Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Sen. Conrad Burns, in a debate, discussing Bush’s plan for victory in Iraq:
BURNS: Again he says there’s no plan. There is a plan. We’re not gonna tell you, John. We’re not gonna tell you what our plan is because you’ll just go out there and blow it. Period! By heavens, that’s just common sense. That’s enough.
Fine, Sen. Burns. Don’t tell the Democrats so they can blow it. I can deal with that.
But could you at least tell the Army?
The Washington Times does their part to scare you:
Now that control of the U.S. Senate is clearly in play in the congressional midterm elections next month, it is instructive to contemplate how the federal judiciary will be affected if Democrats gain at least six seats, which would give them majority status in Congress’s upper chamber. For President Bush and anybody else who espouses a traditional conservative judicial philosophy comparable to the views of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Democratic majority control of the Senate would be disastrous. The very liberal Sen. Patrick Leahy, Vermont Democrat, would return as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
After Republicans regained control of the Senate in the 2002 elections, Mr. Leahy became the principal architect of the unprecedented systematic filibuster campaign against appellate-court nominees. In the 108th Congress (2003-2004), Democrats successfully filibustered 10 appellate nominees; they prevailed in seven cloture votes against Mr. Estrada alone, and threatened filibusters against more than half a dozen others.
If Mr. Leahy reclaims the Judiciary gavel, it is safe to say that he will do everything possible to effectively strip President Bush of his constitutional power to appoint appellate-court judges, including any nominations to the Supreme Court.
Look- from my standpoint, Patrick Leahy as Judiciary Chairman probably would be a disaster. My beliefs haven’t changed- I still oppose many of the Democrats and many of their views, and I still believe many of the same things I always did. What has happened is that the Republicans have had power of Congress, and systematically violated most of what they claimed to believe in. Remember- these are the folks that started out with the Campaign Finance Reform, holding their nose and hoping the Supreme Court would overturn the mess they created. The Supremes didn’t, and we have to live with their legislation. It has gone downhill since.
So would Leahy be a disaster? Probably. But at least it would be a different kind of disaster, and I won’t be responsible for it.
Read this editiorial for a reality check.
We can now save American lives through torture:
“It is a rare occasion when a president can sign a bill that he knows will save American lives,” Bush said. “I have that privilege this morning.”
Bush signed the bill in the White House East Room, at a table with a sign positioned on the front that said “Protecting America.” He said he signed it in memory of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
“We will answer brutal murder with patient justice,” Bush said. “Those who kill the innocent will be held to account.”
***The American Civil Liberties Union said the new law is “one of the worst civil liberties measures ever enacted in American history.”
“The president can now, with the approval of Congress, indefinitely hold people without charge, take away protections against horrific abuse, put people on trial based on hearsay evidence, authorize trials that can sentence people to death based on testimony literally beaten out of witnesses, and slam shut the courthouse door for habeas petitions,” said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero.
“Nothing could be further from the American values we all hold in our hearts than the Military Commissions Act,” he said.
***The bill also eliminates some rights common in military and civilian courts. For example, the commission would be allowed to consider hearsay evidence so long as a judge determined it was reliable. Hearsay is barred from civilian courts.
The legislation also says the president can “interpret the meaning and application” of international standards for prisoner treatment, a provision intended to allow him to authorize aggressive interrogation methods that might otherwise be seen as illegal by international courts. White House press secretary Tony Snow said Bush would probably eventually issue an executive order that would describe his interpretation, but those documents are not usually made public and Snow did not reveal when it might be issued.
Congrats, GOP. Future President Hillary Clinton appreciates the new powers and authority, and especially appreicate the murky vagueness that allows this President and future Presidents to basically do whatever the hell they want with no obligation to tell us what they are doing. I likethe new standards of evidence, too- if you can get someone to say what you want, well, then, just like magic it is true!
No worries- this President is a ‘decider.’ Nothing bad will probably come of this legislation.
This time it’s Lester Crawford, former FDA Commissioner. Word says that he will plead guilty tomorrow to making false statements and conflict of interest during his tenure at the FDA.
On a semi-related note, I understand that HTML buttons don’t wear out. But even knowing that I have noticed that ‘Republican Stupidity’ button has started looking a little ragged. With any luck (see my post below) a Democratic sweep will help restore balance to the Force.
These guys are getting federal attention so fast I can’t come up with clever titles for posts about them:
The Justice Department is investigating whether Republican Rep. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania traded his political influence for lucrative lobbying and consulting contracts for his daughter, according to sources with direct knowledge of the inquiry.
The FBI, which opened an investigation in recent months, has formally referred the matter to the department’s Public Integrity Section for additional scrutiny. At issue are Weldon’s efforts between 2002 and 2004 to aid two Russian companies and two Serbian brothers with ties to strongman Slobodan Milosevic, a federal law enforcement official said.
The Russian companies and a Serbian foundation run by the brothers’ family each hired a firm co-owned by Weldon’s daughter, Karen, for fees totaling nearly $1 million a year, public records show.
Karen Weldon was 28 and lacked consulting experience when she and Charles Sexton, a Weldon ally and longtime Republican leader in Delaware County, Pa., created the firm of Solutions North America Inc. in 2002. Both are registered with the Justice Department as representatives of foreign clients.
Word of the inquiry, which has been closely held within the Justice Department and the FBI, comes from two individuals with specific knowledge of the existence of the investigation. They both declined to be identified because of the confidentiality of criminal investigations.
We are going to lose the war on terror because all of our agents are tied up investigating the GOP.
Bob Ney has plead guilty, further exposing the depths of corruption in the GOP, and Red State, the blog for conservatives and conservative thought, is silent. Well, they are cheering about Air America going bankrupt.
Clap louder.
People respond in strange ways to the prospect of losing your job and knowing that there is not a thing that you can do about it. Throw in the public disgrace, add a chance of incarceration and most people will pass some sort of breaking point. See, for example, the increasingly weird behavior of Republican candidates.
* Mark Foley (R-FL) may be gone, but Tom Reynolds (R-NY) and Dennis Hastert (R-IL) remain as living symbols of how not to manage a crisis.
* Don Sherwood (R-PA) strangles his illicit mistress, she survives, and now he wants voters to forgive him. Polls suggest that he should have tried not strangling his mistress.
* Katherine Harris (R-FL), the eternal sunshine of the clueless mind.
* The president‘s practically incoherent press conference. While not a candidate, this election is more or less a referendum on him. And it seems fairly likely that losing both Houses will eventually lead to jail.
* The strain of maintaining the “moderate” facade seems to have pushed Chris Shays (R-CT) over the edge.
* Knowing that he will lose his race might be what caused Rick Santorum (R-PA) to flip his lid on live TV.
* Bob Ney (R-OH) pleads guilty to corruption (possibly the least surprising development so far this year) but declines to resign until after the election. That kind of self-interested hubris would be fine if this was the 2002 midterms and the terra-sploitation steamroller could. not. be. stopped. But it ain’t 2002. No doubt the Dems will appreciate having a living symbol of GOP corruption hanging around Congress. [Correction] Ney will step down next week. Smart boy.
* [Update] John already has this above, but crazy Curt Weldon [R-PA] of Able Danger fame will face an FBI investigation over charges of corruption and nepotism.
Just a random sampling from the recent news.
