30 March 2007

Fred Thompson better be on the lookout...

MATTHEWS: You know what I like about him? I interviewed him when he was running for the Senate. He was the underdog out in Tennessee, in Nashville. I said what hotel are you staying at. He said what hotel are you staying at. We were both at three-star hotels. He comes over, meets me for breakfast, no entourage, not another single person with him. This is when you fall in love with politicians. Maybe it‘s rehearsed, but—

And I said—well, I‘m doing a column in those days. I said what about your divorce? You want me to write about that? He said, I prefer you wouldn‘t. I mean, I just like the fact that he has a little unhappiness in his past, maybe some misbehavior problems, but he just says, you know, I‘d rather you didn‘t.

No wonder the "permanent majority" is floundering...

A Fishwrap spy informs us that House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) accidentally voted for the Democratic budget this afternoon.

The spy said Boehner staffers got calls during the vote wondering why their boss was the only Republican supporting the majority party's plan, which he had derided as "the largest tax increase in U.S. history."

Boehner quickly corrected the situation and the Democratic budget passed 216-210, with the Republican proudly voting "nay."

Someone needs to show this to Tweety, stat!

Since the comparison of the Iraq positions over the years of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is one of the hottest issues of the campaign, we thought it would be useful to post a comprehensive comparison of all of their votes on everything relating to the Iraq war.
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Of the total of 69 votes we compiled -- some significant, some not -- it turns out that the two differed on only one. You'll see that one in bold on our chart. But let us be clear: We are not posting this to suggest that their earlier difference at the start of the war -- their most important difference -- should in any way be overshadowed by these similarities. For many, that difference will remain paramount -- for good reason. We just wanted to add factual grist to what is but one component of the debate.

courtesy TPM Cafe

Think Progress has the transcript and audio of Rush defending Gone-zales, saying an election is much more important than competence..

I’m at a loss to understand why it is that even some people on our side and the conservative media think throwing Gonzales away is going to stop this. Now, they’ll say, “Well, that’s not what we’re trying to do. We want competence. We are conservatives, and we have high values, and high standards.” This is a battle going on here. There’s an election that’s going to hinge on stuff like this, and everybody the administration throws overboard is a tantamount admission to people that pay scant attention to politics there’s all kinds of corruption going on in there.

TPM Muckraker has the details of an agreement to hold closed-door, transcribed interviews..

Six weeks after it hit the fan, Bush makes his way down the street to check out Walter Reed...

President Bush apologized Friday for the shoddy conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and promised during a visit to the facility for war veterans that "we're going to fix the problem."

Critics questioned the timing of Bush's visit six weeks after poor conditions and neglect of veterans were exposed there.
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Retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, among retired military officers who took part in a conference call about Bush's visit, praised the president for seeing wounded soldiers. But, he added: "I'm convinced he would honor them more if he would refrain from using soldiers as props in political theater."

"I would be very happy to see him do the Walter Reed visit more like the commander and secondarily as an inspector general, rather than as a politician," he said.

Bobby Muller, president of Veterans for America, said Bush isn't going to see areas of the hospital most in need of change. He cited Ward 54, where soldiers are suffering from acute mental health conditions, and outpatient holding facilities where soldiers see long waits to get processed out of the Army.

"Walter Reed is not a photo-op," Muller said. "Walter Reed is still broken. The DoD health care system is still broken. ... Our troops need their commander in chief to start working harder for them."

Widespread abuses aren't surprising when you consider the boss doesn't understand the law...

FBI Director Robert Mueller blames poor training and supervision for the bureau's Patriot Act abuses and promises new training programs. He might want to sign up for the first class himself.

Mueller misstated a key provision of the act in appealing to Congress this week for new authority that was actually granted last year.
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The director's gaffe came during a high-stakes moment for the FBI and for him.

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine found 48 violations of law or rules during 2003-2005 in the bureau's use of documents known as national security letters to acquire telephone, e-mail and financial records about Americans and foreigners without a judge's approval.

Fine estimated there could be 3,000 more such violations among the more than 143,000 requests for information during that period.

29 March 2007

Apparently the repeated revelations by Sampson that exposed the multitude of lies by Abu G, WH staff, and the AG staff was more than they could handle...

Update: Sounds like the hearing is back on. Durbin is quizzing Sampson as to why, if he thought Fitzgerald was a strong attorney, was he afraid to rank him as "strong"?

Update 2: It get's better -- Sampson admits to suggesting (in 2006) that Fitzgerald be dismissed. Also describes the exploitation of the Patriot Act provision as "abuse", and suggests the WH considered using the provision in at least one instance.

Update 3: During questioning from Schumer, Sampson repeatedly refused to rule out the possibility that Karl Rove was consulted in the low ranking of Fitzgerald.

Update 4: Schumer continued to grill Sampson in round 4, trying to pin down who made the complaint that resulted in Iglesias being added to the list to dismiss immediately after the November election. Feinstein did a great job pointing out how Lam's performance conflicted with the reasons given for her dismissal, as did Schumer comparing Iglesias' performance with the reasons for his dismissal.

Keep this quote in mind if Bush follows through on his threat to veto the Iraq supplemental...

"If Congress fails to pass a bill to fund our troops on the front lines, the American people will know who to hold responsible."

Considering both the House and Senate have passed bills that provide even more funding that Bush requested... they've fulfilled their duty. The onus is now on Bush to keep our troops armed, fed and protected.

Michael Isikoff uncovers a previously-overlooked email from Domenici's office "thanking" Rove for everything..

New Mexico Republican Sen. Pete Domenici’s chief of staff sent a cryptic thank-you note to Karl Rove just as the senator was recommending replacements for David Iglesias, the fired U.S. attorney in New Mexico, according to internal White House and Justice Department documents.

“Thanks for everything,” Domenici chief of staff Steve Bell wrote Rove and two other White House officials, including Rove’s political deputy, Scott Jennings, in a Jan. 8, 2007 e-mail that forwarded the name of a candidate to replace Iglesias.

Buried in Justice Department documents released two weeks ago, the Bell e-mail was not initially noticed by congressional investigators because it was sent to Rove’s political e-mail account—not his more clearly recognizable White House e-mail address.

It is not clear from the content of the e-mail what Bell was thanking Rove for. But the thank-you note is the first indication that Rove himself may have been involved in replacing Iglesias. It is the dismissal of Iglesias—fired after Domenici complained about his handling of a local corruption investigation—that has raised the most serious questions of political interference in the U.S. attorney controversy.

Passes 51-47.. includes withdrawal timeline..

The Democratic-controlled Senate ignored a veto threat and voted Thursday for a bill requiring President Bush to start withdrawing combat troops from Iraq within four months, dealing a sharp rebuke to a wartime commander in chief.

In a mostly party line 51-47 vote, the Senate signed off on a bill providing $122 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also orders Bush to begin withdrawing troops within 120 days of passage while setting a nonbinding goal of ending combat operations by March 31, 2008.

The vote came shortly after Bush, in a move that his aides said was unprecedented, invited all House Republicans to the White House to appear with him in a sort of pep rally to bolster his position in the continuing war policy fight.

Have to see it to believe it..

(first half is booooring... second half is jaw-dropping)

courtesy of Think Progress

Texas-sized chunk of Antarctica thinning much more rapidly than presumed...

A Texas-sized area of Antarctica is thinning and could cause the world's oceans to rise significantly in the long-term, polar ice experts said in wrapping up a three-day conference.

"Surprisingly rapid changes" are occurring in Antarctica's Amundsen Sea Embayment, an ice drainage system that faces the southern Pacific Ocean, the experts said in a statement, adding that more study was needed to determine how fast it was melting and how much it could cause sea levels to rise.

Opening statements paused while Senate successfully passed Iraq Supplemental Bill that defines withdrawal timeline...

28 March 2007

McCain -- 9/9/93

"..this resolution establishes, in effect, a date certain for a vote on the commitment of United States forces to Somalia…I think we all realize that we have drifted from the use of force to secure humanitarian relief to an open-ended effort at peace enforcement and nation building. …the orderly way to stop it is for the President to present a plan for shaping U.S. withdrawal, set a date for that plan, and have the congress of the United States either endorse or reject such a proposal."

Sean Hannity -- 4/2/99

"What is our stated goal, our mission, our objective? How do we get out of here? and I want to go back, and this is a point that I made -- you know, even in "The New York Times" just two days ago -- you know, what is phase 4, now that phase 1, 2 and 3 have failed? There isn't a phase 4."

Sean Hannity -- 4/1/99

"But if you know - every mistake we've made up to this point, there's no stated goal. There's no definition of success. All these important things. There's no exit strategy. One mistake after another. Why would you go in deeper when we have not been successful up to this point? That seems to me to be folly."

Sean Hannity -- 3/31/99

"So it seems that we're talking about a very ill-conceived military action here. And now the question is, do you go in further and deeper, or do you pull back and rethink what the strategy's going to be here, because there has really been no stated goal, mission or objective."

Sean Hannity -- 3/24/99

"No goal, no objective, not until we have those things and a compelling case is made, then I say, back out of it, because innocent people are going to die for nothing. That's why I'm against it."

Calls media "jerks"....

MCCAIN: Sure. We are going to do just fine. We are going to have fun. That’s the important thing in these campaigns. We are back to the town hall meetings and I love them more than anything else.
FOX: You will take a question from anybody about anything.
MCCAIN: And I also have these jerks come on the bus, too.
FOX: You have who come on the bus?
MCCAIN: These jerks from the media.
FOX: Ok. Of course that couldn’t be me, I hope. I haven’t been on a bus in a while without paying a fare.
MCCAIN: Come on. You are welcome on.

Think Progress has the video and transcript...

TPM Muckraker runs down the suspicious aspects of the Lam dismissal...

And summarizes her performance on immigration issues...

Oopsy...

Dan Dzwilewski, head of the FBI office in San Diego, said he spoke to Lam several times yesterday and he feels the criticism and the way the situation was handled are unfair.
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“What do you expect her to do? Let corruption exist?” he said.

Lam's continued employment as U.S. attorney is crucial to the success of multiple ongoing investigations, the FBI chief said.
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Dzwilewski said: “I can't speak for what's behind all that, what's the driving force behind this or the rationale. I guarantee politics is involved.”
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“She's been by far the most outstanding U.S. attorney we've ever had,” City Attorney Michael Aguirre said. “By far, she's done more to clean up the corruption in this city than anyone else, and she has won a national reputation as one of the top prosecutors in the country.

Defuses Bush's blustering..

"We are going to give him everything he asked for, and more," Pelosi said, before concluding, "take a deep breath, Mr. President."

Prediction = Lurita Doan

TPM Muckraker has the info and must-see video...

Straight-talkin' his way to an early withdrawal from the '08 presidency...

McCain Then:

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.

Ware's Rebuttal:

But honestly, that seems so far removed from the reality here on the ground. People are still dying in their dozens every single day. There may be a security crackdown but al Qaeda's suicide car bombers are still getting through.

And we're still finding 20, 30 tortured executed bodies on the streets of the capital every morning. And American troops continue to die every day. And just this afternoon, we've seen a double suicide truck bomb attack, followed by a ground infantry assault by al Qaeda launched against an American position. Now that was repelled, but eight American boys were wounded in the process.
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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 are multiple Humvees around it, heavily armed. There are attack helicopters, Predator drones, sniper teams, all sorts of layers of protection.

So, no, Senator McCain is way off base on this one -- Wolf.
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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 5 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.

McCain Now:

I mean that there are neighborhoods safe in Iraq and he does go out into Baghdad and the fact is there has been significant progress and people are stuck in a time warp of three months ago. Of course, it’s still dangerous. Of course it’s still very dangerous. We only have two of the five brigades there and we are already seeing significant progress.
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I’m not saying they could go without protection. The President goes around America with protection. So, certainly I didn’t say that.

Nomination of SBVT donor pulled after complaints by Kerry's shipmates and Sen Dodd...

As mentioned previously, the use of external email accounts by WH staffers to avoid the possibilty of subpeona is coming back to bite them...

The growing controversy over the firing of federal prosecutors and what administration officials knew about it is renewing concerns among Bush aides over the less-than-secret aspect of E-mails. Those concerns were elevated this week when a House chairman asked that all aides retain their E-mails.

But just a week after E-mails in the U.S. attorneys case became a main focus of congressional Democrats probing the firings, several aides said that they stopped using the White House system except for purely professional correspondence.

"We just got a bit lazy," said one aide. "We knew E-mails could be subpoenaed. We saw that with the Clintons but I don't think anybody saw that we were doing anything wrong."

But the release of White House emails to the Democrats and the expanded request for more from Rep. Henry Waxman has iced the system. At least two aides said that they have subsequently bought their own private E-mail system through a cellular phone or Blackberry server. When asked how he communicated, one aide pulled out a new personal cellphone and said, "texting."

The price of chosing loyalty over competence = $100 million

Poorly written Justice Department documents cost the federal government more than $100 million in what was supposed to have been the crowning moment of the biggest tax prosecution ever.

Walter Anderson, the telecommunications entrepreneur who admitted hiding hundreds of millions of dollars from the IRS and District of Columbia tax collectors, was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison and ordered to repay about $23 million to the city.

But U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said he couldn't order Anderson to repay the federal government $100 million to $175 million because the Justice Department's binding plea agreement with Anderson listed the wrong statute.

Huge win for Democrats -- amendment to strip provision falls 48-50...

Senate Democrats Tuesday afternoon won a key vote that clears the way for setting a date by which most U.S. troops would be required to leave Iraq.

Democrats defeated by a vote of 50-48 the Republican effort to strip language from the $122 billion-dollar Iraq supplemental spending bill that would require most combat soldiers to leave Iraq within a year.

Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Gordon Smith (Ore.) voted with the Democrats. Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) voted against the timetable, as did Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.) an Independent who caucuses with Democrats.

Let freedom ring...

Off-duty Shiite policemen enraged by massive bombings in the northern town of Tal Afar went on a revenge spree against Sunni residents there on Wednesday, killing at least 45 men, police and hospital officials said.

The policemen began roaming the town’s Sunni neighborhoods on foot early in the morning, shooting at Sunni residents and homes.

A senior hospital official in Tal Afar said at least 45 men ages 15 to 60 were killed and four others were wounded.

27 March 2007

Truck bombs in Tal Afar...

Two truck bombs simultaneously struck markets in Tal Afar on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens in the second attack on the city in four days.

The attacks occurred about 4 p.m. at popular markets in the northern and central parts of the city, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad. At least 30 people were killed and 50 wounded, city and police officials said, although they could not provide a breakdown of the casualty toll.

Tortured analogy....

Is there out in the country, or out in the Atlantic Ocean, some gigantic monster, big, green, horny-headed—all kinds of horns coming out, big aggressive monster of anti-Hillaryism that hasn‘t shown itself; it‘s based upon gender, the fact that she is a liberal, that she is Bill—and that hasn‘t shown itself, because people are being so nice in the polling, they are saying all the correct things?

Is there an anti-Hillary monster waiting out there that could deliver this nomination, or this election, to someone else?
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So, that monster may be out there in the Atlantic. That monster may be out there.
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OK. Let me ask you, is there a horny-headed green monster out in that ocean that‘s anti-Hillary or anti-woman that is just hiding down there, waiting for the race to get interesting?

The family wants one...

Pat Tillman’s family firmly rejected the Defense Department’s findings into the former NFL star’s friendly-fire death in Afghanistan, calling for congressional investigations into what they see as broad malfeasance and a coverup.

“Perhaps subpoenas are necessary to elicit candor and accuracy from the military,” his family said in a statement Monday night, after hearing the results of the latest probes.

Plan to plead the 5th might not be legally possible. Josh Marshall is up to his neck in the analysis...

26 March 2007

Looks like the latest maneuver by White House staff to use RNC email accounts to avoid official paper trails may backfire when it comes to withholding them using executive privilege..

Think Progress is on the story...

What does it say about this administration when one of their own has so little respect for the truth that they will refuse to answer questions?

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.

Someone at the WH needs to muzzle him. I've never seen someone damage themselves as severly and completely as Abu managed to....

Lots of Repubs rebelled... final vote 329-78

His deputy was caught using the GSA (General Services Administration) to help the GOP in the '08 elections...

Witnesses have told congressional investigators that the chief of the General Services Administration and a deputy in Karl Rove's political affairs office at the White House joined in a videoconference earlier this year with top GSA political appointees, who discussed ways to help Republican candidates.

TPM Cafe has the video of Rep Gary Miller practically begging the city to buy his property -- the property he claims he was "forced" to sell, thus sparing him the responsibility of paying taxes on his gains..

Think Progress has the details...

LOTT: The question is are the Democrats in the Senate interested in information or confrontation. In my mind, I think if the president would agree for his close advisers in the White House to testify before Congress under oath, he’d be making a huge mistake. There is a thing called executive privilege.

LOTT: I think they’ve made a mistake by [invoking executive privilege]. I think it will damage the credibility. It looks like they are hiding something, so I think they shouldn’t have done it. I think it’s an improper use, and the courts will have to decide whether or not that’s a proper use. And it may wind up in the Supreme Court, like it did in the Watergate matter.

Duncan nails it, as does Olbermann's Special Comment...

Move On is a left wing extremist organization because it once held an open contest in which someone submitted an ad which compared Bush to Hitler which they promptly removed after it came to their attention.

And Tom DeLay is a respected former Congressman.

Not exactly a good week...

Military sending still-injured troops back to Iraq to satisfy readiness quotas...

Army deployed seriously injured troops

Soldiers on crutches and canes were sent to a main desert camp used for Iraq training. Military experts say the Army was pumping up manpower statistics to show a brigade was battle ready.

23 March 2007

Supporting our troops, indeed...

Bush appeared at the White House alongside veterans and family members of troops to accuse Democrats of staging nothing more than "political theater" that delays the delivery of resources to soldiers fighting in Iraq. If the spending bill is not approved and signed into law by April 15, Bush said troops and their families “will face significant disruptions.”

Newly released email contradicts his claims of not being involved...

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire several U.S. attorneys in a November meeting, according to documents released Friday 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.

Abu Gone-zales has to be counting the days...

Kyle Sampson, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff, has agreed to testify under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, his lawyer said in a letter to the committee chairman Friday.

"Mr. Sampson looks forward to answering the committee's questions," Bradford Berenson said in a two-paragraph letter. "We trust that his decision to do so will satisfy the need of the Congress to obtain information from him concerning the requested resignations of the United States attorneys."

Sampson, one of several officials who faced a possible subpoena to testify, will appear voluntarily before the committee at 10 a.m. Thursday.

Don't see any winners... just losers...

Dispicable...

A Pentagon investigation will recommend that nine officers, including up to four generals, be held accountable for missteps in the aftermath of the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, senior defense officials said Friday.

The Defense Department inspector general will cite a range of missteps and inappropriate conduct as the military probed the former football star's death on the battlefront in 2004, said one defense official.
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The Army persisted in telling Tillman's family he was killed in a conventional ambush at least 11 days after the death, at his nationally televised memorial service — when dozens of soldiers knew that was not the case.

Many soldiers — those immediately around Tillman at the scene of the shooting, his immediate superiors and high-ranking officers at a command post nearby — knew within minutes or hours that his death was caused by friendly fire. The inspector general's investigation has focused on how high up the chain of command that knowledge went.

Claims that Bush didn't participate in attorney purge cripples executive privilege dodge...

Successfully fight-off weakening of estate tax, ensure the extension of middle class tax cuts...

Conrad’s original budget assumed all the Bush tax cuts expired in 2010, creating a $132 billion surplus in 2012. But Democrats who voted for the 2001 Bush tax cuts, including Max Baucus of Montana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, moved to take that surplus — and more — and devote it to renewing tax cuts aimed at the middle class.
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Democrats defeated Kyl’s amendment because it would have swelled the deficit by $16 billion in 2012 — the year their budget seeks to achieve balance.

The acceptance of deal-cutting shows their dedication to forwarding their progressive agenda...

via Sirotablog

TPM Muckraker has the details of former Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles' plea to lying before Congress..

TPM Muckraker has the goods on the spinelessness of the AG during the illegal domestic spying scandal...

Over the previous 25 years, a total of 10 US Attorneys have been forced out of office -- many for reasons pertaining to personal or professional misconduct...

Alterman nails it...

Like Elvis, Matthews can't help falling in love. And also like the King--who developed a thing for both Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover late in life--the object of Matthews's affection is invariably a tough-talking, self-styled Republican macho-man. And when he gets going on one of these guys, his style of punditry owes more to, say, Tiger Beat or Teen People than the Trilateral Commission.

Think Progress has the video of Noron assuring Leahy that Rove would speak the truth without taking an oath...

O’DONNELL: Well Senator, Tony Snow said today that you guys want the truth. And in this interview, you’re going to get the truth from Karl Rove.

LEAHY: Oh, really?

O’DONNELL: What’s wrong with that?

LEAHY: Oh, really? Oh, really? I’ve not seen any indication that we do. We’re allowed to ask just a few specific questions in a closed session with no transcript? C’mon, I spent –

O’DONNELL: You don’t trust the White House. The bottom line, you don’t trust the White House.

LEAHY: No. I spent eight years as a prosecutor and I know that if you really want to get the truth, and you really want to have a record, you have a transcript, you have people under oath...