October 16th, 2006
Sometimes you just gotta wonder… after reading this I reflexively thought, Hmmm… and not in a good way:
Jane: According to the NYT, things appear pretty good for the Dems.
Billmon: Some Republican strategists are increasingly upset with what they consider the overconfidence of President Bush and his senior advisers about the midterm elections November 7 — a concern aggravated by the president’s news conference this week. “They aren’t even planning for if they lose,” says a GOP insider who informally counsels the West Wing.
Digby: The aircraft carrier Eisenhower, accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage, guided-missile destroyer USS Mason and the fast-attack submarine USS Newport News, is, as I write, making its way to the Straits of Hormuz off Iran. The ships will be in place to strike Iran by the end of the month. It may be a bluff. It may be a feint. It may be a simple show of American power. But I doubt it.
Hmmm, indeed.
October 12th, 2006
Republicans are so desperate to retain control of congress that the GOP leadership, including those in the Bush administration, forced — yes, forced — Republican Mark Foley to run again for his safe congressional seat. Apparently Rep. Foley was ready to retire, but top Bush adviser, Karl Rove, intervened and ultimately convinced Rep. Foley to run again.
TalkingPointsMemo.com serves this bit of news from TNR.com:
It seems increasingly clear that the GOP congressional leadership, eager for every safe incumbent in the House to run for re-election, looked the other way as evidence accumulated that Mark Foley had a thing for pages. Holding onto his seat became more important than confronting him over his extracurricular activities.
But there’s more to the story of why Foley stood for re-election this year. Yesterday, a source close to Foley explained to THE NEW REPUBLIC that in early 2006 the congressman had all but decided to retire from the House and set up shop on K Street. "Mark’s a friend of mine," says this source. "He told me, ‘I’m thinking about getting out of it and becoming a lobbyist.’"
[...]
According to the source, Foley said he was being pressured by "the White House and Rove gang," who insisted that Foley run. If he didn’t, Foley was told, it might impact his lobbying career.
"He said, ‘The White House made it very clear I have to run,’" explains Foley’s friend, adding that Foley told him that the White House promised that if Foley served for two more years it would "enhance his success" as a lobbyist.
And there you have it folks, we have a Republican party, led by the Bush & Rove gang, so desperate to retain control, that they are willing to sacrifice just about anyone — including the young congressional pages — to remain in power and prevent Democrats from disturbing all those GOP skeletons that have piled up a mile high over the past six years.
October 9th, 2006
Can someone please explain to me what high level Democratic party operatives working with the 2004 Sen. Kerry presidential campaign were doing passing on insider information to the Bush-Cheney ticket?
According to Bob Woodward’s STATE OF DENIAL, James Carville and Mike McCurry passed on information to the Bush-Cheney camp at a sensitive time when Sen. Kerry was deciding whether to challenge the Ohio vote.
I came across this disheartening and eye-opening bit of information via MyDD.com, where Matt Stoller writes:
Like Carville, McCurry owes an explanation to his fellow Democrats.
Here’s what Matt was reacting to:
After 1 a.m., Card called Cahill.
Cahill said the Kerry campaign felt confident.
Card was caught off guard. … –Is there going to be a phone call?"
"We won’t be calling you," Cahill replied. She seemed to be half asking whether Bush would be calling Kerry to concede.
(snip)
Matalin is married to James Carville, a Democrat who had been chief political strategist for Bill Clinton in 1992. … …
"Look, I know this is hard for you," she told him sympathetically.
Carville told her he had some inside news. The Kerry campaign was going to challenge the provisional ballots in Ohio–perhaps up to 250,000 of them. "I don’t agree with it," Carville said. "I’m just telling you that’s what they’re talking about."
Matalin went to report to Cheney.
What? the vice president asked. …
"You’d better tell the president," Cheney told her. …
"They’re going to contest it," Matalin said.
"What does that mean?" the president asked. He had his note cards with talking points in hand, ready to go over to the Reagan Building to declare victory.
Matalin said somebody in authority needed to get in touch with J. Kenneth Blackwell, the Republican secretary of state in Ohio, who would be in charge of any challenge to the provisional votes.
(snip) skip forward to page 347…
"I’m the president of the United States," Bush said fuming, "waiting on a secretary of state who is a nut." … …
Reports came in that the networks wanted to go off the air without calling the race for either candidate.
Rove shouted, "They can’t go off the air!"
At 3:36 a.m., a very sensitive communication from the Kerry camp was relayed to Rove and Bartlett at the White House. Mike McCurry, Clinton’s former White House press secretary and a last-minute addition to the Kerry campaign, had e-mailed Nicole Devenish, the Bush campaign communications director, an off-the-record congratulations, advising that the Bush team should not try to force a resolution now. Don’t pressure Kerry, McCurry said. In the end, he believed Kerry would do the right thing.
Bartlett and others told Bush about the e-mail, summarizing the message as "We’ll do the right thing at the right time." They could trust that McCurry would be in a position to know what the Kerry campaign was thinking, Bartlett said, but they had to be careful not to put too much stock in it. At least we know there are people in the Kerry camp giving rational advice, Bartlett said. … …
Card said they should declare victory. … … …
STATE OF DENIAL, by Bob Woodward (pgs. 344-347)
Taylor Marsh, who first reported on this, reacts to the Woodward revelation:
One important point, however, is that people have started talking about the Carville – Matalin angle, but everyone stops there. If you read a bit further Mike McCurry comes into the picture. It seals the deal.
Here’s a story not in the Woodward book. According to one person I talked to today, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Joe Lockhart, in the middle of a heated presidential campaign, started making new business calls out of the Kerry war room giving out confidential campaign information while he was at it. Obviously trying to hedge his bets, he’d call out, give poll data and other info to people, while trying to drum up business for himself. Class act.
Frankly, it reminds me of what McCurry did on the Net Neutrality stuff.
For DC Democrats it’s all about keeping your candidates close, but your business associates and their interests closer.
As for what’s said in the Woodward book, one Kerry camp insider I talked to today certainly wasn’t surprised by the revelations.
[...]
It’s clear Carville and McCurry had their eyes on something else entirely. With Democrats like Carville and McCurry helping us out on election night we hardly need Karl Rove.
These two gentlemen owe the Democratic party base an explanation. While there were thousands of volunteers all across the nation sweating and canvassing for Sen. Kerry, here were two insiders working against the party’s interests at a crucial time.
And, yet again, we see an example of how establishment operatives have gutted the soul of the Democratic party, and have put their own personal interests and connections before the interests of the men and women that toil for the Democratic candidates that these operatives are supposed to work hard for. After we win these mid-term elections, we need to continue cleaning house and expel the establishment’s high priests from the people’s temple — and make sure that the Democratic party in fact represents our interests, and not the narrow interests of a few well connected operatives and lobbyists.
October 4th, 2006
It’s important for any "opposition party" to be flexible, current, relevant, visible and vocal — as is often remarked, "90% of success is just showing up." Over the long term, yes, "It’s About Iraq, Stupid." However, at the moment, the Republican Predatorgate scandal (aka., Mark Foley preying on teenage boys) throws in sharp contrast the differences between Democrats and the scandal ridden Republicans. That’s why it’s important that our nascent Liberal Noise Machine continue hammering the Republican Predatorgate scandal; because it’s one more nail, of many, in the coffin of corrupt Republicans.
This is an important moment. We’ve heard a lot about the potential electoral repercussions of Predatorgate against Republicans. In fact, our own in-house Republican, MC71, provides some anecdotal evidence illustrating the impact of this scandal on his party — when asked when it was that he lost faith on Republicans, he wrote:
There are moments. Moments that nobody will ever forget when they realized that the whole thing cannot be supported any longer.
There were three for me (and I believe many Republicans share these)
1. By far the largest was Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was the largest government failure in modern history. This party wants to move 12 million people who want be in America out of the country. It couldn’t evacuate the thousands who did not want to be in New Orleans.
2. The nomination of Harriet Miers. Conservatives put Bush in office to nominate intelligent Conservative judges. Bush put some buddies in a hat and chose Harriet. It was a complete disrespect to the people who elected him, and many woke up then. (Once again, I state this not as an endorsement of any philosophy, but as a means to understand a situation).
3. This week, when Mark Foley resigned. There are scandals and then there is this. I’m almost frustrated that Democrats are not paying more attention to this. Nobody can support this in our government.
(Emphasis added.)
This is why it’s important that our Liberal Noise Machine continue hammering the Republican Predatorgate scandal: because this has gotten the attention of people that would not otherwise be listening.
And this is where Rep. Murtha comes in. MC71, if you’re reading this, here’s one Democratic Representative that is listening to you, and he agrees: nobody should tolerate the Republican leadership’s cover up of Predatorgate, period.
Over at The Huffington Post Rep. Murtha posted the following:
Like many of you, I’ve been watching the disturbing news reports about the circumstances surrounding the resignation of Congressman Mark Foley. It’s horrifying enough if these interactions occurred, but if allegations of a cover up by the Republican Leadership are true, it’s unconscionable. Their first obligation should have been to protect these young people who come to Congress to work hard and learn the legislative process.
[...]
There is absolutely no excuse for allowing something like this to go on, especially if they had even a hint of a problem months ago. If there was any sign of wrongdoing, a red flag should have gone up, and a thorough investigation should have begun immediately.
It is imperative that we hold people accountable for failing these young people. They are children who have been entrusted to the care of Congress. If the Congressional Leadership had knowledge of these disgusting and appalling emails and did nothing to stop it and to protect all of these kids, they must resign immediately.
I’m glad that Rep. Murtha has stepped forward to call for the immediate resignation of anyone that covered up the preying on of teenage boys by Republican Mark Foley; and I sincerely hope that more Congresspersons of conscious, whether Democrat or Republican, will come forward to do the same. Enough is enough.
September 30th, 2006
Larry Johnson, a former CIA agent, wonders out loud, Just what does it mean to be a Republican nowadays? And questions those that still, with a straight face, claim to be part of the GOP. Larry Johnson writes:
I once considered myself a Republican. In light of the record of the Bush Administration and the Republican controlled congress, I can no longer claim to be a Republican. Now we have George “AWOL” Bush and his sidekick, Dick “Five-Deferment” Cheney calling Democrats who question their failed Iraq strategy, “cut and runners”.
[...]
If you start a war in Iraq while lying to the American people that Saddam was tied to Osama Bin Laden, you might be a Republican.
If you failed to complete your own National Guard service and your Vice President received five deferments to avoid service in Vietnam, but accuse political opponents who challenge your failed foreign policy in Iraq of being cowards, you might be a Republican.
If you call dark skinned people Macacas and Niggers, you might be a Republican.
If you ignore intelligence community warnings that Bin Laden is determined to strike inside the United States, you might be a Republican.
If you follow policies that squander a budget surplus and create an $8.5 trillion dollar budget deficit, you might be a Republican.
If you expose the identity of an undercover CIA officer in charge of tracking down Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, you might be a Republican.
If you believe the President should be entitled to jail, without recourse to Habeus Corpus, anyone he decides is a threat, you might be a Republican.
Oh, and given recent reports that Republican representative Mark Foley has stepped down from his congressional seat, after revelations of repeated attempts to seduce teenage boys, Larry Jonhson wonders:
If you enjoy soliciting teenagers and children for sex over the internet, you might be a Republican:
Congressman Mark Foley. Republican Rep. Mark Foley resigned yesterday after the exposure of several sexually suggestive messages he sent to underage boys. Mr. Foley, a Florida Republican and chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus, led efforts to overhaul sex-offender laws, apologized in a brief statement that did not mention the electronic correspondence with the former congressional pages.
(http://washingtontimes.com/national/
20060930-010821-5764r.htm)
Randall Casseday. Metropolitan Police today charged the director of human resources at The Washington Times with one count of attempting to entice a minor on the Internet. Randall Casseday, 53, was arrested at 9:45 p.m. yesterday in the 1300 block of Brentwood Road NE, where police said he had arranged to meet who he thought was a 13-year-old girl. He had actually exchanged Internet messages and photographs with a male police officer posing as a girl.
(http://washingtontimes.com/metro/
20060927-054303-9103r.htm)
Brian J. Doyle. The deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was arrested Tuesday for using the Internet to seduce what he thought was a teenage girl, authorities said. Brian J. Doyle, 55, was arrested in Maryland where he lives on charges of use of a computer to seduce a child and transmission of harmful material to a minor. The charges were issued out of Polk County Fla.
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/04/05/
department-of-homeland-se_n_18517.html)
So, who are those people that still call themselves Republicans without shame?
