Digby's Hullabaloo Posts

Republican On Paper

by digby

David Iglesias gave an interview with GQ today. He’s obviously quite disillusioned by what happened and is pulling no punches. Here’s one little bit I thought was interesting:

Are you at all interested in running for office some day?

No.

Had you ever been?

I was interested. Now, I cast a jaundiced eye towards the political process.

Because of the firing?

Oh sure. Yeah. Because if running for office means you’re willing to cheat, you’re willing to lie, you’re willing to slander people, then I’m not interested. And, frankly, I’ve got a practical matter. I’ve got four kids—all girls—so I’m going to have four weddings and four college educations in the next 15 years, and based on what members of Congress make…just do the math! It’s not very encouraging.

That’s a bit of a cop-out. It doesn’t have to be that way and usually isn’t — unless you are a modern Republican. He even says, in another part of the interview:

I’d heard that things had gotten more political under Bush from career people in Justice. My first assistant has been around since the Carter administration, and he told me that he’s never seen anything like this, that politics historically don’t play any role in our prosecutive decision-making.

But it hasn’t really sunk in yet.

Do you still consider yourself a Republican?

Yes.

Do you consider the people in the White House to be Republicans?

I think they’ve lost their way. They’ve lost their moral compass. On paper, we would probably be in agreement on most of the major issues, but in terms of actual practice and treating people fairly and respectfully and decently, I’ve lost my faith in our leadership.

In the interview he says that he’s against torture and that the justice department is the most political anyone can remember. He complains that the executive branch overreached because there was one party rule. But while this stuff was going on, the entire Republican establishment as well as a large number of the press and the entire base were not just supportive, they were ecstatically enthusiastically supportive. Bush was being lauded as a new Winston Churchill. Not everyone agreed, of course, but we were called traitors.

At some point you have to look past the leadership and ask why people were so willing to follow them over the cliff. It wasn’t the system that failed — it was every single Republican (like Iglesias) who looked the other way because their boy was on top and they wanted to be in the winners circle. Many of them knew that something was very wrong and yet they said nothing. They need to think about that.

It’s kind of sweet that he’s lost his faith in Bush and the boys, but it’s an illness that goes all the way to the bottom. All he has to do is look at those local fellow Republicans who proudly swiftboated him today to know that the Republican party is rotten to the core. And the “philosophy” itself,such as it is, is part of the problem — all that talk about responsibility and independence and rule of law are just talking points. This is about loyalty to a party which, when you strip all the marketing away, really exists solely as opposition to its enemy. They hate liberalism. Everything is in service to that single animating idea and has been for a long, long time.

When Iglesias failed to go after the enemy regardless of the evidence, he became that enemy. It didn’t matter how much he agreed with the party “on paper.” All that mattered was that he wasn’t loyal, period.

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New Mexico Swift Boats

by digby

Well it looks like the Rovian character assassins have decided it’s time to go after the US Attorneys. Here’s a new attack ad playing on New Mexico radio stations:

Former US Attorney David Iglesias wonders why he was fired. He says it was politics. Well, let’s look at the facts.

Iglesias brags he won a huge corruption case but he cut sweetheart deals with those involved and then lost 23 of 24 counts at trial (voices: NOT GUILTY!)

In 2004 3000 suspect voter registration forms turned up. But Iglesias did nothing even when a crack dealer was busted with them and even when political operatives took the fifth and refused to testify about their fraud. David Iglesias just looked the other way.

No wonder a criminal defense lawyer just praised him. He let her client walk.

While he looked the other way on fraud, Iglesias did prosecute a girl for putting bubble gum on a speeding ticket and he did find time to take dozens of taxpayer funded junkets around the world.

Meanwhile his own prosecutors criticized him and a former state supreme court judge publicly called him an ingrate.

Now Iglesias is even trying to play the race card.

David Iglesias. He still can’t figure out why he was fired.

C’mon David, isn’t it obvious?

This was put together by a group called New Mexicans For Honest Courts. (You can hear the ad at the web site.) They appear to have been around since 2004 and look to be one of those rightwing groups that have sprung up in states all over the country to protest “activist judges.” It’s hard to know where they got the money for this ad since it looks like they didn’t file a PAC report since July of 2006. Maybe some “angel” just came to town.

The message is clear. If you speak out against the family, you’ll get whacked.

H/T QW, via DKOS

Thumbsucking Gopers

by digby

The poor, little Republican boo-boos are all tuckered out with “scandal fatigue” since the Democrats took over five minutes ago:

Goodling’s announcement, some senior Republicans felt, strengthened the Democrats’ charge that the Justice Department had something to hide.

All of which added up to scandal fatigue inside the caucus, the senators said.

Specter’s appeal to the caucus received “a lot of head shaking, a lot of eye-rolling,” said one senator who attended and spoke on condition of anonymity because the session was private.

It’s been six long years of mindlessly rubber stamping that embarrassing excuse for a president and divvying up the spoils so they aren’t used to having to defend his miserable record of failure. Seems they don’t like it much. Well, those big macho conservatives had better toughen up right quick because this is only the beginning.

To shamelessly rework a famous movie speech written by Paddy Chayevsky:

That is the natural order of things today, Republicans! That is the atomic, subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And you have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and

YOU – WILL – ATONE!

Or, perhaps it’s better to put it this way: how can you expect the Republicans to defend this country if they can’t even defend their own Attorney General?

But that would be the essence of rightwing chickenhawkery, wouldn’t it? They’re all talk. Always have been.

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Still Wondering

by digby

Back in the day I wondered on this blog if Pat Tillman might have been fragged. (I was disabused of that when a reader reminded me that fragging was something that was done only to officers, so I stood corrected on the terminology.) But, I always wondered if he might have been killed on purpose because of this:

Interviews also show a side of Pat Tillman not widely known — a fiercely independent thinker who enlisted, fought and died in service to his country yet was critical of President Bush and opposed the war in Iraq, where he served a tour of duty. He was an avid reader whose interests ranged from history books on World War II and Winston Churchill to works of leftist Noam Chomsky, a favorite author.

I got some grief for saying it around the blogosphere and even among some of my commenters:

Guys, it’s sad that Pat Tilman is dead, and brutal that he was killed by friendly fire. Certainly the facts surrounding his death were covered up. But to use such slim evidence to jump to the conclusion that Tilman was murdered or “fragged” is pure paranoia. Get a grip. There are plenty of concrete problems for you to deal with.

Last night, Keith Olberman asked Pat Tillman’s mom about it:

OLBERMANN: Do you have clearly in your mind what you think happened in Afghanistan to your son? Not what they‘re saying, not what they told you the first time, not what they told you the second time, not what they told you the third time, not what they told you the umpteenth time, and not what they said yesterday. Can you go through this, because I don‘t want to leave any doubt in anybody‘s mind, what do you think happened and why to your son?

TILLMAN: I don‘t know. I think there‘s three scenarios possibly, and I‘d rather not get into them, but I really don‘t know what happened, because we have been told so many different things. I can‘t say that I really do know ultimately what happened to him.

OLBERMANN: But you have included among those three things the possibility that someone deliberately shot him?

TILLMAN: I‘m not excluding that.

OLBERMANN: OK.

TILLMAN: I don‘t think we can at this point.

I don’t know any more today than I did then. It was probably an accident that the government tried to cover up and then twist to make into a heroic tale for PR purposes. But I frankly still wouldn’t find it altogether surprising if it turned out that the most famous recruit in the Army might have been purposefully killed at that time if he was becoming radicalized. US triumphalism and arrogance was at its zenith and they thought they could get away with anything. Media manipulation and control was always thier first priority. (Jessica Lynch anyone?)

It’s an awful thought but this is an administration that says they believe Islamic terrorism is the most serious existential threat in human history, so much so that they must ignore or repudiate all constitutional protections, international treaties and common law that might inhibit them from conducting it however they choose. At the time Tillman was killed, they were fully engaged in a torture and indefinate detention regime, so let’s just say it’s not beyond the realm of imagination that they could go this far. I’m sure it sucks not to get the benefit of the doubt on something like this, but that’s the price you pay for thinking it’s a good idea to ignore civilized norms and base your strategy on appearing to be ruthless and mercilesss. People tend to lose faith in your decency and good intentions.

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Getting Warmer

by digby

Emptywheel’s at it again — she’s deep in the weeds and figures out the probable reason why Gonzales abruptly ended his press conference today:

If you click through and watch the video, you will see precisely what question got Abu Gonzales so scared he ran away: When did you approve the final list of USAs to be sacked? “It was sometime in the Fall of 2006,” Abu Gonzales answered, then showed Chicago the hand and walked away. It’s a curious answer and an equally curious moment to abandon the Press Conference. After all, as I pointed out just after the most recent document dump, the November 27 meeting, at which Abu G purportedly approved the list, does not answer the outstanding questions–not about the gap, and not about the decision to fire the USAs. Most importantly, that November 27 meeting still doesn’t explain how we go from wondering whether Harriet’s boss needs to approve the firings on November 15 (just as Bush left town for two weeks) to when the WH says “we’re a go” on December 4, just after Bush has returned to DC.

I had wondered the same thing. Do they actually think they can get away with saying that the gap is perfectly reasonable and pretending that the November 27th meeting answers the questions?

His dashing away at the press conference was just strange.

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Straight Talk In Neverland

by digby

On The Situation Room earlier today, St John McCain told us all to clap our hands:

(C&L has the video, here.)

BLITZER: Senator John McCain suggests that crackdown is already working.

I asked him about that in the last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BLITZER: Here’s what you told Bill Bennett on his radio show on Monday.

MCCAIN: Yes.

BLITZER: “There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today.”

MCCAIN: Yes.

BLITZER: “The U.S. is beginning to succeed in Iraq.”

You know, everything we hear, that if you leave the so-called green zone, the international zone, and you go outside of that secure area, relatively speaking, you’re in trouble if you’re an American.

MCCAIN: You know, that’s why you ought to catch up on things, Wolf.

General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed Humvee. You want to — I think you ought to catch up. You see, you are giving the old line of three months ago. I understand it. We certainly don’t get it through the filter of some of the media.

But I know for a fact of much of the success we’re experiencing, including the ability of Americans in many parts — not all. We’ve got a long, long way to go. We’ve only got two of the five brigades there — to go into some neighborhoods in Baghdad in a secure fashion.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BLITZER: Senator John McCain, a Republican presidential candidate, speaking here in THE SITUATION ROOM within the past hour.

Let’s go live to Baghdad right now.

CNN’s Michael Ware is standing by — Michael, you’ve been there, what, for four years. You’re walking around Baghdad on a daily basis.

Has there been this improvement that Senator McCain is speaking about?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I’d certainly like to bring Senator McCain up to speed, if he ever gives me the opportunity. And if I have any difficulty hearing you right now, Wolf, that’s because of the helicopter circling overhead and the gun battle that is blazing just a few blocks down the road.

Is Baghdad any safer?

Sectarian violence — one particular type of violence — is down. But none of the American generals here on the ground have anything like Senator McCain’s confidence.

I mean, Senator McCain’s credibility now on Iraq, which has been so solid to this point, has now been left out hanging to dry.

To suggest that there’s any neighborhood in this city where an American can walk freely is beyond ludicrous. I’d love Senator McCain to tell me where that neighborhood is and he and I can go for a stroll.

And to think that General David Petraeus travels this city in an unarmed Humvee. I mean in the hour since Senator McCain has said this, I’ve spoken to some military sources and there was laughter down the line. I mean, certainly, the general travels in a Humvee. There’s multiple Humvees around it, heavily armed. There’s attack helicopters, predator drones, sniper teams, all sorts of layers of protection.

So, no, Senator McCain is way off base on this one — Wolf.

[…]

Michael, when Senator McCain says that there are at least some areas of Baghdad where people can walk around and — whether it’s General Petraeus, the U.S. military commander, or others, are there at least some areas where you could emerge outside of the Green Zone, the international zone, where people can go out, go to a coffee shop, go to a restaurant, and simply take a stroll?

WARE: I can answer this very quickly, Wolf. No. No way on earth can a westerner, particularly an American, stroll any street of this capital of more than five million people.

I mean, if al Qaeda doesn’t get wind of you, or if one of the Sunni insurgent groups don’t descend upon you, or if someone doesn’t tip off a Shia militia, then the nearest criminal gang is just going to see dollar signs and scoop you up. Honestly, Wolf, you’d barely last 20 minutes out there.

I don’t know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad.

Ware went on to say that the Senate vote would help Al Qaeda (he’s an iconoclastic oddball) but I think his reporting is pretty clear. Baghdad remains hell on earth. John McCain is either delusional or lying.

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Imperial Life On The Potomac

by digby

Last night I noted that Monica Goodling, Alberto Gonzales’ senior counsel and white house liason graduated from Pat Robertson’s Regent Unicersity law school. Apparently, she did her undergraduate work at someplace known as Messiah University, so it’s pretty clear that this 33 year old is a dyed in the wool social conservative who was likely hired for that reason. Apparently, the Bush Emerald City hiring practices were more systemic than we thought: there are more than 150 graduates of Regent University serving in the Bush Administration

It sure does make you wonder about the ethical and moral instruction at these conservative Christian colleges, doesn’t it?

Update: Chris Hayes did a very interesting piece on Regent some time back for the American Prospect. Check it out, it’s fascinating:

At a school designed explicitly to produce influential professionals, worldview plays an especially crucial role; it is the bridge from inner spiritual beliefs to public action in the professional sphere. It’s for this reason that Regent’s professors are required to integrate “biblical principles” into every subject area, and it’s the reason that law students take a class their first year in the Christian foundations of law. Regent Law School Dean Jeffrey Brauch calls the result a “JD-plus.” Students take the standard canon of legal education — torts, property, constitutional law — but supplement discussions of what the law is with discussions of what the Bible and Christian tradition say the law should be, reading Leviticus, the Gospel of Matthew, and Thomas Aquinas alongside their case law. The same model extends throughout Regent’s nine schools, which offer courses like “Redemptive Cinema” and “Church-based Counseling Programs,” while infusing standard professional training with insights and injunctions from the Judeo-Christian (read: Christian) tradition.

I wonder what book in the Bible blesses vote rigging? Did Jesus preach that lying to is a good thing or that ruining someone’s reputation in order to cover up ethical misdeeds (and potential crimes) is godly? I hadn’t heard that. But then, I don’t share the conservative Christian “worldview” so what do I know about morality?

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Faith Based Straight Jacket

by digby

Atrios brings up an interesting point about the new Pew Poll that shows the country rather dramatically trending Democratic (and John Quiggins fascinating take on it, here.)

He says that the whole conservative “wordview” is getting harder and harder for moderates to wrap their minds around and I think that’s true. I was reminded of this from a couple of years ago, in which the highly educated conservative intelligensia were asked about the subject of evolution:

William Kristol, The Weekly Standard

Whether he personally believes in evolution: “I don’t discuss personal opinions. … I’m familiar with what’s obviously true about it as well as what’s problematic. … I’m not a scientist. … It’s like me asking you whether you believe in the Big Bang.”

How evolution should be taught in public schools: “I managed to have my children go through the Fairfax, Virginia schools without ever looking at one of their science textbooks.”

Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform

Whether he personally believes in evolution: “I’ve never understood how an eye evolves.”

What he thinks of intelligent design: “Put me down for the intelligent design people.”

How evolution should be taught in public schools: “The real problem here is that you shouldn’t have government-run schools. … Given that we have to spend all our time crushing the capital gains tax I don’t have much time for this issue.”

David Frum, American Enterprise Institute and National Review

Whether he personally believes in evolution: “I do believe in evolution.”

What he thinks of intelligent design: “If intelligent design means that evolution occurs under some divine guidance, I believe that.”

How evolution should be taught in public schools: “I don’t believe that anything that offends nine-tenths of the American public should be taught in public schools. … Christianity is the faith of nine-tenths of the American public. … I don’t believe that public schools should embark on teaching anything that offends Christian principle.”

Stephen Moore, Free Enterprise Fund

Whether he personally believes in evolution: “I believe in parts of it but I think there are holes in the evolutionary theory.”

What he thinks of intelligent design: “I generally agree with said critique.”

Whether intelligent design or a similar critique should be taught in public schools: “I think people should be taught … that there are various theories about how man was created.”

Whether schools should leave open the possibility that man was created by God in his present form: “Of course, yes, definitely.”

Jonah Goldberg, National Review

Whether he personally believes in evolution: “Sure.”

What he thinks of intelligent design: “I think it’s interesting. … I think it’s wrong. I think it’s God-in-the-gaps theorizing. But I’m not hostile to it the way other people are because I don’t, while I think evolution is real, I don’t think any specific–there are a lot of unknowns left in evolution theory and criticizing evolution from different areas doesn’t really bother me, just as long as you’re not going to say the world was created in six days or something.”

How evolution should be taught in public schools: “I don’t think you should teach religious conclusions as science and I don’t think you should teach science as religion. … I see nothing [wrong] with having teachers pay some attention to the sensitivities of other people in the room. I think if that means you’re more careful about some issues than others that’s fine. People are careful about race and gender; I don’t see why all of a sudden we can’t be diplomatic on these issues when it comes to religion.”

Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post

Whether he personally believes in evolution: “Of course.”

What he thinks of intelligent design: “At most, interesting.”

Whether intelligent design should be taught in public schools: “The idea that [intelligent design] should be taught as a competing theory to evolution is ridiculous. … The entire structure of modern biology, and every branch of it [is] built around evolution and to teach anything but evolution would be a tremendous disservice to scientific education. If you wanna have one lecture at the end of your year on evolutionary biology, on intelligent design as a way to understand evolution, that’s fine. But the idea that there are these two competing scientific schools is ridiculous.”

William Buckley, National Review

Whether he personally believes in evolution: “Yes.”

What he thinks of intelligent design: “I’d have to write that down. … I’d have to say something more carefully than I can over the telephone. I’m a Christian.”

Whether schools should raise the possibility that the original genetic code was written by an intelligent designer: “Well, surely, yeah, absolutely.”

Whether schools should raise the possibility–but not in biology classes–that man was created by God in his present form? : “Yes, sure, absolutely.”

Which classes that should be discussed in: “History, etymology.”

John Tierney, The New York Times (via email)

Whether he personally believes in evolution: “I believe that the theory of evolution has great explanatory powers.”

What he thinks of intelligent design: “I haven’t really studied the arguments for intelligent design, so I’m loath to say much about it except that I’m skeptical.”

Pat Buchanan, The American Conservative

Whether he personally believes in evolution: “Do I believe in absolute evolution? No. I don’t believe that evolution can explain the creation of matter. … Do I believe in Darwinian evolution? The answer is no.”

What he thinks of intelligent design: “Do I believe in a Darwinian evolutionary process which can be inspired by a creator? Yeah, that’s a real possibility. I don’t believe evolution can explain the creation of matter. I don’t believe it can explain the intelligent design in the universe. I just don’t believe it can explain the tremendous complexity of the human being when you get down to DNA and you get down to atomic particles, and molecules, atomic particles, subatomic particles, which we’re only beginning to understand right now. I think to say it all happened by accident or by chance or simply evolved, I just don’t believe it.”

How evolution should be taught in public schools: “Evolution [has] been so powerful a theory in Western history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and often a malevolent force–it’s been used by non-Christians and anti-Christians to justify polices which have been horrendous. I do believe that every American student should be introduced to the idea and its effects on society. But I don’t think it ought to be taught as fact. It ought to be taught as theory. … How do you answer a kid who says, ‘Where did we all come from?’ Do you say, ‘We all evolved’? I think that’s a theory. … Now the biblical story of creation should be taught to children, not as dogma but every child should know first of all the famous biblical stories because they have had a tremendous influence as well. … I don’t think it should be taught as religion to kids who don’t wanna learn it. … I think in biology that honest teachers gotta say, ‘Look the universe exhibits, betrays the idea that there is a first mover, that there is intelligent design.’ … You should leave the teaching of religion to a voluntary classes in my judgment and only those who wish to attend.”

Tucker Carlson, MSNBC

Whether he personally believes in evolution: “I think God’s responsible for the existence of the universe and everything in it. … I think God is probably clever enough to think up evolution. … It’s plausible to me that God designed evolution; I don’t know why that’s outside the realm. It’s not in my view.”

On the possibility that God created man in his present form: “I don’t know if He created man in his present form. … I don’t discount it at all. I don’t know the answer. I would put it this way: The one thing I feel confident saying I’m certain of is that God created everything there is.”

On the possibility that man evolved from a common ancestor with apes: “I don’t know. It wouldn’t rock my world if it were true. It doesn’t sound proved to me. But, yeah I’m willing to believe it, sure.”

How evolution should be taught in public schools: “I don’t have a problem with public schools or any schools teaching evolution. I guess I would have a problem if a school or a science teacher asserted that we know how life began, because we don’t so far as I know, do we? … If science teachers are teaching that we know things that in fact we don’t know, then I’m against that. That’s a lie. But if they are merely describing the state of knowledge in 2005 then I don’t have problem with that. If they are saying, ‘Most scientists believe this,’ and most scientists believe it, then it’s an accurate statement. What bothers me is the suggestion that we know things we don’t know. That’s just another form of religion it seems to me.”

Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review

Whether he personally believes in evolution: “Yes.”

What he thinks of intelligent design: “To the extent that I am familiar with it, and that’s not very much, I guess what I think is this: The intelligent designers are correct insofar as they are reacting against a view of evolution which holds that it can’t have been guided by God in any way–can’t even have sort of been set in motion by God to achieve particular results and that no step in the process is guided by God. But they seem to give too little attention to the possibility that God could have set up an evolutionary process.”

Whether intelligent design should be taught in public schools: “I guess my own inclination would be to teach evolution in the public schools. I don’t think that you ought to make a federal case out of it though.”

You can find more dancing on the head of a pin at the link.

All of these people are obviously professional GOP whores and have a huge personal interest in trying to thread the wingnut. Some are willing to buck the base straightforwardly, notably Krauthammer, who went to medical school, but as I wrote when I first posted on this, the discomfort and dissonance is palpable among most of these people:

What do you suppose it’s like to be intellectually held hostage by people who you know for a fact are dead wrong on something? It must be excruciating.

I suspect this is the biggest problem with conservatism today. As Atrios says, you have to buy the whole worldview (or at least be willing to publicly whore for it) in order to truly be part of the movement and that is becoming untenable.

But the professional Republicans soldier on, losing adherants of all stripes as they continue to pretend their worldview is coherent, as Jonathan Chait pointed out last week:

Only 13% of [congressional]Republicans agreed that global warming has been proved. As the evidence for global warming gets stronger, Republicans are actually getting more skeptical. Al Gore’s recent congressional testimony on the subject, and the chilly reception he received from GOP members, suggest the discouraging conclusion that skepticism on global warming is hardening into party dogma. Like the notion that tax cuts are always good or that President Bush is a brave war leader, it’s something you almost have to believe if you’re an elected Republican.

[…]

A small number of hard-core ideologues (some, but not all, industry shills) have led the thinking for the whole conservative movement.

National Review magazine, with its popular website, is a perfect example. It has a blog dedicated to casting doubt on global warming, or solutions to global warming, or anybody who advocates a solution. Its title is “Planet Gore.” The psychology at work here is pretty clear: Your average conservative may not know anything about climate science, but conservatives do know they hate Al Gore. So, hold up Gore as a hate figure and conservatives will let that dictate their thinking on the issue.

Reflexive rightwing hatred of hippies is certainly part of it. But their superstitious, primitive base requires that they repudiate science generally (stem cells, abortion, evolution etc) or the entire worldview starts to fall apart. This is unsustainable in the modern world and people are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with people who think like this — or are held hostage to people who think like this — in positions of power. The results of faith based governance have been pretty stark.

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The Best And The Brightest

by digby

It seems that former white house justice department liason Monica Goodling may be stretching her right not to incriminate herself to mean a right not to talk to people who may be mean to her. Josh has the lowdown here.

Ms Goodling is a lawyer so people might think it’s unusual that she wouldn’t know the law. But I’m frankly not surprised Ms Goodling would have some rather unconventional, out of the mainstream, legal views. She’s a graduate of Regent University law school (class of 1999) — Pat Robertson’s very own college.

Apparently the president of the United States hires the finest legal minds in the Christian Coalition to work in the highest reaches of his administration. I’m not sure he’s getting what he prays for.

David Iglesias was on CNN earlier today and had this to say about Alberto’s best and brightest:

LEMON: Mr. Iglesias, much has been made of the e-mails that supposedly went back and forth with members of the department. What do you make of these emails about you and your colleagues?

IGLESIAS: Well, they are shocking, because they are unprofessional, they are sophomoric, they are snide, they’re sarcastic. You want to believe that people running our federal system are professional and dealing are with facts. If you look at the tone and tenor of a lot of these e-mails especially regarding Carol Lam and Ms. Chiara, Margaret Chiara, it’s just unprofessional and it’s depressing to see a bunch of 30-year-olds with no real prosecution background casting judgment on us.

Who needs experience when you have a law degree from Regent U?

Update: Nitpicker writes about another one ‘o those best ‘n brightest Bushies.

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Where would we be without our Crooks and Liars?

by digby

Give early and often to the worlds first and best video blogger:

Here’s an interesting little tid-bit. Four of the most popular posts of the year were by Crook and Liars. In fact, the most popular political post of the year was C&L’s post of the Stephen Colbert White House Correspondent’s dinner. And the second most popular was C&L’s post of Keith Olbermann’s Rumsfeld commentary.

What a nice little bit of liberal synergy that is — the blogosphere, the alternative cable media and video blogging. C&L’s been ahead of the curve on all this from the beginning.

John Amato — Blogger of the year?

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