Month: July 2007

Southern Discomfort

by digby

On behalf of all Los Angelenos, I just want to apologize for this atrocity in an LA Times story this past week-end (courtesy of Daily Howler.)

John Edwards, the second-try presidential candidate with the third-place campaign, walked on to Mariah Crenshaw’s lawn this week, surrounded by a mini-circus of reporters and cameras.

The mannequin-perfect looks of 2004 were still there. So was that North Carolina accent — the one that is to ears what sweet pickles are to tongues.

“Nice to see yew,” said the candidate, shaking Crenshaw’s hand. “I’m lookin’ forward to talkin’.”

I am always arguing that there isn’t very much real southern bashing around anymore, at least of the kind I used to hear growing up. Apparently, I was wrong. LA Times staff writers and their editors are either so obtuse that they don’t even know they are being insulting when they write such drivel or they are bunch of bigots.

I have given southern conservatives a lot of grief on this blog over the years and have gotten some unfair criticism from my readers who assumed I was prejudiced against all of Dixie in some fundamental cultural way. I can see why they are touchy when writers write crap like this.

And that doesn’t even begin to touch the ludicrous, tabloid intentions of the piece as a whole…

I’ll let Somerby do the honors.

Getting With The Programs

by digby

Glenn Greenwald clears up the confusion about the “other intelligence activities” vs “the program the president has confirmed” in Gonzales’ testimony yesterday.

Yes there was additional “intelligence activity” besides what we know was in the so-called TSA. Those activities were what Comey and Ashcroft refused to sign off on when the “TSA” came up for reauthorization. Gonzales is making a cute distinction between “the program” the president has confirmed and the illegal parts of that program he was forced to abandon.

Read Greenwald’s whole piece because he nails it down much, much better than I keep trying to do. Comey was careful in his testimony, but he wasn’t talking about a completely different program. He was talking about the whole ugly, illegal mess that was the TSA before they reined it in. Gonzales, on the other hand, is now pretending that the “other intelligence activities” were outside the program at the time of the hospital assault.

Of course, the bigger question remains: Just what in the hell was so bad in that program that half the DOJ threatened to resign if it wasn’t stopped?

Update: And I should be clear: this does not preclude the fact that there were other programs. Keep in mind that we are dealing here with the Department of Justice, which obviously had at least a few people who remained concerned with the constitution. The bowels of Rumsfeld’s Pentagon and certain quarters of the intelligence community are even less scrupulous than Gonzo and Yoo.

.

Fish In A Barrel

by digby

How One journalist defines a ‘staunch Republican’

Tuesday, July 24, 2007 By Brit Hume Republican Defector? Chicago Sun Times columnist Jennifer Hunter is taking heat for a recent story headlined “GOP Lawyer Sold on Dems.” She wrote that after watching the top Democratic presidential candidates speak —one “staunch republican” lawyer said he will not vote for anyone from the GOP in 2008. But federal election contribution records show the so-called “staunch republican” — Philadelphia attorney Jim Ronca— actually has contributed overwhelmingly to Democrats since 1994 — giving them more than $10,000 — to $1,250 for Republicans. Hunter — who is married to the publisher of the Sun-Times — subsequently blamed the headline writer for emphasizing the Republican lawyer angle and critical readers for making the contributions an issue.

Meanwhile, that same day:

And it isn’t the first time, either.

Curly Lies

by digby

The Washington Post reports:

Gonzales’s testimony provides more details about a controversial dispute that spring between Gonzales, who was White House counsel at the time, and then-deputy attorney general James B. Comey, who was running the Justice Department during Ashcroft’s illness. In a remarkable appearance before the Judiciary panel in May, Comey testified that he was angered by the episode because he believed Gonzales and Card sought “to take advantage of a very sick man.”The dispute centered on an unidentified surveillance activity which Comey and other senior Justice officials had determined they could not reauthorize after a review of its legality. White House officials disagreed and moved aggressively to get the program renewed.The Bush administration has refused to say which classified program was at issue in the dispute. Some sources have said the dispute was related to a controversial warrantless surveillance program operated by the National Security Agency, the existence of which was later confirmed by President Bush.However, Gonzales reiterated today that the dispute was not about the program that Bush described. Gonzales also said he misspoke during a news conference in June, when he said it was the same program.Gonzales said an emergency meeting was held on the afternoon of March 10, 2004, with the so-called “Gang of Eight,” which consists of the bipartisan leadership of the House, Senate and both intelligence committees. Gonzales said congressional leaders agreed that the intelligence activity should continue, and he and Card traveled to George Washington University Hospital that evening to visit Ashcroft, who was recovering from gall bladder surgery.”Mr. Comey had informed us that he had not approved continuation of a very important intelligence activity, despite the fact that the department had approved that activity over the course of two years,” Gonzales said. “The consensus in the room was that we should continue the activities, at least for now. . . . We felt it was important that he knew of the opinion of the leadership.” Gonzales acknowledged that, as Comey testified, Ashcroft declined to overrule Comey.

It’s been assumed that Comey was talking about the illegal wiretapping program and if there is any doubt the intelligence committee can call him before them privately and ask him. It’s certainly possible that there is more than one program, but I think this hospital visit was about the illegal wiretapping program of which we are already vaguely aware. As I wrote earlier, Whitehouse’s pointed questions today led me to believe that Gonzo is being cute not that he revealed something new.

But the bombshell in this article is that just as he said there were no “serious disagreements” about the program in the first place, he’s now asserting that there was “consensus” about the program from the gang of eight. Except, as usual, he’s full of shit:

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), who at the time was ranking member of the Senate Intelligence committee, said there was no consensus among the “Gang of Eight” about the legality of the program, nor were the congressional leaders ever expected to give their approval to the program.”He once again is making something up to protect himself,” Rockefeller, now committee chairman, said of Gonzales.Rockefeller added that he’s unsure whether Gonzales attended meetings about the intelligence program. “I don’t remember him being in any of these meetings,” he said.

Tom Daschle told TPM Mucraker he doesn’t even think the meeting took place:

“I have no recollection of such a meeting and believe that it didn’t occur. I am quite certain that at no time did we encourage the AG or anyone else to take such actions. This appears to be another attempt to rewrite history just as they have attempted to do with the war resolution.”

Nancy Pelosi’s office said she explicitly told the administration she didn’t agree with the program’s continuation:

“She made clear her disagreement with the program continuing despite Comey’s objection,” Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly tells TPMmuckraker.

Nobody’s heard yet from Harmon or the Republicans. Not that it matters. I fully expect that if they call him back Gonzales will say with a straight face that he wasn’t at the meeting that never took place, and he’s not sure who was, but he’s sure that there was consensus among those who believed the program should continue.

And then he’ll run around the table three times shouting, “Whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop! I’m a victim of soicumstance!”

.

War Room Linkage

by digby

I’m sure that that most of you are devastated to miss even one word that I write, so I just wanted to remind you that you can find some of my recent stylings at Salon’s War Room.

Also check in over there to read my colleagues Alex Koppelman and Julia Dahl’s insights on the news of the day in the War Room. As you know, Salon also features Glenn Greenwald, who produces his usual daily masterpiece and updates at his blog each day, as well as the blogosphere’s Iron Man, Steve Benen’s “Blog Report” and editor Joan Walsh’s blog. The magazine has been a fixture in liberal online publishing since the early days, publishing great voices like Sidney Blumenthal and Joe Conason, but it’s reaching into the blogosphere as well, which is commendable. It’s always worth going through the ad or subscribing to see what they have on offer.

My scribbles:

Bush wins back the ditto-heads
The Attorney General and his kernel of truth
Why are the taxpayers still paying Karl Rove’s salary
Moving the goal posts, again
Prejudice in America
Newtie Makes A Fool Of Himself
Decorated lawyers
Feingold Brings It On

.

Power Player

by digby

Well, it looks as if Mrs Fred Thompson is more than just a pretty face. She’s a major power player in her hubbie’s almost-campaign. And she’s making an impact:

Tom Collamore, the former Altria lobbyist who had been running Fred Thompson’s campaign, has resigned and will be replaced by Randy Enwright. Enwright is a Florida political hand with ties to former Gov. Jeb Bush. Also coming on board in a leadership capacity is Spencer Abraham, the former Michigan senator and Energy secretary…

Collamore will stay on as a “senior adviser” to the effort, but with a diminished role. Accounts vary as to what exactly happened, but Collamore was reportedly unhappy with the level of involvement of Thompson’s wife, Jeri…

Carl Cameron on Fox reported this as the definite reason why Collamore resigned. Jeri Thompson is very hands-on, apparently.

I love this. The press gave Bill and Hillary Clinton such a hard time for her involvement in his political life, and here we have alleged traditional values candidates Giuliani and Frederick of Hollywood with second and third wives on the front lines whom they are just as proud as punch to allow to run roughshod over their campaigns. Rudy is so attached to Judy that he wants her in cabinet meetings. In Fred’s case, would appear to be a more traditional kind of relationship issue: he’s indulging his child bride. It’s kind of sweet when you think about it.

It will be interesting to see if the press finds this as fascinating as John Edwards’ haircuts and Hillary Clinton’s cleavage. They’ve taken a run at the “trophy wife” story with Mrs Thompson, but now that she’s a serious political player, perhaps we should all know more about her hair-dos and ta-tas. Lord knows she’s got it all.

.

National Broadband Project

by digby

Open Left is hosting a week-long discussion about National Broadband that I think is very intriguing. They are joined in this effort by Senator Dick Durbin, who writes today:

My hope is that over these four days, I will receive comments and suggestions that will help me draft legislation that will make the United States more competitive in terms of broadband access. Following this process, I will draft legislative language, which will be posted online, for all to view and comment on prior to its introduction. To my knowledge, this method of drafting legislation – soliciting public comment, translating it into legislative language, and requesting comments prior to introduction – has never been attempted at the federal level. I think this is a unique experiment in transparent government and an opportunity to demonstrate the democratic power of the internet. If we’re successful, it could become a model for the way legislation on health care, foreign policy, and education is drafted in the future.

There are several reasons why I chose America’s broadband strategy as the ideal issue for this process. First of all, those who are active on the issue of broadband policy and have the knowledge and experience to help me draft this legislation tend to leverage the power of the internet for advocacy efforts. This is the perfect forum for this issue. read on …

This is a very exciting experiment in participatory democracy and I hope that some of you will take the the opportunity to get involved. And this particular legislation is as vital to our future as the interstate highways system was after the second world war. We cannot compete, or have an informed citizenry, if we don’t ensure that every American has access to the internet. This is, as you all know better than anyone, where the action is.

Elana Levin of DMIblog posted a diary on Open Left about how important this is to the aspiring and middle class in which she quotes Thomas Jefferson:

“I think by far the most important bill in our whole code, is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom and happiness. . . . The tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.”

I’ve got another one:

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
— James Madison

Oh heck, here’s another, (from my favorite founder):

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
— Benjamin Franklin

This is going to be an interesting week in our nascent experiment in participatory democracy. The stakes are high and this is especially important to those of us who spend our time on the internet. Please join in if you have the time. It could pave the way for other forward thinking legislators like Senator Durbin to interact with us directly.

.

Depends On What The Definition Of Program Is

by digby

I was only half awake this morning when I read Christy Hardin Smith’s liveblogging of the latest atrocious Gonzales testimony, so I couldn’t be sure that he was actually still lying about the Ashcroft hospital visit. But after reading more,and watching some of the testimony, it seems he really does have the chutzpah to come up there and commit perjury … again.

He keeps implying that when he said that there was “no disagreement” about the program he wasn’t talking about the domestic spying program. However, everyone’s testimony except his indicates that that was the program they were trying to get the sedated Ashcroft to reauthorize. Senator Whitehouse said that there may be a “kernal of truth” in his testimony, in that what he describes as “other intelligence activities” may have not precisely been part of the program, but points out that he is trying to mislead the committee with a ridiculously convoluted argument. Which he clearly is. And that’s being generous.

The crime of perjury is inoperative for Bush administration officials, of course,even if they lie right to the FBI or a grand jury, much less the lil’ ole congress, since they know they will never see the inside of a jail cell, their criminal benefactors will pay their fines and the Washington DC insiders will defend their honor no matter what they do. Still, it would probably be good for the rule of law for his crimes to be on the record somewhere. Maybe historians can make use of it.

His testimony, as usual, is unresponsive, misleading and sometimes perjurious. Today, he is smug and arrogant in attitude, sometimes even laughing at the questions. Apparently he believes he’s weathered the storm.

I famously set forth my reservations about impeaching Bush and Cheney (and paid the price in pieces of my hide.) But I have none about impeaching this guy and I think it might even be (remotely) possible to get 17 Republicans to vote to convict. Even Jeff Sessions sounded pissed today. But I doubt it would get that far. He would likely feel the need to spend more time with his lawyers and would resign.

This man is an insult to the constitution. Impeach him. Get him out of there. Whatever it takes.

.

Debating On The Tubes

by digby

I rather enjoyed the debate tonight. After watching the CNN commentators gingerly tiptoe around the concept of “The You Tube” all day like those natives in “The Gods Must Be Crazy”, it was kind of a relief to see that it was a pretty normal format. The candidates seemed loose and the YouTube questioners played both light and tough. It didn’t feature any in-depth foreign policy along the riveting lines of Kimoy and Matsu but it’s early days yet.

The emerging roles in these debates look like this to me: Clinton is commanding, Obama is charming, Edwards is earnest, Biden is righteously indignant, Richardson is surprisingly off-beat, Dodd is normal, Kucinich is arrogantly unapologetically liberal, and Gravel is the grumbling curmudgeon. These roles have begun to gel in my mind, although they are likely to change as the list gets smaller and they begin challenging each other more directly.

Tonight’s debate questions and answers were all put up on YouTube by Politics TV if you want to rate the clips or leave comments.

I personally thought the best answer of the night went to Edwards, who gave a much better performance tonight than he has in earlier debates. His answer to the health care question was passionate and heartfelt and he made a better case for the need for universal health care in his anecdote than any of the others did. He seemed to me to be deeply engaged.

Judge for yourself.

I have to give it to Edwards tonight.

Update: I just saw on CNN that their “people-meter” or whatever it is registered the highest rating for Edwards health care answer. I guess I have my finger on the pulse — as it were.

.

Depraved And Confused

by digby

Instaputz alerts us to a disturbing new trend in wingnut psychology. It’s one thing to understand that some people go psychotic in a warzone and desecrate corpses. It’s quite another to blithely dismiss it as no big deal. Are we some primitive tribe now, casting aside any sense of decency because we are in a war? First torture, now this.

And, by the way, who are we at war with again? Iraq? The country these right wingers insisted that we “liberate?” Are these soldiers only scooping out the brains of foreign terrorists? Or are they insurgent brains? Suni? Shia? Innocent bystanders? It’s so hard to tell which brains are suitable for scooping over there. (Or, maybe these keyboard commandos think we should just scoop ’em all and let God sort it out.)

I can be understanding of soldiers who lose their way in the heat of battle and forget their humanity. What can this person possibly offer as an excuse?

.