Shame, Dr. Dobson! Shame!

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson appeared to throw cold water on a possible presidential bid by former Sen. Fred Thompson while praising former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is also weighing a presidential run, in a phone interview Tuesday.

"Everyone knows he's conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for," Dobson said of Thompson. "[But] I don't think he's a Christian; at least that's my impression," Dobson added, saying that such an impression would make it difficult for Thompson to connect with the Republican Party's conservative Christian base and win the GOP nomination.

Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Thompson, took issue with Dobson's
characterization of the former Tennessee senator. "Thompson is indeed a Christian," he said. "He was baptized into the Church of Christ."

In a follow-up phone conversation, Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger stood by Dobson's claim. He said that, while Dobson didn't believe Thompson to be a member of a non-Christian faith, Dobson nevertheless "has never known Thompson to be a committed Christian—someone who talks openly about his faith."

"We use that word—Christian—to refer to people who are evangelical Christians," Schneeberger added. "Dr. Dobson wasn't expressing a personal opinion about his reaction to a Thompson candidacy; he was trying to 'read the tea leaves' about such a possibility.

In other words, Dobson and his spokesman are redefining the word “Christian” to mean something other than a baptized, believing, practicing Christian. How Clintonian – indicating that Focus on the Family has adopted a linguistic relativism in which words mean anything they want them to mean when they use them, even if that meaning is contradictory to the commonly understood dictionary definition of the word. Perhaps someone need to ask Dr,. Dobson what the meaning of “is” is.

Posted by: Greg at 12:44 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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This offers the best explanation of why Congress really has no role in this entire question – and how the Supreme Court has already dealt with the issue of firing Executive Branch appointees in the past.

The contrived controversy over the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys is largely an exercise in imaginary indignation. Congressional Democrats suggest that some of the firings may have been improper and demand to know the reasons for each of them. By what authority they make such demand is not clear, since the Supreme Court has ruled that, with limited exceptions, Congress has no voice in the dismissal of federal officers.

After the Civil War the radical Republicans in Congress sought to limit the power of the executive to dismiss political appointees. A statute passed in 1876 provided that postmasters should be appointed to a term of four years with the advice and consent of the Senate, just as the law provides now for the appointment of U.S. attorneys. However, the 1876 act also provided that a postmaster could not be removed by the president except with the advice and consent of the Senate. In 1920, President Wilson removed a postmaster whose term had not yet been completed. The postmaster sued in the Court of Claims to recover the salary he would have been owed from the day of his dismissal to the end of his term. The Court of Claims ruled against him and he appealed to the Supreme Court.

In 1926, the Supreme Court held that the requirement for Senate approval of a dismissal was unconstitutional. Chief Justice William Howard Taft, writing for the majority, stated that in order for the president to fulfill his constitutional duty, he must be able to discharge federal officers whose performance in office was not in accordance with his desires and that this responsibility could not be shared with Congress. Neither the statute providing for the appointment of U.S. attorneys nor the Supreme Court opinion makes any attempt to define what would constitute proper or improper reasons for dismissal. In fact, nowhere is there any suggestion that the president would need any reason to dismiss a federal officer who is not covered by the Civil Service Act.

If Congress can have no voice in the removal of U.S. attorneys and no reason is required to dismiss them, then by what authority do members of Congress demand to know why the attorneys were fired? Well, they do have subpoena power. However, since none of the documents they demand can possibly relate to any legitimate legislative purpose, it is not clear that the courts would uphold such subpoenas if the president refused to produce the documents.

Now I realize that the Democrats view the Constitution as so flexible that it can mean exactly the opposite of what it clearly says at any given time, but one would think that the demands of fidelity to past Supreme Court precedent – “settled law”, as the Democrats called it during recent confirmation hearings – would require that they not stick their nose into an area that is clearly an Executive branch prerogative. But of course, this isn’t a question of principle – it is a question of creating the appearance of impropriety where none exists, for purely political purposes.

Posted by: Greg at 12:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It seems more and more likely.

Law & Order" star and former U.S. senator Fred Dalton Thompson is considering a bid for the White House that would test whether Hollywood can once again launch a Republican to the world's premier political stage.

His interest, confirmed in a brief interview this week, is generating buzz in Washington. He was third among Republican-leaning voters in a recent Gallup-USA Today survey, behind Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and ahead of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

The onetime senator from Tennessee is known to many Americans for playing New York District Attorney Arthur Branch on "Law & Order" and an admiral in the film "The Hunt for Red October." But his real-life record as a no-nonsense lawmaker who also served as the minority counsel to the Senate Watergate committee is appealing to party activists dissatisfied with the current crop of Republican hopefuls.

"He has a conservative bearing and a conservative presence, but he's independent in his thinking and his voting record," said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who added that Thompson is "seriously considering" a presidential campaign at the urging of many friends. "He has a commanding television presence that makes every other politician in America jealous."

Such a run would be a long-shot in this front-loaded presidential process, where so many have committed to candidates. But Thompson has appeal, name and face identification, and shows up well in the polls. Could he be a force to be reckoned with in 2008?

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You know, a similar move by a GOP candidate so close to an endorsement would be seen as scandalous.

Sen. Hillary Clinton has agreed to help former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who endorsed her Monday, pay off his $400,000 campaign debt.

Clinton (D-N.Y.) will put the arm on her donor network for Vilsack, who quit the presidential race Feb. 23 citing financial difficulties.

Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said it was a normal gesture to make and called suggestions of any endorsement quid pro quo "ridiculous."

"One thing's got absolutely nothing to do with the other," he said. "They've known each other for years. If she weren't running for President, she'd be doing whatever she can to help retire his debt."

Three weeks ago, Vilsack said his main focus was closing down his campaign debt and that he would not make an endorsement until the end of the year - if then. "I think the chances are good that I'll do that, but I don't know that for certain," he said.

Clinton has already run into problems with the appearance of buying endorsements.

I’m not saying it is illegal. I’m not even saying it is unethical (though she is a Clinton). What I’m saying is that it looks improper – and appearances are sometimes more important than realities in politics.

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After Scooter Libby was convicted over discrepancies that are reasonably explained as faulty memory, why would anyone ever voluntarily give any information to any government investigation? Monica Goodling has nothing to hide -- merely the sense to recognize that the fix is in and any evidence that contradicts the scenario preferred by the Democrats will result in prosecution.

Monica Goodling, a Justice Department official involved in the firings of federal prosecutors, will refuse to answer questions at upcoming Senate hearings, citing Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, her lawyer said Monday.

"The potential for legal jeopardy for Ms. Goodling from even her most truthful and accurate testimony under these circumstances is very real," said the lawyer, John Dowd.

He said that members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees seem already to have made up their minds that wrongdoing has occurred in the firings.

When witch-hunters determine set out to confirm there are witches they have already said they are certain exist, why would anyone choose to subject themselves to examination?

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Well, “Slick Nick” Lampson is back in the hospital, only days after selling-out the troops and misrepresenting his district by voting in favor of the pork-laden cut-and-run appropriations bill.

U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, underwent a quadruple coronary artery bypass at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston Sunday morning.

The procedure was recommended after a checkup at the National Naval Medical Center in Washington Friday detected irregularities, his office said.

"The physicians have indicated that the surgery proceeded well and that Congressman Lampson will make a full recovery,'' Lampson spokesman Bobby Zafarnia said in a press release. "Though this was a serious procedure, Congressman Lampson has his family with him, his spirits are high, and he looks forward to returning to his office and serving his constituents as quickly as possible.''

Zafarnia said Lampson will remain under observation in the hospital for the next several days and should be released within the week. His recovery period will keep him in Houston for 3 to 4 weeks.

Heart bypass surgery involves surgeons creating a new channel when an artery that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body is blocked. In a quadruple bypass, four arteries are bypassed in the procedure.

Lampson, who replaced former Majority Leader Tom DeLay in the House, was hospitalized briefly in December, soon after he won that election. He underwent an angioplasty procedure at the time to open up a partially-blocked vessel.

I wish the Congressman a speedy and complete recovery -- because I want to be a part of the campaign that removes him from office in 2008.

Posted by: Greg at 11:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It certainly will if Rep. Lynn Westmoreland has her way about the matter.

When Valerie Plame Wilson testified recently before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, just two Republicans — out of 17 on the committee — bothered to show up. Ranking Republican Rep. Tom Davis asked few questions and seemed largely uninterested in the matter. The only other Republican to appear, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, showed more interest but appeared not to have mastered the details of the case.

Now, however, Westmoreland wants to know more. In a letter to committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman Friday, he submitted more questions for Mrs. Wilson and requested that Waxman ask the Senate Intelligence Committee for information that could shed light on issues left unresolved after her testimony.

As part of its investigation into pre-war intelligence, the Senate committee interviewed Mrs. Wilson, as well as some of her colleagues at the CIA. The committee also reviewed CIA documents about the Niger uranium affair. In his letter, Westmoreland asked Waxman to ask the Senate committee for the full text of Mrs. Wilson’s interview with Senate investigators. Westmoreland also asked for the “full text of Ms. Plame’s February 12, 2002 email/memo to her boss regarding sending her husband, Joseph Wilson, to Niger.”

Will Howard Waxman act on the information request? Will Plame respond to it? Or will they, by their inaction and silence, implicitly confirm that there is a cover-up going on, one orchestrated by the enemies of the Bush Administration for purely partisan purposes?

Posted by: Greg at 10:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here's a great profile of Rep. Adm Putnam, who is the number three Republican in the House of Representatives.

Amid the sea of square jaws and swept-back gray hair in Congress, Representative Adam H. Putnam, a tousled redhead whose cherubic appearance still causes Capitol police to stop him occasionally, appears a bit out of place.

But Mr. Putnam, 32, a Florida Republican, has become the unlikely mouthpiece for the beleaguered minority in the House, taking over as chairman of the Republican Conference, the third-ranking post behind the minority leader and whip, as his party struggles to right itself.

Mr. Putnam, something of a political wunderkind who at 26 was one of the youngest members of Congress in decades when he was elected in 2000, has taken on the role of attack dog over the last three months.

Combining agility on the issues and controlled partisan outrage, he has helped lead Republicans in the debate over the war in Iraq, lambasted Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her use of a military jet to fly across country to her home district, and generally tried to eke out political points at every opportunity.

Putnam is a guy to keep an eye on -- he should be in the public eye for many years, and seems like he may, in time, be a likely contender for the White House.

Posted by: Greg at 10:22 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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As I said the other day, I understand and respect the decision of John and Elizabeth Edwards to continue John's presidential campaign.

Or at least I did until last night.

Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of the presidential candidate John Edwards, elaborated on her cancer diagnosis in an interview broadcast last night, saying that the disease had spread to one of her hips.

Mrs. Edwards and her husband said they would continue campaigning.

The interview, on “60 Minutes” on CBS, appeared three days after Mr. Edwards announced that his wife’s cancer, first diagnosed late in his 2004 campaign for the White House, had come back in an incurable form that had spread to her ribs.

When asked if the cancer had spread to any other part of her body, Mrs. Edwards said, “There are a couple of hot spots, on the bone scan, in my right hip, for example.” She did not mention any other areas having been affected.

It sounds to me like the cancer may have spread much more aggressively than I had originally believed, which leads me to reassess my earlier position on his continuing the campaign.

Senator Edwards, with all due respect, I think you are wrong to continue with your campaign. Your wife is ill, sir, and her condition will likely be terminal in the next five years. This campaign, and the obligations of the presidency, will increasingly take you away from her side as Elizabeth's condition deteriorates. Where is it more important that you be during the time she has left -- on the campaign trail and in the Oval Office, or with her? When she is gone, which are you most likely to have regrets about -- time with Elizabeth, or time pursuing the presidency? Fully believing that the love you two display in public is real, I believe we all know the answer.

And besides, Senator, you are still a young man. In four years, or eight years, you will still be of an age to seek the Presidency -- especially if you have served in the Cabinet of a Democratic President.

The full 60 Minutes transcript can be found here.

Posted by: Greg at 10:18 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And here I thought that money -- especially money from lobbyists -- was the source of all evil in politics.

he U.S. presidential candidates have friends in corporate America fanning out across the country raising millions of dollars for their 2008 bids, ranging from Washington lobbyists to Wall Street financiers.

Republican contender Sen. John McCain has set up an extensive fund-raising operation that includes friends and former employees who now are lobbyists at major companies like AT&T Inc. and Walt Disney Co.

* * *

McCain has friends and former staff at major communications companies helping him, including AT&T senior congressional lobbyist and longtime friend Tim McKone.

He also has support from chief executives at companies like Cisco Systems Inc. and former staff who now work for Verizon Communications and Disney.

Seems mighty hypocritical to me -- and certainly in violation of the spirit of campaign finance reform.

Posted by: Greg at 09:58 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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He can't meet his fundraising goals -- and is being beaten by Mitt Romney in the amount raised.

Sen. John McCain said his presidential campaign would not meet its fundraising goals this quarter, and his campaign advisers acknowledged that ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney may wind up raising more.

"We're going to pay a price for it because we got a late start," McCain told reporters in New Hampshire. "We're not going to meet the goals we had." He later said he did not know whether Romney would outpace him, but his advisers did not downplay that possibility. They also did not rule out finishing first.

McCain contends that his exploratory committee's opening in December and the rush of the busy holiday season did not allow his campaign to begin fundraising in earnest until January. But once that month began, owing in part to a busy Senate schedule, McCain attended only two fundraisers and only two in February. There are twenty scheduled for all of this month, and another twenty in April.

While the numbers that come out in July are a better indicator of the strength of a campaign, one would have to think that the failure of one of America's most visible and best known GOP politicians to meet his goal in this area constitutes a major failure.

But then again, maybe lots of Republicans are simply practicing our own version of "campaing finance reform" -- by not giving money to a candidate with a record clearly hostile to the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

Posted by: Greg at 01:46 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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If this information is correct and cannot be squared with his previous statements on the matter, I would have to say that he does.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire several U.S. attorneys in a November meeting, according to newly released documents that contradict earlier claims that he was not closely involved in the dismissals.

The Nov. 27 meeting, in which the attorney general and at least five top Justice Department officials participated, focused on a five-step plan for carrying out the firings of the prosecutors, Justice Department officials said late Friday.

There, Gonzales signed off on the plan, which was crafted by his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson. Sampson resigned last week amid a political firestorm surrounding the firings.

The five-step plan involved notifying Republican home-state senators of the impending dismissals, preparing for potential political upheaval, naming replacements and submitting them to the Senate for confirmation.

The documents released Friday indicated that the hour-long morning discussion, held in the attorney general's conference room, was the only time Gonzales met with top aides who decided which prosecutors to fire and how to do it.

Now this comes back to how you parse out the statements made. Gonzales seems not to have been involved in the selection process of those to be fired, but does seem to have given approval to the process used to implement the firings. Can that be reconciled with his earlier statement about his relative lack of involvement? After all, here is what he said a week and a half ago.

On March 13, in explaining the firings, Gonzales told reporters he was aware that some of the dismissals were being discussed but was not involved in them.

“I knew my chief of staff was involved in the process of determining who were the weak performers — where were the districts around the country where we could do better for the people in that district, and that’s what I knew,” Gonzales said last week. “But that is in essence what I knew about the process; was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on. That’s basically what I knew as the attorney general.”

Interestingly enough, there do not appear to be any material released that indicates he received memos, took phone calls or participated in other meetings on the firings -- which were well-within the prerogative of the Executive Branch, because US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President -- so one can argue that he knew what was going on and was not otherwise involved in the decision-making process. But putting his final stamp of approval on the process can be seized upon by political opponents seeking to make a scandal where no improper activity occurred, and so the Administration needs to tread carefully here. After all, what he said was true, but can be presented as inaccurate.

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Posted by: Greg at 02:27 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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So much for being pro-military and an opponent of pork -- Nick Lampson followed the wishes of the DemocratICK Party leadership and against the sentiment of CD22 and his own promises to the voters by lending his support to a pork-laden supplemental appropriations bill which abandons the troops and calls for unilateral surrender in the face of the enemy.

Nick Lampson (TX-22): Nick Lampson campaigned on fiscal responsibility and took a harsh stand against congressional pork on his campaign website: “We have terrible waste in our government that can be addressed right now. We shouldn't be spending on pork projects like bridges to nowhere in Alaska and a tea pot museum in North Carolina. We must set priorities and stick to them.” By that standard, Rep. Lampson should cast a “no” vote on the Iraq war spending bill.

But he didn't vote no, despite his claims to be a pork-buster -- and instead voted to reject the expertise of the generals in the field in favor of that of the anti-American left-wingers at MoveOn.org.

MORE COVERAGE AT WaPo & NYTimes

H/T Michelle Malkin and Sen. Tom Coburn

UPDATE: But then again, why should we be surprised? After all, Speaker Pelosi lied to the American people on this issue only three months ago.

The headline over the column by Tom Curry of MSNBC oin Dec. 5, 2006, was clear: “Pelosi: ‘We will not cut off funding’ for Iraq”

Curry quoted her then:

“We will not cut off funding for the troops,” Pelosi said. “Absolutely not,” she said.

The vote today was clear: Pelosi is cutting the funding for Iraq. Out by Sept. 1, 2008.

It was a partisan stab in the back of the 150,000 troops in Iraq.

What's a lie to your constituents if your party leadership is telling big lies to the American public?

H/T Libertarian Leanings

Posted by: Greg at 12:31 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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I’ve not sent he “Big Sister” ad about the Hldebeast – and I’m really not interested in seeing it. And frankly, I’m not even concerned that it was made by a guy who did some technical consultation on Obama’s website. After all, there really is nothing deceptive or troubling about such political speech – and much more that is troubling about the efforts to prevent political speech by Americans.

Sadly, the Boston Globe wants even more restrictions on the right of Americans to speak – whether in a straight-forward or satirical manner.

The anti-Clinton clip falls within the boundary of acceptability. It makes a point in a witty way -- the runner is wearing an iPod, unknown in 1984 -- and is airing too early in the campaign to have a significant impact. The Huffington Post has unmasked the creator as a Barack Obama supporter, who denies the campaign was involved. Viewers can now evaluate the clip based on its source. And a Clinton supporter has subsequently doctored the video to put Obama in the Big Brother role, and put that on YouTube. Free speech has generated more speech to enhance the debate over who would make the best Democratic nominee for president.

But suppose it was two or three days before a close election, and a scurrilous, deceitful, anonymous clip was posted on YouTube and the other sites that specialize in homemade videos. Candidates should, of course, monitor all these sites and flag the offending videos. But doesn't YouTube have an obligation to make sure these ads are swept from its site before they can do harm? YouTube today doesn't have a policy against attack ads late in the campaign, but it should.

After all, only the mainstream media should have the ability to put out scurrilous, deceitful attacks on candidates that cannot be effectively rebutted two or three days before a close election. If amateurs get into the business of disseminating political smears, newspaper circulation might fall.

And as for YouTube doing the regulating, they do have the right to do so – but is it appropriate for a corporate entity to decide what constitutes unacceptable political speech, and to then engage in censorship. Having already seen how YouTube applies a biased standard to speech about jihadi terror (banning anti-terrorist speech, but often letting pro-terrorist speech slide), do we really such subjective judgments to become the rule?

Posted by: Greg at 12:17 PM | Comments (43) | Add Comment
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Proving that there are those on the Left who are not complete anti-American surrender monkeys.

Congress can and should play a major role in determining how and when the war ends. Political benchmarks for the Iraqi government are important, provided they are not unrealistic or inflexible. Even dates for troop withdrawals might be helpful, if they are cast as goals rather than requirements -- and if the timing derives from the needs of Iraq, not the U.S. election cycle. The Senate's version of the supplemental spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan contains nonbinding benchmarks and a withdrawal date that is a goal; that approach is more likely to win broad support and avoid a White House veto.

As it is, House Democrats are pressing a bill that has the endorsement of MoveOn.org but excludes the judgment of the U.S. commanders who would have to execute the retreat the bill mandates. It would heap money on unneedy dairy farmers while provoking a constitutional fight with the White House that could block the funding to equip troops in the field. Democrats who want to force a withdrawal should vote against war appropriations. They should not seek to use pork to buy a majority for an unconditional retreat that the majority does not support.

Personally, I prefer a reauthorization without a timetable – which telegraphs strategy to the terrorists – but can accept one that is, as this editorial suggests, made up of non-binding goals that are designed to meet the needs on the ground in Iraq not at the ballot box in 2008. But to put the ideology of the extremists and the greed of the porksters above the expertise of those tasked with carrying out the policy is absurd – and the editors at the Post are correct for condemning it.

A pity that the DemocratICK majority in the House lacks such wisdom.

MORE COVERAGE AT WaPo & NYTimes

Posted by: Greg at 12:08 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Contrary to my expectations, John Edwards did not drop out of the presidential race yesterday, despite the return of Elizabeth Edwards' cancer in a much more serious form.

John Edwards, the Democratic candidate for president, said today that his wife Elizabeth Edwards was once again suffering from breast cancer, this time in an incurable form.

But in a joint news conference, he and Mrs. Edwards expressed confidence that the disease could be managed with treatment, and that there would be no interruption in his campaign for the Democratic nomination.

Mrs. Edwards said she was in little pain, and that she was maintaining a positive attitude and a full schedule of appearances on behalf of her husbandÂ’s candidacy.

“I expect to do next week all the things I did last week,” she said at the midday news conference, conducted in a courtyard at the inn on the campus of the University of North Carolina where the Edwardses held their wedding reception 30 years ago this summer.

Frankly, I was rather angry at John Edwards yesterday -- I believed he was fundamentally wrong in his decision to continue his campaign. Indeed, I had a blog post attacking John Edwards all composed in my head for his over-weaning ambition leading him to place his interests above the needs of his wife, lambasting him for failing to be where I believed he belonged -- at the side of Elizabeth Edwards as she faces a condition that is likely to take her life before the end of the next presidential term.

And then I realized where I was -- in my car, driving to a Republican fundraiser at the insistence of my wife, who found it necessary to stay home because of her own health issues. And I realized that, no doubt, there had been, in the privacy of the Edwards home, a conversation like the one I had with Paula on Wednesday when it became clear that she could not attend the function with me. So upon reflection, I don't doubt that John Edwards was ready to quit and argued in favor of quitting -- and that it was only the insistence of Elizabeth Edwards that has led him to continue this race.

Regardless, the Edwards family remains in my prayers -- even as I hope John Edwards' presidential fortunes (and those of all the Democrats) go down in flames.

UPDATE: Public reaction, like mine, is mixed on the decision to continue the campaign.

Posted by: Greg at 10:44 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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If this matter doesn't qualify for coverage under executive privilege, does anything?

These columns have long supported the principle of "executive privilege," though we realize it is not a blanket prerogative: Both the Burger Supreme Court in United States v. Nixon and the Rehnquist Court in Clinton v. Jones upheld the principle that a President cannot use the claims of his office to protect himself from criminal or civil legal claims.

But there's little doubt that this or any other President has the right--we'd say the obligation--to protect the confidentiality of internal White House discussions, especially over Presidential appointments. If Congress can solicit any email concerning advice to the President, or haul any White House official before Congress, then executive branch deliberations will soon be an oxymoron.

Personally, I think the Administration should have told Congress to pound sand from the very beginning of this non-scandal. Prosecutors are Executive Branch appointees, and Congress has no role in interfering with such personnel decisions. Indeed, any attempt to take the authority over such positions from the Executive Branch reeks of the same sort of constitutional infirmity that afflicted the Tenure In Office Act used to impeach Andrew Johnson -- though whether or not the Democrats have enough respect for that document to tread lightly when there is political hay to be made is a doubtful proposition.

Posted by: Greg at 10:46 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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No doubt because they are "inconvenient truths" for the opponents of the Bush administration.

Republican Rep. Peter Hoekstra could hardly believe what he heard on television Friday as he watched a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing. Rep. Henry Waxman, the Democratic committee chairman, said his statement had been approved by the CIA director, Michael Hayden. That included the assertion that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA operative when her identity was revealed.

As House intelligence committee chairman when Republicans controlled Congress, Hoekstra had tried repeatedly to learn Plame's status from the CIA but got only double talk from Langley. Waxman, 67, the 17-term congressman from Beverly Hills, may be a bully and a partisan. But he is no fool who would misrepresent the director of central intelligence. Waxman was correctly quoting Hayden. But Hayden, in a conference with Hoekstra yesterday, still did not answer whether Plame was covert under the terms of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.

* * *

Waxman and Democratic colleagues did not ask these pertinent questions: Had not Plame been outed years ago by a Soviet agent? Was she not on an administrative, not operational, track at Langley? How could she be covert if, in public view, she drove to work each day at Langley? What about comments to me by then CIA spokesman Bill Harlow that Plame never would be given another foreign assignment? What about testimony to the FBI that her CIA employment was common knowledge in Washington?

Why not seek these answers? because it would make it clear that there was no plot, and no violation of th law. But the Democrats simply don't want the truth to get in the way of a good lynching -- a longstanding tradition in that party

Posted by: Greg at 10:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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One need not be a psychic to predict what is coming in this press conference by John and Elizabeth Edwards.

John Edwards, the North Carolina Democrat making a second bid for the presidency, called a news conference for Thursday to discuss the future of his campaign, a day after he and his wife, Elizabeth, visited Mrs. EdwardsÂ’s doctor to assess her recovery from a bout of breast cancer.

Mrs. Edwards, in a brief interview from her home in Chapel Hill, N.C., said she and Mr. Edwards would discuss her health at the news conference, but she declined to elaborate.

“I’m still here,” she said.

Jennifer Palmieri, communications director for the Edwards campaign, would not comment. The news conference is to be held in Chapel Hill.

Mr. Edwards canceled a campaign appearance in Iowa on Wednesday to join his wife on what he had described as a presumably routine follow-up examination.

Mrs. Edwards, 57, received a cancer diagnosis in 2004 almost on the day that Mr. Edwards, the vice-presidential candidate, and Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, were defeated in their race for the White House.

Mr. Edwards has said he waited to announce a second bid for the presidency until he and Mrs. EdwardsÂ’s doctors were confident about her recovery.

I suspect that Elizabeth's cancer is back, and that John Edwards will be showing a level of spousal devotion I admire and will end his campaign for President. If this is the case, my respect for John Edwards will increase dramatically -- and the Edwards family will be in my deepest prayers. Some things you don't want to see even your political opponents face, and cancer is one of them.

Posted by: Greg at 10:18 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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No, not the story itself, which is all about the Edwards Campaign getting illegal campaign contributions. Democrat corruption of that nature is to be expected -- after all, honesty has never been a requirement in the Donkey Party.

No, this is the part I find hilarious.

Trial lawyers are a fixture of Democratic politics and fundraising, particularly in the South, but some also have a reputation in Democratic political circles for a freewheeling approach to campaign finance law. Within Edwards' 2004 campaign, staffers referred to those flamboyant personalities by an acronym: They called them "DFTLs," which according to former staffers was short for "dirty (expletive) trial lawyers."

"No current staffer for John Edwards for President uses that kind of language to talk about our donors," said Kate Bedingfield, campaign spokeswoman.

Edwards, of course, is one of those "dirty (expletive) trial lawyers." And while Bedingfield may be right that the phrase is no longer used in the campaign, I can't help bit be struck that the Edwards camp has no real objection to that particular expletive being used by staffers to describe Christians who deviate from the Gospel of Liberalism because the follow instead follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

After all -- Christians are much worse for the country than trial lawyers, isn't that right, Ms. McEwan and Ms. Marcotte?

Posted by: Greg at 01:05 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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It doesn't matter what is good for the country or the belief of their constituents -- Nancy Pelosi is threatening to punish Democrats who don't vote her way on the funding bill for the Iraq War.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is holding the implied threat of lost committee seats over the heads of Democratic Caucus members who may vote against her $124 billion Iraq war supplemental bill.

Faced with the possibility of losing the first really big vote since taking majority control in the November elections, Pelosi is talking tough to wavering lawmakers and isolating those opposed to the bill.

Interestingly enough, it is the most liberal, anti-war Democrats she is seeking to penalize for voting their consciences. And while I consider the folks she is out to punish to be anti-American traitors, I object to the Speaker's methodology, which shows rank disrespect to the elected representatives of the people of each of their districts.

Bad precedent for a speaker who vowed not to play petty politics as usual.

Posted by: Greg at 12:56 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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And also a typical tactic of the American Left, which finds violence in support of its cause to be perfectly acceptable.

Congressman Mike Rogers' home is under police guard after his Lansing office was severely vandalized last night.

The case is being handled by the FBI and the US Capitol Police, who have requested that the Lansing Police investigate the matter.

According to the Congressman's spokesperson, the office was extensively damaged.

Two security cameras were destroyed and the building was spray painted.

The tapes from the cameras are being reviewed to see if they recorded anything before they were destroyed.

The vandals also spread red paint all over the 8th congressional district sign in front of the building, as well as on a sign that says "We Support Our Troops."

They also put a sign on one of the buildings windows that says Congressman Rogers has "blood on his hands."

Rogers is, of course, a Republican -- hence the show of support for the troops that the criminals defaced. I'll bet we have a deafening silence from the national media and the DemocratICK Party -- which would be screaming loudly if such an assault were to occur on a Democrat.

Posted by: Greg at 12:55 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Dick Cheney owns no Halliburton stock, but is accused regularly of making money off the company's business dealings related to the Iraq war.

But guess who IS making money off of Halliburton as an investor in their stock (AKA an owner of the company) -- left-wing Bush/Cheney critic and Democrat money-man George Soros.

So far this March, Keith Olbermann has been spent more time defending George Soros than addressing the incongruity of this far-left patron making a $62 million investment in Halliburton, a company KO has routinely condemned on Countdown.

Unremarked upon by Olbermann was that Soros, the world's most famous war profiteer and leading patron of far-left activist groups, celebrated his first million dollars in capital gains when Halliburton cracked through the $32.00 a share level.

Soros began making purchases of Halliburton last October when the stock was trading near its 52 week low (26.33). His purchase prices were between $27.62 and $33.53, with an estimated average price of $31.3. As of 12/31/06, Soros owned 1,999,450 shares, more than 2% of his total portfolio, making it one of the largest investments by Soros Fund Management over the past year.

Halliburton closed the week at $32.06 giving Soros a profit of $2,019,367 based on his holdings at the end of the 2006-4Q.

The Soros-funded Center for American Progress which has published dozens of scathing articles on Hallburton since its founding in 2003 by Soros has gone silent on Soros' investment in Halliburton. In fact, all criticism of Halliburton by CAP ceased in 2006 shortly before Soros began buying up Halliburton stock. Likewise, other Soros-backed groups such as MoveOn.org and Media Matters for America have been silent as have been the big blue blogs.

So -- when will Dems begin denouncing Soros and stop taking their money? When will MoveOn.Org and Cindy Sheehan speak out against their major financial patron? Enquiring minds want to know!

H/T Jawa Report

Posted by: Greg at 10:32 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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For one, in Memphis they won't get their electricity turned off, no matter how often they neglect to pay their bill.

Everybody has to pay the light bill, an unpleasant maxim lately made even more so here, knowing the powerful do not always observe it.

Month after month, Memphis Light, Gas and Water allowed City Councilman Edmund Ford to forgo paying thousands of dollars in overdue bills without having his power cut. Meanwhile, other prominent politicians — council members, a judge, a state representative — were on a protected list, supervised by a senior utility official, intended to prevent them from having their power cut off in case of nonpayment.

Even the mayor, Willie W. Herenton, was on the list, though Mr. Herenton says he did not know about it and never got any favors. It is not clear that anyone but Mr. Ford was allowed to pile up unpaid bills. Still, the whiff and practice of favoritism — detailed for the last several weeks in the local news media — is upsetting many in a city where nearly a quarter of the people are poor, and the local utility is publicly owned.

Hmmm. . . another corrupt Memphis politician named Ford. Yep, that is another member of the family of former Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. I wonder how long it will be until some scandal or another ensnares him, given the culture of entitlement in which he seems to have been raised.

Posted by: Greg at 10:18 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Not only are some ideas so goofy as to be beyond belief, it is even more unbelievable that the "mainstream press" would even consider publishing them.

AS EVERY CARBON-BASED life form on this planet surely knows, Barack Obama, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois, is running for president. Since making his announcement, there has been no end of commentary about him in all quarters — musing over his charisma and the prospect he offers of being the first African American to be elected to the White House.

But it's clear that Obama also is running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination — the "Magic Negro."

Can you imagine the uprorar if a conservative wrote this crap? It would -- rightly -- be denounced as racist. Why isn't it when it comes from a liberal?

Posted by: Greg at 06:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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That is, of course, what Cliff Schecter proposes, sending the man to prison just because he is. After all, he identifies not one crime in his entire rant -- other than succeeding against DemocratICK candidates. I mean, look at this absurdity.

Karl Rove must go to the jail, the pokey, the big house, if you will. No not country-club Republican, I-ripped-off-your-grandma-with-junk-bonds prison where he can join the Dartmouth or Princeton rowing squad and walk by a state-of-the-art outdoor weight-lifting facility his two-seats-on-Southwest ass would never even think about using.

I mean real prison. Like the kind you go to if you're caught in Kuala Lumpur with Rush's medicine bag.

Or maybe Patrick Kennedy's. Personally, I don't think Rove should do any more time or pay any more penalty than Teddy Kennedy did for leaving a girl to drown and then trying to obstruct justice by urging his cousin to take the rap for him. Or than Bill Clinton did for the crimes he confessed to on his last day in office.

Once again, I just can't abide by these Johnny-come-way-too-latelys who now realize George W. Bush is challenged by My Pet Goat and "The Google," Dick Cheney's an evil right-wing assclown and Karl Rove is, to quote a not so bright man, "a grotesquely corpulent, politically sociopathic parasite who destroys all government he touches."

He most closely resembles a locust, devouring his surroundings, only to move on to a new destination after all is destroyed (see the Texas political system).

I'm curious -- what would Schecter and other HuffPo writers do about such language directed at Paul Begala or James Carville?

A spate of books came out on this amoral anthropoid before he became a household name in 2000, and all you had to do was observe his past patterns to know this would happen. A candidate he was working for in 1986 who was running for Governor of Texas magically found a "listening device" in his office the day before a big debate.

Right before the first Bush/Gore debate in 2000, a tape of Bush's "performance" arrives at Gore HQ in the mail, so that's all the press was talking about while George W. Bush was mixing up pronouns and screwing up multisyllabic foreign leaders' names.

Surely, coincidence.

Could be -- and do you have any evidence to prove differently, Mr. Schecter? You know, evidence that would allow a jury to convict beyond a reasonable doubt. Or do you simply want Rove imprisoned on your say-so? I mean based upon your standard, both Clintons should be preparing for lethal injections on death row -- after all, all those convenient deaths surely can't be a coincidence, can they?

If you read Boy Genius for example, you will find that the way Rove beat Democrats in Texas was by politicizing the FBI (Sid Blumenthal has more on this in a new column), and using those partial to his candidates and his blow...I mean politics, to start high-profile investigations of Democratic officeholders right before elections.

So why would it be a shock that his fingerprints are all over the Justice Department politicization/obstructing investigations into serially corrupt members of the GOP, scandal, which occurred, of course, right before the 2006 election. And, of course, the buildup to Iraq, right before the 2002 cycle, was completely out of character for Rove. As was outing an undercover agent.

Absolutely none of which is criminal -- though the behavior of those Democrats you mention often was. But then again, you don't want Democrats who are actually corrupt going to jail, do you, Mr. Schecter, just your political opponents who have the audacity to kick the collective asses of the candidates you support. Oh, and about politicizing the FBI -- 900 FBI files. Does than number ring a bell to you?

And since US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States, firing any or all of them (or urging that it be done) is not a crime -- it is an Executive Branch prerogative. You know, separation of powers and all that.

This man is an adult diaper worn by an astronaut for a nine-hour, homicidal road trip. Kaiser Sose on a KFC drip.

Semen on a blue dress. A cigar in an orgasmic humidor. Missing Rose law Firm files in the White House residence.

He has corrupted American Democracy at every level, and has never paid the price.

He must go to prison, for the integrity of our system, if not just because it is the most natural place for him to reside outside of Hades. For once in his pathetic self-hating life, fully investigate this piece of garbage--please.

Oh, now I see -- he has to go to prison because he has been successful -- and after complaining about alleged politicization of the FBI and the Justice Department, you want the FBI and Justice Department to conduct a political investigation designed to find evidence of political crimes committed by your political enemies. I believe, Mr. Schecter, that is called hypocirisy -- but then again, that is standard operating procedure on the part of you Leftists, especially over at HuffPo.

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Posted by: Greg at 02:31 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Frankly, I wish he would just crawl back under his rock -- the one in Virginia that he slithered under after betraying the GOP base here in CD22.

Tom DeLay, the fiery former House majority leader, knows why his party lost control of Congress last year. And he is not to blame.

In his new book, Mr. DeLay, a polarizing figure whom Democrats sought to make a symbol of Republican corruption, attributes the Republican defeat in November to frustration with President Bush, the war and “a general perception of Republican incompetence and lack of principles.”

“I would suggest that Republicans lost because they did not communicate their message and their victories with enough strength to overcome short-term, media-fed issues that arose right before the election,” Mr. DeLay writes in the book, “No Retreat, No Surrender” (Sentinel), referring in part to the Congressional page scandal.

Maybe, Tom, you would care to address the way in which you sought the congressional nomination for an election which you never intended to contest, and then bailed out after getting an "attaboy" from the majority of the voters of this district. Your self-centered, selfish decision cost us one congressional seat for sure -- yours, because we had to run a write-in candidate in your place -- and emboldened Democrats around the country when they were able to claim they had your scalp.

And Tom, while I still believe you are not guilty of the offenses charged by Ronnie Earle, I believe you are guilty of one thing -- the selling out of your own party for your personal aggrandizement.

Posted by: Greg at 06:10 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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The Washington Post, of course, views matters differently, as their headline indicates.

White House Opposes D.C. Vote

Of course, that isn't the case at all.

The White House declared its opposition yesterday to a bill that would give the District its first full seat in the House of Representatives, saying it is unconstitutional, and a key Senate supporter said such concerns could kill the measure.

"The Constitution specifies that only 'the people of the several states' elect representatives to the House," said White House spokesman Alex Conant. "And D.C. is not a state."

But then again, when has a little thing like the Constitution ever gotten in the way of liberals pursuing a goal that is illegitimate under the clear language of the document that defines our government and its powers?

Posted by: Greg at 04:41 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Proving that she and her husband are well-matched, given the conclusion reached that he lied in his testimony before the Intelligence Committee. After all, she clearly lied in her testimony yesterday.

Valerie Plame, the former CIA officer at the heart of a four-year political furor over the Bush administration's leak of her identity, lashed out at the White House yesterday, testifying in Congress that the president's aides destroyed a career she loved and slipped her name to reporters for "purely political motives."

Plame, breaking her public silence about the case, contended that her name and job "were carelessly and recklessly abused" by the government. Although she and her colleagues knew that "we might be exposed and threatened by foreign enemies," she said, "it was a terrible irony that administration officials were the ones who destroyed my cover."

Plame calmly but firmly knocked down longstanding claims by administration allies that the disclosure was not criminal because she had not worked in a covert capacity.

"I am here to say I was a covert officer of the Central Intelligence Agency," Plame told House members, a horde of journalists and a few antiwar activists. Her work, she said, "was not common knowledge on the Georgetown cocktail circuit."

So, the Post now takes as "proof" the fact that she makes the claim she was covert -- and that there was a plot by the Administration. Since when does the Washington Post take anyone's words, especially when contradicted by the evidence, as proof. After all, we know who leaked Valerie Plame's identity -- and that he and Plame and her perjuring husband were all opposed to the Iraq war. It was Richard Armitage. And we know there was no violation of the law in letting her identity out, because otherwise Patrick Fitzgerald would have charged Armitage with a crime instead of conducting a rogue investigation that turned faulty memory into perjury.

Interestingly enough, the MSM doesn't want to deal with the "minor" question of the law and whether or not Plame was actually a covert agent, nor do the Democrats. If they did, they would have also reported the testimony of Veronica Toensing, who wrote the statute on disclosing the identity of covert agents, including the definition what constitutes being covert. Indeed, only Rush Limbaugh did so, insofar as I can tell, actually playing the testimony that shows the committee chairman refusing to permit actual testimony on that matter. So what we had yesterday were not hearings designed to get at the truth, and not news coverage designed to disseminate the truth, but a political show-trial and witch-hunt -- featuring lies by a major Democrat contributor. And while she claims that the Administration was motivated by "purely political motives" (discrediting her husband's lies), it is clear that Plame and her suppoters are motivated by impure political motives -- the destruction of the Bush Presidency and the undermining of the War in Iraq.

Posted by: Greg at 04:33 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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Michelle Cottle tries to argue that Vice President Cheney has been left insane by his cardiac disease in her article in the new New Republic. She fails to make her case – and her argument has been demolished by conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, who has the advantage of being a trained psychiatrist with excellent credentials in the field. His response is priceless, and well-worth the read.

(a) Using a four-letter word in an exchange with Sen. Patrick Leahy. Good God, by that standard, I should long ago have been committed and the entire borough of Brooklyn quarantined.

(b) "Shoot a man in the face and not bother to call your boss 'til the next day?" Another way of putting that is this: After a hunting accident, Cheney tried to get things in order before going public. Not the best decision, as I wrote at the time, but perfectly understandable. And if that is deranged, what do you say about a young Teddy Kennedy being far less forthcoming about something far more serious -- how he came to leave a dead woman at the bottom of a pond? I am passing no judgment. I am simply pointing out how surpassingly stupid it is to attribute such behavior to mental illness.

(c) Longtime associate Brent Scowcroft quoted as saying, "Dick Cheney I don't know anymore." Well. After Sept. 11, 2001, Cheney adopted a view about fighting jihadism, America's new existential enemy, that differed radically from the "realist" foreign policy approach that he had shared a decade earlier with Scowcroft. That's a psychiatric symptom? By that standard, Saul of Tarsus, Arthur Vandenberg, Irving Kristol, Ronald Reagan -- to pick at random from a thousand such cases of men undergoing a profound change of worldview -- are psychiatric cases. Indeed, by that standard, Andrew Sullivan is stark raving mad. (Okay, perhaps not the best of counterexamples.)

Krauthammer then goes back and points to other attempts by American liberals to smear conservatives as insane – when their real “pathology” was deviation from liberalism. And Krauthammer, based upon his actual professional training, is able to identify in Cottle a mental illness that seems all too common on the Left – Bush Derangement Syndrome, a condition marked by a pathological hatred of President Bush and members of his administration, coupled with a desire to destroy the elected government of the United States by any means necessary.

Posted by: Greg at 09:24 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Michelle Cottle tries to argue that Vice President Cheney has been left insane by his cardiac disease in her article in the new New Republic. She fails to make her case – and her argument has been demolished by conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, who has the advantage of being a trained psychiatrist with excellent credentials in the field. His response is priceless, and well-worth the read.

(a) Using a four-letter word in an exchange with Sen. Patrick Leahy. Good God, by that standard, I should long ago have been committed and the entire borough of Brooklyn quarantined.

(b) "Shoot a man in the face and not bother to call your boss 'til the next day?" Another way of putting that is this: After a hunting accident, Cheney tried to get things in order before going public. Not the best decision, as I wrote at the time, but perfectly understandable. And if that is deranged, what do you say about a young Teddy Kennedy being far less forthcoming about something far more serious -- how he came to leave a dead woman at the bottom of a pond? I am passing no judgment. I am simply pointing out how surpassingly stupid it is to attribute such behavior to mental illness.

(c) Longtime associate Brent Scowcroft quoted as saying, "Dick Cheney I don't know anymore." Well. After Sept. 11, 2001, Cheney adopted a view about fighting jihadism, America's new existential enemy, that differed radically from the "realist" foreign policy approach that he had shared a decade earlier with Scowcroft. That's a psychiatric symptom? By that standard, Saul of Tarsus, Arthur Vandenberg, Irving Kristol, Ronald Reagan -- to pick at random from a thousand such cases of men undergoing a profound change of worldview -- are psychiatric cases. Indeed, by that standard, Andrew Sullivan is stark raving mad. (Okay, perhaps not the best of counterexamples.)

Krauthammer then goes back and points to other attempts by American liberals to smear conservatives as insane – when their real “pathology” was deviation from liberalism. And Krauthammer, based upon his actual professional training, is able to identify in Cottle a mental illness that seems all too common on the Left – Bush Derangement Syndrome, a condition marked by a pathological hatred of President Bush and members of his administration, coupled with a desire to destroy the elected government of the United States by any means necessary.

Posted by: Greg at 09:24 AM | Comments (154) | Add Comment
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1

You must be forgetting the myriad campaigns waged by right-wing commentators to discredit and humiliate individuals by labeling them insane, crazy, etc.  You surely must recall the concerted, organized talking point barrage directed at Al Gore a couple years back after some speeches he gave.

And when the right does it, Greg, it's not just some random person nobody gives a darn about.  Who the heck knows or cares who Michelle Cotter is, let alone reads her work?  When the Gore assault was launched, it was on radio, television, and in print -- folks like Rush, Hannity, and Coulter who reach millions upon millions of readers, listeners, and viewers daily.

Posted by: dan at Sat Mar 17 09:30:06 2007 (aPL79)

2

I can't find the hilarious-but-sad Daily Show montage of all the right-wingers calling Gore mentally ill, but there are a couple of examples here--- John Podhoretz and David Frum were among the many columnists who wrote seriously about Gore's insanity:

http://www.spinsanity.org/post.html?2004_05_30_archive.html

Posted by: dan at Sat Mar 17 09:34:51 2007 (aPL79)

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The only thing worse than the current presidential nomination system would be a change like this one being led by California.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signed legislation yesterday moving the state's presidential primary to Feb. 5, 2008, a change that could lead to the earliest and biggest single-day test of candidate strength ever.

Half a dozen other large states, including New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois and New Jersey, are also considering moving their primaries to the first Tuesday in February, with the possibility that nearly two dozen contests will be held that day. Together, those states could account for more than half of the total number of delegates at stake.

In theory, this could mean that the nominations of both parties are determined six-months before the national conventions -- and that a huge percentage of Americans -- in a majority of states, will have virtually no voice in selecting the nominees.

Some years ago, someone suggested a national primary system in which primary dates rotated every cycle between four groups of states, with the election dates set a month apart. That way, only about a quarter of delegates ould be at stake at any given time. Such a process would require nationalizing th primary elections, which I find objectionable -- but would that be worse than this?

I will say this, though -- the potential fallout from this change could prove the wisdom of the Electoral College, which at least makes small states relevant in electing a President.

Posted by: Greg at 02:48 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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The DemocratICK Party has a long and storied history of election fraud in this country, yet somehow the New York Times seems to have ignored that history in today's editorial. Not only that, they have explicitly labeled GOP attempts to ensure clean elections as "code for suppressing the votes of minorities and poor people." Funny -- as an elected party official who sits on the county party's Ballot Security Committee, I've never been issued that code book.

Let's look at the fantasy offered by the editorialist board at the Times.

In its fumbling attempts to explain the purge of United States attorneys, the Bush administration has argued that the fired prosecutors were not aggressive enough about addressing voter fraud. It is a phony argument; there is no evidence that any of them ignored real instances of voter fraud. But more than that, it is a window on what may be a major reason for some of the firings.

In partisan Republican circles, the pursuit of voter fraud is code for suppressing the votes of minorities and poor people. By resisting pressure to crack down on “fraud,” the fired United States attorneys actually appear to have been standing up for the integrity of the election system.

Let's begin with a reminder that every single one of those prosecutors, according to federal law, serves at the pleasure of the President of the United States, and he can fire them for any reason, or for no reason at all. There is nothing wrong or unethical about doing so -- as we were repeatedly assured by the Clinton Administration after Janet Reno fired all 93 in one fell swoop, including one who was a month away from indicting Dan Rostenkowski and another who was investigating the Whitewater Affair and the connection of the Rose Law Firm to it.

But moving on, please consider this -- for all the claims that there simply is no voter fraud on the DemocratICK side, the Times is lying. Let's see, there was the conviction of a half dozen Democrats in East St. Louis, Illinois, on charges of buying votes. The cases involving ACORN and its fraudulent registration of non-existent voters are too numerous to list. There were serious questions regarding the counting of provisional ballots in heavily DemocratICK Nashville in 2004. Evidence exists of at least 900 illegal votes being cast in Milwaukee on Election Day, 2004, as well as an attack on vehicles rented by the Republican Party by DemocratICK activists. In New Mexico (one of the states where a US Attorney was fired), the Bernalillo County clerk's office had to invalidate 25% of provisional ballots cast because the address where the person was registered didn't exist. Sorry, folks, but DemocratICK election fraud exists on a massive scale nationwide -- and complaining about it is not about suppressing votes, it is about cleaning up elections.

John McKay, one of the fired attorneys, says he was pressured by Republicans to bring voter fraud charges after the 2004 Washington governor’s race, which a Democrat, Christine Gregoire, won after two recounts. Republicans were trying to overturn an election result they did not like, but Mr. McKay refused to go along. “There was no evidence,” he said, “and I am not going to drag innocent people in front of a grand jury.”

Later, when he interviewed with Harriet Miers, then the White House counsel, for a federal judgeship that he ultimately did not get, he says, he was asked to explain “criticism that I mishandled the 2004 governor’s election.”

Yeah, nothing to look at here -- despite the fact taht votes kept miraculously appearing in King County -- a major DemocrtaICK stronghold -- and the number of votes counted exceeded the number of votes cast by more than the margin of victory. Could you imagine the outcry if something like that had happened in favor of a Republican candidate for governor -- they NY Times would be demanding investigations and prosecutions.

Mr. McKay is not the only one of the federal attorneys who may have been brought down for refusing to pursue dubious voter fraud cases. Before David Iglesias of New Mexico was fired, prominent New Mexico Republicans reportedly complained repeatedly to Karl Rove about Mr. IglesiasÂ’s failure to indict Democrats for voter fraud. The White House said that last October, just weeks before Mr. McKay and most of the others were fired, President Bush complained that United States attorneys were not pursuing voter fraud aggressively enough.

As i pointed out, there is evidence of voter fraud by Democrats in New Mexico -- this prosecutor simply lacked the will to go after it.

There is no evidence of rampant voter fraud in this country. Rather, Republicans under Mr. Bush have used such allegations as an excuse to suppress the votes of Democratic-leaning groups. They have intimidated Native American voter registration campaigners in South Dakota with baseless charges of fraud. They have pushed through harsh voter ID bills in states like Georgia and Missouri, both blocked by the courts, that were designed to make it hard for people who lack drivers’ licenses — who are disproportionately poor, elderly or members of minorities — to vote. Florida passed a law placing such onerous conditions on voter registration drives, which register many members of minorities and poor people, that the League of Women Voters of Florida suspended its registration work in the state.

Again, there is plenty of evidence of voter fraud in this country -- and more surfaces every election cycle. The problem is that it is not often prosecuted, because it benefits Democrats and such prosecutions open Republicans up to charges like those made by the NY Times of vote suppression.

The claims of vote fraud used to promote these measures usually fall apart on close inspection, as Mr. McKay saw. Missouri Republicans have long charged that St. Louis voters, by which they mean black voters, registered as living on vacant lots. But when The St. Louis Post-Dispatch checked, it found that thousands of people lived in buildings on lots that the city had erroneously classified as vacant.

Oddly enough, though, the NY Times forgets that in 2000 an injunction to continue voting past the legal poll closing time was obtained on behalf of a dead man in St. Louis.

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.

If this charge can be proved, I'll gladly support prosecutions of those involved. But they cannot and will not be proved -- because the NY Times is lying through its teeth -- just like in the preceding paragraphs of the editorial.

Posted by: Greg at 02:31 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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We can argue about whether or not aluminum bats are good for the game of baseball or softball – but is it really a matter for legislation?

The New York City Council passed a bill today banning the use of metal bats in high school baseball games, securing enough votes to override a potential veto by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and setting up a possible legal challenge from the metal bat industry.

Industry officials, who opposed the bill, said they believed the council was the first legislative body in the nation to pass such a measure. It also marks a long-sought victory for the billÂ’s original sponsor, James S. Oddo, a Staten Island Republican who began pushing for a ban that would have included Little League and independent leagues more than six years ago against intense opposition led by bat manufacturers. Mr. Oddo later narrowed his bill to draw broader council support.

“I know this is not the most pressing issue on the minds of New Yorkers,” Mr. Oddo said shortly before the vote, “but I really believe in this bill. There is risk in all sports, and there is risk in baseball playing with a wooden bat, but when the risk becomes unreasonable, people have to act.”

While this legislation covers only high schools, we all know that, based upon Mr. Oddo’s own words, that he is going to attempt to extend this ban into the private sector as well. And remember – when metal bats are outlawed, only outlaws will have metal bats.

It is easy to get worked up over the sad examples given in this story about individuals injured by balls hit with metal bats, but these cases are few and far between – and can be matched by stories about injuries from balls hit by wooden bats. Similarly, injuries happen regularly from balls thrown by pitchers. Maybe Mr. Oddo will mandate that all future games be played with plastic bats and waffle balls hit from batting tees.

Posted by: Greg at 04:40 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 346 words, total size 2 kb.

I've got two reactions to this action by State Rep. Borris Miles (D-Houston) in response to artwork he found objectionable.

State Rep. Borris Miles personally removed two pieces of art on display at the Capitol that he found objectionable.

The artworks — a painting of a black man hanging from a rope and an illustration of a man tied to an electric chair with the inscription "Doing God's Work" — were part of an exhibit placed by the Texas Moratorium Network, which seeks a two-year moratorium on the death penalty in Texas.

In e-mail to House colleagues Monday, Miles wrote: "I was greeted with these images as I walked through the halls of the (Capitol) Extension this morning with my two children, ages five and eight. I consider them to be extremely inappropriate and highly objectionable.

"Capitol exhibits are supposed to serve a public purpose or be informational in nature. These pictures were hung with no accompanying text or explanation," wrote Miles, D-Houston.

He said he had spoken to staff at the State Preservation Board about the process for selecting exhibits.

Learning that the moratorium group was behind the exhibit did not change Miles' mind about the two pieces. He said Tuesday that he was still offended. Miles said he hopes a system will be put in place to screen future exhibitions.

1) There is a process for selecting and removing artwork in such a situation. Miles violated it, and therefore deserves condemnation without consideration of his motive.

2) I understand why Miles, as a black Democrat, would be offended by the image of a hanging black man -- after all, he is a member of a party that promoted the lynching of black men for decades, and so is rightly ashamed by the reminder of his party's heritage and the betrayal of his people that his membership in that party represents. How can Miles explain to his children (whose exposure to the pictures he claims motivated him) his membership in the party that actively embraced the KKK as its paramilitary terrorist wing and which still celebrates a Klan leader as "the conscience of the US Senate"?

Also, I noticed something and need to ask a question -- would the party identification of the offending legislator be left out of the article (as it was in this case) if he had been a Republican?

Posted by: Greg at 03:27 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Looks like New York Senator and presidential candidate Hildebeast Roadkill Klintoon is out to resurrect one of her greatest lies hits -- but one that only serves to energize her political opponents.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday described past Republican political malfeasance in New Hampshire as evidence of a "vast, right-wing conspiracy." Clinton's barbed comments revived a term she coined for the partisan plotting during her husband's presidential tenure and echoed remarks she made last weekend in New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first primary.

Her rhetorical red meat to a sympathetic audience of Democratic municipal officials comes as Clinton courts New Hampshire voters and squeezes donors for dollars ahead of a March 31 fundraising report deadline. She also continues to face criticism from the party's liberal base for her failure to repudiate her vote authorizing military force in Iraq.

Clinton asserted on Tuesday that the conspiracy is alive and well, and cited as proof the Election Day 2002 case of phone jamming in New Hampshire, a case in which two Republican operatives pleaded guilty to criminal charges, and a third was convicted.

"To the New Hampshire Democratic Party's credit, they sued and the trail led all the way to the Republican National Committee," Clinton said.

"So if anybody tells you there is no vast, right-wing conspiracy, tell them that New Hampshire has proven it in court," she said.

Someone needs to ask the Hildebeast what she makes of the trail of Democrat dirty tricks and voter fraud -- much more extensive than the pathetic and wrong-headed effort by a couple of operatives in New Hampshire -- that are committed ever election cycle. Do they constitute an Even Vaster Left-Wing Conspiracy?

And since she is so concerned about criminal activity that impacts voting, why is she calling for the resignation of Alberto Gonzales after the firing of US Attorney's who were not pursuing election fraud cases in an aggressive enough manner? Could it be that the targets in the cases that were delayed or ignored were Democrats -- and you and your party need election fraud to have a chance of winning the presidency in 2008?

Posted by: Greg at 02:46 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Here's hoping the GOP rejects this offer.

After Nevada Democrats dropped Fox as a host of its Democratic presidential debate -- and after Fox denounced the move as anti-free speech and "Stalinist" -- I thought...damn right! How dare the progressive party in America not allow the conservative Fox to air its presidential debate. So I today contacted key Republican party chairs in the four early primary and caucus states to ask that Air America host their Republican presidential debates.

Gree, of course, wants to argue that if the cancellation of the FoxNews debate by Democrats was Stalinist, a refusal to have GOP debates on Air American would fall into the same category. He's wrong.

First, the FoxNews debate was agreed to in advance and contracted for by the Democrats and the network before the cancellation was made due to ideological pressure.

Second, Air America does not have sufficient market-share or enough of a "footprint" to reach a significant number of listeners, while FoxNews is the largest, highest-rated cable news outlet in the country. The two are not even comparable.

Third, FoxNews is all an award-winning objective journalistic source, and presents both sides of the issues. Air America is a partisan entertainment network that is not taken seriously by anyone other than those in the final stages of bush Derangement Syndrome.

Posted by: Greg at 06:10 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 230 words, total size 2 kb.

What's the big deal that it was discussed? For that matter, what's the big deal if it had been done? After all, such a mass firing isn't unprecedented.

The White House suggested two years ago that the Justice Department fire all 93 U.S. attorneys, a proposal that eventually resulted in the dismissals of eight prosecutors last year, according to e-mails and internal documents that the administration will provide to Congress today.

The dismissals took place after President Bush told Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales in October that he had received complaints that some prosecutors had not energetically pursued voter-fraud investigations, according to a White House spokeswoman.

Excuse me, but there are two crucial points in this excerpt that need to be considered.

First, such a mass firing is not unprecedented -- and was carried out by Bill Clinton at the beginning of his presidency. Do Democrats really want to argue that such actions are illegal, unethical, or somehow tainted? If they do, I'm sure that the former President will make an excellent witness before Congress on such matters. I'm curious -- what would the impact of his testimony be on the presidential candidacy of his wife?

Second, do Democrats really wish to argue that failure to vigorously pursue election fraud cases is not a sufficient basis for firing? After all, those crimes strike directly at the heart of our system of government! Of course, the main perpetrators of various forms of electoral fraud in this country for the last several decades have been DemocratICK operatives and their allies, so I can understand the reluctance of Democrats to see such crimes pursued.

Is there a scandal in these firings? Yes -- and it is that the democrats and their willing allies in the media have again created a scandal where there is none.

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Posted by: Greg at 03:11 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This has to be the single weirdest presidential "announcement" in my lifetime. After lining up all the national media to announce a presidential run, Chuck Hagel didn't.

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) postponed a final decision on a presidential bid today and again declined to rule out the possibility that he would run as an independent.

"In making this announcement, I believe there will still be political options open to me at a later date," Hagel said at a news conference this morning in Omaha. "I cannot control that, and I do not worry about it."

The announcement, which was billed by Hagel and his staff as a definitive answer to questions about his political future, left far more questions than answers.

Hagel offered no insight into whether a presidential candidacy would preclude a run for a third Senate term, saying only that he would continue to raise money for both his Senate campaign committee and his political action committee.

Maybe White Flag Republican Hagel has figured out that there is no future for him on the national level -- or is acting like a Neo-Copperhead Democrat and counting on a disaster in Iraq as the means of advancing his political future. Speaking as a republican, I can only say that, politically, Hagel is dead to me -- and I will sit home rather than vote for any ticket that he would run on. Indeed, he may be the only Republican I'd be less likely to vote for than John McCain.

Posted by: Greg at 04:37 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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