CAN WE IMPEACH HIM NOW?

The CIA IG report on warrantless surveillance isn’t the much-anticipated IG report on torture, which will apparently prove that Dick Cheney has been talking out of his hind parts – but there’s plenty in THIS report to keep us busy for a while

http://washingtonindependent.com/50519/the-bush-administrations-secret-presidents-surveillance-program
The Bush Administration’s Secret ‘President’s Surveillance Program’

http://bushpsp.notlong.com
[AP] The Bush administration built an unprecedented surveillance operation to pull in mountains of information far beyond the warrantless wiretapping previously acknowledged, a team of federal inspectors general reported Friday, questioning the legal basis for the effort but shielding almost all details on grounds they're still too secret to reveal. . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/us/11nsa.html
[NYT] While the Bush administration had defended its program of wiretapping without warrants as a vital tool that saved lives, a new government review released Friday said the program’s effectiveness in fighting terrorism was unclear. . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/10/AR2009071002536.html
[WP] "Extraordinary and inappropriate" secrecy about a warrantless eavesdropping program undermined its effectiveness as a terrorism-fighting tool, government watchdogs have concluded in the first examination of one of the most contentious episodes of the Bush administration. . . .

More: http://washingtonindependent.com/50414/most-psp-leads-were-determined-not-to-have-any-connection-to-terrorism

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/07/10/both-of-cheneys-illegal-programs-were-not-effective/

http://washingtonindependent.com/50390/cia-played-a-leading-role-in-warrantless-surveillance

Was it legal?

http://washingtonindependent.com/50490/feingold-legal-memos-on-blatantly-illegal-surveillance-still-in-place
[Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI)] “This report leaves no doubt that the warrantless wiretapping program was blatantly illegal and an unconstitutional assertion of executive power. I once again call on the Obama administration and its Justice Department to withdraw the flawed legal memoranda that justified the program and that remain in effect today.”

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/07/10/surveillance_report/index.html
[Gabriel Winant] Most notably, at the urging of Vice President Cheney, President Bush recertified the program without the consent of the Department of Justice, outraging Deputy Attorney General James Comey. In fact, for two years, no one in the DOJ who ranked below deputy attorney general even knew about the program, with one exception: John Yoo, who was somewhat mysteriously tasked with writing legal opinions in defense of the operation. (Indeed, Ambinder says, it's not even clear that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft knew that Yoo was providing the department's legal opinions on the program.) . . . [read on]

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/07/10/gonzales_letter/index.html
[Alex Koppelman] The battle between the Bush White House and the Bush DOJ over wiretapping was already public. In 2007, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey confirmed to the Senate that the fight had at one point become truly nasty. In March of 2004, with then Attorney General John Ashcroft severely ill and in the hospital, Comey was serving as acting attorney general. In that role, he was called upon to recertify the program, but due to concerns within DOJ about its legality, he refused.

That refusal culminated in an argument with then White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, who came to Ashcroft's hospital room in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to do the recertification. The dispute continued for about a week after that, and ended only when the White House agreed to certain changes insisted upon by the DOJ -- after Ashcroft, Comey, their top deputies and FBI Director Robert Mueller had all prepared to resign.

In the meantime, the president recertified the program himself, with Gonzales' signature going where Ashcroft or Comey's would have. And Comey sent a memorandum to the White House counsel in order to provide advice to Bush. The IGs' report contains an excerpt of Gonzales' response, which appears not to have been public before this, in which he essentially told Comey and the DOJ to go do something anatomically impossible:

Your memorandum appears to have been based on a misunderstanding of the President's expectations regarding the conduct of the Department of Justice. While the President was, and remains, interested in any thoughts the Department of Justice may have on alternative ways to achieve effectively the goals of the activities authorized by the Presidential Authorization of March 11, 2004, the President has addressed definitively for the Executive Branch in the Presidential Authorization the interpretation of the law.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/wh_counsel_gonzo_to_doj_when_we_said_we_cared_about.php
[Zachary Roth] In other words, Gonzo, on behalf of the White House, is telling Comey and DOJ: You don't understand. When we said we were interested in DOJ's opinion about what's legal and what's not, we were only kidding. We've already decided for ourselves.

It's easy to see why, the following year, President Bush decided to simplify the process by just installing Gonzales to run the Justice Department.

More: http://washingtonindependent.com/50398/yoo-and-only-yoo-knew-about-surveillance

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/07/10/was-porter-goss-briefed-on-things-pelosi-and-harman-werent/

Things we knew

http://washingtonindependent.com/50431/gonzales-testimony-on-surveillance-was-confusing-inaccurate-and-misleading
[Spencer Ackerman] Ah, Alberto Gonzales. After the then-Attorney General presented a slippery account to the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 2007 of, among other subjects, the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance efforts, a group of Democratic senators quickly moved to investigate Gonzales for perjury. The immediate issue was Gonzales’ assertion that Justice Department employees did not have “reservations” or “concerns” about the legality of the surveillance efforts, when, in fact, former deputy attorney general James Comey had testified in May 2007 that he refused to certify the efforts as legal in March 2004. Most senior Justice and FBI officials even threatened to quit when the administration sought to override Comey.

So what does today’s Inspectors General report say about Gonzales? . . .

The DOJ [Inspector General] concluded that Gonzales did not intend to mislead Congress, but it found that his testimony was confusing, inaccurate, and had the effect of misleading those who were not knowledgeable about the program.

Things we didn’t know: did they even lie to Bush?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/was_bush_kept_in_the_dark_on_doj_concerns_about_su.php
[Zachary Roth] One passage on the IGs report on surveillance suggests something that perhaps shouldn't come as a surprise -- that President Bush was kept in the dark by members of the White House staff about about serious objections to the surveillance program raised by others in the administration. . . . [read on]

The hospital visit

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/bush_personally_sent_card_and_gonzo_to_ashcrofts_h.php
This great catch by Marcy Wheeler might be the most shocking nugget of all from the IGs report on surveillance.

The report goes into some detail about that famous visit made by Andy Card and Alberto Gonzales to then-AG John Ashcroft, when Ashcroft was in the hospital, and essentially incapacitated, after gall bladder surgery. The White House needed the Attorney General's sign-off to continue its warrantless wiretapping program.

For years, there's been a mystery about who called the hospital and informed Ashcroft's wife, over her objections, that Card and Gonzo would be coming to see the AG. And it looks like the answer is the president himself. . . .

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/07/10/george-bush-personally-sent-card-and-gonzales-to-thug-up-ashcroft/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/07/10/gonzales-knew-ashcroft-was-too-sick-to-reauthorize-the-program-but-asked-him-to-anyway/

http://washingtonindependent.com/50466/bush-personally-ordered-visit-to-ashcrofts-hospital-bed

No, it still gets better

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/white_house_slipped_in_key_passage_to_cia_threat_a.php
According to the former DCI [Director of Central Intelligence] Chief of Staff, he directed CIA terrorism analysts to prepare objective appraisals of the current terrorist threat, focusing primarily on threats to the U.S. homeland, and to document those appraisals in a memorandum. Initially, the analysts who prepared the threat assessments were not read into the PSP [President's Surveillance Program] and did not know how the threat assessments would be used. . . .

After the terrorism analysts completed their portion of the memoranda, the DCI Chief of Staff added a paragraph at the end of the memoranda stating that the individuals and organizations involved in global terrorism (and discussed in the memoranda) possessed the capability and intention to undertake further terrorist attacks within the United States. The DCI Chief of Staff recalled that the paragraph was provided to him by a senior White House official. The paragraph included the DCI's recommendation to the President that he authorize the NSA to conduct surveillance activities under the PSP.

[Zachary Roth] It looks like it was this slipped-in paragraph, inserted by that unnamed "senior White house official," that was used to provide the justification for the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance.

[NB: Let's be clear about what this means. The White House (Cheney's office, I assume) was inserting text into CIA reports that they then pointed to as evidence supporting the policies they wanted to implement.]

More key nuggets: here’s what bloggers do -- use distributed energies to comb through documents like these and then combine their collective efforts, far beyond what any single reporter could do

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/07/nsa_surveillance_program_report.php

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/07/10/working-thread-on-warrantless-wiretapping-ig-report/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/10/752189/-Wiretapping-Report-Released

The full report: http://washingtonindependent.com/50380/the-inspector-generals-report-on-warrantless-surveillance

More to come?

http://washingtonindependent.com/50443/stuff-thats-missing-from-the-inspectors-general-report-on-warrantless-surveillance
Stuff That’s Missing From the Inspectors General Report on Warrantless Surveillance . . .

OK, now while we wait for the OTHER report from the CIA IG, on torture, let’s consider the possibility that the debate over waterboarding, awful as it is, has actually deflected attention from other crimes that were even worse

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/07/10/cia-sticks-with-its-waterboarding-shiny-object-strategy/

“The Family.” Let’s see, a secret Christian society joining Senators, government officials, and others in a cloister of mutual advice and conspiracy. Nope, nothing to worry about here

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/rachel-maddow-show-christian-conservatisms

More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#31857408

And both John Ensign and Mark Sanford were part of it – so you can see what a great job they did in promoting Christian values amongst their members

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/ensigns_weirdest_moment.php
[Josh Marshall] Ensign is a member of something called the C Street group, which is part of a highly secretive religious outfit called 'The Family'. It's a combo religious fellowship and Capitol Hill group home where a number of Republican members of Congress live. And it's run by a guy named Doug Coe. (Because the comedy never stops, remember that Gov. Sanford too is a member of the C Street group/Family.) In one of the more surreal episodes in this whole drama, while folks from 'The Family', including Sen. Coburn (R-OK), were trying to get Ensign to end his relationship with the girlfriend and write her and her husband a big check.

So Ensign agrees to do this. But the members of his fellowship had so little trust he could follow through that they had him write out a letter to the mistress that he was ending the relationship and then drove him to the local Fedex office to make sure he actually dropped the letter in the box. So he does that. But then after he shakes them loos he calls the mistress to tell her his friends made him write the letter and to ignore it. . . .

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/07/10/pressure_grows_on_ensign.html
Senate leaders generally refused comment on Sen. John Ensign's (R-NV) admission that he paid nearly $100,000 to the family of his mistress but the Las Vegas Sun says GOP support for the embattled senator was dwindling.

One Nevada GOP consultant told Roll Call that the math on the figures released "does not appear to add up and expressed concern that there were additional, still-undisclosed payments. "

Said the consultant: "Watching the money trail is going to be important... The sense is it's still not over." . . .

A "clown show": http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/07/clown-show-forges

Like all good Republican hypocrites, Sarah Palin loves to slam any hint of criticism from the “liberal media,” “partisan Democrats,” etc. But her toughest criticisms have always come from people in her own party. Watch Peggy Noonan go after her

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124716984620819351.html
Her history does not need to be rehearsed at any length. Ten months ago she was embraced with friendliness by her party. The left and the media immediately overplayed their hand, with attacks on her children. The party rallied round, as a party should. She went on the trail a sensation but demonstrated in the ensuing months that she was not ready to go national and in fact never would be. She was hungry, loved politics, had charm and energy, loved walking onto the stage, waving and doing the stump speech. All good. But she was not thoughtful. She was a gifted retail politician who displayed the disadvantages of being born into a point of view (in her case a form of conservatism; elsewhere and in other circumstances, it could have been a form of liberalism) and swallowing it whole: She never learned how the other sides think, or why.

In television interviews she was out of her depth in a shallow pool. She was limited in her ability to explain and defend her positions, and sometimes in knowing them. She couldn't say what she read because she didn't read anything. She was utterly unconcerned by all this and seemed in fact rather proud of it: It was evidence of her authenticity. She experienced criticism as both partisan and cruel because she could see no truth in any of it. She wasn't thoughtful enough to know she wasn't thoughtful enough. Her presentation up to the end has been scattered, illogical, manipulative and self-referential to the point of self-reverence. "I'm not wired that way," "I'm not a quitter," "I'm standing up for our values." I'm, I'm, I'm.

In another age it might not have been terrible, but here and now it was actually rather horrifying. . . . [read on]

More: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/07/the_losers_who_gave_us_sarah_palin.php

Heh

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/vulnerable-republicans-want-palin-to-stay-home-2009-07-09.html
Republicans facing tough elections in 2010 don’t want Sarah Palin campaigning with them.

Though the soon-to-be-former Alaska governor is seen as popular with the conservative grass roots, several Republicans said she’d help them by staying home in Wasilla. . . .

Saraphobia? We don’t fear her: we ridicule her, and hold her in contempt

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/terra_of_sarah.php
[Josh Marshall] I never fail to be amazed and amused that many right-wingers and Palinatics genuinely believe that everyone who thinks Palin is a grifter or a clown is actually afraid of her. As in when Bill Kristol recently wrote that Palin's critics "tend not only to dislike and disdain Palin, they also want to bury her chances now as a presidential possibility. What are they so scared of?" . . . [read on]

You know, there are worse things than being stupid, shallow, and narcissistic

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/missing-point-by-tristero-i-think-great.html
[Tristero] All true. But what's missing from this list are Palin's ties to radical extremists, fanatical christianists, and even secessionists. Had Palin been experienced, articulate, knowledgeable, reliable, and a paragon of empathy, nevertheless, her delusional, far-right political views should have immediately disqualified her from serious consideration as a national candidate. . . . [read on]

Take the money and run?

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/10/johnston-palin-wanted-to-take-the-money-forget-everything-else/
Sarah Palin wanted to take the money and "just run with it," the father of her grandchild said Thursday.

Levi Johnston told reporters the Alaska governor was stepping down early to take advantage of millions in potential earnings. According to the Anchorage Daily News, the 19-year-old said that late last year he heard Palin say "how nice it would be to take some of this money people have been offering us and just run with it, and saying forget everything else."

He pointed to talk show offers and other potentially lucrative deals.

Earlier this week, Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein told the Washington Post that the governor had received "hundreds of credible offers since the campaign," including Hollywood projects, but had not taken advantage of any except her book deal. Johnston said that even the Palin children had been fielding offers. . . .

How can you build a bipartisan agreement on health care with people who think MEDICARE was a mistake?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_07/019011.php

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/10/752265/-Blunt-Instrument

Yet again Democrats undermine their own popular President – and block the will of the people

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/blue-dogs-we-can-not-support-house-health-legislation-without-significant-progress.php
Facing a deluge of letters from (mainly conservative) party members, House leaders have delayed unveiling their health care reform bill for at least a few days as they address a number of members' concerns. But the prime mover in their decision seems to have been pressure from Blue Dog Democrats, who delivered a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer last night. . . .

What do they want? http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/blue-dog-lament-by-dday-as-you-may-know.html

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/07/blue-dogs-object-to-house-bills-cost-cost-control-measures.php

Stupidity? Dishonesty? Or both?

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/07/plotting-wingnuts.html

Bonus item: David Brooks says he was fondled by a prominent Republican Senator. Tell! Tell!

http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=2924961

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:47 AM

 
SECRET SHARERS

CIA chief Leon Panetta admits that the CIA did hide a secret program from Congress, starting in 2001. What was it?

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/07/what_did_the_cia_hide_from_congress.php
[Marc Ambinder] It's inevitable, now, that we'll soon be provided with a fairly full accounting of the covert program that director Leon Panetta discovered, stopped, and brought to Congress's attention. All the major intellireporters are on the trail. There are plenty of former IC folks who are willing to hint about the details, provided they're asked the right questions.

I don't know what the program is. No one I asked would shed any light on it. From the reports of others, though, and from guesswork derived from a knowledge of what the CIA is chartered to do (provide exclusive political intelligence (that can only be clandestinely obtained) to our political leaders about major developments), I can come up with a few possibilities. . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/09/AR2009070903017.html
The program remains classified, and those knowledgeable about it would describe it only vaguely yesterday. Several current and former administration officials called it an "on-again, off-again" attempt to create a new intelligence capability and said it was related to the collection of information on suspected terrorists that was instituted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Congressional Republicans said no briefing about the program was required because it was not a major tool used against al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. They accused Democrats of using the matter to divert attention away from Pelosi's accusation that CIA officials intentionally misled her in 2002 about the agency's interrogations of suspected terrorists.

But Democrats waved away such claims and said they may open a congressional investigation of the concealment of the program. . . .

The John Ensign (R-NV) saga of adultery and bribery takes an amazing new turn

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/9/751687/-Coburn-pledges-not-to-reveal-what-he-just-revealed
[Fellow Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK)] "I was counseling him as a physician and as an ordained deacon. ... That is privileged communication that I will never reveal to anybody. Not to the Ethics Committee, not to a court of law, not to anybody," Coburn said.

[Statement from Tom Coburn's office] "Dr. Coburn did everything he could to encourage Senator Ensign to end his affair and to persuade Senator Ensign to repair the damage he had caused to his own marriage and the Hampton’s marriage. Had Senator Ensign followed Dr. Coburn’s advice, this episode would have ended, and been made public, long ago."

What did he counsel him? http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/coburn_denies_that_he_urged_ensign_to_pay_restitut.php
[Roll Call] Coburn repeatedly denied allegations that he urged Ensign to pay Doug Hampton, the husband of his mistress Cynthia, millions in hush money following a confrontation with Hampton. . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/ensign_still_bringing_dirty_laundry_home_to_be_was.php
[Ensign’s lawyer] has just released a remarkable statement saying that Ensign's parents paid the Hamptons $96,000 after the 51-year-old senator told his Mom and Dad about the affair.

The senator's father, Mike Ensign, is a casino mogul who sold his shares in the Mandalay Group for around $300 million earlier this decade.

The statement is a response to Doug Hampton's claim that Ensign paid a severance package of over $25,000 to Cindy Hampton when she left his political committee -- which would be a felony violation of campaign finance law if he wasn't reimbursed. A good government group called today for a criminal probe into the matter. . . .

More: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/07/09/ensign/index.html

[NB: So Ensign didn’t pay hush money – oops, sorry – restitution to the people whose marriage he destroyed. HE HAD HIS MOMMY AND DADDY DO IT. And, oh yeah, they’re calling it a “gift.”]

The GOP has consistently abused “holds” to delay Obama appointees they can’t vote down. Even Harry Reid is getting sick of it

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/reid-refuses-to-honor-republican-holds-on-census-nominee.php

PA-thetic

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hjreRDJxeBRyOmPbUEi1O9EuYyRgD99B2BEO0
[AP] Republicans plan to call a white firefighter whose reverse discrimination claim was rejected by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor to testify against her. . . .

The kind of people they (still) are

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/demint-america-is-like-germany-before-wwii.php
America these days is reminding Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) of Nazi Germany. . . .

“School reform,” Texas-style

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/naming-someone-who-hates-public-schoo
Naming Someone Who Hates Public Schools to Head the State Ed Board? Gov. Perry, You Can't Be Serious!

Good news

http://washingtonindependent.com/50295/burris-wont-run-in-2010
Roland Burris, the scandal-plagued accidental senator from Illinois, will not seek his own term in the Senate . . .

More good news

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/minnesota-gop-writes-big-check-toal-franken.php
The Minnesota Republican Party has tied off a remaining loose end from the epic, eight-month battle to determine a winner in the 2008 Minnesota Senate race, sending Democratic Sen. Al Franken's campaign a check for almost $96,000 that was owed to him by Republican former Sen. Norm Coleman's campaign. . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/poll-colemans-numbers-in-minnesota-are-lousy-damaged-by-recount-fight.php
So now that former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) finally conceded the much-litigated 2008 Senate race to Democrat Al Franken, and Franken was sworn into office six months into the term, does Coleman have a political future as he reportedly eyes a run for Governor in 2010? A new survey of Minnesota by Public Policy Polling (D) suggests that Coleman has still got a long way to go if he wants to come back.

The numbers: Coleman's favorable rating is only 38%, with 52% viewing him unfavorably. . . .

We knew Sean Hannity was an ideologue – it’s his job. But shouldn’t a “news channel” have higher journalistic standards than this? Not at Fox News, apparently

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_07/018995.php

Bonus item: “Pullin a Palin”

http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/open-thread-10

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:24 AM

 
UNTRUTHFUL

Yes, the CIA did lie to Congress

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/silvestre-reyes-cia-lied-to-congress/
[CQ] In a Tuesday letter to his committee's top-ranking Republican, Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, that was obtained by Congressional Quarterly, Reyes, D-Texas, wrote that the committee has recently received information that reveals significant problems with the intelligence agency's reporting to the panel.

"These notifications have led me to conclude this committee has been misled, has not been provided full and complete notifications, and (in at least one occasion) was affirmatively lied to," Reyes wrote. . . .

More: http://washingtonindependent.com/50111/six-members-of-congress-say-panetta-testified-that-cia-misled-congress

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/certain-officers/

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/07/lying-congress

Several of the reasons Sarah Palin gave for quitting her job as governor turn out to be . . . not true. Gee

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/only_three_palin_ethics_complaint_were_still_pendi.php
[Zachary Roth] If you had to pick out a coherent explanation given by Sarah Palin for her decision to quit as Alaska governor, you'd probably have to settle on the notion that she felt her agenda was being paralyzed by frivolous ethics complaints, and that she only foresaw additional ones. So she stepped down so as not to continue to drag Alaskans through the process. . . .

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/republican-party/key-reason-palin-gave-for-quitting-appears-to-be-false/
[Greg Sargent] One of the chief reasons Sarah Palin has given for resigning as Governor of Alaska is that her state’s taxpayers are being forced to spend money defending her government against ethics complaints that would otherwise fund teachers, cops, and road repair. . . .

Take the money, and run

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/not_a_vote_of_support.php
Sarah Palin, says David Frum, "quit to cash in. . . .”

More: http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/sarah-palins-not-just-quitter-shes-p

“I’m not a whiner. I’m not! Why do you keep saying that I am?”

http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/late-night-palinoia-will-destroy-ya-also/
[SP] I’m trying to make it clear that the criticism, I invite that. . . .

[NB: Uh-huh . . .. r-i-i-i-i-g-h-t]

Political opponents tend to characterize votes for cloture (that is, the vote to have a vote on an item) as a vote FOR the bill, even if the voter for cloture actually votes against the bill when it comes for a vote. Now the Dem leadership is trying to tell their members to use their 60-vote majority to force cloture on bills so they can get a 50-plus-one majority on the bill itself. Good idea. Won’t work

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/in-reversal-senate-dem-leadership-pushes-for-unity-against-filibuster.php
Senate Dem Leadership Pushes For Unity Against Filibuster . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/senate-democratic-leaders-want-party-unity-against-filibusters--can-they-get-it.php
Senate Democratic Leaders Want Party Unity Against Filibusters--Can They Get It? . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/07/08/filibuster/index.html
Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Evan Bayh, D-Ind. have all said they won't rule out voting in favor of a Republican filibuster. . . . [read on]

Progressive pressure works (sometimes)

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/the-calls-worked-rahm-backs-off-triggers-at-house-democratic-caucus-meeting/
The Calls Worked: Rahm Backs Off Triggers At House Democratic Caucus Meeting . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_07/018986.php
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D) of Arkansas hasn't exactly been a reliable champion of progressive policy goals. In the context of the debate over health care, Lincoln has been one of the least likely Democrats to support the public option endorsed by most Democratic lawmakers, the president, and the public.

With that in mind, Lincoln's op-ed in today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette struck an interesting note. . . .

More on the police riot at a Dem fundraiser

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/leaked-police-report-sheds-light-on-raided-busby-event.php
[Eric Kleefeld] A preliminary police report that has been leaked to the media . . . shows that the noise complaint originated from a house nearby, with the caller incensed over "a loud Democratic rally with loudspeakers." . . .

The Sheriff's deputy arrived about 45 minutes after that, and things got ugly. By the time it was over, multiple people had been pepper-sprayed, one of the hostesses and a guest were arrested, and a full Sheriff's Department backup had come in, including even dogs and a helicopter -- to deal with a crowd of middle-aged Democratic donors.

The police report says that Deputy Marshall G. Abbott used his pepper spray because he felt threatened by guests who were surrounding him. It also says that he ended up with "several scratches and minor swelling on both of his arms."

Busby and others who attended the event believe that the caller is probably the same person as an unidentified heckler who shouted obscenities and anti-gay slurs at the assembled crowd. . . [read on]

Rove testifies. What next?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/rove_testifies_but_next_steps_in_probe_remain_murk.php

“The Family”

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/tom-coburn-and-the-family-tried-to-buy-off-ensigns-mistress/
[Las Vegas Sun] Hampton and Ensign were bonded by their conservative evangelical faith. Hampton said he reached out to intermediaries involved in a Christian fellowship home in Washington, D.C., where Ensign and several other powerful Washington figures live.

The group, including Coburn, a well-known conservative, confronted Ensign and suggested that the Hamptons needed to be given financial assistance -- in the millions of dollars -- to pay off their $1 million-plus mortgage and move them to a new life away from Ensign. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0709/Coburn_says_told_Ensign_to_end_affair.html

http://washingtonindependent.com/50099/report-coburn-urged-ensign-to-pay-millions-to-mistress

Michael Steele is just a pathetic excuse for a leader. Time and again he dips his toe across the line of party orthodoxy, and time and again he is forced to immediately take it back

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/7/750933/-Steele-writes-off-Palin...then-writes-her-back-in
On Fox, Michael takes a 2012 Palin presidential campaign off the table:

Not having talked to the governor, I take 2012 off the table right now.

Then, a few hours later, his spokeswoman puts it back on the table:

Steele was saying this morning that TALKING about 2012 is off the table...Palin has said that everything is on the table. Steele takes no issue with that.

They don’t like democracy – really, they don’t

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/8/751257/-The-conservative-disdain-for-democracy
[Pat Buchanan] "I put democracy far down the line. I think a devoutly Christian, conservative, traditionalist country—even if it’s a monarchy—is fine with me. . . . [read on for more]

More: http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=07&year=2009&base_name=tucker_carlson_not_such_a_big#115767

The kind of people they are

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/8/751312/-Just-an-old-fashioned-George-Wallace-kind-of-summer
[SusanG] More evidence of that post-racial society conservatives are constantly lauding . . .

"I heard this lady, she was like, 'Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?' She's like, 'I'm scared they might do something to my child,'" said camper Dymire Baylor.

The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers' first visit to the pool suggested otherwise.

"When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool," Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. "The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately."

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/glad_he_cleared_that_up.php
We've gotten an explanation from Rep. Steve King (R-IA) for why he was the lone vote against acknowledging the role of slaves in building the U.S. Capitol. He did it to protest "a several year effort by liberals in Congress to scrub references to America's Christian heritage from our nation's Capitol":

Our Judeo-Christian heritage is an essential foundation stone of our great nation and should not be held hostage to yet another effort to place guilt on future Americans for the sins of some of their ancestors.

http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/09/your-modern-republican-party/
He's now been joined by known television genius Fox & Friends, Brian Kilmeade:

"We are — we keep marrying other species and other ethnics and other ... See, the problem is the Swedes have pure genes. Because they marry other Swedes .... Fins marry other Fins, so they have a pure society."

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_07/018987.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:42 AM

 
THE DEPARTMENT OF LAW

You know, we used to say that things like this were straight out of “1984.” But that was 25 years ago – so perhaps we’ve already passed the point of no return. The Obama Defense Dept now is saying that while detainees can get a trial, it doesn’t really matter whether they’re acquitted or not. You have to read this twice to believe it, but it’s true

http://washingtonindependent.com/49886/johnson-opens-the-door-to-post-acquittal-detentions
[Spencer Ackerman] Defense Department General Counsel Jeh Johnson moved the Obama administration into new territory from a civil liberties perspective. Asked by Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) the politically difficult but entirely fair question about whether terrorism detainees acquitted in courts could be released in the United States, Johnson said that “as a matter of legal authority,” the administration’s powers to detain someone under the law of war don’t expire for a detainee after he’s acquitted in court. . . .

Karl Rove is finally deposed by House Judiciary Committee lawyers (for eight and a half hours) – and soon we’ll get to see the transcript

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24668.html

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/07/07/anyone-having-2006-flashbacks/

Harry Reid grows some

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/07/07/reid-to-baucus-stop-chasing-gop-votes-on-health-care/
Reid, whose leadership is considered crucial if President Barack Obama is to deliver on his promise of enacting health care reform this year, offered the directive to Baucus through an intermediary after consulting with Senate Democratic leaders during Tuesday morning’s regularly scheduled leadership meeting. Baucus was meeting with Finance ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) Tuesday afternoon to relay the information.

According to Democratic sources, Reid told Baucus that taxing health benefits and failing to include a strong government-run insurance option of some sort in his bill would cost 10 to 15 Democratic votes; Reid told Baucus it wasn’t worth securing the support of Grassley and at best a few additional Republicans.

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/reid-to-baucus-ditch-efforts-at-bipartisanship.php

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/7/7/184129/6986

Health care – with triggers?

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/07/07/rahm-white-house-open-to-triggers/
[WSJ] Mr. Emanuel said one of several ways to meet President Barack Obama's goals is a mechanism under which a public plan is introduced only if the marketplace fails to provide sufficient competition on its own. He noted that congressional Republicans crafted a similar trigger mechanism when they created a prescription-drug benefit for Medicare in 2003. . . .

Hell No! http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/07/07/sen-sanders-emanuel-is-dead-wrong/

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/trigger-finger-by-digby-so-latest.html

Hard ball

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/a_crackdown.php
[From a knowledgeable source on the Hill] Now that they have 60, Reid and Durbin need to remind Dem members that when your Leader files cloture, you support him. If you want political cover, vote against final passage. Fine. But opposing cloture means you're supporting a filibuster of your party's agenda.

From what I hear, they started delivering that message, if a softer version of it, earlier today.

Smart boy

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/frankens-first-act-co-sponsoring-the-employee-free-choice-act.php
Franken's First Act: Co-Sponsoring The Employee Free Choice Act

The kind of people they are – a low point (so far) in the fight against Sonia Sotomayor

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/6/750547/-The-Angel-Of-Death

Dan Froomkin joins the Huffington gang. The Washington Post’s loss is our gain

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/07/07/froomkin/index.html

Meanwhile, the serious press shows why people like Froomkin are expendable

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/6/750594/-Political-News-You-Wont-Want-To-Miss
[ABC] Is Malia Obama following in the fashionista footsteps of her mother, First Lady Michelle Obama, and flashing designer duds? . . .

South Carolina Republicans vote overwhelmingly to censure Gov. Mark Sanford. Why is this GOOD news for him?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/07/07/sanford_censure/index.html
It took four hours and several rounds of voting, but on Monday night the South Carolina Republican Party eventually voted to censure Mark Sanford, who's not only their state's governor, but a member of their party.

The vote was in some ways actually a victory for Sanford: The party could have voted to officially call for his resignation instead. . . .

Michael Steele warns Sarah Palin: don’t even THINK about running for President in 2012

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/07/07/steele_palin/index.html

With the passage of time, it’s becoming more clear which sections of Palin’s meandering resignation speech revealed her actual motivations for quitting

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/2009/07/full-text-of-palins-resignation-speech.php
“Over the past nine months I've been accused of all sorts of frivolous ethics violations - such as holding a fish in a photograph, wearing a jacket with a logo on it, and answering reporters' questions.

Every one - all 15 of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. We've won! But it hasn't been cheap - the State has wasted THOUSANDS of hours of YOUR time and shelled out some two million of YOUR dollars to respond to "opposition research" - that's money NOT going to fund teachers or troopers - or safer roads. And this political absurdity, the "politics of personal destruction" ... Todd and I are looking at more than half a million dollars in legal bills in order to set the record straight . . .”

http://www.adn.com/sarah-palin/story/855907.html
Gov. Sarah Palin, three days after abruptly announcing she would resign as governor, said Monday that she did it because ethics complaints and politically ambitious state legislators would have been paralyzing. . . .

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/07/taking-sarah-face-value
[ABC] "You know conditions have really changed in Alaska in the political arena since Aug. 29, since I was tapped to run for VP. When that opposition research — those researchers really bombarded Alaska — started digging for dirt and have not let up. They're not gonna find any dirt," she said. "We keep proving that every time we win an ethics violation lawsuit and we've won every one of them. But it has been costing our state millions of dollars. It's cost Todd and me. You know the adversaries would love to see us put on the path of personal bankruptcy so that we can't afford to run." [read on]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/jul/07/sarah-palin-department-of-law
She spoke with ABC news, which just posted the lamentable results this morning. Here's the salient passage:

But as for whether another pursuit of national office, as she did less than a year ago when she joined Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the race for the White House, would result in the same political blood sport, Palin said there is a difference between the White House and what she has experienced in Alaska. If she were in the White House, she said, the "department of law" would protect her from baseless ethical allegations.

"I think on a national level, your department of law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out," she said.

[NB: Yes, the Department of Law. In the White House. This is someone John McCain thought would make a pretty good VP. Palin’s taking a lot of online ribbing for this gaffe, and deservedly so. But the equivalent office in Alaska IS called the Department of Law, so maybe it’s an understandable slip – and that’s the last fair-minded thing you’ll hear from me where this nut is concerned.]

[Michael Tomasky] But - and this is in some ways the more interesting point, aside from the basic stupidity - it is neither institution's role to "automatically" throw out ethics allegations against the chief executive. I can understand that maybe that's how it seemed to her in the Bush-Cheney era. But that really isn't how it works.

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/fishtacular-palin-gives-first-interviews-since-announcing-resignation.php

Palin keeps claiming that none of the ethics cases has gone against her, but that’s not true

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/07/07/palin-misrepresents-ethics-complaint-dismissal-record/
[Emptywheel] Perhaps Sarah Palin has forgotten the most extensive and professional investigation performed of all, the one by longtime Alaska prosecutor Steven Branchflower, appointed by the Legislative Council of the Alaska State Legislature, which found that Sarah Palin Unlawfully Abused Her Power . . .

The Branchflower report was not the only problem Palin had before she quit her brief tenure as Governor. Oh no, there is also the matter of the travel expenses she attempted to bilk her state out of and that she was forced to repay . . .

I wondered this too

http://www.americablog.com/2009/07/sarah-watch.html
[John Aravosis] First Dudette says ethics complaints led to her resignation. I suspect that's closer to the truth than she's admitting. Meaning, I still think someone worked out a deal that Palin resigns and they drop the charges. . . .

No deal? Here comes ANOTHER “frivolous” ethics investigation

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/07/AR2009070702711.html
Within days of resigning from office, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) is facing a new ethics complaint . . .

Drama queen

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/07/palin_politically_speaking_if_i_die_i_die.php
"I said before ... 'You know, politically speaking, if I die, I die. So be it,'" she said.

Ah, the Alaska life – now that I've quit as governor I can go back to slaying salmon

http://www.kansascity.com/440/story/1309236.html
"Grateful Todd left fishing grnds to join me this wkend; but now he's back slaying salmon & working the kids (at) the site; anxious to join 'em!"

Bonus item: my totally unfair re-editing of Palin comments

"Grateful Todd left fishing grnds to join me this wkend; but now he's back slaying salmon & working the kids (at) the site; anxious to join 'em! . . . if I die, I die. So be it.”

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 5:53 AM

 
DISARMED

The pro-Palin pushback begins

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/coulter-thinks-palins-resignation-wa
Coulter thinks Palin's resignation was a brilliant move: 'She is too big for the position now' . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/2009/07/palins-attorney-her-resignation-is-self-sacrifice.php
Palin's Attorney: Her Resignation Is "Self-Sacrifice" . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/07/06/palin_reax/index.html
[Rush] I don't think this precludes her running for office down the road, the Presidency, in 2012, at all. I think these people saying she's an instant target because she quit is just inside-the-Beltway formulaic. And she's not that .... [I]t boils down to this. When you have so many establishment types, inside the Beltway, establishment, elitist types .... just so eager to destroy this woman, it means they're still scared to death of her, and that to me, is the bottom line. . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/06/AR2009070602251.html
[Bill Kristol] It's a wide-open race. And Palin may not even run. But the panic among mainstream media commentators and the GOP establishment suggests real worry that if she does, she might pull off an upset. Why else the vehement assertions that she's clearly made a terrible mistake? Why else the categorical insistence that her political career is finished? Aren't they all protesting too much? . . .

For psychological and sociological reasons too deep for me to grasp, a good chunk of elite America hates Sarah Palin and what they've decided she stands for. But if she wears their scorn as a badge of honor, comports herself with good cheer and personal dignity, studies up on national issues and takes the lead in selected debates on behalf of conservative principles against Obama administration policies, she has a shot.

If she's as foolish, erratic and even nutty as her critics claim, then of course she'll fail. If she performs well, she may succeed. If you have an anti-mainstream-media and anti-GOP-establishment bone in your body, it's hard not to root for her at least a bit.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/buchanan-and-brzezinski-play-victim-card-s
Mika and Pat go on a fact free pity party for poor Sarah Palin who was just so wrongfully savaged by the main stream media . . .

OK, a few more slam jobs, just to keep balance

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/jul/06/sarahpalin-resignation-future
The Embarracudah's future . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/04/AR2009070402254_pf.html
Bailout, Palin-Style

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/opinion/05dowd.html
Sarah’s Folly . . .

My kind of blogger

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/blogger-threatened-palin-lawsuit-brin
Blogger Threatened With Palin Lawsuit: Bring it on, Sarah . . .

What next for Palin?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/07/06/palin_campaigning/index.html
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin hasn't exactly been clear on her reasons for resigning, or what she plans to do to "effect positive change outside government at this moment in time, on another scale, and actually make a difference for our priorities." . . . [read on]

This is a good thing, right?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/06/AR2009070600784.html
President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reached a preliminary agreement Monday to cut the American and Russian nuclear arsenals by as much as a third while exploring options for cooperation on missile defense. . . .

More: http://www.slate.com/id/2222286/

Getting deep in the weeds on the prospects for real health care reform

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/democrats_in_congress_/2009/07/help_on_the_way_health_care_and_budget_reconciliation.php
Paul Krugman celebrates the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee's recent draft legislation . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_07/018943.php
Schumer predicts public option. . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/here-we-go-by-digby-im-surprised-he.html
[WSJ] It is more important that health-care legislation inject stiff competition among insurance plans than it is for Congress to create a pure government-run option, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Monday. . . . [read on]

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/07/healthy_prognosis_for_health_care_reform.php
Healthier Rx For Health Care Reform . . .

http://washingtonindependent.com/49751/health-reform-by-august-looking-less-likely
Health Reform by August? Looking Less Likely . . .

Gee, think there will be breathless commentary from the Broder faction about the Republicans’ lack of commitment to bipartisanship?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_07/018948.php
The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne Jr. noted last week that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) of Iowa, arguably the top Republican negotiator on health care reform, is "under immense pressure from Republican colleagues not to deal at all." . . . [read on]

One of the many problems bedeviling the GOP these days is an unleashed and unhinged core – the people who think Rush Limbaugh is a policy genius, Joe the Plumber a statesman, and Sarah Palin a brilliant leader for the future – who are feeling their oats right now, not interested in moderation and compromise, and lashing out at any Republican who doesn’t toe the line. The latest example is the “Tea Bag” movement, which the Repubs thought they could control as a populist uprising against Obama. But guess what?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/gop-pols-losing-control-of-tea-party-movement.php
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who is chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, was booed at the event in Austin . . .

Gov. Rick Perry -- who famously seemed to raise the specter of Texas seceding from the union during the April Tax Day protests -- was also booed at the same Austin event as Cornyn. Attendees saw him as yet another tax-hiking tyrant, because he supports toll roads in order to relieve traffic congestion. . . .

Bonus item: What would Sigmund Freud say?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/06/us/06gun.html
[W]hen the library for George W. Bush opens in 2013 on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, visitors will most likely get to see one of his most treasured items: Saddam Hussein’s pistol. . . .

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/06/saddam-gun-disarmed/
Bush Library Foundation President: Saddam’s Gun A Symbol That Bush ‘Disarmed Him Literally’

Extra bonus item: Charting contemporary conservatism

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/diagramming-disintegration-by-digby-if.html
[Digby] If you are in the mood for a really entertaining and insightful look at the current state of conservatism, give yourself a treat and click over to at Batocchio at Vagabond Scholar and read his post and the Venn Diagrams he's done to illustrate it.

More: http://vagabondscholar.blogspot.com/2009/07/diagrams-on-conservatism.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:43 AM

 
SHE IS WHAT SHE IS

Playing the victim

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/can_i_get_a_witness.php
[Washington Post] Yet Palin's vulnerability masks her firepower, ambition and strong will, advisers said. Not one to fit comfortably into convention -- and not comfortable being a victim, either -- Palin spoke Friday as if she was rolling the dice and betting on herself. She presented herself as a game-changer stepping onto a stage of her own making.

[Josh Marshall] [I]t is bizarre to say that Palin is uncomfortable in the role of the victim. In fact I'm not sure I've ever found a better use for this much over-used word. As Noam Scheiber explained in one of the earliest and perhaps most insightful profiles of Palin, victimhood and resentment are Palin's twin touchstones. They define who she is.

Palin’s whining notwithstanding, some of the toughest criticisms of her sudden, unexplained abandonment of her responsibilities in Alaska have come from her own party

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/05/rove-palins-resignation-lacks-clear-strategy/
Rove said stepping down now won't lessen the media spotlight, and in fact takes away her platform as governor for controlling her agenda and message.

"The media, if she wants to run for president, is going to be following her for the next 3-1/2 years," Rove said.

He called her move unclear and therefore a potentially harmful strategy for a politician.

"Effective strategies in politics are ones that are so clear and obvious that people can grasp," Rove said. "It's not clear what she's doing and why." . . .

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/05/palin.reaction/index.html
Astounding. Risky. Quitter. And that's what fellow conservatives had to say Sunday about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her decision to step down with 18 months left in her term. . . . [read on]

More: http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/fox-news-huckabee-and-rove-ponder-pa-0

“A higher calling”

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/07/quote-day-0
[Palin] How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country. And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make. . . .

[Kevin Drum] Um, what higher calling are we talking about here, Sarah? Freeing up your schedule to whine more regularly on your Facebook page?

But here's an interesting thought: Maybe she really means this. Seriously. Maybe she really doesn't get the difference between resigning your office to, say, accept a nomination as Secretary of State or ambassador to China, and resigning your office just because people are mean to you and the whole governor thing has gotten kind of boring.

I have NO idea what this woman is talking about

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/endless.php
[Palin discovers Twitter] Critics are spinning, so hang in there as they feed false info on the right decision made as I enter last yr in office to not run again . . .

Emptywheel does some deep digging to get at the material in Dick Cheney’s Plame interview the government doesn’t want us to see

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/07/05/the-contents-of-the-fitzgerald-cheney-interview-annotated-edition/

More on Obama’s efforts to control progressive pressure on the Dems over health care

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/07/04/activism-doesnt-have-an-onoff-switch/
[D-day] I could probably find about 1,000 quotes from candidate Obama about how it's time for Americans to once again participate in their government, and how we are the change we've been waiting for, etc. You cannot empower people for months and months to take action and then try to stage-manage that action. Activism doesn't have an on/off switch. . . . [read on]

The conservative alternative on health care?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/07/conservatives-healthcare

David Broder’s obsession with bipartisanship for its own sake

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/new-deaniacs-by-digby-david-broder-is_05.html
[Digby] David Broder is so wedded to the idea of bipartisanship that he's reduced to asserting that begging and borrowing to get eight House Republicans to vote for the cap and trade bill and compromising the economic recovery to get two Republican Senators to vote for the stimulus is a sign that reaching out to the other party is the best way to ensure that legislation is juuust right. . . .

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/07/bipartisanship-in-lieu-of-analysis.php
[Matt Yglesias] I would be interested in a citation for scholarship which argues that complex legislation is likely to be improved by the contribution of ideas from both sides of the aisle. I have, in fact, looked at the question of whether or not bipartisanship enhances policy stability and there turns out not to be evidence for this theory. . . .

Scott Lemieux, meanwhile, reminds us of Broder’s classic attack on Al Gore for being too interested in public policy:

I have to confess, my attention wandered as he went on through page after page of other swell ideas, and somewhere between hate crimes legislation and a crime victim’s constitutional amendment, I almost nodded off.

My guess is that that’s the nub of the matter. It’s somewhat difficult to try to understand policy proposals on the merits. It’s easy, by contrast, to just look at who’s supporting legislation. You can just say, “good bills are bipartisan bills, partisan bills are bad” and then look at whether or not a proposal has bipartisan support. It’s simple . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_07/018938.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:42 AM

 
POLITICS WITHOUT POLITICS

One cringes at any missive from Sarah Palin that begins with the promise to “share my thoughts with you.” Not 24 hours into the next phase of her brilliant career, and we already get a glimpse of the future: more whining about how the press is being mean to her

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/04/AR2009070401899.html
The response in the main stream media has been most predictable, ironic, and as always, detached from the lives of ordinary Americans who are sick of the "politics of personal destruction". How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country. And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make. . . .

Oh, yes, that harsh and nasty press

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/every_woman_a_queen.php
[WP] Sarah Palin, the Republican Alaska governor who captivated the nation with a combative brand of folksy politics, announced her resignation yesterday in characteristic fashion: She stood on her back lawn in Wasilla, speaking into a single microphone, accompanied by friends and neighbors. . . .

A worthy mission

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/oh_the_things_she_might_do.php
[Peter Ferrara, FoxNews.com] "She should also lead the nation's mothers to oppose mandating replacement of incandescent light bulbs with the new mercury poison gas bulbs."

Criticism . . . from Republicans

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/04/sen-murkowski-deeply-disappointed-palin-decided-to-abandon-alaska/
[Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska] “I am deeply disappointed that the Governor has decided to abandon the State and her constituents before her term has concluded.”

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/matalin-thinks-palin-brilliant-rollins-and
Matalin Thinks Palin is Brilliant--Rollins and Gergen Think She's Toast . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/3/749474/-Your-Abbreviated-Pundit-Round-up-(Special-Sarah-Palin-Edition

Criticism . . . . from the mean old left

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/07/the_palin_thing_is_still_wacko.php
[Matt Cooper] A day later, the Palin speech is still one of the most bizarre events in politics that one can remember. (Mark Sanford's cri de coeur is a close second.) It's still unclear if she's out of politics for good and if she's not whether she has irreparably harmed her chances of running for higher office. . . . [read on]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/she_learned_from_the_master.php
[LG] Is it just me or does Palin's announcement of her leaving office remind anyone else of McCain's bizarre "I'm suspending my campaign" moment during the 2008 election run-up?

Each share several key components:

* Seems - on the face of it - very bizarre.
* Comes out of the blue
* A quickly arranged almost ad-hoc press conference delivers the news.
* Yet the announcement is pretty much that only - short on filler or any real reason on what he/she concretely hopes to accomplish by doing same.

I'm just saying . . . maybe Palin was a good match . . .

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/07/say-it-aint-so-sarah
[Kevin Drum] So what's really going on? If I had to take a guess, I'd say we take her at her word: She just got tired of all the crap. Via email, reader JS puts it like this:

The reason is scattered all througout the speech—she's not having any fun anymore. She's fed up, pissed off. When she was the golden girl and everybody in Alaska adored her and she was able to push through pretty much everything she wanted to do, that was exhilarating. Now her popularity has plummeted, she's fighting with almost everybody in the state, and the MSM, the blogs, the late-night comedians and the McCain operatives are all trashing her and her family daily. That's not what she thinks she signed up for.

She's only thick-skinned when she's getting her way and the people who are fighting her are on the losing end. I think she simply doesn't have the stomach for this kind of long-running battling.

More speculation that she quit just ahead of some breaking ethics scandal

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/07/04/palin/index.html
[Alex Koppelman] If you're curious about the scandal rumors going around, the two best places to learn about them are probably Max Blumenthal's article in the Daily Beast and the piece by AKMuckraker of Mudflats fame currently up on the Huffington Post.

The rumor getting the most currency on the left side of the blogosphere is that Palin's house was built for free by friends of her husband's looking for favors once she became governor. . . .

More: http://www.americablog.com/2009/07/rumors-fly-of-possible-palin.html

http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/04/is-sarah-palin-making-a-sacrifice-play/

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24521.html
Ratcheting up her offensive against the news media, Gov. Sarah Palin’s attorney threatened Saturday to sue mainstream news organizations if they publish “defamatory” stories relating to whether Palin is under federal investigation.

In an extraordinary four-page letter, Alaska-based attorney Thomas Van Flein warns of severe consequences should speculation that until now has largely been confined to blogs about whether Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena find its way into print.

“This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law,” Van Flein warned, citing Alaska liberal blogger Shannyn Moore. . . .

More people coming around to my way of thinking

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/bailin-barracuda-or-the-quitah-from-wasilla/
[Greg Sargent] First, my quickie prediction: Though she probably does envision a role in national public life of some kind, I don’t believe she intends to run in 2012. She may end up doing that, but my bet is that’s not what is driving the resignation.

This is a woman who appears to crave dominance, and gets visibly frustrated and deeply rattled when it eludes her or when her self-mastery wavers. She can’t dominate or control the national media or her national image. This was borne out again with the flap over the Vanity Fair article. She quit in a huff, and doesn’t have any intention of coming back.

One other thought: How could someone who resigned as Governor of Alaska possibly present herself as ready for the presidency? . . .

Jonathan Martin says her oddball presser and resignation reflect her own ambivalence over how to leverage her national fame and frustration with her missteps amid the scrutiny her renown has brought. . . .

Glenn Thrush wonders:

If you’re leaving your elected position with more than a year to go because you can’t handle negative publicity, personal attacks and GOP back-biting, how could you possibly handle the rigors of running for president — much less being President?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/shes_done.php
[MC] Am I living in Bizarro world? Does anyone really think that there is any realistic way Palin could be a candidate for President after resigning as governor? Yet pundit after pundit is saying this is a "risky" move that "may pay off". This is absolutely preposterous . . . [read on]

Good to know that Palin still has her supporters

http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/red-state-palin-resignation-opens-doo
[Erick Erickson, Red State] Sarah Palin resigned, I think, to spare her family from more attacks. I don’t think it is a coincidence that Sarah Palin is doing this just days after a very nasty Vanity Fair article where folks like Nicolle Wallace and, according to Bill Kristol, McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt (though I’m told Schmidt is not involved), savaged her. . . .

Unfortunately, by resigning, I think the left and national media will be emboldened to ritualistically engage in the metaphorical gang raping of conservative politicians, particularly those who are female and have children. They’ll decide savaging Palin’s family drove her from office, so the sky’s the limit on the next conservative with kids. . . . [read on]

http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/04/late-night-freaks-and-laughing-in-wasilla/
[Jonah Goldberg] There’s a reason why the Left and much of the media establishment hated you from day one. Some hated you out of the fear that you might stop Barack Obama’s unfolding coronation. Others because you seemed to expose the snobbery, arrogance, and ideological pieties of elite feminism. Your beauty, your status as a working mom, your blue-collar husband, your bravery in taking on the political establishment in Alaska, your proud status as a pro-lifer and mother of a special-needs child: All of these things were — and are — deeply threatening to a secular left-wing cultural elite. . . . [read on]

Should have been expected: now that Iran is using the same “enhanced interrogation” methods that the Bush Justice Dept found perfectly legal and appropriate, what do we say about it?

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/torture_/2009/07/how_do_you_say_yoo_and_cheney_in_farsi.php

The Republicans think they’ve got something in the fight to block Sotomayor

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/4/749623/-Sessions-Getting-Nastier-over-Sotomayor-Nomination

Now this irritates me. The Obama admin is telling progressives to lay off the Democrats on criticism over health care. This is wrong for two big reasons. One is that the left has every right, and every reason, to hold the party’s feet to the fire, when all the pressure seems to be coming from the Republicans and the Blue Dogs to back off a commitment to full coverage. But even more important, complaints from a dissatisfied left are very useful to Obama, and he knows it – it makes him look like a centrist, and makes it harder for the right to argue that he is a radical who does whatever the left wants him to do

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/kumbaaya-in-box-by-digby-from-ceci.html
[WP] President Obama, strategizing yesterday with congressional leaders about health-care reform, complained that liberal advocacy groups ought to drop their attacks on Democratic lawmakers and devote their energy to promoting passage of comprehensive legislation.

In a pre-holiday call with half a dozen top House and Senate Democrats, Obama expressed his concern over advertisements and online campaigns targeting moderate Democrats, whom they criticize for not being fully devoted to "true" health-care reform. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.americablog.com/2009/07/obama-wants-liberal-groups-read-moveon.html

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/obama-concerned-about-dfhs-attacking

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/05/sunday-talking-heads-july-5-2009/
ABC's This Week: VP Joe Biden, in Iraq

CBS' Face The Nation: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

CNN's State of the Union: Colin Powell "discusses his passion for community service, his feud with Rush Limbaugh, and his concerns with President Obama's expensive agenda." Queen Noor, Chair of the King Hussein Foundation

NBC's Meet The Press: Canceled due to Wimbledon

Bonus item: a fascinating piece on the State of the Blogosphere. One insight: bloggers are becoming less linky (that is, except for PBD) – and thanks to Kevin Drum for the link

http://www.apt11d.com/2009/07/the-blogosphere-20.html
[Laura McKenna] 1. The A-List Doesn't Matter Anymore. I just read a really nice paper that came up with a new method for determining the top 20 bloggers. The problem is that those bloggers aren't nearly as influential as they used to be. Their ranks in Technorati and other lists are artificially high, because they are on the blogrolls of millions of blogs that were begun and quickly abandoned years ago. People used to read the A-list blogs because they were first on the scene to tell us what the hot articles and issues were. But now we get that information from Twitter, Facebook, and Google Reader. . . .

2. It's all about niche blogs. If you have a particular expertise and unique perspective, they you can quickly gain a following. Everyone else is out of luck.

3. Norms and practices. Bloggers have undermined the blogosphere. Bloggers do not link to each other as much as they used to. It's a lot of work to look for good posts elsewhere, and most bloggers have become burnt out. . . .

Many have stopped using blogrolls, which means less love spread around the blogosphere. The politics of who should be on a blogroll was too much of a pain, so bloggers just deleted the whole thing.

4. Blogger Burn Out. Many of the top bloggers have been absorbed into some other professional enterprise or are burnt. It's a lot of work to blog. Most bloggers, and not just the A-listers, spend 3-5 hours every day blogging. That's hard to maintain, especially since there is no money in this. They used that time to not only write their posts and monitor their comment sections, but to read and foster other bloggers. Blogging survived based on the goodwill and generosity of others. It's probably no coincidence that every blogger that I've met face-to-face is an extraordinarily nice person. But it's hard to volunteer that much time over a long period of time. The spouses tend to get annoyed.

5. Reader burn out. You all are not clicking on the links like you used to. I'm not really sure why. In the past, if I was linked to by a big mega blogger, it meant 10,000 new readers in one afternoon. Now, a link by a mega blogger sends over a couple hundred readers. Readers are probably tired out of trying new stuff. . . .

6. MSM yawns. All those articles in the NYT and the Wall Street Journal about blogging helped to drive much of the enthusiasm going among bloggers and readers. People really felt like they were part of something important. Blogging is no longer the cool, hot thing.

7. Huffington Post. It has sucked up all the readers. And HuffPo isn't a proper blog. It is run by people who don't link to other bloggers and do not get the old ways and norms that greased the system in the old days. . . . [read on]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:50 AM