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March 30, 2007
Just Another Photo Op
Today President Bush visited Walter Reed Hospital, where recent revelations found that this Administration let down our wounded men and women in uniform and veterans.
Governor Dean had this to say about the photo op:
“It’s good to see the President finally getting out of the White House, but he still fails to realize that our brave troops and veterans require real leadership that addresses the needs of our wounded men and women in uniform, not photo ops, constant budget cuts and hollow promises. The way President Bush and his Administration have failed our wounded and veterans is an appalling disgrace. While the commander-in-chief has forgotten his duty to honor the sacrifices of our brave men and women in uniform when they return home, Democrats are making sure that those sacrifices are not forgotten and that our nation provides the resources they need on the battlefield and the care they deserve when they return home.”
Follow the link for the rest of the release, which details Bush's shoddy record when it comes to caring for veterans.
The Daily Flipper
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
Rudolph W. Giuliani told a grand jury that his former chief investigator remembered having briefed him on some aspects of Bernard B. Kerik's relationship with a company suspected of ties to organized crime before Kerik's appointment as police commissioner, according to court records.Giuliani, testifying last year under oath before a Bronx grand jury investigating Kerik, said he had no memory of the briefing, but he did not dispute that it had taken place, according to a transcript of his testimony.
Giuliani's testimony amounts to a significantly new version of what information was probably before him in the summer of 2000 as he was debating Kerik's appointment as New York City's top law enforcement officer. Giuliani had previously said he had never been told of Kerik's entanglement with the company before promoting him to the police job or later supporting his failed bid to be the nation's homeland security secretary.
Giuliani, the leader in polls of Republican voters for his party's nomination, has been faulted on two major issues:_ His administration's failure to provide the World Trade Center's first responders with adequate radios, a long-standing complaint from relatives of the firefighters killed when the twin towers collapsed. The Sept. 11 Commission noted the firefighters at the World Trade Center were using the same ineffective radios employed by the first responders to the 1993 terrorist attack on the trade center.
Regenhard, at a 2004 commission hearing in Manhattan, screamed at Giuliani, "My son was murdered because of your incompetence!" The hearing was a perfect example of the 9/11 duality: Commission members universally praised Giuliani at the same event.
_ A November 2001 decision to step up removal of the massive rubble pile at ground zero. The firefighters were angered when the then-mayor reduced their numbers among the group searching for remains of their lost "brothers," focusing instead on what they derided as a "scoop and dump" approach. Giuliani agreed to increase the number of firefighters at ground zero just days after ordering the cutback.
More than 5 1/2 years later, body parts are still turning up in the trade center site.
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee is taking his presidential campaign to an unlikely forum -- the Food Network.Huckabee will be featured on the network Saturday night on a segment focusing on childhood obesity, his exploratory campaign announced Thursday.
Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback said Social Security can be fixed with private savings accounts, a case President Bush has made without success during his second term in office.Opposition from AARP helped scuttle private accounts when Bush promoted them in 2005. The lobby group for older Americans fears the volatility of the stock market particularly in light of a Feb. 27 meltdown that sent the Dow Jones Industrials plunging 416 points.
"These kinds of proposals change the nature of the program and add unnecessary risk," said David Certner, legislative policy director for AARP.
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Thursday dropped some names of potential running mates in the 2008 race, adding that such speculation was premature.Among those Romney mentioned for the second slot on the Republican ticket were three Southerners: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
In 2006, then-governor Romney promoted his plan with enthusiasm and aplomb. He also did his best to mollify conservatives he sought to court for his presidential campaign who were concerned that his plan was little more than big government in disguise. Regarding the individual mandate that required all citizens of Massachusetts to purchase health insurance, Romney defended it in conservative terms -- even if doing so seemed a bit Orwellian. He referred to the mandate as "a personal responsibility principle." Yet if the government is forcing people to buy insurance, how can that be described as "personal"? Romney has never bothered to explain.Romney is now avoiding responsibility for RomneyCare. In a recent newspaper article, his spokesman Kevin Madden claims the current state of the health care reform "is different from the approach the governor submitted" and is in the hands of "a state government that he is no longer in charge of." But the problems RomneyCare now faces can be traced back to the legislation that Romney signed back in 2006.
Friday Open Thread
Chat away...
March 29, 2007
On the US Attorney Hearing
What Josh Marshall says:
Attention all chumps who think that Carol Lam was canned for not following administration immigration enforcement policy. Sampson has just confirmed that for all their deep concern about her border enforcement policy, no one from the DOJ ever raised the issue with Lam. Ever. That's what Sampson says.
Marshall has been hoping for an answer to this question for a while. Check out TPM Muckraker for more...
And while it might not be the most important testimony as far as this specific controversy, I was particularly shocked when I saw this:
Who's Behind Romney's Tax Plan?
Mitt Romney is announcing a tax plan today. It remains to be seen what his plans do about the $250 Billion budget deficit. But if the creator of the plan is any guide, it probably won’t be good.
In order to clean up the budget mess, Romney hired the guys who made it.
Romney’s two top economic advisers are Glenn Hubbard, who chaired Bush's economic council from 2001 to 2003 and Gregory Mankiw, who chaired it until 2005.
Hubbard served as a top economic adviser to the Bush campaign in 2000 and designed the administration’s tax cut and Social Security proposals. He’s also the architect of the Administration’s health care policy and defends the Administration’s position that deficits are not important factor in the economy. Hubbard currently co-chairs the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation which has advocated rolling back enforcement of laws passed after the Enron scandal. Hubbard also has a huge conflict of interest devising a Tax plan for the country at the same time he serves corporate boards of several companies that regularly lobby congress on tax policy.
Mankiw meanwhile is famous for writing a 2004 report saying that outsourcing American jobs to countries with lower wages was a positive for the U.S. economy.
Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Gene Sperling notes that while Hubbard and Mankiw have been responsible for the economy:
* The largest budget surplus in history has turned into $248 billion in red ink.
* Jobs are being created at the slowest rate of any business cycle since the great depression
* Typical household income declined from 2000 to 2005
* Foreign countries have increasingly financed our growing national debt
* The right of workers to bargain for improvement in wages, benefits and working conditions has been steadily eroded.
Mitt Romney claims to be a turnaround expert, but is hiring the people who bankrupted the economy to try and turn it around. I wonder if they teach that at Harvard?
Senate: No More Blank Check On the War
There's big news in the Senate. By a 51-47 vote, the emergency spending bill including troop withdrawal language passed. The New York Times has more:
The Senate and House bills must now be reconciled through negotiations between the chambers. A key difference is that the Senate bill sets a nonbinding goal for withdrawing troops by March 31, 2008, while the House version demands that they be out by September 2008. [...] Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, immediately issued a statement disputing the president’s assertion that the Senate bill, like its House counterpart, is larded with unnecessary spending. “If the president uses his veto pen, he will be the one denying funding for the troops,” Mr. Reid said, adding that the bill includes money needed for homeland security, disaster relief and children’s health care in addition to military needs.
President Bush has promised a veto of the bill, which funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as important domestic concerns. The era of the Republican rubber stamp Congress is over, particularly when it comes to this war.
UPDATE: Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement on the passage of the Iraq supplemental spending bill in the U.S. Senate:
The Democratic Congress has done its job, and it’s now up to the President to support a new direction in Iraq. Democrats are providing support for our troops and resources for our veterans. This bill also sets a date certain for the redeployment of our forces to better fight terrorism. Our country can no longer afford an open-ended commitment to keep our troops in the middle of a civil war.
The Daily Flipper: Flat Out Flip Flops Edition
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
Rudolph W. Giuliani accepted the endorsement of Steve Forbes yesterday and embraced Mr. Forbes’s signature issue, saying he liked the idea of a flat tax — something Mr. Giuliani denounced when Mr. Forbes was running for president.If there were no federal income tax, “maybe I’d suggest not doing it at all, but if we were going to do it, a flat tax would make a lot of sense,” Mr. Giuliani, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, said yesterday, standing beside Mr. Forbes at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square in New York. But he said it was not clear whether dissolving the current system, so ingrained in the economy, would be feasible.
In 1996, when Mr. Forbes first ran for president, Mr. Giuliani, then the mayor of New York City, disparaged a flat tax in general and Mr. Forbes’s plan in particular. The Forbes plan called for a single tax rate above a certain income, instead of several rates based on income. Mr. Giuliani said that a central part of the proposal, eliminating deductions, would hurt taxpayers in urban areas and reduce tax revenues for populous cities and states.
Mr. Giuliani did cut taxes as mayor of New York, even with a Democratic City Council and state Assembly, but he still left the city's residents with one of the highest combined state and local tax burdens in the country. In the case of one of the biggest tax cuts during his tenure, the elimination of the commuter tax, Mr. Giuliani actually opposed the tax cut so vigorously that he brought a lawsuit jointly with the city's Democratic City Council speaker in an effort to get a court to order state lawmakers to keep the tax in place.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was close to leaving the Republican Party in 2001, weeks before then-Sen. Jim Jeffords (Vt.) famously announced his decision to become an Independent, according to former Democratic lawmakers who say they were involved in the discussions.In interviews with The Hill this month, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and ex-Rep. Tom Downey (D-N.Y.) said there were nearly two months of talks with the maverick lawmaker following an approach by John Weaver, McCain’s chief political strategist.
Daschle noted that McCain at that time was frustrated with the Bush administration as a result of his loss to George W. Bush in the 2000 Republican primary.
Romney began his term as Massachusetts governor in 2003 with a view of immigration reflecting his background as chief executive officer of Bain & Co., a Boston-based venture-capital firm. Many lobbies representing U.S. businesses favor guest- worker programs and say that without one, such industries as agriculture, restaurants and hotels might face labor shortages.In his Bloomberg interview last year, Romney said: ``We need to begin a process of registering those people, some being returned and some beginning the process of applying for citizenship and establishing legal status.''
About the same time, Romney told the Boston Globe in an interview that the immigration measure backed by McCain, setting a path to citizenship for undocumented workers was ``reasonable,'' and wasn't a blanket amnesty proposal. Undocumented immigrants ``contribute in many cases to our economy and to our society,'' he said.
As Romney moved closer to launching his presidential campaign, he began taking steps that appealed to anti- immigration voters. His threatened veto scuttled a plan to provide low-cost tuition for children of undocumented immigrants, whom he called members of ``an illegal family.'' He also opposed a plan to allow people in the U.S. illegally to obtain drivers' licenses.
There is nothing wrong with an epiphany per se. Many people have one at some point in their lives. But this is just one of several for Romney. For a supposedly seasoned pol, he seems particularly susceptible to them. His position on gay marriage appears to have followed a similar pattern. When he ran for governor in 2002, he opposed a defense-of-marriage amendment to the state constitution as "too extreme." By 2006, he had done an about-face and was asking Congress to support the Federal Marriage Amendment. In a letter to U.S. senators, he seemed heavily influenced by the changes his state was undergoing after the Massachusetts Supreme Court redefined marriage.Should conservatives be uneasy with a politician whose change of heart, although possibly genuine, occurs suddenly? Well, yes. It is better if a politician changes his view over a longer period of time. If a politician's view changes gradually, the change is more likely the product of years of thinking and experience. This path would more likely result in a solid position. Supporters can be reasonably certain this new belief won't be easily shaken and can withstand the pressure exerted by the fishbowl that is elected office. This, obviously, is preferable to a candidate who either flip-flops or has an epiphany.
Giuliani said he was aware of the safety concerns with the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain and "somebody would have to take a good look at that."When pressed, he did not rule out the repository, however.
"One of the things you've got to be real careful about with nuclear power is you've got to make sure it's really, really safe," he said. "Frankly, some of the problems that have occurred with Yucca Mountain are matters of grave concern, so you'd have to take a good look at that."
Those concerns should not kill the nuclear power industry, he said.
A potential political vulnerability may be the consulting agreement that ties Giuliani Partners to a pair of nuclear reactors known as Indian Point. The reactors, located 35 miles north of midtown Manhattan and owned by a subsidiary of Entergy Corp. of New Orleans, have long evoked safety concerns, which surged after the 9/11 attacks, when the reactors were seen as potential terrorism targets.
Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani stood by embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Wednesday, saying the Bush administration appears to have done nothing wrong in firing eight U.S. attorneys."I don't think the information that's already out makes it clear anything but the president exercised his discretion to remove people that serve at his pleasure," said Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and a former U.S. attorney.
Appearing on NBC's "Today" show this morning, McCain went to almost comical lengths to lowball his first-quarter report.With a broad smile that betrayed his spin, McCain said of his fundraising prowess: "I'm not very good at it. I hope to get better."
This comes from a man who has spent a quarter-century in Congress and, in doing so, has raised over $80 Million dollars for his campaigns and PACs.
To underscore how tough things are for the GOP, Bill Pascoe, a Chicago-based Republican consultant with Urquhart Media, said "there are Republican consultants scouting state legislators for 2014. That's how far the long-range planning is going."Why 2014? Because that would be the second midterm of a Democratic president.
For now, anyway, Thompson's supporters are apparently stuck with reruns of "Law & Order." But his fans could be disappointed on one front if he does ultimately run.Election law requires that TV stations give all candidates equal time. Experts said Thompson -- like the last movie-star candidate, Ronald Reagan -- would probably vanish from the airwaves except in news programming. That would probably mean that he would leave "Law & Order" and that networks would not air his reruns during the campaign.
(Memo to Gingrich and Hagel: Playing cutesy about whether or not you are a candidate does not wear well with activist Iowa Republicans. Also, Gingrich's personal baggage may not go over well either, despite the popularity of his views.
In its third year, the National Day of the American Cowboy, introduced in the Senate today by U.S. Senator Craig Thomas, recognizes cowboys and cowgirls as a significant part of our nation's history."The National Day of the American Cowboy has gained a tremendous following thanks to the work of non-profit organizations, country music stars, and folks around the country who want to honor cowboys and cowgirls contributions to our nation's history," Thomas said.
"I'm pleased to continue efforts to recognize cowboys and cowgirls for their spirit, grit, and determination -- particularly in Wyoming and the West.
Sen. Norm Coleman kissed a baby at a coffee shop and caused a mom concern.There wasn't anything untoward about the kiss; Chelsea Castro just didn't think Coleman looked as good as he normally does.
"It wasn't about anything politically related. I just thought he look rather sick. He looked super skinny, like skeletal and he's got those fake teeth, those veneers. They are like horses' teeth."
Rudolph Giuliani's wife - joined by the ex-mayor himself - takes to the airwaves tomorrow in an interview the campaign hopes can put to rest questions about their public courtship and life together as presidential candidate and wife.Judith Giuliani's interview with Barbara Walters is set to air tomorrow, one week after disclosures that she has been married three times, not twice as previously believed.
Giuliani aides refused to divulge what the Giulianis said in the pretaped interview and ABC News also was being tight-lipped, except for a news release promising that Judith Giuliani answers questions about whether "she was responsible for the break up of her husband's second marriage" and her relationship with his children.
Sampson Testifies About US Attorneys
It should be interesting, for those of you who can watch. The webcast is available at the Senate Judiciary Committee website. It is scheduled to begin now. Feel free to document the distortions in the comments, and I'll have more later today.
(Josh Marshall got a head-start last night.)
Thursday Open Thread
Chat away...
March 28, 2007
Calm Down
I'm supposed to be on vacation. I know. But this clip of Speaker Pelosi is too amazing not to blog. If you haven't already seen the clip from today's presser where she tells the President to, "calm down with the threats," you must immediately click here.
That's all.
Nomination of $100K Romney Donor Pulled Over Ties to Swift Boat Vets for Truth
Days before Romney is set to announce his fundraising totals for the first quarter, yet another of his largest supporters is in the news.
The White House has just withdrawn the nomination of Sam Fox -- the Bush "Ranger" who helped fund the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth --t o be ambassador to Belgium. When questioned about his involvement with the group at his confirmation hearing, Fox weakly replied: "When I'm asked, I just generally give."
The White House condemned opposition to Fox as politics. But throughout the 2004 campaign the White House and the Bush campaign denied the connection to the group despite an undeniable web of connections that included large donors like Fox and Bob Perry. Now, with the nomination of Fox, the White House demonstrated that those who finance lies and ugly smears will be rewarded.
Now Perry and Fox are both firmly on board with Mitt Romney. Fox contributed $100,000 to Romney's PAC in Iowa and hosted a Romney political retreat in Alaska.
Romney has hired one of the most controversial admakers in the Republican party. His fundraising team includes people who have backed some of the ugliest smears in American politics. Leaked memos show that Romney intends to take the low road in attacking his opponents. Its time for Smooth-Talking Mitt to step up and renounce the ugly politics that his campaign is quickly becoming associated with.
McCain Lashes Out -- At McCain
Several hours ago, John McCain held a conference call with conservative bloggers. The conservative American Spectator quotes McCain:
I continually hear people in the administration, and even in the military, say 'three months, six months, well, maybe six months…It took us four years to get into this state we're in, and here we are after two months expecting miracles."
Who would dare do such a thing? From the NY Times, four and a half months ago:
Mr. McCain said that the fate of the Iraqi venture would be decided in the next six months or so [...]
And over a year ago:
And I'd also suggest--and again, I'll probably--I'm not in any way concerned about saying this--that we will probably see significant progress in the next six months to a year.
Finally, John McCain takes on the statements... of John McCain. His credibility continues to sink. Has it hit rock bottom yet?
GSA Hearing on Misconduct Allegations
This video from earlier today has been making its rounds around the blogosphere (via TPM Muckraker)
Background, via the Washington Post:
Witnesses have told congressional investigators that the chief of the General Services Administration and a deputy in Karl Rove's political affairs office at the White House joined in a videoconference earlier this year with top GSA political appointees, who discussed ways to help Republican candidates.
With GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan and up to 40 regional administrators on hand, J. Scott Jennings, the White House's deputy director of political affairs, gave a PowerPoint presentation on Jan. 26 of polling data about the 2006 elections.
When Jennings concluded his presentation to the GSA political appointees, Doan allegedly asked them how they could "help 'our candidates' in the next elections," according to a March 6 letter to Doan from Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Waxman said in the letter that one method suggested was using "targeted public events, such as the opening of federal facilities around the country."
There are also questions surrounding GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan's "attempt to give a no-bid job to a friend and professional associate last summer. In addition, the committee plans to look at Waxman's charge that Doan "intervened" in a troubled technology contract with Sun Microsystems that could cost taxpayers millions more than necessary."
Oh, and don't miss this.
The Daily Flipper: Strolling on the Euphrates Edition
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
TIP THE FLIPPER: http://www.democrats.org/research
Republican presidential contender John McCain said Tuesday, ``we are starting to turn things around'' in the Iraq war, as he broke off campaigning in Florida to vote against a proposed troop withdrawal timeline.McCain spoke on a day in which two nearly simultaneous attacks outside Baghdad killed at least 48 Iraqis.
General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed humvee. I think you oughta catch up. You are giving the old line of three months ago. I understand it. We certainly don’t get it through the filter of some of the media.CNN Correspondent: McCain in Neverland
BLITZER: Michael, when Senator McCain says there are at least some areas of Baghdad where people can walk around and -- whether it's General Petraeus, the U.S. military commander, or others, are there at least some areas where you could emerge outside of the green zone, the international zone, where people can go out -- go to a coffee shop, go to a restaurant and simply take a stroll?
MICHAEL WARE (In Baghdad): I can answer this very quickly, wolf. No. No way on earth can a westerner, particularly an American, stroll any street of this capital of more than five million people. If al Qaeda doesn't get wind of you or if one of the Sunni insurgent groups doesn’t descend upon you or if someone doesn't tip off a Shitte militia, then the nearest criminal gang is going to see dollar signs and scoop you up. You barely would last 20 minutes out there. I don't know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad. . .
There is another former police commissioner — William Bratton — to whom the Giuliani campaign should pay more attention, though. Mr. Bratton, who served as New York City's top law enforcement official between 1994 and 1996, has a history of stabbing bosses — current and former — in the back.The threat from Mr. Bratton lies on two fronts. First, should he decide to, he could publicly attempt to neutralize one of Mr. Giuliani's strongest selling points — his role in the historic reduction in New York City crime. Second, he could potentially feed to national political reporters off-the-record disparaging quotes and assessments of Mr. Giuliani. While such conversations take place "without fingerprints," Mr. Bratton is popular with reporters. And, while he is now on the West Coast, Mr. Bratton maintains relationships with a national network of journalists from the cities where he has worked — Boston, New York, Los Angeles.
"I support the First Amendment right to carry and bear arms," - Rudy Giuliani, on Sean Hannity's radio show.
Rudy Giuliani's campaign tells The Brody File today that he will "not seek to make any changes to the Hyde Amendment which restricts federal funding of abortion". Congress passed the Hyde Amendment in 1976. It forbids federal funding for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, and danger to the life of the woman.
Donald Trump has a date with his old "girlfriend" Rudy Giuliani, but don't worry - neither man will be wearing a dress this time.The real estate tycoon has agreed to host a May 12 fund-raiser for the former mayor and Republican presidential hopeful, who in 2000 dressed up as a woman and got smooched by Trump in a now-famous video spoof.
Anti-tax advocates are scrutinizing Mitt Romney’s (R) record as governor of Massachusetts and focusing on the fact that he increased fees in the state by $500 million and proposed nearly $400 million in business tax increases.The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, published a fiscal-policy report card for 2006 that gave Romney a C grade, ranking him behind 11 other governors, including Democratic White House hopeful Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico.
“The spirit of [anti-tax pledges] is to force governors to find more innovative ways of funding government,” he added. “If the spirit is to save money before you increase revenues, I don’t think Romney has held to the spirit of the no-new-tax pledge.”
Slivinski said he based his report on publications by Tax Analysts, a non-partisan group that tracks state and federal tax activity, and by the National Conference of State Legislatures.When Romney ran for governor in 2002, he disparaged President Bush’s 2001 tax cuts, Berthoud said. “I think one of the bigger concerns were his comments where a few years ago he did not say the greatest things about the Bush tax cuts,” said Berthoud. “Right now Romney is saying all the right things on the Bush tax cut.”
He was supposed to be the front runner. So why is Senator John McCain trailing in the presidential polls and in campaign cash?Arizona State University pollster Dr. Bruce Merrill says it may be McCain's age. "Nobody is going to politely say he's too old. And I don't think it's a chronological thing. I think it's more related to a generational thing."
"It's not how many years old he is as much as that he may represent a generation that just isn't seen as acceptable now or at least a lot of younger people that are looking for somebody younger to take them into a different direction," says Merrill.
Fresh from his face-to-face tussle with former Vice President Al Gore, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is vowing to stall Gore’s hotly anticipated Capitol concert to draw attention to global warming.Inhofe’s belief that climate change is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people” is common knowledge in the capitol, and environmental groups cheered the new prospects for carbon-capping legislation when he ceded the Environment and Public Works Committee gavel this session. But Inhofe’s parliamentary powers can block indefinitely the resolution that would permit Gore to choose the capitol’s West Front for the U.S. leg of his seven-continent Live Earth concert tour — a collaboration between Gore and promoter Kevin Wall, who masterminded previous blockbuster charity concerts Live Aid and Live 8.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg yesterday defended police spying on potential protesters in advance of the 2004 Republican National Convention, saying that it was necessary for security during an uneasy time.In defending the program, Mr. Bloomberg said that everything had been in accordance with court guidelines and was aimed at protecting the city and showing its recovery at a time when the presence of President Bush and members of Congress made it an even more inviting terror target.
“We were not keeping track of political activities,” he said. “We have no interest in doing that.”
But the records show that the police did covertly monitor political activity. Virtually every intelligence report, even those about expressly peaceful groups, described the political viewpoints of the organizations.
The College Republicans club was derecognized by the Student Government Association (SGA) on Tuesday, after failing to repay year old debts.The group owed $6,548 from a $7,000 loan they took out in Oct. 2005. The loan was initially taken out in order to pay Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to speak at UVM.
College Republicans expected the profits from Newt Gingrich's presentation to help cover the loan, but there was a smaller turn out than they had expected.
A new poll shows support is dropping for Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.The poll done by USA Today shows only three percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters support Romney, down from eight percent earlier this month. The paper says part of the drop could be blamed on the announcement from former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson saying he may enter the race.
After having lunch Monday at the Mayflower hotel restaurant with Republican Party master strategist Ed Gillespie, the actor and former Tennessee senator met for three hours Tuesday at the same location with former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, also of Tennessee. . . . A Frist confidant familiar with the meeting between Thompson and Frist said he thought Thompson was "deadly serious" about learning as much as he could from Frist, who had considered a run for president himself.
I fear I've enraged a lot of the folks who have come here today from Drudge by declaring that voters "know precisely zero about Fred Thompson past what they know of him from 'Law & Order.'" So much for hyperbole.But, ultimately, I stand by this characterization 99%. Mr. Thompson's political experience is limited to a short, uneventful stint in the Senate.
McCain's Neverland
After John McCain told radio host Bill Bennett that "there are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today," some thought he would be forced to "clarify" the embarrassing gaffe with a retraction. Then he appeared on CNN and dug himself in deeper, as ThinkProgress notes (with video):
But according to CNN reporter Michael Ware, who has been in Iraq for four years, McCain is “way off base.” He stated, “To suggest that there’s any neighborhood in this city where an American can walk freely is beyond ludicrous. I’d love Sen. McCain to tell me where that neighborhood is and he and I can go for a stroll.”
And this gaffe gets even worse. Right on the heels of the CNN segment, the Washington Post this morning talks to Gen. Barry McCaffrey (Hat tip to gregg):
An influential retired Army general released a dire assessment of the situation in Iraq, based on a recent round of meetings there with Gen. David H. Petraeus and 16 other senior U.S. commanders. [...] The government lacks dominance in every province, he added. One result is that "no Iraqi government official, coalition soldier, diplomat, reporter, foreign NGO [nongovernmental organization], nor contractor can walk the streets of Baghdad, nor Mosul, nor Kirkuk, nor Basra, nor Tikrit, nor Najaf, nor Ramadi, without heavily armed protection.
As the CNN analyst said, McCain's credibility is "being left out hanging to dry."
UPDATE: According to John McCain, once again on CNN this morning, security in Baghdad is just like the United States! Or something like that. Again, from ThinkProgress:
This morning, during an interview with McCain, CNN’s John Roberts rebutted McCain’s assertions, stating, “I checked with General Petraeus’s people overnight and they said he never goes out in anything less than an up-armored humvee.” He added that a new report by retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey “said no Iraqi government official, coalition soldier, diplomat reporter could walk the streets of Baghdad without heavily armed protection.”Faced with overwhelming evidence that he was wrong, McCain denied he’d ever said it: “Well, I’m not saying they could go without protection. The President goes around America with protection. So, certainly I didn’t say that.”
Now Americablog's John Aravosis is demanding that McCain name that "safe" neighborhood in Baghdad. We'll keep you updated if the Senator responds to the growing attention his remarks are receiving.
Dean: Democrats Offer a New Direction in Iraq
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement following the Senate vote to change course in Iraq:
The House and Senate have now done what the American people hired us to do - they stood up to President Bush and made it clear that there will no longer be an open ended commitment to a failed strategy in Iraq. Democrats are united behind a plan to change course in Iraq, effectively fight the war on terrorism and get our troops the resources they need and get them out of a civil war. President Bush and Republicans in Congress now have an opportunity to forge a new direction in Iraq. I hope they take it.
Wednesday Open Thread
I'll be out of the office for the rest of the week as I am in down in Florida for my best friend's wedding. But have no fear, Mike and the rest of the team will take good care of you while I'm gone!
So, what are you waiting for? Chat away...
This is an open thread...
March 27, 2007
Senate Keeps Troop Withdrawal Deadline
With the civil war in Iraq spiraling out of control, the Senate voted for a troop withdrawal deadline for American combat troops. The language will remain in the Senate version of the emergency spending bill that recently passed in the House of Representatives. President Bush promised a veto of the bill if it gets to his desk.
By a vote of 50-48, the Senate defeated an amendment that would have stricken the withdrawal language from a $121.6 billion bill that mostly would fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A final vote on the bill is expected later this week.
As Governor Dean said the other day after the House passed the spending bill:
President Bush's open-ended commitment to a failed Iraq policy is not good enough for our brave men and women fighting in Iraq. Democrats will continue to wholeheartedly support our troops by providing the resources to keep them safe and get them home, holding this Administration accountable, and demanding that Iraqis take responsibility for their own country.President Bush’s decision to stifle the essential debate on our course in Iraq by threatening to veto this bill stands solidly against the will of the American people, and is an insult to the brave men and women serving in Iraq. It is time for Republicans to put partisanship aside and join our Democratic leadership in fighting for the new direction in Iraq. It’s what our troops deserve and what the American people have demanded.
Shockingly, John McCain decided to grace the Senate with his presence this time (after missing other important Iraq votes).
Surge
CNN just showed a Gallup poll for the Republican nominee. Fred Thompson got 12%, and Multiple Choice Mitt surged all the way to 3%.
Bad Republican!
Swing State Project on GOPer Gary Miller, whose been bad...
White House Suppresses Climate Change Research
Infuriating. That's really the only word I can use to describe this news. Yet, even though it's outrageous, it doesn't really surprise me. (See this.) Of course they are going to keep their head in the sand and try and make things that don't fall into lock-step with their flawed policies go away. It's like their modus operandi...
Via ABC.com:
Bush administration officials throughout the government have engaged in White House-directed efforts to stifle, delay or dampen the release of climate change research that casts the White House or its policies in a bad light, says a new report that purports to be the most comprehensive assessment to date of the subject.Researchers for the non-profit watchdog Government Accountability Project reviewed thousands of e-mails, memos and other documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests and from government whistle-blowers and conducted dozens of interviews with public affairs staff, scientists, reporters and others.
The group says it has identified hundreds of instances where White House-appointed officials interfered with government scientists' efforts to convey their research findings to the public, at the behest of top administration officials.
The report is slated to be released tomorrow at a hearing before the House Science Committee, which is investigating the issue.
(h/t AmericaBlog for the heads up!)
Time for Honest Answers
According to USA Today, Americans support (by a margin of 3-1) a Congressional investigation into the firings of US Attorneys by the Justice Department.
This scandal is slowing unraveling, and every new piece of information that is added to the pile makes the situation look worse for the Bush Administration. Alberto Gonzales has contradicted himself too many times. The White House has issued denial after denial and no one is buying it.
Yesterday, a senior aide, Monica Goodling, refused to testify before Congress, citing her 5th amendment rights - which make clear that she believes she was part of something criminal.
The New York Times has an editorial today that summarizes a lot of what it going on in a nice succinct way:
As the liaison between the White House and the Justice Department, Ms. Goodling seems to have been squarely in the middle of what appears to have been improper directions from the White House to politicize the hiring and firing of United States attorneys. Mr. Gonzales has insisted the eight prosecutors were let go for poor performance, and that the dismissals are an “overblown personnel matter.” But Ms. Goodling’s decision to exercise her Fifth Amendment rights suggests that she, at least, believes crimes may have been committed. (Christy has a great post explaining more.)Last Friday night, the Justice Department released a calendar entry that directly contradicts Mr. Gonzales’s insistence that he was out of the loop. It shows that he attended an hourlong meeting on Nov. 27 to discuss the upcoming firings of seven of the prosecutors. Previously, he had insisted that he never “had a discussion about where things stood.”
The release of the calendar entry is disturbing because it suggests not only that Mr. Gonzales may have personally approved the firings — something he has denied — but that the Justice Department has been dishonest in its responses to Congress. The department had already released what it claimed was a full set of relevant documents, and it now says it simply overlooked the ones released on Friday. But the information about the Nov. 27 meeting may have been released because Mr. Gonzales’s chief of staff, who was present at it, has agreed to testify before Congress this week.
The more information that comes out, the more disturbing the firings look.
The editorial goes on to call for Gonzales to appear before Congress immediately to explain the discrepancies. And he should. He may have forgotten that he works for the American people and not the cult of George Bush and Karl Rove, but we certainly haven't.
It is past time for honest answers to the questions that have been raised and Democrats in Congress are going to continue to press forward until they get them.
The Daily Flipper: Hacked Edition
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
. . . Website Easily Hacked
Republican presidential front-runner Rudy Giuliani's campaign hurriedly fixed its official Web site late Monday to remove a dangerous design flaw that could have allowed hackers to expose personal information submitted by volunteers.The vulnerability affecting Giuliani's site, www.JoinRudy2008.com, could have exposed confidential information stored in the campaign's databases. The Web site failed to block commands that can instruct it to improperly display sensitive information, a popular hacking technique known as "structured query language injection."
Giuliani's business firm, Giuliani Partners, offered cybersecurity consulting services under a partnership with Ernst & Young until about 2004.
John McCain was on Bill Bennett’s show this morning claiming that some parts of Baghdad are safe enough for him and Bill to take a walk in… it comes at the end of the call…
Deputy sheriffs and local police, along with an entourage of staff members and media, walked with the senator from Arizona as he made his way into the auction to an enthusiastic, appreciative crowd.
Romney to Pay College Students to Raise Money<
Participants in ”Students for Mitt” will get 10 percent of the money they raise for the campaign beyond the first $1,000. While candidates often offer professional fundraisers commissions up to 8 percent, campaign experts believe the Massachusetts Republican is the first to do so with the legion of college students who have historically served as campaign volunteers.Running third or worse in public opinion polls, Romney is looking to raise at least $15 million to cement his status as a top-tier candidate.
Romney Fundraisers Raise the Bar . . .
“Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney got off to a fast start with a big fundraising day early in his campaign that raised more than $6 million. His fundraisers say Romney has kept up a strong fundraising pace, tapping a donor base that includes former business associates and the Mormon church. ‘The positive piece of news is that it has been sustainable,’ said Tom Tellefsen, Romney national finance co-chairman. Still, he said the campaign has also had to spend a significant amount of time getting organized. ‘I do feel comfortable that we will be very, very close,’ he said. ‘If we’re not No. 1 we’ll be very much in the pack.’”So much for those in Romney world insisting their candidate would be well behind McCain and Rudy.
Romney Reaches Out to Swift Boat Funder
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has landed the support of Texas' biggest political donor – Houston homebuilder Bob Perry.The Houston businessman was the nation's most generous political donor last year, giving $16 million to state and federal candidates. And Democrats deride him for being the chief backer of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that questioned 2004 presidential nominee John Kerry's service in Vietnam – criticism they extended to Mr. Romney on Monday.
Bob Perry is the fourth largest donor to the College Republicans 527 organization. The group has come under fire lately for sponsoring activities including: Offering a dinner for two at a local Mexican restaurant for the winner of a 'food stamp drawing' that required climbing through a hole in a chain link fence and offering fake identification. Sponsoring a game called 'Catch the Illegal Immigrant’. Under the game's rules, according to one student Republican, players were to search on campus for the student chosen to wear a name tag saying 'illegal immigrant.' [New York Times, 2/23/07] And advocating events like 'Fun with Guns,' in which young Republicans would use a BB gun or paintball gun to shoot cardboard cut-outs of Democratic leaders such as Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)" [The Michigan Daily, 9/12/06] Perry gave the group $200,000 on October 24, 2006.
“I dream of having $4 corn,” he said, referring to the price per bushel.
Republicans will still attempt to remove the deadline in a Senate vote expected as soon as today, and GOP leaders were reasonably confident they would muster a majority. But the margin is expected to be thin, requiring the presence of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who had skipped several previous Iraq votes to attend presidential campaign events. McCain canceled a series of fundraisers and meetings in Florida to return to Washington, telling a conservative radio program that he wanted to "beat back this recipe for defeat that the Democrats are trying to foist off on the American people."
Huckabee Compares Himself to Bill Clinton
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee compared his campaign Monday to that of another former Arkansas governor Bill Clinton, who was hardly a front-runner when he started his ultimately successful run for the White House.
Looks like Fred Thompson really isn't teasing about possibly running for president.The actor and former Republican senator from Tennessee was spotted having lunch today at the see-and-be-seen Mayflower hotel restaurant with GOP Party guru Ed Gillespie, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee who has advised and groomed many a successful GOP candidate over the years.
Sources say Thompson, currently of "Law and Order" fame," and Gillespie were locked in a serious conversation, even though they were repeatedly interrupted by conventioneer types - aka, real people - wanting to chat with the actor/politician. No one we spoke with heard the "P" word come out of Thompson's mouth but it appeared the lunch was "intense," according to one source.
The major rap against Thompson is that he was not a hard worker during his eight years in the Senate. His friends respond that this is an easily correctable error and that the same complaint was made about Ronald Reagan before he ran for president.
Tuesday Open Thread
Talk amongst yourselves...
March 26, 2007
Must Read: Focus on Voter Fraud Under Bush May Be Partisan
Via Sacbee.com
"Under President Bush, the Justice Department has backed laws that narrow minority voting rights and pressed U.S. attorneys to investigate voter fraud -- policies that critics say have been intended to suppress Democratic votes.Since 2005, McClatchy Newspapers has found, Bush has appointed at least three U.S. attorneys who had worked in the Justice Department's civil rights division when it was rolling back longstanding voting-rights policies aimed at protecting predominantly poor, minority voters."Another newly installed U.S. attorney, Tim Griffin in Little Rock, Ark., was accused of participating in efforts to suppress Democratic votes in Florida during the 2004 presidential election while he was a research director for the Republican National Committee. He has denied any wrongdoing.Taken together, critics say, the replacement of the U.S. attorneys, the voter-fraud campaign and the changes in Justice Department voting rights policies suggest the Bush administration may have been using its law enforcement powers for partisan political purposes.
"Last April, while the Justice Department and the White House were planning the firings, Rove gave a speech in Washington to the Republican National Lawyers Association. He ticked off 11 states that he said could be pivotal in the 2008 elections. Bush has appointed new U.S. attorneys in nine of them since 2005: Florida, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Arkansas, Michigan, Nevada and New Mexico. U.S. attorneys in the latter four were among those fired late last year. Several former voting rights lawyers, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of antagonizing the administration, said the division's political appointees reversed the recommendations of career lawyers in key cases and transferred or drove out most of the unit's veteran attorneys."
I wrote about the remaking of the Justice Department back in July and the NYT had a great editorial on it in August. This is definitely an area that can use further scrutiny.
The right to vote is not a Democratic or a Republican right. It's an American right and one that should be protected at all costs - not something that should be considered open for partisan tampering.
Wyoming Dems Want Your Input on 2008 Delegate Selection Plan
This is pretty cool. The Wyoming Democratic Party put the draft of their 2008 Delegate Selection Plan up on their website and is inviting public comment on it.
Bill Luckett, Communications Director for the Wyoming Democratic Party:
"Soliciting public comments on the draft of our delegate selection plan is an important step in finalizing the plan for the Democratic National Convention in Denver next year. Because the convention is being held so close to Wyoming, we expect an unprecedented level of interest in how we will choose our delegates."
If you are a Wyoming Dem, definitely check out the Party's site and the plan. If you aren't, be on the look out for your state's plan!
What are they hiding?
That is what I want to know...and what the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is going to look into.
Via ABC:
White House staff are using non-governmental e-mail addresses to avoid leaving a paper trail of their communications, a senior congressman charged Monday.In a pair of letters Monday, House Oversight and Investigations Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman, D.-Calif., asked the Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign to preserve e-mails sent and received by White House officials using domains controlled by the two groups.
Waxman also asked the two to meet with his staff to explain how they handle e-mail accounts for government officials.
"Such e-mails written in the conduct of White House business would appear to be governmental records subject to preservation and eventual public disclosure," Waxman wrote.
The use of e-mail addresses from domains like "gwb43.com" by White House aides surfaced in the news earlier this month when the Justice Department released hundreds of e-mails between political appointees discussing the firing of several U.S. attorneys. E-mails from Scott Jennings, a deputy to White House political adviser Karl Rove, came from an address featuring the gwb43.com domain.
Emphasis mine.
"gwb43.com" is an RNC domain. One that Karl Rove favors, according to The National Journal:
According to one former White House official familiar with Rove's work habits, the president's top political adviser does "about 95 percent" of his e-mailing using his RNC-based account. Many White House officials, including aides in the Political Affairs Office, use the RNC account as an alternative to their official government e-mail addresses to help keep their official and political duties separate. Although some White House officials use dual sets of electronic devices for that purpose, Rove prefers to use his RNC-provided BlackBerry for convenience, the former official said.
The President previously said that he would "release all White House documents and e-mails involving direct communications with the Justice Department or any other outside person, including members of Congress and their staff, related to this issue" - so does that include the RNC-based e-mails?
I've no doubt that Rep. Waxman will get to the bottom of this. Again, thank goodness for a Congress that takes its responsibility of Oversight seriously! For too long, the rubber-stamp Republican Congress let the Bush Administration get away with way too much while they looked the other way and the American people definitely deserve better.
More on this over at ThinkProgress and The CarpetBagger Report. Plus, CREW has been in the mix on this too.
Funding our 2008 Research Operation
Who was responsible for the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys: Alberto Gonzales? Karl Rove? President Bush?
Reporters and activists are working to get to the bottom of this story -- and every other story that comes out about the Bush Administration -- with good, old-fashioned research. Now we need this same sort of coverage about the Republican candidates who want to pick up where George Bush will leave off.
As the new Research Director at the DNC, I'm working to build a Party apparatus that can immediately respond to missteps, lies, and scandals of the 2008 election cycle, and establish a narrative that our party's nominee can use when the primary season ends.
Just as you helped put organizers on the ground in all 50 states, you can help build the Democratic Party's research shop. Make a donation today:
http://www.democrats.org/research
Do you remember the George Allen "macaca" video?
That piece of coverage played an instrumental role in the election of Senator Jim Webb in Virginia -- and winning back the Senate in 2006. But this turning point in Senator Webb's campaign would not have been possible without his dedicated staff members following George Allen's every move -- and this costs money.
The Democratic Party needs to support that kind of diligent reporting in the new election cycle -- with video crews permanently on the ground in early primary states, for example. What did John McCain say in New Hampshire? Who did Rudy Giuliani visit in Iowa? What did Mitt Romney do in South Carolina? The DNC needs to know the answers to these questions every time a Republican makes a campaign stop, and we have to be ready to take the proper course of action. Let's set up a state-of-the-art operation to bypass the media and take the story of their lies, flip-flops, and out-of-whack priorities directly to you.
The Republican presidential hopefuls all have decades of documents, speeches, and video archives that my team is going through -- finding discrepancies in their speeches, holding them accountable for their shameless pandering, fact checking their statements, and establishing a larger narrative to frame our opponents. We need your help to make sure we have the resources to get the job done right.
This is the information we need to know -- and we need your help to make it happen. Help the Party's 2008 campaign today:
http://www.democrats.org/research
For the next year or so, our party's presidential hopefuls will rightfully be too busy looking for your vote in the Democratic primary to focus on their potential Republican opponents. And the stakes are too high to wait for next year to focus on the Republicans running for President.
We're the organization that fills this void until there's a nominee -- and we're the organization that holds the Republicans accountable for everything they say.
Research helped us expose the excesses of the Republican Party and win back Congress in 2006. Research is helping win the fight against the failures of the Bush administration in 2007. And research will help win the Democrats the White House in 2008.
http://www.democrats.org/research
The Daily Flipper
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
At his first town hall-style meeting in Plymouth, he repeated his criticism of U.S. House Democrats who on Friday passed a spending bill that would end the war in Iraq by September 2008, if not sooner."It's one of the most shameful things I've seen," McCain said, repeating a riff he found on Friday in Franklin. "I'm sorry to tell you, this is one of the most shameful things I've seen in my 24 years in Congress. It's disgraceful."
03/26/2007: San Antonio Fundraising Breakfast If you are interested please contact Becca McMullen at beccamcmullen@austin.rr.com03/26/2007: Dallas Fundraising Luncheon
If you are interested please contact Alison McIntosh at alison@mcintoshcompany.com03/26/2007: Houston Fundraising Reception
If you are interested please contact Sue Walden at sue@waldenandassociates.com
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Calendar/
McCain has missed the 2nd most votes in the Senate, behind Senator Tim Johnson.
The Associated Press reported McCain was surprised at how Iowa Republicans this month pressed him angrily on his "amnesty" program.If the senator has had a change of heart on the issue, then he should say so.
If he feels the tug of presidential temptation, that's a more difficult answer and suggests he may not be able to serve his Senate responsibilities and his White House dreams at the same time.
He needs to do both, or choose between the two.
"I hope there's a statute of limitations on saying stupid things," McCain said on his bus last weekend between stops in Nashua and Milford.There isn't.
"One of the reasons Republicans lost the war - excuse me, lost the election," he said in Ames, Iowa. Then, in Milford, N.H., he said, "My friends, we lost the war - we lost the election, we lost the election because of spending."
McCain and Romney Argue Over Who Will Come in Last in the Money Race
Campaigning in New Hampshire on Saturday, McCain said he will not meet his money goals. He blamed his late start and a busy Senate schedule for the lower receipts, estimating that he will end up with something under the $30 million mark behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.But a Romney fundraiser with access to the candidate's totals told "The Hotline" newsletter on Sunday that McCain is playing with perceptions. Romney will probably raise less than $20 million this quarter.
SHHH … It’s a Secret
Leaders of a secretive coalition that includes some of the most influential social conservatives in the nation are interviewing presidential candidates in hopes of flexing political muscle and reframing the Republican primaries in 2008. Over the past few months, members of the executive committee of the so-called Arlington Group have questioned several declared and potential White House hopefuls with the intention of settling on a single candidate, according to Arlington Group members and Republican operatives familiar with the discussions. … Leaders and members of the Arlington Group, which formed in mid-2003, were reluctant to discuss the coalition publicly -- most declined to comment or did not return calls, and the Arlington Group website was abruptly disabled earlier this month after the Globe began making inquiries.
When former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson's daughter Tommi discovered at the age of 31 that she had breast cancer, she harvested one egg before getting a mastectomy.That egg stayed frozen for 2½ years and was thawed out early last year. On Jan. 5, big sister and surrogate mother Kelli gave birth to Tommi's daughter and Thompson's fifth grandchild.
"What a miracle baby," said Thompson, a possible Republican candidate for president, at breakfast Saturday with about 30 Boone County Republicans. "I thought maybe there would be some icicles on it, but there weren't.
In 2001, Giuliani authorized his lawyer to reveal that prostate cancer treatment had left him impotent -- and therefore unable to have sexual relations with Nathan. In recent interviews, Nathan has spoken suggestively about their relationship, calling him the "Energizer Bunny" and posing in a deep kiss with him.
Wife #3 Not Exactly Popular Inside the Giuliani Campaign
In private statements, some Giuliani loyalists said she directly intervenes with senior staff - who have been with him for many years - on matters from scheduling to event planning and use of personnel, sometimes in ways that the staffers might wish to resist but dare not."She's, uh, feisty, as they say," said a supporter, a one-time aide. "She will be the most media-covered first lady of them all - you can be sure of it. This is going to be one big opera. The staff people go a little nuts. They can't say anything."
Just Another Manic Monday Open Thread
Chat away...
March 23, 2007
The Friday Five
(Bumped - Tracy)
Every Friday we'll be highlighting five events happening around the country that we've found in PartyBuilder's Events system. Democrats who work and play together, win together, and keeping your local Democrats active and involved is the key to sustaining vibrant organizations.
Here are 5 events happening around the country in the next week. If you don't see one in your neck of the woods, click here to search for one near you.
- Four Years Too Long: Students for a new agenda in Iraq (Indianapolis, IN)
Vigil, Speakers, Live Music, Peace, Democracy
- Texas Democrats Town Hall: Wichita Falls (Wichita Falls, TX)
As we prepare for the 2008 elections, Texas Democratic Party chairman Boyd Richie will be conducting a series of Town Hall meetings across the state. The meetings will provide an opportunity for all Democrats to share their ideas about how to continue building the Texas Democratic Party.
- National Stonewall Dems Weekend Training (Las Vegas, NV)
Join the National Stonewall Democrats and our local Las Vegas Stonewall Democratic Club on the Las Vegas Strip for our Western National Political Training this March. Hosted at the Riviera Casino and Hotel, we'll welcome 2008 Democratic candidates, party activists and leaders from across the country for this important event.
- Democrats Work on the Peninsula (Santa Clara, CA)
On Saturday, March 24, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, join the Peninsula Young Democrats and Democrats Work to assemble classroom kits for public school teachers. We will be working with RAFT, a local organization that takes donated materials and repackages them for classroom use in area public schools.
- Hamilton County Democratic Club Meeting & Dinner (Carmel, Indiana)
Join us for the monthly meeting of the Hamilton County Democratic Club.
Super Bonus Event!
Governor Dean with Congresswoman Elenor Holmes Norton Democracy Bonds Reception (Washington, DC)
To Get This PARTY Started! Join Governor Dean and Congresswoman Holmes Norton for a Democracy Bonds event!
DC Voting Rights
Intern Damien provides an update:
This is an issue we Democrats have been trying to remedy for decades. Yet, yesterday, Republicans in the House of Representatives thwarted our attempt to establish a voting Congressional seat for the District of Columbia.Instead of passing a simple, direct bill that would give voting rights to the more than 580,000 tax-paying Americans living in D.C., Republicans stalled the bill by attaching a completely unrelated amendment to loosen the District’s gun restriction laws.
Dean on the Passage of the Iraq Supplemental Bill
Governor Dean on the passage of the Iraq supplemental spending bill in the House of Representatives:
"Last November the American people demanded a new direction in Iraq, and that is exactly what the Democrats offered today. President Bush's open-ended commitment to a failed Iraq policy is not good enough for our brave men and women fighting in Iraq. Democrats will continue to wholeheartedly support our troops by providing the resources to keep them safe and get them home, holding this Administration accountable, and demanding that Iraqis take responsibility for their own country.“President Bush’s decision to stifle the essential debate on our course in Iraq by threatening to veto this bill stands solidly against the will of the American people, and is an insult to the brave men and women serving in Iraq. It is time for Republicans to put partisanship aside and join our Democratic leadership in fighting for the new direction in Iraq. It’s what our troops deserve and what the American people have demanded.”
House Passes U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health and Iraq Accountability Act
Stealing from The Gavel (where you can watch the video):
The House has passed the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health and Iraq Accountability Act, 218-212.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
"Rather than sending more troops into the chaos that is the Iraqi civil war, we must be focused on bringing the war to an end. We can do that by passing this bill that transforms the performance benchmarks that have already been endorsed by President Bush and the Iraqi government, into requirements…Benchmarks without deadlines are just words. Four years of this war, words are not enough."
Rep. Murtha (PA-12):
"My grandmother lived to be 96. I was 6 years old when she died. She said you're on this earth to make a difference. We're gonna make a difference with this bill, we're gonna bring those troops home, and we're gonna start changing the direction of this great country."
Rep. Murphy (PA-08):
"To those on the other side of the aisle who are opposed, I want to ask you the same questions that my gunner asked me when I was leading a convoy up and down Ambush Alley one day. He said, 'Sir, what are we doing over here? What's our mission? When are these Iraqis going to come off the sidelines and fight for their own country?' So to my colleagues across the aisle - - - your taunts about supporting our troops ring hollow if you are still unable to answer those questions now four years later."
It is long past time for some measure of accountability when it comes to the war in Iraq. In November, America voted for a new direction, and most especially, for a new direction for the war in Iraq. The President's insistence to escalate the war, ignoring the advice of military experts, his own advisers, Congress and the American people has been painful to watch.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the legislation, which took the form of an emergency spending bill, “a giant step to end the war and responsibly redeploy our troops out of Iraq” and concentrate on Afghanistan, “where the war on terrorism is.”A few hours before the vote, Ms. Pelosi summoned Democrats to a closed-door meeting in the Capitol basement, hoping to impress them one more time with the importance of the proposed legislation, the Democrats’ boldest step yet to try to end the war.
“It’s historic,” Ms. Pelosi said in a brief interview, “for our party and our country.”
It is historic. And long past time. It took the hard work of our new Democratic Congress and it will continue to take hard work to bring this war to an end. But today the Democrats in Congress clearly stood with the majority of the American people and showed their determination to end this war.
Over the past few weeks I have been reluctant to write about the war in Iraq. A very close friend of mine was deployed early this month, as part of the escalation, and I would tear up as I tried to write about the latest news.
Today, I have renewed hope that we have turned a corner, that we are on our way to bringing this war to a close. And despite the President's stubborn instance to stray from his decided upon course, I am reminded of what I knew before the Speaker and the new majority were sworn in: that Democrats are committed to bringing our troops home and ending this war.
Where the President has been unable to lead, the Congress will. As Senator Webb said in his response to the State of the Union, we will show him the way.
The Daily Flipper: Friday "Friends" Edition
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
Romney’s Politics Cause Him To Back Away
From Friendship that Transcends Politics
In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Romney sought to minimize his relationship with Anderson, once a prominent example of bipartisan camaraderie. The two worked closely together when Romney ran the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. ... In 2003, Fehrnstrom -- also acting as Romney's spokesman -- told The Boston Globe: "Sometimes personal friendships transcend politics. That is certainly the case with Mitt Romney and Rocky Anderson."
“Governator” Not Making Friends
In a scathing speech heavy with mockery and sarcasm, Arnold Schwarzenegger warned voters Thursday not to believe the platitudes and stump speeches of presidential candidates.“Don’t buy into their big lines,” the Republican governor of California told a luncheon audience at a politics and policy conference in the state's capital. “They can’t just come and give us a resume and a nice line.”
Richard Blankenship, a Jacksonville area investment banker and President Bush's former ambassador to the Bahamas, said he resigned from Romney's Florida finance team after becoming convinced Giuliani had broader appeal and said other Romney fundraisers in Florida could do the same. ... "The changes in core beliefs gave rise to some concerns. You have to have an anchor in life," he said of Romney.
Giuliani’s Wife Actually on Her Third Marriage, Too!
Judith Nathan had been married twice, and not once as generally believed, before she wed Rudolph W. Giuliani in 2003, aides on the Giuliani presidential campaign said last night.
“In 1989, the comedian/political pundit - who was working with Rudy Giuliani's mayoral campaign - caused a major firestorm when he called New York City African-American then-mayoral candidate David Dinkins "a fancy schvartzer with a mustache." (The word "schvartzer" is derogatory Yiddish for a black person.) Mason compounded the problem when he said, "There is a sick Jewish problem of voting for a black man no matter how unfit he is for the job." . . . So some were startled to see a video on YouTube in which Mason says that Illinois senator Barack Obama is being taken seriously as a presidential candidate "just because he's black." Mason goes on to say that instead of running for president, Obama should become a waiter or a doorman. . . . Some find Obama appealing, Mason says, because he's "not threatening," he's soft-spoken and tall, and he has a nice haircut. Then, addressing Obama, Mason says: "Maybe you should take a test for something that you can do. Maybe you should be the head waiter in a restaurant since you never said an intelligent thing in your life. . . . Maybe you should be a doorman."”
As colorful as Giuliani's personal life is, his business pursuits since September 11, 2001, are perhaps even riper for scrutiny. Already, several media outlets, including National Journal, have asked Giuliani's campaign to release the complete client list of his signature consulting firm, Giuliani Partners. Clients are said to include the U.S. government, private security firms, foreign-owned companies, and businesses concerned about government regulation. Giuliani's reputation was one of the reasons an early client, Purdue Pharma, manufacturer of the painkiller OxyContin, hired the firm to help it cope with increased scrutiny from regulators.
Giuliani Says Plant Nuke Plant Safe; It Promptly Falls Apart
In 2002, then-New York Gov. George Pataki, a Republican, hired James Lee Witt, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under former President Clinton, to study site security at Indian Point. In 2003, Mr. Witt released an assessment that the security plan was "not adequate" to "protect the people from an unacceptable dose of radiation in the event of a release from Indian Point." … Shortly after signing a contract in 2003, Mr. Giuliani's company oversaw a mock terrorist drill at the site and pronounced it safe -- an assertion Mr. Giuliani repeated to reporters in November, when Entergy applied for a 20-year extension of its permit to operate. "Our view is that Indian Point is as safe as a facility can be, and a pretty good model, if not an excellent model for not only other nuclear power plants but other industries," Mr. Giuliani said.But Indian Point has had troubles. In 2005, it emerged that deadly nuclear material had leached into the groundwater under the plant. The reactors have been unexpectedly shut down at least five times since the beginning of 2006. In December, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission said some plant workers feared retribution for raising safety issues. And in February, an inspection found a cracked fuel rod, a situation that could conceivably lead to a loss of nuclear material.
But as a presidential candidate, Mr. Giuliani now talks very differently about guns as he tries to allay the concerns of Republican primary voters. He says he supports the right of individuals to bear arms, and that states — and generally not the federal government — should decide whether to put some limits on that right. He also spoke in favor of a federal appeals court ruling this month that struck down a District of Columbia ordinance barring people from keeping handguns in their homes.Perhaps most striking, Mr. Giuliani’s campaign says it is not clear that he would support a measure he once championed, an assault weapons ban. In explaining his past positions, he and his aides say they were about fighting crime in New York City when he was mayor, adding that restrictions that make sense there can be wrong for other parts of the country.
In his first public comments on the matter, Rudolph W. Giuliani today took a wait-and-see view of the firings of several United States attorneys, saying he did not know enough yet to judge whether anyone in the White House or the Justice Department had acted improperly.He was similarly noncommittal about the propriety of Senator Pete Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, contacting a federal prosecutor about politically charged cases.
ABC News' Teddy Davis and Paul Fidalgo Report: Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani sidestepped whether he supports giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship without first requiring them to leave the country while campaigning Thursday in the Washington, D.C. area. While not answering the specific question posed to him by ABC News, Giuliani attempted to carve out a middle-ground on the contentious illegal immigration issue, which he referred to as a "civil wrong."
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, called U.S. immigration policy "upside down" Thursday during a speech at the Mid-America Center.Romney, saying he does not have a fully developed immigration plan yet, said he opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants.
A Christian Coalition of America officer who ran a successful campaign to ban gay marriage in South Carolina said Thursday he is endorsing Republican Mitt Romney’s presidential bid and will work for the campaign. Drew McKissick, the national coalition’s secretary and board member, will be a paid ”South Carolina grass roots adviser” for the campaign, Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said Thursday. . . . Last year, Romney’s political action committee donated $5,000 to McKissick’s SC for Marriage group, which pushed a state constitutional amendment that prevents any type of legal recognition of same-sex unions. While the group solicited cash from other presidential hopefuls, Romney was the only one to write a check, McKissick said.
McCain Lays Out Inconsistent Position on US Attorneys to Protect WH Friends
''I hope they'll continue negotiations to satisfy both the concerns of the Senate but also preserve the executive privilege and the relationship between the president and his advisers,'' McCain said. ''I hope it doesn't run into one of these things that has to be decided by the United States Supreme Court.''McCain deferred comment when asked about Bush's offer to grant limited interviews with lawmakers without transcripts, saying he's ''not enough of an expert'' to judge the president's proposal, which he called ''a good faith offer.''
MR. SNOW: Well, I don't -- again, our offer is our offer, and we know that Senator Specter has tried to play a constructive role here.Q Wait, wait, wait. Is that a, no?
MR. SNOW: Wait, wait, wait -- it's a, no. (Laughter.)
Q But why? You say you're open to compromise, and what way do you indicate --
MR. SNOW: No, I didn't. I didn't say we were open to compromise. I said, we opened with a compromise.
Gets Hit From Left and Right on Immigration, Taxes
Arizona Sen. John McCain is getting hit from the political left and right as he tries regain momentum in his 2008 Republican presidential bid.The Citizens United Political Victory Fund is the latest right-wing group to take aim at McCain's record on conservative issues. The Washington group faults McCain for voting against conservative orthodoxy including tax cuts and oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and his support for campaign finance reforms, emissions caps aimed at reducing global warming and federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
The criticism comes on the heels of similar jabs at McCain's record by the Club for Growth advocacy group.
Speaking of fundraisers, a rival campaign points out that by attending a reception tonight in Newark, McCain will miss yet more votes. He had already missed 32 roll calls before today.
Texas Democratic Party Chair Boyd Richie called on Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn (TX) to recuse himself from the Senate Ethics Committee investigation into Republican Senator Pete Domenici (NM) over potential ethics violations in the firing of former U.S. attorney David Iglesias, citing Cornyn's repeated public statements prejudging the matter."John Cornyn has publicly positioned himself as an apologist for the Bush Administration's firing of eight U.S. attorneys, showing a clear inability to fairly judge one of his own Republican colleagues on this matter," said Texas Democratic Party Chair Boyd Richie. "Cornyn had a choice to make - fulfill his role of impartiality on the Ethics Committee or serve as a partisan hack explaining away every aspect of the scandal. Unfortunately, his decision to publicly defend the firings disqualifies him from handling any related ethics violations being considered by the Committee."
Praying for the Movie: Dick Armey Fires Back at Friend Tom DeLay’s Book Portrayal, You’re No Saint Yourself
Texas Republicans Tom DeLay and Dick Armey had an uneasy alliance for years, and the feud between the former House majority leaders escalated Wednesday with Mr. Armey blasting Mr. DeLay over a new tell-all book that depicts him as an incompetent who put ambition above conservative goals.
"People retire from Congress and they basically write a book that says, 'I was a true and honest, hardworking, honorable guy and everybody around me was a bunch of slugs,' " Mr. Armey said when asked about the scathing critique.
The former lawmaker from Flower Mound, now a lobbyist and conservative activist, has made no secret of his disdain for Mr. DeLay, arguing that his ethical scrapes and reliance on social wedge issues cost Republicans.
University Refuses to Award Him Honorary Degree
The self-styled "education governor" won't likely be getting a sheepskin from the University of Florida anytime soon.In a move that UF President Bernie Machen called a "horrible mistake," UF's Faculty Senate voted Thursday against granting former Gov. Jeb Bush an honorary degree.
After some faculty expressed concern about Bush's record in higher education, the Senate voted 38-28 to deny him the degree.
Kathleen Price, associate dean of library and technology in UF's Levin College of Law, was among those who spoke in opposition to awarding the degree.
TGIF Open Thread
Everybody's workin' for the weekend...
March 22, 2007
On the Edwards Family Announcement
Governor Dean:
"On behalf of the Democratic family I want to express our enormous admiration of Elizabeth's courage, strength and grace. Her optimism and positive attitude continue to be an inspiration. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Edwards family."
Give Us A Break
Alberto Gonzales has been sent on a "Please-don't-fire-me Tour":
“CBS News has learned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will take to the road to fight for his job, spending the next week traveling the country to see as many US Attorneys as he can. One source says he’ll apologize not for firing eight of their colleagues but for the way he handled it. [Gonzales] will start his mea culpa tour tomorrow in St. Louis.” [CBS Evening News, 3/21/07]“A day after Bush gave his attorney general a vote of confidence, Gonzales appeared to be launching a campaign to save his job by repairing relations with prosecutors in the field and reaching out to political supporters. His office released a dozen testimonials from Latinos and law enforcement groups, with many saying that Gonzales, the first Latino attorney general, was being unfairly held accountable for the fiasco.” [LA Times, 3/22/07]
“Embattled Attorney General met this afternoon with several Republican Senators, including Orrin Hatch, Jon Kyl, John Cornyn and Jeff Sessions, GOP sources said. The lunch meeting held at the Department of Justice, sources said, was initiated by Gonzales. A source familiar with the meeting says it was an attempt by Gonzales to reach out to Republicans who have been decidedly unhappy with how he has handled the US Attorney mess.” [ABC, 3/21/07]
But will it work? Somehow I doubt it.
Supoenas
The Senate Judiciary Committee today authorized the issuing of subpoenas that would summon Karl Rove and several other top Bush administration officials to Capitol Hill to testify under oath about the dismissals of eight federal prosecutors.The step, taken on a voice vote of the committee, came a day after a House Judiciary subcommittee passed a similar measure.
The Senate panel’s action appeared to make a constitutional confrontation between Congress and the White House more likely, at least for the moment, although some on the committee said there was still room for negotiation.
Still, the committee followed without dissent the urging of its chairman, Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, and reasserted senatorial authority.
“I do not take lightly a take-it-or-leave-it so-called offer from the White House,” said Mr. Leahy, alluding to the administration’s offer to make current and former aides available for private interviews, as opposed to public testimony. “I believe in the prerogatives of the United States Senate.”
Flashback: GOP Supoena Days
Open Thread
Talk amongst yourselves...
The Daily Flipper: It's Getting Hot In Here
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
Kennedy, frustrated by the slow progress of his negotiations with McCain, is instead considering filing a bill on his own, modeled largely on the measure endorsed by the Senate Judiciary Committee last year. McCain is continuing to talk to Kennedy about immigration proposals, but the Arizona Republican has not committed to supporting Kennedy's approach.McCain's hesitancy about joining Kennedy on the same issue they worked together on in the previous Congress also speaks to an emerging dynamic in the Republican presidential race.
McCain has encountered anger from hard-line immigration foes on the campaign trail, particularly over an aspect in last year's bill that would have allowed most undocumented immigrants to work toward citizenship.
Senator Says Iraq Has “Diverted Attention” From Latin America
Appearing in Little Havana, McCain carefully avoided criticism of President Bush but said the Iraq war "has diverted attention from our hemisphere and we have paid a penalty for that" in the form of a growing leftism embodied by leaders Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia.In a speech to veterans of the ill-fated, CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, McCain said his first trip if elected to the White House in 2008 would be to Mexico, Canada and Latin America "to reaffirm my commitment to our hemisphere and the importance of relations within our hemisphere."
Is the great conservative hope a recent convert to the pro-life cause?Pro-Romney site Evangelicals For Mitt says that, like their man from Massachusetts, Fred Thompson ran as a pro-choice candidate in two elections. The site posts excerpts from articles in the mid-1990s describing Thompson as "pro-choice" and against a constitutional ammendment banning late-term abortions, though, there aren't any direct quotes of him identifying himself as pro-choice, and at this moment, no startling YouTubes. Also, he favored parental notification and opposed partial birth abortion as well as federal funding for abortion, according to the excerpts. He also had a pretty solid pro-life voting record, apparently.
Republican presidential candidates Rudolph Giuliani and Mitt Romney are skipping the National Urban League's annual conference this summer, and league president Marc Morial wants them to know he's not happy about it."We're sending notice, not just to the Republicans, but to all the candidates, that you're not going to ignore us," said Morial, the former New Orleans mayor who has led the black civil rights organization since 2003.
Giuliani and Romney could face significant obstacles in trying to appeal to black voters. As mayor, Giuliani had a rocky relationship with many black New Yorkers because of what some saw as his heavy-handed law enforcement policies. Romney, a Mormon, is likely to meet resistance because the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints did not allow blacks into the priesthood until 1978.
In another sign of the intense Florida presidential campaign jockeying, a top Republican fundraiser is jumping ship from the Mitt Romney campaign to Rudy Giuliani's.Richard Blankenship, a Jacksonville area investment banker and President Bush's former ambassador to the Bahamas, said he resigned from Romney's Florida finance team after becoming convinced Giuliani had broader appeal and said other Romney fundraisers in Florida could do the same.
Baptist Leader Says Giuliani Won’t Get His Votes
A top leader in the Southern Baptist Convention predicted that former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani would not succeed in winning the votes of Southern Baptists if he were to become the Republican nominee for president in 2008.In brief comments after a chapel service at the North Carolina legislature on Wednesday, Richard Land, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich would likely fail for the same reason.
"Three is one marriage too many for them," said Land, referring to the 16.4 million members of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant group. Both Giuliani and Gingrich have been married three times.
Though high in polls of Republican presidential hopefuls, Newt Gingrich isn't officially running and has declared the early start by many candidates "stupid."But that hasn't stopped the former House speaker from quietly raising a healthy chunk of change.
This week, his committee reported having raised $1.1 million last month, bringing its total since it was created in October to more than $2.1 million.
That's peanuts compared with the tallies top-tier presidential candidates are expected to report next month. But Gingrich's group, American Solutions for Winning the Future, is a so-called 527 organization, and as such, it would be illegal for Gingrich to use the money to campaign for president.
A group of University of Mary Washington students recently dedicated a Web site to Newt Gingrich, this spring's commencement speaker.It shows an altered picture of the Republican with fangs and trickles of blood at the corners of his mouth.
His face is crossed out.
"No Gingrich at Commencement," the Facebook page states.
The polarizing public figure's scheduled appearance has riled up some at the university, while others are excited about hosting a possible presidential contender.
Arizona Man Pledges Campaign to Get McCain Kicked Out of Senate
John McCain thinks he should be president - but an Arizona man doesn't think McCain should even be a senator.As McCain trots around the country campaigning for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, Leonard A. Clark, a former University of Arizona athlete, is trying to get McCain kicked out of the U.S. Senate.
Clark says he hopes to at least shine a negative light on the man he calls "the Neville Chamberlain of the 21st century."
Clark has launched a recall campaign targeting McCain. To force an election in which McCain must fight for his seat, Clark must collect the signatures of 381,696 Arizona voters by June 13 - a Herculean task for even the most well-oiled political machine.
House Debate Begins Today On Iraq Supplemental
I rise today in strong support of a new direction for Iraq.For four years, Republican Congresses followed lock-step as this President led our country into an open-ended commitment refereeing a religious civil war on the streets of Baghdad and Iraq.
After the fall of Saddam Hussein, ensuring no weapons of mass destruction and several elections, the Republican Congress still followed lock-step as my fellow soldiers continued to give the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq without a clear mission, without benchmarks to determine success, and without a clear timeline for coming home.
That ends in the 110th Congress. This is a defining moment.
Mr. Speaker, many of us were elected to Congress on the promise of new leadership. That is what the Iraq Accountability Act does. It leads the way out of Iraq. Leads the way to rebuild our overextended army. And leads the way to win the war on terror.
For too long the American people have been craving leadership, craving accountability, and craving a new direction in Iraq.
Let’s give them that with this piece of legislation.
Via Speaker.gov:
On March 8, 2007, House Democratic leaders announced the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health and Iraq Accountability Act. This bill will support our troops and veterans, hold the Bush Administration and Iraqi government accountable and bring our soldiers home by August 2008 or sooner.Expand funding for veterans’ health care and hospitals
- The bill provides funding so the Veterans Administration can meet the obligations of a new generation of veterans.
- Bush Administration must meet military standards for troop readiness
- The bill fully supports our troops and ensures they have the tools and resources they need to do the job they have been asked to do.
- The legislation prohibits the deployment of troops who are not “fully mission capable” as defined by the Department of Defense – in other words, troops who are fully trained, equipped and protected. This a reaffirmation of current Department of Defense standards.
- The President can only deploy “unprepared troops” if he certifies, in writing, to Congress, that deploying those troops is in the national interest.
Iraqi government must meet Bush benchmarks for reform<
- The bill requires the Iraqi government to meet the key security, political and economic benchmarks established by the President in his January 10 address.
- The Iraqis failure to meet these benchmarks will mean the beginning of U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and will restrict economic aid to the Iraqis.
Strategic redeployment of U.S. combat troops by 2008
- If progress toward meeting key benchmarks is not made by July 1, 2007, a redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq begins immediately and must be completed within 180 days.
- If key benchmarks are not met by October 1, 2007, a redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq begins immediately and must be completed within 180 days.
- If key benchmarks are met by October 1, 2007, a redeployment of U.S. troops must begin by no later than March 1, 2008, and be completed within 180 days.
- Following redeployment, U.S. troops remaining in Iraq may only be used for diplomatic protection, counterterrorism operations, and training of Iraqi Security Forces.
Refocus military efforts on Afghanistan and fighting terrorism
- Al Qaeda is reconstituting, and the Taliban has grown stronger in Afghanistan.
- The bill significantly increases funding to defeat al Qaeda and terrorists in Afghanistan.
The 2007 UnSweet Sixteen
It's live! Pick your "winners"! Vote now!
The 2007 UnSweet Sixteen pits the top eight Administration officials whose incompetence, corruption or cronyism have already cost them their jobs against the eight current Administration officials who most deserve to be fired.
Thursday Open Thread
What are you hearing?
March 21, 2007
Senate Moves Forward With Deadline for Iraq
Senate Democrats have drafted a $121.5 billion war spending bill that would direct President Bush to begin bringing home troops from Iraq with the goal of ending U.S. combat missions there in just over a year.
The Truth: GOP Style
Over the years, Republicans have held hearings on Bill Clinton’s Christmas card list and called for answers on Socks the Cat’s fan mail. Yet they continue to stonewall attempts to question key players in the scandal surrounding the apparently politically-motivated firing of eight U.S. Attorneys.
Despite emails showing that top White House advisers such as Harriet Miers and Karl Rove were involved in the decision, the White House has cited executive privilege and placed restrictions on their cooperation with Congress such as demanding closed-door hearings with no transcripts and even refused to place the advisers under oath.
What's more, the same Republicans that previously spoke out strongly on the importance of candor in our government officials are strangely silent now. Read more.
Spin
Seriously, Tony Snow? Is this the best you can do?
"What do you gain from a transcript? The answer is, not much."
Please, Tony, tell me your secret. How do you keep a straight face?
The Daily Flipper: Background Check Edition
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn't .
Three of Romney's Key Fundraisers Worked Under Alberto Gonzales
A tipster points out what I should have noted below. Not just were Brad Berenson and Timothy Flanigan deputies to Alberto Gonzales when the at-least-for-now-AG was White House Counsel, but David Leitch was, too. All three are co-hosts of the "Lawyers for Romney" kick-off event next week.Leitch, in fact, stayed on at the White House after Gonzales went over to DOJ and was the official whose name has popped in the January 2005 email titled "Questions from Karl Rove" regarding how to deal with U.S. Attorneys in Bush's second term. Leitch forwarded the message, sent from another White House aide, over to Kyle Sampson, Gonzales's recently departed Chief of Staff.
The attorney now representing Sampson? Brad Berenson.
Somebody Forgot to Vet These Guys
The Miami flap comes as Romney deals with questions over a top adviser's connection to a notorious 2006 Michigan attack ad that compared Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to Hitler. The ad was paid for by Voice the Vote, a political action committee to which Romney's finance co-chairman John Rakolta donated $10,000.Rakolta has denied knowing about the Hitler ad before it ran.
Dun-dun.That's the sound, ubiquitous on the NBC crime-and-punishment drama "Law & Order," that's been haunting the nightmares of the former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, for the last week and a half. That is, ever since the former Republican senator of Tennessee, Fred Thompson, went on "Fox News Sunday" to declare that he's "going to leave the door open" to a presidential run.
But there's one candidate whose campaign he could end almost instantaneously, should he choose to run: that of Mr. Romney. Mr. Thompson is pro-life, pro-gun, anti-gay marriage, and anti-tax - like Mr. Romney. But he has one advantage over the former governor: He didn't just come to these positions over the last year or so, in a "Road to Des Moines" conversion.
On virtually every issue, Mr. Thompson is as far right, or further, than Mr. Romney, and he has been for some time. Mr. Romney's claim to fame so far in the campaign has been that he's the "true conservative" in the race - in contrast to Mayor Giuliani and Senator McCain. If Mr. Thompson jumps in, however, the rationale behind Mr. Romney's candidacy drops out.
[H]e doesn't have a particularly distinguished legislative record. While he cast what many conservatives consider the "right" votes during his eight years in the Senate (aside from having voted for the McCain-Feingold campaign finance-regulation bill), he didn't do much else. The highlight of his time in the Senate was presiding over an investigation into the Clinton administration's campaign-finance practices, which started with a lot of hullabaloo about Chinese espionage but ended with a whimper.
On the campaign trail then, McCain declared that Bill Gates didn't need a tax cut, observed that both sides in the abortion wars "have turned a cause into a business" and famously called Falwell and the Rev. Pat Robertson "agents of intolerance."Now, having voted for the extension of the Bush tax cuts, McCain defends them and pledges never to repeal them. He also calls for Roe v. Wade to be overturned and -- horror of horrors -- has reconciled with Falwell.
Then Realizes He Can't Quite Get There
The initial goal was to raise $500,000.Ambitions were then scaled back to about $250,000, and then $200,000, for U.S. Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign during a Monday fundraiser in Philadelphia.
Gingrich Urges Keeping Private Lives Out of '08 Race
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said in Nashville that the personal lives of White House hopefuls shouldn't become an issue in the 2008 campaign.Earlier this month Gingrich said he was seeking forgiveness for his own extramarital affair committed while he pursued President Clinton's impeachment in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Conservatives Say Brownback is Too Conservative
With the GOP's influential conservative wing still scrambling for a candidate to back for the 2008 nomination, Brownback presents a paradox.He has the kind of unquestioned credentials as a family values crusader that conservatives have long sought in a presidential candidate. Yet he hasn't been able to leverage his credentials to break out of a crowded pack of White House hopefuls.
One potential reason: Some Republicans fear he may be too conservative to win a national election.
Duncan Hunter Not Seeking Re-Election
White House hopeful Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) will not seek reelection next year as his 30-year-old son prepares to mount a race for his father's seat.Duncan D. Hunter, the lawmaker's son, confirmed late Tuesday that the 110th Congress will be his father's last.
The younger Hunter, who is working on his father's presidential campaign, is in Washington this week.
Rep. Hunter's office confirmed his retirement from Congress. "My understanding is yes. Congressman Hunter does not intend to run for two offices simultaneously and presently does not intend to seek reelection in the 52nd congressional district," said spokesman Joe Kasper.
Hate Is Not An American Value
Last night, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers introduced the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (LLEHCPA), a bipartisan bill that would extend the definition of hate crimes to include violence against a person because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity, and provide local law enforcement agencies the resources to combat hate crimes.
Governor Dean issued the following statement applauding the bill’s sponsors and calling for its swift passage:
“Today, I applaud Chairman Conyers, the Democratic leadership in Congress and a bipartisan list of more than 100 members of Congress for introducing a critical bill to protect thousands of Americans from hate crimes. This is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue; it’s a human rights issue. Hate is not an American value.“Each year hundreds of our fellow citizens are attacked based solely on their sexual orientation or gender identity, with thousands more attacked based on their race, religion, age, gender or ethnicity. Hate crimes do not target just the victim; they terrorize entire communities and entire groups of people. This sort of violence has no place in our American society.
“While no groups of Americans are immune from hate crimes, one in six attacks are motivated by the victim's sexual orientation, and yet today's federal laws don't include any protections for these Americans. The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act will end this injustice, and provide equal protections under the law for all of our citizens. It will also provide the Department of Justice and local law enforcement agencies the resources they need to combat hate crimes. I urge our lawmakers in both houses of Congress to pass this critical bill, and for President Bush to swiftly sign it into law.”
The Truth
Today's NTY Editorial:
In nasty and bumbling comments made at the White House yesterday, President Bush declared that “people just need to hear the truth” about the firing of eight United States attorneys. That’s right. Unfortunately, the deal Mr. Bush offered Congress to make White House officials available for “interviews” did not come close to meeting that standard.Mr. Bush’s proposal was a formula for hiding the truth, and for protecting the president and his staff from a legitimate inquiry by Congress. Mr. Bush’s idea of openness involved sending White House officials to Congress to answer questions in private, without taking any oath, making a transcript or allowing any follow-up appearances. The people, in other words, would be kept in the dark.
The Democratic leaders were right to reject the offer, despite Mr. Bush’s threat to turn this dispute into a full-blown constitutional confrontation.
Congress has the right and the duty to fully investigate the firings, which may have been illegal, and Justice Department officials’ statements to Congress, which may have been untrue. It needs to question Karl Rove, Mr. Bush’s chief political adviser, Harriet Miers, the former White House counsel, and other top officials.
It is hard to imagine what, besides evading responsibility, the White House had in mind. Why would anyone refuse to take an oath on a matter like this, unless he were not fully committed to telling the truth? And why would Congress accept that idea, especially in an investigation that has already been marked by repeated false and misleading statements from administration officials?
Wednesday Open Thread
Chat away...
March 20, 2007
In Remembrance ...
My College Democrats chapter commemorated the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War today by reading the names of each and every fallen soldier right in the middle of campus.
I took up the somber task of reading the names from the list of casualties. It’s an immense list—70 pages long, as thick as a medium-length paperback book. It cites the name, age, rank and date of death for each soldier, almost 46 per page.
I began reading at 11:00 sharp—right after the chimes from the clock on campus faded away—with the first name: Jay Thomas Aubin, 36, Marine Major. I read through all the names, the ages, the ranks, one right after the other, page after page—it took three and a half hours, almost a thousand names per hour.
It was an extremely sobering experience—all of those names, each representing a father, a son, a mother, a daughter, a friend, a family member; each representing an entire life lost. So many of their ages were so close to my own, and some were even younger than me when they gave their lives, sacrificed everything.
I think everyone should take some time to look through the list of casualties, to honor the dead and to ensure they will never be forgotten. Perhaps, one day, all of these names will be on a memorial built to ensure that we never make the same mistake again.
Damien Shirley is the Vice President of the George Washington University College Democrats and an intern for The Democratic Party.
Seriously?
Via Josh Marshall:
Gotta love this. The White House will allow Rove and Miers to testify about the US Attorney Purge. But they can't be under oath. It has to be behind closed doors and no transcript can be kept.And probably the whole thing has to take place at an undisclosed location and the senators have to wear blindfolds.
Regrettably, only the last sentence is a joke.
94-2: Senate Votes to Revoke Power to Replace Prosecutors
Via NYT:
The Senate voted overwhelmingly today to revoke the authority it granted the Bush administration last year to name federal prosecutors without Senate confirmation.By a vote of 94 to 2, the Senate voted to restore the previous system for naming federal prosecutors. Under that system, when a vacancy occurred, the attorney general was allowed to name an interim United States attorney to serve for up to 120 days while the administration submitted a nominee for permanent appointment to the Senate. If a nominee is not confirmed within that period, the federal district court could then name a replacement.
The measure the Senate approved today, if it is enacted into law, would undo language in the USA Patriot Act that had allowed the White House to bypass the Senate in naming prosecutors. It must still be approved by the House, but passage seems assured in that chamber, since it has a stronger Democratic majority than the Senate does.
The president can veto the measure, but the lopsided margin in the Senate suggests that a veto could be overridden. And the Justice Department has indicated that it will not oppose the change.
The overwhelming bipartisan vote today reflected the senators’ desire to reassert their cherished advice-and-consent role amid the controversy over Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and the dismissal of eight United States attorneys in what critics have called a political purge. The only senators voting “no” were Christopher Bond of Missouri and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, both Republicans.
Before the vote, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, urged his colleagues in both parties to “send a very strong signal” to the administration.
What will the White House do? 94-2 is clearly a veto-proof margin. You know how much they like to "stay the course", but word on the street is that names are being floated around for a new Attorney General.
Does the Bush White House accept the new oversight, replace the AG and try and move on as quickly as possible? Or do they stand their ground and continue to insist they were not involved in any wrong-doing?
What do you predict?
Iraq Anniversary: Pictures of Protest
I was in Florida for the weekend getting ready for my best friend's wedding. For four days I was mostly offline, immersed in family and friends, trying my best not to pay attention to the news or think about work.
Yet it's not so easy to escape when there is a war going on that so many people want to see stopped. Yesterday was the four year anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. My friend and I came across a group of people protesting at a busy intersection in Delray Beach and snapped these pictures.
The Daily Flipper: Cambridge Libre Edition
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn't.
Cubans in Miami are steaming mad at former Gov. Mitt Romney for shooting his mouth off in stumbling Spanish, mispronouncing names and erroneously associating a notorious Fidel Castro-spewed Communist catch phrase with freedom fighters.Politicians in South Florida have lashed out at the former Massachusetts governor and 2008 presidential hopeful for describing the socialist saying "Patria o muerte, venceremos" as "inspiring" and for claiming the phrase was swiped from liberty-seeking Cubans by leftist admirers of Castro.
At another point in the speech to the Miami-Dade Republican Party, Romney bungled the names of prominent Cuban GOP politicians, referring to Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio as "Mario."
... The phrase, which means "Fatherland or death, we shall overcome," was bellowed as a political speech sign-off by the dictator for decades. "When you come into our community, you should be a little better-prepared," [Florida state Rep. Rene Garcia] said, adding that the incident "left a negative taste with local officials." Ana Navarro, a Miami-based former United Nations Ambassador who was at the event, called the quote "a mistake" by "an empty suit."
As he left Iowa, Mr. McCain said he was reconsidering his views on how the immigration law might be changed. He said he was open to legislation that would require people who came to the United States illegally to return home before applying for citizenship, a measure proposed by Representative Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana. Mr. McCain has previously favored legislation that would allow most illegal immigrants to become citizens without leaving the country.
"How are we dealing with it?" said John Weaver, a senior adviser to Mr. McCain. "We're facing it head-on. John's position - and the president's position - is widely supported by a vast majority of primary and caucus voters."
In a speech to conservatives in Washington two weeks ago, Mr. Romney said: "The current system is a virtual concrete wall against those who have skill and education, but it's a wide open walk across the border for those that have neither. And McCain-Kennedy isn't the answer."Mr. Romney did not always take that position. He was quoted in The Boston Globe in November 2005 describing Mr. McCain's immigration initiatives as "reasonable proposals," though he stopped short of endorsing them, the newspaper said.
Republican activist Grover Norquist raised questions Monday about the viability of John McCain's presidential ambitions if McCain sticks with his decision to forgo signing a written pledge promising not to raise taxes. "It is difficult to see someone running successfully for the Republican nomination," said Norquist, "with a six-year record of being against Reaganesque tax cuts and then not signing the tax pledge.""I don't think I am required to sign any pledge of Mr. Norquist's," McCain said. "My record is very clear. I have never voted for a tax increase in 24 years. That should be sufficient time to convince average Americans of my commitment not to raise taxes."
The bulk of the McCains' wealth comes from the senator's wife, whose late father ran an Anheuser-Busch distribution business in Phoenix called Hensley & Co. at a time when that city's economy took off and many Arizonans got rich. . One of Hensley's largest positions is in US Airways Group (LCC) , where its stake was recently valued between $100,000 and $250,000. McCain, who sits on the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security, has long been vocal on a variety of issues affecting the airlines. He has been particularly supportive of his hometown airline America West, which bought US Airways out of bankruptcy in 2005 to become US Airways Group
Arizona Sen. John McCain holds a narrow lead over former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani among Republican presidential primary voters in Michigan and New York Sen. . McCain -- who won the Michigan Republican presidential primary in 2000 -- leads Giuliani 30 percent to 26 percent, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in third at 21 percent, according to the survey of 392 likely Republican primary voters taken last week by EPIC/MRA of Lansing. But in a head-to-head match-up in a separate poll question, Giuliani edges McCain, 49-46. . "In the case of McCain, he is not as strong as he needs to be in Michigan. He cannot count his chickens yet here. And Romney still has lower name ID than the other two." The survey shows 98 percent of voters recognize McCain, 97 percent are familiar with Giuliani and 88 percent know Romney.
Last week, when former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney came to Sacramento, Schwarzenegger sat in his office preparing for a press conference while Romney met GOP members of the Legislature upstairs in Sen. Dick Ackerman's office. Both camps insist the failure to get the two together was nothing more than a scheduling conflict, even though the two men were in the same building at the same time.Romney will return to California next week, but will be appearing in Los Angeles, and has not scheduled a meeting with Schwarzenegger, according to his campaign staff.
Is Mitt Romney running away from Schwarzenegger while running to the right? Is Schwarzenegger playing favorites in the presidential field? Or was last week's ships-in-the-night occurrence just a simple case of two busy men failing to connect?
Scheduling conflicts do occur, says Dan Schnur, who served as communications director for John McCain's 2000 campaign but is not working for any candidate seeking the White House in 2008. But, he says, "the bigger priority something is, the easier it is to overcome those conflicts."
Romney has been running away from his more moderate record as governor of Democrat-heavy Massachusetts, and seeking support from the conservative wing of the Republican Party. So, says Schnur, Schwarzenegger's endorsement may not be as pivotal to Romney as it is to Giuliani or McCain, who both have support among party moderates.
And what about this news from former Sen. Fred Thompson, the Law & Order star who's thinking about a presidential bid: He's planning more fundraisers for convicted perjurer Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Friends say it will help him show conservatives that he not only believes in the Bush team but is not a fair-weather friend.
Rudy Giuliani, aided and abetted by George Steinbrenner, has a history of commandeering Yankees airwaves to enhance Bombers business interests or promote his own agenda. Sunday, Giuliani, who says he is a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, was at it again. This time he was using appearances on Yankees TV and radio to hype his candidacy. As the campaign really starts heating up, when do Giuliani's "baseball" sessions turn into an equal-time issue? And would FCC suits ever become interested in pursuing that issue with YES and WCBS radio honchos? Until that time, when Giuliani is in a Yankees broadcast booth, there's only one hope. Quick innings.
None of the GOP presidential front-runners has generated much support among Republican Party loyalists in Texas, whose early favorite to head the ticket in 2008 hasn't even announced - Newt Gingrich. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney have few enthusiastic backers on the State Republican Executive Committee. Support for Arizona Sen. John McCain in the party's governing body appears near zero, according to The Dallas Morning News canvass of committee members.
Some conservatives searching for a new Ronald Reagan are rejecting "Rudy McRomney" and seeking an alternative Republican presidential candidate, opening the door to dark-horse hopefuls, including former Sen. Fred Dalton Thompson and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.Still reeling from losses in the midterm congressional elections last year, nearly 6 in 10 Republicans said in a recent poll that they want more choices for November 2008.
Many conservatives are displeased with the trio of candidates dominating press coverage of the Republican 2008 field -- former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
"None of these candidates in the first tier or second tier have done anything that would convict them of being a conservative leader," said Richard A. Viguerie, author of "Conservatives Betrayed."
Feb. 6, 2008: BOSTON -- Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney withdrew from the presidential race with a rousing speech declaring his respect for gays as well as straights, his belief that abortion laws should remain unchanged, his disdain for guns that plague urban centers, and his tolerance for struggling immigrants who seek a better life on American shores. Amid euphoric applause from a swelling crowd that included his wife and sons, Romney was asked why he didn't voice these beliefs during his failed campaign. "It never occurred to me that people might like me for who I am," he said.
Tuesday Open Thread
Chat away...
March 19, 2007
Your Freedom of Information Act Request
Last week, we asked you to sign our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request over the eight U.S. attorneys fired because they refused to go on witch-hunts against Democrats, or ignored the Republicans' blatant disregard for the law. Tens of thousands of you added your name to our FOIA request to go beyond the lies and reveal the truth behind the White House, Justice Department, and Republican Party's corruption.
Today I hand-delivered our FOIA request to the Department of Justice, with your names added on.
You can view a PDF of the official letter that went along with those co-signers right here, which was signed by Governor Dean:
This letter constitutes a request under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. §552 (“FOIA”), and is submitted by the undersigned individuals who are concerned about the widening scandal involving improper and potentially unlawful attempts, by the Bush White House, Republican Members of Congress and Republican party officials, to influence and interfere in ongoing criminal investigations being conducted by United States Attorneys and to influence the hiring and firing of U.S. Attorneys for partisan political reasons.
Thanks to the tens of thousands of you who added your name to the FOIA request.
Dean On The Fourth Anniversary Of The Iraq War
On the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement:
Four years ago, President Bush and his Administration misled our nation into a war of choice that has led to the loss of 3,200 American lives and tens of thousands more wounded. Today, as the President sits in his ‘beautiful White House,’ far from the bloodshed and violence in Iraq, he continues to ignore last November’s vote of no confidence from the American people. After four years of numerous broken promises and failed predictions, the President has lost all credibility.“As we mark the beginning of the fifth year of the war, Democrats renew our promise to the American people to hold President Bush accountable and change course in Iraq. We will honor the courageous sacrifices of our brave men and women in uniform and ensure our troops have the resources they need on the battlefield and the care they deserve when they return home. We will tell the truth to the American people, and we will act now to save the lives of our American troops and keep America safe. We also call on Republican members of Congress to join us and stop protecting the President and stand with the American people.”
White House 'On The Defensive' About Iraq Anniversary
Today marks four years since the invasion of Iraq -- another grim milestone as Iraq continues to spiral further into the civil war it has become. The White House, as you might imagine, is on the defensive, as the anniversary serves to remind the public how wrong they were when they declared the mission "accomplished." Or how wrong they were when they said the insurgency was in its "last throes."
The Bush administration is so defensive about their botched Iraq policy that they've begun taking it out on reporters. ThinkProgress notes a CNN report about the incident earlier today:
During this morning’s press gaggle, [White House spokesman] Tony Snow told reporters that Bush will use the speech to attack the House plan for Iraq as a “recipe for defeat” that would “provide a victory for the enemy.”CNN’s Ed Henry told Snow that since he was attacking the House plan, he should explain the Bush administration’s “recipe for success.” According to Henry, Snow “tried to turn it around on me,” asking Henry what his recipe for success was. When Henry objected to Snow’s question, Snow told him to “zip it.”
According to Henry, Snow later apologized. Yet as Henry also reported: "I point it out because I think it shows the White House a little bit on the defensive this morning about this anniversary."
The Daily Flipper: Nobody's Perfect Edition
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani on Sunday defended his law firm's role in representing Citgo Petroleum Corp., which is ultimately controlled by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, saying it was helping to protect American jobs. … Giuliani said in an interview: “What they’re doing is lawful and honorable and helping to protect jobs for more than 100,000 Americans.”
CITGO has approximately 4,000 employees in the United States and, through a network of more than 13,000 independently owned retail locations, CITGO indirectly employs roughly another 100,000 people who work hard every day to help their neighbors get where they want to go.
People chuckled when presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a Mormon raised in Michigan and elected in Massachusetts, bungled the names of Cuban-American politicians during a recent speech in Miami.But when he mistakenly associated Fidel Castro's trademark speech-ending slogan -- Patria o muerte, venceremos! -- with a free Cuba, listeners didn't laugh. They winced.
Castro has closed his speeches with the phrase -- in English, ''Fatherland or death, we shall overcome'' -- for decades.
''Clearly, that's something he was ill-advised on or didn't do his homework on,'' said Hialeah City Council President Esteban Bovo. ``When you get cute with slogans, you get yourself into a trap.''
Republican presidential contender John McCain on Friday used the term "tar baby," considered by some a racial epithet, and later said he regretted it.Answering questions at a town hall meeting, the Arizona senator was discussing federal involvement in custody cases when he said, "For me to stand here and ... say I'm going to declare divorces invalid because of someone who feels they weren't treated fairly in court, we are getting into a tar baby of enormous proportions."
After the event, McCain told reporters: "I don't think I should have used that word and I was wrong to do so."
Two recent surveys found that people are less likely to vote for a presidential candidate who is older than 72 than they would a candidate who has been divorced twice and a candidate who is Mormon. Giuliani is on his third marriage; Romney is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.In Michigan, Jerry Roe, a Republican who is a former state GOP executive director, backed McCain in 2000 but supports Romney this time. "McCain's too old," said Roe, whose son is a deputy campaign manager for Romney.
"He looks tired. He looks like he's dragging," added Chip Felkel, a GOP strategist in South Carolina who says he is not aligned with a candidate.
McCain received plenty of laughter for his jokes on campaigning, but the biggest reaction he received was when he mistakenly stated the importance of keeping the First in Nation primary -- in Massachusetts.
For someone building his presidential campaign around national security credentials, John McCain (R-Ariz.) sure has missed a bunch of votes regarding the Iraq war. During the past six weeks, the Senate has cast seven votes dealing with how President Bush should proceed in the now four-year-old war. And McCain has missed five of them, bypassing what he calls "meaningless" procedural votes in favor of campaign stops in his pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination.
During yesterday’s Iowa bus tour on the “Double Talk Express,” Senator McCain “dubbed Minnesota Governor, Tim Pawlenty ‘the future leadership of the Republican Party in America,’” fueling speculation “about a possible vice presidential candidacy” with McCain. How fitting that McCain’s potential running mate was also against ethanol subsidies as recently as 2003. Most Iowans probably already know that McCain has changed his position on ethanol, but do Iowa voters know that in 2003 Pawlenty proposed the elimination of $26.8 million in payments to 13 ethanol plants in his home state?
A dossier under the title, "Rudy Giuliani Life Long Liberal," edited by New York conservative activist George Marlin, has just been circulated to a small circle of New York journalists. And, now, NYSunPolitics.com publishes it online in its entirety (click to download the Word document) - appearing for the first time anywhere. ...According to the dossier's introduction, "From undergraduate days writing for his college newspaper, throughout his extensive legal career, and especially in his very visible political service-up to an [sic] including his actions after 9/11-Giuliani has held and promoted leftist views."
Mr. DeLay, who is trying through his book and a Web site to become an influential conservative voice outside Congress, does admit to a dark side. “We are all flawed,” he writes in the book. “And my flaw is that I can sometimes be aggressive, even mean.”
Visitors to Romney's page can click and play Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation." McCain tells MySpace users his favorite TV show is "24" and his favorite movie is "Viva Zapata."
McCain On Condom Use
Over the weekend, McCain fumbled a question on the Straight Talk Express concerning preventing the spread of HIV in Africa.
Per Adam Nagourney, on the Straight Talk Express, McCain was asked:
Reporter: “Should U.S. taxpayer money go to places like Africa to fund contraception to prevent AIDS?”Mr. McCain: “Well I think it’s a combination. The guy I really respect on this is Dr. Coburn. He believes – and I was just reading the thing he wrote– that you should do what you can to encourage abstinence where there is going to be sexual activity. Where that doesn’t succeed, than he thinks that we should employ contraceptives as well. But I agree with him that the first priority is on abstinence. I look to people like Dr. Coburn. I’m not very wise on it.”
(Mr. McCain turns to take a question on Iraq, but a moment later looks back to the reporter who asked him about AIDS.)
Mr. McCain: “I haven’t thought about it. Before I give you an answer, let me think about. Let me think about it a little bit because I never got a question about it before. I don’t know if I would use taxpayers’ money for it.”
Later, McCain returned to the question and said:
"I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.”
The exchange concluded like this:
Q: “But you would agree that condoms do stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Would you say: ‘No, we’re not going to distribute them,’ knowing that?”Mr. McCain: (Twelve-second pause) “Get me Coburn’s thing, ask Weaver to get me Coburn’s paper that he just gave me in the last couple of days. I’ve never gotten into these issues before.”
This went on for a few more moments until a reporter from the Chicago Tribune broke in and asked Mr. McCain about the weight of a pig that he saw at the Iowa State Fair last year.
In fact, McCain has been on the record advocating the use of condoms as recently as 2004 when he answered a question on the Vote-Smart.org questionnaire asking him "Should aid to African nations for AIDS prevention programs fund distribution of contraceptives?" McCain answered "Yes"
And in 2002, on Meet the Press, McCain was asked:
MR. RUSSERT: What do you think of Colin Powell's comments about the use of condoms, encouraging sexually active young people to use them?SEN. McCAIN: Oh, I agree with him. I think that he established the priorities correctly. We should emphasize, first of all, abstinence, faithfulness, but there are people in American society who are sexually active, and in the world. And when HIV/AIDS has reached an epidemic proportion, I think we need to use every means possible to try to eradicate this epidemic that has affected particularly Third World countries. But I do believe it's appropriate to emphasize abstinence and other ways, as well, and give them priority.
If McCain had not undergone such a hard shift to the right, then this might be forgiven as a simple misstatement. However, in the context of his similar moves on choice, Jerry Falwell, and the Bush Tax Cuts, his attempt to shade his record to appeal to the right wing is troubling.
Monday Open Thread
Chat away...
March 16, 2007
U.S. Attorney Round Up
There's a lot of good stuff being written about the controversy around the firing of U.S. attorneys. Here's a sample...
- The New York Times has an excellent editorial about "fumbling attempts to explain the purge of United States attorneys," concluding:
The United States attorney purge appears to have been prompted by an array of improper political motives. Carol Lam, the San Diego attorney, seems to have been fired to stop her from continuing an investigation that put Republican officials and campaign contributors at risk. These charges, like the accusation that Mr. McKay and other United States attorneys were insufficiently aggressive about voter fraud, are a way of saying, without actually saying, that they would not use their offices to help Republicans win elections. It does not justify their firing; it makes their firing a graver offense.
- Talking Points Memo, which has done some incredible journalism on the controversy, released a detailed timeline that puts it all in perspective. The most interesting?
May 11, 2006
- The LA Times reports that the investigation of Cunningham has expanded to include Representative Jerry Lewis (R-CA), House Appropriations Committee Chairman.
- Sampson emails Mier's deputy William Kelly, writing that they need to discuss: "The real problem we have right now with Carol Lam that leads me to conclude that we should have someone ready to be nominated on 11/18, the day her 4-year term expires." Sampson also mentions a need to discuss "Tim Griffin for E.D. Ark."
- The LA Times reports that the investigation of Cunningham has expanded to include Representative Jerry Lewis (R-CA), House Appropriations Committee Chairman.
- Andrew Sullivan makes the point that the White House might be stuck with Gonzales, no matter how badly they might want him out, simply because all the Bush people have baggage:
If Gonzales is cashiered, as now seems likely, who will replace him? McNulty is just as implicated. A figure above the fray? Bush can't risk it. Miers? A no-go. The replacement will tell us a great deal about how scared the Bush people are of real, independent scrutiny. Which may leave them with the option of ... going back to where they started and keeping Gonzales, whatever the fallout.
- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government (CREW) asks an interesting question: "Did White House staffers violate Presidential Records Act by using outside e-mail addresses to conduct business?"
- And Craig Crawford reminds us "that at least three of Bush’s longest-serving and closest confidants are at the center of this dispute."
McCain: In the Tank or Under the Bus?
During yesterday’s bus tour on the “Double Talk Express,” Senator McCain “dubbed Minnesota Governor, Tim Pawlenty ‘the future leadership of the Republican Party in America,’” fueling speculation “about a possible vice presidential candidacy” with McCain. (Star Tribune, 3/15/07)
How fitting that McCain’s potential running mate was also against ethanol subsidies as recently as 2003. Most Iowans probably already know that McCain has changed his position on ethanol, but do Iowa voters know that in 2003 Pawlenty proposed the elimination of $26.8 million in payments to 13 ethanol plants in his home state? (AP, 1/6/03; Star Tribune, 2/1/03)
BUT…Pawlenty’s push drew “fierce criticism from farmers, plant owners, environmentalists and state legislators. Farmers, who call the payments ‘production incentives,’ rallied at the statehouse, and the Republican-controlled House restored the payments in its budget proposal.” (AP, 1/16/03; Star Tribune, 2/1/03]
Pawlenty’s attempt to “halve Minnesota's 20-cent per gallon subsidy for ethanol as part of its budget-cutting proposals,” failed and his dismissive attitude that...“Most [ethanol] plants are profitable, and by reducing their subsidies the only impact is they're going to be a little less profitable,” was not appreciated. (Saint Paul Pioneer Press, 3/16/04; Star Tribune, 1/19/03)
Iowa caucus goers have every reason to wonder if McCain and Pawlenty are the real deal about ethanol. They’re recent support seems rather soft, calculated and politically convenient.
The Friday Five
Every Friday we'll be highlighting five events happening around the country that we've found in PartyBuilder's Events system. Democrats who work and play together, win together, and keeping your local Democrats active and involved is the key to sustaining vibrant organizations.
Here are 5 events happening around the country in the next week. If you don't see one in your neck of the woods, click here to search for one near you.
- Rally For Democracy in Tallahassee, (Tallahassee, FL)
Tell Lawmakers you want a verifiable audit trail to protect your vote and preserve our Democracy! Five Cities Democratic Club of Volusia County is sponsoring a rally to sway the debate in Tallahassee. Please forward this email to your lists.
- Big Brothers and Big Sisters: Bowling for Kids, (Crystal Lake, IL)
This is the main event day when community members, corporations, and organizations come out to bowl.
- TDP Town Hall, (Laredo, TX)
As we prepare for the 2008 elections, Texas Democratic Party chairman Boyd Richie will be conducting a series of Town Hall meetings across the state. The meetings will provide an opportunity for all Democrats to share their ideas about how to continue building the Texas Democratic Party.
- DNC Celebrates Women's History Month!, (Washington, DC)
The Women's Leadership Forum of the Democratic National Committee cordially invites you to attend a panel discussion in celebration of Women's History Month "Today’s Women Making History"
- Connecticut Opposes the War, (Hartford, CT)
Fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq Tell Washington: "Stop the War"
A Hard Look at Fred Thompson
With the rest of the top tier of the Republican field flip-flopping all over the place on the issue of choice, some observers on the right have looked to Fred Thompson to get into the race and play the role of the "solid conservative."
According to the National Journal, Thompson's conservative credentials are far from clear.
[I]n 1994, the National Review described Thompson as "pro-choice," although he didn't vote that way in the Senate. As a former prosecutor, Watergate counsel, and trial lawyer, he opposed tort reform legislation in the 1990s. Thompson is a staunch supporter of McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation to curtail soft money. He does not oppose a guest-worker program for certain immigrants. He opposes gay marriage but, like McCain, would leave the issue up to individual states.
So Fred Thompson would face the same dilemma as the rest of the Republican field. Flipping from the mainstream position on issues to please the conservative base, and then having to convince the rest of America that despite the fact that he has changed his positions to please the far-right, he really isn't beholden to them.
Right now: Plame testifying
Valerie Plame, the former covert CIA agent exposed by the Bush administration, is testifying right now in front of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
You can watch the live webcast of the hearing.
The hearing plans to examine "the disclosure and internal White House security procedures for protecting her identity from disclosure and responding to the leak after it occurred."
Other witnesses:
Dr. James Knodell, Director, Office of Security, The White House
Mr. Bill Leonard, Director, Information Security Oversight Office, National Archives and Records Administration
Mr. Mark Zaid, Attorney
Ms. Victoria Toensing, diGenova & Toensing, LLP
The Washington Post reports: "She has been silent nearly four years. Today, the CIA officer whose unmasking fueled a political uproar and criminal probe that reached into the White House is poised to finally tell her own story -- before Congress."
The Daily Flipper
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
So why wouldn't Sen. John McCain respond to a question about whether Gen. Peter Pace is correct about the moral status of homosexuality?After all, McCain told ABC News's George Stephanopoulos on November 19 last year that sexuality is neither a "defect" nor a "sin"
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: You threw your support behind Trent Lott this week to be Republican Whip. Do -- he has said that homosexuality is a sin. Is that what you think?
SEN. MCCAIN: I have never heard Trent Lott state that. But no, that's not what I --
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: It's not your position?
SEN. MCCAIN: No.
"The interesting story so far has been the complete descent of McCain," said Steve Lombardo, a Republican consultant in Washington who attributed it in part to widespread disenchantment with Congress. "He's a senator who is seen as a D.C. insider. It's been a rough period of time for him."Republicans who have backed McCain privately fret that the campaign is burning through money at an alarming rate by building an overly bureaucratic organization -- in effect overcompensating for a campaign weakness from 2000. They express concern that McCain doesn't appear to be the "Happy Warrior" he was then and may be having difficulty making the transition from an underdog to an establishment candidate.
On his second try, McCain seems to have become much of what he used to fight against. The deficit hawk who had opposed Bush's tax cuts voted to extend them. The apostate who counted the Rev. Jerry Falwell among the "agents of intolerance" seven years ago delivered the commencement speech at Falwell's Liberty University last May. Ask the candidate what his message is this time around, and he tells TIME, "Experience, background, record and vision. Who is best capable to address the challenge of the 21st century, which is the threat of radical Islamic fundamentalism?" But what about reform? These days McCain has to be prompted on that one, which he lumps into "all of those things."
“Everybody says, ‘We just want you to be like last time,’ ” he said amid a welter of microphones in what turned into a daylong conversation with reporters, punctuated by the occasional meeting with voters. “Last time we lost!”
‘‘I’m too old to change. I’m the same. People will understand that as the campaign goes on.’’
But as Pawlenty spends time here in Iowa, his political opponents at home were quick to point out there's flooding in western Minnestoa. The DFL accused Pawlenty of placing his national poltical ambitions ahead of the interests of Minnesotans who just re-elected him.
That is markedly different from how Romney once characterized McCain's bill, elements of which are receiving new attention in Congress and from President Bush. Indeed, Romney's past comments on illegal immigration suggest his views have hardened as he has ramped up his campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.In a November 2005 interview with the Globe, Romney described immigration proposals by McCain and others as "quite different" from amnesty, because they required illegal immigrants to register with the government, work for years, pay taxes, not take public benefits, and pay a fine before applying for citizenship.
"That's very different than amnesty, where you literally say, 'OK, everybody here gets to stay,' " Romney said in the interview. "It's saying you could work your way into becoming a legal resident of the country by working here without taking benefits and then applying and then paying a fine."
Romney also said in the interview that it was not "practical or economic for the country" to deport the estimated 12 million immigrants living in the US illegally. "These people contribute in many cases to our economy and to our society," he said. "In some cases, they do not. But that's a whole group we're going to have to determine how to deal with."
Romney, meanwhile, has taken a whisk broom to his record in liberal Massachusetts, where he twice ran for statewide office as a pro-choice candidate dedicated to "full equality for America's gay and lesbian citizens." He now says he opposes Roe v. Wade and describes himself as "a champion of traditional marriage." In Massachusetts, he bucked the National Rifle Association by supporting the Brady Bill and an assault-weapons ban, boasting, "I don't line up with the NRA." Lately he brags that he has joined the gun-rights organization as a life member. He did that in August.
News Channel 4 has learned former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik has rejected a plea deal offered by federal prosecutors that would have required Kerik to serve time in prison.NewsChannel 4 first reported Kerik and former Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro were under federal investigation for allegedly trying to record Pirro's husband having an affair with another woman on his boat.
Pirro and Kerik's phone conversations were recorded discussing the alleged scheme at a time when Kerik's phone was tapped in the separate criminal probe.
Kerik worked as police commissioner under Rudy Giuliani, now a candidate for president. Giuliani recommended Kerik for the post of Homeland Security Secretary in the Bush administration.
I posed the question -- is homosexuality immoral -- to representatives of all three of the top Republican candidates. None answered it directly.
"We became the party of no ideas. We became the party of spenders. We became the party of trying to live in Washington and being Washingtonians instead of trying to change Washington," he said.
Friday Open Thread
Chat away...
March 15, 2007
How far? How far?
New unreleased e-mails from top administration officials show the idea of firing all 93 U.S. attorneys was raised by White House adviser Karl Rove in early January 2005, indicating Rove was more involved in the plan than previously acknowledged by the White House.The e-mails also show Attorney General Alberto Gonzales discussed the idea of firing the attorneys en masse while he was still White House counsel — weeks before he was confirmed as attorney general.
The e-mails directly contradict White House assertions that the notion originated with recently departed White House counsel Harriet Miers and was her idea alone.
Let's get to the bottom of this. Add your name to the Democratic Party's FOIA request: http://www.democrats.org/AttorneysFOIA
WA-08: Darcy Burner Is In!
Via e-mail:
About a week-and-a-half after the election last November, my then 3-year-old son Henry asked me whether I had won or lost. When I explained that I had lost, he cried. But once he stopped crying, he looked up at me and said with conviction, "It's okay, Mommy. You just need to try again." (He tells me that the bad guys never win in the end.)Over the last several months, many of you have come to me and asked me to finish what we began in 2006. Recently Congressman Reichert has made clear once again how out-of-touch he is by
- Supporting President Bush's plan to put more American troops into harm's way in Iraq,
- Voting against basic fiscal responsibility for our federal government, and
- Opposing worker's rights.
In the face of his actions, I have realized that you are right.
We need a member of Congress who will work to build the country and the future we deserve. We need someone who will fight to ensure that we keep our promises to the young, to the old, and to all who contribute to making our county great. Thanks to all that you taught me and all you helped me build, there is nobody in a better position to win this seat than me.
So I am in.
This is great news. Darcy was one of my absolute favorite candidates and I was very disappointed to not be able to call her Congresswoman Burner this year. I do believe that will change in 2008.
If you aren't familiar with Darcy, check out my interview with her, here.
How Far Does This Go?
Governor Dean sent the following message to Democrats across the country today. -Tracy
Dear Fellow Democrat,
This could be George Bush's Watergate.
Eight U.S. Attorneys, fired because they wouldn't follow orders by the Bush Administration.
Fired because they refused to go on witch-hunts against Democrats, or ignored the Republicans' blatant disregard for the law. Fired so that they could be replaced by talking heads and loyalists of the Bush Administration.
When Scooter Libby was convicted, I said that this administration reminded me of Richard Nixon's administration -- more obsessed with their critics than with the jobs the American people entrust them with. But this latest White House scandal takes that comparison to another level.
Just what did George Bush, Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzales and the rest of the Bush White House and Republican senior staff know about the Justice Department firings -- and when did they know it?
Join us in our effort to use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to try to cut through the White House's nonsense -- the finger-pointing, the lies, the cover-up. Americans have a right to access any and all records between the Republican National Committee, other Republican party committees, and the Department of Justice in order to get to the bottom of this investigation.
Sign our FOIA request:
http://www.democrats.org/AttorneysFOIA
"I can accept that mistakes were made."
When Attorney General Alberto Gonzales uttered those words yesterday, he admitted what many had suspected: that eight U.S. prosecutors were improperly fired -- and, because of a Patriot Act provision slipped in by Congressional Republicans, replaced with Bush Administration cronies. The fired attorneys included:
- Carol Lam, who prosecuted former Republican Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham for bribery, and who was actively investigating Republican House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis at the time of her dismissal;
- Paul Charlton, who was investigating Republican Congressman Rick Renzi for bribery and illegal land dealings, and who had publicly clashed with the Bush Administration over the merits of the death penalty; and
- David Iglesias, a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve and the basis for Tom Cruise's character in A Few Good Men, who was pressured by Republicans to indict Democratic politicians prior to the 2006 elections.
In January, Gonzales claimed that he would "never, ever make a change in a United States attorney for political reasons or if it would in any way jeopardize an ongoing serious investigation." Justice Department officials claimed the firings were part of standard personnel turnover.
But when questioned by Congress, Gonzales's deputy, Paul McNulty, claimed they were fired for poor performance -- even though most of the fired attorneys had received excellent performance reviews.
Karl Rove, Harriet Miers and President Bush himself were in contact with Gonzales's office about the attorneys. Just weeks after Bush spoke to Gonzales, they were fired.
Former Washington state GOP Chairman Chris Vance admitted to pressuring fired U.S. Attorney John McKay to investigate Democrats at the urging of the "White House's political office." And emails released yesterday show that White House deputy political director and former RNC opposition researcher J. Scott Jennings used an RNC email account to talk with Justice Department about the appointment of U.S. Attorney and former Karl Rove aide Tim Griffin.
These revelations raise even more questions -- and it's time for answers. Add your name to the FOIA Request, and demand accountability from the White House:
http://www.democrats.org/AttorneysFOIA
In an all-too-familiar scene, Gonzales's chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, resigned over the scandal. But we won't let Sampson be the fall guy for another Bush Administration cover-up.
Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Scooter Libby, already took the fall for the Bush Administration's orchestrated leak of a CIA agent's identity. And incompetent FEMA Director and Bush buddy Michael Brown took the fall for our president's disgraceful reaction to Hurricane Katrina -- while the Gulf Coast remains in shambles.
Just like the Nixon Administration, cronyism and corruption has hollowed this White House from the inside-out.
It's time for Republicans to stop spinning such a tangled web of deceit to get what they want. Some Democratic Senators have already called for Alberto Gonzales's resignation. But this is part of a much bigger problem.
The purge of U.S. Attorneys wasn't a "mistake," as Alberto Gonzales claims. It was part of a long, calculated effort by the Bush Administration and the Republican Party to silence its critics and remain above the law.
Help us use this FOIA request to go beyond the lies and reveal the truth behind the White House, Justice Department, and Republican Party's corruption. The American people deserve nothing less:
http://www.democrats.org/AttorneysFOIA
Sincerely,
Governor Howard Dean, M.D.
Bush’s Iraq Policies Not Working
"The Bush Administration made two admissions this week that demonstrate that the President's Iraq policies are not working and necessitate the new direction that Democrats are proposing."The Pentagon's report acknowledges record levels of violence and civil war-like conditions. The President's response is to escalate our military involvement by sending more troops into harm's way, an approach tried on three previous occasions without success.
"Separately, Administration officials concede that Iraqi leaders will fail to meet their own benchmarks for progress on political reform and national reconciliation. The President's response is to provide more time to the Iraqi government with no accountability, while threatening to veto a bill the House Appropriations Committee is considering today that declares an end to the open-ended commitment by the United States to the war.
"The votes in the Appropriation Committee today, and on the House floor next week, offer a real choice: endorse the Bush policy of unending war in Iraq, or protect America's troops, honor those who have served, and set a new policy by setting a date certain for responsibly redeploying U.S. troops from Iraq.
"The American people want a change in Iraq; it is clear from the facts acknowledged by the Administration that the President's policies won't provide it."
The Daily Flipper: No Whip Skim Edition
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
Starbucks is offering a free tall coffee from 10 a.m. to noon, today only.
As family members of firefighters who perished on 9/11 protested against him outside, former GOP Mayor Rudolph Giuliani touted his ability to "get things done" at a Midtown Manhattan fund-raiser last night that generated an estimated $3 to $4 million for his presidential campaign.
Today's Bloomberg report that Bracewell Giuliani lobbies for Citgo, and thus Hugo Chavez, has an echo in Giuliani's past. Back during his failed bid for Mayor in 1989, he took a serious political hit for the fact that his then-firm, White & Case, was registered as an agent for the Panamanian government of Manuel Noriega.
I hadn't seen Mrs. Giuliani on the stump with her husband before now (has she done this anywhere else yet?), but, from this performance, I'd have to say the campaign might want to be more careful with how she frames her remarks.Here, she starts off by saying, "I wanted to tell you all a little bit about how Rudy and I came to be our team together." The problem with this is that we all know their relationship began as an affair, while he was still married — be it in a publicly "distant" (that's how the press likes to put it) marriage. She then goes on to describe some of their early flirtations.
I don't think I was the only one at this point thinking: Ick.
The former Ms. Nathan is, after all, describing the beginning of an affair that would lead to an ugly and painful divorce that still is affecting the former mayor's relationship with his children.
DeLay Rips Into Former Speaker Over “Ineffective” Leadership and “Flawed” Morals
Newt Gingrich's attempted phoenix-like rise from his own political ashes to a presidential candidacy will run next week into a harsh assessment by his former House Republican colleague Tom DeLay. The former majority leader's forthcoming memoir assails Gingrich as an "ineffective" House speaker with a flawed moral compass.In describing Gingrich as an "ineffective Speaker," DeLay writes: "He knew nothing about running meetings and nothing about driving an agenda." He adds: "Nearly every other day he had a new agenda, a new direction he wanted us to take. It was impossible to follow him."
DeLay also declares that "our leadership was in no moral shape to press" for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Writing well before Gingrich's admission for the first time last week, DeLay asserts: "It is now public knowledge that Newt Gingrich was having an affair with a staffer during the entire impeachment crisis. Clearly, men with such secrets are not likely to sound a high moral tone at a moment of national crisis."
A newly discovered video- obtainted first by CBN News- shows Mitt Romney speaking about his former pro-choice views in 2002. The YouTube footage shows Romney and his wife Ann being interviewed during his bid for the Governor of Massachusetts. During the interview he states his position of being pro-choice -- words which are sure to make lasting impressions of Romney in the minds of many voters.
Could I get $5,000? You've been giving to lots of journalists lately, and this blog is getting set to celebrate its seventh anniversary. You've got a pile of money, so this little donation shouldn't hurt you any. I have a list of other bloggers who'd be equally delighted to be paid off encouraged to continue our fearlessly independent journalism. I'm a supporter of gay equality as you are were, I'm opposed to abortion morally but am prepared to keep it legal in the first trimester as you do did, I thought your speech at CPAC was great, and I've been a big defender of keeping religion out of politics as you are were.
We just heard back from John McCain's campaign spokesman, Danny Diaz, and he's declining to comment on the Attorney Purge. That means we've now hit the trifecta: All three leading GOP Presidential hopefuls have now declined to comment on the the biggest political scandal of the moment and the White House's role in it.
"And here's the real sad thing, that many people will die tomorrow and the next day and the next day after that, and the next day after that. Anyone who does not talk about this issue and put it front and center is going to be neglecting one of the most important issues not only of our culture ... but clearly for our time," he said.
The publicity materials for A Mormon in the White House? 10 things every American should know about Mitt Romney (Regnery) feature this declaration from author Hugh Hewitt: “This is the book Mitt Romney didn’t want written. It explores the angles the mainstream media would never see, and raises the questions Mitt Romney would rather disappear.”Don’t believe it. If Romney is elected president, A Mormon in the White House? should earn Hewitt an appointment as Minister of Propaganda.
Never mind that Hewitt’s full of shit — this is truly ingenious stuff. In one fell swoop, Romney is transformed from an object of suspicion to a martyr to the cause, someone whose candidacy deserves the support of believers of all stripes.
Romney Scores Losing Advisors in Oregon
Mitt Romney is hoping to win the Republican nomination for President, and then the Presidency - but he shouldn't expect his Oregon advisors to help him carry Oregon. After all, his co-chairs have combined to lose six statewide campaigns.
Meanwhile, Tim O'Brien, the campaign's director of rapid response, suddenly quit yesterday.
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), who announced Monday that he will announce later whether he plans to run for president, did worse. At one point, he praised volunteer firefighters -- to the dismay of those in the union audience.
Unmet Goals
Via NYT:
The Bush administration, which six months ago issued a series of political goals for the Iraqi government to meet by this month, is now tacitly acknowledging that the goals will take significantly longer to achieve.In interviews this week, administration officials said that the military buildup intended to stabilize Baghdad and create the conditions for achieving the objectives would not be fully in place until June and that all of the objectives would not be fulfilled until the year’s end.
A “notional political timeline” that the administration provided to Congress in January in an attachment to a letter from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, had called for most of the objectives to be met by this month.
Four of the significant objectives are final approval of an oil law regulating distribution of oil revenues and foreign investment in the oil industry; reversal of the de-Baathification laws that are widely blamed for alienating Sunnis by driving them out of government ministries; the holding of local elections; and reform of Iraq’s Constitution.
Pot, Meet Kettle
Newt Gingrich's attempted phoenix-like rise from his own political ashes to a presidential candidacy next week will run into a harsh assessment by his former House Republican colleague, Tom DeLay. The former majority leader's memoir assails Gingrich as an "ineffective" House speaker with a flawed moral compass.
A Blogging Birthday
Over at techpresident.com, Zephyr writes about the 4 year anniversary of the Presidential campaign blog:
Four years ago on March 15, Matt Gross put up a blog for Howard Dean, called the Dean Call to Action Blogspot, using blogspot, no comments, no design, just a blogspot blog.
Isn't it amazing how far we've come since then? Check out the 2008 campaign websites and blogs, here.
Use the comments to tell us who has your favorite site/blog, what you like most about the different sites and what you would like to see the campaigns do this time around!
Thursday Open Thread
What's up, doc?
March 14, 2007
1st
Via ABC:
Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire on Wednesday became the first Republican in Congress to call for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' dismissal, hours after President Bush expressed confidence in his embattled Cabinet officer."I think the president should replace him," Sununu said in an interview with The Associated Press.
How many will join him?
Outrageous
Editorial Pages Call for Gonzales to Go
Via Editor and Publisher:
The New York Times got the editorial ball rolling on Monday, calling for the firing of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales due largely, if not completely, to the burgeoning scandal involving the forced departure of eight U.S. attorneys. Now the notion has spread across the country."We haven't seen a renegade U.S. Justice Department like this since John Mitchell ran it for President Nixon," declared the Sacremento Bee. "With a new Congress beginning to exercise serious oversight, the problems at the Justice Department and with its leader, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, are becoming clearer by the day. And what is becoming most clear is that Gonzales must go."The Washington Post today implied the same thing. The Los Angeles Times agreed but placed much of the blame on President Bush. The Philadephia Inquirer demanded:
"U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales should resign. If he ever does, the nation could take it as a clear sign that President Bush finally grasps the need to preserve core civil liberties while guarding against terrorism."The Buffalo (N.Y.) News:
"He should go. The country needs an attorney general who wants to uphold the law, not subvert it."From Florida Today in Melbourne: "
He should be removed and replaced with someone willing to protect the Constitution. Chances are Bush won't do that."The Financial Times weighed in:
"Mr. Gonzales had every right to sack prosecutors, who are political appointees. But he had no right to mislead Congress about why he did so – even though he is now blaming lower officals for the misinformation. Mr Gonzales has shown a disdain for Congress and the rights of the American people. He has amply proved that he will never be anything other than Mr Bush’s lawyer – a mere apologist for the imperial presidency. The affair has already claimed one top scalp at the justice department. It is high time Mr Gonzales stepped down too."The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky. urged President Bush to take two steps:
"First, he should fire Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Whether Mr. Gonzales is the instigator of this travesty or merely the unprincipled executor of White House political demands, this debacle is further evidence of his insuitability for his critically sensitive post."Then, the president can answer this question: If the eight prosecutors were dismissed for failing to respond to Republican political concerns, can Americans assume that his other U.S. attorneys do fulfill a partisan agenda?"
Intern @ The Democratic Party
The DNC is seeking interns for the Summer and Fall of 2007. If you want to learn about and work for the Democratic Party, this internship is for you! Interns are a vital part of the team at the DNC and work in all departments of the DNC.
The deadline for Summer 2007 applications is tomorrow! Check out the intern page for more information!
Game On: South Carolina Presidential Debate
Via Release:
CNN will partner with the Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute (CBC Institute) to host a presidential debate among Democratic candidates in South Carolina on Jan. 24, 2008.Anchor Wolf Blitzer will moderate the Democratic debate. CNN correspondent Joe Johns and White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux will serve as panelists to question candidates participating in the debate.
Read the whole thing after the jump!
Keep reading "Game On: South Carolina Presidential Debate"
Oversight - Senate Edition
Via TPM:
The Senate Judiciary Committee sent five letters late yesterday asking White House Counsel Harriet Miers, her deputy White House counsel William Kelley and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove to cooperate with the committee’s investigation into the mass firings of US attorneys."We would like to work out a process for you to make yourself available to the Committee for interviews, depositions, or hearing testimony, on a voluntary basis, and to produce documents in your possession, control, or custody related to our investigation," the letters, signed by Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-PA), read. "We fully expect that we will be able to devise a convenient arrangement."
I wonder if, under oath, they will still repeat the company line, "The White House did not play a role"?
White House Involvement
"The White House did not play a role in the list of the seven U.S. attorneys." - Dan Bartlett
President Bush - President Bush spoke directly with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales "to pass on concerns" from Republican lawmakers like Senator Pete Domenici, "about the way certain prosecutors were handling cases of voter fraud." Domenici allegedly "leaned on" and "sickened" former U.S. attorney David Iglesias to rush indictments against Democrats before Election Day.
Karl Rove - In September of last year, the chief of staff to Alberto Gonzalez wrote that getting former Rove aid Tim Griffin was "important" to Rove. Rove's deputy, Scott Jennings, was "in close contact with Tim Griffin" and helped him get "installed as the federal prosecutor in eastern Arkansas." Yet the Justice Department said they were not aware of Rove playing "any role" in the decision to appoint Griffin.
Further, Rove was "urged" by New Mexico Republican party chairman Allen Weh to fire Iglesias because of "his failure to indict Democrats."
Harriet Miers - As Senator Schumer pointed out, chief White House lawyer Harriet Miers was "one of the masterminds of this plan." Released emails show she communicated with Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' chief of staff, about the selective U.S. attorney purge.
Yet the White House wasn't involved?
The Daily Flipper
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
Rudy Giuliani's law firm lobbies for Citgo Petroleum Corp., a unit of the state-owned oil company controlled by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who calls President Bush a "madman" and a "devil." Bracewell & Giuliani registered to lobby for Citgo in Texas on April 26, 2005, less than a month after Giuliani joined the firm and became a name partner, state records show. … Patrick Oxford, a managing partner at Bracewell & Giuliani, said Giuliani has no dealings with the Venezuelan-owned oil company. "He has not seen hide nor hair of Citgo," Oxford said.
With 400 lawyers in New York, Texas, Washington, D.C., Kazakhstan and London, we are distinctively positioned to serve clients concentrated in the energy and financial services sectors worldwide. In 2005, former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani joined the firm as a senior partner. His international reputation for leadership and problem solving is a unique asset for our clients, which include Fortune 500 companies, major financial institutions, leading private investment funds, governmental entities and individuals.
"America's Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, doesn't score all that well where he really was the mayor. New Yorkers think Bloomberg is a better mayor than Giuliani and - how will this go over on the campaign trail? - that Bloomberg would be a better president," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Federal investigators offered to end their criminal investigation of Bernard B. Kerik, the city’s former police and correction commissioner, in exchange for his pleading guilty to charges that he engaged in federal tax fraud and wiretap conspiracy, but he refused, according to Mr. Kerik’s lawyer and a person briefed on the case…. An indictment would be a setback for the presidential campaign of Mr. Giuliani, who supported Mr. Kerik in his failed bid to become the nation’s Homeland Security director in 2004. Mr. Kerik was chosen by President Bush for the post, but withdrew, citing his failure to pay taxes on an illegal immigrant whom he had hired as his nanny.
Rudy Giuliani has made a strategic choice in the Republican primary contest. He will stay pro-choice on the issue of abortion, and thus avoid the flip-flopper label that has so harmed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.But Giuliani has a flip-flop in his past. When he first began running for New York City mayor in 1989, he said that he personally opposed abortion, favored overturning Roe v. Wade and opposed public financing of abortions. During that campaign he morphed into an unmodulated pro-choicer. He dropped talk of opposing Roe v. Wade and endorsed taxpayer funding of abortion. By the time he was mayor, he was declaring a “Planned Parenthood Day” in New York and all but pledging to perform abortions himself, should it ever come to that.
Now that’s he’s running for president he says that he “hates” abortion - something he didn’t mention when he gave opening remarks at NARAL’s “Champions of Choice” lunch in April 2001. (Back then, New Yorkers had a “distinguished tradition” of promoting abortion.) He now supports a partial-birth ban, which he had opposed. His aides say he supports - or wouldn’t seek to change - the Hyde amendment banning Medicaid financing of most abortions, even though he once opposed it.
And these peregrinations are from the candidate who prides himself on fearless straight-talk.
On the web: Peregrinations (I had to look it up too!)
Rudy aspires to occupy the White House, obviously, but he's also making his tenure as U.S. Attorney a key piece of his record as crime fighter, one of his chief rationales for running for President. ... Shouldn't we all hear what Rudy thinks of the Attorney Purge and the White House's role in it? We've contacted Rudy's campaign, and asked for a statement. Nothing yet.
During his 10 years as Arkansas governor, Huckabee supported numerous tax increases. Now that he's left office and is running for president, the Southern Baptist minister is struggling to convince fiscal conservatives who wield significant sway in the GOP nomination race that he can be trusted not to sin again.
Huckabee recently signed a no-tax pledge, but anti-tax activists remain wary of his claim to have reformed his ways.
Senator Hit by Club for Growth and New Swift Boat Group
The anti-tax group Club for Growth yesterday released a review of McCain’s record on its top priorities and cautioned against electing him president. Meanwhile, a new “527” advocacy group, similar to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, has pledged to expose McCain as a communist apologist who turned his back on prisoners of war.In the Club’s review — its third “white paper” of the 2008 presidential election — the group concluded “the evidence of [McCain’s] record and the virulence of his rhetoric suggest that American taxpayers cannot expect consistently strong economic policies from a McCain administration.”
Senator McCain’s bracket is there for all to see (registration required), and we can unveil his final four choices; Kansas, Florida, Ohio State and North Carolina. No special interest pandering here but all have one thing in common: They are the four top-seeded teams in the tournament.
He Filled Out His Bracket Would He Choose Giuliani Too?
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is the clear front-runner in the crowded GOP presidential field and has a substantial lead on the closest competition, according to a CNN poll released Monday.
Campaign Distributes Talking Points to Supporters
If you support Rudy Giuliani, here’s what his campaign wants you to talk about: Mr. Giuliani had success as Mayor in lowering the number of crimes. He weened people from welfare. And he lowered taxes. The information comes from a letter sent out by the Giuliani campaign to supporters: an easy-to-digest single sheet of talking points entitled “the Rudy record by the numbers.” It makes the argument that Mr. Giuliani is prepared for the Presidency because “only 5 states had larger budgets than New York City” and “only 11 states have larger populations.”
Hagel Defends Non-Announcement
It really wasn't a breakfast.Rather, the event was a breakfast to announce a breakfast that would be coming at a later time.
So one person quipped as lobbyists and politicians made their way to the buffet Tuesday morning at a Nebraska Republican Party fundraiser in Washington.
Hagel said he could have simply put out a written statement about his decision to decide later on his political future, but, he said, "I felt like I owed the people of Nebraska more than that."
Wednesday Open Thread
Chat away...
March 13, 2007
Public Opinion
For the first time since the U.S. war in Iraq began four years ago, more than half of Americans (54 percent) do not believe the United States can win, a CNN poll said Tuesday. Just 37 percent think the United States will win, and an all-time low of 29 percent say things are going well there,In addition, more than half of Americans (54 percent) say the Bush administration was deliberately misleading on whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction prior to the U.S.-led invasion.
Fact Check: Rove
A dangerous thing to attempt, we know, as one can easily get lost in all the lies...despite that, TPM goes for it!
Governor Dean: Gonzales and Rove Must Go!
Governor Dean:
"The best way for Attorney General Gonzales to accept responsibility is for him to step down," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "The Bush White House has consistently put protecting the President and doing his bidding ahead of upholding the integrity of our nation's laws. Karl Rove should pack his bags and go too. His type of leadership doesn't belong at the White House. America deserves better."
Governor Dean in Arizona
Arizona's Native American leaders came together to meet with Governor Dean for a roundtable discussion in Phoenix, Arizona. Governor Dean spoke about the importance of the Native community within the Democratic Party and participated in a discussion about issues of importance to Native Americans - from funding for security and education, to voter ID laws. Check out the story and photos, here.
The Daily Flipper
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
Giuliani Failed to Replace Firefighters’ Faulty Radios, Costly in 9-11
As Rosaleen will tell anyone willing to listen, the vintage radios that Sean and 342 other city firefighters carried at their deaths on 9/11 were known to be defective. The faulty radios were the target of years of scathing internal assessments, bureaucratic wrangling, and accusations of bidding favoritism, and still the Giuliani administration had never replaced them.Here, in the radios fiasco, was government paralysis at its worst, the sort he frothed about as a reformist candidate for mayor. The city's firefighters were sent into the towers without the basic ability to send or receive maydays. The buck stops with Rudy, who knew that the same radios had faltered when the World Trade Center was first bombed by terrorists in 1993, the year he was elected mayor.
To accommodate its fast-growing team of attorneys, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP has doubled its space by leasing an additional 24,475 square feet in its New York City office. The firm, which will mark its two-year anniversary in New York this April, will now occupy both the 18th and 19th floors of the Americas Tower building, located at 1177 Avenue of the Americas.Bracewell opened its New York office in April 2005 after former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani joined as a name partner. Since then, the firm's New York office has quickly grown from two to 40 attorneys.
“I’m Senator Sam Brownback,” the man said brightly. “And I’m running for president.”Mrs. Van Peursem clucked out a greeting. But after Mr. Brownback, a Kansas Republican, moved to another table, she whispered to a reporter, “Who is he again?”
. . .I Have Nothing To Announce.
Sen. Chuck Hagel, one of the more forceful Republican voices in opposition to the Iraq war, on Monday put off a decision about a possible 2008 presidential bid, saying he wanted to focus on the conflict and other pressing national issues.In an odd twist, the Nebraska senator called a news conference to say he would decide about his political future later this year, saying a late entry into the race is still possible. "I want to keep my focus on helping find a responsible way out of this tragedy," Hagel said of the Iraq war.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is skipping his fourth conservative gathering in two months, declining an invitation to speak at the Club for Growth’s winter meeting despite his fellow 2008 hopefuls’ commitments to appear.The fiscal hawks at the Club for Growth, led by former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), will hear from several of McCain’s rivals in Florida later this month, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.).
But of all his infringements on personal freedom, Sen. McCain's persistent attacks on political speech are the most worrisome. The First Amendment is an important safeguard of pro-growth policies. When government strays from sound economic policies, citizens must be free to exercise their constitutional rights to petition and criticize those policies and the politicians responsible for them. The 2002 McCain-Feingold bill (or the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act), named in part for the Arizona senator who gave it life, seeks to squash political dissent by imposing grossly unconstitutional restrictions on citizen participation in political debate.
Good news for you John McCain fans: The Senator has just been endorsed by Henry Kissinger, everyone's favorite war criminal/ladies man.Just so I have this right: McCain, who spent five-and-a-half years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, turns for advice to the man who was responsible for sabotaging the Paris Peace Talks in 1968, and thus keeping the Vietnam war going for several more years. At least Kissinger and Nixon were able to come away with the same terms Johnson and Humphrey could well have gotten in '68 five years later. Surely that's a sign of strategic vision.
RUSH: Speaking of Republican front-runners, Fred Thompson let it be known over the weekend that he's interested in the nomination. We'll review some of his positions on issues. I've been checking my e-mail over the weekend since this happened. I'm getting e-mails from people more excited about Fred Thompson than any of the candidates who are currently in the race.
Romney Will Lose Endorsement if Thompson Runs
U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Knoxville, endorsed Mitt Romney for president less than two weeks ago, but he says he instead will back Tennessee's Fred Thompson if he joins the fray."If (former Sen.) Fred Thompson gets in there, then I definitely would support him," Duncan, a Republican, said in an interview. "He's been a long-time friend. I know him a whole lot better than I know (former Massachusetts) Gov. Romney."
Rep. Ron Paul, an iconoclastic Texas Republican with a pronounced libertarian streak, on Monday officially entered the crowded GOP presidential primary field in his second bid for the White House.No ballyhooed appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or splashy Internet announcement fed to the TV networks for Paul, an affable 71-year-old obstetrician serving his 10th term in Congress.
Compared with the Democrats, Republicans appear far less happy with their choice of candidates for 2008 and are still looking for someone who can improve the party’s prospects, the poll found.While nearly 6 in 10 Democratic voters in the poll said they were satisfied with the candidates now in the race for their party’s nomination, nearly 6 in 10 Republicans said they wanted more choices. Yet the poll found that a substantial number of Republicans did not know enough about their leading contenders — Senator John McCain of Arizona; Rudolph W. Giuliani, former mayor of New York; and Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts — to offer an opinion of them.
“I think the Republican candidate has not appeared yet,” said Richard Gerrish, 69, a Republican from Green- acres, Fla. “The ones we have now will run out of steam. Someone will come along later that will do better.”
Tuesday Open Thread
Chat away...
March 12, 2007
Sunshine Laws
An editorial in today's New York Times summarizes pending sunshine. This administration has gone out of its way to avoid the truth, hide the facts and obstruct the processes of an open and honest government. This kind of legislation is definitely a good thing.
In November 2001, while the world was focused on terrorism, President Bush issued an executive order making it significantly harder for historians and the public to gain access to a former president’s official papers. The House has a chance tomorrow to reverse this damaging decree.Mr. Bush’s decision effectively repealed the presumption of public availability enshrined in the Presidential Records Act of 1978, a post-Watergate reform that established that the treasure trove of historical material amassed by a president belongs to the American people.
In the place of these open government principles, Mr. Bush established cumbersome review procedures that give former presidents, and even their heirs, unprecedented authority to selectively withhold sensitive records indefinitely. The backlog of presidential document requests now extends to five years or longer, compared with 18 months in 2001, according to recent testimony in the House.
The bill to undo Mr. Bush’s order, sponsored by Representative Henry Waxman, Democrat of California, and colleagues from both parties, would re-establish sensible procedures to ensure timely release of presidential documents. It would retract the authority Mr. Bush granted presidential descendants and vice presidents to withhold records.
The House Oversight Committee details the legislation:
- Overturning the Bush Executive Order. Under the Presidential Records Act, presidential records are supposed to be released to historians and the public 12 years after the end of a presidential administration. In November 2001, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13233 which overturned an executive order issued by President Reagan and gave current and former presidents and vice presidents broad authority to withhold presidential records or delay their release indefinitely. The Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007 would nullify the Bush executive order and establish procedures to ensure the timely release of presidential records.
- Establishing a Deadline for Review of Records. Under the Bush executive order, the Archivist must wait for both the current and former president to approve the release of presidential records, a review process that can continue indefinitely. Under the bill, the current and former president would have a set time period of no longer than 40 business days to raise objections to the release of these records by the Archivist.
- Limiting the Authority of Former Presidents to Withhold Presidential Records. Under the Reagan executive order, a former president could request that the incumbent president assert a claim of executive privilege and thereby stop the release of the records. If the incumbent president decided not to assert executive privilege, however, the records would be released unless the former president could persuade a court to uphold the former president’s assertion of the privilege. The Bush executive order reversed this process and required the incumbent president to sustain the executive privilege claim of the former president unless a person seeking access could persuade a court to reject the claim. In effect, the Bush order gave former presidents virtually unlimited authority to withhold presidential records through assertions of executive privilege. The legislation would restore the Reagan approach, giving the incumbent president the discretion to reject ill-founded assertions of executive privilege by former presidents.
- Requiring the President to Make Privilege Claims Personally. Under the Bush executive order, designees of the former president could assert privilege claims after the death of the president, in effect making the right to assert executive privilege an asset of the former president’s estate. The bill would make clear that the right to claim executive privilege is personal to current and former presidents and cannot be bequeathed to assistants, relatives, or descendants.
- Eliminating Executive Privilege Claims for Vice Presidents. In an unprecedented step, the Bush executive order authorized former vice presidents to assert executive privilege claims over vice presidential records. The bill restores the long-standing understanding that the right to assert executive privilege over presidential records is a right held only by presidents.
Plus, the Gavel has some YouTube.
Plame to Testify
Chairman Henry Waxman announced that Valerie Plame, the former covert CIA agent exposed by the Bush administration, will testify in front of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The hearing, which is scheduled for Friday and will be carried live at the committee's website, plans to examine "the disclosure and internal White House security procedures for protecting her identity from disclosure and responding to the leak after it occurred."
With the former top aide to Dick Cheney, "Scooter" Libby, found guilty last week of lying and obstructing the investigation into who leaked Plame's identity, this promises to be an fascinating hearing.
On the Move
Did you hear that Dick Cheney's old pals at Halliburton are moving? Yep. Apparently they think it would be better to be based in Dubai, instead of America. Why? I'm guessing its so they can avoid oversight, taxes and silly things like US laws.
Yesterday, Halliburton announced that it would be moving its corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai. Reincorporating in Dubai would mean that Halliburton — which earned $2.3 billion in profits last year — “will be paying less taxes to the U.S. Treasury, even as it collects billions from government contracts.”House Government Oversight Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) said he will soon hold a hearing on the matter to “understand the ramifications for the U.S. taxpayer and national security.” One lobbyist said, “If there’s a huge tax shift, then it’s taking money from U.S. taxpayers while they’re taking no-bid contracts.”
Reacting to Halliburton’s announcement, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) told ABC News it was “an insult to the U.S. soldiers and taxpayers.”
Walter Reed General to Retire
Lt. General Kiley, who has been in the midst of the Walter Reed scandal, offered to retire today.
Remember Kiley? The General who seemed oblivious and unwilling to respond to the problems occurring on his watch...
Beverly Young said she complained to Kiley several times. She once visited a soldier who was lying in urine on his mattress pad in the hospital. When a nurse ignored her, Young said, "I went flying down to Kevin Kiley's office again, and got nowhere. He has skirted this stuff for five years and blamed everyone else."
HAGEL DECIDES ....
... to have another press conference ....
Hagel
Basically:
I'm announcing that I'm not announcing.
Nebraska Dems chime in:
“I think it is extremely disappointing that Senator Hagel would bring the entire state of Nebraska to a screeching halt by holding an elaborate ceremony to announce absolutely nothing.”
The Daily Flipper
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
Republican presidential hopefuls should sharpen their elbows: Three more potential rivals are poised to jump in, clearly smelling opportunity."Not everybody is thrilled about the choices they have before them," said Republican strategist Rich Galen.
How much will [his term-limit pledge] affect Hagel's decision later today? Probably not much. Recent political history suggests that voters care little about term limits and have regularly reelected lawmakers who have broken such pledges.But Hagel has always fashioned himself as a citizen-legislator -- an image that could well factor into his decision-making process. He has never been particularly enamored with the Senate, and his dream of chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee may be out of reach with Democrats back in the majority and likely to stay there given the 2008 playing field.
Fred Dalton Thompson was bored in the U.S. Senate and has had more fun playing District Attorney Arthur Branch on NBC’s “Law and Order.” Now, he’s a step closer to the ultimate audition: running for president of the United States.
Giuliani Defends Gingrich’s Extramarital Affairs.
Newt Gingrich's admission of having an extramarital affair as he pursued President Clinton's impeachment in the Monica Lewinsky affair has been defended by Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani.Giuliani, speaking to reporters during a campaign stop late Saturday afternoon in Reno, said the episode shows no one is perfect and the former House speaker can improve by learning from it.
But if doubts about Giuliani’s intentions have ended, the honeymoon he enjoyed so long among voters who knew him only as the hero of Sept. 11 also has a short shelf life. As he is subjected to more intensive and critical scrutiny, questions loom over whether he can sustain his sky-high status.As the campaign intensifies, voters will get to meet the pre-Sept. 11 Giuliani – a brash politician who stepped on toes all over New York; a mercurial personality who humiliated his second wife in public.
Meanwhile, his post-Sept. 11 persona could prove a bonanza for opposition researchers: He has made millions in consulting and speaking fees that have so far been subject to little examination.
To many conservative activists who have been battling for decades to shift the federal courts to the right, Rudolph Giuliani has too often been missing in action."Rudy, in my judgment, never had a real burning conviction that judges were really important," said Bruce Fein, a conservative lawyer who worked with Giuliani at the Justice Department.
Yet in trying to win over wary social conservatives, Giuliani is now campaigning for the White House on a promise to be like President George W. Bush and appoint the right kind of federal judges.
Mitt Romney turns 60 today, a personal milestone but also a line of demarcation in the unfolding race for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination.While the birthday moves the former Massachusetts governor closer to the senior set, it leaves him a relative fountain of youth compared to another leading contender for the GOP nomination.
At 70, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is the oldest major candidate in either the Democratic or Republican primaries.
“Little-Known” Romney Visit Panned by South Florida Republicans
A little-known presidential candidate seeking a toehold in the nation's biggest battleground state, Mitt Romney railed against Cuban leader Fidel Castro but did not repeat prior calls for a crackdown on illegal immigration in a speech Friday to the Miami-Dade Republican Party.''As president, I will stand side by side with the members of this community in fighting the menace of the Cuban monsters,'' Romney told about 500 activists at the local party's annual Lincoln Day fundraiser.
But the Cuban-American politicians Romney reached out to in his speech don't agree with his strict stance on illegal immigration.
Sen. Mel Martinez and U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario and Lincoln Díaz-Balart all support efforts to allow illegal immigrants to work toward citizenship.
Romney has said such legislation -- sponsored last year by rival John McCain -- amounts to ``amnesty.''
Once upon a time, Mitt Romney was a pro-choice, moderately pro-gay governor of a liberal state. Now he is the darling of certain ostensibly anti-gay, anti-abortion figures and groups. All of them have been paid by Romney. The question is whether they've been paid off.Romney's relationship with the Massachusetts Family Institute is more telling. The Family Institute, a local affiliate of James Dobson's Focus on the Family, was one of Romney's most aggressive critics during his term as governor. But in 2006, after Romney donated $10,000 to the group, it changed its tune.
Well, let's just say that if John McCain circa 2007 was campaigning against John McCain circa 2000, he would call him a communist. The old McCain called President Bush's tax cuts fiscally and socially irresponsible, a giveaway to the rich in a time of rising inequality. The new McCain was recently interviewed by National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru and asked if there were any circumstances, including the guarantee of spending cuts, under which he'd consider repealing the tax cuts he denounced and voted against. He replied: "No. None. None. Tax cuts, starting with Kennedy, as we all know, increase revenues."
McCain’s Relationship With Conservatives Remains Rocky
This year, McCain has shed his outsider approach and relies on a network of Republican stalwarts. Henry Kissinger, secretary of state under two presidents, former Navy secretary John Lehman and former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm were on hand to endorse him at the New York fund-raiser.But he has continued to have rocky relations with his party's conservative base for opposing President Bush's tax cuts (though he now says they should be kept), for favoring an immigration reform that critics see as an amnesty bill for illegal residents and for requiring background checks for people who buy guns at gun shows. He miffed some in the right wing by skipping key gatherings, including the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, where his McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act drew boos from activists, who see the law as an infringement of free speech.
Just Another Manic Monday Open Thread
Chat away...
March 9, 2007
Bad Week for Huck - More Ethics Questions Surface
What a bad week for Mike Huckabee. Isn’t it ironic that in the same week Huckabee buckled to a fiscally conservative interest group, new information shows just how reckless Huckabee is with taxpayers’ money and trust.
First, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Huckabee hired his brother in-law with taxpayer’s money for position that was unnecessary in government. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 3/8/07)
Second. This week Huckabee’s longtime Chief of Staff suddenly left the campaign. A spokeswoman first said Brenda Turner is “taking a break” from the campaign, and then Huckabee’s campaign manager confirmed that Turner “is no longer with the campaign. Neither cited any reason other than Turner “was tired.” But now an Arkansas attorney alleges Huckabee’s then chief of staff, Brenda Turner, “pressured judges to rule against injured workers and played a role in the firings of three judges who say they were removed for favoring claimants over business.” (www.workcompcentral.com, 3/7/07; Arkansas Times Blog, 3/8/07)
And finally, Huckabee announced this week that he has hired Debra Vanderbeek as his New Hampshire state director. But just a few months ago, an investigative report into alleged ethics violations surfaced, where Mother Jones reported that, “In 2004, Debra Vanderbeek collected $114,779 in government salary from a congress member, even as she actively ran his re-election campaign…Vanderbeek also accepted $3,317 in reimbursements for un-itemized campaign expenses.” The reporter states that this could even have been a violation of federal law. (Mother Jones, 10/16/06)
Bush’s New US Attorney a Criminal?
By now you've heard about the questionable firing of perfectly good U.S. attorneys for political gain. That's bad enough.
It gets worse. Let's look at one of the attorneys that is replacing one of those who were let go:
Timothy Griffin, Karl Rove’s assistant, the President’s pick as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Griffin, according to BBC Television, was the hidden hand behind a scheme to wipe out the voting rights of 70,000 citizens prior to the 2004 election.Key voters on Griffin’s hit list: Black soldiers and homeless men and women. Nice guy, eh? Naughty or nice, however, is not the issue. Targeting voters where race is a factor is a felony crime under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In October 2004, our investigations team at BBC Newsnight received a series of astonishing emails from Mr. Griffin, then Research Director for the Republican National Committee. He didn’t mean to send them to us. They were highly confidential memos meant only for RNC honchos.
However, Griffin made a wee mistake. Instead of sending the emails — potential evidence of a crime — to email addresses ending with the domain name “@GeorgeWBush.com” he sent them to “@GeorgeWBush.ORG.” A website run by prankster John Wooden who owns “GeorgeWBush.org.” When Wooden got the treasure trove of Rove-ian ravings, he sent them to us.
And we dug in, decoding, and mapping the voters on what Griffin called, “Caging” lists, spreadsheets with 70,000 names of voters marked for challenge. Overwhelmingly, these were Black and Hispanic voters from Democratic precincts.
Last week, Amanda over at ThinkProgress wrote about Griffin and the ways in which he was avoiding having to go before Congress for confirmation. It's definitely worth a read.
The Friday Five
Every Friday we'll be highlighting five events happening around the country that we've found in PartyBuilder's Events system. Democrats who work and play together, win together, and keeping your local Democrats active and involved is the key to sustaining vibrant organizations.
Here are 5 events happening around the country in the next week. If you don't see one in your neck of the woods, click here to search for one near you.
- Caledonia County Cabin Fever Brunch, (Lyndonville, VT)
Join us at the biggest, most exciting political event the NEK has to offer, the Caledonia Dems Annual Cabin Fever Brunch!
Featuring guests speakers and a silent auction'
- Trail Cleanup with Democrats Work, (Lithia Springs, GA)
Join your fellow Georgia Democrats on Saturday, March 10th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. for a trail cleanup in the Sweetwater Creek State Park near Lithia Springs. We will meet at Park Office/Bait Shop/Interpretive Center.
- Countdown 2008 Movie Series, (Latrobe, PA)
Westmoreland County Democrats will come together to watch the oscar winner An Inconvient Truth while learning how we as deomocrats can help prevent the problem of global warming.
- 2nd Annual Young Dem "Commonwealth Meets Capitol Hill" Networking Night, (Washington, DC)
Join Young Dems (and the young-at-heart) from VA, DC and MD at Top of the Hill for our second annual happy hour to get local progressives to socialize, network and build relationships for working together in 2007 and 2008. Over 150 attendees are expected, so don't miss it!
- United Wayne Township Democratic Club Meeting, (Indianapolis, IN)
Join the members of the United Wayne Township (Marion County) Democratic Club (UWTDC) at their monthly public meeting. Current members of the Club include many Marion County residents, Westside community leaders, elected office holders, and members of the judiciary, among others.
Super BONUS Event:
Pleased with the results of last November’s elections? Find out how we will continue to pave the road to VICTORY in 2008!
The Daily Flipper: Backdraft Edition
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
The national firefighters union has drafted a blistering letter accusing White House hopeful Rudy Giuliani, whose candidacy is fueled by his 9/11 performance, of "disrespect" to FDNY members after the attacks.The letter, drafted last week by the International Association of Fire Fighters but never released, lashes Giuliani for issues that include limiting the number of firefighters who could search for human remains at Ground Zero, and urges firefighters to say "hell no" to his candidacy.
A Web-based “truth” squad is poised to chase Mitt Romney in an effort to trip him up on the presidential campaign trail - and its members are Republicans from his very own Bay State. Founded by GOP consultants Holly Robichaud and Ron Vining, the Mass Republicans for Truth plans to launch a nationwide attack on the former governor’s record - including radio and TV ads. “He’s running for the highest office in the nation and voters need to know the entire record,” said Robichaud. “We can’t elect an unknown quantity to president of the United States.”
Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado isn’t exactly the first Republican to come to mind when talk turns to who’s in the top tier of candidates vying for the 2008 nomination. But he’s definitely gaining ground online, according to Nielsen//NetRatings study released today, which shows Tancredo had twice as many unique visitors to his Web site in January than one current frontrunner Rudy Giuliani.
Bracewell & Giuliani LLP announced that effective February 7, 2007, the firm increased the salary for first-year associates in their New York City office to $160,000.
New Yorkers familiar with Giuliani's brash style and hot temper wonder how those traits will play on the national stage. Giuliani is focusing on issues of national security and strong leadership as he woos voters across the country."He was mean-spirited, he was harsh, but I'm not sure that hurts him on the Republican national stage," said former city councilman Stephen DiBrienza, a Democrat who calls Giuliani the "most divisive elected official in modern history."
77% of Democrats are satisfied with their presidential choices; just 56% of Republicans are content with theirs.
John DiStaso reported yesterday that Deb Vanderbeek, the Chief of Staff to former U.S. Representative Jeb Bradley, has signed up to help lead Mike Huckabee's NH effort … Granite State insiders had considered Vanderbeek (one of the last true "A" campaign gets left in NH) a lock to go with Rudy. Hiz Honor has courted her for weeks. But she went with Huckabee instead.Take a look at Rudy's campaign organization in NH. Or at least try to. His NH organization is non-existent …
McCain and Romney staff are battling it out everyday on the ground at GOP meetings, BBQs, fundraisers, dinners and quilting bees. The two camps are snapping folks up left and right and have been for months. Soon there will be no one left.But there is still no staff at NH events representing Hiz Honor. Ever.
DNC Veterans and Military Families Council Demand Optimal Health Care for Our Military and Veterans
President Abraham Lincoln during his second inaugural address in 1865, stated: "To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan." President Lincoln clearly understood the importance of caring for our military and veterans that we put in harms way and the importance of also caring for their family members.
The Walter Reed travesty is a Katrina moment for the Bush Administration because it shows how the administration has completely failed in their duty to care for the troops who have served so bravely and their families back home.
It is high time the BUSH Administration stop having political photo ops with the troops and declare mission accomplished and work to truly have optimal quality health care for our military and veterans. The Administration has let the troops down.
The DNC Veterans and Military Families Council calls on President Bush to appoint veterans from all wartime eras to include Iraq or Afghanistan and their family members on the new Presidential Commission he is formulating to look at our military and veterans health facilities. We need to ensure the current generation is heard and represented. We need to take care of our heroes and will accept nothing less.
TGIF Open Thread
What's happening in your world?
March 8, 2007
Debuting Tomorrow: The Friday Five
My favorite tool on Democrats.org is the Events widget in PartyBuilder. It's available 365 days a year, 24/7. You can use the Event tool to promote your events or to find something to do with fellow Democrats in your community.
Every Friday we'll be highlighting five events happening around the country that we've found in PartyBuilder's Events system. So what kind of events are there to be found? Well, let's start with the obvious. If you are in a local Democratic Club you should definitely be inputting your events into PartyBuilder. So that means, County Party Meetings, Central Committees, Wards, whatever the local Dem group is called in your neck of the woods - you should let other Dems know about it.
Then there are elected official or candidate events - town halls, fundraisers, meet and greets - you can find those too and should encourage your local elected officials and campaigns to use the system. In fact, you could volunteer to input them for your favorite candidate!
Then there are social events, happy hours, BBQs, pot lucks, which are happening everywhere. Plus there are social events built around community service projects - street clean-ups, blood drives, a charity car wash or a bake sale to benefit your local VFW hall.
The bottom line is that Democrats who work and play together, win together, and keeping your local Democrats active and involved takes a bit of work. Using the events system to organize, publicize and energize local activists is a simple way to make a big difference.
My favorite anecdote about the Events system is this:
Before I worked for The Democratic Party, I held an event for Democrats at my home in Tallahassee, Florida. Now of course, I invited a bunch of my friends too, and I was active in our local chapters of the Leon County Democrats, Young Democrats, College Democrats (I was in grad school at the time), Drinking Liberally and I was even working for a candidate.
However, using the Events Tool to organize my event brought people who had never attended any meeting or event for any of the groups I was active in into the Democratic fold. About a dozen "new" activists were uncovered that night and I was then able to connect them to the other Democratic clubs in town and get them engaged in the process.
Now, that won't always happen, but it can't happen at all if you aren't putting your events into PartyBuilder. It's like that saying about life and pianos, you get out of it what you put into it!
House Democrats Have A Plan
Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats introduced legislation earlier today that would hold the Iraqi government accountable to meet benchmarks while calling for the redeployment of U.S. combat troops by a specific date. The legislation would also expand funding for veterans' health care and meet troop readiness standards so that they aren't sent in without the proper training, without the proper equipment, and in the proper time frame.
Here's what the Christian Science Monitor, which says Democrats are "drawing their line in the sand," states about the bill:
As a timetable, it could hardly be clearer: Show progress in Iraq by July or begin withdrawing US troops. Meet your goals by October or start bringing the troops home. No matter what, all troops are out by August 2008.
The proposal by Speaker Pelosi and others would, according to a press release from the House Appropriations Committee:
- Redirect more resources to the war against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan
- Attack the neglect of returning troops and veterans who are badly in need of healthcare, and
- Set a timeline for bringing the United States participation in Iraq's civil war to an end.
While Republicans refused for years to hold President Bush accountable for his failed Iraq policy, House Democrats are stepping up to the plate with their plan. In addition to these measures, the bill would add $1.4 billion "to cover the full cost of housing allowances for military members" and $2.5 billion "to address training and equipment shortfalls in forces not deployed to theaters of operation."
Senate Moves to Transition Mission in Iraq
Via release:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today joined Assistant Democratic Leader Dick Durbin, Democratic Conference Vice Chairman Charles Schumer, Democratic Conference Secretary Patty Murray, Senator Russ Feingold, and Senator Evan Bayh to announce a new Joint Resolution to revise U.S. policy on Iraq. Iraq has fallen into a bloody civil war, and as conditions on the ground have changed so must U.S. policy change to meet them.The Reid Joint Resolution builds on the longstanding Democratic position on Iraq and the Levin-Reed Amendment: the current conflict in Iraq requires a political solution, Iraq must take responsibility for its own future, and our troops should not be policing a civil war. It contains binding language to direct the President to transition the mission for U.S. forces in Iraq and begin their phased redeployment within one-hundred twenty days with a goal of redeploying all combat forces by March 31, 2008. A limited number of troops would remain for the purposes of force protection, training and equipping Iraqi troops, and targeted counter-terror options. A full description of the Reid Joint Resolution is attached to this release.
"The President's strategy in Iraq is not working, and Congress must decide whether to follow his failed policies or whether to change course," said Senator Reid. "Democrats believe, as does an overwhelming majority of the American people, that the time has come to transition the mission of U.S. forces in Iraq. Hopefully, Senate Republicans will now join Democrats and the American people in calling for a change in course. They must put doing the right thing above protecting the President."
"Democrats are united when it comes to changing our mission in Iraq," said Senator Schumer. "What's happened here is that Iraq has devolved into a Civil War. And that's not what we bargained for. That's why Democrats believe we should change the mission from policing a civil war to focusing on counter-terrorism. We want 2007 to be a year of transition. The focus should now be on our own plan to focus on counter-terrorism. Our goal is to ratchet-up the pressure on the President to change course."
"Democrats are united in our commitment to changing course in Iraq. We heard the American people and our military leaders. We heard our troops and their families. It's time to plan to end a war that this Administration has failed to effectively prepare for and execute. I urge our Republican colleagues to stand united with us in changing course in Iraq," Senator Murray said.
Senate Republicans have twice blocked the Senate from even debating the President's policies in Iraq and have given a green light to the President's escalation plan. Last November, the American people made a clear call for a new direction, and Democrats are committed to bringing stability to Iraq and bringing our troops home from a civil war.
The Daily Flipper: "Idea" Finance Reform Edition
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
McCain Wants Top Dollar for ‘Exchange of Ideas’
Senator McCain sent out an invitation to supporters inviting them to an open “Exchange of Ideas,” charging $2,100 per person for preferred seating. But don’t worry, you can watch it online for the bargain price of $100!
McCain has courted K Street more aggressively lately, meeting lobbyists and business community representatives in early February, said a supporter who attended. Yesterday he announced the backing of Tom Loeffler, chairman of The Loeffler Group, who raised $375,000 for Republicans in 2004.Bush “pioneer” fundraisers supporting McCain include Wayne Berman and Richard Hohlt locally, and Michigan residents Ronald Weiser and James Nicholson. Each raised more than $100,000 for one of Bush’s presidential campaigns. Other major Bush fundraisers supporting McCain are David Metzner, of American Continental Group, and David Girard-diCarlo, of Blank Rome.
So that Giuliani fundraiser in Las Vegas at which NRA chief Wayne LaPierre was expected?Not so much, says LaPierre's spokesman, Andrew Arulanandam.
"He was invited to a fundraiser, but he cannot attend due to prior commitments," he said.
But some of the state's biggest fundraisers are working with McCain, and some GOP insiders said they believe other prominent Republicans - such as former Gov. George Pataki and former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato - are considering backing the Arizona senator.Giuliani has a history of squabbles with state and national Republicans. Few forget his endorsement of Democrat Mario Cuomo over Pataki in 1994, or that he ran for mayor with the backing of the Liberal Party - but not the Conservative Party.
If the presidential election comes down to which candidate has the best-looking pair of legs, who wins?Most Americans say Republican Rudy Giuliani has the nicest pair, according to an unscientific survey.
"Oh, yes," a woman said. "He's got much nicer legs." "Sure," a guy said. "He's got nice legs. Did he even have to shave?"
Despite his strong ties to Massachusetts in politics and business, former governor Mitt Romney does not have the support of Republican State Committee member Stephen M. Zykofsky in his bid for the White House.Instead, Zykofsky, of Lynn, backs Rudolph W. Giuliani, believing that of the major candidates, the former New York mayor is the one "most capable of handling the job of president at such a difficult time."
Zykofsky is one of a number of active Republicans in the region who either are supporting others or keeping their options open. Other Giuliani backers include state Senate minority leader Richard R. Tisei of Wakefield, state Senator Bruce E. Tarr of Gloucester, and former Massachusetts Republican Party chairman Brian Cresta of Middleton.
A new poll suggests the former Arkansas governor may need to do much more to build his standing among potential voters.Huckabee's bid for the Republican presidential nomination barely registered support, even among white evangelicals, in a poll released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University.
Quinnipiac surveyed more than 1,000 likely voters in three states identified as pivotal in 2008: Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Among registered Republicans, Huckabee's support was less than 1 percent in Pennsylvania and Ohio and just at 1percent in Florida.
Hires . . . Duke Cunningham’s Lawyer?
Sen. Pete Domenici, bracing for a Senate Ethics Committee investigation of his phone call to then-U.S. Atty. David Iglesias, has hired a defense attorney.Chris Gallegos, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Republican, said Domenici has hired Lee Blalack, who previously represented former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in an ethics investigation of his stock transactions, as well as representing convicted former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham.
Is Newt Gingrich paving the way to run in 2008? That question must be asked in light of the fact that he appears on James Dobson's Focus on the Family radio show today.Though the two of them don't discuss 2008 presidential politics, clearly Gingrich is playing to a supportive audience. Newt has had some past marital problems so when he spoke to Dobson he said he had "gotten on my knees and sought God's forgiveness."
Happy International Women's Day!
You may know March is Women's History month. But did you know that March 8th is International Women's Day?
The global day connecting all women around the world and inspiring them to achieve their full potential, IWD celebrates the collective power of women past, present and future.
The UN is using the day to promote their campaign to end violence against women, which is still disturbingly pervasive throughout the world.
“Violence against women is both a cause and a consequence of discrimination against women,” said Rachel Mayanja, special adviser to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on gender issues. “It is based on social and cultural practices that hold women and girls as subordinate to men.”Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of the UN Development Fund for Women, said the number of countries adopting legislation against violence is growing, but implementation of laws “is often insufficient.”
Ms. Heyzer said 89 countries currently have legislative provisions on domestic violence, 104 countries have made marital rape a crime, 90 countries have provisions against sexual harassment, and 93 states prohibit trafficking of women and men.
Violence against women “is a pandemic that can be stopped ... given the necessary political will and resources,” she said.
Violence against women is a worldwide epidemic. Although it is easy to consider it a problem that takes place "over there" the reality is that violence against women in America is very real. For instance, when it comes to domestic violence, 1 in 4 American women will experience it in her lifetime. For more information, check out the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence or the UN's Development Fund for Women.
Chris has some interesting stats over on AmericaBlog.
Thursday Open Thread
Chat away...
March 7, 2007
Huckabee's Campaign May Already Be Unraveling At Light Speed
Today it was announced that Huckabee’s longtime chief of staff in the Governor’s mansion has left the presidential campaign. [AP, 3/7/07]
Newsweek’s article in the latest edition is titled, “Why Can’t Huckabee Catch Fire?” and asks “Why isn’t the governor of Arkansas and current Republican presidential candidate, stuck around two percent in recent polls, catching fire among religious conservatives?” [Newsweek, 3/5/07]
And some are saying that Huckabee is falling behind Senator Sam Brownback in capturing the Christian conservative vote. One professor of Political Science said Brownback has the edge over Huckabee with religious conservatives “because of his roots in Kansas, with its long-standing conservative tradition, and backing from religious groups. He also has a track record as a conservative in Congress.” [Salon.com, 3/5/07]
Although he called it “dangerous” just weeks ago, it’s no wonder that Huckabee turned in his signed “anti-tax” pledge today to Grover Norquist and the American’s for Tax Reform. Guess he’s desperate to save his campaign and is willing to sacrifice to his principles:
On NBC’s Meet the Press (2/28/07): “I think you got to be very careful. I wouldn't propose any new taxes. I wouldn't support any. But if we're in a situation where we are in a different level of war, where there is no other option, I think that it's a very dangerous position to make pledges that are outside the most important pledge you make, and that is the oath you take to uphold the Constitution and protect the people of the United States.” [NBC, Meet the Press, 1/28/07]
On ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos (2/11/07): “What I want to make sure is that I don't sign something that says if we had a catastrophic incident, a world war, which I think we're in the middle of or at least in the beginnings of already, I don't want to put myself in a box and make a pledge to an interest group that isn't really as sacred as the pledge that I would make to the people of the country to uphold the Constitution. [ABC, This Week With George Stephanopoulos, 2/11/07]
Ah well. The fiscal conservative’s don’t buy Huckabee’s latest act anyway. The Club for Growth issued a statement saying:
“We certainly appreciate Governor Huckabee's conversion, but we believe a candidate's record in public office is often more indicative of his philosophy than his pledges on the campaign trail." [Club for Growth Release, 3/2/07]
CPAC: The Unauthorized Documentary
Max Blumenthal dives into the belly of the beast. This is a must-see YouTube!
McCain Helps to Unveil Congressional Pork Book, Despite Pet Projects of His Own
Today, Senator John McCain was scheduled to join the Citizens Against Government Waste in releasing their annual ‘Congressional Pig Book,’ according to a news release from the organization. The Pig Book is the CAGW’s “annual report on pork-barrel spending in the federal budget”, and features a database of pork projects in various congressional bills. [CAGW Release, 3/5/07]
Sen. McCain claims that he has fought wasteful spending and pet projects tooth and nail throughout his public service career. ““[A ban on earmarks] is an aspect that must be addressed if we are going to cure the illness which has caused this ongoing scandal and an erosion of public confidence in the way that we do business here in our nation's capital,” McCain said. Last year, he introduced the Pork-Barrel Reduction Act, aimed at reducing congressional earmarking. [US Federal News, 2/15/06; Christian Science Monitor, 1/20/06]
However, Mr. Earmark Reform has a few notable pork projects of his own, that he so conveniently fails to mention when railing against his colleagues’ own projects. In 2006, McCain sponsored a bill that “would direct $2 million…to establish a center at a specified law school to honor a renowned jurist from the state,” William Rehnquist. Even McCain’s fellow pork-fighter Rep. Jeff Flake said, through an aide, that he would probably “lean against the measure.” [New York Times, 2/18/06] Despite McCain’s outspoken objection to his fellow lawmakers’ earmarks, he vehemently defended his own. As the Chicago Tribune put it, “in Congress, it seems, the only bad pork projects are those sponsored by somebody else.” [Chicago Tribune, 3/4/06]
The Rehnquist Center wasn’t McCain’s only instance of wavering on pork projects. In 2003, the Senator successfully won $14.3 million for an Arizona air force base, which was inserted into the completed 2004 military construction appropriations conference report, exactly the kind of earmarks McCain argues against. [Roll Call, 11/6/03]
The irony of McCain’s participation in CAGW’s Pig Book unveiling cannot have been lost on the Senator; perhaps he’s hoping the American public just won’t notice.
Que? Romney insists you learn English, but runs ads in Spanish
Yesterday Mitt Romney announced that his campaign would start running Spanish-language radio ads in Florida. The ads were done by Florida State Party Chair Al Cardenas and promote Romney's appearance at the Republican Lincoln Day Dinner. Speaking in Spanish, Cardenas praises Romney's understanding of Cuba.
He neglects to say that just last week, Romney said a strong America was one where children were "taught in English."
There is no language barrier when it comes to Mitt Romney's smooth-talk. English only before conservative audiences, Spanish aimed at Cubans in South Florida.
Anybody know how to say 'flip-flop' in Spanish?
A Video Note From Governor Dean
Just for you! Yes, you!
Watch it, here!
The Daily Flipper
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
Get Out While You Can!
McCain Staffers Cut, Run...
John McCain's Obama-esque remarks about our "wasted" resources in Iraq weren't the only comments that landed him in hot water after a recent appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. Many of his staff were blindsided by his campaign announcement. And several aides were so outraged that they've quit, say Republican insiders."They're imploding—he had a game plan that had him announcing much later in the year," one top Republican aide tells Radar, adding that the campaign is "in serious trouble ... Romney's plan and Rudy's jump in the polls caused him to scrap his plans completely. When you do that, and you're not prepared for it, the staff goes crazy. Some of his coordinators in different states were pulling their hair out!"
D’Amato Bails on his ‘Endorsement’
Alfonse D'Amato lashed out at an aide with Sen. John McCain's campaign yesterday, saying it's untrue he's endorsing the Arizona maverick for president.D'Amato "has very high esteem for his dear friend, Sen. McCain, but has made absolutely no commitment to any candidate for the 2008 presidential election," the former senator's aides said in a statement.
When Bob Dole says Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., will “have the age issue” dogging him throughout his presidential campaign, he speaks from experience.The oldest man to run for president when he unsuccessfully challenged President Bill Clinton in 1996, Dole, now 83, called McCain, along with former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the frontrunners for the 2008 GOP nomination.
Although he’s the “best known,” Dole said, the 70-year-old McCain will face constant questions about his fitness and ability to serve. Then again, “every candidate will have minuses,” he added.
Huckabee’s Longtime Aide Needs “A Break” from Short-time Campaign
A spokeswoman for former Governor Mike Huckabee says longtime Huckabee aide Brenda Turner is "taking a break" from the Republican's presidential campaign.Spokeswoman Alice Stewart says Turner told the campaign last week she would take time off from Huckabee's campaign in Little Rock. Huckabee left as governor in January and last month formed a presidential exploratory committee.
Mr. Giuliani—fresh from the 8 a.m. Acela—seemed tired, almost distracted. And his speech, heavy on qualifiers and careful distinctions, low on culture-war references, seemed to suck all the energy out of the room. He slipped in and out of the conference so fast that many attendees didn’t even realize he’d shown up until hours later. (Writer George Will, who introduced Mr. Giuliani, seemed dynamic by comparison.)
Three marriages is hardly the end of his political troubles. As Giuliani woos conservative Republicans in search of his party’s presidential nomination, he will have to deal with his pro-choice position on abortion, his cheerleading for gun control, his amenability to gay marriage and a soft stance on illegal immigration. And don’t forget Marilyn Monroe.Marilyn Monroe? Well, yes. Giuliani dressed up like Marilyn for a satire put on by journalists in 1997. You can bet that photos and maybe videos of the skit will be all over the Internet at some point - I found a couple of photos in about five minutes - and you can bet it will do him no good. Remember Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis being photographed wearing an Army helmet in 1988 - just a helmet, not a blond wig, lipstick, mascara and a dress - and what that did to his campaign?
Southern Baptist leader said Tuesday that evangelical voters might tolerate a divorced presidential candidate, but they have deep doubts about GOP hopeful Rudy Giuliani, who has been married three times.Richard Land, head of public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention, told The Associated Press that evangelicals believe the former New York City mayor showed a lack of character during his divorce from his second wife, television personality Donna Hanover.
"I mean, this is divorce on steroids," Land said. "To publicly humiliate your wife in that way, and your children. That's rough. I think that's going to be an awfully hard sell, even if he weren't pro-choice and pro-gun control."
Passed in Part because of John McCain
Restrictions on senators' intervening with federal agencies were adopted after the Keating Five investigation, in which five senators contacted regulators on behalf of banking executive Charles Keating.Senate offices should refrain from intervening in pending court actions "until the matter has reached a resolution in the courts," the Senate's ethics manual says. The House's version has similar warnings.
Two New Mexico Republicans, Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson, acknowledged they asked a U.S. attorney in their state about the status of a corruption investigation that would have hurt Democrats.
1) Pander, 2) Pander, 3) Pander
Given the French government's reputation for arrogance, one would think it would be smugly thumbing its nose, but it's not. Chirac has reaffirmed his support for the United States, and the leading candidate to succeed him as president is openly calling for better trans-Atlantic relations.But Romney's campaign still sees political gain in whipping up anger toward France. It's similar to Romney's decision last year to refuse State Police protection for Iran's moderate former president, who was speaking at Harvard, as a protest against Iran's current hard-line president. The common thread is that Romney seems to believe that presidential voters will respond only to the gesture, not the facts behind it.
It's not the French to whom Romney is condescending; he seems to think GOP primary voters have brie for brains.
(Not, This Time, by his Family)
This makes the Competence Primary very important in the Republican nomination contest, and Giuliani is the front-runner in it, although he has competition from Romney, a successful businessman with strong management skills. This doesn't mean that Giuliani will excel in the Temperament Primary. Some of the qualities that made him a successful mayor - the hunger for power, the jealousy of other centers of authority, the egocentric drive - don't make him the most pleasant person. And the Ideological Primary will be a major challenge.
I don’t know if David Horowitz knew Cpl. Matt Sanchez was once a gay porn star and male prostitute when he introduced him to me at last weekend’s CPAC. But he did know that Sanchez was an eager yes-man, and a supposed victim of the campus PC thuggery Horowitz has made a career out of decrying.As several gay blogs revealed late yesterday, Corporal Sanchez was known during his halcyon days as Rod Majors, a majorly well-endowed gay porn star. According to Tom Bacchus, Sanchez was also a $200-an-hour male prostitute who advertised himself as an “excellent top.”
Supporting Our Troops
The guilty verdict in the Libby trial is the latest example of the Bush Administration valuing appearances over the real lives of our troops. The counter example to that would be sending men and women to war and then leaving them to fend for themselves -- in atrocious conditions in a substandard hospital -- and to manage their own health care as veterans. Over the last 24 hours, the contrast has been shown between the all-out effort of the Bush Administration to sell this war, and the shameful way veterans of the war have been treated when they return home in need of medical care. The New York Times explores the issue:
But the fundamental responsibility rests with the president and his former defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, who stubbornly insisted on going to war without sufficient resources -- and then sought to hide the costs of their disastrous mistakes from the American public.More from DNC Chair Howard Dean:Is it any surprise that the war's wounded have been hidden away in the shadows of moldy buildings by an administration that refused to let photographers take pictures of returning coffins? Or a White House that keeps claiming that victory in this failed and ever more costly war is always just a few more months away?
The Walter Reed revelations once again put the lie to the president's claim that everything is being done to support America's troops.
"It's appalling to think that, while President Bush had a high-level team in place to sell the Iraq war and viciously smear its critics, it has not given that same attention to plan for postwar Iraq, providing the proper equipment for our troops or ensuring that our troops and veterans receive the care they deserve."There is no excuse for this, absolutely none.
9/11 Bill Passed in the Senate
Republicans battling the rights of working families took a hit yesterday as the Senate passed a bill implementing the remaining recommendations of the 9/11 commission. The bill also gave airport screeners the same union rights as other workers.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, became hysterical and said:
"We're not going to let big labor compromise national security."While it was unclear how allowing workers basic rights jeopardized national security more than not implementing the recommendations, the White House has said that President Bush will veto any bill that includes basic workers' rights.
The amendment, introduced by Senator Claire MaCaskill of Missouri, would:
...give screeners the right to bargain collectively but not for pay, and would give the Transportation Security Administration the power to "take whatever actions may be necessary" during emergencies.More importantly, the bill addresses recommendations from the September 11th commission that were not taken up when Republicans were in power in Congress.
The Senate bill would upgrade security on passenger and freight railroads and require all cargo carried on commercial passenger aircraft to be screened for bombs.The bill will now go to a conference committee made up of assigned House and Senate members.It would provide funds for state and local emergency communications systems, expand a visa waiver benefit for favored countries and improve intelligence sharing among federal, state and local officials.
Wednesday Open Thread
What's on your mind today?
March 6, 2007
Watch It!: Governor Dean in The Situation Room
Watch It!: Governor Dean on MSNBC
Governor Dean appeared on MSNBC to talk about the Scooter Libby verdict, the war in Iraq and the mess at Walter Reed - all of which have occurred on President Bush's watch, all of which are a result of his failed Administration.
The Price We Pay
This afternoon Christy and I were fortunate enough to join a number of our female colleagues at a lunch honoring Speaker Pelsoi. I wanted to share with you a portion of the Speaker's remarks that I found especially moving...
"Earlier this year, my first trip as Speaker of the House was to meet with our brave soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. On all my trips, I thank them for their valor, their patriotism, and the sacrifice they are willing to make for our country."I ask them about their families and their lives at home. So many of them are National Guardsman, and they told me about being firefighters, and teachers, and mechanics. But one response moves me to this day. When I asked the question, 'What did you do before you came here?' A young man responded, 'I was in high school, ma'am'
"We must remember the impact this war is having on the families of our men and women in uniform.
"Recently, I read about an American army captain who had died in Iraq. He used a webcam to talk with his family each day - to read a bedtime story to his three year old son, Zack.
"After he died, his wife tried to explain death to Zack. 'Daddy went to heaven,' she said. 'He can hear us. But he's not going to come home.'
"Zack said, 'Yes he is. He's in Iraq. When he's finished, he's going to come home.'
"But he isn't coming home.
"Nowhere were the American people clearer about the need for a New Direction than in the war in Iraq.
"At the end of our debate, which lasted four days, a bipartisan majority in the House and in the Senate, voted to support our troops and voted against President Bush's escalation of the war by his sending more than 21,000 combat troops there.
"As the generals tell us, we must stop thinking of this war solely as a military conflict.
"We need a New Direction.
"Again and again, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and I, have presented the President with a plan for a New Direction that would: change the mission from combat to training, force protection and counterterrorism; redeploy the troops; engage in regional diplomacy; have real and honest reconstruction in Iraq; make political change necessary to end the civil strife. Only then can we refocus our attention on the real war on terror - the war in Afghanistan.
"We must never go to war unless our troops are trained, equipped, and with a strategy for success.
Libby: Guilty
Scooter Libby has been found guilty of obstruction, perjury, and lying to the FBI:
Count 1: Guilty
Count 2: Guilty
Count 3: Not Guilty
Count 4: Guilty
Count 5: Guilty
UPDATE: Speaker Pelosi's statement:
Today's guilty verdicts are not solely about the acts of one individual.This trial provided a troubling picture of the inner workings of the Bush Administration. The testimony unmistakably revealed - at the highest levels of the Bush Administration - a callous disregard in handling sensitive national security information and a disposition to smear critics of the war in Iraq.
Governor Howard Dean's statement:
Today the American legal system did something the Bush Administration hasn't, by holding Scooter Libby accountable for his illegal actions. Many unanswered questions remain about the other key Bush advisors who participated in the Administration's efforts to mislead the American people and smear its critics who have yet to be held accountable. Ultimately, the buck stops with President Bush. While he failed to keep his promise to fire the leaker, he should pledge not to pardon Scooter Libby.It's appalling to think that while President Bush had a high level team in place to sell the Iraq War and viciously smear its critics, it has not given that same attention to plan for postwar Iraq, providing the proper equipment for our troops or ensuring that our troops and veterans receive the care they deserve.
Update II:
Senator Reid's statement:
“I welcome the jury’s verdict. It’s about time someone in the Bush Administration has been held accountable for the campaign to manipulate intelligence and discredit war critics. Lewis Libby has been convicted of perjury, but his trial revealed deeper truths about Vice President Cheney’s role in this sordid affair. Now President Bush must pledge not to pardon Libby for his criminal conduct.”
The Daily Flipper
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
Giuliani’s Rift With His Kids is Revealed.
Responding to media questions, Giuliani didn't mention either Andrew, 21, or his daughter, Caroline, 17, by name, or discuss his relationship with them.Instead, the 2008 Republican front-runner stood foursquare behind his wife, whose highly public relationship with Giuliani began while he was still married to Donna Hanover, the mother of his two kids.
Andrew Giuliani, a sophomore at Duke University, bluntly disclosed over the weekend, "There's obviously a little problem that exists between me and his wife."
Giuliani could be vindictive. He had no qualms about using government to settle a score. When the City Council overrode his veto of a bill to change the operations of homeless shelters in December 1998, Giuliani sought to evict five community service programs, including one that served 500 mentally ill people, in the district of the bill's chief sponsor, and to replace them with a homeless shelter.What's more, he released a list of sites for other shelters that would be housed in the districts of council members who voted in favor of the override. (He backed down two months later, after much public outrage.)
It’s Okay, He’s Got a Plan.
Mitt Romney may be low in the polls right now, but he is a man with a plan, a plan to make him the Republican nominee for president.Though he is at only 4 percent in national polls, The Politico has learned that in the coming weeks and months, he will:
--- Game the system. Romney intends to take advantage of the various and complicated rules governing the primaries.
--- Be funny, even if he has to borrow the jokes. Romney quoted Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, a Mormon, telling other senators the difficulty he has raising money among members of his own faith.
“And so the President is right to add additional troops, to secure Baghdad. We're going to see if that's working in the next several months, and if it is we'll keep at it and if its not we move to plan "B." “The Governor's time was so extremely limited I was not able to probe as to what plan "B" was.
Meanwhile, Romney supported the Massachusetts GOP with a $2,000 check on April 13, 1988, and another $1,000 on July 17, 1989. However, he did not write another check to Republicans until he donated another $1,000 to the Massachusetts GOP on October 27, 1993. So, between July 1989 and October 1993, Romney exclusively financed these three Democrats.A journey of political self-discovery is what one would expect from a college student navigating between his professors’ chalk-dust-encrusted socialism and the liberating ideas of Milton Friedman. A tax-abused businessman pondering his first bid for public office at age 35 deserves such latitude. However, a 59-year-old prospective commander in chief of the United States Armed Forces should be more firmly rooted in his beliefs than Romney appears to be.
No wonder an astute, free-market-activist friend of mine recently christened Mitt Romney “Slick Willard.”
I just checked in with Rudy's preemient biographer, Wayne Barrett. His take on Newsweek's effort? "It's an application for access, that's what this piece is. They wanted access to the Giuliani campaign, they had none. They submitted this application."A New York Times poll in April of 2000, in the wake of the police shooting of Patrick Dorismond, found that 50% disapproved of Rudy's handling of crime, his signature issue, and concluded that "New York City residents have a decidedly negative view of Mr. Giuliani's handling of race relations."
The notion that Rudy banished the "squeegie-men" from New York is another myth, according to Rudy biographer Wayne Barrett -- yet there's little question that this myth will figure centrally in the heroic narrative of Rudy that's taking shape with the help of publications like Newsweek. Barrett told me: "The squeegie men were gone before Rudy took office. Ray Kelly [the top cop under former Mayor David Dinkins] got rid of them. [Rudy police commissioner] Bill Bratton admitted this in his 1998 book. He wrote that `ironically, Giuliani and I got credit for the initiative,' and that `only politics prevented David Dinkins and Ray Kelly from receiving their due.'"
Giuliani was saved by NYC's quaint term-limit law. Had he been allowed to run for a third term, New Yorkers would have run him out of office. On Sept. 10, 2001, Giuliani was a little more popular than a snaggle-toothed plain Jane, with a running cold sore, selling smooches at a county fair booth. The next day, after Osama bin Laden's terrorists struck and the international media descended on the Big Apple, the scandal-infested, lame duck-mayor's star fatefully rose again. Thanks to days of photo-ops at funerals, Giuliani morphed into the poster child of American leadership.
It's appropriate for the public to ask questions about Mitt Romney's Mormon faith as he pursues his presidential campaign, a top Romney campaign strategist said yesterday.Strategist Alex Castellanos was speaking at a forum of Republican presidential advisers held at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He was asked why the media seemed to be celebrating the fact that the country may elect its first African-American or woman president, but treating the specter of its first Mormon president with suspicion.
NEWSWEEK: I heard fried Twinkies used to be one of your favorite foods. Do ever indulge anymore?HUCKABEE: The food that I used to crave, the amazing thing is, I often find it repulsive. Something dripping in grease, it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, I would be better off eating the sack it came in.’ I don’t walk by the donut counter anymore and go into withdrawal.
He Can't Have it Both Ways
One of John McCain's top advisers acknowledged Monday there is a political risk to the senator's support for the Bush administration's troop surge in Iraq, but he said discussing a withdrawal before the new strategy can work will undercut military morale."And so part of what, I think, John's frustration has been is you can't have it both ways. You can't be there and get out at the same time," said Davis.
Watch It!: Governor Dean on TV
Governor Dean will be on TV today. You can catch him on MSNBC around 1:30pm and then later on CNN's Situation Room. Happy viewing!
Tuesday Open Thread
Chat away...
March 5, 2007
Remembering Bob Hattoy
Over the weekend, noted activist Bob Hattoy, who in addition to being a tireless advocate for a number of causes, became the first openly gay person with HIV to speak to a national audience when he gave a primetime address to the 1992 Democratic National Convention, passed away.
Governor Dean:
"This weekend, America lost a true champion for justice. Aside from being a fierce advocate on causes ranging from LGBT rights and HIV issues, to civil liberties and the environment, Bob Hattoy was a wonderfully charming man with a tremendous sense of humor. Most of all, Bob was a friend and mentor to so many. Through Bob's life and service to our country, we are all reminded of the need to do more to encourage greater participation of all Americans, including gays and lesbians, in our political process. Bob will be missed. Our thoughts go out to his family, friends and loved ones."
I've included the full text of Mr. Hattoy's 1992 speech to the DNC below the fold.
Keep reading "Remembering Bob Hattoy"
Life Without Health Insurance
I've had a few periods of time in my life when I didn't have health insurance. Obviously it's not a party, but sometimes people just don't get how bad it is...
If you can afford a doctor, some doctors will give you free samples in place of a prescription, if they have it. Some doctors won't. Sometimes you have a massively high deductible on prescription drugs, or just on basic visits to the doctor. Many times, you decide to skip the visit to the doctor altogether. If you've got a serious problem that requires immediate medical attention, you can live in pain for months, or worse. For people living anywhere near the poverty line, this is obviously a problem. But it can still be a problem for people with a moderately high income. The New York Times profiled a woman today with a relatively substantial annual income -- $60,000 a year -- who has to go without insurance because it would be thousands of dollars a month in cost.
As an independent contractor, like many real estate agents, Ms. Readling does not receive health benefits from an employer. She tried to buy a policy in the individual insurance market, but -- having had cancer -- could not obtain coverage, except at a price exceeding $27,000 a year, which was more than she could pay.Sadly, this isn't the first time I've heard such a story. Pre-existing conditions are often exempt from new insurance coverage. So people don't go to the doctor, or don't get medicine. Or they "charge it." They can rack up enormous credit card debt, struggle to pay it off, and if they fail, have to declare bankruptcy.
Democrats are committed to making sure every single American has access to affordable, effective health care coverage.Read more about what the Democratic Party is doing to address this issue here.
The Daily Flipper: CPAC Hangover Edition
Read the news the Republicans wish you wouldn't...
Launches Campaign Against France in NH
He said he does not want America to become the "France of the 21st century," noting that France began the 20th century as a world power, but lost that designation by the end of the century.
The plan, for instance, indicates that Romney will define himself in part by focusing on and highlighting enemies and adversaries, such common political targets as "jihadism," the "Washington establishment," and taxes, but also Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, "European-style socialism," and, specifically, France.
"There are no true conservatives in the race," groused Gregg Jackson, who was peddling autographed copies of his book Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies.Jackson ticked off his complaints about each candidate: Sen. John McCain passed a campaign finance bill that restricted free speech; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani supports abortion rights; and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has flip-flopped on abortion and gay rights.
Jackson's complaints were echoed by many others at the conference and beyond.
"How can you have the mess we have in New Orleans, and not have had deep investigations of the federal government, the state government, the city government, and the failure of citizenship in the Ninth Ward, where 22,000 people were so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn't get out of the way of a hurricane."
Now He May Get One of His Own...
New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici acknowledged Sunday that he called a federal prosecutor to ask about a criminal investigation, but insisted he never pressured nor threatened his state's U.S. attorney.Kenneth Gross, a Washington lawyer who specializes in congressional ethics rules, said Domenici's phone call to Iglesias could have violated Senate ethics rules if there was an element of pressure or coercion to his inquiry.
"It doesn't sound very good to me," Gross said. "But requests for the status of cases are generally considered permissible."
Romney Even Flips on His Movie Choices!
In yet another example, CNN profiled the 2008 presidential field and Romney listed his favorite movie as "Raiders of the Lost Ark." But as recently as 2003, Romney told media outlets that his favorite was the George Clooney flick "O Brother Where Art Thou."
Why the switch?
Perhaps the answer lies in this very Biblical description of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in the CNN piece:
"Renowned archaeologist and expert in the occult, Dr. Indiana Jones, is hired by the U.S. Government to find the Ark of the Covenant, which is believed to still hold the Ten Commandments."
And we all know how much the religious right loves the Ten Commandments...
Former governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, one of eight announced or prospective presidential candidates to speak at CPAC, summed it up best when he said that perhaps for this year it should be renamed the "Conservative Presidential Anxiety Conference." He added, "The theme could be 'Dude, where is my candidate?' "
Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, facing a federal investigation of whether he accepted improper gifts or payments from a federal contractor, retained Abbe Lowell, one of the nation's best-known criminal defense lawyers.Mr. Gibbons, a Republican, represented Nevada in Congress for five terms before his election as governor last year. He served on the House intelligence and armed services committees, and used his position to help a Reno software maker, eTreppid Technologies LLC, seek federal contracts.
...
Mr. Lowell, a partner at Chadbourne & Parke LLP, is representing Jack Abramoff, the former Republican lobbyist who is cooperating with federal officials in a public-corruption probe. Mr. Abramoff is also serving a prison sentence for fraud.
State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, is on the host committee for the tonight's fundraiser at the home of DFB Pharmaceuticals President John Feik.A spokeswoman for Giuliani's exploratory committee said the fundraiser, which is scheduled to run from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., would not be open to the news media.
New Yorkers Recall a Different Mayor. . .
The Big Apple critics generally credit Giuliani with cracking down on crime and rallying the city after 9/11. But they cite plenty of unflattering incidents, from Giuliani's public war against his second wife, Donna Hanover, during their divorce to his close relationship with his former top cop, Bernard Kerik, who was eventually convicted of taking $165,000 in gifts from a company seeking city business.The journalistic detractors also say Giuliani drove out an earlier police commissioner, William Bratton, after he was hailed as a crimebuster on the cover of Time. Giuliani even went to court to stop New York Magazine from touting itself in bus ads as "possibly the only good thing in New York Rudy hasn't taken credit for."
Walter Reed Hearings Begin Today
Via The Gavel:
Both the Oversight Committee and Appropriations Committee are holding hearings today on the conditions at Walter Reed. Our troops and Veterans who fought for us on the battlefield should not have to fight their own government for the care they earned and deserve when they come home.Oversight and Government Reform Committee: National Security Subcommittee (Catch it on C-Span now!)
Scheduled as witnesses:
- Specialist Jeremy Duncan
- Annette McLeod, Wife of Cpl. Wendell "Dell" McLeod
- Staff Sgt. John Daniel Shannon
- Lieutenant General Kevin C. Kiley, M.D., U.S. Army Surgeon General
- Major General George W. Weightman, Commander (former), Walter Reed Army Medical Center
- Ms. Cynthia A. Bascetta, Director, Health Care, U.S. Government Accountability Office
- General Richard A. Cody, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army
Appropriations Committee: Defense Subcommittee Hearing on Walter Reed Infrastructure (Scheduled to start at 1:30pm EST, you can watch via webcast)
Scheduled as witnesses:
- General Peter Schoomaker, Army Chief of Staff
- General Richard Cody, Army Vice Chief of Staff
- General Kevin C. Kiley, M.D, Army Surgeon General
I'm watching right now and Congressman Waxman is quickly getting down to business. Specialist Jeremy Duncan just told the committee there was no way that higher ups "didn't know" what was going on.
Update: AP reports on the hearings:
Staff Sgt. John Daniel Shannon, who lost his left eye and suffered traumatic brain injuries from a rifle wound, said that after he was discharged from Walter Reed, he was given a map of the grounds and eventually found his way to outpatient quarters by wandering around and asking for directions.Then, he says, he "sat in my room for a couple of weeks wondering when someone would contact" him about continuing treatment.
"My biggest concern is having young men and women who have had their lives shattered in service to their country ... get taken care of," Shannon said.
Annette McLeod told the committee that her husband, Cpl. Wendell McLeod, was originally sent to the wrong hospital after he was hit in the head with a steel door in Iraq and also suffered a head injury.
Once at Walter Reed, she said, he suffered delays in getting outpatient tests and treatment.
"My life was ripped apart the day that my husband was injured," she told the panel tearfully. The experience at Walter Reed made it "worse than anything I've had to sacrifice in my life."
Just Another Manic Monday Open Thread
What's up Starbuck?
This is an open thread...
March 4, 2007
Weekend Open Thread
What's going on in your world?
This is an open thread...
March 2, 2007
Governor Dean Blasts Coulter’s Slur, Calls on GOP Presidential Candidates to Denounce It
During her presentation to today’s Conservative Political Action Convention (CPAC), political pundit Ann Coulter used the word “faggot” to describe a Democratic presidential candidate. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean today condemned her remarks and called on the Republican presidential contenders to denounce them.
Dean:
"There is no place in political discourse for this kind of hate-filled and bigoted comments. While Democrats and Republicans may disagree on the issues, we should all be able to agree that this kind of vile rhetoric is out of bounds. The American people want a serious, thoughtful debate of the issues. Republicans -- including the Republican presidential candidates who shared the podium with Ann Coulter today -- should denounce her hateful remarks."
Video via ThinkProgress.
Access to Health Insurance
A year ago, while a student at Florida State, I didn't have health insurance. Luckily, I'm young and healthy. However, we've all heard the horror stories of people who haven't been as lucky, and it's an issue I'm particularly sensitive to. As a result, I found a piece in the New York Times today particularly noteworthy:
A majority of Americans say the federal government should guarantee health insurance to every American, especially children, and are willing to pay higher taxes to do it, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. [...] Only 24 percent said they were satisfied with President Bush's handling of the health insurance issue, despite his recent initiatives, and 62 percent said the Democrats were more likely to improve the health care system.Americans showed a striking willingness in the poll to make tradeoffs to guarantee health insurance for all, including paying as much as $500 more in taxes a year and forgoing future tax cuts.
As the article notes, a staggering 47 million people in the United States are uninsured. Even those with insurance are facing problems, either concerned with losing it or rapidly increasing costs.
Recently, Speaker Pelosi released a statement calling for President Bush to support efforts to provide states with the funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program:
Democrats in Congress understand the urgency and are committed to providing funding to the 14 states that do not have enough money to cover their current enrollment. That is why Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and I wrote to President Bush more than three weeks ago asking him to submit a spending proposal separate from his upcoming emergency supplemental appropriations request to cover shortfalls in funding for the children's health insurance program.
There was a devastating editorial about this issue in the Virginian-Pilot today, titled "War makes casualty of child safety net," which I highly recommend.
Memo to CPAC-ers
Via George Will:
"Nostalgia for Ronald Reagan has become for many conservatives a substitute for thinking."
The Greening of the Capitol
Democrats are on it! In a letter to the Chief Administrative Office of the House of Representatives, Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer and Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald, Chair of the House Administrative Committee, requested the CAO, Mr. Beard, undertake a "Green the Capitol" initiative.
In the letter, they cited their responsibility to "lead the nation in preserving our planet for future generations."
The text of the letter:
The Honorable Daniel P. Beard
Chief Administrative Officer
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Beard:
We are writing to direct you to undertake a critical initiative to address energy conservation, efficiency and cost savings for the U.S. Capitol and congressional office buildings.
The House of Representatives should provide leadership to the nation in providing an environmentally responsible and healthy working environment for our employees.
We request that you, in conjunction with your Senate counterparts, undertake a “Green the Capitol” initiative to ensure that the House institutes the most up-to-date industry and government standards for green building and green operating procedures. This process should include recommendations for benchmarking existing conditions; setting meaningful and measurable goals; timetables for implementing various changes in operating conditions; and measures to report progress on a regular basis.
A preliminary report should be provided by April 30, 2007, with final recommendations submitted to us by June 30. Please undertake this initiative in cooperation with the Architect of the Capitol, U.S. Capitol Police, and other House officers. You should also consult on a regular basis with the House Administration Committee, the Committee on Appropriations, and other House committees as appropriate. We would hope that you can consult with your Senate counterparts to ensure that the improvements you recommend are fully considered by those managing Senate operations and buildings as well.
The Capitol complex should lead the nation in preserving our planet for future generations.
Sincerely,
Nancy Pelosi
SpeakerSteny H. Hoyer
Majority LeaderJuanita Millender-McDonald
Chairwoman, Committee on House Administration
The Daily Flipper: CPAC Edition
Read what the Republicans wish you wouldn’t...…
"Last evening, I referred to American casualties in Iraq as wasted. I should have used the word 'sacrificed,' as I have in the past," said Mr. McCain, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and a key ally of President Bush on Iraq policy. "No one appreciates and honors more than I do the selfless patriotism of American servicemen and women in the Iraq War," he said in the statement, which did not use the word "apology."
Santorum: "McCain is the only candidate I would not vote for."
The only one I wouldn’t support is McCain,” Santorum said during an interview in his office at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, where he is a senior fellow.“I don’t agree with him on hardly any issues,’’ Santorum said. “I don’t think he has the temperament and leadership ability to move the country in the right direction.”
Riles Up Regent University Students
Selecting presidential candidate Mitt Romney as its May commencement speaker has riled some of Regent University's students and alumni who say his Mormon faith clashes with the school's bedrock evangelical Christianity."What we're against is the fact that Mormonism is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Christian values and what we believe," said Doug Dowdey, a Virginia Beach pastor who said he graduated from Regent's divinity school last year.
Forced To Fire Two Advisors After Racist Comments
Republican presidential candidate and California congressman Duncan Hunter has dropped two top South Carolina advisers a week after they were appointed because of their inflammatory statements about immigrants and religious minorities.Hunter spokesman Roy Tyler confirmed Thursday that former GOP lieutenant governor candidate Henry Jordan and Horry County Auditor Lois Eargle would no longer serve as campaign co-chairs.
Jordan, who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 1996 and last year, said he thinks Hunter did the right thing. Jordan said he didn’t want his comment disparaging Muslims and Buddhists, made while he was a state school board member in 1997, to hamper Hunter’s campaign.
GOP presidential hopefuls Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney clashed for the first time yesterday after Romney charged that the former New York mayor is "pro-gay marriage.""He is pro-choice, he is pro-gay marriage and anti-gun," Romney said in an interview to air Tuesday on the Christian Broadcasting Network, home to televangelist Pat Robertson. "That's a tough combination in a Republican primary."
But Giuliani - while in favor of civil union laws granting gay couples legal protections - has always said that he thought marriage should be "between a man and a woman."
Romney Fouls Up Campaign Stop State Name.
In Hollis, a small town west of Nashua, Romney got off to a rocky start by mistakenly calling it Hollis, Massachusetts, but he recovered quickly.
"It's going to be like watching bad re-runs of Survivor," said Newt Gingrich, stopping by bloggers' row. Americans are going to say, "Would you guys go and take a vacation!"
The opening day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference brought together some sharp critics of the early Republican presidential favorites, who have sparked doubts about the depth of their conservative principles.``There is some disillusionment, some demoralization and a hope that other conservatives jump in the ring. I don't find a sense of excitement about the candidates at all,'' said Steve Baldwin, head of the Council for National Policy, a networking group for conservative activists.
Baldwin made his feelings clear about the top three Republican contenders -- former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney -- by wearing a black badge reading ''RudyMcRomney'' with a giant red slash through it.
``There is an enormous amount of skepticism about the declared candidates. I've never seen anything like it,'' said Mark Corallo, a Republican communications consultant and a former Capitol Hill and Justice Department spokesman.
Wall Street Continues its Downward Slide
In a former life, I was an investment performance analyst, a.k.a. a finance scrub. That was many moons ago, but I am still an active investor. Which was why I was a little concerned when the Dow took a huge tumble earlier this week.
And it continues...from BusinessWeek.com:
Larger economic concerns such as the ascendent yen have dominated Wall Street for much of the week after Tuesday's worldwide selloff that sent the Dow industrials down 416 points and rattled investor confidence about the state of the U.S. economy.
While this week's drop could just be a momentary downturn, many are saying that it may be some sort of correction in the market. The consensus seems to be that the economy is going to get worse before it gets better. And that, ultimately, falls on the current administration's shoulders.
Troop Readiness and The National Guard
An article in today's Washington Post details the shortfalls National Guard units are facing across the country.
Nearly 90 percent of Army National Guard units in the United States are rated "not ready" -- largely as a result of shortfalls in billions of dollars' worth of equipment -- jeopardizing their capability to respond to crises at home and abroad, according to a congressional commission that released a preliminary report yesterday on the state of U.S. military reserve forces.The report found that heavy deployments of the National Guard and reserves since 2001 for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for other anti-terrorism missions have deepened shortages, forced the cobbling together of units and hurt recruiting.
"We can't sustain the [National Guard and reserves] on the course we're on," said Arnold L. Punaro, chairman of the 13-member Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, established by Congress in 2005. The independent commission, made up mainly of former senior military and civilian officials appointed by both parties, is tasked to study the mission, readiness and compensation of the reserve forces.
"The Department of Defense is not adequately equipping the National Guard for its domestic missions," the commission's report found. It faulted the Pentagon for a lack of budgeting for "civil support" in domestic emergencies, criticizing the "flawed assumption" that as long as the military is prepared to fight a major war, it is ready to respond to a disaster or emergency at home.
These shortfalls come on top of news that soldiers are being sent to the Iraq without completing the full training the Army has designed to prepare them for their overseas deployment. Then there is the fact that time between deployments has been cut short. Oh, and let's not forget the conditions our soldiers face if they come home injured, as the Washington Post has reported problems at Walter Reed have been ongoing and too often ignored.
TGIF Open Thread
Everybody's working for the weekend...
Chat away!
March 1, 2007
A Victory For Working Families
The Employee Free Choice Act, which restores American workers' right to freely choose whether or not to form a union, just passed in the House of Representatives 241 to 185!
President Bush has already threatened a veto, notes The Gavel (Speaker Pelosi's blog). The Gavel also has a YouTube video of the closing speech by Education and Labor Chairman George Miller:
This is a huge victory for working families. Sign this petition to help the Democratic majority pass the bill in the Senate. Also, be sure to watch Speaker Pelosi's speech.
A Linky Thread
Lots of things going on today. Here's some of what I am following:
- The House just passed The Employee Free Choice Act
- The General in charge of Walter Reed Medical Center has been relieved of his duties there.
- Are there more GOPers going to jump in the race? Patacki? Pence? Newt?
- The Libby Trial: the verdict on Libby is out. But flip-chart paper is a must (as any good organizer knows!)
- Campus Progress features a story on states who are taking steps to stop the President from escalating the war.
What are you following today? Use this as an open thread...
Trying to Have It Both Ways
Last night John McCain appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman. During the appearance, he told David Letterman that American lives had been "wasted" in Iraq. This afternoon he released a statement saying he "regretted" the remark. That's all well and good. We all say things we shouldn't say from time to time, and most times, a slip of the tongue is just that - in McCain's case it's a little bit different - it's hypocrisy at it's worst.
If John McCain truly believes, as he has previously said, that America owes the troops fighting in Iraq our "best judgment and honest appraisal of the progress of the war" then why is he so keen to go along with the President's plan for escalation when military leaders, the President's own bi-partisan commission, the Congress and the American people all say it is time to end the war and begin to bring our troops home? How is that using our best judgment? How is that an honest appraisal of the situation?
After all, it was John McCain who said it was "immoral" to keep troops in Iraq "fighting and dying for a failed policy". It was also John McCain who said that a short surge would be, "the worst of all worlds".
All of these statements are, of course, in direct contradiction to his current actions as he works to help the President send 20,000 more troops to Iraq.
So what's the deal? Where does John McCain stand when it comes to the Iraq war? His actions stand firmly on the side of escalating the war, and backing the President. Yet his words seem to say something else. Why is he trying to have it both ways?
Could his new talking points just be poll-driven rhetoric designed to stop his free fall in the polls? As the Washington Post pointed out today, McCain now trails in the Republican presidential primary 44 percent to 21 percent, a further slide from the 34 percent to 27 percent disadvantage he held a month ago.
As we've seen when it comes to a host of issues, including Iraq, John McCain will do or say anything to win.
A Full House (Agenda)
Speaker Pelosi doesn't play around when it comes to doing the People's business - and it's evident by today's House agenda.
Over at The Gavel they are pumping out the information - from Budget Hearings for Veterans Affairs, to the firing of US Attorneys for no apparent reason other than politic gain, and the beginning of the debate on the Employee Free Choice Act, a lot of important business is on the schedule.
Definitely check it out, and then chime in! What do you think of the job the new Congress is doing? What legislation are you excited about?
Still Staying the Course
Those of you who watched Condoleezza Rice in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Iraq war funding earlier this week probably remember her opening remarks, in which she spoke about "a neighbors' conference" that both Iran and Syria were invited to attend (both countries have since agreed).
But today we find out that the Bush administration is still refusing to hold direct talks with Iran and Syria, despite that being a key recommendation of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group (ISG):
Under the aegis of the New Diplomatic Offensive and the Support Group, the United States should engage directly with Iran and Syria in order to try to obtain their commitment to constructive policies toward Iraq and other regional issues.
So does this means anything but "stay the course" when it comes to the Iraq policy? Well, Bush spokesman Tony Snow says no:
At a briefing for White House reporters, Snow said the decision to attend the two Iraqi conferences does not mean there has been a shift in Bush administration policy. And he noted that this is not the first time that the three countries have all attended a multilateral meeting.
They still refuse to take the advice of anybody who disagrees with them. It's way past time for them to listen to people like Senator Jim Webb, who spoke last month about the need to have direct talks: "I think if you break those two countries [Iran and Syria] apart and look at them, I think there are reasons for them to come to the table on both. And I'm not saying that we are - we should be going to them on our knees or that we should be giving up on certain conditions. But it is in their interest."
Organizing the "Post-Soul" Generation
Earlier this week, Dr. Rev. Otis Moss, III spoke in honor of Black History Month about "Engaging a New Generation of Prophetic Leadership." In the comments of our post about his speech (with video), SandyH asked for highlights, so we decided to follow up with a post.
He began by talking about shifts in the African American community, stating the black Church is in danger of losing its power. This shift marks the rise of what he called the "post-soul" era, as hip hop "changed the way we look at the world."
He spoke about the shift towards megachurches, influenced by the conservative evangelical community. Yet he also discussed a yearning from young people, whom he calls disconnected from faith community, to hear the "words that come from the spiritual foundation."
He laid out four different symbols of hip hop -- not recommending them literally -- to explain how to organize this post-soul generation and bridge the gap to the faith community.
- The DJ - He pointed out that this speaks to the creativity of this generation, along with adding that young people are "not technophobic" and understand how to utilize technology.
- Breakdance - He used this as a symbol to emphasize the need to reclaim the arts as an organizing and connecting tool.
- Graffiti - He mentioned this to highlight the "utilization of art to communicate and critique," in order to speak to this new generation.
- Rap - He talked about the power of poetry and a failure by many to understand how to communicate. He spoke about the need to speak in stories and images, specifically about hope and community.
More Troubling Stories from Walter Reed
This morning The Washington Post continues to report on the troubles at Walter Reed Medical Center. In today's report, The Post details a number of times when concerns over patient care were brought to those in charge, going back to 2003, only to be ignored. Some examples:
Veterans Affairs Groups:
Top officials at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, including the Army's surgeon general, have heard complaints about outpatient neglect from family members, veterans groups and members of Congress for more than three years.A procession of Pentagon and Walter Reed officials expressed surprise last week about the living conditions and bureaucratic nightmares faced by wounded soldiers staying at the D.C. medical facility. But as far back as 2003, the commander of Walter Reed, Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, who is now the Army's top medical officer, was told that soldiers who were wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were languishing and lost on the grounds, according to interviews.
Steve Robinson, director of veterans affairs at Veterans for America, said he ran into Kiley in the foyer of the command headquarters at Walter Reed shortly after the Iraq war began and told him that "there are people in the barracks who are drinking themselves to death and people who are sharing drugs and people not getting the care they need."
"I met guys who weren't going to appointments because the hospital didn't even know they were there," Robinson said. Kiley told him to speak to a sergeant major, a top enlisted officer.
Members of Congress:
In 2004, Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and his wife stopped visiting the wounded at Walter Reed out of frustration. Young said he voiced concerns to commanders over troubling incidents he witnessed but was rebuffed or ignored. "When Bev or I would bring problems to the attention of authorities of Walter Reed, we were made to feel very uncomfortable," said Young, who began visiting the wounded recuperating at other facilities.Beverly Young said she complained to Kiley several times. She once visited a soldier who was lying in urine on his mattress pad in the hospital. When a nurse ignored her, Young said, "I went flying down to Kevin Kiley's office again, and got nowhere. He has skirted this stuff for five years and blamed everyone else."
Soldiers:
More than a year ago, Chief Warrant Officer Jayson Kendrick, an outpatient, attended a sensing session, the Army's version of a town hall meeting where concerns are raised in front of the chain of command. Kendrick spoke about the deterioration and crowded conditions of the outpatient administrative building, which had secondhand computers and office furniture shoved into cubicles, creating chaos for family members. An inspector general attending the meeting "chuckled and said, 'What do you want, pool tables and Ping-Pong tables in there?' " Kendrick recalled.
Social Workers:
In 2006, Joe Wilson, a clinical social worker in the department of psychiatry, briefed several colonels at Walter Reed about problems and steps that could be taken to improve living conditions at Building 18. Last March, he also shared the findings of a survey his department had conducted.It found that 75 percent of outpatients said their experience at Walter Reed had been "stressful" and that there was a "significant population of unsatisfied, frustrated, disenfranchised patients." Military commanders played down the findings.
"These people knew about it," Wilson said. "The bottom line is, people knew about it but the culture of the Army didn't allow it to be addressed."
Then there is the story about Joyce Rumsfeld, wife of former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. This I find most disturbing:
Last October, Joyce Rumsfeld, the wife of then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, was taken to Walter Reed by a friend concerned about outpatient treatment. She attended a weekly meeting, called Girls Time Out, at which wives, girlfriends and mothers of soldiers exchange stories and offer support.According to three people who attended the gathering, Rumsfeld listened quietly. Some of the women did not know who she was. At the end of the meeting, Rumsfeld asked one of the staff members whether she thought that the soldiers her husband was meeting on his visits had been handpicked to paint a rosy picture of their time there. The answer was yes.
When Walter Reed officials found out that Rumsfeld had visited, they told the friend who brought her -- a woman who had volunteered there many times -- that she was no longer welcome on the grounds.
Yesterday I mentioned that the Congress has already scheduled hearing to address the issues that have been raised thanks to the Post's reporting.
As this story continues to unfold, it gets more and more disturbing. In a statement today, Speaker Pelosi characterized it as "troubling" and spoke about the steps Congress would be taking:
"Our wounded military personnel and combat veterans deserve nothing less than the best care, but the continuing revelations at Walter Reed Army Medical Center show a troubling trend."The House will address some of the most pressing deficiencies at Walter Reed in the upcoming Supplemental Appropriations bill, but much more must be done to make the medical care system fully responsive to our wounded troops. House committees will respond as a matter of urgent priority and will conduct aggressive congressional oversight of military medical care.
"Of all of the debts owed to the men and women who serve in our military, and to their families, none is more important than to ensure that those wounded in battle are treated immediately, and for as long as is required, with all of the medical skill, compassion, and effectiveness that can be brought to bear. It is clear that improvements are necessary to make certain that our national obligation is met."
Inmate #28882-016: Bob Ney Reports to Prison
After pleading guilty to felony charges of conspiracy and making false statements, after taking tens of thousands of dollars worth of trips, sports tickets, campaign contributions, meals and casino chips from convicted Republican super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Bob Ney was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison.
Today his sentence begins. I'd almost feel sad for him, but he happily played into the Republican Culture of Corruption that was poisoning American politics and the people of Ohio definitely deserve better than that.
What's more, in an e-mail to friends that was "leaked" to the media, Ney says he is remorseful...sorta. He quotes a Garth Brooks song...
and now i'm glad i didn't know
the way it all would end, the way it all would go
our lives are better left to chance,
i could have missed the pain,
but i'd have had to miss, the dance
...which seems to contradict any other claims of remorse, since he would have rather not missed "the dance". Well, it seems that old southern saying is true, "You dance with the one that brung ya" and Bob Ney, danced his way into prison along side his pal Jack (Inmate No. 27593-112).
Kagro has some more information on the facility where Ney will be serving his time.
Flip-Flopping, Hair Muss Romney's Campaign
The Boston Globe, with the best Romney headline thus far, with bonus points awarded for showing how important a comma can be. Enjoy:
The Boston Globe got hold of what is supposed to be a PowerPoint presentation from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign. And it covers a wide range of topics.For one thing, it reveals that advisers worry that Romney's hair is too perfect.
There are also ideas for dealing with voters' concerns about him being a Mormon, and any perceptions that he's a "phony" or a "political opportunist."
In another section, it's suggested that Romney differentiates himself from a fellow Republican, President George W. Bush, with just a single word: "intelligence."
And we haven't even gotten to the flip-flopping, pandering, I'll-say-anything-to-win-part - that part is after the jump...
Keep reading "Flip-Flopping, Hair Muss Romney's Campaign"
Thursday Open Thread
It's March already! Time sure flies when you are having fun!
This is an open thread...
