrogations. However, six weeks before his termination, Renzi's office contacted Charlton to inquire whether Charlton was investigating the Republican Congressman: The top aide to Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) called the office of Arizona's U.S. attorney about six weeks before the prosecutor was fired, inquiring about a federal probe into the congressman's role in a land deal that benefited a former business partner and political patron. The former U.S. attorney, Paul K. Charlton, told House investigators this week that his office alerted the Justice Department's headquarters about the call from Renzi's chief of staff, Brian Murray, because he considered it potentially improper, according to...
Breaking: Dollar Bill Keeps His Committee Assignment
Over the past week, two Republican Congressmen have resigned their committee assignments after having been raided by the FBI for investigations into potential corruption. John Boehner asked John Doolittle and Rick Renzi to step down to maintain confidence in the legislative process. Nancy Pelosi apparently doesn't care much about that, as Roll Call reports this morning (subscription required): House Democratic leaders are not expected to pressure embattled Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) to forfeit his lone remaining committee assignment, even as two Republican lawmakers who similarly face intense FBI scrutiny have relinquished their posts in recent days. Democratic sources indicated that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is unlikely to ask the Louisiana lawmaker, who is under federal investigation, to give up his seat on the Small Business Committee. ... The Louisiana lawmaker has not been indicted in the investigation, but the FBI has asserted it videotaped Jefferson allegedly accepting $100,000 in marked...
April 27, 2007
Your Friendly, Gun-Free Police State
Ever wonder how liberals would implement a gun-free America? After incidents like the mass murder at Virginia Tech, arguments for total gun control appear faster than anyone can say Ismail Ax, but they never quite explain how to get from point A to point Z. Fortunately for us, Toledo Blade columnist Dan Simpson takes us step by step through the process. The retired diplomat assures us that he's no "crazed liberal zealot" as he skips merrily down the path to a police state (via QandO). It starts off quietly enough: Now, how would one disarm the American population? First of all, federal or state laws would need to make it a crime punishable by a $1,000 fine and one year in prison per weapon to possess a firearm. The population would then be given three months to turn in their guns, without penalty. One might think to start with a...
Jimmy Carter, Arab Front Man
Alan Dershowitz has often infuriated conservatives with his liberal ideology and sharp-witted speech. He drew insults by the bucketload for defending OJ Simpson in the mid-90s, when it appeared OJ would require a strong team for an appeal-- before a Los Angeles jury proved that celebrities don't need Dershowitz's services. However, Dershowitz has always remained strong in the war against radical Islam and a stalwart defender of Israel, and as such he has come increasingly into conflict with a man he once admired, Jimmy Carter. Now Dershowitz has discovered that Carter gets his funding for his pro-Palestinian, pro-Arab positions from very suspect sources: Recent disclosures of Carter's extensive financial connections to Arab oil money, particularly from Saudi Arabia, had deeply shaken my belief in his integrity. When I was first told that he received a monetary reward in the name of Shiekh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan, and kept the...
April 29, 2007
Scheuer: Don't Buy Tenet
Michael Scheuer, the CIA chief of the now-defunct Osama bin Laden unit, wrote a book recounting his frustrations spanning more than a decade of counterterrorism work for Langley. The author of such books as Imperial Hubris and Through Our Enemies' Eyes has spent the last few years detailing how senior intelligence officials have failed several administrations and the nation. Now he responds to George Tenet and his new memoirs, and warns Americans that Tenet has not told the truth: At a time when clear direction and moral courage were needed, Tenet shifted course to follow the prevailing winds, under President Bill Clinton and then President Bush -- and he provided distraught officers at Langley a shoulder to cry on when his politically expedient tacking sailed the United States into disaster. At the CIA, Tenet will be remembered for some badly needed morale-building. But he will also be recalled for fudging...
Welcoming Snow In The Spring
No, I'm not talking about the notoriously fickle Minnesota weather, which at the moment is 84 degrees, muggy, and cloudy. I'm talking about the return of Tony Snow to the White House after weeks of cancer treatments: White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, who will soon begin chemotherapy to fight a cancer recurrence, told fellow alumni at Davidson College that he feels great and plans to return to work Monday. Snow, 51, has been on medical leave since announcing March 27 that a growth in his abdominal area was cancerous and had metastasized, or spread, to the liver. "No, it doesn't mean I'm going to be gray, shriveled and in the fetal position," he told about 600 alumni and family members at a 30-year reunion Saturday. "To my classmates who think I'm going to lose my great hair, forget about it." Welcome back, Tony. Glad to have you at the...
April 30, 2007
The Unfairness Doctrine
George Will takes aim at the effort led by Dennis Kucinich to reimpose the Fairness Doctrine on the broadcast industry -- and its ultimate aim to destroy talk radio. He points out that the heart of this effort is a mistrust by "illiberals" to trust the marketplace and a failure of left-wing radio to appeal to the American broadcast market: Some illiberal liberals are trying to restore the luridly misnamed Fairness Doctrine, which until 1987 required broadcasters to devote a reasonable amount of time to presenting fairly each side of a controversial issue. The government was empowered to decide how many sides there were, how much time was reasonable and what was fair. By trying to again empower the government to regulate broadcasting, illiberals reveal their lack of confidence in their ability to compete in the marketplace of ideas, and their disdain for consumer sovereignty—and hence for the public. The...
Broder Sticks To His Guns
David Broder took Democrats to task for allowing an incompetent like Harry Reid to rise to party leadership, pointing out several of the Senator's foolish foibles as examples. This column sent the netroots into a tizzy, with many of them declaring Broder as irrelevant and past his expiration date. The Senate Democratic caucus even sent him a letter, signed by all 50 members, extolling the virtues of Reid and lauding his "straight talk" -- apparently all endorsing the notion that we have lost the war in Iraq. Today, Editor & Publisher caught up Broder, who has no intention of retracting his remarks: David Broder said he wouldn't change anything in his April 26 column, which angered many readers and caused 50 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus to write a letter criticizing Broder in Friday's Washington Post. In that Thursday piece, Broder criticized Harry Reid for saying the Iraq War...
May 1, 2007
Newsflash: Gonzales Delegated Authority
As CQ readers know, I think Alberto Gonzales has proven himself an incompetent Attorney General, and would do this administration a huge favor by resigning -- especially after his disastrous testimony before Congress in April. His continued presence enables every new significant detail in the firings of eight US Attorneys to become a major media sensation. That said, I'm hard pressed to find the scandal in the latest revelation by the National Journal's Murray Waas, who breathlessly informs us that Gonzales delegated hiring and firing decisions for non-civil service positions to his aides (via Memeorandum): Attorney General Alberto Gonzales signed a highly confidential order in March 2006 delegating to two of his top aides -- who have since resigned because of their central roles in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys -- extraordinary authority over the hiring and firing of most non-civil-service employees of the Justice Department. A copy of...
May 2, 2007
An Unconservative Stand
The debate over gun rights has taken an interesting and complex twist in Texas. Governor Rick Perry, in reaction to the massacre in the "gun-free zone" of Virginia Tech, now says that Texas state law should allow licensed gun carriers to bring their firearms everywhere -- churches, schools, and businesses. Perry's initiative would render moot signs on buildings forbidding entry to those who carry concealed weapons, as long as a permit had been issued (via Hot Air): Texans who have concealed-weapon permits should be allowed to carry their guns anywhere in the state, including churches, courthouses and bars, Gov. Rick Perry said Monday. Currently, state law prohibits concealed weapons in certain places, including private property where signs are posted disallowing the guns. But after meetings with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt about the rampage at Virginia Tech, Mr. Perry took issue with the idea of barring weapons...
May 4, 2007
Where Do You Stop?
UPDATE: I expected this kind of stupidity, but I didn't expect it from Shaun Mullen ...
I hate to point out the obvious, but that's not what I wrote. It's not okay to beat up anyone. It doesn't make a beating worse if the victim happens to be gay, or obese, or a Democrat. I defy Shaun to identify where I said anything different. Talk about jumping the shark ...
May 5, 2007
The Do-Nothing 110th Congress
The Democratic leadership of the 110th Congress promised a change in style and substance from the so-called "do-nothing" 109th. They expanded the work week and laid out an ambitious agenda of legislative priorities that they would accomplish in the first 100 hours of Congress. Democrats almost immediately started hedging their pledges by clarifying that they meant 100 legislative hours, but even that pretense has evaporated. The Washington Post reports that four months after the Democrats took control of Congress, they have accomplished almost nothing: In the heady opening weeks of the 110th Congress, the Democrats' domestic agenda appeared to be flying through the Capitol: Homeland security upgrades, a higher minimum wage and student loan interest rate cuts all passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. But now that initial progress has foundered as Washington policymakers have been consumed with the debate over the Iraq war. Not a single priority on the Democrats'...
May 7, 2007
Playing Leapfrog With The Primaries
The New York Times reports that California has reaped benefits from its decision to move its primary from June to February. The candidates have to address issues near and dear to California hearts, such as Net neutrality, redistricting, use of public lands, and much more. As other states see their influence suffer as a result, what keeps them from leapfrogging California, and California from leapfrogging again? At Heading Right, I argue that Congress has a role in setting elections for federal offices -- and that the time may have come for a more orderly and fair primary process that allows all states to have a significant say in nominating presidential candidates. Also, be sure to read Rick Moran on what we can learn from the French presidential election process -- and not just in terms of turnout....
May 8, 2007
The Flight To Flyover Country
Political analysts sometimes refer to the space between the two coasts as "flyover country," a space so uninteresting and unimportant that it bears little consideration until someone needs votes. The Midwest, with the exceptions of Chicago and perhaps the Twin Cities, get little credit for sophistication or intellectual interest. For the most part, people make jokes about cows and corn and consider the coastal megalopolises the center of American thought. Michael Barone, writing in today's OpinionJournal, says that has changed in practice, if not yet in thought. More native-born Americans have left the coastal megalopolises for flyover country, stratifying the big American cities on the coasts and in effect abandoning them to immigrants: Start with the Coastal Megalopolises: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago (on the coast of Lake Michigan), Miami, Washington and Boston. Here is a pattern you don't find in other big cities: Americans moving...
Glass Houses, Sheet-Covered Stones, Etc
The Carpetbagger Report linked to me earlier today and has sent a fair amount of traffic to an old post I wrote about the Ten Worst Americans in history. I enjoyed that challenge and spent quite a bit of time on it, but found it curious that someone would link to it today. It turns out that the blog linked to a Roll Call article that reported a reference by a Republican Congressman to the military wisdom of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the Ku Klux Klan: On Monday, Rep. Ted Poe took to the House floor to discuss foreign policy matters. To make a point, the Texas Republican invoked the words of Civil War Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest: “Git thar fustest with the mostest.” The quotation got some floor watchers’ attention pretty quickly. Forrest is a controversial figure who was one of the Klan’s first grand wizards....
Answering Cathy Young
Glenn Reynolds points out a provocative Cathy Young article in Reason magazine, an excellent libertarian publication that should be on everyone's reading list. Cathy asks what I think is the ultimate libertarian question: why is prostitution illegal? Yet prostitution is perhaps the ultimate victimless crime: a consensual transaction in which both parties are supposedly committing a crime, and the person most likely to be charged—the one selling sex—is also the one most likely to be viewed as the victim. (A bizarre inversion of this situation occurs in Sweden, where, as a result of feminist pressure to treat prostitutes as victims, it is now a crime to pay for sex but not to offer it for sale.) It is sometimes claimed that the true victims of prostitution are the johns' wives. But surely women whose husbands are involved in noncommercial—and sometimes quite expensive—extramarital affairs are no less victimized. Young addresses the...
May 9, 2007
A Further Response On Prostitution
Rick Moran of Right Wing Nut House has posted a rebuttal to my post about prostitution at Heading Right. Rick argues that my argument about "commodification" doesn't convince him: Libertarians can reduce all human interaction to either individual choice or the choice made by two or more individuals in compact. Yes a single, unattached man isn’t hurting anyone by going to a prostitute nor is a single drug addict with no children. But is that how you promulgate law? I think not. And Ed’s human worth argument has a few holes too. People may not be “commodities” but we all have jobs where we are paid money for the skills we possess. Is there really a difference between being a good programmer and a talented prostitute? Each is paid according to their “worth” or whatever the market will bear. I agree with Ed that you can’t qualify sex and put...
May 10, 2007
Did The White House Withhold More Information On DoJ Firings?
Murray Waas has another scoop today on the continuing saga of Alberto Gonzales, eight federal prosecutors, and a carnival of incompetence. However, it looks like this news is at least two months old, and a secondary revelation of other withheld documents involves Gonzales and Justice rather than the White House: The Bush administration has withheld a series of e-mails from Congress showing that senior White House and Justice Department officials worked together to conceal the role of Karl Rove in installing Timothy Griffin, a protégé of Rove's, as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. The withheld records show that D. Kyle Sampson, who was then-chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, consulted with White House officials in drafting two letters to Congress that appear to have misrepresented the circumstances of Griffin's appointment as U.S. attorney and of Rove's role in supporting Griffin. In one of the letters...
May 11, 2007
The Insanity Offense
In the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, many people have questioned the state's decision to make the university a "gun-free" zone, especially when it did nothing to prevent the attacker from bringing the weapons on campus. Noting the impossibility of securing a 2600-acre campus, the forced disarming of the student body and faculty has created a debate about the Second Amendment and the ability of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves. The debate has highlighted the differences between assuming roles as activists and victims. Locally, the well-regarded Hamline University took the latter approach. After the shooting, the university offered counseling and coping assistance, even though the shooting had taken place 1500 miles away. Grad student Tony Scheffler took exception to that, and replied to the e-mail that perhaps a better solution would be to allow Hamline students the ability to defend themselves. As Mitch Berg notes, that's when Hamline decided...
It Must Be Spring
If one sees Democratic politicians gathered for photo ops around gas pumps, then spring has finally arrived. Gas prices have risen above $3 per gallon again, and the new Democratic majority wants to do something about it. Unfortunately, the policies they promise have little to do with the actual problem, and the solutions that would work are ones they will never consider. It demonstrates that the Democrats have little understanding of business practice, supply and demand, or commodities markets. I explain the problem at Heading Right, and lay out the solutions....
A Rare Bipartisan Success
Congress and the White House appear to have two years of bloody brawling ahead of them, a fruit of the Democratic takeover in last year's midterm elections. No one expects too many opportunities for bipartisan solutions, especially those which continue allocated executive power in significant strength. However, yesterday proved an exception to the partisan turf wars: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), joined by congressional leaders and two Bush administration officials, announced a new bipartisan trade policy Thursday that will ease passage of pending trade agreements with Panama and Peru and could pave the way for renewal of the president's authority to "fast-track" trade agreements through Congress. "Today marks a new day in trade policy," Pelosi told a news conference, standing between Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab. The new framework, she said, incorporates labor and environmental standards into trade agreements, a change...
May 14, 2007
Where Is The Whistleblower Protection For The War On Terror?
Ever since the Traveling Imams threatened a lawsuit against the people who notified security personnel of their concerns over their pre-flight actions, members of both parties in Congress have spoken of the need to offer legal protection against lawsuits for those who tip off law enforcement about potential terrorist activity. Yet, as Katherine Kersten notes, they have done little to push the legislation to the floor: Last week, we learned that federal authorities have foiled a plot to kill American soldiers at Fort Dix, N.J. The FBI uncovered the plan after an alert Circuit City clerk passed on suspicious video footage that the alleged conspirators had asked him to transfer onto a DVD. The clerk's action was just the kind of citizen vigilance that a new bill before Congress is designed to encourage, and to shield such citizens against intimidation. The bill was inspired by a lawsuit filed in federal...
Norm Coleman Live Blog
I will be live-blogging a speech by Norm Coleman at the University of Minnesota about renewable energy, over at Heading Right. Be sure to join me for the speech! UPDATE: It was an interesting and intriguing speech, not so much for its content on renewable energy but because of the secondary nature of that topic in his speech. Coleman talked much more about centrism and compromise, assuring the audience that he approaches issues from an ideologically conservative point of view but with an effort to get results. Getting 100% of nothing is worse than 50% of something, Coleman argued. I'm guessing that Coleman took a hard look at the audience at the U of M and decided to address their skepticism of him as a Republican. Coleman often speaks extemporaneously -- he's brilliant at it -- and it seemed as though he decided to shift gears to match his audience,...
McNulty Heads For The Exit
It looks as though the going has gotten hotter over at Justice. Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty has announced to aides that he will resign his post. This will put the Bush administration on a path with the Senate Judiciary Committee for a new confirmation hearing, which the White House had tried to avoid: Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty said Monday he will resign, the highest-ranking Bush administration casualty in the furor over the firing of U.S. attorneys, The Associated Press has learned. McNulty, who has served 18 months as the Justice Department's second-in-command, announced his plans at a closed-door meeting of U.S. attorneys in San Antonio, according to two senior department aides. He said he will remain at the department until this fall or until the Senate approves a successor, the aides said. McNulty could not be immediately reached for comment Monday. Justice aides said he has been considering...
May 15, 2007
Congress Dives Below Bush Line
If the Democrats have had a few laughs looking at approval ratings for George Bush, the laughter has probably stopped this morning after Gallup's latest survey. It shows that Congress has even lower ratings than the President, and the number has dropped consistently since the Democrats first took charge: A new Gallup Poll finds continued low levels of public support for both Congress and President George W. Bush. Twenty-nine percent of Americans approve of Congress, down slightly from last month's reading (33%) and this year's high point of 37%, while Bush's approval rating is holding steady at 33%. Both the ratings of Congress and the president are slightly lower than their respective 2007 averages. Approval ratings of Congress are higher among Democrats than Republicans, while Bush's ratings are much higher among Republicans. According to the May 10-13, 2007, Gallup Poll, 29% of Americans approve and 64% disapprove of the way...
Should Obama's Daughters Get Affirmative Action? Should Anyone's?
Eugene Robinson asks a contentious question in today's Washington Post about race, identity, and entitlements. Noting that Barack Obama wants to shift the idea of affirmative action from race to class, Robinson thinks both should apply: Obama has repeatedly gone on record as a supporter of affirmative action. But "if we have done what needs to be done to ensure that kids who are qualified to go to college can afford it," he said in the ABC interview, "affirmative action becomes a diminishing tool for us to achieve racial equality in this society." He seemed to side with those who think class predominates when he said, "I think that we should take into account white kids who have been disadvantaged and have grown up in poverty and shown themselves to have what it takes to succeed." It's hard to disagree with that proposition, especially as economic inequality worsens in this...
Jerry Falwell, RIP
Reverend Jerry Falwell, who helped organize and galvanize social and religious conservatives in the 1980s, has died suddenly in his offices at Liberty University. Falwell was 73 years old: The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who founded the Moral Majority and built the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University, a school executive said. He was 73. ... Ron Godwin, the university's executive vice president, said Falwell, 73, was found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and taken to Lynchburg General Hospital. Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but he said Falwell "has a history of heart challenges." "I had breakfast with him, and he was fine at breakfast," Godwin said. "He went to his office, I went to mine, and they found him unresponsive." Our sympathies and prayers go out to the Falwell family and the many...
A Strange Org Chart At The DoD
President Bush finally got someone to accept a nomination to the new post of "war czar" to oversee the conduct of the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute will move from his current position as the Pentagon's director of operations as soon as he can be confirmed: In the newly created position of assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan policy and implementation, Lute would have the power to direct the Pentagon, State Department and other agencies involved in the two conflicts. Lute would report directly to the president and to National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Filling the position had become a priority for the White House, after a handful of retired generals told the White House they did not want the job. Among them, retired Marine Corps four-star Gen. Jack Sheehan, who proved an embarrassment to the White House...
May 16, 2007
Guest Post: A Remembrance Of Falwell
Our producer for the Northern Alliance Radio Network, Mathew Reynolds, attended Liberty University several years ago. Yesterday he let us know that he has some remembrances of Jerry Falwell that he would like to share. Here are just a few things I remember most about Dr Falwell. I attended Liberty University from 1998-2000. When I started at the school, I wasn't what you would call a Falwell fan. I would here people talk about him in glowing terms and think, "Yeah right. There's no way that he's like that." After meeting and speaking with Dr. Falwell, my opinion started change. While he made mistakes in what he would say, he would immediately seek to correct those mistakes. One of the first things I noticed about him was that he was genuinely interested in you as a person. He wanted to know how you were and would ask if there was...
A Disturbing Interlude
The New York Times and the Washington Post both report on disturbing testimony from former Deputy Attorney General James Comey about an attempt to get an ailing John Ashcroft to approve an extension of the terrorist surveillance program over his objections and that of the FBI. Alberto Gonzales played a central role in this attempt, rousting Ashcroft from intensive care only to be spurned: Mr. Comey said that on the evening of March 10, 2004, Mr. Gonzales and Andrew H. Card Jr., then Mr. Bush’s chief of staff, tried to bypass him by secretly visiting Mr. Ashcroft. Mr. Ashcroft was extremely ill and disoriented, Mr. Comey said, and his wife had forbidden any visitors. Mr. Comey said that when a top aide to Mr. Ashcroft alerted him about the pending visit, he ordered his driver to rush him to George Washington University Hospital with emergency lights flashing and a siren...
May 17, 2007
Just Like That, Huh?
People spend three years of their lives in a pressure-cooker graduate program to get law degrees. They spend years honing their craft by playing gopher to accomplished attorneys and judges in order to garner the experience they need to earn a good living at practicing law. A few talented individuals earn partnerships in prestigious law firms, while others work hard in the political sphere to reach a point where they can write their own ticket at any firm fortunate enough to put their name on the letterhead. So when someone who has achieved all of that just tosses away a lucrative asset like a law license, one has to ask why: Samuel R. Berger, the Clinton White House national security adviser who was caught taking highly classified documents from the National Archives, has agreed to forfeit his license to practice law. In a written statement issued by Larry Breuer, Mr....
The Real Beneficiary Of High Gas Prices
The Democrats have continued to use high gas prices as a key part of their new populist agenda and class warfare. They pose at the pumps, decry the "windfall profits" gleaned by Big Oil from consumers, and promise more government intervention as a solution. However, as George Will points out, government creates more of the problem than Big Oil: Pelosi announced herself "particularly concerned" that the highest price of gasoline recently was in her San Francisco district -- $3.49. So she endorses HR 1252 to protect consumers from "price gouging," defined, not altogether helpfully, by a blizzard of adjectives and adverbs. Gouging occurs when gasoline prices are "unconscionably" excessive, or sellers raise prices "unreasonably" by taking "unfair" advantage of "unusual" market conditions, or when the price charged represents a "gross" disparity from the price of crude oil, or when the amount charged "grossly" exceeds the price at which gasoline is...
May 18, 2007
Do Conservatives Favor Expanding Federal Hate-Crimes Law?
Gallup has a stunning new poll that shows a majority of conservatives favoring an expansion of the federal hate-crimes law. In fact, it's not even close. Majorities of both Republicans and conservatives favor the addition of sexual-orientation classes to the existing race and ethnicity classes (via Memeorandum): A substantial majority of the American public favors the expansion of federal hate crime legislation to include crimes against people based on their gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed such legislation, which is now being considered by the Senate. Republicans, conservatives, and religious Americans are slightly less likely than others to favor the expansion of hate crime legislation, but a majority of those in each of these conservative and religious groups favors the proposed legislation. ... Much of the organized opposition to the expansion of the hate crime law has come from conservative religious groups, while...
The Myth Of Tax Cut Expirations (Updated)
The House and Senate passed a massive budget bill yesterday, a fact lost in the heat over the immigration compromise, that expands federal spending to almost $3 trillion dollars. At the heart of the new spending, now and in the future, is the elimination of the Bush administration's tax cuts from 2001-2003. The Los Angeles Times asks whether that amounts to a tax increase: The House and Senate on Thursday approved a $2.9-trillion federal budget blueprint that, depending on whom you asked, contained the second-largest tax hike in history or, conversely, no tax increase at all. How are such different readings of one document possible? It could happen only in the world of Washington budget-speak, where political spin is at least as important as fiscal reality. The new budget resolution, the first to make its way through Congress since Democrats took control, anticipates almost $3 trillion in spending and just...
May 20, 2007
Flynt On Falwell
Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler Magazine, writes a remembrance of the odd friendship that he shared with the founder of Moral Majority, Rev. Jerry Falwell. His recollections should remind us that the personal and the political need not become inseparable. The story picks up after their joint appearance on the Larry King show, when Flynt had prevailed in a libel lawsuit: I was in my office in Beverly Hills, and out of nowhere my secretary buzzes me, saying, "Jerry Falwell is here to see you." I was shocked, but I said, "Send him in." We talked for two hours, with the latest issues of Hustler neatly stacked on my desk in front of him. He suggested that we go around the country debating, and I agreed. We went to colleges, debating moral issues and 1st Amendment issues — what's "proper," what's not and why. In the years that followed...
May 22, 2007
Pre-Emptive Stupidity At Falwell Funeral
Police arrested a 19-year-old student of Liberty University for bringing homemade gasoline bombs to the funeral of Jerry Falwell. The student, Mark Ewell, claimed that he wanted to disrupt any anti-Falwell protests at the funeral, presumably including those threatened by Fred Phelps: The student, 19-year-old Mark Ewell of Amissville, Va., reportedly told authorities that he was making the bombs to stop protesters from disrupting the funeral service. The devices were made of a combination of gasoline and detergent, a law enforcement official told ABC News' Pierre Thomas. They were "slow burn," according to the official, and would not have been very destructive. Three other suspects are being sought, one of whom is a soldier from Fort Benning, Ga., and another is a high school student. No information was available on the third suspect. Authorities were alerted to the potential bomb plot by a concerned relative of Ewell. Stupidity knows no...
May 23, 2007
Failing On The Culture Of Corruption Twice Over
All we heard from the Democrats during the 2006 midterm elections was how the Republicans had created a "culture of corruption". The GOP left itself open to those charges, without a doubt, by their profligate spending and individual cases of actual corruption, such as Bob Ney and Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Of course, the Democrats had William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson and Alan Mollohan, but they promised that all lobbyist influence and vote payoff systems would screech to a halt under Democratic management of Congress. Yesterday gave us two examples of how the Democrats will fulfill this campaign pledge. First, the new Congress still can't get its own members to support even watered-down ethics legislation: After scrapping most key elements of an ethics package meant to deliver on Democratic promises to bring unprecedented accountability to Congress, party leaders were still working into the night yesterday to sell their stripped-down bill to the...
May 24, 2007
Yes, Political Arson Is A Form Of Terrorism
I have sympathy for family members of people discovered to be domestic terrorists. After all, in many cases, they have no idea what their relatives were doing. The family of John Walker Lindh didn't urge him to go to Pakistan and get training from Osama bin Laden, after all. My sympathy ends when they assert that people who conduct violent acts for political purposes don't amount to terrorists, however. Today's Los Angeles Times opinion piece from Caroline Paul is an example. Her brother, Jonathan Paul, awaits sentencing for arson in connection with the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, and a terrorism component of his conviction could multiply his sentence. Caroline angrily denounces the application of terrorism in his case: MY BROTHER IS considered one of the biggest domestic terrorists in the country. You probably haven't heard of him, and I think that's odd. After all, he's dangerous. He's...
Rising Economy And Welfare Reform Didn't Hurt The Poor
A study by the CBO of a fifteen-year period shows that the poorest 20% of American families received the most benefit from economic growth. Earnings increased for this economic stratum by 78%, more than three times the increase of the next three quintiles (via Memeorandum): It's been a rough week for John Edwards, and now comes more bad news for his "two Americas" campaign theme. A new study by the Congressional Budget Office says the poor have been getting less poor. On average, CBO found that low-wage households with children had incomes after inflation that were more than one-third higher in 2005 than in 1991. The CBO results don't fit the prevailing media stereotype of the U.S. economy as a richer take all affair -- which may explain why you haven't read about them. Among all families with children, the poorest fifth had the fastest overall earnings growth over the...
I See The Hate, But Where's The Crime?
An Illinois teenager has been denied bail until her trial for perpetrating a hate crime. The unidentified girl and a friend distributed a flier at school attacking homosexuality and pointed out at least one classmate as gay, which caused police to arrest the pair for disturbing the peace and charging them with a felony hate crime (via CQ commenter brainy435): A pair of 16-year-old girls face hate crime charges after they allegedly handed out anti-gay fliers targeting a classmate at their northern Illinois high school. The girls were arrested May 11 after handing out fliers in the parking lot of Crystal Lake South High School that depict a male student kissing another boy and contain hateful language about gays. Officials say the fliers targeted a male classmate, who is also a neighbor of the girls. The two girls had apparently been feuding with the boy. Earlier today, a judge rejected...
May 25, 2007
The Fading Of Federalism
The Cato Institute has released an intriguing analysis of the decline of federalism over the last twenty years. Part of the supposed legacy of the Reagan Revolution was a renewed commitment to federalism and its insistence on moving power from Washington DC to state legislatures. That renewed commitment has largely failed, and federal subsidies to states have exploded over the last two decades: In recent years, members of Congress have inserted thousands of pork-barrel spending projects into bills to reward interests in their home states. But such parochial pork is only a small part of a broader problem of rising federal spending on traditionally state and local activities. Federal spending on aid to the states increased from $286 billion in fiscal 2000 to an estimated $449 billion in fiscal 2007 and is the third-largest item in the federal budget after Social Security and national defense. The number of different aid...
May 26, 2007
The Soft Pathos Of Low Expectations
The Democrats finally passed something this week in Congress, 150 days after the start of the 110th session and the beginning of their leadership. They got a minimum-wage hike attached to a supplemental spending bill for the troops 108 days after they first took up the funding issue, indirectly getting the first of their 100-hour priorities passed ... just short of Memorial Day. And the most pathetic aspect of it is the self-congratulatory attitude of the Democrats in managing to eke this out: The new Democratic Congress has finally banked a legislative win, fulfilling a promise to pass a $2.10 increase in the federal minimum wage and marking the first of its "Six for '06" campaign pledges to become law since the party's January takeover. "We are making progress for the American people, governing effectively and getting results. Our work is not over, it has begun," said Majority Leader Steny...
May 27, 2007
Democratic Divide On Fox
The Democrats still have a Fox problem. They want to beat the network down as a "propaganda" outlet despite its #1 rating for prime-time news, and despite the connections that several prominent Democrats have forged with the network to broaden their appeal to middle America: Four years ago, the leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus began looking for a television outlet to co-sponsor and broadcast a presidential debate to address the concerns of minority voters. Only one news channel made an acceptable proposal, and an unlikely channel at that: Fox News, in what some Democrats viewed as an effort to associate itself with a group that could help it make good on its claim of presenting “fair and balanced” news coverage. But now that relationship is being shaken by the decision of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, and former Senator John Edwards of...
May 28, 2007
If You're Reading This Blog Today...
... you can thank a veteran, either one who gave his life in service to his country, or one who gave his youth and health. America has never lacked for heroes, men and women who exemplify patriotism, honor, duty, and sacrifice. All of us, whether Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives, have members of our family who have devoted time in their lives to our country; we're all connected to them. Our families share in this, and fortunately, our relatives all survived their service. My father, the Admiral Emeritus, served in the Army in Korea. The First Mate's father was a Marine Corps pilot who served in both World War II and Korea, flying Corsairs in the Pacific. My father's oldest brother went into the Navy and became part of the Seabees, and his other brothers served in the armed forces as well. My cousins have volunteered for duty; at...
May 29, 2007
Cindy Sheehan Says Adios
Once the "darling" of the Left, a woman to whom crowds flocked, Cindy Sheehan has discovered that she has worn out her welcome by attacking everyone. In a missive she sent to the Democratic caucuses in Congress, Sheehan has renounced her membership in the party, claiming to have been as abused by the Left as she was by the Right: Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier son was killed in Iraq three years ago, said yesterday she was stepping down from her role as the figurehead of the US campaign against the war. "This is my resignation letter as the 'face' of the American anti-war movement," she wrote in a sometimes bitter diary entry on the website Daily Kos. "I am going to take whatever I have left, and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children, and try to regain some of what...
Bush, The Liberal
Richard Cohen makes the case that Republicans have noted for the last six years -- that the Bush administration has not been conservative at all, but rather an exercise in big-government, liberal action. Calling Bush a "neo-liberal", Cohen hits some convincing points in his argument that Bush resembles a cross between Woodrow Wilson and Lyndon Johnson (via Memeorandum): An overriding principle of conservatism is to limit the role and influence of the federal government. Nowhere is this truer than in education. For instance, there was a time when no group of Republicans could convene without passing a resolution calling for the abolition of the Education Department and turning the building -- I am extrapolating here -- into a museum of creationism. Now, though, not only are such calls no longer heard, but Bush has extended the department's reach in a manner that Democrats could not have envisaged. I am referring,...
The Next Scandal At Justice?
The Prowler at the American Spectator reports that the next scandal at the Department of Justice may reflect very poorly on the White House -- the Clinton White House. While the Democrats rant over Monica Goodling's unsurprising revelation that the DoJ considered political connections for political appointments, the Prowler reports that the Janet Reno-led DoJ did the exact same thing: "We knew the political affiliation of every lawyer and political appointee we hired at the Department of Justice from January 1993 to the end of the Administration," says a former Clinton Department of Justice political appointee. "We kept charts and used them when it came time for new U.S. Attorney nominations, detailee assignments, and other hiring decisions. If you didn't vote Democrat, you weren't going anywhere with us. It was that simple." In fact, according to this source, at least 25 career DOJ lawyers who were identified as Republicans were...
Another Reason To Question The Tenet Regime At Langley
NBC has received a declassified report from the CIA which states that the agency considered Valerie Plame a "covert agent" at the time her identity was revealed to Robert Novak and other journalists in July 2003. The CIA declassified her status in order to pursue the criminal investigation into the leak, according to other documents from Patrick Fitzgerald's independent counsel probe: An unclassified summary of outed CIA officer Valerie Plame's employment history at the spy agency, disclosed for the first time today in a court filing by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, indicates that Plame was "covert" when her name became public in July 2003. The summary is part of an attachment to Fitzgerald's memorandum to the court supporting his recommendation that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former top aide, spend 2-1/2 to 3 years in prison for obstructing the CIA leak investigation. ... The unclassified summary of Plame's...
June 1, 2007
Firing The Collectors: Desperation Or Efficiency?
The Republican National Committee no longer has operators standing by to take your call -- reportedly because you haven't been calling. Their staff of call-center employees got pink slips yesterday, and while the RNC denies it, the fired employees say that donations have dropped precipitately: The Republican National Committee, hit by a grass-roots donors' rebellion over President Bush's immigration policy, has fired all 65 of its telephone solicitors, The Washington Times has learned. Faced with an estimated 40 percent falloff in small-donor contributions and aging phone-bank equipment that the RNC said would cost too much to update, Anne Hathaway, the committee's chief of staff, summoned the solicitations staff and told them they were out of work, effective immediately, fired staff members told The Times. Several of the solicitors fired at the May 24 meeting reported declining contributions and a donor backlash against the immigration proposals now being pushed by Mr....
The Reason We Have Two Parties
Many people believe that the two major political parties offer so little difference as to be virtually identical. Certainly some of the politicians of either Democratic or Republican stripe focus more on power than policy, and in that sense and in those examples, they have a point. However, some may find themselves surprised by E.J. Dionne's latest column, as he somewhat inadvertently demonstrates why we have two political parties -- and what fundamentally separates them: Our two political parties and their candidates are living in parallel universes. It's as if the candidates were running for president in two separate countries. Their televised debates next week will be productions as different from each other as "American Idol" is from "P.T.I." The parties do have some things in common -- Iraq and the economy are concerns for both. But beyond these two issues, what matters most to Republican voters is hugely different...
Secret Holder On Open Government: Kyl
Senator Jon Kyl has acknowledged placing a hold on a bill that would strengthen the Freedom of Information Act, which open-government reformers see as key to exposing government processes to sunlight and criticism. Kyl insists that the Department of Justice has concerns that must be addressed before proceeding, even though the bill has strong bipartisan support and was co-sponsored by John Cornyn (R-TX). The other co-sponsor, Pat Leahy (D-VT), will attempt to get a vote despite Kyl's hold: Kyl revealed his identity Thursday, days after the bill's backers launched an e-mail and telephone campaign, urging supporters to help in "smoking out 'Senator Secrecy.'" They pointed out the irony that an open government bill was being blocked using a rule that allowed secrecy. Supporters say the bill would plug loopholes in the FOIA law by, among other things, clarifying when federal agencies would have to pay attorneys fees if they miss...
The End Of The Bushes?
Peggy Noonan, one of my favorite columnists and always a great read, today turns her substantial rhetorical guns on what she sees as the biggest threat to the Republican Party -- George Bush. Accusing him of following his father in squandering a great political inheritance, Noonan calls for a Republican repudiation of Bush and his family: What political conservatives and on-the-ground Republicans must understand at this point is that they are not breaking with the White House on immigration. They are not resisting, fighting and thereby setting down a historical marker--"At this point the break became final." That's not what's happening. What conservatives and Republicans must recognize is that the White House has broken with them. What President Bush is doing, and has been doing for some time, is sundering a great political coalition. This is sad, and it holds implications not only for one political party but for the...
June 4, 2007
Why Nationalizing Health Care Will Make Us Less Free
In the debate over health care, many people support the idea of a government-run, single-payor system that will supposedly guarantee equitable distribution of treatment. However, in granting government the authority to ration all medical care, we grant them the power to withhold it for whatever purpose they see fit. The British have begun to discover this dynamic, as the Daily Mail reports that the National Health Service will begin denying smokers access to medical care until they prove they have quit -- through a blood test. At Heading Right, I note how this demonstrates the power we will grant government over the most personal of choices as a necessary end result. Where does it stop? Do we refuse service to the obese? To those who engage in sex without condoms? Every risk factor adds cost to the delivery of nationalized medical care, and at some point the single payor will...
June 5, 2007
Senator Craig Thomas, RIP
Craig Thomas, Wyoming's quiet Senator, lost his battle with cancer yesterday at age 74. Re-elected in a rare bright spot for Republicans in last year's midterm meltdown, Thomas had hoped to recover for his full term, but his leukemia turned out to be too advanced: Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas, a three-term conservative Republican who stayed clear of the Washington limelight and political catfights, died yesterday. He was 74. The senator's family issued a statement saying he died Monday evening at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. He had been receiving chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia. Just before the 2006 election, Thomas was hospitalized with pneumonia and had to cancel his last campaign stops. He nonetheless won with 70 percent of the vote, monitoring the election from his hospital bed. ... "Wyoming had no greater advocate, taxpayers had no greater watchdog, and rural America had no greater defender than Craig...
Will The Democrats Split Over Dollar Bill?
Now that the other shoe has finally dropped on Rep. William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson, the next question is what the Democrats intend to do about him. Under indictment on sixteen counts of corruption, Jefferson represents just about everything against which the Democrats campaigned last year, with their attacks on the supposed "culture of corruption", and they'd like to be rid of the albatross. However, the Congressional Black Caucus smells a double standard, and they're not likely to go along with any plan that could railroad Jefferson out of the House without having been convicted first: Democratic leaders fear that Rep. William J. Jefferson's indictment yesterday on racketeering and bribery charges, coming exactly one year after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi engineered his ouster from the powerful Ways and Means Committee, could rekindle a smoldering dispute between the speaker and black lawmakers who were once pillars of her power. For months, the...
A Tale Of Two Prosecutions
Two major prosecutions for abuse of power make the news today. First, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby will go to prison for perjury and obstruction of justice: Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison Tuesday for lying and obstructing the CIA leak investigation. Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, stood calmly before a packed courtroom as a federal judge said the evidence overwhelmingly proved his guilt. "People who occupy these types of positions, where they have the welfare and security of nation in their hands, have a special obligation to not do anything that might create a problem," U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said. Regardless of the ludicrous nature of a three-year investigation where the perpetrator never got charged with the initial suspected crime, Libby got what he deserved, having lied to investigators and the grand...
June 7, 2007
Was The Libby Sentence 'Extreme'?
The sentencing of Scooter Libby has created a firestorm of protest in the blogosphere, and even in the Republican presidential primary contest. Most of the candidates said they would consider a pardon, if elected and if George Bush has not issued one before then. Most of those have based their point on the notion that Libby should never have been prosecuted in the first place. However, the man who helped get Caspar Weinberger his pardon disagrees, but suggests that a commutation may be a better option (via Power Line): Scooter Libby should not be pardoned. But his punishment -- 30 months in prison, two years' probation and a $250,000 fine -- is excessive. President Bush should commute the sentence by eliminating the jail term while preserving the fine. There is a legal principle at stake in this case greater than either Libby or the politics of the moment. It is...
Andy McCarthy On Libby
I probably should post this as an update to my earlier post on Bill Otis' suggestion of a commutation, but this post by Andy McCarthy sums up my feelings about Scooter Libby and his conviction and sentencing. The long-time federal prosecutor explains why conservatives do themselves no favors by engaging in partisan invective -- and do Scooter Libby no favors, either: Not that Scooter Libby has asked for my advice, but I also must say that that the ardor of his supporters — including, I believe, NR — has hurt him, and hurt the conservative movement, in very fundamental ways. As to him personally, all this passionate rhetoric about his heroic service to the United States, how the investigation should never have happened, and how he got unfairly singled out and screwed (all of which I agree with) would be fine if it weren't obscuring something fairly important: Lying to...
June 10, 2007
Silly Memes #147: Bush Disrespects The Pope
It's a measure of George Bush's impact and visibility that every little action gets wide exposure and viewed outside of context. It's also a measure of his low popularity that some of these get used to paint him in the worst possible light. That appears to be the case with Bush's latest so-called gaffe -- responding to Pope Benedict with a "sir": US President George W Bush drew gasps at the Vatican on Saturday by referring to Pope Benedict XVI as "sir" instead of the expected "His Holiness", pool reporters said. They could clearly hear the US leader say "Yes, sir" when the pope asked him if he was going to meet with officials of the lay Catholic Sant'Egidio community at the US embassy later during his visit. James Joyner makes the point that Bush is not Catholic, while Michael van der Galien claims that anyone addressing the Pope should...
Democrats And The NRA -- Partners?
Democrats and the NRA have opposed each other for decades. Democratic activists have long railed at the power of the NRA lobby, while the NRA has long accused Democrats of wanting to disarm law-abiding Americans and violating the Second Amendment. However, the Washington Post reports that the two sides have come together to create legislation that promotes security while reinforcing the right to purchase firearms: Senior Democrats have reached agreement with the National Rifle Association on what could be the first federal gun-control legislation since 1994, a measure to significantly strengthen the national system that checks the backgrounds of gun buyers. The sensitive talks began in April, days after a mentally ill gunman killed 32 students and teachers at Virginia Tech University. The shooter, Seung Hui Cho, had been judicially ordered to submit to a psychiatric evaluation, which should have disqualified him from buying handguns. But the state of Virginia...
June 11, 2007
Is Deterrence The Only Question?
I have been one of the few conservatives who have expressed opposition to the death penalty, on several bases. While I have not specifically tied my opposition to the lack of deterrent value in executions, a number of pro- and anti-capital punishment advocates have argued over that precise point for decades. Now the AP reports that several new studies show a deterrent effect of between 3 and 18 uncommitted murders for every execution. Does this change the debate over the death penalty? At Heading Right, I examine Cass Sunstein's suggestion that this may create a moral imperative to execute murderers, and ask whether deterrence is the only question, or even the main question, in this debate....
The Unhappiest Place On Earth
Robert Novak paints a depressing vision of the George Bush White House in today's column. The administration doesn't fight for the friends it should, and fights for those who bring nothing but misery and disappointment instead: The Gonzales-Libby equation is symbolic of Republican discontent with the president. He failed utterly to narrow the divide within the party over his immigration reform. Time is running out -- to less than three months -- on GOP forbearance on Iraq. In the closing months of the administration, key posts are unfilled and what old hands call "children" fill others. Facing multiple investigations, Bush aides without personal fortunes are threatened by daunting legal fees. The treatment of Lewis Libby, once Vice President Cheney's influential chief of staff, enrages Republicans far more than their public utterances suggest. The president's studied distance from the CIA leak case led to the appointment of a special prosecutor by...
Democratic Overreach, Part II
Democrats once more failed to deliver on a promised blow to the Bush administration. Earlier this evening, they followed their failure to block Iraq war funding with a failure to press ahead on a no-confidence vote against Alberto Gonzales: Senate Democrats fell short this afternoon in their effort to hold a vote of no confidence in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales but still registered a strong, if symbolic, rebuke of the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. The Senate voted 53 to 38 to end debate and allow a vote on the no-confidence motion itself. Since 60 votes were required to shut off the debate, or invoke cloture, supporters of the motion were lacking seven votes. But Mr. Gonzales’s critics could console themselves with the knowledge that they mustered a majority, and that several Republicans sided with them . The outcome left the attorney general’s critics in Congress uncertain about what...
June 13, 2007
Senator Tom Coburn's Out Of Commission Temporarily
I just received an e-mail from the staff of Senator Tom Coburn, one of the best in the Republican caucus and a strong fighter on behalf of clean government. The Senator had to have surgery to remove a tumor on his pituitary gland: Dr. Coburn underwent successful surgery this morning for the removal of a benign pituitary tumor. The procedure involved no complications and he is expected to make a full and speedy recovery. We don’t have a date certain for his return, but we do expect him to be able to resume his Senate duties full-time by the end of the month. I found information on pituitary tumors here. The traditional pituitary surgery will leave no external scar, and from what I gather in the release, nothing more was necessary. That's why the staff expects him back to work so soon -- great news indeed. Our prayers go out...
Blogs Cure Macaca
After George Allen's macaca blunder, his campaign took too long to address the controversy and attempt to defuse it. They seemed stunned and unprepared for political campaigning in the YouTube era, and they paid a high price for their education. Now the Republican Party has distilled that experience into a set of guidelines for future damage control: The Macaca moment has morphed into an official learning tool for the Republican establishment. It's right there, on pages 18 and 22 of an Internet guide from the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee that its chairman, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), hopes will become scripture for the 2008 candidates. Always assume you're being recorded, and always record your opponent. The blogs -- oh, scratch that -- the Republican blogs are your friends, so use them for rapid response in good times and bad. "The paradigmatic example of failure to do so is the 'macaca'...
June 14, 2007
Pentagon Pushes Back On Pelosi's Perks
For a woman who promised an end to the free ride for politicians in Washington DC, Nancy Pelosi seems awfully intent on providing -- free rides. Pelosi wants the Pentagon to provide air travel to the adult children of House members without reimbursement when the spouses cannot accompany them on trips. The Pentagon says that request is against longstanding policy: “It has been longstanding policy that, in the absence of a congressional spouse, the adult child of a member of Congress may accompany the member on official U.S. government travel abroad for protocol reasons and without reimbursing the U.S. Treasury,” Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami said. “Speaker Pelosi believes that a modern policy must reflect the professional responsibilities or health realities that might prevent a spouse from participating, and instead permit an adult child to fulfill the protocol needs of the official trip.” Pentagon officials say the policy is that the...
FBI: Over A Thousand Violations On Comm Intercepts
A spot audit conducted by the FBI found more than a thousand violations of the laws and procedures governing the intercept of communications. These results point to a much bigger problem than initially reported last March, and the audit undermines the credibility of the nation's premiere law-enforcement agency at a time when national security remains the primary concern of many Americans: An internal FBI audit has found that the bureau potentially violated the law or agency rules more than 1,000 times while collecting data about domestic phone calls, e-mails and financial transactions in recent years, far more than was documented in a Justice Department report in March that ignited bipartisan congressional criticism. The new audit covers just 10 percent of the bureau's national security investigations since 2002, and so the mistakes in the FBI's domestic surveillance efforts probably number several thousand, bureau officials said in interviews. The earlier report found...
The Kelo Antidote
Many conservatives took affront to the Supreme Court ruling in the Kelo case, in which the court upheld the right of a city to use eminent domain to force property from one private owner to another. The decision was seen as yet another judicial overreach, an expansion of the notion of "public use" that left private-property owners vulnerable to the whims of state and local politicians looking for favors from developers and monied interests. It started a legislative reaction to curb the use of eminent domain around the nation. Today the New York Times reports that some courts have heard the message. New Jersey's state Supreme Court slapped down a similar use of eminent domain, upholding the appeal of a property owner whose use displeased the town's leadership: In a decision that could affect redevelopment battles across New Jersey, the State Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterday that a town had...
Harry Reid Calls Military Commanders Incompetent (Updated and Bumped: Reid Confirms It Himself)
Be sure to read the updates. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid showed his support for the American military by calling two of its top leaders "incompetent". Pandering to liberal bloggers, Reid made the comments in explaining his strategy to make Republican Senators sick of voting on the Iraq war and bludgeoning them into declaring defeat: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "incompetent" during an interview Tuesday with a group of liberal bloggers, a comment that was never reported. Reid made similar disparaging remarks about Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said several sources familiar with the interview. This is but the latest example of how Reid, under pressure from liberal activists to do more to stop the war, is going on the attack against President Bush and his military leaders in anticipation of...
June 15, 2007
Whither The Republicans?
Republicans face a daunting task of determining their identity in the next sixteen months before the 2008 elections. With the immigration bill infuriating the base, the war in Iraq frustrating the nation, and the lack of enthusiasm shown thus far in a wide-open field of presidential contenders, that process looks to be painful as well as daunting. E.J. Dionne wonders in his column today whether the Republicans can recapture the optimism of the Reagan years, even with a new candidate entering the race as the Reagan banner-carrier. Dionne, as always, writes a thought-provoking column, but I think he's misdiagnosed the problem. Republicans don't have an identity crisis as much as a competency crisis. At Heading Right, I explain why the "national security imprint" is not a Bush-era change, and how Republicans can get their groove back....
June 16, 2007
Nifong: Gimme Three Steps
Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong resigned suddenly yesterday, in a tearful press conference. He had just completed his testimony to the North Carolina State Bar, where he faces almost certain disbarment for his reckless actions in the Duke rape case that wasn't: Michael B. Nifong, the Durham County district attorney, announced Friday that he would resign, as he faces disciplinary charges for his handling of a sexual assault prosecution against three former Duke University lacrosse players who were later declared innocent. Speaking in a barely audible voice in testimony before a disciplinary hearing panel, Mr. Nifong apologized to the players, their families and the North Carolina justice system. His resignation came as a surprise on the fourth day of a hearing by the North Carolina State Bar, which has charged him with “systematic abuse of prosecutorial discretion” for withholding evidence and making improper pretrial statements. Undoubtedly, Nifong spent the...
State Bar Lowers The Boom On Nifong
Mike Nifong's legal career came crashing to an end today. After finding Nifong guilty on a number of counts of unethical behavior for his actions in the Duke lacrosse non-rape case, the North Carolina State Bar disbarred Nifong, who had resigned as Durham County DA yesterday: Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong has been disbarred after being found guilty of a battery of ethics violations for his handling of the Duke lacrosse investigation, a North Carolina Bar disciplinary committee announced Saturday evening. ... "We are in unanimous agreement that there is no discipline short of disbarment that would be appropiate in this case," said F. Lane Williamson, the committee's chairman. Before the panel announced its punishment, Nifong said he believed disbarment would be appropriate and that he planned to waive all rights to appeal the findings of the bar panel, his attorney David Freedman said in court Saturday afternoon. The...
June 17, 2007
The Freshman Who Doesn't Know His Place
It's not easy being a freshman Congressman in any circumstances, but especially in the session after your party loses its majority. Tim Walberg, one of only 13 Republican freshmen in the House this year, has plenty of reason to act like a backbencher and spend the session learning from his colleagues. Instead, he has decided to take action against those who want to rescind the Bush tax cuts and effectively deliver the largest tax increase in American history -- and he's calling out those Blue Dog Democrats who won in Republican districts last year to stand up and be counted: Democrats in Congress are discounting advancements made possible by the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts passed by Congress and are trying to slap U.S. taxpayers with a $400 billion tax increase that will slow our economy's current progress. If Democrats follow through on their budget promises, the American people will...
June 18, 2007
The Upcoming Budget Wars
If you got bored with Beltway politics in the first six veto-free years of the Bush administration, buckle your seatbelts -- because the ride is about to get bumpy indeed. Congress has twelve appropriations bills coming to the White House, and three-quarters of them look ripe for vetoes, as President Bush has decided to try fiscal responsibility in his last two years in office: Addressing a Republican fundraising dinner at the Washington Convention Center on Wednesday night, President Bush declared: "If the Democrats want to test us, that's why they give the president the veto. I'm looking forward to vetoing excessive spending, and I'm looking forward to having the United States Congress support my veto." That was more than blather for a political pep rally. Bush plans to veto the homeland security appropriations bill nearing final passage, followed by vetoes of eight more money bills sent him by the Democratic-controlled...
What About The Duke 88?
Now that Mike Nifong has had his law license revoked and may face criminal contempt charges, attention has turned to another Durham institution that involved itself in the non-rape case: Duke University. Dinesh D'Souza writes at his Townhall blog that the 88 faculty members that took out an ad castigating their innocent students should also face some retribution: From the time the first reports of sexual assault at Duke University surfaced, these intellectual vigilantes went to work. Houston Baker, a professor of English and Afro-American Studies, issued a public letter condemning the "abhorrent sexual assault, verbal racial violence and drunken white male privilege loosed among us." He seems to have simply presumed the students guilty. Shortly after that, 88 members of the Duke arts and science faculty--the so-called Gang of 88--signed a public statement praising campus demonstrators who had distributed a "WANTED" poster that branded the lacrosse players as "rapists."...
That Didn't Take Long
Duke University moved quickly to end the debacle that they themselves stoked over the false accusations of rape against three of their students. Two days after the North Carolina State Bar disbarred prosecutor Mike Nifong for his role in railroading the lacrosse team members, Duke settled the civil claims brought against the university: Duke University has reached an undisclosed financial settlement with three former lacrosse players falsely accused of rape, the school said Monday. Duke suspended Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and Dave Evans after they were charged last year with raping a stripper at an off-campus party. The university also canceled the team's season and forced their coach to resign. "We welcomed their exoneration and deeply regret the difficult year they and their families have had to endure," the school said in a statement. "These young men and their families have been the subject of intense scrutiny that has taken...
Does This Sound Familiar?
The Senate decided to tackle an immigration reform by using backroom deals and bypassing the normal legislative process, and the bill's backers then tried to blow it through a short debate. Instead of getting their bill passed, they got caught in a backlash of resentment, forcing the dealmakers to try again. The American Conservative Union warns that the Senate will try the same approach with a tax bill sponsored by Charles Grassley and Max Baucus: It never fails, whenever the free market is poised to succeed and innovate further, there is always an effort to tax or regulate it from reaching its true potential. The most recent example: efforts to impose new punitive taxes on publicly traded partnerships. In view of several pending and potential Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) by private equity firms seeking to join the public markets, U.S. Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) unveiled punitive...
June 19, 2007
The Liberal Case For Scooter Libby
Conservatives have argued vociferously for George Bush to pardon Scooter Libby, convicted on four of five counts of perjury and obstruction. They have argued that the prosecution had political motivations and that Libby didn't get a fair trial from a Bush-appointed judge. Today they have some surprising company -- Richard Cohen, the liberal columnist from the Washington Post. Cohen argues that Patrick Fitzgerald's runaway prosecution has damaged the American media and rule of law, and scapegoated Libby as a punishment for the Bush administration's policies in Iraq. At Heading Right, I take a look at Cohen's argument, especially the accusations of hypocrisy he levels at his fellow liberals. Would a pardon or commutation actually act as a bulwark against further out-of-control prosecutions, or would they give the appellate courts no means of administering a more effective sanction?...
Slapping Taxes On Big Oil
Yesterday, I highlighted an effort by Senators Max Baucus and Charles Grassley to impose a new tax on publicly traded partnerships. That effort will likely result in these partnerships incorporating overseas, which will actually reduce the tax revenues coming to the federal government. Today's effort by the Baucus-Grassley partnership will do a lot more harm to American drivers, and to the overall economy: A proposal to hit oil companies with $29 billion in new taxes advanced in the Senate on Tuesday, targeting the money to energy conservation, wind turbines, electric hybrid cars and clean coal technology. The massive tax package, double what Democrats had talked about as recently as last week, is "designed to promote clean and sustainable energy," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance Committee that approved the measure by a 15-5 vote. It will be added to energy legislation being considered by the full Senate....
Bloomberg Switches ... Again
Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor of New York City, announced that he would no longer remain a Republican. This comes six years after he announced that he would no longer remain a Democrat in order to run as Rudy Giuliani's successor in 2001: Mayor Michael Bloomberg is leaving the Republican party and will remain unaffiliated with any political party, CBS 2 HD learned Tuesday night. The move will clearly begin advancing rumors that the mayor is gearing towards a presidential run, which he has denied in the past. In a statement, however, the 65-year-old billionaire indicated this doesn't change his plans for his political future. It's interesting, only for the fact that Bloomberg seems to have a problem in figuring out which company he likes to keep. While politicians seem to have an affinity for changing certain policy positions, it's not often you find one that has three party affiliations...
June 20, 2007
Democrats Try To End Secret Ballots For Union Elections
No one can accuse Democrats of reneging on this pledge. Senate Democrats plan to have a showdown with the GOP over a bill that would force workers to cast unionization votes without a secret ballot. They're trying to keep a campaign promise to union bosses who funded their campaigns: Senate Democratic leaders moved Tuesday to force a vote on organized labor’s top legislative priority, a bill that would make it far easier to organize workers. But Republican leaders vowed to kill the measure, voicing confidence that they could defeat a motion cutting off debate and bringing it to a vote this week. The bill, already approved by the House but facing the threat of a veto by the Bush administration, would give employees at a workplace the right to unionize as soon as a majority signed cards saying they wanted to do so. Under current law, an employer can insist...
June 21, 2007
The Openness Smokescreen
As part of their effort to clean up Capitol Hill, Democrats have proposed a new ethics process in the House that allows outside groups to file complaints. However, the proposal has hit a brick wall with these watchdog groups that would presumably use the new process to hold Congress accountable for ethics violations. Democrats want these groups to reveal their entire donor list when they file any complaint to the new ethics panel. The irony of open-government groups may be palpable, but at Heading Right, I argue that the irony only exists on the surface. The requirement supposes an equation between government and citizen groups that is simply fantasy, and acts as a smokescreen for a hostility to open government that seems to have increased in the 110th Congress....
A Dangerous Crisis In Confidence
Mark Tapscott hits a deep vein of discontent in his essay today at the Examiner. He notes the crisis in confidence we currently have in our political system, and warns that both parties can expect to reap the whirlwind: First, the dramatic reversal of partisan political power seen in the November 2006 election was either simply a fluke or, more likely in my view, an inevitably lost opportunity for the winning Democrats. Short of an historically unprecedented philosophical reversal of course by the majority, it is hard to see Congress regaining anything remotely like a high level of public respect any time soon. Seen in this light, Rep. Rahm Emanuel's recent declaration that the American people "are very happy with the things we have done" seems especially out of touch. In fact, having raised and then frustrated public hopes for a fundamental change of course in Washington, the Democrats lost...
June 22, 2007
Right Approach, Wrong Reason
David Sokol calls for a new Apollo program on "climate change" in order to force a shift towards renewable energy in the US. He wants the government to "live up to their rhetoric" on cleaner energy sources, comparing it to the Kennedy mission to get a man to the moon. Sokol has the right idea, but the wrong reasons -- and a mistaken analogy: In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy committed the nation, by the end of that decade, to landing Americans on the moon and bringing them safely back to Earth. Kennedy identified specific interim goals, such as developing a lunar spacecraft, new rocket booster technologies, and the deployment of satellite communication and weather observation systems. In asking Congress to support his goal, he said that the effort "will last for many years and carry very heavy costs" and that it demanded "a major national commitment of scientific...
Shouldn't The Speaker Know Which Army She Supports?
I guess the Democrats never learn to do research before putting pictures on websites. Nancy Pelosi, on her official government website as Speaker of the House, informs visitors that Democratic leadership will offer the largest expansion of veteran benefits for members of our armed forces. She helpfully displays a picture of an Army officer consulting with a doctor. Unfortunately, it's the wrong army (via QandO): If you look close enough at the epaulet, you'll see the name "CANADA", which is the first clue that the Army officer doesn't hail from the Lower 48. Is there a message here? Is Nancy bucking for a Canadian-style health care system? No, she's just following a tradition of Democratic cluelessness. Last October, the DNC did the same thing a month before the midterms. They also used a picture of a Canadian soldier to demonstrate their commitment to America's military community. Despite getting wide derision...
Bobby Kennedy Approved CIA Tap On Journalists
The CIA has released its so-called family jewels -- memoranda and archival evidence of its transgressions in the years prior to Watergate. The intelligence agency violated the law, sometimes with the approval of high-ranking government officials, on several notable occasions. For instance, the agency concluded that it had broken kidnapping laws by detaining a Soviet defector inside the US for over two years without charges, as well as wiretapping journalists. One instance of the latter had cooperation from the Kennedy administration -- specifically, Attorney General Bobby Kennedy: In 1963, the CIA wiretapped two columnists -- Robert Allen and Paul Scott -- following a column in a newspaper in which they disclosed certain national security information. CIA records indicate that the wiretapping was approved by McCone after "discussions" with then Attorney General Robert Kennedy and then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. The wiretaps, which continued from March 12 to June 15,...
Attacking Capital
Democrats in the House have begun following the example of their Senate colleagues in pushing for tax hikes. Once again, the Democrats have targeted capital, this time by more than doubling the capital-gains rate for investment firms: Top House Democrats today introduced wide-ranging legislation that would more than double the tax rate that private equity firms, venture capital funds and many hedge funds pay on their gains. The proposed legislation would cause the most comprehensive change to the capital gains tax law in decades. It was authored by Rep. Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.) and introduced by Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the Financial Services Committee. ... The proposed legislation represents the first comprehensive measure to raise rates on the tax treatment for all hedge funds and buyout firms, which have drawn congressional attention because of...
June 23, 2007
Rule Of Law?
I haven't followed the kerfuffle over Dick Cheney's handling of classified material very closely, mostly because it looked like one of the mountains that Cheney's critics like to make out of molehills. However, this issue does hold a political if not legal vulnerability for the White House and Republicans over the perception of way that the administration wields its power, and is worth a second look for conservatives (via Memeorandum): The White House defended Vice President Cheney yesterday in a dispute over his office's refusal to comply with an executive order regulating the handling of classified information as Democrats and other critics assailed him for disregarding rules that others follow. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Cheney is not obligated to submit to oversight by an office that safeguards classified information, as other members and parts of the executive branch are. Cheney's office has contended that it does not have...
June 26, 2007
Great Cheney Switch, v7.0
I'd like to have a shot of what Sally Quinn's drinking. In today's Washington Post, Quinn tells us that Republicans have decided that Dick Cheney has to go, and will start devising plans to force him out of an office to which he has been twice elected. Quinn believes that this has reached the Goldwater-to-Nixon scenario in the summer of 1974, only this time Cheney stands accused of hurting the GOP's chances in the next election rather than any lawbreaking. At Heading Right, I discuss this latest version of the Great Cheney Switch, a parlor game for Republicans and pundits for the last three years. While previous contestants for Cheney's position have included Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, Quinn has someone else in mind now, a man undoubtedly intelligent enough to run screaming from the job offer she makes. UPDATE: Rick Moran responds at Heading Right, and I test a...
The NRSC Tackles Big Labor Payback In The Senate
See update on cloture. Last week, I wrote about the Democrats' plan to end secret balloting in union elections, forcing workers to make their choice publicly. That enables intimidation from both unions and management, which the struggling labor movement will force people to organize. The unions will reap large increases in dues -- which will wind up in the coffers of the Democratic Party. The NRSC has put together a new YouTube ad that matches the rhetoric of leading Democrats with the funding they have received from Big Labor, as well as some refutation of their assertions: If the Senate passes this worker-intimidation bill, then we have to press the President to veto it If secret ballots are the standard for our political elections as a safeguard against government intimidation, they should be the standard for union elections as well. UPDATE: Cloture just failed on this one, 51-48. I'm not...
June 27, 2007
The Veep Digs Deeper
Dick Cheney seems determined to do more damage to himself than the latest Washington Post profiles could ever do. While that series has revealed Cheney's influence, it hasn't even come close to demonstrating any wrongdoing on his part. Unfortunately, his latest response on the OVP's refusal to comply with an executive order on the handling of classified material will provide more material for Cheney's critics -- and for no obvious benefit. At Heading Right, I review this latest argument for non-compliance and wonder why Cheney's bothering. Even while Ruth Marcus rightly calls this the $400 haircut of administration controversies, the benefits of refusing audits have never been explained by Cheney's office, which relies on a series of legal arguments rather than explain why they don't want to have the National Archives audit their performance in handling classified materials. Can it be yet another example of what happens when people forget...
API Conference Call On Energy IQ (Update: Take The Quiz!)
I joined a conference call conducted by the American Petroleum Institute (API) on an "energy IQ" survey they recently conducted, and their overall energy policy. The API represents the energy providers in the US; they effectively help shape the public debate over energy policy on behalf of their members. In this call, the API argues that the policymakers and opinion leaders don't have a firm grasp on the facts on energy, and more worrisome, neither do the consumers. They used Harris to survey consumers to find the gaps in knowledge that create misunderstandings and unreasonable expectations. This was an Internet study of 1,333 adults in the US, weighted for region, age, ethnicity, and economic strata. Two conclusions emerged, according to the pollsters. First, most Americans "know very little about where energy comes from," and even less of distribution issues. In fact, they seemed unwilling to hazard guesses, opting for "not...
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June 28, 2007
The Failure Of Super-Bureaucracies
The Washington Post reports that the Department of Homeland Security has spent millions of dollars on no-bid consultant contracts since its inception, far beyond their budget. Booz Allen benefited from an overreliance on their firm to win contract after contract, eventually billing for over $70 million in contracting services. Many of the jobs Booz Allen filled should never have gone outside the agency in the first place, according to the Post's Robert O'Harrow. At Heading Right, I explain that all of this could easily have been foreseen at the creation of the DHS -- and, in fact, it was. The creation of superbureaucracies do not increase accountability but diminish it, and resource allocation suffers from institutionally-imposed incompetence. If Congress wants to unleash its venom, they should spare Booz Allen and the DHS, and instead target themselves....
Surprise! Bipartisan Consensus!
Pundits constantly remind us that American politics is more polarized than ever. The politicians of both parties increasingly resort to hard-line negotiating tactics rather than attempt to find common ground for agreement on behalf of the American people. Anger and bitterness, usually blamed on bloggers and talk radio, keep the two tribes of Washington politics from conducting positive work on public policy. Poppycock, says I. Rubbish! Our boys and girls in Washington can come to bipartisan consensus ... when it benefits themselves: Despite low approval ratings and hard feelings from last year's elections, Democrats and Republicans in the House are reaching out for an approximately $4,400 pay raise that would increase their salaries to almost $170,000. The cost-of-living raise endorsed Wednesday evening gets lawmakers back on track for automatic pay raises after a fight between the parties last year and again in January killed the pay increase due this year....
The White House Gets Tough With Congress, And Vice Versa
For only the second time in six years, the Bush administration invoked executive privilege after Congress issued subpoenas for documents and testimony in the case of the fired prosecutors. This sets up a showdown in the courts for the two branches to determine the limits of oversight the legislature has over the executive branch -- and an escalation of bitterness just in time to fuel the presidential primaries: For only the second time since taking office, President Bush has exercised executive privilege and refused to hand over documents to Congress. The first time Bush invoked privilege was in December 2001, when Congress asked for documents from the administration of his predecessor, Bill Clinton. ... Congress’s subpoenas also directed former White House counsel Harriet Miers and former political director Sara Taylor to testify, which the administration has made clear they will not do. Asked whether the earlier offer for closed-door interviews...
Two House Votes For GOP
Two House votes in the last few minutes offer some insight into the workings of the lower chamber. The first, on an amendment by Rahm Emanual, would strip funding for the office of the Vice President, a snarky swipe at the assertion by Dick Cheney's counsel that the Vice President isn't part of the executive branch. That motion failed, but only by seven votes, 217-210 -- and produced a round of catcalls at the end. The second is the Pence amendment to forbid the FCC from re-enacting the Fairness Doctrine. I live-blogged the debate on this amendment earlier today, and the voice vote at the time was said to carry Pence to victory. He wanted a recorded vote and got it. The final result: an overwhelming rejection of the Fairness Doctrine, 309-115, with 1 vote present. The Democrats split almost exactly, while all voting Republicans voted for the amendment. Not...
June 29, 2007
Obama: Forget Impeachment, Concentrate On Elections
Barack Obama may have made some of the more radical elements of his party angry yesterday by eschewing impeachment in the next eighteen months, but only because he injected a sense of rationality to the partisan struggle. Obama argued that impeachment should be reserved for "grave" crimes, and that elections provide the most cleansing agent to poor government: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama laid out list of political shortcomings he sees in the Bush administration but said he opposes impeachment for either President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney. Obama said he would not back such a move, although he has been distressed by the "loose ethical standards, the secrecy and incompetence" of a "variety of characters" in the administration. "There's a way to bring an end to those practices, you know: vote the bums out," the presidential candidate said, without naming Bush or Cheney. "That's how our...
Only Half The Battle Has Been Won
My friend Mark Tapscott reviews a week in which he feels that conservatives won battles on several important fronts. He hails the end of the McCain-Kennedy immigration plan, Supreme Court decisions on race and political speech, and the end to the Fairness Doctrine movement in last night's vote in the House. While Mark is correct to celebrate these events, with one exception they do not really represent victories for conservative governance as much as reprieves from the alternatives: Winston Churchill once remarked that God takes care of drunks and the United States of America and so it seems to be as we approach the end of a remarkable week in which milestones of success for the conservative movement have come one after another. I must confess I didn't expect a week such as this. Between Bush's various expansions of Big Government, the GOP congressional majority throwing away of its position...
July 1, 2007
Evidence For Global Warming Evaporating?
Al Gore has transformed global warming from scientific theory to political crusade, writing books and producing a documentary to scare people into action. Gore and his supporters claim that scientific consensus is nearly unanimous that the climate changes measured over the last two decades are anthropogenic, and that we may already have run out of time to save the planet. However, James Taylor, a senior fellow at the Heartland Institute, points out that Gore has some of his "evidence" completely wrong -- and that consensus does not exist on his central argument: For example, Gore claims that Himalayan glaciers are shrinking and global warming is to blame. Yet the September 2006 issue of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate reported, "Glaciers are growing in the Himalayan Mountains, confounding global warming alarmists who recently claimed the glaciers were shrinking and that global warming was to blame." Gore claims the snowcap...
Senatorial Karma's Gonna Get You (Democrats)
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have come under tremendous pressure to start achieving the ambitious goals they set for the 110th Congress after winning control for the first time in 12 years. However, the two Democrats find themselves looking foolish as this Congress has done less in its first five months than any in recent memory -- and both Reid and Pelosi blame the Republicans for obstructionism in the Senate. They seem to forget that the two of them played the same exact game for their own political advantage over the past few years of Republican control (via Memeorandum): Pelosi sounded more apologetic than celebratory Friday when she announced with her Senate counterpart, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democrats' list of accomplishments six months after they seized control of Capitol Hill and promised "a new direction" in Washington. "I'm not happy with Congress, either," Pelosi, of San Francisco,...
July 2, 2007
Libby Loses On Appeal
Scooter Libby lost his appeal to remain free on bail pending review of his conviction on perjury and obstruction of justice. He can try for a stay from the Supreme Court, but the opinion from the three-judge panel indicates he won't have much success (via Memeorandum): A federal appeals court Monday rejected former White House aide Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s request to remain free on bond while appealing his March conviction on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. In an order handed down Monday, a three judge panel wrote Libby “has not shown that the appeal raises a substantial question” that regular appeals court will consider when its next term begins in September. Since this court will hear the Libby appeal on the merits of the case, it sends a grim message to Libby's supporters. They may find themselves disappointed in the weight of the legal arguments for reversal, such as...
Splitting The Baby
George Bush took immediate action after Scooter Libby lost his appeal to maintain bail while attempting to overturn his convictions on perjury and obstruction of justice. He commuted Libby's prison sentence, while leaving his fine and his probation in place. The question now will be whether that satisfies Libby's supporters, and how angry it will make his detractors: President Bush has commuted the prison term of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, facing 30 months in prison after a federal court convicted him of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to investigators. ... In a written statement issued hours after that ruling, Bush called the sentence "excessive." But he also rejected calls for a pardon for Libby. "The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant, and private citizen will be long-lasting," Bush said. But he said Libby was given "a harsh...
July 3, 2007
Why Schools Fail
In the wake of the recent Supreme Cout decision that limits race-based solutions for desegregation efforts in schools, the Democratic presidential candidates have reacted as though the Roberts court threw out the 1954 Brown v Board of Education decision that ended state-imposed segregation. However, the problem no longer is the state imposition of segregation, nor is it a lack of funds to the schools. Rather, it is the strange mix of incompetence and lack of accountability that keeps our largest school districts from educating our students, as Richard Cohen notes: The eight Democratic presidential candidates assembled in Washington last week for another of their debates and talked, among other things, about public education. They all essentially agreed that it was underfunded -- one system "for the wealthy, one for everybody else," as John Edwards put it. Then they all got into cars and drove through a city where teachers are...
Splitting The Baby Gains Bush Little
Gauging from the reaction of pundits, George Bush did himself few favors in commuting Scooter Libby's sentence yesterday. As I predicted, critics of the administration railed against his supposed abandonment of the rule of law, while conservatives complained that Bush didn't go far enough. The end result may be a net zero for Bush politically, but according to Mike Allen at The Politico, that wasn't Bush's concern: What were the calculations? One of the few people who actually knows something about the deliberations tells Playbook that no political factors were considered. That seems to be the reason Bush chose this outcome. He could have pardoned Libby outright, and he could have chosen to do nothing at all, and he could also have commuted the fine and probation. In the end he chose none of these options, only acting to keep Libby from prison but leaving all other punishments in place....
A Ridiculous Voice Of Criticism
George Bush has received plenty of criticism for commuting Scooter Libby's sentence, from both the Right and the Left, and at least a good portion of it justifiable. However, one voice that should have remained silent has decided to pile on: Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton drew a distinction between President Bush's decision to commute the sentence of White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby — which she has harshly criticized — and her husband's 140 pardons in his closing hours in office. "I believe that presidential pardon authority is available to any president, and almost all presidents have exercised it," Clinton said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "This (the Libby decision) was clearly an effort to protect the White House. ... There isn't any doubt now, what we know is that Libby was carrying out the implicit or explicit wishes of the vice president, or...
July 4, 2007
An Independence Day Trivia Entry
Despite the fact that this document has been in existence for 218 years, it appears that it has escaped the notice of many pundits decrying a presidential commutation as an "obstruction of justice". For those unfamiliar with the Constitution, I direct you to Article 2, Section 2: The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. That seems pretty clear to me, and it did when Bill Clinton was in office as well. The President has...
The First Element Of The American Character
In doing research on Independence Day and searching for appropriate speeches to quote, it became clear that the breadth of material meant that any comprehensive representation of it would become impossible in a blog format. Instead, I decided to look for surprises -- nuggets of insight in unlikely places. I discovered this speech, which in part emphasized the foundational nature of religion in the American character. Can you guess its author? A nation's character, like that of an individual, is elusive. It is produced partly by things we have done and partly by what has been done to us. It is the result of physical factors, intellectual factors, spiritual factors. It is well for us to consider our American character, for in peace, as in war, we will survive or fail according to its measure. Our deep religious sense is the first element of the American character which I would...
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Abraham Lincoln, At Ease
Abraham Lincoln wrote one of the nation's greatest speeches, even perhaps its greatest speech, in the aftermath of the terrible carnage at Gettysburg. For three days, vast armies collided in a small Pennsylvania town, fighting over the nature of liberty and equality. Lincoln returned to the site in November of that year to deliver his most eloquent and somber address. In the days immediately following the battle, in which the hopes of the Confederacy were dashed, Lincoln felt far more celebratory than somber. His armies had finally broken Robert E. Lee and forced him back into Virginia, and Washington would never face serious threat again. The capital was in a joyous mood, and Lincoln delivered his Independence Day speech on the 7th as part of that festive atmosphere: Fellow-citizens: I am very glad to see you to-night. But yet I will not say I thank you for this call. But...
The Fallacy Of The Oasis
On Independence Day in 1941, America watched as the world burned. Hitler and Nazi Germany had overrun France, Poland, and the Balkans in the previous eighteen months, and had just taken on Soviet Russia the month before. They appeared to be on their way to realizing Napoleon's quest of taking Moscow. In the Pacific, the Japanese had overrun much of eastern Asia and threatened the British and the US; in five months and three days, they would make war on us in surprise attacks on American military bases throughout the region, including Pearl Harbor. Sixty-six years ago, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried to warn us of the danger. America had adopted an obstinate isolationism in the hope of avoiding the second World War, a strategy FDR knew was useless. He told America that we could not watch liberty extinguished abroad without soon losing it ourselves: My fellow Americans: In 1776,...
AP: Hypocrisies Abound
Ron Fournier, the AP's political analyst, takes a look at the effect that the Libby commutation has had on the political scene -- and sees hypocrisy everywhere. While he slams Bush for disregarding the same federal sentencing guidelines he espoused as both candidate and President, Fournier saves his most biting criticism for the wife of his predecessor: "This commutation sends the clear signal that in this administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. It was a brazen statement from a woman entangled in many Clinton White House scandals, including the final one: On his last day in office, President Clinton granted 140 pardons and 36 commutations, many of them controversial. One of those pardoned was Marc Rich, who had fled the country after being indicted for tax evasion and whose wife had donated...
AP: Hypocrisies Abound
Ron Fournier, the AP's political analyst, takes a look at the effect that the Libby commutation has had on the political scene -- and sees hypocrisy everywhere. While he slams Bush for disregarding the same federal sentencing guidelines he espoused as both candidate and President, Fournier saves his most biting criticism for the wife of his predecessor: "This commutation sends the clear signal that in this administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. It was a brazen statement from a woman entangled in many Clinton White House scandals, including the final one: On his last day in office, President Clinton granted 140 pardons and 36 commutations, many of them controversial. One of those pardoned was Marc Rich, who had fled the country after being indicted for tax evasion and whose wife had donated...
Leave Him Alone
I understand the impulse to treat politics as a bloodsport, but even those who prefer that mode should really limit their attacks to the combatants. Today's story about the arrest of Al Gore III provides a case in point: The 24-year-old son of former Vice President Al Gore was arrested for drug possession on Wednesday after he was stopped for speeding in his hybrid Toyota Prius, a sheriff's official said. Al Gore III -- whose father is a leading advocate of policies to fight global warming -- was driving his environmentally friendly car at about 100 miles per hour on a freeway south of Los Angeles when he was pulled over by an Orange County sheriff's deputy at about 2:15 a.m. The deputy smelled marijuana and searched the car, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. The search turned up a small amount of marijuana, along with prescription drugs including Valium, Xanax,...
July 5, 2007
Kinsley Pokes The Gray Lady's Eye
Michael Kinsley slams the media for their relentless non-pursuit of a critical element in the Valerie Plame leak -- the journalists. He does so in the opinion pages of the New York Times, one of the papers that demanded an investigation into the leak, only to screech about the First Amendment when Patrick Fitzgerald put reporters on the hot seat, including their own Judith Miller: There is nothing wrong with a perjury trap, as long as both sides of the pincer are legitimate. The abuse comes when prosecutors induce a crime (lying under oath) by exploiting an action that is not a crime. The law about “outing” C.I.A. operatives is apparently vague enough that it isn’t clear whether Mr. Libby violated it. But let’s leave that aside. Exposing one of your country’s intelligence officers is a bad thing to do. If it isn’t against the law, it ought to be,...
July 6, 2007
Oversight Overkill
Republicans have criticized the White House for its poor communications skills and its inability to get its message out to the general public. Those critics will find themselves happy with the latest White House pushback against the Democrat-controlled Congress. The Hill reports that the Bush administration has quantified the amount of time Congress has spent on oversight hearings, and compared that to the amount of actual legislation Congress has managed to produce. At Heading Right, I argue that this shows some responsiveness on the part of the Democratic leadership that has been lacking on other parts of their program. That sets up a big conundrum for the Democrats in next year's elections, as these efforts have left them rather vulnerable for a big fall....
Dionne: Commutation Protects A Redundancy (Update: Survey Says -- A Flop)
E.J. Dionne takes up the topic of the Scooter Libby commutation in today's Washington Post column, admitting to feeling uncharacteristic rage after hearing about the presidential reprieve from prison. After venting and then making a very kind reference to my posts on the subject -- which I'll address in a moment -- Dionne explains why he thinks George Bush decided on commutation at this time and left a pardon open for later (h/t: nandrews3): Bush purported to be seeking a "third way" (forgive me, Tony Blair) between an outright pardon and allowing the law to follow its course. "I respect the jury's verdict," the president said. "But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. . . . The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant and private citizen will be long-lasting." But if Bush meant that, he'd...
July 8, 2007
Culture Of Entitlements Started With FDR
George Will reminds us of when we began moving towards federal bankruptcy, and why, in today's column about Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Long admired as the man who saved America from economic disaster and potential revolution, FDR also begat the large-scale government spending programs that failed to reolve the economic crisis, but instead set us on the path for another: In 1937, during the depression within the Depression, there occurred the steepest drop in industrial production ever recorded. By January 1938 the unemployment rate was back up to 17.4 percent. The war, not the New Deal, defeated the Depression. Franklin Roosevelt's success was in altering the practice of American politics. This transformation was actually assisted by the misguided policies -- including government-created uncertainties that paralyzed investors -- that prolonged the Depression. This seemed to validate the notion that the crisis was permanent, so government must be forever hyperactive. In his second...
More Absurdities On The Libby Commutation
Anyone reading my blog over the past seven days knows that I have been critical of the decision to commute Scooter Libby's sentence. Granted, the investigation conducted by Patrick Fitzgerald was a waste of time and money. After all, what was investigated -- a leak between a government official and a reporter on classified material? Why, that never happens! Just ask the New York Times, which has blown critical national-security programs twice in two years, neither of which resulted in the appointment of special prosecutors or grand jury proceedings. Nevertheless, when giving statements to investigators and testimony to grand juries, witnesses do not have the authority to determine on their own whether they believe the investigation to be legitimate enough to tell the truth. Those who commit perjury and obstruction of justice should go to prison, especially if they hold positions of trust and power in the government. A duly-constituted...
July 9, 2007
Americans Tune Out Live Earth (Update: Not Just Americans, Either)
A new survey by Rasmussen shows that Americans didn't pay much attention to the celebrity-driven Live Earth concerts, mostly because of skepticism about their motivation. Less than a quarter of those surveyed bothered to follow the news stories about Al Gore's project, which may have political implications of its own. At Heading Right, I take a look at the numbers and see a reality check for those who believe climate change to be a winning issue in the next election. Although a 22 share would be pretty good ratings for a televised event, it shows a distinct lack of resonance for political benefit. The Draft Gore movement may have to rethink its chances for success. (via Memeorandum) UPDATE: Americans weren't alone in their lack of enthusiasm. The British also tuned out in droves, according to the Daily Mail: Live Earth has been branded a foul-mouthed flop. Organisers of the global...
Shocked, Shocked! At The Inefficiencies Of Super-Bureaucracies
The Washington Post reveals today that the conglomeration of 22 federal agencies into the Department of Homeland Security has still not been successfully completed. Four years after its creation, a number of top management positions have yet to be filled. The DHS says that the report overstates the problem -- because the expansion is still continuing: The Bush administration has failed to fill roughly a quarter of the top leadership posts at the Department of Homeland Security, creating a "gaping hole" in the nation's preparedness for a terrorist attack or other threat, according to a congressional report to be released today. As of May 1, Homeland Security had 138 vacancies among its top 575 positions, with the greatest voids reported in its policy, legal and intelligence sections, as well as in immigration agencies, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard. The vacant slots include presidential, senior executive and...
July 10, 2007
Prostitute Scandal Hits The Senate
The case of the Beltway Madam has kept people in DC on the edge of their seats lately, as defendant Deborah Jeane Palfrey has threatened to release her phone records publicly as part of her public defense. The case already resulted in one high-ranking government official's resignation, and the public wondered who might be next. After a judge finally gave Palfrey the green light to post the records on her website, the scandal caught its next big fish, this time in the Senate: Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) apologized last night after his telephone number appeared in the phone records of the woman dubbed the "D.C. Madam," making him the first member of Congress to become ensnared in the high-profile case. The statement containing Vitter's apology said his telephone number was included on phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates dating from before he ran for the Senate in 2004. The...
July 11, 2007
Gonzo Does A Double Clinton, With A Twist
Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has created even more trouble for himself with Congress. In April 2005, he told the Senate that the FBI had not committed "one verified case of civil liberties abuse" after 2001. However, two of his aides now confirm that they had informed Gonzales of hundreds of violations before that testimony, which would directly conflict with that testimony. At Heading Right, I look at the two responses from Justice on why Gonzales' testimony should not be considered false. In one, Gonzales takes a page from Hillary Clinton's defense of her vote to authorize war against Iraq, and in the other Justice relies on definition-parsing that evokes Bill Clinton's treatment of the word is. Neither reflects well on Gonzales' credibility or competency, and it makes clear that the White House should have dumped Gonzales long ago....
July 13, 2007
Dionne's Just A Little Too Kind
E.J. Dionne offers an unusual take on the revelation of Senator David Vitter's relationship with a purported prostitution ring in Washington, DC -- forgiveness. Dionne wants a truce on the outing of sexual peccadilloes, so that we can get back to the actual business of governing. Dionne's heart is in the right place, as it usually is, but in this case his sympathy is somewhat misplaced: Perhaps because no one else will do it, I want to offer a qualified defense of Sen. David Vitter, the socially conservative Louisiana Republican who faces a bit of a problem. .. My defense of Vitter is qualified because I believe that married guys have a moral obligation not to seek the pleasures of "escort services." Nor do I like hypocrisy. During the battle over the impeachment of Bill Clinton, Vitter wrote in the New Orleans Times-Picayune that if no "meaningful action" were taken...
July 18, 2007
What The Nation Doesn't Need Is A Ten-Dollar Tax On Cigars
Democrats have decided to pass a 20,000% tax increase as part of their new fiscal program for America. The target -- this time -- is cigars, on which they plan to escalate the current federal nickel tax to $10 per stogie (via Professor Bainbridge): The Democrat controlled Congress has sought an extra $35-billion to $50-billion for the state children's health insurance program. The program distributes payments to the states to help buy coverage for kids not poor enough for Medicaid. Cigarettes, which accounted for more than 95 percent of tobacco tax collections last year, are the main focus of the bill. Federal taxes on a pack would jump from 39 cents to $1. But the legislation has dragged cigars along for the ride. The industry operates under a 4.8 cents-per-cigar tax cap. Under the proposed bill, taxes on "large cigars," a category that includes all but the tiny cigars sold...
July 20, 2007
Plame Doused
A federal judge brought the Plame show to a close yesterday, throwing out a lawsuit brought by Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson against several government officials, including Dick Cheney. The judge ruled that the officials named could not be sued for the conduct of their officials duties -- and noted that those duties included responding to public criticism: A federal judge yesterday dismissed a lawsuit filed by former CIA officer Valerie Plame and her husband against Vice President Cheney and other top officials over the Bush administration's disclosure of Plame's name and covert status to the media. U.S. District Judge John D. Bates said that Cheney and the others could not be held liable for the disclosures in the summer of 2003 in the midst of a White House effort to rebut criticism of the Iraq war by her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. The judge said that...
July 22, 2007
Where's Rodney King When You Need Him?
The Washington Post's editorial board asks essentially the same question as did Rodney King fifteen years ago in regards to the standoff between Congress and the White House on testimony and subpoenas. Crying a pox upon both houses, the Post asks for a modicum of reasonableness from both sides: For months the White House has resisted Congress's attempts to compel administration officials to testify about the controversial U.S. attorney firings in 2006. Congress's propensity to let subpoenas fly has been matched only by the administration's hair-trigger reaction of trying to block them by invoking executive privilege. The two sides have thus far failed to strike a compromise; as a result, Bush administration officials, most notably former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers and current chief of staff Joshua B. Bolten, find themselves threatened with criminal contempt for following the president's orders to snub congressional demands. If Congress were to make...
There Once Was A Man With No Class ...
John Kerry has decided to broaden his public appeal by branching into humor -- deliberately, as it turns out, rather than just being a joke as in 2004. He delivered his highbrow brand of humor at a DSCC fundraiser last weekend, but the Hill just got around to reporting it on Friday. His joke came at the expense of his colleague, David Vitter, and his woes from the connection to a criminal case of prostitution (via The Moderate Voice): Speaking at a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) fundraiser last weekend, Kerry recited a five-line poem about Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who recently found himself in hot water when his phone number showed up on the records of a woman accused of running a Washington prostitution ring. ... Kerry made light of the situation with a limerick when he spoke at the event, which was held, appropriately enough, in Nantucket, Mass....
Censure Off The Table, Too
Something tells me that we'll need to bookmark these statements for future use. Senator Russ Feingold said that he would offer a motion to censure President Bush on several points, including mismanaging the war and making "misleading" statements -- but Harry Reid said that the Senate had more important work to do: Liberal Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold said Sunday he wants Congress to censure President Bush for his management of the Iraq war and his "assault" against the Constitution. ... Feingold, a prominent war critic, said he soon plans to offer two censure resolutions — measures that would amount to a formal condemnation of the Republican president. The first would seek to reprimand Bush for, as Feingold described it, getting the nation into war without adequate military preparation and for issuing misleading public statements. The resolution also would cite Vice President Dick Cheney and perhaps other administration officials. The second...
July 24, 2007
The Brahmins Of Labor
Progressives used to argue that the workers had more moral standing than owners and other elites because they actually did the work than enriched the upper classes. The proletarian status of the working class found favor from Karl Marx to George Meaney, and inspired the modern labor movement. Now its heirs have decided on their own division of labor .. by outsourcing picket lines: The picketers marching in a circle in front of a downtown Washington office building chanting about low wages do not seem fully focused on their message. Many have arrived with large suitcases or bags holding their belongings, which they keep in sight. Several are smoking cigarettes. One works a crossword puzzle. Another bangs a tambourine, while several drum on large white buckets. Some of the men walking the line call out to passing women, "Hey, baby." A few picketers gyrate and dance while chanting: "What do...
July 25, 2007
John Doe Protection Restored?
A last-minute press by Republicans in a conference committee may have restored protection for national-security tipsters against litigation, according to the Associated Press. The conference report for the stalled security bill has not yet been released, but it appears to have been salvaged for political expediency, as Democrats have despaired of getting anything accomplished this year: Congressional negotiators reached tentative agreement Tuesday on steps to strengthen air and sea defenses against terrorists in legislation aimed at fulfilling recommendations made three years ago by the 9/11 Commission. The bill outlines plans to inspect all cargo on passenger planes within three years and screen, within five years, all U.S.-bound cargo ships for nuclear weapons before they leave foreign ports. It also realigns the formulas for distributing federal security funds so that states and cities most at risk of terrorist attack receive a larger share. This was one of the key promises made...
Doesn't This Man Need To Spend More Time With His Family?
Alberto Gonzales once again threw gasoline on a fire in his testimony yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Hill reports that Gonzales once again spent the hearing zig-zagging and backtracking, stoking calls this time for a special prosecutor from one of the Republicans on the committee. He managed to reverse himself twice on the late-night meeting with John Ashcroft in one hearing, among other dubious achievements, some of which I watched on C-SPAN. At Heading Right, I look at the latest in a series of poor performances by the Attorney General and question what value he provides to this administration. As Gonzales continues to flounder in a sea of his own contradictions, one has to wonder why the White House continues to allow this bleeding to continue....
The Avoidable Conclusion To Executive Privilege Tension
It appears that Congress and the White House will come to a resonating conclusion to the lifelong tension over the use of executive privilege, and it will be fought on the White House's turf. The House Judiciary Committee took the extreme step of recommending contempt citations for two senior administration officials after they refused to testify under subpoena regarding political advice at the White House: The House Judiciary Committee voted today to issue contempt citations for two of President Bush's most trusted aides, taking its most dramatic step yet towards a constitutional showdown with the White House over the Justice Department's dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys. The panel voted 22-17, along party lines, to issue citations to Joshua B. Bolten, White House chief of staff, and Harriet E. Miers, former White House counsel. Both refused to comply with committee subpoenas after Bush declared that documents and testimony related to the...
July 26, 2007
Senator Norm Coleman's Father Passes Away
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell just announced on the Senate floor that Norm Coleman's father has passed away. Norm Coleman, Sr, was 82 years old, I believe, a veteran of the Normandy campaign in World War II, and had been close to the Senator all during his public career. Needless to say, the Senator will take a few days away from Washington business to care for his family and make arrangements for Norm Sr's memorial. Please send your prayers and thoughts to the Coleman family; you're welcome to use the comments section to do so. He and his family will be in our thoughts and prayers today....
Did Gonzo Lie? (Updated: FBI Chief Contradicts Gonzo)
Alberto Gonzales performed poorly as a witness before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, as he usually does. As I pointed out yesterday, his shifting explanations about correcting a misleading statement at a press conference calls into question how he ever got the job in the first place, and whether he has ever learned anything about preparing for testimony. But did Gonzales lie about a key meeting with Congressional leaders? The AP seems to think so, but its logic seems a bit off: Documents indicate eight congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004, contradicting sworn Senate testimony this week by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Does it contradict the testimony? Not really, not even by the AP's own reporting: Gonzales, who was then serving as counsel to Bush, testified that the White House Situation Room briefing sought to inform...
Let Las Vegas Turn Out The Lights
Harry Reid has threatened to use his position in Congress to block the construction of four coal-fired electrical plants in Nevada. In a letter to three separate firms, Reid told them in no uncertain terms that his state doesn't need any of their dirty electricity -- in places like Las Vegas: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada sent a letter this week to four companies telling them not to build planned coal-burning power plants in his state. Reid's letter, dated Monday, was addressed to the corporate leaders of the Sierra Pacific Resources, private equity LS Power Group, Dynegy Inc. and Sithe Global Power LLC. A copy of the letter was obtained by Reuters on Thursday. "I am writing to each of you regarding your company's proposal to build new coal-fired power plants in eastern Nevada and to express my strong opposition to those plants," Reid wrote. The Democratic...
July 27, 2007
White House Conference Call On Executive Privilege (Update: Executive Privilege Analysis)
The White House hosted a blogger conference call to discuss the issues surrounding the Bush administration's use of executive privilege in the probe of the firings of eight federal prosecutors. The White House arranged the call based on a recommendation by this blog, in order to familiarize the blogosphere with the legal and political arguments on which the administration will rely to prevail in the upcoming fight regarding the contempt citations Congress seems likely to approve. It took a few moments to get the call started, but it started with a quick outline of the issues. A senior official called Congress' action an extraordinary act. Congress has never attempted a contempt citation against a president's staff in our history. The action is even more outrageous in this context, considering the President's offers to cooperate in the probe. They have released 8500 pages of documentation, and a number of officials have...
July 28, 2007
Reagan Wins!
I guess we're polling on everything these days. Instead of just using terms like "liberal" and "conservative" as internal polling demographics, Rasmussen decided to test the terms in a poll earlier this week, and to see what formulation generates the highest positive response. Somewhat surprisingly, Ronald Reagan wins: During last Monday’s Democratic Presidential debate, Senator Hillary Clinton indicated that she preferred to be called “progressive” rather than “liberal.” The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that is probably a good move--Americans are more receptive to the term progressive. Just 20% said they consider it a positive description to call a candidate politically liberal while 39% would view that description negatively. However, 35% would consider it a positive description to call a candidate politically progressive. Just 18% react negatively to that term. Those figures reflect a huge swing, from a net negative of nineteen points to a net positive of...
July 29, 2007
Able Danger, Alberto Gonzales, And The Senate (Update: Who Leaked It?)
Two years ago, the tantalizing story of Able Danger came to light as three of its team went public with information on the cutting-edge data-mining program. Coincidentally, as the AD story got fitfully reported over the succeeding months, the New York Times revealed an NSA surveillance plan that monitored communications on suspected terrorist lines and cell phones from points abroad into the US without a wiretap. Now it looks like the two may have more in common than first thought, at least conceptually, and that may prove that Alberto Gonzales told the truth in testimony this week in the Senate: A fierce dispute within the Bush administration in early 2004 over a National Security Agency warrantless surveillance program was related to concerns about the NSA's searches of huge computer databases, the New York Times reported today. The agency's data mining was also linked to a dramatic chain of events in...
July 30, 2007
Survey On Surveillance Says -- Bring It On
ABC News has published a fascinating poll on the use of public surveillance systems for law enforcement, and the results will surprise many, especially civil libertarians. Over 70% of Americans support British-style CCTV systems in the US, and that support crosses all demographic boundaries. At Heading Right, I take a look at the internals of the poll, which show a unanimity seldom seen in these partisan times. I also look at the privacy argument and debate what expectations of privacy anyone should have for actions taken in public. (via Memeorandum)...
Which Party Is The Most Partisan In Congress?
Both parties like to blame the other for failing to exercise independence in Congress. Their supporters blame the members of the opposite side for excessive partisanship which keeps Washington DC from accomplishing anything for the people. The Washington Post decided to take a look at the 110th Congress to see which party exercises the most partisanship -- and the Democrats win the prize. In fact, the Democrats take nine of the top ten partisan spots, as well as scoring 8 points higher in partisanship as a party. The lone Republican ties for first, though: 100% - Charlie Norwood (R-GA) 100% - Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) 99.7% - Nita Lowey (D-NY) 99.4% - Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA) 99.1% - Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) 98.9% - Xavier Bacerra (D-CA) 98.7% - Diana DeGetter (D-CO) 98.6% - Gary Ackerman (D-NY) 98.6% - Hilda Solis (D-CA) 98.6% - Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) 98.6% - Al Wynn (D-MD) Of...
July 31, 2007
High Noon For The AG
Do not forsake me, oh my darlin' ... The Senate Judiciary Committee has reached an agreement with the White House to produce a letter to "clarify" the testimony of Alberto Gonzales on his midnight meeting at the hospital with John Ashcroft. The letter must arrive by noon today, and the committee will release it immediately to the news media. At that point, they will determine whether to recommend an investigation into perjury charges against the Attorney General (via Memeorandum): The Senate Judiciary Committee’s ranking Republican, Arlen Specter (Pa.), emerged from a crucial Monday briefing and gave the Bush administration 18 hours to resolve the controversy over apparent contradictions in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s congressional testimony. Gonzales took issue last week with former Deputy Attorney General James Comey’s description of internal dissent in 2004 over the legal authority for the National Security Agency’s (NSA) warrantless eavesdropping program. Frustrated Democrats called for...
Why Not Increase Revenue Through Growth Rather Than Punishment?
Phil Kerpen criticized the tax-first impulse of the current Congress, as demonstrated by the recent notion of increasing tax penalties on equity partnerships. In yesterday's Wall Street Journal, he makes the case that Congress itself has caused much of the problem it seeks to correct through the Sarbanes-Oxley regulation -- and uses the AMT to remind people what happens when Congress uses taxes to moderate the market: Not content to merely spend the record influx of cash coming into the federal treasury, some members of Congress are pushing to hike the capital-gains tax on so-called "carried interest" -- the share of partnership profits, typically 20%, that hedge-fund and private-equity investment managers have not sold to their outside investors. This would be nothing more than a punitive tax on those the congressmen perceive to be making too much money. This is the same kind of thinking that led Congress in 1969...
Why Democrats Are Different
The Wall Street Journal reports on what the Democrats have on their agenda before Congress takes its August vacation this year -- and it's not how they can reduce expenses. Instead, the Democrats have a raft of new and increased taxes for the American public, a few of which threatens to return us to the marginal rates of the Carter administration: With a new Democratic majority, the agenda on Capitol Hill has shifted abruptly this year, and no more so than on taxes. For a decade the focus in Congress was which taxes to cut. Now everywhere you look someone running the Congress, or running for President, is proposing to raise taxes on some industry or group of Americans. ... It's all the more remarkable given that federal tax revenues as a share of GDP are currently above their modern historical level. The latest budget estimate is that fiscal 2007...
August 1, 2007
The Only Test Should Be Citizenship
Jonah Goldberg has a good sense of humor, and it comes across in his posts at The Corner, which tend to display his wry wit. That's why, when I read his column for yesterday's Los Angeles Times, I suspected he may have been kidding about competency tests for voting. If not, then Jonah has forgotten some painful civil-rights history: Can you name all three branches of government? Can you name even one? Do you know who your congressman is? Your senators? Do you even know how many senators each state gets? If you know the answers to these questions (and you probably do because you're a newspaper reader), you're in the minority. In fact, the data have long been settled. A very high percentage of the U.S. electorate isn't very well qualified to vote, if by "qualified" you mean having a basic understanding of our government, its functions and its...
Will Democrats Move On FISA Changes?
Democrats have decided that they have to support changes requested by the White House to the FISA law in order to protect vital national-security programs, the New York Times reports. They fear leaving themselves open to charges of being weak on terrorism as well as impeding vital signal intelligence efforts to keep the nation safe from another attack (via Memeorandum): Under pressure from President Bush, Democratic leaders in Congress are scrambling to pass legislation this week to expand the government’s electronic wiretapping powers. Democratic leaders have expressed a new willingness to work with the White House to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to make it easier for the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on some purely foreign telephone calls and e-mail. Such a step now requires court approval. ... In the past few days, Mr. Bush and Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence, have publicly called on Congress to...
August 3, 2007
Erasing History At The House (Update: Video Added)
The bitter partisanship in Congress will apparently get a lot worse after some shenanigans by Democratic leadership in the House last night. According to the Politico, the Democrats have not only attempted a revote after an embarrassing loss on an agriculture bill, but they've changed the records to expunge any mention of the vote they lost: In a massive flare-up of partisan tensions, Republicans walked out on a House vote late Thursday night to protest what they believed to be Democratic maneuvers to reverse an unfavorable outcome for them. The flap represents a complete breakdown in parliamentary procedure and an unprecedented low for the sometimes bitterly divided chamber. The rancor erupted shortly before 11 p.m. as Rep. Michael R. McNulty (D-N.Y.) gaveled close the vote on a standard procedural measure with the outcome still in doubt. Details remain fuzzy, but numerous Republicans argued afterward that they had secured a 215-213...
Appellate Court Upholds Congressional Privilege In Reasonable Ruling
The DC federal appellate circuit has ruled a part of the FBI's raid on William Jefferson's Congressional offices unconstitutional. The three-judge panel ordered the FBI to return certain seized documents to Jefferson without accessing them. The Department of Justice warned that the ruling could put public corruption out of the reach of law enforcement, but a close look shows that the court made a specific and reasoned ruling that actually supports most of their position: The FBI violated the Constitution when agents raided U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's office last year and viewed legislative documents, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The court ordered the Justice Department to return any privileged documents it seized from the Louisiana Democrat's office on Capitol Hill. The court did not order the return of all the documents seized in the raid. Jefferson argued that the raid trampled on congressional independence. The Justice Department said that...
August 4, 2007
Senate Agrees To White House FISA Changes
The Senate voted to approve the White House-backed changes to the FISA law after failing to muster any significant support for the Democratic alternative. Sixteen Democrats joined all of the Republicans and Joe Lieberman in passing the legislation, giving the Bush administration a rare victory -- but a temporary one: The Senate bowed to White House pressure last night and passed a Republican plan for overhauling the federal government's terrorist surveillance laws, approving changes that would temporarily give U.S. spy agencies expanded power to eavesdrop on foreign suspects without a court order. The 60 to 28 vote, which was quickly denounced by civil rights and privacy advocates, came after Democrats in the House failed to win support for more modest changes that would have required closer court supervision of government surveillance. Earlier in the day, President Bush threatened to hold Congress in session into its scheduled summer recess if it...
House To Investigate Itself (Update: Replay Confirms Cheating)
Faced with a clear example of vote fraud, the House has agreed to investigate .. itself. The day after Democratic leadership in the House attempted to nullify a completed floor vote, the Majority Leader had to issue an apology and agree to an extraordinary bipartisan panel to probe the actions of House leadership: The House last night unanimously agreed to create a special select committee, with subpoena powers, to investigate Republican allegations that Democratic leaders had stolen a victory from the House GOP on a parliamentary vote late Thursday night. The move capped a remarkable day that started with Republicans marching out of the House in protest near midnight Thursday, was punctuated by partisan bickering, and ended with Democratic hopes for a final legislative rush fading. Even a temporary blackout of the House chamber's vote tally board led to suspicions and accusations of skullduggery. While Democratic leaders hoped to leave...
August 5, 2007
Blue Dogs Pass FISA Changes While The YKos Plays On
The big story this week for the blogosphere has been the YearlyKos convention, a highly visible amplification of the reach of a blog community into a political force. Presidential and Congressional candidates have spoken to the attendees, and at least to some extent ratified the hard-Left political direction of the YKos crowd among Democratic politicians. Unfortunately, the Democrats in office apparently don't intend to do much more than pander, as the leadership in both chambers of Congress essentially surrendered to the White House on FISA: The Democratic-controlled House last night approved legislation President Bush's intelligence advisers wrote to enhance their ability to intercept the electronic communications of foreigners without a court order. The 227 to 183 House vote capped a high-pressure campaign by the White House to change the nation's wiretap law, in which the administration capitalized on Democrats' fears of being branded weak on terrorism and on Congress's desire...
August 7, 2007
Ethics Bill Short On Enforcement
The Washington Post finally realizes that the new ethics bill passed by Congress has little chance of actually enforcing better standards of ethics. Their somewhat belated observation comes on page A11 of today's paper, where they note that the Democratic leadership not only didn't provide any new resources for enforcement, they put most of the onus for compliance on the lobbyists: Government watchdogs and ethics lawyers generally agree that the bill would shed new light on the Washington influence game but wonder how those who don't play ball would be found and punished. Without an effective bureaucracy for managing the flow of new disclosures provided by the law, they say, the legislation won't mean much. "This law will put a significant new burden on the ethics committees and the public disclosure offices in the House and Senate. They have to do more than sticking the reports in a filing cabinet,"...
August 8, 2007
A Split On The Left?
The Democratic failures to end the war in Iraq and to move against the Bush administration has opened a split on the Left, according to The Hill. Calling the leftist group MoveOn a shill for the Democratic Party, antiwar and other leftist activists have split from the group. They plan to lead attacks against Democrats in Congress in 2008: Congress’s failure to secure a timetable for withdrawing American troops from Iraq has split anti-war activists on the tactical question of whether to attack Democrats, who now control Capitol Hill. The split has also underlined accusations among some activists that MoveOn has abandoned its credentials as an issue-based advocacy group and now instead provides cover for Democratic Party leaders. Anti-war activists throughout the country are united in spending August pressing lawmakers to bring U.S. troops home. But tensions within the movement have been bubbling for months over tactics and whether their...
August 10, 2007
Thanks, Cindy
Nancy Pelosi has a challenger for her seat in Congress. Using a picture of her son on the podium, Cindy Sheehan announced her candidacy for Congress yesterday in San Francisco: Antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan, who gained international fame by camping outside President Bush's Texas ranch to protest the war in Iraq, announced Thursday that she would challenge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her seat in Congress. "The country is ripe for a change," said Sheehan, citing her son's death in Iraq in 2004 as inspiration for her long-shot bid to unseat the first female speaker in history. ... Sheehan admitted she has no funds for a campaign, but planned to immediately get started raising money. Without giving further specifics, Sheehan said she wouldn't accept money from corporations and would run on a platform of universal health care. Sheehan said she also wants to make college affordable and improve ethics in...
Dionne On The Democratic Capitulation
I enjoy E.J. Dionne’s columns in the Washington Post, even though he and I rarely agree. Besides giving great insight into the opposite side of the political divide, Dionne is just a good writer. In today’s column, he both deliberately and subconsciously reviews the surrender of the Democrats on FISA legislation. Not only does he correctly analyze the depth of the capitulation, he inadvertently shows its cause. At Heading Right, I dissect Dionne's narrative and analysis and look at the underlying problem with the Democrats in Congress. Why did they cave and legitimize a program they called an "abuse" in the 2006 election, and then put Alberto Gonzales in charge of it? There are only two answers for that, and neither reflect well on the modern Democratic Party....
August 11, 2007
Feds Abandon ML King Hospital, State Kills It
Martin Luther King Hospital in Los Angeles has one of the worst reputations in the nation among major metropolitan hospitals. In 2004, the Los Angeles Times ran a devastating exposé on the hospital, showing how federal funds went to waste in a mismanaged muddle that spent far more per patient than any other hospital in the area. Yesterday, the federal funding disappeared -- and so will MLK Hospital: Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital shut down its emergency room Friday night and will close entirely within two weeks, a startlingly swift reaction to a federal decision to revoke $200 million in annual funding because of ongoing lapses in care. The extraordinary developments mark an end to nearly four years of failed attempts to reform the historic institution, treasured by many African Americans as a symbol of hope and progress after the 1965 Watts riots. Los Angeles County health services director Dr....
Deficit Drops, Revenues Up, Just In Time For Congress To Blow It
This probably won't get much attention in the media today, but new budget numbers show that George Bush's sunny deficit predictions were off the mark. It turns out that revenues are better and the deficit is smaller than predicted, and will likely balance much more quickly. That is, it would have until the Democrats decided to reverse the tax cuts that fueled the increased revenues: The federal deficit so far this budget year is running sharply lower, driven by record revenues pouring into government coffers. The Treasury Department reported on Friday that the government produced a deficit of $157.3 billion for the budget year that began last Oct. 1. That's a substantial improvement from the red ink figure of $239.6 billion produced for the corresponding 10-month period last year. ... The White House predicts that the deficit this year drop to $205 billion. But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts...
August 13, 2007
Rove Hits The Road (Update & Bump)
The Karl Rove era will come to a close at the end of this month, as George Bush's key aide has told the Wall Street Journal he will return home to spend time with his family. For any other departure, that would sound like a euphemism for "I got canned". For Rove, who has served as Bush's effigy for many of his critics, the wonder is how he managed to put up with the abuse for so long: Mr. Rove, who has held a senior post in the White House since President Bush took office in January 2001, told Mr. Gigot he first floated the idea of leaving a year ago. But he delayed his departure as, first, Democrats took Congress, and then as the White House tackled debates on immigration and Iraq, he said. He said he decided to leave after White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten told...
Fred's Team On Rove: Enjoy The Retirement
No sooner did Karl Rove announce his retirement than some people started speculating that he would hitch his wagon to another presidential campaign. At Radar, Ray Gustini called Fred Thompson's spokesman and former Rove aide Mark Corallo to ask if the Fred team had cleared a desk for Rove. Not exactly: Asked about the prospect of a Rove-run campaign, former Rove spokesman and current Thompson spokesman (ahem) Mark Corallo tells Radar, "I really don't think Karl Rove is going to have anything to do with any campaign in 2008... I talked to him today, and we shared some e-mails and I told him, 'Enjoy your time with your family and take care of [your wife] Darby.'" Rove has proven himself invaluable to the Bush administration, and if anyone would consider asking Rove to join, it would be Fred. He's already defended Scooter Libby and helped him raise funds for his...
August 15, 2007
Did Rove Kidnap Kurtz? Did The MSM?
I have to admit to being a regular reader of Howard Kurtz' Media Notes columns. He writes probing critiques of the mainstream media and of the blogosphere, one of only a handful of media critics who understand both arenas. Whenever a major story breaks, Howard Kurtz usually covers the coverage like no one else. Except now. Just hours after Howard's last column, Karl Rove resigned from the Bush Administration, probably the biggest political story of the year. Everyone has written about this and offered their viewpoints on the meaning of Rove and his resignation. Rona Barrett probably had something to say about it. And ever since, Howard Kurtz has remained ... silent. I suspect a Rovian plot to keep Howard from revealing all he knows about the soon-to-be former Bush aide. Or perhaps, a conspiracy among media outlets has kept Howard locked in an old film room, surrounded by tapes...
August 16, 2007
Rove On Rove On Rush
Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh interviewed Karl Rove for thirty minutes in what may have been one of the more revealing moments in Rove's public life. Rove doesn't like to talk about himself; he even prefaced the interview by insisting that he's no good at navel-gazing. Rush managed to get Rove engaged in discussing how his experience differed from the narrative constructed by the media, which generated this retort: RUSH: ... You've been the brunt of all kinds of assaults and attacks, personally and otherwise, along with the president. How do you guys deal with it? KARL ROVE: Rush, you ignore it. I mean, if you have to wake up in the morning to be validated by the editorial page of the New York Times, you got a pretty sorry existence. So the best thing you could do is just ignore it, plow on, stay focused. The president is very good about...
A Step In The Wrong Direction (Update: Kyllo)
The Bush administration wants to allow law-enforcement agencies to use military and intelligence satellites as a resource for investigations. Real-time imagery and technology than can look inside buildings and even bunkers could be used to pursue criminal investigations, a boon for law enforcement officials -- but a nightmare for civil libertarians: The Bush administration has approved a plan to expand domestic access to some of the most powerful tools of 21st-century spycraft, giving law enforcement officials and others the ability to view data obtained from satellite and aircraft sensors that can see through cloud cover and even penetrate buildings and underground bunkers. A program approved by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security will allow broader domestic use of secret overhead imagery beginning as early as this fall, with the expectation that state and local law enforcement officials will eventually be able to...
August 17, 2007
Mueller v Gonzales, Round 2
The Washington Post reports that contemporaneous notes taken by Robert Mueller on the night of Alberto Gonzales' late-night visit to John Ashcroft's hospital bed contradict the Attorney General's testimony before Congress. The FBI Director noted on his own visit to the previous Attorney General's room that Ashcroft was "barely articulate," but Dan Eggen seems to have missed the part of the notes just above: Then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft was "feeble," "barely articulate" and "stressed" moments after a hospital room confrontation in March 2004 with Alberto R. Gonzales, who wanted Ashcroft to approve a warrantless wiretapping program over Justice Department objections, according to notes from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III that were released yesterday. One of Mueller's entries in five pages of a daily log pertaining to the dispute also indicated that Ashcroft's deputy was so concerned about undue pressure by Gonzales and other White House aides for the...
Sauce, Goose, Gander
Kimberly Strassel decides to take on the netroots in a puzzling Wall Street Journal editorial today. She castigates them for using primary challenges to intimidate moderate Democrats, and also points out that they have been almost entirely unsuccessful in this effort. On one hand, she chides them for their impotence, and then concludes by warning about their growing influence. At Heading Right, I point out these basic inconsistencies in Strassel's article. I also posit that primary challenges serve a useful purpose for accountability -- and these days may be the only mechanism for responsibility to voters. (via Memeorandum)...
August 19, 2007
The Clueless Congress
This session of Congress has already made a name for itself as one of the least-accomplished in recent history. Now, even when it does accomplish something significant, it manages to botch it badly. The new FISA legislation winds up granting the executive branch powers it never requested, thanks to poorly-managed edits to the original language of the bill by Congress: Broad new surveillance powers approved by Congress this month could allow the Bush administration to conduct spy operations that go well beyond wiretapping to include — without court approval — certain types of physical searches on American soil and the collection of Americans’ business records, Democratic Congressional officials and other experts said. ... Several legal experts said that by redefining the meaning of “electronic surveillance,” the new law narrows the types of communications covered in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, by indirectly giving the government the power...
August 20, 2007
An Evening With John Kline
My representative, John Kline, conducted a telephone town hall forum to connect with his constituents. In fact, it's still going on as I blog. It uses a new technology to do outbound dialing, and at the moment, Congressman Kline says 750 people are participating on the call. The exchange calls the numbers in the district, and people who answer get asked to stay on the line to listen in and participate. Having 750 people make that decision says quite a bit about MN-02, and all of it good. Given its random nature, some of the questioners voted for Kline's last opponent, Colleen Rowley, but everyone thus far has been congenial. One man opposes the war; another wants Kline to act to protect religious expression in the military. Social Security has come up more than once, and term limits as well. In fact, Kline supports the idea, but it's hard to...
August 21, 2007
The Limbo Congress!
How low can you go? Chubby Checker once asked that of dancers, but Gallup's new poll must have Congress wondering the same thing. They have reached the all-time nadir of approval in the latest polling, dropping to the same level as when Congress started bouncing personal checks after years of public deficit spending: A new Gallup Poll finds Congress' approval rating the lowest it has been since Gallup first tracked public opinion of Congress with this measure in 1974. Just 18% of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, while 76% disapprove, according to the August 13-16, 2007, Gallup Poll. That 18% job approval rating matches the low recorded in March 1992, when a check-bouncing scandal was one of several scandals besetting Congress, leading many states to pass term limits measures for U.S. representatives (which the Supreme Court later declared unconstitutional). Congress had a similarly low 19% approval rating...
The Party Of Tolerance
How desperate are Louisiana Democrats to hold onto power? They're about to air a television ad attacking the leading Republican candidate for governor for his religious views. The TV spots will accuse Bobby Jindal of being anti-Protestant (via Bryan at Hot Air): In one of the hardest hitting – Republicans will undoubtedly say “dirtiest” – television ads aired in history, the Louisiana Democratic Party is accusing Rep. Bobby Jindal of being anti-Protestant. The bizarre charge is delivered by an unidentified woman in a new Louisiana Democratic Party TV ad produced by Carvin/Seder Communications, a Louisiana-based consulting firm whose clients have included former Governor Edwin Edwards (D-La.), Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D) and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (D). In the TV spot, the announcer charges that Jindal wrote articles that “insulted thousands of Louisiana Protestants,” and she holds up an article in which she says Jindal “doubts the morals and...
August 23, 2007
A Frank Discussion On FISA
The El Paso Times caught National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell in an unusually talkative mood. They posted the transcript of what they call a "debate" with one of the Times' reporters about the effect the FISA debate in Congress had on the collection of foreign communications. McConnell makes it plain that the insistence on requiring warrants just because communications touched American switches not only took too much time, but it also tied up translators who had to testify to the communications in question: Q: Can't you get the warrant after the fact? A: The issue is volume and time. Think about foreign intelligence. What it presented me with an opportunity is to make the case for something current, but what I was really also trying to put a strong emphasis on is the need to do foreign intelligence in any context. My argument was that the intelligence community should not...
Singin' In The Rain
The Democrats and Charles Grassley have proposed an expanded tax on equity partnerships to offset a middle-class tax cut -- a typical soak-the-rich plan that will rain on a lot more people than politicians think. However, it won't soak the people most able to buy umbrellas, according to a new study by the Institute for Law and Economics at Penn. In fact, it will raise much less money than promised, and possibly none at all: Congressional efforts to more than double taxes on managers of private-equity firms will generate little or no additional revenue to help pay for middle-class tax cuts that many lawmakers are seeking, a new study shows. Buyout and venture-capital firms will restructure their affairs to sidestep any new tax laws aimed at their executives, according to the paper by Michael Knoll, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. ... Knoll's study may be...
August 24, 2007
Did Affirmative Action Hold Down The Number Of Black Attorneys?
The Wall Street Journal steps into the hornet's nest of racial politics today with a provocative commentary from Gail Heriot. She points to a UCLA study that claims race-based admissions policies to universities designed to boost African-Americans may have inadvertently created the already-noted disparity in Bar success. Professor Richard Sander's research indicates that affirmative action may have "mismatched" black law students by putting them above of their academic capabilities, and that better matching could have made them successful attorneys: Mr. Sander's original article noted that when elite law schools lower their academic standards in order to admit a more racially diverse class, schools one or two tiers down feel they must do the same. As a result, there is now a serious gap in academic credentials between minority and non-minority law students across the pecking order, with the average black student's academic index more than two standard deviations below that...
August 26, 2007
Gonzales Out?
US News & World Report's Washington Whispers column dropped a tantalizing prediction on Friday that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would soon depart. His replacement? The buzz among top Bushies is that beleaguered Attorney General Alberto Gonzales finally plans to depart and will be replaced by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Why Chertoff? Officials say he's got fans on Capitol Hill, is untouched by the Justice prosecutor scandal, and has more experience than Gonzales did, having served as a federal judge and assistant attorney general. Perhaps. Chertoff has long ties to the Bush administration, and would make a comfortable transition from Homeland Security to Justice. His familiarity with the DoJ will help soothe the roiling seas there and perhaps also help with its relationship to Congress. He got confirmed at DHS by a near-unanimous vote, with only Hillary Clinton objecting, thanks to Chertoff's role in the Whitewater investigation. Would Congress confirm...
Fair Tax Anything But?
Bruce Bartlett pushes back against the growing enthusiasm for the Fair Tax, the proposal to replace the income-tax system with a federal sales tax to eliminate the need for the IRS. Bartlett, a former Reagan and Bush 41 economist at Treasury, calls the proposal deceptive and more costly than anyone imagines: Rep. John Linder (R., Ga.) and Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R., Ga.) have introduced legislation (H.R. 25/S. 1025) to implement the FairTax. They assert that a rate of 23% would be sufficient to replace federal individual and corporate income taxes as well as payroll and estate taxes. Mr. Linder's Web site claims that U.S. gross domestic product will rise 10.5% the first year after enactment, exports will grow by 26%, and real investment spending will increase an astonishing 76%. In reality, the FairTax rate is not 23%. Messrs. Linder and Chambliss get this figure by calculating the tax as if...
August 27, 2007
Gonzo Gone
Alberto Gonzales has resigned as Attorney General, apparently effective on confirmation of his replacement. He resigned Friday in a phone call to George Bush, but the President waited to announce it until he had a chance to meet with Gonzales in person: Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, has resigned. A senior administration official said he would announce the decision later this morning in Washington. Mr. Gonzales, who had rebuffed calls for his resignation, submitted his to President Bush by telephone on Friday, the official said. His decision was not immediately announced, the official added, until after the president invited him and his wife to lunch at his ranch near here. Mr. Bush has not yet chosen a replacement but will not leave the position open long, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Attorney...
Chertoff Getting Less Traction; Bush Defends Gonzales
It appears that Michael Chertoff won't be making any lateral moves to the Department of Justice, if the rumors are any indication. In the aftermath of the statements coming from departing Alberto Gonzales and President Bush, the test balloon sent up over the weekend apparently encountered some stormy weather: Some senior administration officials floated Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff as a possible replacement, but others waved CNN away from Chertoff, saying that his nomination could run into problems because of his role during Hurricane Katrina. A source close to Chertoff said of a possible nomination, "this would be a surprise to Mike." Gonzales aides at the highest level and other top-level officials knew nothing about the announcement in advance, Justice Department sources told CNN. They were not informed until a meeting Monday morning, sources said, when Gonzales acknowledged he would be reading a statement later in the day. In terms...
As If 2008 Wasn't Going To Be Tough Enough
Larry Craig, the Republican Senator from Idaho, paid a visit to Minneapolis in June, and apparently wanted the full tour of the Twin Cities. He went from the airport men's room to the hoosegow by the most direct route after attempting to importune an undercover police officer, according to Roll Call. Hot Air has the details: Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men’s public restroom, according to an arrest report obtained by Roll Call Monday afternoon. Craig’s arrest occurred just after noon on June 11 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the Hennepin County District Court. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court...
August 28, 2007
The Relativity Of Poverty
What does it mean to be poor, both here in America and elsewhere in the world? That question sounds philosophical but is fraught with political consequences. Elections get won or lost on the definition of poverty, and even more significantly, public resources get commandeered based on the perception of poverty in America. The Heritage Foundation's Robert Rector takes a long look at the actual living conditions of American poverty and reveals some startling facts: Poverty is an important and emotional issue. Last year, the Census Bureau released its annual report on poverty in the United States declaring that there were 37 million poor persons living in this country in 2005, roughly the same number as in the preceding years.[4] According to the Census report, 12.6 percent of Americans were poor in 2005; this number has varied from 11.3 percent to 15.1 percent of the population over the past 20 years.[5]...
What Exactly Is The Crime?
Right at the beginning of the post, I'm going to state that I find Larry Craig's conduct in the Minneapolis-St Paul Airport reprehensible. I find his conduct during his arrest even more so, obviously trying to intimidate the arresting officer by giving him the Senate business card. Looking for sexual partners in public restrooms reflects very badly on Craig, and makes his political posturing on "family values" a joke. All that said, I think we have to ask ourselves about the nature of the crime itself. After reading the complaint, it hardly makes for a good case for police intervention, let alone convictions on disorderly conduct: “I could see Craig look through the crack in the door from his position. Craig would look down at his hands, ‘fidget’ with his fingers, and then look through the crack into my stall again. Craig would repeat this cycle for about two minutes,”...
August 29, 2007
Poverty Rates Drop In US
For the first time in years, even the Census Bureau has noted a drop in American poverty, mostly among Hispanics. For the elderly, the poverty rate hit a low not seen since the Eisenhower administration -- and given the rather loose definition of poverty in America, the data seems compelling that the pro-growth policies of the last 25 years have delivered on their promise: The nation’s poverty rate fell in 2006 for the first time this decade, the Census Bureau reported today, even as the percentage of Americans without health insurance coverage hit a record high. The results were not consistent across racial or age groups. For Hispanics, the poverty rate fell by 1.2 percentage points to 20.6 percent, while for whites, blacks and Asians, it remained statistically unchanged. For elderly people, the poverty rate was among the lowest since 1959, when the government began collecting such data. Interesting. The...
GOP To Craig: We Love Ya ... Too Bad You Gotta Run
Larry Craig defended himself yesterday by insisting that he had done nothing wrong, and that his decision to plead guilty was a mistake that he regretted. He also insisted that he would keep his Senate seat and didn't rule out running for re-election. However, some of his colleagues would prefer to see him running for the next flight back to Idaho, even in the White House: Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's political support eroded significantly Wednesday as three fellow Republicans in Congress called for his resignation and party leaders pushed him from senior committee posts. The White House expressed its disappointment, too — and not a word of support for the 62-year-old lawmaker, who pleaded guilty earlier this month to a charge stemming from an undercover police operation in an airport men's room. Craig "represents the Republican party," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the first fellow GOP member of Congress...
August 30, 2007
Democrats Split Over Terrorism
After essentially caving on FISA legislation, Democrats have started to turn on each other, according to the Washington Post. Activists blame Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid for failing to use their majorities to turn back Bush administration policies, while conservative Democrats warn that the Left will push them back into minority status: A growing clamor among rank-and-file Democrats to halt President Bush's most controversial tactics in the fight against terrorism has exposed deep divisions within the party, with many Democrats angry that they cannot defeat even a weakened president on issues that they believe should be front and center. The Democrats' failure to rein in wiretapping without warrants, close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay or restore basic legal rights such as habeas corpus for terrorism suspects has opened the party's leaders to fierce criticism from some of their staunchest allies -- on Capitol Hill, among liberal bloggers and at...
Craig Audio: Better Or Worse?
The Washington Times published the audio of the police interrogation immediately following the arrest of Senator Larry Craig in Minneapolis last June. The newspaper does not explain where it got the audio, but the arresting officer and Craig clearly have a difference of opinion about the incident. In fact, the exchange seems rather strange in one part: Officer: You're not being truthful with me. I'm kind of disappointed in you, Senator. I'm real disappointed right now. Just so you know, just like everybody I treat with dignity, I try to pull them away from the situation -- Craig: I appreciate that. Officer: -- and [crosstalk] Every person I've had so far has told me the truth. We've been respectful to each other and we've gone on their way. I haven't put anyone in jail because everyone's been truthful to me. Craig: I don't want you to take me to jail...
August 31, 2007
Where Does Hsu Get The Money?
The mystery of Norman Hsu deepens today with a New York Times report on his collapsing cover stories. While the Gray Lady tries to focus on the sudden retreat of Democrats from a man who has raised almost a million dollars for them, the real story comes in the second half of the article -- in which Hsu appears to be a front: People who met him said they knew only that he ran an apparel business. Efforts to learn more about his trade hit dead-ends yesterday. Visits to companies at addresses listed by Mr. Hsu on campaign finance records provided little information. There were no offices in buildings in New York’s garment district whose addresses were given for businesses with names like Components Ltd., Cool Planets, Next Components, Coopgors Ltd., NBT and Because Men’s clothing — all listed by Mr. Hsu in federal filings at different times. At a...
Craig To Jump, Just Before The Push (Update: Resignation Tomorrow)
The Larry Craig Saga will draw to a close today, CNN reports this morning. Citing "well-placed GOP sources", the disgraced Senator will return to Idaho and give Governor Butch Otter the opportunity to appoint his replacement. And if Craig doesn't jump, the RNC might give him a big push: Several well-placed GOP sources in Washington and Idaho have told CNN that embattled Republican Sen. Larry Craig is likely to resign soon, possibly as early as Friday. A GOP source with knowledge of the situation told CNN's Dana Bash that the Republican National Committee was poised to take the extraordinary step of calling on Craig to resign. However, that move was put on hold, the source said, because top party leaders have received indications that Craig himself is preparing to step down. Sources have confirmed that high-level meetings on the matter were being conducted in Idaho on Thursday. Three Republican members...
Steady Eddie And A Boy Named Hsu
You have to give Ed Rendell some credit. Even when his fellow Democrats have decided to cut and run, the Pennsylvania governor believes in staying the course. Are we talking about Iraq? No, we're talking about money, and Rendell apparently never met a dollar he didn't like: A prominent Democratic fund-raiser wanted on a felony fraud charge in California has donated or steered tens of thousands of dollars to Pennsylvania politicians in recent years, moving some to now jettison the money. But one of Norman Hsu's biggest beneficiaries in the state, Gov. Rendell, said yesterday that he would keep the money - and stand by his friend - unless he learned more damaging information about the case. "I want to hear him out; I don't want to be one of the guys to pile on," Rendell said. "Norman Hsu's one of the best 10 people I've met. He raised money...
The Wet-Nurse State
The Washington Post reports on a scandal in a milk bottle this morning that somehow gets front-page treatment. It involves a government program to bolster breast feeding, which supposedly got toned down after intervention by infant formula interests. Rather than be scandalized about the influence of lobbyists, one has to wonder about the editorial decisions of the Post and the idea that government should conduct these kinds of ad campaigns at all. At Heading Right, I scoff at the notion that anyone is shocked, shocked! to find politics in play in the federal government. Breast-feeding advocates got this ad campaign effort going through the same mechanisms that the formula lobby managed to get it softened from the scare tactics HHS initially decided to take. But why is the government involved in this kind of advocacy at all? And why is this a page A-01 story? It seems we're regressing from...
Hsu Surrenders
Norman Hsu surrendered to California authorities this morning, ending speculation on his whereabouts. The judge immediately slapped a $2 million bond on Hsu, which should keep him secure for the immediate future: A top Democratic fundraiser wanted as a fugitive in California turned himself in Friday to face a grand theft charge. San Mateo County Superior Court Judge H. James Ellis ordered Norman Hsu handcuffed and held on $2 million bond. A bail hearing was scheduled for Sept. 5, at which the judge will consider reducing his bail to $1 million. Hsu appeared in court accompanied by a lawyer and publicist, both of whom declined to say whether the New York apparel executive would immediately post bail. A warrant was issued for his arrest after he skipped the sentencing for a 1991 grand theft charge. The AP has this incorrect. He already pled guilty to the charge; he's being held...
September 3, 2007
Draper: Rove No Puppetmaster
The Washington Post previews an upcoming book that may change a few minds about Karl Rove and his supposed puppetmaster role in the Bush administration. Rove's advice did not always get followed as most imagine, but rather George Bush mostly kept his own counsel on larger policy and personnel decisions: Karl Rove told George W. Bush before the 2000 election that it was a bad idea to name Richard B. Cheney as his running mate, and Rove later raised objections to the nomination of Harriet E. Miers to the Supreme Court, according to a new book on the Bush presidency. In "Dead Certain: The Presidency of George Bush," journalist Robert Draper writes that Rove told Bush he should not tap Cheney for the Republican ticket: "Selecting Daddy's top foreign-policy guru ran counter to message. It was worse than a safe pick -- it was needy." But Bush did not care...
September 5, 2007
Craig Still Playing Footsie
Larry Craig pleads guilty. Larry Craig proclaims his innocence. Larry Craig announces his resignation. Larry Craig says he may not resign. Larry Craig has a serious problem in making decisions: Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) is reconsidering his announced intention to resign, if he can clear his name of criminal and ethics charges before the end of the month, a spokesman said last night. Other Craig aides, however, sent mixed signals yesterday about the strength of the senator's desire to remain in the chamber as he pursues a legal challenge to his guilty plea stemming from an undercover sex sting in an airport restroom, as well as an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee. ... Dan Whiting, Craig's Washington spokesman, told The Washington Post in an e-mailed statement last night: "As he stated on Saturday, Senator Craig intends to resign on September 30th. However, he is fighting these charges, and...
September 6, 2007
Craig Continues His Tap Dance
Senator Larry Craig continues his curious tap-dance on the national stage today. After offering broad hints that he planned to rescind his resignation, Craig's office now says that he will almost certainly depart unless Minnesota overturns his guilty plea before September 30th: Sen. Larry Craig has all but dropped any notion of trying to complete his term, and is focused on helping Idaho send a new senator to Washington within a few weeks, his top spokesman said Thursday. "The most likely scenario, by far, is that by October there will be a new senator from Idaho," Craig spokesman Dan Whiting told the Associated Press. The only circumstances in which Craig might try to complete his term, Whiting said, would require a prompt overturning of his conviction for disorderly conduct in a men's room at the Minneapolis airport, as well as Senate GOP leaders' agreement to restore Craig's committee leaderships posts...
Bruce Bartlett And His Scientology Fixation
When Bruce Bartlett wrote a scathing critique in the Wall Street Journal eleven days ago on the Fair Tax, I pointed out although much of what he wrote intrigued me, his strange use of Scientology's long-defunct connection to the proposal amounted to demagoguery. This led to a brief e-mail exchange between Bartlett and me, in which he claimed that "I didn’t actually mean to smear the FairTax by mentioning the Scientology connection," and that "As far as I know, there is no direct connection between the FairTax organization and Scientology." I offered to post his replies as a means of clarifying his intent, but he replied that he would respond in more detail in another forum. He's as good as his word. Today, Bartlett writes about the Fair Tax at The New Republic, and he drags Scientology back into the argument again. This time, however, he extends it into a...
September 11, 2007
Rep. Walberg: MoveOn Opposes America
If you missed today's installment of Heading Right Radio, you missed a barn-burner. We had two terrific guests on the show: Lt. Col. Joe Repya of the 101st Airborne (ret.) and Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI). Although our discussion mainly centered on No Child Left Behind, I asked Rep. Walberg about the testimony of General David Petraeus and the attack on his integrity and sense of duty in the MoveOn advertisement in yesterday's New York Times. In his clear and measured style, Walberg held little in reserve in expressing his contempt for MoveOn (emphases mine): EM: Yesterday, Senator John Ensign, who runs the National Republican Senatorial campaign, called on Democrats to return monies donated to them by MoveOn -- MoveOn.org. Would you agree with that after the advertisement that they placed in the New York Times yesterday? TW: Well, only if they don't agree with them. I'm fearful there are many...
Dennis Kucinich Votes Against 9/11 Remembrance
Congress voted on a nonpartisan bill to act as a tribute to the victims of 9/11, including the men and women who died at the Pentagon six years ago. Supporting such a resolution would seem rather uncontroversial. However, to the man cultivating a reputation as the House's resident eccentric, nothing is too uncontroversial to make into a moment for him to call attention to himself: Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Democratic presidential candidate and no stranger to contrarian views, was the sole congressman Tuesday to vote against the House's Sept. 11 commemoration resolution. Tuesday's nonbinding resolution was a relatively short document. It had 12 "whereas" clauses — stating things like what happened the day of the terrorist attacks, who was affected and how terrorists have been targeted since then — and six resolution paragraphs establishing Sept. 11 as a day of remembrance, extending sympathies to families of victims who died and honoring...
September 12, 2007
Blue On Blue, No Heartache For GOP
Congressional politicians usually make a point of supporting colleagues within their own caucus when it comes time for re-election campaigns, for several reasons. One reason is just pure karma — no one wants to see their own re-election endangered by an intramural attack. More importantly, majorities tend to be fragile, and a loss of majority means a loss of committee assignments and power. However, that hasn’t stopped some Democrats from suggesting that a few less Democrats in Congress may be just what’s needed. The purity campaign gets a boost from at least one Democratic Representative, and finally we have some basis for bipartisan agreement. However, unlike in the Senate where the numbers overwhelmingly favor the Democrats, the GOP could grab back the lower chamber if the activists get too successful in their campaign to rid the Democratic Party of its moderates and conservatives. At Heading Right, I take a look...
Olson To Justice?
Since Alberto Gonzales will clear out his office in four days, the search for a replacement Attorney General qualifies as a high priority. The Bush administration has floated a few names, but reportedly leans toward former Solicitor General Ted Olson -- and already it has generated some heat from Democrats in the Senate: The White House is closing in on a nominee to replace Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, with former Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson considered one of the leading candidates, administration and Congressional officials said Tuesday. Reports of Mr. Olson’s candidacy suggested that President Bush, in choosing the third attorney general of his presidency, might defy calls from Democrats and choose another Republican who is considered a staunch partisan to lead the Justice Department. Mr. Gonzales is departing after being repeatedly accused of allowing political loyalties to blind him to independently enforcing the law. “Clearly if you made...
September 13, 2007
Rediscover Your Party, Episode I
The National Republican Congressional Committee has launched a new effort today to connect with GOP voters by engaging on the issues. In their premiere, Reps. John Boehner and Roy Blunt talk about the importance of Iraq for American security. I've posted the YouTube of the presentation: I like the NRCC's approach. It's good to see the Republicans engage on policy in a direct and positive manner, and the minority leadership make good spokesmen for the GOP. We'll keep checking back on Rediscover Your Party as subsequent episodes appear....
September 14, 2007
Superfluous
When I first heard that George Bush would address the nation this week after the testimony of General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, I wondered who had made that mistake. The Republicans had put the Democrats back on their heels after the MoveOn debacle on Monday had revealed the low character of their base, and the news from Iraq made their rush to abandon Iraqis just when they had started to fight our enemies look even more craven. Momentum has shifted away from the defeat-and-retreat caucus. Why interfere with that, unless President Bush had a heretofore unsuspected piece of good news that would provide a conclusion that surpassed what Petraeus had to say? Why not let the best voices on this issue resonate a while longer? If President Bush wanted to top Petraeus and Crocker, then he needed enough substance to make it worthwhile -- and he didn't. It's...
Doubling Down While Retreating
MoveOn has found its use of the word "betrayal" so clever, it's extending the franchise. In this case, however, they apply it to George Bush and his plan to stick with the surge until its natural denouement: Just days after the group's political action committee caused a firestorm with a full page New York Times advertisement calling Gen. David Petraeus "General Betray Us," MoveOn has launched another commercial using the "betrayal" theme. But this time the group is firing away at a safer target: President Bush. In an ad titled "Betrayal of Trust" released this morning, MoveOn has scripted a fairly rudimentary commercial that flashes "130,000" several times to reflect the number of troops that will still be in Iraq next summer under Bush's redeployment plan. “He’s given us a sham draw-down plan," said MoveOn spokeswoman Nita Chaudhary. "30,000 troops by next July is not a plan to end the...
September 16, 2007
Mukasey Works, Too
From the armada of trial balloons floating from the White House the last two days, it appears that the Bush administration has shifted its favor from Ted Olson to Michael Mukasey for its choice to replace Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General. Mukasey had been rumored as a potential Supreme Court pick earlier, and has a solid record as a conservative jurist -- which he'll need after getting Chuck Schumer's blessing: One source close to the White House, describing Mukasey as the clear "front-runner," said Bush advisers appear to have decided that "they didn't want a big fight over attorney general" in the Senate, especially when other qualified candidates are also available. The source said Olson, who represented Bush in the Supreme Court fight over the contested 2000 election, would be seen as "very political," despite his outstanding legal credentials. Another well-connected GOP source, who also spoke on the condition of...
September 17, 2007
Schumer Eats His Words, Up-Chucks
Chuck Schumer has begun his rapid retreat from his statements of support for Michael Mukasey. The New York Sun reports that Schumer, who had openly championed Mukasey as a "consensus candidate" to replace Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General, suddenly appears unsure of Mukasey after the White House reportedly settled on the retired New York judge for the nomination: President Bush's choice of Michael Mukasey, a retired judge from New York who has received the support of Senator Schumer, to be the next attorney general signals that the White House wishes to avoid a Senate confirmation battle. Still, it is unclear whether Mr. Schumer is willing to shepherd Judge Mukasey through confirmation hearings whose main topic could shape up to be the politicization of the Justice Department during Attorney General Gonzales's tenure. Mr. Schumer, one of the Senate's fiercest critics of Mr. Gonzales, has long touted Judge Mukasey for a position...
September 18, 2007
Voting 'Rights' Bill For DC Fails
The effort by Democrats to allow the District of Columbia to elect Congressional representation failed to survive a procedural vote in the Senate today. As the White House threatened a veto, Harry Reid could not even get the 60 votes necessary to consider the bill passed earlier in the House: Republican lawmakers today blocked the Senate from taking up the D.C. voting rights bill, dealing a major blow to the District's most promising effort in years to get a full member of Congress. The vote was merely on whether to begin action on the bill. But only 57 senators voted in favor, short of the 60 needed to proceed. Without enough support to vault the Senate's procedural hurdles, the bill is expected to stall for this year, and possibly next year as well. The vote was a crushing disappointment to activists who have worked for years to gain voting representation...
Attending Solutions Day
Newt Gingrich will stage his Solutions Day conference on Thursday, September 27th, and Captain's Quarters will be there. I'm traveling under my own steam to be one of American Solutions' official bloggers for the event. I'll blog live from the launch that evening, and I will get a chance to interview Newt Gingrich Here's the description of the event from American Solutions: American Solutions for Winning the Future is a new, non-partisan organization built around three goals: to defend America and our allies abroad and defeat our enemies, to strengthen and revitalize America’s core values, and to move the government into the 21st Century. The General Chairman is former Speaker Newt Gingrich. ... If you have an idea that you want to promote that is going to make life better for yourselves, your neighbors and your fellow Americans, this is your opportunity to get involved. It’s not often that one...
September 20, 2007
25 Senate Democrats Support "Betray Us", Including Hillary
The Senate passed the Jon Cornyn amendment condemning the MoveOn.org ad that called General David Petraeus a liar and potential traitor, 72-25. All 25 Senators who voted in support of these smears against an American military commander that they unanimously promoted to four stars came from the Democratic Party. It includes two declared presidential candidates and the top leadership of the Senate Democratic Caucus. Those who voted to support MoveOn's smear: NAYs ---25 Akaka (D-HI) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Byrd (D-WV) Clinton (D-NY) Dodd (D-CT) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Levin (D-MI) Menendez (D-NJ) Murray (D-WA) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sanders (I-VT) Schumer (D-NY) Stabenow (D-MI) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR) It's a particularly sad commentary on the Democratic Party that they cannot bring themselves to support the very commander they sent to lead American troops in battle...
September 21, 2007
Another Kind Of Tap Lesson For The Senate
Earlier this month, we discovered all we needed to know about wide stances and tap dances from Republican Senator Larry Craig, and the GOP got wind burns in their race to throw him under the bus. Now we have a different kind of tap haunting another Republican Senator, and this one relates much more closely to the people's business than a flirtation in a Minneapolis airport salle de bain. Ted Stevens found out that the FBI has tapped his conversations with an Alaskan oil executive already in hot water in another corruption case: The FBI, working with an Alaska oil contractor, secretly taped telephone calls with Sen. Ted Stevens as part of a public corruption sting, according to people close to the investigation. The secret recordings suggest the Justice Department was eyeing Stevens long before June, when the Republican senator first publicly acknowledged he was under scrutiny. At that time,...
The Exhaustion Of Partisan Wrangling?
The Washington Post analyzes the career of Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey and delivers a positive review, calling Mukasey "conservative, but not doctrinaire, and fair". The Post's conclusions have largely been accepted across the political spectrum. Could this indicate a relatively free ride for Mukasey? Many lawyers who have practiced before Mukasey, 66, describe him as conservative but not doctrinaire, and fair. The long judicial record created by Mukasey's 18 years as judge on the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York included thousands of cases that ranged from high-profile terrorism trials to lengthy insurance battles over liability in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the twin towers, and a case in which a jury awarded $100 to a woman who said boxer Mike Tyson grabbed her buttocks. His generally conservative demeanor on the bench and his self-confidence seem particularly pronounced in his handling of the...
George Soros, International Man Of Mystery
George Soros has gained a reputation among some as a benefactor of millions through his charitable works, as well as one of an advocate of open politics. Others see his contributions as more sinister, including the manner in which he made his billions from the beginning. Monica Showalter of Investors Business Daily takes a look at the contradictory assessments of Soros and paints a picture perhaps even more disturbing than his detractors realize: Soros' efforts go beyond spin. He has also bankrolled groups involved in the manipulation of elections, an activity that has increased since his money came into the picture. Two groups — Americans Coming Together and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — were sanctioned recently by the Federal Election Commission for fraud. Soros pledged $10 million to ACT, which has since been fined $775,000 for illegally funneling $70 million set aside for voter registrations to...
There Are Morons, But They Don't Include George Bush
It has become apparent that some journalists covering President Bush either have a learning disability or work extra hard to twist his words until the reporters turn into novelists. The latest to prove this theory correct works for Reuters, which sent out a story that claimed George Bush thought that Nelson Mandela had died, when in fact Bush used an analogy that clearly sailed over Reuters' head. It also showed that some progressive bloggers don't do much research when jumping all over a news quote: (via Memeorandum, Instapundit, and Best of the Web) Nelson Mandela is still very much alive despite an embarrassing gaffe by U.S. President George W. Bush, who alluded to the former South African leader's death in an attempt to explain sectarian violence in Iraq. "It's out there. All we can do is reassure people, especially South Africans, that President Mandela is alive," Achmat Dangor, chief executive...
September 24, 2007
How S-CHIP Does More Damage Than Good
The Heritage Foundation takes a look at that the controversial expansion of the S-CHIP program, and concludes that it will result in less coverage for poor and middle-class children. Expanding the insurance pool to cover children of working-class and middle-class families will disrupt cost containment from private insurance, and will crowd out better coverage. Not only does the expanded pool get less coverage, but it also increases the per-child cost by almost 80%. At Heading Right, I ask why we're looking at an entitlement expansion in a period where we're facing an entitlement-spending crisis. Even the CBO acknowledges that the S-CHIP expansion crowds out better private insurance coverage, an effect that increases as the expansion gets wider. And why do we feel the need to subsidize health care coverage for families making in excess of $80,000? Could this be just a stalking-horse for government-run health care?...
September 25, 2007
'Betray Us' Bombed: Rasmussen
The MoveOn ad that accused General David Petraeus of possibly traitorous testimony before he even began speaking has alienated the majority of American voters -- and even a plurality among MoveOn's allies believed it harnful to their cause. A new Rasmussen poll shows that 58% of those polled disapprove of the accusatory ad in the New York Times, while only a paltry 23% approve (via Memeorandum): Twenty-three percent (23%) of Americans approve of an ad run in the New York Times “that referred to General Petraeus as General Betray Us.” A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 58% disapproved. Those figures include 12% who Strongly Approve and 42% who Strongly Disapprove. Self-identified liberals were evenly divided—45% approve and 39% disapprove. However, only 19% of moderate voters approve while 62% disapprove. Forty-seven percent (47%) of all adults say that “stunts like the MoveOn.org ad” hurt the cause they believe in....
September 27, 2007
Kerrey No Hsu-In
The Norman Hsu scandal has affected more than just the Democratic presidential primaries. The Politico reports that Nebraska Republicans have already started talking about Bob Kerrey's connections to the con man turned Democratic fundraiser, just in case Kerrey decides to run for Chuck Hagel's open seat in 2008: If former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey decides to run for the Senate, it’s clear that he will have to address his connections with Hsu, whom he recruited to serve on the board of the New School under his presidency. The Hsu affair already is being used by Republicans as leverage to try to ward off a run by Kerrey, the Democrats’ favored candidate to compete for the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel. Republicans privately acknowledge that Kerrey is a first-tier candidate and hope their attacks dissuade him from jumping in. They would have an easier time retaining the seat if...
Live Blog: Solutions Day Launch
Newt Gingrich will begin speaking at 7 pm CT to officially launch Solutions Day. Rob Bluey and I will live-blog the speech from the media center. The actual ballroom where this speech will take place has filled to capacity. The original room had a capacity for 800 people, and they had to overflow into an adjoining wing. Estimates of the attendance now exceed 1,000. Keep checking back -- and you can webcast this event live from the American Solutions site as well. 6:59 ET - Bipartisanship has officially been seen! Dennis Kucinich's campaign has a booth here, as do Thompson, Rudy, McCain, Huckabee, Romney, and Paul. 7:00 - We can certainly hear the bass in their overture .... 7:04 - The first speaker is Michael Crowley, the Texas Railroad commissioner. He's introducing the concept of Solutions Day. We're getting the audio but not the video in the Media Center, which...
Solution Day Video
It's been a long day, but a good one, covering the Solution Day conference. Rob Bluey has video of our interview with Newt Gingrich earlier in the day, along with other highlights of the event. Here's a sample: Robert did a great job with the video on this interview. Be sure to watch all of it....
September 28, 2007
Why They Call Them Tax Regimes
For those who seek to increase sin taxes as a means of funding social engineering, the experience of Tennessee should give pause. The state passed a large increase in cigarette taxes, creating a large disparity between Tennessee and its neighbor states. Since the people in Tennessee can drive elsewhere to pick up their smokes, the state has decided to do border inspections to charge people for engaging in free-market economics -- and some may not be able to drive to other states at all as a consequence (via Instapundit): Starting today, state Department of Revenue agents will begin stopping Tennessee motorists spotted buying large quantities of cigarettes in border states, then charging them with a crime and, in some cases, seizing their cars. Critics say the new “cigarette surveillance program” amounts to the use of “police state” tactics and wrongfully interferes with interstate commerce. But state Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr...
Mitigating The Indefensible
Common sense seems to dictate that little gain could come from any historical mitigation of the stain of slavery on this nation. For a nation whose existence started with the words We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, we spent eighty-nine years refusing to meet that commitment in law and another century in fact. Just that knowledge should keep people from attempting to mitigate the foul nature of this burden on our history, and its impact on our national life today. Michael Medved, brave soul that he is, also demonstrates an uncharacteristic sense of tone-deafness in his Townhall column yesterday. At Heading Right, I agree with some of his statements of fact, but argue that they're irrelevant. Slavery involved government protection for...
September 29, 2007
Williams Defends O'Reilly, Rips CNN
Juan Williams defends Bill O'Reilly against charges of racism in Time Magazine, and angrily calls out O'Reilly's critics for calling him an Uncle Tom. He charges those critics with intellectual dishonesty for pulling one quote out of context to reverse what O'Reilly really said -- and he also accuses CNN for deliberately misreporting the incident in order to eat into O'Reilly's substantial ratings lead over CNN. It's a media meltdown! It started with Bill O'Reilly's grandmother. And it blew up into charges of O'Reilly being called a racist and me being attacked as a "Happy Negro" (read that as a lackey or Uncle Tom). ... So, O'Reilly says to me that the reality to black life is very different from the lowlife behavior glorified by the rappers. He told me he was at a restaurant in Harlem recently and there was no one shouting profanity, no one threatening people. Then...
October 1, 2007
Too Bad You Can't Stay
The calendar has moved to October, and that presumably meant that Larry Craig would head home to Idaho and allow a replacement appointment to take his seat. Unfortunately for the Senate Republicans, embarrassed by Craig's guilty plea to disorderly conduct in a Minneapolis airport restroom, Craig has decided to extend his tapdancing. Since he won't commit to resigning, his GOP colleagues plan on holding a public ethics hearing to shame him out of the Senate: The Senate hearing would examine the original charges in Craig's case, including the allegation of "interference with privacy," for peeping into the bathroom stall occupied by an undercover police officer. One senior Republican aide imagined "witnesses, documents, all in front of the klieg lights." The committee also could look for "a pattern of conduct" -- which means combing court records in other locales to discover whether Craig had prior arrests that haven't come to light....
Michigan Goes Smoot-Hawley In The Early Morning
The economic woes of Michigan appear ready to worsen, thanks to a budget agreement reached this morning as the state government began shutting down. Michigan residents will see their taxes increase by over a billion dollars, further burdening the decreasing purchasing power of its residents, as the legislature only sliced less than a third of that from their spending plans (via The Corner): The Legislature agreed to raise Michigan's income tax rate from 3.9 percent to 4.35 percent and expand the 6 percent sales tax to some services. Granholm signed both measures. Structural changes to state government — including the management of teacher and other public employee benefits — also are part of the package. The tax increases should erase most of a projected $1.75 billion deficit in Michigan's next budget. The final budget for the new fiscal year will include $440 million in spending cuts, Granholm said. ... Raising...
October 2, 2007
Hillary 1993: Nationalize Health Care Through The Kids
Defenders of the S-CHIP expansion refute the accusations of its critics that it amounts to a Trojan horse for nationalized health care. However, The Politico notes that a 1993 memo from Hillary Clinton's health-care task force proposed using children as a mechanism in order to take control of health-care delivery for all Americans. The revelation gives the White House new momentum for its expected veto: Back in 1993, according to an internal White House staff memo, then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s staff saw federal coverage of children as a “precursor” to universal coverage. In a section of the memo titled “Kids First,” Clinton’s staff laid out backup plans in the event the universal coverage idea failed. And one of the key options was creating a state-run health plan for children who didn’t qualify for Medicaid but were uninsured. That idea sounds a lot like the current State Children’s Health Insurance...
October 3, 2007
They Met A Tax They Didn't Like!
Wisconsin Rep. David Obey apparently blindsided Democratic Party leadership in both chambers of Congress with his income-tax surcharge to supposedly fund the Iraq War. Featuring a graduated tax increase with a range of 2-15%, the tax would supposedly cover the costs of the ongoing deployment in Iraq and "drive the costs home" to all Americans. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid reacted as though they finally met a tax they didn't like -- and they have a good reason: Democratic leaders on Tuesday moved quickly to shift public attention to President Bush’s expected veto of a children’s health insurance program from a surtax to pay for the war in Iraq. Democrats had been reveling in their good fortune, believing they had a winning issue in legislation to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which Bush is expected to veto Wednesday. But three senior Democrats floated a proposal to impose...
Virtual Blog Row For House GOP Conference
Today, the House Republican Conference will hold a series of conference calls with bloggers to review the GOP legislative agenda and top issues facing the caucus. These will occur throughout the day, with the following members scheduled to speak: 10:15 AM – 10:30 AM EST -- Congressman Jeb Hensarling (TX-5), RSC Chairman & Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (TN-7) 11:05 AM – 11:20 AM EST -- Republican Whip Roy Blunt (MO-7) & Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (VA-7) 2:30 PM – 2:45 PM EST -- Conference Chairman Adam Putnam (FL-12) & Congressman Mike Pence (IN-6), Former RSC Chairman 3:30 PM – 3:45 PM EST -- Republican Leader John Boehner (OH-8) & Congressman Paul Ryan, Ranking Member on the Budget Committee (WI-1) I'm going to try to broadcast the last one live during today's Heading Right Radio show. I will be blogging each of these sessions at Heading Right during the day, so...
Vetoland, Population: 4
President Bush increased the number of vetoes issued during his administration by 33% today, torpedoing the S-CHIP expansion and setting up a major policy battle with Congress. With the Senate passing the bill with enough votes to overturn the veto, all eyes turn to the House, where both sides have scrambled to whip their caucuses: President Bush, in a confrontation with Congress, on Wednesday vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have dramatically expanded children's health insurance. It was only the fourth veto of Bush's presidency, and one that some Republicans feared could carry steep risks for their party in next year's elections. The Senate approved the bill with enough votes to override the veto, but the margin in the House fell short of the required number. The White House sought as little attention as possible, with the president wielding his veto behind closed doors without any fanfare or news coverage....
October 4, 2007
Leahy Retreats
Patrick Leahy has capitulated on scheduling confirmation hearings for Michael Mukasey's nomination as Attorney General. Originally, Leahy wanted to hold Mukasey hostage to his demands for internal memos from the White House. However, the Bush administration has apparently proven too tenacious for Leahy: Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) signaled yesterday that he will move ahead with confirmation hearings for a new attorney general later this month without reaching a deal on documents that he hoped to obtain from the White House. But Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also said that nominee Michael B. Mukasey will be confronted with a range of questions related to ongoing conflicts between Democrats and the Bush administration, including whether Mukasey would allow prosecution of White House aides for ignoring congressional subpoenas. In a letter to the nominee released yesterday, Leahy complained that "the White House has chosen not to clear the decks of...
Real Democrats, Unfortunately
In response to the hysterical bedwetting on the Left over Rush Limbaugh's use of the phrase "phony soldiers" to describe people who lie about their service or their experiences in the war theater, my good friend Scott Johnson has started a new contest at Power Line this morning. Titled "Phony Democrats," his post asks readers to contribute quotes from Democratic officeholders that have smeared and besmirched the military and its members directly, rather than using the tortured logic that Media Matters and its propagandist ilk have used to paint Limbaugh as an anti-military demagogue. Scott started out with several examples, and Power Line readers have supplied a few more. Unfortunately, I have to disagree with Scott on his nomenclature. I wish these were phony Democrats, or even unimportant, fringe Democrats. As one reads the list, the reality of the Democratic Party hits one squarely, and that is that their leadership...
Domenici's Departure
The Republicans have another open seat to defend in 2008, according to Chris Cillizza at The Fix and The Hill. Pete Domenici, whose tenure has recently been marred by his reported involvement in the termination of US Attorney David Yglesias, has decided not to run for re-election. The somewhat surprising decision leaves another opportunity for a Democratic pickup next year -- and a possible change in the presidential race: Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) is expected to announce Thursday that he will not run for a seventh term in 2008, according to sources close to Domenici’s office. Domenici’s retirement would make him the fourth Republican senator to bow out this cycle, joining Sens. Wayne Allard (Colo.), John Warner (Va.) and Chuck Hagel (Neb.). Competitive races in those seats are likely, and New Mexico should be no different. Domenici’s retirement also would open up a Pandora’s Box in the state’s congressional delegation,...
No Meters On The Modems
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell takes to YouTube -- and in a few moments, Heading Right Radio -- to attack the Democratic failure to extend the moratorium on taxing Internet access. John Sununu and John McCain have joined Democrat Ron Wyden in making the federal ban on state and local taxation for Internet access permanent. McConnell issues this warning: Why would a federal ban apply? The Internet exemplifies interstate commerce, which places it under federal jurisdiction, even among the most ardent federalists. The entire intent of the Internet is to allow individuals to reach out to the global community. Oversight on tax policy that would discourage or limit that access rightly belongs to Congress. McConnell sees the Internet as an engine for growth, and says "we don't put meters on our modems". If you agree, contact your Senator or Representative and urge action before the ban expires on November 1st....
Will He Shuffle Off Stage Now? (Update: If He's Consistently Inconsistent ...)
Larry Craig has found a Minnesota judge unsympathetic to his argument that he was in the midst of a ten-week panic attack when Craig pled guilty to disorderly conduct. Judge Charles Porter denied Craig his do-over in a ruling handed down this afternoon, saying that Craig made a rational decision with his plea: A Minnesota judge on Thursday rejected Sen. Larry Craig's bid to withdraw his guilty plea in an airport sex sting, a major setback in Craig's effort to clear his name and hang on to his Senate seat. "Because the defendant's plea was accurate, voluntary and intelligent, and because the conviction is supported by the evidence ... the Defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea is denied," Hennepin County Judge Charles Porter wrote. Craig can appeal Porter's ruling, but it wasn't immediately clear if he would. Telephone calls and e-mails seeking comment from Craig spokesmen Sid Smith in...
October 5, 2007
Why Not Just Cut Other Spending?
Even though Democratic leadership has run as fast as possible from David Obey's "war tax" proposal, E.J. Dionne wants it reconsidered. In today's column, Dionne wonders why conservatives who support the war don't support using a surtax to pay for it. He suggests that fiscal responsibility would demand a "yes" vote from Republicans, but fails to recognize the hypocrisy from the other side of the aisle: But it's a shame that Democrats remain so defensive on the tax issue that they aren't willing to bring this proposal to the floor. What if the price for passing President Bush's supplemental appropriation were a tax to cover its costs? What if opponents of the war voted no because they are against Bush's policy and Republicans voted no because they think low taxes are more important than national security as they define it? That's an aggressive way to frame any such antitax "no"...
Labor On Jobs: Oops, Our Bad
Last month, pundits on all sides of the aisle began hyperventilating when Labor reported a decline in non-farm employment for the first time in four years. The loss of 4,000 jobs signaled an oncoming recession, an end to growth, and disaster for the Republicans in 2008. Combined with the volatility of the bond markets, it seemed that the good times had crashed to an end. Today, however, Labor announced the new numbers for September -- and a little change in August's tallies (emphases mine): Employment rose in September, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 4.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 110,000 following increases of 93,000 in July and 89,000 in August (as revised). In September, health care, food services, and professional and technical services continued to add jobs, while employment trended down in manufacturing...
Patriotism Is More Than Just A Refuge For Scoundrels
Over the last two days, the question of patriotism has been debated over the blogosphere. It started with Barack Obama's tortured explanation of why he stopped wearing a lapel pin representing the American flag. He told reporters that he took it off because unnamed others had used it to cover unpatriotic behavior and that the flag had become a "substitute for true patriotism," an explanation that annoyed many more people than did the absence of the lapel pin itself. Today on Heading Right Radio, we debated another dimension of the same question. One of our callers, clearly frustrated with some Democratic Congressmen and specifically Robert Byrd, called them "traitors". Duane Patterson and I argued that being wrong does not make someone a traitor or unpatriotic. It goes to intent, as both of us argued. If one honestly believes in a set of policies, even if wrong, it does not make...
October 8, 2007
A Shield For Me, But Not The BBC
The Senate will decide who gets to be a journalist and who doesn't as part of its effort to craft a shield law for reporters. In order to protect journalists against government demands to reveal sources, lawmakers first have to decide who qualifies for that protection. The machinations have created what everyone expects of the necessarily bureaucratic approach taken by Congress -- a real mess. At Heading Right, I thank the Senate for declaring me more of a journalist than reporters of the BBC. I'd rather they recognize my overwhelming genius, but apparently I outrank them merely because the BBC gets its funding from the British government. It demonstrates the problems that arise when government has to start classifying people, and the danger of having the feds determine who qualifies as a journalist. The entire exercise seems a strange effort for government, which has a legitimate interest in securing information,...
Columbus Day And The Most Chilling Eight Words In Journalism
We heard from James Carroll five weeks ago, when he attempted to argue that "Marxism has yet to be really tried" as a Labor Day analysis, which emphasized the first two syllables. Today we celebrate Columbus Day, and since it's yet another Monday holiday, Carroll returns yet again to the pages of the Boston Globe to tell us what it means. It involves African slavery, nuclear weapons, and torture, but surprisingly, nothing about Christopher Columbus: IF COLUMBUS is the beginning of the story, and, say, Lincoln is the middle, what is the end? Each episode of the American narrative surfaced a problem, which prompted attempts to resolve it, which led in turn to a new problem. This movement from problem to resolution to new problem and ever new efforts to fix things is what makes the American story great. So Columbus arrived in 1492, but carried the European virus of...
S-CHIP Expansion - The Ultimate School Voucher Program?
Last week, I scolded the Democrats for sending a 12-year-old to make their argument for S-CHIP expansion rather than making it themselves. This week, it might be the NEA protesting a new indirect voucher program. It turns out that the spokesboy for the Democrats goes to an expensive private school, lives in a 3000-square-foot house, and all of this gets subsidized by federal assistance: 1. Graeme and his sister Gemma attend the Park School, a private school that costs $20,000 per child. 2. Brown wrote that the family lives on $45,000 per year, but icwhatudo notes: "Halsey Frost has owned his own company 'Frostworks' since...1992 so he chooses to not give himself insurance. He also employed his wife as 'bookkeeper and operations management' prior to her recent 2007 hire at the 'medical publishing firm.'" 3. His business is housed in a $160,000 building -- that he owns. 4. The Frost...
October 9, 2007
The Surrender This Time
Democrats appear willing to surrender on FISA legislation again, as noted here Sunday. The New York Times reports today that Senate Democrats have even given way on immunity for telecoms who cooperated on national security programs with the NSA. The result could be a years-long victory for the intelligence community over the civil libertarians: Two months after insisting that they would roll back broad eavesdropping powers won by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear ready to make concessions that could extend some crucial powers given to the National Security Agency. Administration officials say they are confident they will win approval of the broadened authority that they secured temporarily in August as Congress rushed toward recess. Some Democratic officials concede that they may not come up with enough votes to stop approval. ... A Democratic bill to be proposed on Tuesday in the House would maintain for several years the...
October 10, 2007
The House As Arbiter Of History
Imagine, if you will, that in the middle of World War II, Congress decided to take under consideration the blame for the famine and hundreds of thousands of deaths during the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s. Would a House Speaker with any sense of sanity allowed a measure to come to the floor which resolved that our key ally in wartime had committed a genocide and should be censured? What kind of fool would even propose that Congress should act as arbiter of history and chief blame-thrower of the world -- and direct that effort at our allies? Meet Nancy Pelosi. The House has taken under consideration a bill that would declare Turkey's guilt in the genocide of the Armenians in 1915 at the very moment we need them for our efforts in the Middle East. Even former Secretaries of State from Democratic administrations wonder what she's smoking: A...
Let's Move The S-CHIP Debate Back To Policy
The New York Times takes a look into the storm of controversy over the Frost family in the S-CHIP debate. David Herszenhorn gives a fairly balanced view of the nine-day wonder that the Frosts became, and settles some of the factual disputes that has plagued the sideshow: There have been moments when the fight between Congressional Democrats and President Bush over the State Children’s Health Insurance Program seemed to devolve into a shouting match about who loves children more. So when Democrats enlisted 12-year-old Graeme Frost, who along with a younger sister relied on the program for treatment of severe brain injuries suffered in a car crash, to give the response to Mr. Bush’s weekly radio address on Sept. 29, Republican opponents quickly accused them of exploiting the boy to score political points. Then, they wasted little time in going after him to score their own. In recent days, Graeme...
Has The FRC Backed Away From Its Third-Party Call?
Frankly, the announcement at the end of September that the Family Research Council would back the call for an independent presidential candidate surprised me. Tony Perkins and the people at the FRC normally act in a level-headed manner, even when I disagree with their stands. I expected the FRC to pursue its agenda in an energetic and assertive manner but to make a more pragmatic decision for the general election. Today, Perkins seems to have reconsidered the statement from ten days ago, as Jim Geraghty reports: On the Utah meeting: I was at that meeting it’s been misconstrued a little bit. It was not a declaration of intent, it was a declaration of principle that there is a line we will not cross. If the party chooses to break its commitment to creating a culture of life, we’re not going to go in that direction with the party. There’s only...
October 11, 2007
It's Hard Work, Not Getting Much Done
When the Democrats took the majority this year, they swore to set a new tone of hard work in Congress by demanding a five-day work week while in session. This would allow both chambers to get more accomplished and impress upon everyone the responsible nature and work ethic of the Democrats. Nine months later, while overdue appropriation bills still have not seen the House floor and the 110th Congress acquiring a do-nothing appelation, Democrats have begun to rebel against the schedule: Rank-and-file members of Congress are grumbling about the five-day workweek instituted this year by House Democratic leaders, complaining that it leaves little time for campaigning and allows few weekdays to deal with business back home. “We have a long list of meetings that can’t be scheduled because I’m never back in the district,” said freshman Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.). “Part of it is related to the campaign, and part...
October 12, 2007
The Nobel For Alarmism And Hyperbole Goes To ...
Former Vice President Al Gore how has a Nobel Peace Prize to go along with his Oscar for his efforts to advance the cause of global warming by misstating data and frankly lying about its effects. At least that's the conclusion of a British court that had to rule on whether schools in the UK could use Gore's documentary as a teaching tool: The judge said that, for instance, Gore's script implies that Greenland or West Antarctica might melt in the near future, creating a sea level rise of up to 20 feet that would cause devastation from San Francisco to the Netherlands to Bangladesh. The judge called this "distinctly alarmist" and said the consensus view is that, if indeed Greenland melted, it would release this amount of water, "but only after, and over, millennia." Burton also said Gore contends that inhabitants of low-lying Pacific atolls have had to evacuate...
Status On DHS And No-Match Letters
I just concluded an interview with DHS Deputy Press Secretary Laura Keehner on the status of no-match regulation enforcement after a federal judge slapped a temporary restraining order on DHS and the Social Security Administration to block the letters. Unfortunately, my recording equipment took a nose dive and the audio did not record properly. Instead of podcasting inaudible noise, I'll recap the conversation. Ms. Keehner took great pains to point out a couple of erroneous suppositions in the ruling. Foremost, the notion that no-match letters exert an undue burden on small businesses is nonsense. The regulation exempts businesses that employ less than 10 people, so mom & pop stores don't have to worry about it at all. No-match letters require employers to verify the proper name or SSN of the flagged employees within 90 days. Even if one just looks at work days, that means sometime in 65 separate arrivals...
October 14, 2007
Did Caragol Blow It?
For people who had hoped that oral sex and politics would see their last connection in the previous decade, a candidate for the Hialeah (Florida) city council wants to bring back an old favorite. Jose "Pepe" Caragol's campaign tried out a new campaign slogan that has some residents wondering exactly what Pepe's conception of the job might be (via Memeorandum): Live in Hialeah? Like oral sex? Then one Hialeah City Council candidate thinks he's the one who deserves your vote. As election season intensifies in the City of Progress, incumbent Jose ''Pepe'' Caragol, known for dishing out rhyming one-liners at city events, is catching criticism for a slogan he has been pitching on Spanish television. "Si te gusta el sexo oral, vote por Caragol por consejal,'' Caragol said on a March 14 taping of the America Te-Ve show Seguro Que Yes! and in subsequent radio and television appearances. The phrase,...
October 15, 2007
Harry Reid Less Popular Than George Bush In Nevada
I just left the great state of Nevada, so the latest polling by the Las Vegas Review-Journal has a special appeal to me. Harry Reid's high-profile leadership of the Democratic Party has impressed the folks back home, but not in the way that Reid would prefer. He now scores lower favorabilty ratings than George Bush, and his negatives go higher than Hillary Clinton's (via Memeorandum): Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's appeal among Nevadans has plunged dramatically in a new Review-Journal poll, which finds him viewed unfavorably by most likely voters in his home state. ... The poll asked 625 likely voters from around the state whether they recognized a politician's name, and if so, if they had a favorable, unfavorable or neutral opinion of that person. The survey carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Reid's favorable rating was 32 percent, compared with 51 percent...
October 16, 2007
Lame Duck? Not So Far
George Bush has turned out to be the master of misunderestimation. Following the 2006 election, Democrats crowed over President Bush's lame-duck status, insisting that they now controlled the agenda on all fronts and that Bush should commence capitulation as quickly as possible to avoid the pain of humiliation. Almost a year later, the Democrats have lost on almost every major issue, and on the one agenda item they won -- a minimum-wage increase -- they won it by attaching to their biggest loss of all, the supplemental for Iraq War spending. Now it looks like they face another fight with Bush, and this time he will likely have the nation on his side: The White House and Congress are heading for what President Bush predicts will be a "fiscal showdown" at a time when the nation's financial health has actually improved for the moment. After years of record-high deficits, both...
Democrats Blocking Permanent Ban On Internet-Access Tax
The Democratic leadership in Congress has started to work overtime in blocking a Republican attempt to permanently ban taxes on Internet access. According to Congressional Quarterly, they will instead offer a four-year extension in its place, and refusing to consider a more permanent solution: House leaders are using a looming deadline and procedural heavy-handedness to thwart the will of nearly 240 House members who support a permanent ban on Internet-access taxes, some supporters of the ban say. Democratic leaders have scheduled a vote Tuesday on a bill (HR 3678) that would extend for four years the existing ban on taxing Internet access, which is scheduled to expire Nov. 1. Although supporters of making the tax ban permanent almost certainly would have enough votes to amend the bill more to their liking, it is scheduled for consideration under suspension of the rules, a procedure that bars amendments and is usually reserved...
Wounded Warrior Reform: Conference Call
The White House held a conference call to talk about the new Wounded Warrior Reform. The VA disability system, they say, is not consumer friendly, which is a large understatement. It no longer reflects the constituency it serves, and hasn't really been updated since World War II. Karl Zinsmeister, Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, spent some time explaining the reform effort to a group of bloggers. We need a new system to meet the new requirements, and they want to do a "complete restructuring" of the VA disability system. They want a new focus on rehab, and they want to make sure that disabled vets can get back into the mainstream of American life. Questions: * How will this curtail bureaucratic nightmare currently in operation? The current system requires vets to navigate both Defense and VA systems in parallel, and it's exhausting. The first step will be to...
October 17, 2007
The Human Rights Violations Of Today Seem Less Compelling
As the enthusiasm wanes for alienating a key ally in the war on terror, Congress seems much less interested in tweaking a nation for its current abuses of human rights and support of genocidal regimes. A proposal to boycott the China Olympics this year has attracted almost no support, nor has any other proposal condemning China for its support of Sudan's genocidal government or its repression of Tibet: While Congress seems willing to pick a fight with Turkey over the World War I-era killing of Armenians, members have been much more cautious about confronting China over next year’s Olympics in Beijing. Three House bills urging a boycott of the Olympics because of various human rights and foreign policy concerns regarding China were introduced in August, but so far the measures have struggled to find support. “They think it punishes the athletes rather than the people you want to punish,” said...
October 18, 2007
Senate Hands Bush Victory On FISA
Hours after Democratic leadership in the House pulled their version of FISA reform off the floor in embarrassment, the Senate agreed to the White House-endorsed version. Intel committee chair Jay Rockefeller and DNI Mike McConnell agreed to full immunity for telecoms and compromised on the term of the new law, requiring renewal in six years: Senate Democrats and Republicans reached agreement with the Bush administration yesterday on the terms of new legislation to control the federal government's domestic surveillance program, which includes a highly controversial grant of legal immunity to telecommunications companies that have assisted the program, according to congressional sources. Disclosure of the deal followed a decision by House Democratic leaders to pull a competing version of the measure from the floor because they lacked the votes to prevail over Republican opponents and GOP parliamentary maneuvers. The collapse marked the first time since Democrats took control of the chamber...
The Myth Of The Latino Bloc?
Republicans have heard dire warnings about the impact of border-security and immigration rhetoric on the growing bloc of Latino voters. The GOP will lose the next generation of the American electorate if the party does not moderate its stance on illegal immigration, especially in the tone of the debate. The fastest-growing segment of the population will soon grow large enought to punish the Republicans and reduce them to permanent minority status. Not so fast, writes Steve Malanga in today's Los Angeles Times. Not only has the Latino bloc been overestimated, it has not given all that much support to the GOP in any case -- and immigration is nowhere near as important to Latino voters as assumed: Just days after the election, for instance, Dick Morris, a former pollster and advisor to President Clinton, declared that Latinos had elected Bush; they represented 12% of the electorate, Morris reasoned, and 45%...
October 19, 2007
Government Produces Something Worthwhile
Would you happen to have a couple of million dollars in loose change around the house? If you do, you could own the letter that Harry Reid sent to Rush Limbaugh, accusing the radio host of smearing American troops. Rush has the letter up for auction at e-Bay, and with less than six hours to go, the bid is now topping $2.1 million. Not only that, Rush has pledged the proceeds to the Marine Corps - Law Enforcement Foundation -- and has pledged to match the final bid himself. Once again, Reid's machinations backfired. He and the 40 Senate Democrats who signed the letter set themselves up as defenders of the military, including Dick Durbin, who once compared the troops to Nazis and Soviets. Now Rush has challenged the 41 to do as he will and match the figure to a foundation that offers scholarships to the children of Marines...
The Adam Gadahn Amendment
The Senate Intelligence Committee passed the latest version of FISA on a 13-2 vote after reaching a compromise with Republicans on amnesty for telecoms and other issues. However, a last-minute amendment adopted by the committee has the White House objecting: The Senate intelligence committee yesterday produced a new bipartisan bill governing foreign intelligence surveillance conducted inside the United States, but objections by several Democratic lawmakers to some of its provisions raised questions about how quickly it might gain passage. The bill, approved by the committee 13 to 2, would require a special surveillance court to approve the government's procedures for deciding who is to be the subject of warrantless surveillance. It also would impose more restrictions on the government than contained in an emergency six-month law passed in August, which the Bush administration wanted to make permanent. It would further give some telecommunications companies immunity from about 40 pending lawsuits...
Harry Reid And The Letter Of Doom
Harry Reid tried his best to put the best possible spin on the Rush Limbaugh letter that just sold to a Republican philanthropist for $2.1 million dollars. Rush will put up a matching $2.1 million donation to a charity that assists the children of Marines and law-enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. Reid will ... try to claim credit for it: This week, Rush Limbaugh put the original copy of that letter up for auction on e-bay. Mr. President, we didn't have time, or we could have gotten every senator to sign that letter. But he put the letter up for auction on e-bay and I think very, very constructively, left the proceeds of that it go to the Marine Corps law enforcements foundation. That provides scholarship assistance to marines and federal law enforcement personnel whose parents fall in the line of duty. What could be a more...
October 20, 2007
Harry Reid And The Senate 41 Demonstrate The Difference Between Liberals And Conservatives
Sometimes a comment gets to the heart of a matter so clearly that I find it irresistable for its own post. Yesterday, in the Harry Reid/Rush Limbaugh thread, CapQ commenter PackerBronco observed that the entire story arc of the letter and its auction showed a clear difference between liberals and conservatives: The conservative thinks of a free-market way of raising private funds to aid a worthwhile causes and backs his commitment with his own money. The liberal asks other people to donate funds, doesn't donate any of his own money, and tries to take credit for the generosity of others. Now granted, the Republicans in Congress in 2001-2006 managed to look a lot like the latter than the former, but we're hoping they learned their lesson after the last election. In terms of actual governing policy, as we have seen in this Congress, liberals don't ask for money -- they...
October 21, 2007
Bobby Rises In Louisiana
Louisiana elected its governor on the first ballot for the first time in recent memory, and the voters sent a message to the corrupt Democratic machine at the same time. Bobby Jindal, who narrowly lost a runoff four years ago, becomes the first Indian-American governor of a state after prevailing against a desperate opposition that stooped low enough to smear Jindal over religion: Republican Bobby Jindal won election as Louisiana governor Saturday, setting a string of firsts and leaving no doubt that the state's voters strongly desire new leadership two years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Jindal, 36, will be the nation's youngest sitting governor. The son of Indian immigrants, he will also be the first Indian American governor in U.S. history, and the first nonwhite to hold the job in Louisiana since Reconstruction. The election of Jindal, who is a conservative, underscores the fast-fading fortunes of the Democratic Party...
October 22, 2007
Unions Got Their Money's Worth
The unions got their quid pro quo from Congressional Democrats in this session for the millions of dollars the unions spent on their election to power. The Democrats have cut back funding on a key oversight agency for unions, helping their partners to become more opaque in their political projects and to allow corruption to twist the collective bargaining for their members: Within the last several weeks, the AFL-CIO’s second-in-command sent letters to major accounting firms asking that independent auditors give a more thorough going-over of corporations’ financial disclosures and stock options grants. The unions are for disclosure, and they mean business (or would that be “anti-business”?). Yet at the same time, union-funded politicians in Congress are successfully pushing forward in their campaign to slash the budget for the Department of Labor agency responsible for overseeing how union leaders spend their members’ money. Think of this organization — the Office...
October 23, 2007
Stark Backs Down, Apologizes, Avoids Censure
Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) retreated from his stated position last week that President Bush sent American soldiers to Iraq "to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement." Reversing his position that he would not apologize, Stark offered an apology to the President, his family, and the American troops that took offense to his remarks -- and narrowly avoided a censure from his colleagues: Republicans failed in an effort Tuesday to have the House censure Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., who said in a congressional speech last week that U.S. troops are being sent to Iraq "to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement." Without debate, the House voted 196-173 to kill the proposal to censure Stark for "his despicable conduct." The vote was mostly along party lines, with all 168 Republicans on hand supporting the measure offered by Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. Five Democrats joined them....
Two Anniversaries To Forget
Today marks two significant anniversaries in American politics. Rick Moran notes that a Mercedes truck drove in front of the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut twenty-four years ago today and gave the Islamists an eventual victory in our retreat from the peacekeeping mission in Lebanon: When the bomb detonated, it may have been the largest non-nuclear explosion in history up to that time (we used the “Daisy Cutter” in Afghanistan which weighs 15,000 lbs). The entire barracks building was lifted off its foundation and when it came down, it collapsed in a heap of cinder blocks, plaster, and dust. A few seconds after the blast, another suicide truck bomber crashed into the French military headquarters detonating a similar device. All told, 241 Americans lost their lives in the blast. Another 58 French paratroopers died in the other attack that day. It was the worst day for the Marines since the...
October 24, 2007
Diaper Donors
The rich may start having more children if they can use them to launder political donations. The latest demographic of political activism comes not from people who act like two-year-old but actual toddlers, as their parents look for ways in which to channel contributions: Elrick Williams's toddler niece Carlyn may be one of the youngest contributors to this year's presidential campaign. The 2-year-old gave $2,300 to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). So did her sister and brother, Imara, 13, and Ishmael, 9, and her cousins Chan and Alexis, both 13. Altogether, according to newly released campaign finance reports, the extended family of Williams, a wealthy Chicago financier, handed over nearly a dozen checks in March for the maximum allowed under federal law to Obama. Such campaign donations from young children would almost certainly run afoul of campaign finance regulations, several campaign lawyers said. But as bundlers seek to raise higher and...
Big Spender From Out West
It takes a Texan to spend big in the White House, it appears. According to McClatchy -- and to no one's surprise -- George Bush has presided over the largest expansion of federal spending since Lyndon Johnson, another Texan with a predilection for expansive spending. The rate of increase for discretionary spending in the Bush administration has outstripped that of LBJ, 5.3% to 4.6% (via Memeorandum): George W. Bush, despite all his recent bravado about being an apostle of small government and budget-slashing, is the biggest spending president since Lyndon B. Johnson. In fact, he's arguably an even bigger spender than LBJ. ... When adjusted for inflation, discretionary spending — or budget items that Congress and the president can control, including defense and domestic programs, but not entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare — shot up at an average annual rate of 5.3 percent during Bush’s first six years,...
October 25, 2007
The Curious Case Of Paul Jacob
I met Paul Jacob briefly at the Conservative Leadership Conference earlier this month, after a speech he gave regarding libertarianism, as I recall. I had heard a little about Jacob and his battle with the Oklahoma Attorney General over an issue of petition-gathering for a tax initiative that had turned ugly. Although Jacob didn't discuss the case at length with me, I asked him to send me some information so I could look at it more closely. The case looks more and more strange the deeper one looks, I discovered. Jacob had worked in Oklahoma to gather signatures for a taxpayer bill of rights that would have capped state government spending, along with other national organizations such as National Voter Outreach. Oklahoma has a state law that requires that the gatherers of such signatures be Oklahoma residents, an odd requirement that seems very insular. Most states only require that the...
October 26, 2007
Was Johnson Really The Most Frugal President In Memory?
Investors Business Daily takes exception with the McClatchy analysis of President Bush as the biggest spender since Lyndon Johnson. McClatchy looked at the rate of increase for discretionary spending in each presidency to determine the spendthrift nature of the administrations, while IBD looks at a different measure. Oddly, IBD seems to think that LBJ ran the tightest ship: Bush is "arguably an even bigger spender than LBJ," says a story from McClatchy Newspapers on the president's fiscal record. Pretty tough words, given that LBJ conducted both a war in Vietnam and a War on Poverty simultaneously, racking up huge gains in spending over his term and a half in office. The McClatchy piece says discretionary spending under Bush has risen an inflation-adjusted 5.3% in his first six years, outstripping the 4.6% under Johnson — and way above President Reagan's meager 1.9%. By "almost any yardstick," the article continues, Bush "generally...
It's All In The Amygdalae
Have you wondered why the Democrats seem incapable of stopping the George Bush agenda, even after taking control of both chambers of Congress? Could it be the fact that they won their majority by electing more conservative Democrats to replace some center-right Republicans? Perhaps because their agenda doesn't have the allure that Democrats thought? Or perhaps their leadership has just proven itself incompetent? According to one staffer on the Hill, none of those present the biggest problem for Democrats. They just don't tickle the amygdalae: Democrats are losing the battle for voters’ hearts because the party’s message lacks emotional appeal, according to a widely circulated critique of House Democratic communications strategy. “Our message sounds like an audit report on defense logistics,” wrote Dave Helfert, a former Appropriations spokesman who now works for Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii). “Why are we defending [the State Children’s Health Insurance Program] instead of advocating a...
Senate Goes 7 On Internet Tax Ban
Democratic leadership in the Senate, just as with the House, could not abide a permanent moratorium on local and state taxes on Internet access. This morning, they settled for a seven-year extension to the current ban, set to expire at the end of the month. That sets up a small showdown with the House in conference next week: The U.S. Senate has approved legislation extending a moratorium on state Internet access taxes for seven years. With only days left before the Internet tax ban was set to expire, the Senate reached a compromise between lawmakers who proposed a shorter extension and those who insisted it should be made permanent. ... The vote came about two weeks after the House of Representatives approved a four-year extension of the Internet tax ban. The two chambers will now have to work out differences between the bills. The struggle for a permanent solution to...
Senate Goes 7 On Internet Tax Ban
Democratic leadership in the Senate, just as with the House, could not abide a permanent moratorium on local and state taxes on Internet access. This morning, they settled for a seven-year extension to the current ban, set to expire at the end of the month. That sets up a small showdown with the House in conference next week: The U.S. Senate has approved legislation extending a moratorium on state Internet access taxes for seven years. With only days left before the Internet tax ban was set to expire, the Senate reached a compromise between lawmakers who proposed a shorter extension and those who insisted it should be made permanent. ... The vote came about two weeks after the House of Representatives approved a four-year extension of the Internet tax ban. The two chambers will now have to work out differences between the bills. The struggle for a permanent solution to...
October 27, 2007
FEMA's Death Wish
After Katrina, FEMA has suffered under tremendous scrutiny, with some wondering whether it should get entirely disbanded and another agency formed to replace it. Its next disaster response would tell whether FEMA could survive -- and it seems to have met the test in the California wildfires, performing ably and silencing critics. At least it silenced critics until FEMA managed to pull an idiotic stunt that should cause some people to wonder when the grown-ups will return: The Federal Emergency Management Agency's No. 2 official apologized yesterday for leading a staged news conference Tuesday in which FEMA employees posed as reporters while real reporters listened on a telephone conference line and were barred from asking questions. "We are reviewing our press procedures and will make the changes necessary to ensure that all of our communications are straight forward and transparent," Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson Jr., FEMA's deputy administrator, said...
October 28, 2007
Is The Fight Against Marijuana Worth It?
The suicide of a woman who fought a painful battle against immune disease has once again brought the war on drugs to center stage. The Missoulian reports that Robin Prosser had attempted suicide three years earlier, and wound up in trouble after police discovered marijuana in her possession at that time (via Memeorandum): Robin Prosser, a Missoula woman who struggled for a quarter century to live with the pain of an immunosuppressive disorder, tried years ago to kill herself. Last week, she tried again. This time, she succeeded. After her earlier attempt failed, Prosser wound up in even more trouble after investigating police found marijuana in her home. She used the marijuana to help cope with pain. That marijuana charge was eventually dropped in an agreement with the city of Missoula, and Prosser had reason to rejoice in 2004 when Montanans passed a law allowing medical use of the drug....
The Curious Issue Between Congress And Mukasey
Judge Michael Mukasey's smooth ride to confirmation as Attorney General has hit some turbulent water -- over the issue of waterboarding. Despite having Chuck Schumer's endorsement, the confirmation hearings have bogged down to the point where the White House wonders when they will end: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Saturday rejected White House criticism that his panel was moving along too slowly the nomination of Michael Mukasey, whom President Bush tapped as the next attorney general. “The Senate is evaluating this nomination fairly, thoroughly and responsibly in keeping with the way other major nominations are handled,” Leahy stated. “Judge Mukasey’s written responses to questions from Republicans and Democrats, responses which the Committee has not yet received, are critical in the consideration of his nomination.” The only issue that has tripped Mukasey, however, is whether he considers waterboarding torture. John McCain certainly does, but others disagree; the technique...
October 29, 2007
Tancredo Retires .... Maybe
Tom Tancredo will not run for his seat in Congress regardless of how he does in the Republican primaries for the presidential nomination. It signals the end of a long Congressional career in which Tancredo has argued for the most hard-line immigration positions, as well as suggesting that the US would bomb Mecca if an Islamist terrorist detonated a nuclear bomb in an American city (via Hot Air): Even if he loses his long-shot bid for the White House, Rep. Tom Tancredo will be leaving the U.S. House of Representatives at the end of 2008. Tancredo, 61 , waited until after the Colorado Rockies' last out of the World Series on Sunday night before announcing that he plans to retire from Congress at the end of this, his fifth term. "It's the fact that I really believe I have done all I can do in the House, especially about the...
Is Kentucky's AG Breaking Election Law?
The Democrats have decided to put Mitch McConnell's Senate seat at the top of their wish list for the 2008 Congressional elections. Several potential candidates have already come forward to talk openly about challenging the Senate Minority Leader, and according to the Lexington Herald-Leader, McConnell may have a tough race. The senior member has a few people polling within sight of the margin of error: U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell's popularity has continued to slip, suggesting vulnerability in his 2008 re-election bid. But he would still defeat any of four potential Democratic challengers if the race ended today, a new poll shows. ... On the positive side for McConnell, the poll showed he'd have at least a 5-percentage-point lead over each of four potential Democratic challengers: U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, state Auditor Crit Luallen, Attorney General Greg Stumbo and former Marine Lt. Col. Andrew Horne -- now a Louisville lawyer. So...
Fake FEMA Presser Leads To Fake DNI Job
The man who arranged the fake FEMA press conference has found himself out of a job. Outgoing FEMA external affairs director Pat Philbin had already accepted a position as the director of public affairs for intel chief Mike McConnell and was supposed to start this week. He discovered today that the DNI has forgotten his name: The man who oversaw public affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency when it held a fake news conference last week will no longer be taking over as head of public relations for the director of national intelligence. Pat Philbin, FEMA's external affairs director, was scheduled to become director of public affairs for National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell on Monday. It was not immediately clear whether he offered his resignation or was fired just as he was set to begin the job. As of Sunday, officials only said that they were aware of concerns....
October 30, 2007
Trench Warfare On The Hill
The year after winning majorities in both chambers of Congress, the Democrats still have little to show for its victory. The only major partisan goal they have achieved, a minimum-wage increase, had to latch onto Iraq war funding to get the votes to pass. Republicans have grown incensed by heavy-handed tactics such as Harry Reid's publicity-stunt all-nighter on Iraq in July, and the snap vote on the latest S-CHIP bill, which actually cost them one of the Republican moderates who had supported the previous bill: In a closed-door meeting before the last vote on the children’s health care bill, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer appealed for the support of about 30 wavering Republican lawmakers. What he got instead was a tongue-lashing, participants said. The GOP lawmakers, all of whom had expressed interest in a bipartisan deal on the SCHIP legislation, were furious that the Democratic leader from Maryland had...
Which President-To-Be Will Attend?
David Broder has a wish for this presidential season, and that is for some serious talk about entitlement reform. A bipartisan group of legislators will meet tomorrow to see if common ground can be found for reworking Social Security and Medicare to defuse the generational time bomb that threatens to explode the federal budget in the next 10-15 years. With the baby boomers poised to enter the golden years, Broder wants to know who will take the lead for real solutions: If I had the power to summon all 16 of the people running for president to be in one place, I would want them in a Senate hearing room for a session that is taking place tomorrow morning. The hearing has been arranged by Kent Conrad of North Dakota, the Democratic chairman of the Budget Committee, and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, the Republican ranking member. They have invited...
October 31, 2007
There Is A God, And He Doesn't Like Fred Phelps
A Baltimore jury awarded the family of a slain Marine almost $3 million in damages from the Westboro Baptist Church for its homophobic protest at his funeral. The Reverend Fred Phelps lost his case before the federal court in every aspect, and now must pay a potentially crippling judgment -- and this may just be the beginning (via Michelle Malkin): Albert Snyder of York, Pa., the father of a Westminster Marine who was killed in Iraq, today won his case in a Baltimore federal court against members of Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church who protested at his son's funeral last year. The jury of five women and four men awarded Snyder $2.9 million in compensatory damages. The amount of punitive damages to be awarded has not yet been decided. The jury deliberated for about two hours yesterday and much of today. Snyder was the first in the nation to attempt...
November 1, 2007
What's The Opposite Of Irrational Exuberance?
In 1996, Alan Greenspan warned that “irrational exuberance” contributed to an overvaluation of the stock market during the days of the dot-com boom. A few years later, events proved him correct. Now according to a poll taken by USA Today, the majority of the country has descended into pessimism about the nation and its direction on a number of fronts — economic, security, political, and in foreign affairs. Could this be the opposite of irrational exuberance? At Heading Right, I wonder what could be bumming out America, given the objective measures of success. It certainly appears to be at least a non-rational response, and I ask what common national experiences could have that kind of influence. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?...
November 2, 2007
Irrational Pessimism, Part II: Jobs Report
Yesterday, I wrote about the blinkered pessimism Americans have adopted of late. At Heading Right, I parsed a USA Today poll that showed voters despondent over the political and economic direction of the country -- despite continuing strong growth and a dramatic improvement in Iraq. New data continues to show the irrationality of the mood, as jobs have expanded again and unemployment remains at near-record lows: U.S. employment soared at its fastest pace in five months in October led by strong gains in services, easing concerns about the state of the economy and suggesting further Federal Reserve rate cuts are highly unlikely in the near term. Meanwhile, factory orders managed a small gain during September, a welcome surprise amid indications the manufacturing sector and economy in general are slowing. Nonfarm payrolls rose 166,000 in October, the Labor Department said Friday, up from September's 96,000 gain, which was revised down by...
November 3, 2007
Schumer Finds A Wingman
Chuck Schumer had pressed the Bush administration to nominate Michael Mukasey as Attorney General after the departure of Alberto Gonzales, only to see his fellow Democrats rip Mukasey apart over waterboarding. With leading Democrats insisting that they would oppose Mukasey, everyone waited to see whether Schumer would disavow the man on whom he had insisted, or find the courage to stand on his own to support the man he championed. In the end, Schumer found a third way -- by finding a wingman: The nomination fight over attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey effectively came to an end yesterday, as two key Senate Democrats parted from their colleagues and announced their support for the former judge despite his controversial statements on torture. The orchestrated announcements by Sens. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) virtually guarantee that Mukasey will be approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, to...
November 4, 2007
Toy Junkets
The Washington Post reported on Friday that the past two leaders of the Consumer Product Safety Commission have traveled extensively on the dime of the industry they regulate. Working from FOIA requests, Elizabeth Williamson discovered nearly $60,000 worth of junkets provided to acting chair Nancy Nord and her predecessor Hal Stratton from 30 trips to places like Hong Kong and a golf resort in Hilton Head (via the Political Machine): The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children's furniture industries and others they regulate, according to internal records obtained by The Washington Post. Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards. The records document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency's acting chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal...
November 5, 2007
The Dump Cheney Rumor, Round 46: Wrong Ex-President
Senior Republican leaders went to an ex-president hoping to get him to influence George Bush to knock Dick Cheney off of the 2004 ticket, according to a new book. Did they visit the ex-president with the most influence over George W -- his father? That would at least have been worthy of the Washington Post's time and effort to report. Instead, they look at the revelation that Gerald Ford turned down the request to give the current president unsolicited advice on the selection of running mates: He may have been his White House chief of staff in the 1970s, but by 2004, former president Gerald R. Ford harbored serious reservations about whether Vice President Cheney should be kept on the ticket for reelection. According to a new book, senior Republican figures approached Ford about getting President Bush to dump Cheney in 2004 and, while Ford rebuffed them, he seemed sympathetic...
Missing The Biggest Part Of The Story
The New York Times runs a post-mortem on the S-CHIP legislation that appears headed for another narrowly-upheld presidential veto, showing the missteps on all sides that led to the impasse. The White House attacked it early and harshly, the Senate Republicans favoring it failed to make its case to the Bush administration, and House Democrats cut out House Republicans from the development of the bill. It all sounds like another happy day of gridlock. At Heading Right, I note that most of this inside-baseball look at the S-CHIP expansion failure covers ground already known to most. The real story gets missed by the Gray Lady, which is the actual policy and its fatal flaws. The Times neglects to mention the two biggest points in the debate and why those issues torpedoed the expansion plan. (via Memeorandum)...
The Incredible Lightness Of Being Congress
The Wall Street Journal takes a sympathetic look -- of sorts -- at the travails of the Democrat-controlled 110th Congress. Despite holding both chambers, their leadership appears unable to move its agenda -- and now find themselves with lower approval ratings than the lame-duck President they expected to steamroll after the midterm elections. Now they face the possibility of losing ground in maintaining their majorities, especially in the House: The way in which Senate Democrats wavered and then consented to the confirmation of Michael B. Mukasey as attorney general reflects the party's broader struggle to make headway on its national-security agenda, despite President Bush's unpopularity. On questions such as Mr. Mukasey's stance on waterboarding, warrantless wiretapping and the war in Iraq, Democrats have been stymied by Republicans in Congress and the White House. That has sparked frustration among supporters, especially those on the left, who anticipated that last year's congressional...
November 6, 2007
Useless Idiots, A Century Later
Anne Applebaum notices a decline in a particular American export, in quality if unfortunately not in quantity. She reminds us that the Bolsheviks seized power this week 90 years ago, and just as with almost every dictatorial movement abroad, an American managed to gussy it up to undermine democracy back here at home. In days past, those exports included luminaries like John Reed and Walter Duranty. Nowadays, the intellectual level has dropped down to the supermodel level: Ninety years ago this week, a Bolshevik mob stormed the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, arrested the provisional government and installed a "dictatorship of the proletariat." Though the Russian Revolution is no longer widely celebrated (not even by Russians, who instead commemorate the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow in 1612), I felt it important to mark the occasion. In honor of the anniversary, I reread " Ten Days That Shook the World,"...
Democrats Hand Their Victory To Bush
The Senate Judiciary Panel reported Michael Mukasey's nomination to the full Senate today, recommending confirmation by an 11-8 vote. Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein voted to support Mukasey, as announced earlier, all but guaranteeing his confirmation on the floor of the Senate later this month. The opposition of the other Democrats transformed what had been a victory for them into another triumph for the White House: Amid protests outside the Justice Department and opposition by key Democrats, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 Tuesday to send the nomination of Michael Mukasey as attorney general to the full chamber for a confirmation vote. Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer, two key committee Democrats who said last week they would vote for confirmation, gave him the majority vote needed to advance his nomination. Every panel Republican voted for Mukasey and every other Democrat opposed the nomination. Feinstein, D-Calif., argued that a leaderless...
November 7, 2007
Democrats Hold Veteran Spending Hostage
House Democrats will try to keep George Bush from vetoing their expanded domestic spending by tying the noncontroversial Veterans Administration spending to it. The attempt to extort approval for Democratic budget expansion has already started to backfire, as Republicans moderates have abandoned a budget they may have otherwise supported -- and the Senate will undo their work in any case: Congressional Democrats stumbled ahead Tuesday with a plan lumping the popular budget for veterans programs with a health and education bill that President Bush has promised to veto. House Democratic leaders slated a vote on the House-Senate compromise bill for Tuesday night in an apparent attempt to use the politically untouchable veterans budget to increase the vote tally for the health and education funding bill, a top Democratic priority that fell just short of a veto-proof margin this summer. But if anything, the power play solidified GOP opposition to the...
November 8, 2007
Charlie's Monument To His Donors
Charlie Rangel recently cost the American taxpayer $3 million in earmarks for his Monument to Me, a series of proposals to fund programs at CCNY that use his name as titles. Rangel may cost American taxpayers billions with his latest tax schemes, one of which benefits those nearest and dearest to his campaign coffers -- including a donor already undergoing an IRS audit: The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has proposed legislation that would effectively halt some current tax audits of people who get a tax break for living and operating a business in the United States Virgin Islands. Many beneficiaries of the tax break are campaign contributors to the lawmaker, Representative Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of New York, according to data collected by CQ MoneyLine, which tracks political contributions. At least one of them, Richard G. Vento, is currently under audit, according to court filings. Mr....
November 9, 2007
Mukasey Confirmed
The Senate stayed up past its bedtime last night to struggle with the confirmation for a man Democrats pushed as a "consensus candidate" for Attorney General. Instead of a smooth start to Judge Michael Mukasey's short tenure as the head of the Department of Justice, the Democrats turned the vote into a bitter partisan contest -- and still lost: A divided Senate narrowly confirmed former federal judge Michael B. Mukasey last night as the 81st attorney general, giving the nominee the lowest level of congressional support of any Justice Department leader in the past half-century. The 53 to 40 vote came after more than four hours of impassioned floor debate, and it reflected an effort by Democrats to register their displeasure with Bush administration policies on torture and the boundaries of presidential power. The final tally gave Mukasey the lowest number of yes votes for any attorney general since 1952,...
Bush Goes To 4-1 On Vetoes
As expected, Congress overrode George Bush's veto on a popular water-works appropriation bill that added over 50% in pork while in conference committee. Last night, the Senate overrode the veto 79-14, with two Democrats joining 12 Republicans in a vain attempt to stop runaway spending. In this case, the pork-barrel express had a bipartisan crew: A year after Democrats won control of Capitol Hill, Congress delivered its clearest victory yet over President Bush yesterday, resoundingly overturning his veto of a $23 billion water resources measure -- the first veto override of Bush's presidency. The 79 to 14 vote in the Senate was followed last night by final passage of a huge, $151 billion health, education and labor spending bill. House and Senate negotiators also reached agreement on a transportation and housing bill that increases spending on highway repair in the wake of the Minneapolis bridge collapse and boosts foreclosure assistance...
November 14, 2007
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Remember when bridge used to occupy a place in American life where it brought people together rather than pushing them apart? Card games like bridge, rummy, and pinochle formed the center of social interaction in many communities, and gave people a way to connect when other issues divided them. The actions of one group of players in an international tournament has degraded that sense of community and introduced sharp divisions inside their organization (via Memeorandum): In the genteel world of bridge, disputes are usually handled quietly and rarely involve issues of national policy. But in a fight reminiscent of the brouhaha over an anti-Bush statement by Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in 2003, a team of women who represented the United States at the world bridge championships in Shanghai last month is facing sanctions, including a yearlong ban from competition, for a spur-of-the-moment protest. At issue is a crudely...
November 15, 2007
Did Mukasey Insist On Reopening The TSP Investigation?
Michael Mukasey has gotten off to an auspicious start in his first week on the job as Attorney General. He has apparently convinced the Bush administration to authorize the necessary clearances to re-open the Justice probe into the role its attorneys played in the NSA's terrorist surveillance program (TSP). Congress had wanted an accounting of the establishment of legal parameters for the warrantless surveillance program, and had been stymied under Alberto Gonzales' tenure: The Justice Department said yesterday that it has reopened an internal investigation of the role played by its lawyers in the administration's warrantless surveillance program, marking a notable policy shift just days into the tenure of new Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey. The investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility was abandoned in July 2006 after President Bush refused to give security clearances to the OPR lawyers conducting the investigation, according to documents and congressional testimony. That...
November 16, 2007
Deferring Immunity
The Senate Judiciary Committee decided to punt on the question of telecom immunity for the moment. By a 10-9 vote, they stripped the proposed changes to FISA legislation of any reference to protecting communications companies from expensive lawsuits for cooperating with the NSA on surveillance. The topic will go to the full Senate for debate while members of both parties look for a compromise solution that will keep the White House from vetoing the legislation: Reflecting the deep divisions within Congress over granting legal immunity to telephone companies for cooperating with the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a new domestic surveillance law on Thursday that sidestepped the issue. By a 10 to 9 vote, the committee approved an overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that dropped a key provision for immunity for telecommunications companies that another committee had already approved. The Senate...
November 17, 2007
The Silly Season Keeps Congress In Session
In one of the sillier moves in this session of Congress, Harry Reid will have the Senate gaveled to order every four days in the next few weeks, just to ensure that George Bush will make no recess appointments. As few as two Senators may be present for these operations, but that will be just enough to extend the bitterness over the battle to nominate and confirm presidential appointments to federal agencies and the judiciary: Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), in a showdown with the White House over executive branch nominations, refused yesterday to formally adjourn the chamber for a planned two-week Thanksgiving break in order to thwart President Bush's ability to make recess appointments. Rather than allowing the Senate to take a full break, Reid employed a rarely used parliamentary tactic by scheduling "pro forma" sessions twice a week until early December, when Congress returns for three...
Unfortunately, This Qualifies As A Minor Democratic Scandal
A nude woman fleeing a groping imposter? Lying about academic credentials in court? Owning a controlling interest in a Texas law firm without having a license to practice law? In these days of Norman Hsu and the Fujian fundraising scandals, this case may only qualify as a minor embarrassment to Hillary Clinton and Texas Democrats. Mauricio Celis got indicted on a slew of charges yesterday as I left Corpus Christi, and the fundraiser may join Hsu in the rogues' gallery for the 2008 cycle: A major contributor to Democratic causes and political races was indicted Friday on charges of falsely holding himself out as a lawyer and impersonating a public servant. Mauricio Celis, a Corpus Christi businessman, has a controlling interest in the CGT Law Group of Corpus Christi even though he is not a lawyer. Now, he's being accused of practicing law without a license. Texas law prohibits anyone...
November 18, 2007
Right Question, Wrong Questioner
I have little patience for wealthy televangelists who flaunt their riches as a badge of honor while representing a religion that eschews material pursuits. They deserve the criticism they receive for their self-aggrandizement -- but some of their more notable critics have little room to talk. Congress wants the IRS to take on televangelists while their own members greedily suck up lobbyist money and repay them in billions of dollars in pork: A U.S. senator is putting a new and troubling spin on the question: "What would Jesus drive?" Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who is pressing tax-exempt churches to be more open about their finances, told The Times that "Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey." Given that example, Grassley asked, "Do these ministers really need Bentleys and Rolls-Royces to spread the Gospel?" Actually, they do, according to a politician who attends a Georgia church that...
November 19, 2007
The Lagging Indicator
When a newspaper really misses the point, they usually do so on the front page. The Washington Post does that today in an intriguing but incomplete analysis of the sudden reinvigoration of the Bush administration. While Peter Baker notes that the White House seems to have started a winning streak at home and abroad, he wonders whether it will ever move the needle on Bush's approval ratings, without asking the next question: The war in Iraq seems to have taken a turn for the better and the opposition at home has failed in all efforts to impose its own strategy. North Korea is dismantling its nuclear program. The budget deficit is falling. A new attorney general has been confirmed despite objections from the left. After more than two years of being buffeted by one political disaster after another, President Bush and his strategists think they may finally be getting back...
Not The Government's Business
Can an employer set conditions for staff to use only English in the workplace? The EEOC believes that to be discriminatory, and has launched lawsuits at a number of companies to stop them from doing so — including the Salvation Army, one of the most respected charitable institutions in America. Both the House and Senate passed language overruling the EEOC’s interpretation, but now Nancy Pelosi may strip the language after facing a rebellion from the Hispanic Caucus. At Heading Right, I wonder why the Hispanic Caucus wants to pick a fight on this subject. The EEOC action will create more discrimination than it resolves, thanks to the natural reaction of the market to its costly burden on businesses. Employers have rational reasons to ask employees to communicate in a common language, and arguing for more government intervention will not likely be a winning message in future elections....
November 20, 2007
Wounded Warriors Hit A Second Time -- In The Wallet
In a story that only makes sense in Bureaucratia, soldiers and Marines wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan face a second hit to the wallet on their return home. If their wounds cause them to be discharged from the service, the Department of Defense sends them a medal -- and a bill (via Memeorandum): The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments. To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases. Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back. You read that right, even if you had to blink twice and reread it to be sure. The DoD has sent letters telling wounded soldiers and Marines...
November 21, 2007
Good News For GOP In Nebraska
The Republicans need some good news in the upcoming Congressional races for 2008. Faced with a slew of retirements and a tough numerical disadvantage in the Senate races, the GOP's prospects for gains look bleak, especially in the upper chamber. However, they appear to have firmed up their prospects for a hold in Nebraska, as the expected primary challenge has ended: Former Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns (R) has a clear path to the Senate, at least for the time being, after Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning (R) dropped out of the race for retiring Sen. Chuck Hagel’s (R-Neb.) seat on Tuesday. The Associated Press reported that, at a press conference in Omaha, Bruning said he was ending his months-old campaign, which had raised $1 million and threatened Hagel with a primary challenge before the senator announced he would not run again. Johanns, who entered the race after Hagel’s departure, was...
Marcus Vs Krugman (Vs Krugman)
People don’t often get to see the equivalent of blogwars between major media columnists, but Ruth Marcus gives Washington Post readers a special treat in her column this morning. She takes on Paul Krugman, who inexplicably has turned into a Social Security crisis skeptic after years of nearly-hysterical warnings about imminent collapse. After Krugman scolded Barack Obama for having the temerity to consider Social Security concerns and criticized the Post editorial board for its supposed panic on the issue, Marcus decided to take a stroll down Paul Krugman Memory Lane. What caused Krugman to reverse himself so baldly? At Heading Right, I explain that it was the same thing that caused most of the Democrats to also do an about-face on Social Security. Nothing frightens Democrats like George Bush, and in this case, it caused most of them to lose their minds on the fiscal time bomb of Social Security....
November 23, 2007
Can You See Me Now?
Federal agents routinely request tracking data from cellphone companies to determine the travel and assembly habits of suspects, and courts have granted them unusual leeway in obtaining the data. Are these terrorist suspects that could present a clear and imminent danger to the lives of Americans? No — just drug dealers and other usual suspects of American crime. Why, then, do the courts allow this tracking without the normal establishment of probable cause? At Heading Right, I look past the somewhat-misleading tilt of the article, which makes this sound like an NSA-style "warrantless surveillance" program, which it isn't. Federal agents get warrants, but without making a factual basis for probable cause. In counterterrorist efforts where thousands of American lives could be at risk, Americans could understand the wide latitude courts give for such requests, but should that apply to normal criminal investigations? Also at Heading Right, JASmius takes a look...
November 25, 2007
Bad Economy? Not So Far, Although Good Luck Reading About It
As a presidential election draws near, the opposition party inevitably begins talking about how poor the economy has begun. This election has seen an early start to this kind of talk, recalling the 2004 rhetoric about how the rebounding US economy then resembled the Great Depression -- laughable in retrospect and educational in review. It appears that Christmas shoppers have both laughed and learned this weekend as well: The nation's retailers had a robust start to the holiday shopping season, according to results announced Saturday by a national research group that tracks sales at retail outlets across the country. According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets, total sales rose 8.3 percent to about $10.3 billion on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, compared with $9.5 billion on the same day a year ago. ShopperTrak had expected an increase of no more than 4 percent...
November 26, 2007
Bringing Their Own Dimes
Two years ago, we recommended that Republican donors withhold contributions to the party's Congressional and Senate committees to send a message regarding their support for incumbents who didn't get the message about spending, judicial confirmations, and a wide variety of other issues of importance to Republican voters. While that effort was limited to 2005, the committees have seen their donations decrease ever since. Now they trail the Democrats by significant margins, and they have begun to look for BYOD candidates -- as in bring your own dime (via CapQ reader Mr. Morelock): Confronting an enormous fund-raising gap with Democrats, Republican Party officials are aggressively recruiting wealthy candidates who can spend large sums of their own money to finance their Congressional races, party officials say. At this point, strategists for the National Republican Congressional Committee have enlisted wealthy candidates to run in at least a dozen competitive Congressional districts nationwide, particularly...
Lott To Retire
A difficult season for the Senate Republican Caucus just got tougher with the retirement of Trent Lott, the Minority Whip -- at least in the short term. The four-term Senator from Mississippi will leave the Senate at the end of the year, and the Republicans will have to scramble to ensure that they keep the seat in GOP hands: Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, plans to resign his seat before the end of the year, congressional and White House officials said Monday. Lott, 66, scheduled two news conferences in Pascagoula and Jackson later in the day to reveal his plans. According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement, Lott intends to resign effective at the end of the year. No reason for Lott's resignation was given, but according to a congressional official, there is nothing amiss with Lott's health....
November 27, 2007
The American Non-Empire
The charge of empire-building gets made repeatedly by critics of the United States, to the point where counterargument rarely occurs. This passivity comes in part from the unquestionable international military reach of the US and its commercial, cultural, and political influence around the world. However, the term "empire" means much more than influence and reach, as Jonah Goldberg notes in today's Los Angeles Times: Critics of American foreign policy point to the fact that the U.S. does many things that empires once did -- police the seas, deploy militaries abroad, provide a lingua franca and a global currency -- and then rest their case. But noting that X does many of the same things as Y does not mean that X and Y are the same thing. The police provide protection, and so does the Mafia. Orphanages raise children, but they aren't parents. If your wife cleans your home, tell...
Congress, The AAA Affiliate Of K Street
In days past, politicians only turned to lobbying when their constituents had had enough of them, as The Politico reminds us. Now, however, with millions of dollars chasing billions in federal contracts and grants, lobbying and public service have changed places. Trent Lott's sudden retirement may signal that a Congressional career may serve as the minor leagues in pork-barrel politics. Congress has become the minor leagues of lobbying. At Heading Right, I note that Lott's rise to the K Street majors comes as no accident. Congress can blame itself for becoming its AAA affiliate....
Should The FCC Regulate Cable?
The Federal Communications Commission chair has declared that the thresholds of cable penetration have exceeded the minimum necessary for FCC regulation and intends on bringing cable under its jurisdiction. Kevin Martin may not have a majority of commissioners on his side, however, and Congress has bristled at the notion of an expansion of agency power. The heart of the issue lies in whether cable is a monopoly, where market forces have little sway: The Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote today on whether it will consider applying broad regulations to a cable television industry that has been largely unregulated at the federal level for more than 20 years. FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin is pushing the commission to take up the issue, but support among other members is uncertain and the vote is part of a crowded agenda still being assembled last night in a process one staff member...
November 29, 2007
About That Economy ....
As the presidential election continues to draw nearer, we keep hearing about our collapsing economy from the usual media hysterics. The housing market is near collapse! The credit crunch! The subprime markets are melting, melting, I say! Well, what about the actual economy? Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 4.9 percent in the third quarter of 2007, according to preliminary estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.8 percent. The GDP estimates released today are based on more complete source data than were available for the advance estimates issued last month. In the advance estimates, the increase in real GDP was 3.9 percent ... The increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from exports, personal...
December 4, 2007
The Myth Of The Anti-Muslim Hate Crime Wave
To hear CAIR tell the story, Americans have conducted a wave of hate crimes against Muslims that put them at greater and greater risk as time goes on. They highlight every perceived injustice as a means of shaming Americans into believing that Muslims in our midst have been the greatest victims of terrorism, thanks to our innate bigotry. However, as Investors Business Daily discovered when they looked at the FBI's numbers, anti-Muslim hate crime has dropped dramatically since 9/11 -- and another group remains far more likely to be victimized: Not only are anti-Islamic hate crimes way down, but they're a fraction of overall religious hate crimes. The overwhelming majority of such crimes target Jews, something CAIR and other Muslim groups don't seem all that concerned about. In 2006, a whopping 66% of religiously motivated attacks were on Jews, while just 11% targeted Muslims, even though the Jewish and Muslim...
Where's Option B?
Congress has little courage in an election year. The Los Angeles Times reaches this startling conclusion today in a report on the prospects for fiscal responsibility in 2008. With all of Congress, a third of the Senate, and the White House up for grabs, it looks like pandering will take the place of discipline, to no one’s great shock. Fiscal responsibility means more than just jacking up taxes to match an increased spending level, as the Democrats believe. It’s more than just the Republican plan of cutting taxes, too, although that’s at least a start in the right direction. At Heading Right, I explain the option that Congress and the media have forgotten, and one on which voters must insist in the next election....
December 5, 2007
Dan Bartlett Burns A Bridge
Dan Bartlett, former White House communications director, won't keep many friends in the blogosphere after this interview in Texas Monthly. When asked about the relationship between the Bush White House and conservative bloggers, Bartlett responded that, in the words of Forrest Gump, the two were just like peas and carrots. Bartlett bragged that bloggers allowed the message to get through unfiltered -- very unfiltered (via TPM): What about the blogs? We had to set up a whole new apparatus to deal with the challenges they pose. Are they real journalists? The Washington Post, for example, has journalists who are now bloggers. Do you treat them as bloggers? Do they get credentials? Let’s think of it as a practical matter. If one of those journalists-turned-bloggers, Chris Cillizza, e-mails you to say he needs an interview, and at the same time one of the Post’s print reporters—say, Dan Balz—e-mails you and says...
December 7, 2007
Still Ignoring Option B
The Washington Post reports on the anguish of the Democrats in fixing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), one of the dumbest ongoing fiscal issues over the last several years. Why the anguish? Democrats can't find another tax to replace the AMT revenue this year. The Democrats in this article act as though they have only one choice in dealing with the AMT, which is to play a shell game and find another way to tax Americans. Even the Republicans in the article, gleeful over forcing Democrats to violate Paygo, seem to forget that other options exist for fiscal responsibility. At Heading Right, I remind Congress that the budget "hole" supposedly blown by the AMT fix amounts to a whopping 1.67% of the federal spending plan for next year. Congressional anguish over fixing the ludicrously broken AMT apparently has clouded their minds so much that they've forgotten about the option to...
Hate Crime Expansion Dropped
The hate-crime expansion legislation that Ted Kennedy attached to the military spending authorization bill has disappeared, thanks to a veto threat by the White House. The suddenly-relevant and somewhat ascendant Bush administration forced a conference committee to drop the controversial amendment, with House Democrats unwilling to force a confrontation they would lose with the President: House and Senate negotiators yesterday nixed a measure to expand hate-crime protections, removing it from a Pentagon policy bill that is now likely to pass both chambers by wide margins. Negotiations on the defense authorization bill had bogged down, with House Democratic leaders worried that they did not have enough votes to pass the bill if it included the hate-crime measure. The bill, which has been vigorously supported by gay rights groups, would have extended hate-crime protections to victims based on gender, sexual orientation or disability. ... House Democrats already faced a loss of support...
December 8, 2007
A Market Free Of Consequences Is Not Free
For an administration eager to promote policies of free trade and free markets, the Bush White House seems unwilling to live by its consequences. Instead of allowing the mortgage market to operate freely, the Treasury Department will force lenders to freeze adjustable-rate mortgages at artificially low interest rates to keep bad loans from defaulting -- at least for now. The five-year freeze essentially removes the obvious inherent risk of ARMs, forcing lenders to further subsidize those who chose unwisely. Mark Steyn takes up the topic in today's column (via McQ at QandO): Last week the Bush administration decided to "freeze" for five years the interest rates of certain types of mortgages. You've probably caught the tail end of news stories about "subprime" home loans, lots of foreclosures, etc. Never a happy moment when the bank takes the farm. So now the government has stepped in and said that, if you...
December 9, 2007
Biden Wants To Pass The Buck
Joe Biden told ABC News this morning that the destruction of tapes by the CIA warrants a special prosecutor for the investigation. He reminded George Stephanopolous that he had voted against Michael Mukasey for Attorney General because of his answers on the legality of waterboarding, and that he cannot be trusted to investigate the actions taken by the CIA to destroy evidence of its use: A Senate Democratic leader said Sunday the attorney general should appoint a special counsel to investigate the CIA's destruction of videotaped interrogations of two suspected terrorists. Sen. Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential candidate and chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, cited Michael Mukasey's refusal during confirmation hearings in October to describe waterboarding as torture. .... "I just think it's clearer and crisper and everyone will know what the truth ... if he appoints a special counsel, steps back from it," said Biden, D-Del. "I...
December 10, 2007
Libby Will End Appeals
In a striking retreat, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby will not pursue any appeals of his conviction for obstruction of justice and perjury. His attorney says that the "burden ... of complete vindication" proved too much for Lewis and his family. However, given the short period of time since his conviction and sentence commutation, it appears more that Lewis doesn't believe he can achieve any kind of vindication, at least not through the courts: Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is dropping his appeal in the CIA leak case, his attorney said Monday. Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of perjury and obstruction for lying about his conversations with reporters about outed CIA operative Valerie Plame. "We remain firmly convinced of Mr. Libby's innocence," attorney Theodore Wells said. "However, the realities were, that after five years of government service by Mr. Libby...
December 13, 2007
Do-Nothing Congress Divides Democrats
The Democrats promised a new approach to legislation when they took control of Congress at the beginning of the year. No one knew that the new approach would mean doing almost nothing and blowing off budgeting until almost the end of the first quarter of the new fiscal year. Democrats in particular didn't think it meant having the Senate undo almost all of their work while under Democratic leadership. Now the Democrats have fallen into a public family feud, with members in both chambers bitterly criticizing each other for their failures. Here's the House: House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) accuses Senate Democratic leaders of developing "Stockholm syndrome," showing sympathy to their Republican captors by caving in on legislation ... And the Senate: Reid, in turn, has taken to the Senate floor to criticize what he called the speaker's "iron hand" style of governance. And the...
December 14, 2007
Dogs And Cats, Living Together Creates Minor Hysteria
Sean Lengell starts off his Washington Times article on the energy-bill compromise with a bit of undeserved triumphalism. Although not inaccurate in a narrow sense, the agreement on the energy bill to remove an onerous tax doesn't quite equate to surrender, but rather an uncommon occurrence in the Beltway -- an actual process of consensus legislation: Senate Democrats yesterday bowed to Republicans and stripped a proposed tax increase for oil companies from a broad energy bill, clearing the way for passage of the measure that includes the first increase in vehicle gas-mileage standards in 32 years. The bill, designed to make the nation less dependent on fossil fuels and which calls for greater use of renewable energy sources, passed 86-8 and now heads back to the House for final approval. "Compromise can be frustrating, it can be exasperating, and it can be maddening," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada...
December 19, 2007
One Congressional Action To Cheer
Somewhere in the maelstrom of double-dealing in the dark on Capitol Hill yesterday in passing the omnibus bill, a small ray of sunshine broke out. Congress passed a bill that puts a few more teeth in the Freedom of Information Act, which will help citizens get information from their own government in a more timely manner. The improvements will ensure that delays hit the government where they least like it: Taking aim at Bush administration secrecy, Congress yesterday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would toughen the Freedom of Information Act and penalize government agencies that fail to surrender public documents on time. The bill would speed the process of releasing government documents to the public under the FOIA, as the act is known, and broaden the information available to the public by including, for example, additional government contracting information. The measure passed the House by voice vote yesterday, less than...
December 20, 2007
More Independence At Justice
Michael Mukasey promised Congress during his confirmation hearings that he would operate the Department of Justice in a more independent manner than his predecessor. Yesterday, he took a big step in that direction with an order limiting contacts between Justice and the White House. Communications on pending criminal and civil cases will only get conducted through a limited number of channels (via Memeorandum): Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey issued new restrictions yesterday on contacts between Justice Department and White House officials regarding ongoing criminal or civil investigations, implementing his first major policy revision since taking office on Nov. 9. Mukasey had promised to institute new guidelines in the wake of the U.S. attorney firings scandal, in which lawmakers and some prosecutors alleged that White House political aides and other officials were inappropriately informed about details of criminal or civil probes. The new guidelines would restrict such communication but would still...
Tastes Great, But Less Filling
The Democrats have ended their first year controlling Congress since 1994, and they now return home with much less self-congratulation than when they arrived triumphantly in January. The taste of success turned bitter when their leadership found they could not get their agenda past a suprisingly resilient opposition, and discovered the hard way that presidents are never irrelevant. Still, they have not learned that they created most of the problems themselves: Congressional Democrats ended their first year in control of Congress in more than a decade Wednesday, approving a $555-billion government spending measure that gave President Bush $70 billion for an Iraq war they had promised to end. And underscoring the frustrations that have beset the new majority much of the year, Democratic leaders left the Capitol complaining that much of their agenda had been thwarted by congressional Republicans who repeatedly stopped their most cherished initiatives. "We could have accomplished...
December 21, 2007
Congressional Dems Want Surrender On Surrender
Congressional Democrats have finally tired of fighting for surrender and will pressure Nancy Pelosi to end the battles over Iraq war funding. The Politico reports that Pelosi and Harry Reid haven't gotten the message yet, even with the fatigue clearly showing in their latest efforts to block war funding without strings attached: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, despite their pledges to continue pushing to end the war in Iraq, face growing pressure from their rank-and-file Democrats to focus more attention on domestic, “pocketbook” issues in the upcoming election year. Junior Democrats describe an “Iraq fatigue” setting in among some members after dozens of successful withdrawal votes failed to drive a wedge between Republicans and President Bush on the war strategy. The restless Democrats acknowledge the war issue remains critically important for the country, but they would like to see their leaders tone down the rhetoric...
December 24, 2007
Rodriguez Wants Immunity
Jose Rodriguez, the Director of Operations for the CIA who apparently ordered the destruction of videotaped interrogations of high-value al-Qaeda detainees, wants immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony. The demand deepens the fog around the decision to destroy the tapes at the same time that Congress took an interest in waterboarding and indicates that the buck did not stop at his desk. The Times of London reports that Rodriguez had contacted White House staff on the issue before ordering the destruction, which will certainly tempt Congress to offer the deal (via Memeorandum): THE CIA chief who ordered the destruction of secret videotapes recording the harsh interrogation of two top Al-Qaeda suspects has indicated he may seek immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying before the House intelligence committee. Jose Rodriguez, former head of the CIA’s clandestine service, is determined not to become the fall guy in the controversy...
December 26, 2007
Give Up Energy Or The Fat Man Gets It
The San Francisco Chronicle must have had a tough time getting letters to publish for its Christmas edition. That's the only explanation for including this very strange effort to plug global warming as a threat to Christmas (via Fausta and Michelle): Santa is deeply concerned with the rapid shrinking of the North Pole. For generations, he has depended on swift, reliable and environmentally friendly reindeer power. If we do not change our lifestyle soon and seek alternative energy sources, future generations will not experience the thrill of seeing Santa flying over the rooftops on Christmas Eve, and the only happy soul will be the Grinch, who wants to see a Christmas meltdown. What is the target audience for this rather strange argument? Does the Chronicle want kids to read on Christmas morning that the lights on their tree will kill Santa, or that the economy that produces all of the...
The Foregone Conclusion Will Get Broadcast Live
The NFL put an end to one of the dumbest controversies in politics this season, and an end to grandstanding by a Congress that has accomplished next to none of its own business. The league has decided to have CBS and NBC join the NFL Network in televising the final regular-season game of the New England Patriots: After weeks of insisting they wouldn’t cave in, NFL officials did just that Wednesday. Now all of America can see the Patriots’ shot at history. Saturday night’s game between New England and the New York Giants on the NFL Network, which is available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation’s homes with TVs, will be simulcast on CBS and NBC. The Patriots could become the first NFL team to go 16-0 in the regular season. Could? The Patriots have proven themselves as operating at another level, while the Giants have struggled to...
December 28, 2007
A Strange Veto Threat
First George Bush couldn't find his veto pen, and now it looks like he wants to wear it out before the end of his term in 13 months. Today, the White House announced that it would veto the hard-won defense authorization bill that passed with huge majorities in both chambers of Congress, which had been until now a legislative victory for the administration. The reason has Congressional leadership apoplectic: President Bush will veto a huge Defense Department bill because of concerns by the Iraqi government that Iraqi assets in American banks could be vulnerable to claims from victims of Saddam Hussein, the White House said Friday in Texas. “The new democratic government of Iraq, during this crucial period of reconstruction, cannot afford to have its funds entangled in such lawsuits in the United States,” Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman, said in a statement. Mr. Stanzel said the president objects...
December 31, 2007
Wicker To The Senate
In a refreshing diversion from primary politics, Mississippi has a new Senator to replace the retired Trent Lott. Roger Wicker will ascend from the House to the upper chamber, and will also run for the seat in the special election on November 4th: Republican Haley Barbour's choice to succeed Sen. Trent Lott is Rep. Roger Wicker, a conservative congressman, congressional officials with knowledge of the selection process said Monday. Wicker, 56, will serve until a special election is held, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made. Wicker is expected to be a candidate in the special election, which Barbour has scheduled for Nov. 4. Wicker had been mentioned as a possible successor since Lott's resignation this month after serving one year of a six-year term. Lott's term runs through 2012. Wicker looks like a safe choice for Barbour. He represents...
How To Succeed In New York Politics
How does one get ahead in New York state politics? Locating the skeletons -- and then taking an expensive vacation to keep them buried. That's apparently how Herbert Teitelbaum scored a $15,000 raise after starting an investigation of Governor Eliot Spitzer (via Jazz Shaw at Middle Earth Journal): THE man supposedly leading a key state probe of Gov. Spitzer and the Dirty Tricks Scandal has abruptly taken a 21/2-week vacation in South America - after secretly receiving a $15,000 pay raise, The Post has learned. Recently hired Public Integrity Commission Executive Director Herbert Teitelbaum's extended vacation in Argentina has left stunned commission employees questioning his commitment to a probe aimed at determining if Spitzer and his aides broke the law by using the State Police in an effort to politically damage Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer.) ... Teitelbaum, a longtime Manhattan lawyer with close ties to Spitzer's aides, was...
January 2, 2008
Justice To Open Criminal Probe On CIA Videotapes
Michael Mukasey has decided to open a criminal investigation into the destruction of videotaped interrogations conducted by the CIA that included waterboarding. John Durham, the federal prosecutor for Connecticut, will head the probe. It raises the stakes for everyone involved in the destruction of the tapes, which the CIA denied ever having and kept from the 9/11 Commission: The Justice Department opened a full criminal investigation Wednesday into the destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes, putting the politically charged probe in the hands of a mob-busting public corruption prosecutor with a reputation as being independent. Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced that he was appointing John Durham, a federal prosecutor in Connecticut, to oversee the investigation of a case that has challenged the Bush administration's controversial handling of terrorism suspects. The CIA acknowledged last month that in 2005 it destroyed videos of officers using tough interrogation methods while questioning two al-Qaida suspects....
January 3, 2008
Zelikow: This Is Not 20 Questions
Yesterday, Michael Mukasey appointed a prosecutor to begin a criminal investigation into the destruction of tapes by the CIA depicting, among other actions, interrogations of al-Qaeda terrorists using waterboarding. The destruction of the tapes came two years after a commission appointed by Congress and the President requested all relevant materials to the CIA's efforts before and after 9/11 to counter the threat from al-Qaeda. Not only did the CIA fail to provide the tapes, they never even told the 9/11 Commission they existed. In fact, the CIA told the commission -- as well as the federal court trying Zacarias Moussaoui -- that no such recordings ever existed, either through omission (with the Hamilton/Kean panel) or commission (the Moussaoui trial). Some have questioned whether the former, at least, amounts to criminal obstruction. Former Bush administration official and 9/11 Commission staffer Philip Zelikow writes to my friends at Power Line to clarify...
January 9, 2008
FEC Now An Advisory Board
The Federal Election Commission will not issue rulings for the foreseeable future, but only advisory opinions. The FEC no longer has enough directors to meet its quorum requirements, and thanks to a standoff between Congress and George Bush, it cannot enforce federal election laws: Down to two members and unable to muster a quorum, the Federal Election Commission has decided to offer advice instead of binding decisions on questions from political campaigns. This week, organizations with pending requests for decisions from the six-member FEC on campaign matters received phone calls from agency staffers letting them know not to expect formal rulings anytime soon. The groups were told that the FEC's two remaining members will hold a public hearing Jan. 24 to share their informal views on the requests. The board lacks the four votes needed for the commission to take official action on a number of matters, including enforcement cases....
No One Will Miss You
Philip Agee has died in Cuba during surgery for a perforated ulcer. Agee, 72, worked for the CIA in Latin America until he wrote a book in 1975 that revealed the names of agents, allegedly leading to their deaths in some cases: Agee worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for 12 years in Washington, Ecuador, Uruguay and Mexico. He resigned in 1968 in disagreement with U.S. support for military dictatorships in Latin America and became one of the first to blow the whistle on the CIA's activities around the world. His book "Inside the Company: CIA Diary" revealed the names of agents in Latin America and was published in 27 languages. ... Agee went to live in London but was deported by Britain in 1976 at the request of then secretary of state Henry Kissinger. The U.S. government revoked his passport three years later. Barbara Bush, the wife of former...
January 11, 2008
Government Cheese
Michael Bloomberg may be mulling a run for the presidency, but he'd better take care to keep the photographers away when he gets the munchies. After pushing through a ban on trans-fats in New York City restaurants, Bloomberg got his photo snapped by Wired Magazine while munching on a bag of Cheez-Its in the office. So what's in a bag of Cheez-Its? 220 calories 11g total fat 360mg sodium 25g carbohydrate 5g protein Newsday columnist Justin Rocket Silverman notes the hypocrisy: After gaining national media attention for spearheading an almost total ban on trans fats in city restaurants starting last July, Bloomberg was photographed in this month's issue of Wired magazine munching on those very same dangerous fats. The photo, which accompanies a short Q&A about technology and politics, features Bloomberg at his City Hall desk, looking thoughtful and serious. Meanwhile, his right hand is seen almost absent-mindedly pulling a...
January 14, 2008
The Lost Congress Returns And Will Remain Lost
Congress returns for its second half of the 110th tomorrow, and the forecast looks a lot like the recap of its first half. The pressing issues at the top of the agenda both come from vetoes by the White House. With the election pressing, we can expect more of the same. At Heading Right, I note that all of the reasons why the first half of Congress failed remain, and that new pressures from the election will amplify them. Chief among these reasons: the Democrats have not replaced Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, despite their disastrous leadership in the first half of the 110th. Maybe this year, they can drive their approval ratings into single digits....
January 15, 2008
The Conveniently Lost Contracts Of Campaign Contributors
Another scandal involving Indian gaming, campaign contributions, and potential misdeeds by government officials has erupted in California. Four tribes proposed expanding their gaming and sent the requests to the Department of the Interior last September. The DoI had 45 days to review the proposals and to deny them, if needed. However, the requests from the politically-connected tribes somehow got lost for three months, forcing automatic approvals of the lucrative expansions when they mysteriously reappeared (via CapQ reader Mark): Four California Indian gambling agreements, deals worth perhaps more than $50 billion, went missing for nearly three months after they were sent to Interior in early September. The disappearance forced the agency to approve the agreements automatically without any review, even though they still face a statewide vote on California's Feb. 5 ballot. Interior officials have dismissed the blunder as a mistake by an unknown employee. But they cannot explain how they...
January 16, 2008
Did The Buck Stop With Rodriguez?
The videotapes containing interrogations of al-Qaeda terrorists, including depictions of waterboarding, got destroyed because the man who ordered the action believed he had "implicit support" to do so from the CIA, according to his lawyer. Jose Rodriguez acted on requests from the CIA station chief in Bangkok to resolve the status of the tapes before the chief's retirement. After consultations with CIA lawyers and other officials in the agency, Rodriguez believed he could act to destroy the tapes and all of the evidence they contained: In late 2005, the retiring CIA station chief in Bangkok sent a classified cable to his superiors in Langley asking if he could destroy videotapes recorded at a secret CIA prison in Thailand that in part portrayed intelligence officers using simulated drowning to extract information from suspected al-Qaeda members. The tapes had been sitting in the station chief's safe, in the U.S. Embassy compound, for...
Bless The Poor And The Stupid?
Most people would respond to the birth of a child with a hearty Mazel Tov! or a cigar. The Associated Press, here through the Los Angeles Times, decides to wear sackcloth and ashes. A baby boomlet in the United States -- which merely returned us briefly to viability -- gets blamed on a lack of abortions, poverty, and stupidity: The nearly 4.3 million births in 2006 were mostly due to a bigger population, especially a growing number of Latinos. That group accounted for nearly one-quarter of all U.S. births. But non-Latino white women and other racial and ethnic groups were having more babies too. An Associated Press review of births dating to 1909 found the total in the U.S. was the highest since 1961, near the end of the baby boom. An examination of global data also shows that the United States has a higher fertility rate than every country...
January 17, 2008
Rodriguez Defied Orders: Hoekstra
The focus of the Congressional investigation into the destruction of videotapes at the CIA has tightened on Jose Rodriguez. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) told reporters that Rodriguez had defied orders to preserve the tapes, appearing after a second day of closed-door testimony. The House Intelligence Committee had just heard from John Rizzo, the highest-ranking lawyer at the CIA during that period: A senior House Republican said information gathered by the House Intelligence Committee indicated that a high-ranking CIA official ordered the destruction of videotapes depicting agency interrogation sessions even though he was directed not to do so. The remark by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) contradicts previous accounts that suggested that Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., the CIA official who ordered the tapes destroyed, was never instructed to preserve them. Hoekstra's statement was quickly challenged by Rodriguez's lawyer. "It appears he hadn't gotten authority from anyone" to order the tapes' destruction, Hoekstra,...
Not Celebrating This One
A few in the blogosphere have decided to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Ten years ago, the Drudge Report first broke the story that would eventually lead to Bill Clinton's impeachment -- and some say Hillary Clinton's career in the Senate, although that seems a bit of a stretch. It marred politics and deepened the bitter partisanship that had begun with Watergate and worsened with the Robert Bork confirmation process. Worse, it embarrassed the United States and it brought the government to a standstill. It impacted our efforts to respond to both Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, and in the end brought nothing but misery for everyone involved. I don't see anything in particular to celebrate here....
January 18, 2008
Dollar Bill: FBI Agents Are Big Meanies
William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson wants the court tasked with trying him for corruption to throw out all of the evidence collected at his home. Why? According to his testimony yesterday, FBI agents treated him harshly during the search and cursed at him: Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) testified yesterday that an FBI agent cursed at him and told him that "this is going to be the worst day of your life," just before agents searched his Louisiana home as part of the investigation that led to corruption charges against him. At one point during the tense interview at his house in August 2005, Jefferson said, an FBI agent followed him to the bathroom. "I told him, 'Are you going to the bathroom with me?' " Jefferson said in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. "He said, 'Yes.' " Minutes later, another agent informed Jefferson that $100,000 he had accepted from a...
January 21, 2008
Republicans Closing The Congressional Gap
After a disastrous 2006 election, Republicans lost control of Congress for the first time in twelve years. After a disastrous 2007 session, Democrats may have given Republicans a window of opportunity to take it back. Rasmussen reports that the GOP has closed the gap on the generic Congressional ballot question to five points, their best showing since November 2006: The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that, if the Congressional Election were held today, 43% of American voters say they would vote for the Democrat in their district and 38% would opt for the Republican (see crosstabs). That’s the closest Republicans have been on this measure since losing control of Congress in Election 2006. It’s also the first time in six months that the Democrat’s advantage has been in single digits. A month ago, the Democrats enjoyed a ten-point edge over the GOP. Democrats lead by eleven among women...
We As A People Will Get To The Promised Land
Martin Luther King, Jr said this on the day I turned 5 -- and the night before a lunatic assassinated him: We as a people will get to the promised land. I'd like to interpret that to mean Americans as a people will get there together, and only when all of us have arrived has anyone arrived. We are a lot closer than we were 40 years ago when Dr. King gave this eerily prophetic speech. When we do arrive, we have to ensure that we stay there, too....
January 24, 2008
Running On Empty
A group funded by labor unions that originally formed to oppose George Bush's plans for Social Security in 2005 will spend over $8 million in 2008 to try to keep Bush's approval ratings low. That strange mission will get launched this afternoon by Americans United for Change, who see that as a critical step in keeping Republicans from winning seats in Congress: A liberal advocacy group plans to spend $8.5 million in a drive to make sure President Bush's public approval doesn't improve as his days in the White House come to an end. Americans United for Change plans to undertake a yearlong campaign, spending the bulk of the money on advertising, to keep public attention on what the group says are the failures of the Bush administration, including the war in Iraq, the response to Hurricane Katrina, and the current mortgage crisis. In selling the plan to fundraisers, the...
The Diminishing Returns Of S-CHIP Expansion Votes
The Democrats staged another attempt to override a veto on S-CHIP expansion, with predictable results. Their refusal to negotiate with the White House produced even fewer Republican crossover votes in the House as the bill went down to defeat. The Democrats promised another try later in the session: House Democrats failed for the second time in nearly four months yesterday to override President Bush's veto of a proposed $35 billion expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The 260 to152 tally left backers of the legislation about 15 votes short of the two-thirds majority of lawmakers voting necessary to override the president's Dec. 12 veto. Forty-two Republicans supported the override attempt, two fewer than in the previous effort to reject Bush's Oct. 3 veto of an earlier version of the bill. .... "Ultimately, our goal should be to move children who have no health insurance to private coverage --...
January 25, 2008
Telecom Immunity Moves Forward In The Senate
The Bush administration won a legislative victory yesterday when the FISA bill that excluded immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperated with the NSA failed spectacularly in the Senate, leaving the path open to the immunity approach endorsed by the White House. The version without telecom immunity only garnered 36 votes in the upper chamber despite the Democrats' endorsement of it. Twelve of their members joined 48 Republicans in voting against it: The Senate signaled in a key vote yesterday that it supports giving some of the nation's largest telephone companies immunity from dozens of privacy lawsuits related to a federal domestic eavesdropping program initiated after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In a lopsided 60 to 36 vote -- with 12 Democrats joining Republicans in the majority -- the Senate rejected a version of the proposed legislation sponsored by Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. That bill omitted immunity for the telecommunications...
January 28, 2008
Last Song
George Bush makes his final State of the Union speech tonight, and according to the Washington Post, it will focus on two themes associated with the administration: economy and the war. The White House does not plan on turning the SOTU speech into a valediction, instead focusing on the tasks in front of the nation and the necessity of action in 2008. They only hope that they have an audience: For years, President Bush and his advisers expressed frustration that the White House received little credit for the nation's strong economic performance because of public discontent about the Iraq war. Today, the president is getting little credit for improved security in Iraq, as the public increasingly focuses on a struggling U.S. economy. That is the problem Bush faces as he prepares to deliver his seventh and probably final State of the Union address tonight. For the first time in four...
The Emperor's New Carbon Offsets
As government waste goes, $89,000 will barely register on the meter. However, it did provide a relatively inexpensive demonstration on the costliness of political fads and the vacuousness of carbon-offset markets as a solution for purported anthropogenic climate change. It also, once again, demonstrated the connection between contributors and policy: The House of Representatives has presumably learned that money cannot buy love or happiness. Now, it turns out it's not a sure solution to climate guilt, either. In November, the Democratic-led House spent about $89,000 on so-called carbon offsets. This purchase was supposed to cancel out greenhouse-gas emissions from House buildings -- including half of the U.S. Capitol -- by triggering an equal reduction in emissions elsewhere. Some of the money went to farmers in North Dakota, for tilling practices that keep carbon buried in the soil. But some farmers were already doing this, for other reasons, before the House...
State Of The Union Live Blog
Tonight, George Bush delivers his final State of the Union speech to Congress, as mandated by the Constitution. Will he use the SOTU event to attempt a rapprochement with a hostile Congress, or will he draw lines in the sand for what promises to be a contentious session in 2008? The White House has a series of papers already assembled to support the SOTU speech, and it looks like a familiar set of objectives. It looks like Bush will lead with the economy and budgetary proposals, with national security, Iraq, and the GWOT close behind. Expect sops to the global-warming crowd and a big finish with a focus on "Advancing an Agenda of Compassion Worldwide". I'll be remarking and analyzing the speech in reverse chronological order, so be sure to check back on this post later in the evening. Michelle Malkin will also live-blog. Final thoughts: It didn't move me...
February 1, 2008
The Scaled-Down Expectations Of The Retreat Caucus
You have to hand it to the Democrats; they do surrender well. After coming out of their annual retreat last year with an ambitious agenda to force the White House into submission, the Congressional leadership managed to lose every major engagement with the supposedly lame-duck George Bush. This year, the term "annual retreat" took on new meaning: A year ago, newly empowered House Democrats gathered here at the Kingsmill Resort for their annual retreat brimming with confidence. Before them was an ambitious legislative agenda and a determination to end or curtail the U.S. troop presence in Iraq. This time around, the hotel and golf courses are the same, but the song is markedly different. Gone is the talk of forcing President Bush to end the war, as is the impetus to pass a comprehensive immigration package and to stick to strict budget rules. Instead, Democrats are thinking smaller, much smaller....
Time For Specter To Get A Hobby
Arlen Specter wants to get to the bottom of an obstruction of justice that burns to the soul of America. Someone destroyed videotapes that evidenced a crime, and Specter wants an investigation. Was it the CIA who destroyed the videotapes? FBI? BATF? OMB? No -- it was the NFL: With the Super Bowl fast approaching, a senior Republican senator says he wants the NFL to explain why it destroyed evidence of the New England Patriots cheating scandal. "I am very concerned about the underlying facts on the taping, the reasons for the judgment on the limited penalties and, most of all, on the inexplicable destruction of the tapes," said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., in a Thursday letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Specter, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the matter could put the league's antitrust exemption at risk. "Their antitrust exemption has been on my mind...
February 4, 2008
It Keeps Growing, And Growing, And Growing, And ....
The White House has submitted its budget request for 2009, and it gives everyone a mixed bag. It increases military spending and attempts to cut some programs and reduce others. However, its total spending puts the US above $3 trillion for the first time: President Bush submitted a federal budget of $3.1 trillion on Monday, declaring that the spending plan would keep the United States safe and prosperous and, despite its record size, would adhere to his principle of letting Americans keep as much of their own money as possible. “Thanks to the hard work of the American people and spending discipline in Washington, we are now on a path to balance the budget by 2012,” the president said in an introductory message. “Our formula for achieving a balanced budget is simple: Create the conditions for economic growth, keep taxes low and spend taxpayer dollars wisely or not at all.”...
February 11, 2008
Tom Lantos, RIP
Rep Tom Lantos (D-CA) has died this morning, apparently from esophageal cancer. The 80-year-old Democrat came to the United States as a refugee of the Holocaust, becoming the only such person elected to Congress: Rep. Tom Lantos of California, the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress, has died, his spokeswoman said Monday. ... Lantos, who referred to himself as "an American by choice," was born to Jewish parents in Budapest, Hungary, and was 16 when Adolf Hitler occupied Hungary in 1944. He survived by escaping twice from a forced labor camp and coming under the protection of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who used his official status and visa-issuing powers to save thousands of Hungarian Jews. Lantos' mother and much of his family perished in the Holocaust. That background gave Lantos a moral authority unique in Congress and he used it repeatedly to speak out on foreign policy issues,...
February 12, 2008
Senate Approves Telecom Immunity
The Senate handily defeated an attempt to strip immunity for telecommunications providers from their version of FISA reform this morning, and approved the overall legislation. The amendment to strip telecom immunity only garnered 31 votes, far short of even a simple majority. The bill now goes to the House, which has resisted the immunity provisions: The Senate voted Tuesday to shield from lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without court permission after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. After nearly two months of stops and starts, the Senate rejected by a vote of 31 to 67 an amendment that would have stripped a grant of retroactive immunity to the companies. President Bush has promised to veto any new surveillance bill that does not protect the companies that helped the government in its warrantless wiretapping program. ... In a separate voice vote Tuesday, the Senate expanded the...
February 13, 2008
Identity Politics Fun Continues For The Democrats
So far, we have seen a number of flash points in the Democratic primaries for the presidential nomination over ethnic and gender politics. Now we have racial and anti-Semitic politics in a Congressional primary -- and once again, it involves Democrats. Steve Cohen wants to run for re-election in Tennessee's 9th District, but supporters of his opponent think he's too pale -- and too much of a Joooooooo: "If you thought race was an uncomfortable issue in the Democratic presidential primary, wait 'til you get a load of what's going on in the Democratic primary in the Memphis area's 9th District of Tennessee, where a shockingly worded flier paints Jewish Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) as a Jesus hater. "Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen and the JEWS HATE Jesus," blares the flier, which Cohen himself received in the mail -- inducing gasps -- last week. Circulated by an African-American minister from Murfreesboro...
February 14, 2008
The Terrorist Group Renaming Program
The House will allow the current FISA legislation to lapse rather than address the differences between the their version of the extension and the one passed by the Senate on Tuesday. Democrats wanted yet another three-week extension to kick the can down the road again, and petulantly dropped consideration when both opponents and advocates of the Senate plan refused to agree. Now they're saying the lapse in the FISA legislation will have no effect -- as long as no new terrorist groups arise (via Memeorandum): Democrats insisted that a lapse would have no real effect. The expiration of the powers “doesn’t mean we are somehow vulnerable again,” said Representative Silvestre Reyes, Democrat of Texas and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. The lapsing of the deadline would have little practical effect on intelligence gathering. Intelligence officials would be able to intercept communications from Qaeda members or other identified terrorist groups...
House GOP Walk Out Over FISA
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor blogged about the walkout here: Our intelligence agencies need the tools necessary to listen in on terrorists who threaten and plot to do harm to our country. The Senate worked together in a bipartisan fashion earlier this week to accomplish this goal, but the House Democrat Leadership refuses to do the same. It Al-Qaeda is talking, we should be able to listen. Today, House Republicans stood up and demanded that Washington work for the people again. I'll be talking with Andrew McCarthy about the FISA issue on today's Heading Right Radio. Be sure to catch it live....
February 15, 2008
House Democrats Leave Security On The Table
Yesterday, I interviewed former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy about the fight over FISA reform on Heading Right Radio. McCarthy, who helped put Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and several others in prison for their role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, argued that the expiration of last year's FISA reform will put the NSA in the unusual position of having to seek warrants for communications with both endpoints outside the US, not involving American persons at all. He explains this at Human Events today: In 2007, a ruling of the court created by the ill-conceived 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) required the intelligence community to seek court permission before monitoring terrorists operating outside our country -- that is, outside the jurisdiction of United States courts. Actually, Andy and I disagreed on this; I'll come back to it in a moment. Let’s say al Qaeda operatives in Iraq...
I Guess This Beats Working On National Security
While the bipartisan Senate FISA legislation languished on the desk of House Democratic leadership, Henry Waxman had his sights focused on more important issues than national security. He grilled Roger Clemens on whether he had ever had human growth hormone (HGH) injected into his buttocks. Now even Waxman says his hearings were a colossal waste of time, and blamed Clemens for it (via Michelle Malkin): A day after a dramatic, nationally televised hearing that pitted Roger Clemens against his former personal trainer and Democrats against Republicans, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said Thursday that he regretted holding the hearing in the first place. The chairman, Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, said the four-hour hearing unnecessarily embarrassed Clemens, who he thought did not tell the truth, as well as the trainer, Brian McNamee, who he thought was unfairly attacked by committee Republicans. ... “I’m...
Who Said It?
Yesterday, a member of the Senate stood and addressed his colleagues in both the upper chamber and the House in defending telecom immunity and the FISA reform legislation. Can you guess who said this? Now, let me say something more. What people have to understand around here is that the quality of the intelligence we are going to be receiving is going to be degraded. It is going to be degraded. It is already going to be degraded as telecommunications companies lose interest. Everybody tosses that around and says: Well, what do you mean? I say: Well, what are they making out of this? What is the big payoff for the telephone companies? They get paid a lot of money? No. They get paid nothing. What do they get for this? They get $40 billion worth of suits, grief, trashing, but they do it. But they don't have to do...
February 17, 2008
Spitzer's Crack-Pot Tax
Governor Eliot Spitzer has already built himself quite the record in his first term running New York. He has conducted a politically-motivated investigation of his main opponent in the state legislature and then co-opted the man supposedly investigating him, and he briefly demanded that illegal immigrants get drivers licenses. Now he wants to raise taxes in order to help solve a massive deficit -- but you're not going to believe how he wants to do it: If you can't beat it, tax it. That seems to be the axiom in New York these days, where Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer (D), struggling to close a $4.4 billion budget gap, has proposed making drug dealers pay tax on their stashes of illegal drugs. The new tax would apply to cocaine, heroin and marijuana, and could be paid with pre-bought "tax stamps" affixed to the bags of dope. Some critics in the legislature...
February 18, 2008
Presidents Day Prayers For A Former First Lady
The nation celebrates the 43 men who have led this country today, from George Washington to George W Bush on Presidents Day. However, our attention turns to a former First Lady, who had to be hospitalized yesterday after a fall. Nancy Reagan apparently broke no bones yesterday but remains hospitalized: Former first lady Nancy Reagan was hospitalized after falling in her home in Bel-Air but is doing well, her spokeswoman said. Reagan, 86, was taken to St. John's Health Center, where doctors determined she did not break a hip Sunday as feared, spokeswoman Joanne Drake said..... The former first lady is "joking and visiting in her room," Drake said. A fall at 86 is no joke, of course, and could have been catastrophic. Our prayers are with her for a full recovery. With the theme of presidents in mind in the middle of a historic campaign, perhaps a couple of...
The Democratic Sell-Out
Robert Novak pulls together the politics of the Democratic refusal to call the Senate's bipartisan FISA reform bill to the House floor last week. Instead of taking a vote that Blue Dog Democrats has assured her would pass on that bill, Pelosi tried embarrassing the White House by voting for a 21-day extension to the current reform bill -- and that failed, with some Blue Dogs opposing it along with the Republicans, as well as some hard-Left Representatives that oppose FISA reform outright. Why did Pelosi tube the bill that would have easily passed and therefore extended the protections passed by a Democratic Congress last year? Lots of reasons, and they're all green: The recess by House Democrats amounts to a judgment that losing the generous support of trial lawyers, the Democratic Party's most important financial base, would be more dangerous than losing the anti-terrorist issue to Republicans. Dozens of...
February 20, 2008
An Entreaty To John Shadegg
Many conservatives and anti-pork activists were disheartened to hear of John Shadegg's decision to retire from the House. Over 140 of his Republican colleagues signed a letter asking him to reconsider and run again for his Arizona seat. Now, some of us outside of Congress want to also ask Rep. Shadegg to reconsider. If you'd like to add your voice, please contact Rep. Shadegg's office at 202-224-3121. Dear Representative Shadegg, As conservatives in the Movement and advocates for a free society, we were saddened to read of your decision to retire from service as the representative from the 3rd District of Arizona. We appreciate your sacrifice and commitment to protecting American freedom and liberty during your tenure. You have proven yourself to be an inspiring leader on critical issues facing this country such as holding the line on spending, reforming our healthcare system, and facing the growing threat of radicalism...
February 21, 2008
'What Is There To Debate?'
Every time we suggested dropping Ron Paul from the national debates, his supporters would go nuts. They claimed in the one instance where he did get dropped, the January 3rd debate just before Iowa, that a grand conspiracy existed to keep his message from the people and to stop the 4% revolution. They demanded boycotts of Fox and of the Iowa GOP. Paul himself complained bitterly about his exclusion, and not without some justification. Now that Paul's focus has returned to his own Congressional race, he seems much less enthusiastic about debates. After declining to hold a debate with his primary challenger, Chris Peden, Paul got asked yesterday about this seeming hypocrisy at a town-hall meeting in his district. Check out Paul's predictably hysterical response: Peden needs to debate himself first? Maybe Paul has a habit of arguing with himself, but that doesn't mean Peden needs to follow suit. It's...
A Direct Hit
UPDATE & BUMP: Eyeblast has the video of the actual hit and a portion of the Pentagon's briefing: Original post follows ... ============== Does missile defense actually work? An impromptu mission to destroy a potentially hazardous failing satellite has proven that the system in place can make a direct hit on a fast-moving target. The USS Lake Erie scored a direct hit on a spy satellite traveling in polar orbit at 17,000 mile per hour, eliminating the fuel tank that had worried the US (via Worldwide Standard): A Navy missile soaring 130 miles above the Pacific smashed a dying and potentially deadly U.S. spy satellite Wednesday and probably destroyed a tank carrying 1,000 pounds of toxic fuel, officials said. Officials had expressed cautious optimism that the missile would hit the satellite, which was the size of a school bus. But they were less certain of hitting the smaller, more problematic...
Build Your Own Campaign At Slatecard
David All joined me today on Heading Right Radio to talk about his new effort at Slatecard. Slatecard allows bloggers to select a list of Republican candidates for national office and promote the list to their readers. The site makes it a breeze to select candidates from around the nation. I decided to focus mainly on those candidates whom I have interviewed and know to support national security, clean government, and fiscal discipline. Check it out, and consider contributing to some of these candidates:...
Welcome Back To The Fight
Earlier this week, I signed an open letter to Rep. John Shadegg along with a number of other conservatives asking the Arizona Republican to reconsider his decision to retire. A few minutes ago, I received the following statement from Shadegg's office: Ten days ago, when I announced my intention to leave Congress at the end of my current term, I said serving in the United States Congress on behalf of the people of Arizona is the single greatest privilege in my professional life. I have been blessed to follow in the tradition of the heroes of my childhood: Barry Goldwater, Paul Fannin, John Rhodes, Eldon Rudd, and others. Deciding not to run again was very difficult. My decision was based on my devotion to my family and my obligations to help them achieve their dreams and aspirations. Representing the people of Arizona in the U.S. Congress is a huge honor...
February 23, 2008
A Tale Of Two Caucuses
Two House caucuses, two members under indictment -- and both give two very different responses. John Boehner, the House Minority Leader, publicly demanded Rick Renzi's resignation from the House after his indictment on 35 charges of fraud, extortion, and other sundry corruption: House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is urging indicted Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) to resign. “I have made it clear that I will hold our members to the highest standards of ethical conduct,” Boehner said in a statement Friday. “The charges contained in this indictment are completely unacceptable for a member of Congress, and I strongly urge Rep. Renzi to seriously consider whether he can continue to effectively represent his constituents under these circumstances. I expect to meet with Rep. Renzi at the earliest possible opportunity to discuss this situation and the best option for his constituents, our Conference, and the American people.” This came a day after...
February 27, 2008
William F Buckley, RIP
William F Buckley, a giant among political pundits and the man who gave modern conservatism its intellectual foundation, died today at age 82. Fittingly, he died at his desk, probably working on his next column, as his son said in his announcement (via Hot Air): William F. Buckley Jr., who marshaled polysyllabic exuberance, famously arched eyebrows and a refined, perspicacious mind to elevate conservatism to the center of American political discourse, died Wednesday at his home in Stamford, Conn. Mr Buckley, 82, suffered from diabetes and emphysema, his son Christopher said, although the exact cause of death was not immediately known. He was found at his desk in the study of his home, his son said. “He might have been working on a column,” Mr. Buckley said. Mr. Buckley’s winningly capricious personality, replete with ten-dollar words and a darting tongue writers loved to compare with an anteater’s, hosted one of...
February 28, 2008
Democrats Want To Fund ACORN, La Raza With Stimulus Bill
The Democrats reacted in anger when Senate Republicans blocked their latest economic stimulus bill. Harry Reid said that bankers and lenders were high-fiving each other in hallways after the GOP torpedoed the bill, but perhaps a better explanation of Reid's disappointment comes from Bob Casey (D-PA). The beneficiaries of the bill turns out to be somewhat different than advertised: Here's the transcript: Mr. CASEY: “We want to do a couple of things with this legislation, which we know is the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008. Our Majority Leader, Senator Reid, and our leadership and the members of the Democratic Caucus set it out fairly specifically. A couple of basic things this legislation would have done: first of all, it would have continued what we started in the end of last year, foreclosure prevention counseling dollars, to give money to organizations around the country that are certifiably expert at this, organizations...
About
Ed Morrissey has blogged at Captain's Quarters since 2003, and has a daily radio show at BlogTalkRadio, where he serves as Political Director. Called "Captain Ed" by his readers, Ed is a father and grandfather living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, a native Californian who moved to the North Star State because of the weather.
My Other Blog
The Crows Nest
Democrats Want To Fund ACORN, La Raza With Stimulus Bill
The Democrats reacted in anger when Senate Republicans blocked their latest economic stimulus bill. Harry Reid said that bankers and lenders were high-fiving each other in hallways after the GOP torpedoed the bill, but perhaps a better explanation of Reid's disappointment comes from Bob Casey (D-PA). The beneficiaries of the bill turns out to be somewhat different than advertised:
Here's the transcript:
Mr. CASEY: “We want to do a couple of things with this legislation, which we know is the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008. Our Majority Leader, Senator Reid, and our leadership and the members of the Democratic Caucus set it out fairly specifically. A couple of basic things this legislation would have done: first of all, it would have continued what we started in the end of last year, foreclosure prevention counseling dollars, to give money to organizations around the country that are certifiably expert at this, organizations like La Raza. I know the presiding officer knows that group. We know also the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now, known by the acronym ‘ACORN.’ They’re headquartered in Philadelphia. These are organizations which understand what a lender has to deal with but more importantly deal with borrowers when they’re borrowing money, when they’re dealing with the difficulty and complexity of borrowing money. These organizations would have helped even more so than they’re helping now with $200 million more of counseling money. That’s not going to happen right now because of what the other side did; they blocked that money by blocking this legislation.”
ACORN? Would this be the same ACORN that conducted voter fraud in Washington, resulting in felony charges against its officers there in 2007? Isn't this the same organization that generated complaints and questions about their practices in several other jurisdictions during the 2006 election? How does shoving money into the pockets of ACORN provide an economic stimulus?
This doesn't look like a stimulus package. It looks more like an investment in further voter fraud.
William F Buckley, RIP
William F Buckley, a giant among political pundits and the man who gave modern conservatism its intellectual foundation, died today at age 82. Fittingly, he died at his desk, probably working on his next column, as his son said in his announcement (via Hot Air):
William F. Buckley Jr., who marshaled polysyllabic exuberance, famously arched eyebrows and a refined, perspicacious mind to elevate conservatism to the center of American political discourse, died Wednesday at his home in Stamford, Conn.Mr Buckley, 82, suffered from diabetes and emphysema, his son Christopher said, although the exact cause of death was not immediately known. He was found at his desk in the study of his home, his son said. “He might have been working on a column,” Mr. Buckley said.
Mr. Buckley’s winningly capricious personality, replete with ten-dollar words and a darting tongue writers loved to compare with an anteater’s, hosted one of television’s longest-running programs, “Firing Line,” and founded and shepherded the influential conservative magazine, National Review.
He also found time to write more than 45 books, ranging from sailing odysseys to spy novels to celebrations of his own dashing daily life, and edit five more.
The more than 4.5 million words of his 5,600 biweekly newspaper columns, “On the Right,” would fill 45 more medium-sized books.
Mr. Buckley’s greatest achievement was making conservatism — not just electoral Republicanism, but conservatism as a system of ideas — respectable in liberal post-World War II America. He mobilized the young enthusiasts who helped nominate Barry Goldwater in 1964, and saw his dreams fulfilled when Reagan and the Bushes captured the Oval Office.
Conservatives of all stripes owe Buckley a great debt, and not just for his columns and books that provided a call to arms for individual liberty and property rights. He brought together the disparate factions of the Right into one umbrella and made conservatism a potent political force. His great legacy will be National Review, the magazine that served as the center of the movement, and to this day features vigorous debate among the various stripes of conservatives.
Buckley will be missed, but his work will remain as lively and vibrant as ever. Few men and women can claim that kind of intellectual achievement and impact on society. Godspeed, sir, and thank you.
A Tale Of Two Caucuses
Two House caucuses, two members under indictment -- and both give two very different responses. John Boehner, the House Minority Leader, publicly demanded Rick Renzi's resignation from the House after his indictment on 35 charges of fraud, extortion, and other sundry corruption:
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is urging indicted Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) to resign.“I have made it clear that I will hold our members to the highest standards of ethical conduct,” Boehner said in a statement Friday. “The charges contained in this indictment are completely unacceptable for a member of Congress, and I strongly urge Rep. Renzi to seriously consider whether he can continue to effectively represent his constituents under these circumstances. I expect to meet with Rep. Renzi at the earliest possible opportunity to discuss this situation and the best option for his constituents, our Conference, and the American people.”
This came a day after the indictments were published by the grand jury. Across the aisle, however, William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson remains in the House Democratic Caucus despite having been indicted on 16 counts of corruption-related felonies in June 2007. His trial just got delayed while he appeals the overruling of his attempt to hide his corruption behind the speech and debate clause of the Constitution.
Has Pelosi demanded that he resign his seat since his indictment? Has any Democrat in the House demanded that Jefferson step down after this indictment? No; the only action Pelosi took was to strip Jefferson of his seat on the Small Business Committee. Earlier, she had tried to put him on the Homeland Security Committee, only backing down when Republicans threatened to block it and debate all committee assignments on the House floor.
Now, which party acts more responsibly to clean up its own house, as well as the House?
Welcome Back To The Fight
Earlier this week, I signed an open letter to Rep. John Shadegg along with a number of other conservatives asking the Arizona Republican to reconsider his decision to retire. A few minutes ago, I received the following statement from Shadegg's office:
Ten days ago, when I announced my intention to leave Congress at the end of my current term, I said serving in the United States Congress on behalf of the people of Arizona is the single greatest privilege in my professional life. I have been blessed to follow in the tradition of the heroes of my childhood: Barry Goldwater, Paul Fannin, John Rhodes, Eldon Rudd, and others. Deciding not to run again was very difficult. My decision was based on my devotion to my family and my obligations to help them achieve their dreams and aspirations. Representing the people of Arizona in the U.S. Congress is a huge honor and privilege and one I did not want to give up, but I felt I should.I expected my decision would elicit little reaction here in Arizona, and less in Washington. The events of the last week have, to say the least, stunned and deeply humbled me.
My decision was made after deep reflection and consultation with my family. It was entirely a personal decision between me and my family. The reactions of my constituents and my friends now suggest there were implications far broader than we had contemplated.
In the week following my announcement, thousands of people have contacted my office to encourage me to reconsider my decision. Dozens of old friends, some of whom I hadn’t spoken with in years, called my home urging me to reconsider.
One event I will never forget, epitomizes their messages to me. Last weekend, returning to Phoenix from Washington, I was trudging through Sky Harbor at 5:30 in the morning, having spent four hours sleeping at the Las Vegas airport awaiting a delayed flight. As I walked toward the baggage claim, an airport security worker was walking the opposite direction down the corridor, presumably on his way to work. We exchanged tired glances as we each headed on our separate ways, but just as we passed, he said “Run again!” Shocked, I simply said, “Thanks.” I did not know him, and we exchanged no other words. But he, like thousands of my constituents, just wanted me to know what he thought.
Ten days ago, I noted that as a nation we face “huge challenges” and that “my passion for the cause of freedom is as strong as ever.” One consistent theme runs through the messages and phone calls we have received from constituents since that announcement -- precisely because of the challenges we face, now is not the time for me to leave Congress.
In 1994, I ran for office because I was compelled to serve the people of Arizona and my country in the United States House of Representatives. I believed then, as I do now, that Washington must change the way it works. My colleagues and I have fought to lower taxes, cut spending, and make government more transparent and accountable. That is a fight to which I am unwaveringly committed just as deeply today as I was in 1994.
I, also, have never been one to walk away from a fight. I have devoted most of my life and energy to serving Arizona in the ongoing struggle for freedom. I will never abandon that cause because I believe in people and the greatness of America. In deciding to leave Congress, I felt I could serve my country and continue to wage the battle for conservative principles just as effectively in private life. It turns out many others believe that would be a mistake.
Last Thursday, 146 of my colleagues in the U.S. House signed a letter asking me to reconsider, an unprecedented event. Yesterday I received a letter signed by the leaders of 33 different Conservative organizations from across America also urging me to reverse my announced intentions.
The letter signed by my colleagues in the U.S. House emphasized my hard work and expertise in health care reform. I have fought for patient-centered health care reform since my arrival in Congress. I fear we may be on the brink of dramatically damaging the delivery of health care in America -- making it worse, not better. We all recognize the current system doesn't work well for millions of Americans. Health care decisions are being made by third parties, such as insurance adjustors, employer personnel departments, and health care plans, not patients and their families. Many of the changes being promoted by some would make a bad situation even worse. They would move further away from patient choice, personal responsibility, and individual control and toward government run, bureaucrat-controlled health care.
The letter from Conservative leaders also noted the grave challenges confronting our nation today. The attacks of 9/11 demonstrated to the world the deadly threat radical Islam poses to civilization. It is my firm belief that we must confront this danger, without hesitation, if we are to keep it from destroying our society and the freedoms we hold dear. This is another threat I highlighted ten days ago.
The personal factors which led to my initial decision are very real and very important. My family has encouraged and supported my public service and they have sacrificed to allow me to serve the state and nation we all love. In discussing the reaction of my constituents to my decision, we have determined as a family that we are willing to continue to make these sacrifices because the cause is so worthwhile.
Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana, when asked why he circulated the letter amongst my colleagues urging me to reconsider, quoted President Abraham Lincoln who when asked why he kept General Ulysses S. Grant responded: “I cannot spare the man, he fights.” Frankly, my family has encouraged me, over the last week to reconsider my decision and is willing to continue to sacrifice so I may continue to fight.
Serving the people of Arizona in the Congress is a tremendous honor and privilege. With the support of my wife, Shirley, my children, Courtney and Stephen, and with the support of the voters of the 3rd Congressional District in November, I will continue to fight for them and to uphold Conservative principles in United States House of Representatives. Therefore, I will campaign for re-election and will continue to fight in Congress for economic prosperity, human rights, personal freedom, and individual responsibility.
I'm reminded of Victor Lazlo's last words to Rick as he leaves Casablanca. "Welcome back to the fight. This time, I know we'll win." At least we know we'll have Shadegg's reliable conservative voice in the House caucus in 2009.
Build Your Own Campaign At Slatecard
David All joined me today on Heading Right Radio to talk about his new effort at Slatecard. Slatecard allows bloggers to select a list of Republican candidates for national office and promote the list to their readers. The site makes it a breeze to select candidates from around the nation. I decided to focus mainly on those candidates whom I have interviewed and know to support national security, clean government, and fiscal discipline. Check it out, and consider contributing to some of these candidates:
A Direct Hit
UPDATE & BUMP: Eyeblast has the video of the actual hit and a portion of the Pentagon's briefing:
Original post follows ...
==============
Does missile defense actually work? An impromptu mission to destroy a potentially hazardous failing satellite has proven that the system in place can make a direct hit on a fast-moving target. The USS Lake Erie scored a direct hit on a spy satellite traveling in polar orbit at 17,000 mile per hour, eliminating the fuel tank that had worried the US (via Worldwide Standard):
A Navy missile soaring 130 miles above the Pacific smashed a dying and potentially deadly U.S. spy satellite Wednesday and probably destroyed a tank carrying 1,000 pounds of toxic fuel, officials said.Officials had expressed cautious optimism that the missile would hit the satellite, which was the size of a school bus. But they were less certain of hitting the smaller, more problematic fuel tank, whose contents posed what Bush administration officials deemed a potential health hazard to humans if it landed intact.
In a statement announcing that the Navy missile struck the satellite, the Pentagon said, "Confirmation that the fuel tank has been fragmented should be available within 24 hours." It made no mention of early indications, but a defense official close to the situation said later that officials monitoring the collision saw what appeared to be an explosion, indicating that the fuel tank was hit.
Over the last twenty years and more, we have heard from a variety of experts explaining how this is impossible. A rocket, they claimed, could not reliably be expected to target another rocket. They derided missile defense systems as "Star Wars" fantasy and demanded that we stop pursuing destabilizing efforts to actually defend ourselves from potential missile attack.
The Patriot missile systems began proving their abilities against Scud attacks in the Gulf War. They didn't have a perfect record, but they did have an impressive run of mid-air intercepts -- so impressive that the Israelis bought Patriot batteries from us. In the last seven years, we have continued to develop these defense systems, after the Clinton administration tried to mothball it.
Now we see that we can precisely target moving objects that aren't specifically intended as tests. The missile and the satellite had a closing velocity of 22,000 miles per hour, and yet the Navy hit a bullseye on the first try. It sends a message to people like Kim Jong-Il and Ali Khameini that their ballistic missile systems have just been made obsolete. It also sends a message to the defeatists and naysayers from the last quarter-century that, like so many other times, they have been proven wrong in their defeatism.
Eventually, this could end the ballistic missile era. If effective defenses become widely available, there will not be much point in maintaining ballistic missile inventories at all. Ronald Reagan had that very vision when he first proposed SDI and tried to get the Soviets to partner with him on it.
'What Is There To Debate?'
Every time we suggested dropping Ron Paul from the national debates, his supporters would go nuts. They claimed in the one instance where he did get dropped, the January 3rd debate just before Iowa, that a grand conspiracy existed to keep his message from the people and to stop the 4% revolution. They demanded boycotts of Fox and of the Iowa GOP. Paul himself complained bitterly about his exclusion, and not without some justification.
Now that Paul's focus has returned to his own Congressional race, he seems much less enthusiastic about debates. After declining to hold a debate with his primary challenger, Chris Peden, Paul got asked yesterday about this seeming hypocrisy at a town-hall meeting in his district. Check out Paul's predictably hysterical response:
Peden needs to debate himself first? Maybe Paul has a habit of arguing with himself, but that doesn't mean Peden needs to follow suit. It's a strange response from a strange man.
Peden has a lot more credibility in this race than Paul had in the presidential campaign. If Paul and his supporters almost literally made a federal case out of ensuring that Paul had a chance to engage with constituents and with the other candidates in the race, what possible justification can they have for rejected a debate with Peden? It smells like fear coming out of the Paul campaign, and that's not the first thing that's stunk about it. (via Eric Dondero)
An Entreaty To John Shadegg
Many conservatives and anti-pork activists were disheartened to hear of John Shadegg's decision to retire from the House. Over 140 of his Republican colleagues signed a letter asking him to reconsider and run again for his Arizona seat. Now, some of us outside of Congress want to also ask Rep. Shadegg to reconsider. If you'd like to add your voice, please contact Rep. Shadegg's office at 202-224-3121.
Dear Representative Shadegg,
As conservatives in the Movement and advocates for a free society, we were saddened to read of your decision to retire from service as the representative from the 3rd District of Arizona.
We appreciate your sacrifice and commitment to protecting American freedom and liberty during your tenure. You have proven yourself to be an inspiring leader on critical issues facing this country such as holding the line on spending, reforming our healthcare system, and facing the growing threat of radicalism to our sovereignty and freedom.
The country is at a crossroads. And now more than ever your leadership is needed. We therefore ask that you reconsider your decision to retire from your position at this time so that we may continue to have you as a champion fighting for conservative values and principles on Capitol Hill.
Sincerely,
Michelle Bernard
Independent Women's Voice
Matthew Brouillette
Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives, Pennsylvania
Marjorie Dannenfelser
Susan B. Anthony List
Michelle Easton
Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute
Erick Erickson
RedState.com
Ed Feulner
The Heritage Foundation
Jon Fleischman
Flash Report
Tom Giovanetti
Institute for Policy Innovation
David Keene
American Conservative Union
Karen Kerrigan
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
Matt Kibbe
FreedomWorks
Merrill Matthews,Ph.D.
Council for Affordable Health Insurance
Paul Mirengoff
Power Line Blog
Mark R. Levin
Landmark Legal Foundation
Ed Morrissey
Captain’s Quarters Blog
Rob Neppell
Porkbusters.org
Gary Palmer
Alabama Policy Institute
Duane Parde
National Taxpayers Union
Tim Phillips
Americans for Prosperity
Sally Pipes
Pacific Research Institute
Glenn Reynolds
Instapundit
Phyllis Schlafly
Eagle Forum
Tracie Sharp
State Policy Network
Fred Smith
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Pat Toomey
Club for Growth
Grace-Marie Turner
The Galen Institute
Bob Williams
Evergreen Freedom Foundation
Wendy Wright
Concerned Women for America
The Democratic Sell-Out
Robert Novak pulls together the politics of the Democratic refusal to call the Senate's bipartisan FISA reform bill to the House floor last week. Instead of taking a vote that Blue Dog Democrats has assured her would pass on that bill, Pelosi tried embarrassing the White House by voting for a 21-day extension to the current reform bill -- and that failed, with some Blue Dogs opposing it along with the Republicans, as well as some hard-Left Representatives that oppose FISA reform outright.
Why did Pelosi tube the bill that would have easily passed and therefore extended the protections passed by a Democratic Congress last year? Lots of reasons, and they're all green:
The recess by House Democrats amounts to a judgment that losing the generous support of trial lawyers, the Democratic Party's most important financial base, would be more dangerous than losing the anti-terrorist issue to Republicans. Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against the phone companies for giving individuals' personal information to intelligence agencies without a warrant. Mike McConnell, the nonpartisan director of national intelligence, says delay in congressional action deters cooperation in detecting terrorism.Big money is involved. Amanda Carpenter, a Townhall.com columnist, has prepared a spreadsheet showing that 66 trial lawyers representing plaintiffs in the telecommunications suits have contributed $1.5 million to Democratic senators and causes. Of the 29 Democratic senators who voted against the FISA bill last Tuesday, 24 took money from the trial lawyers (as did two absent senators, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama). Eric A. Isaacson of San Diego, one of the telecommunications plaintiffs' lawyers, contributed to the recent unsuccessful presidential campaign of Sen. Chris Dodd, who led the Senate fight against the bill containing immunity.
The bill passed the Senate 68 to 29, with 19 Democrats voting aye. They included intelligence committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller and three senators who defeated Republican incumbents in the 2006 Democratic takeover of Congress: Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jim Webb of Virginia and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.
Of course, people will claim that the Republicans supported telecom immunity for the same reasons -- for the contributions. Unfortunately, two arguments work against that. The Senate bill passed with bipartisan support, with Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) leading the way for immunity. Second, the telecom industry contributes almost equally to both parties. Open Secrets shows that 53% of all 2008 contributions from the telecoms go to Republicans, and 47% to Democrats.
In contrast, lawyers contribute a much larger amount of money overall, and direct much more of it to the Democrats. While the telecoms only have sent $3.1 million in overall contributions anywhere, lawyers have already contributed over $82 million. Just in their PAC funding, lawyers have spend almost twice as much as the telecoms, $6.1 million. Over 77% of that money went to Democrats.
When people wonder who has the ear of the Democratic Party, the answer is quite clear. Trial lawyers want immunity stopped so that they can participate in big paydays, and they're willing to invest in the Democrats now to preserve them.
Presidents Day Prayers For A Former First Lady
The nation celebrates the 43 men who have led this country today, from George Washington to George W Bush on Presidents Day. However, our attention turns to a former First Lady, who had to be hospitalized yesterday after a fall. Nancy Reagan apparently broke no bones yesterday but remains hospitalized:
Former first lady Nancy Reagan was hospitalized after falling in her home in Bel-Air but is doing well, her spokeswoman said.Reagan, 86, was taken to St. John's Health Center, where doctors determined she did not break a hip Sunday as feared, spokeswoman Joanne Drake said.....
The former first lady is "joking and visiting in her room," Drake said.
A fall at 86 is no joke, of course, and could have been catastrophic. Our prayers are with her for a full recovery.
With the theme of presidents in mind in the middle of a historic campaign, perhaps a couple of our national leaders deserve some special attention. George Washington, the first and the model for the rest, sometimes seems rather beatified by his place in history. People can discover the man behind the history by reading his letters, especially those preceding his presidency.
Abraham Lincoln perhaps gets more humanized than most historical figures already. While Washington can often seem remote and cold in a historical perspective, Lincoln gets remembered for his humor and personal warmth at least occasionally. The Project Gutenberg collection of his speeches and letters, compiled in an e-book, allows for a leisurely perusal of Lincoln's communications, and reinforces his humanity while also revealing his contradictions and his brilliance.
Spitzer's Crack-Pot Tax
Governor Eliot Spitzer has already built himself quite the record in his first term running New York. He has conducted a politically-motivated investigation of his main opponent in the state legislature and then co-opted the man supposedly investigating him, and he briefly demanded that illegal immigrants get drivers licenses. Now he wants to raise taxes in order to help solve a massive deficit -- but you're not going to believe how he wants to do it:
If you can't beat it, tax it.That seems to be the axiom in New York these days, where Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer (D), struggling to close a $4.4 billion budget gap, has proposed making drug dealers pay tax on their stashes of illegal drugs. The new tax would apply to cocaine, heroin and marijuana, and could be paid with pre-bought "tax stamps" affixed to the bags of dope.
Some critics in the legislature are asking what the governor has been smoking.
"I guess if it moves, he'll tax it," said Republican state Sen. Martin J. Golden, who dubbed the proposal "the crack tax." Some opponents said that because cocaine and weed would be subject to the new levies, it should more aptly be called "the crack-pot tax."
On the other hand, Democrats in the state legislature ... well, they can't believe it either. One member from Harlem wondered how anyone could practically collect tax from dealers who operate mainly to support their own habit. Many of them steal just to afford the drugs; they're not going to have a lot of extra cash lying around when the tax collector comes to garner the proceeds.
Other states have passed similar laws, but the intention in those cases was never to generate a reliable revenue stream. The laws got passed in order to have another set of charges to press when prosecuting drug dealers, making confiscations more palatable. In many cases, they have been thrown out or neutered for 5th Amendment reasons, ie, one cannot be required to admit to illegal activity to comply with another law.
Only Eliot Spitzer has seriously proposed that the state of New York could help make up its budget deficit through tax stamps on nickel bags. If he thinks that creating a new tax regime and enforcement mechanism on illegal drugs will bring in more money than it costs, then Spitzer must really be smoking something tax free at the moment.
Who Said It?
Yesterday, a member of the Senate stood and addressed his colleagues in both the upper chamber and the House in defending telecom immunity and the FISA reform legislation. Can you guess who said this?
Now, let me say something more. What people have to understand around here is that the quality of the intelligence we are going to be receiving is going to be degraded. It is going to be degraded. It is already going to be degraded as telecommunications companies lose interest. Everybody tosses that around and says: Well, what do you mean? I say: Well, what are they making out of this? What is the big payoff for the telephone companies? They get paid a lot of money? No. They get paid nothing. What do they get for this? They get $40 billion worth of suits, grief, trashing, but they do it. But they don't have to do it, because they do have shareholders to respond to, to answer to.
Was it Mitch McConnell? John McCain? Joe Lieberman? No -- it was Senate Intelligence Committee chair Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), explaining why passing the legislation was critical to our efforts to defend the nation.
The context of the remarks were that the Republicans should have assented to another extension. Rockefeller claims that the House Democrats were "jammed" by this bill. However, it was the Democrats who set the original deadline last summer, the Democrats who demanded a two-week extension in January, and the Democrats who kept this issue from a resolution over that entire period of time.
Why don't they just do their job and meet their own deadlines -- especially with the issue being as critical as Rockefeller states here? Why was a weeklong vacation more important than staying in session an extra few hours to give the bipartisan reform bill passed by a 2-1 majority in the Senate a floor vote?
I Guess This Beats Working On National Security
While the bipartisan Senate FISA legislation languished on the desk of House Democratic leadership, Henry Waxman had his sights focused on more important issues than national security. He grilled Roger Clemens on whether he had ever had human growth hormone (HGH) injected into his buttocks. Now even Waxman says his hearings were a colossal waste of time, and blamed Clemens for it (via Michelle Malkin):
A day after a dramatic, nationally televised hearing that pitted Roger Clemens against his former personal trainer and Democrats against Republicans, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said Thursday that he regretted holding the hearing in the first place.The chairman, Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, said the four-hour hearing unnecessarily embarrassed Clemens, who he thought did not tell the truth, as well as the trainer, Brian McNamee, who he thought was unfairly attacked by committee Republicans. ...
“I’m sorry we had the hearing. I regret that we had the hearing. And the only reason we had the hearing was because Roger Clemens and his lawyers insisted on it.”
That's news to Clemens and his attorney. Rusty Hardin had argued to have the entire matter dropped, wondering -- rightly -- why Congress needed to investigate Roger Clemens in the first place. They had asked Waxman to drop the matter weeks ago, but Waxman insisted on taking depositions in the case. Hardin explained that he wanted the hearings so that the House Oversight Committee couldn't take the testimony out of context for their final report.
So, while FISA reform legislation that passed with a 2-1 bipartisan majority in the Senate couldn't get addressed by Democratic leadership, Waxman instead investigated the ass of Roger Clemens. It puts "oversight" in a whole new context, doesn't it?
At least Waxman has the grace to be embarrassed by the spectacle, albeit for the wrong reasons. Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, can't be found to answer for the curious and prurient priorities of the Democrat-controlled House.
House Democrats Leave Security On The Table
Yesterday, I interviewed former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy about the fight over FISA reform on Heading Right Radio. McCarthy, who helped put Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and several others in prison for their role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, argued that the expiration of last year's FISA reform will put the NSA in the unusual position of having to seek warrants for communications with both endpoints outside the US, not involving American persons at all. He explains this at Human Events today:
In 2007, a ruling of the court created by the ill-conceived 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) required the intelligence community to seek court permission before monitoring terrorists operating outside our country -- that is, outside the jurisdiction of United States courts.
Actually, Andy and I disagreed on this; I'll come back to it in a moment.
Let’s say al Qaeda operatives in Iraq captured a U.S. marine. In effect, our military and intelligence services, while desperately trying to rescue one of their own, would now have to seek court permission in order to eavesdrop on the foreign terrorists who carried out the capture -- alien enemies who have no conceivable privacy rights under the Fourth Amendment. Such was the conclusion of an unidentified federal judge, in a ruling that radically altered three decades of FISA theory and practice, a ruling the American people have not been permitted to read. (Just imagine the hue and cry if George W. Bush had secretly reversed the foundations of surveillance law. Here, where the sea-change benefits al Qaeda rather than the American people, the silence is deafening.)Democrats, of course, have fought every sensible national-security improvement since 9/11. Yet, so preposterous was the notion that the NSA should need a warrant from a judge in Washington in order to listen as, say, a terrorist in Pakistan gives directions to a terrorist in Afghanistan that even Democrats relented -- or at least enough of them to enact last August’s “Protect Act.” This stopgap measure (the Left would not agree to more than six months of common sense) enabled our spies to continue spying outside the U.S. without court interference, just as FISA intended.
The FISA court ruling relied on the actual language of the 1978 FISA law. Congress defined domestic communications as those passing through American telecommunications switches -- which, at the time, was true. Phone calls passing through American equipment meant that at least one endpoint of the call was in the US and almost certainly involved a "US person" by FISA's definition. That hasn't been true for at least a decade, though, as globalization has allowed American telecoms to expand to the point where they carry almost all global communications through their switches.
Still, Congress never updated FISA to reflect this reality. The FISA judge, in what should be considered an act of judicial modesty (Andy McCarthy disagrees on this point), followed the law and pointed back to Congress to get it fixed. Congress did so last year in its FISA reform legislation, after several months of the NSA being in the position to require warrants for strictly foreign communications. However, they stuck a six-month sunset clause on it and promised to deliver a long-term fix before the patch expired.
Now, with the Senate passing just such a bill by a 2-1 bipartisan majority, the House's Democratic leadership plans to allow the patch to expire out of spite. They won't take up the bill passed by both Democrats and Republicans in the upper chamber until after they take their Presidents Day holiday. Meanwhile, according to the ruling from last year, the NSA will once again be required to get warrants to intercept foreign-to-foreign communications, something FISA never intended to do.
The 4th Amendment does not apply to foreign enemies of the nation. FISA intended to protect Americans from unwarranted government surveillance. In fact, it intended to preserve the ability of the intelligence community to conduct surveillance without undue hindrance on foreign communications in order to protect the nation. The House has a bill on the table that would restore FISA's original intent and give the intel community the power they need to watch for signs of attacks from foreign sources.
The House should ensure that the bill gets addressed before they take their break from reality. I can assure them that our enemies will not be on vacation for the next week.
UPDATE: I'll address two Democratic talking points that have come up in the comments. First, there's no reason to strip telecom immunity from the Senate bill, since it passed on a 2-1 bipartisan majority. It would pass in the House if Pelosi brought it to the floor, too. Why should a bipartisan solution have to be jettisoned, especially if it would win a floor vote in the House?
Some commenters here blame Bush for not agreeing to an extension, but that's also hogwash. The expiration date for the FISA reform was imposed by Democrats last summer. They have had six months, plus a two-week extension signed by Bush in January, to resolve this. The House has had the Senate bill since Tuesday. The issue isn't time -- it's Nancy Pelosi's refusal to consider the bipartisan Senate bill sitting on her desk, and an extension doesn't resolve that issue.
If the Democrats can't meet even their own deadlines, then their incompetence runs much deeper than anyone ever imagined.
House GOP Walk Out Over FISA
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor blogged about the walkout here:
Our intelligence agencies need the tools necessary to listen in on terrorists who threaten and plot to do harm to our country. The Senate worked together in a bipartisan fashion earlier this week to accomplish this goal, but the House Democrat Leadership refuses to do the same. It Al-Qaeda is talking, we should be able to listen. Today, House Republicans stood up and demanded that Washington work for the people again.
I'll be talking with Andrew McCarthy about the FISA issue on today's Heading Right Radio. Be sure to catch it live.
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