OVERREACTIONS

As expected, the Ricci decision is overturned by the Supreme Court, and as expected, Republicans pounce, arguing that this shows that Sonia Sotomayor is an unqualified racist

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/29/ricci/index.html
[Alex Koppelman] Any big Supreme Court case on racial discrimination is bound to attract some attention, especially when the plaintiffs are a group of white firefighters who didn't get a promotion that test scores showed them deserving of. Add in that Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who has since been nominated to the Supreme Court, played a role and you have a hotly anticipated opinion, one that could serve as the focal point for the battle over her nomination. . . . [read on]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/29/ricci/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] In light of today's ruling, it's a bit difficult -- actually, impossible -- for a rational person to argue that Sotomayor's Ricci decision places her outside the judicial mainstream when: (a) she was affirming the decision of the federal district court judge; (b) she was joined in her decision by the two other Second Circuit judges who, along with her, comprised a unanimous panel; (c) a majority of Second Circuit judges refused to reverse that panel's ruling; and now: (d) four out of the nine Supreme Court Justices -- including the ones she is to replace -- agree with her.

Put another way, 11 out of the 21 federal judges to rule on Ricci ruled as Sotomayor did. It's perfectly reasonable to argue that she ruled erroneously, but it's definitively unreasonable to claim that her Ricci ruling places her on some sort of judicial fringe. . . . [read on]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/conservative-meme-did-all-nine-justices-disagree-with-sotomayor.php
[Brian Beutler] Conservatives are alleging that, in today's ruling, all nine Supreme Court justices have disputed the reasoning of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals--and therefore of Sonia Sotomayor herself--in the Ricci case. . . . [read on]

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200906290019
Limbaugh on Sotomayor: "The court found that she was indeed a racist"

http://www.buckeyestateblog.com/two_can_play_this_game_justice_alito_had_a_high_rate_of_reversal_by_the_u_s_supreme_court_too
Two can play this game: Justice Alito had a high rate of reversal by the U.S. Supreme Court, too. . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/misinformation-spread-on-ricci-by-dday.html

http://washingtonindependent.com/49048/sotomayors-supporters-and-foes-to-debate-supreme-courts-decision

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018823.php

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/sotomayors_critics_seize_on_scotus_decision.php

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/the-ricci-case.php

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/law_notes_/2009/06/the_ricci_decision_a_proposed_deal_for_conservatives.php

http://www.slate.com/id/2220927/entry/2221816/

http://www.slate.com/id/2220927/entry/2221839/

http://thirdbranch.crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/supreme-court-overturns-sotomayors-r

Obama’s a neoliberal – he believes in markets and competition. Strangely, the conservative opponents to health care reform don’t

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/healthcare_market_characterized_by_consolidation_n.php
[Zachary Roth] As Congress gets set to take up health-care reform, there's a crucial piece of data that hasn't received nearly the prominence in the debate that it deserves.

Defenders of the status quo on health care like to point out that a public option will destroy the system of robust free-market competition that currently exists.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), speaking earlier this month on Fox News, called President Obama's plan the "first step in destroying the best health care system the world has ever known." A public option, Shelby added, would "destroy the marketplace for health care."

But the notion that most American consumers enjoy anything like a competitive marketplace for health care is flatly false. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/bottom_line_on_public_option.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018825.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/just-like-buying-groceries-by-digby.html

I guess this shouldn’t be surprising. Democrats rarely think they need to respond to pressures from the left -- which means they usually end up moving further and further to the right on big issues

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/dianne-feinstein-criticism-from-left-on-health-care-doesnt-move-me-one-whit/
Senator Dianne Feinstein has already taken a hammering from Dems and health care reform advocates for casting doubts on the prospects of President Obama’s health care reform efforts. MoveOn, for instance, aired an ad against her in California, demanding she show some leadership and fight harder to get the president’s reform plan passed.

Now Feinstein has hit back at the criticism from the left in an article about lefty groups targeting Dems for waffling on key components of health care reform:

“I do not think this is helpful. It doesn’t move me one whit,” she said. “They are spending a lot of money on something that is not productive.” . . .

A milestone in Iraq

http://washingtonindependent.com/49051/out-in-the-wilderness-in-iraq

Growing tensions with Afghanistan

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/06/afghanistan-election

Quote of the day

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/sowell-obama-will-lead-to-sharia.php
Thomas Sowell argues that “Perhaps people who are busy gushing over the Obama cult today might do well to stop and think about what it would mean for their granddaughters to live under sharia law.”

The Village media gets amnesia

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/david-gregory-pitney-question-imagin
Dana Milbank wasn't the only Beltway Villager all wanked out about President Obama prearranging a question with HuffPo's Nico Pitney yesterday. On Meet the Press, David Gregory pressed David Axelrod about it, suggesting that somehow this sort of thing is anti-democratic . . .

MR. GREGORY: If President Bush had done that, don't you think Democrats would have said that's outrageous? . . . [read on]

[NB: If?]

This happens with Republicans all the time: Guess who is invited on tv to provide “commentary” on Mark Sanford’s affair, and why it isn’t such a big deal

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018819.php
[Steve Benen] [It’s] like inviting Barry Bonds on to discuss what should happen to a baseball player accused of steroid abuse. . . . [read on]

Watch: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/msnbc-brings-rudy-giuliani-discuss-mark-sa
[Heather] MSNBC's irony alert button is broken. . . .

GOP “holds” on Obama nominees they can't actually defeat

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018814.php

GOP senator calls global warming "probably the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people."

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018824.php

Bonus item: Hmmm . . . How does a Democratic fundraiser at a private home turn into a major police action, with eight squad cars, a helicopter, pepper-spraying guests, and an arrest?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/bizarre_almost_comic_way_ugly.php

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/busby-blames-local-residents-political-agenda-sheriffs-department-officer-in-raid-on-fundraiser.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/san-diego-sheriffs-launch-probe-into-raid-at-democratic-candidates-fundraising-event.php
The Los Angeles Times reports that the San Diego Sheriff's Department is now undertaking a review of a raid over the weekend against a fundraiser for Francine Busby, a Democratic candidate for the 50th Congressional District. . . .

***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 @ 7:29 AM

 
SIDELIGHTS

Not much in the news this morning, and I refuse to say anything about Michael Jackson, so a few tidbits from the back pages:

Organizing a progressive push in Congress

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/28/747842/-The-Netroots-and-the-House-Progressives:-Toward-More-Progressive-Policy

Why it’s hard to get equal rights legislation through Congress, even when the people are ready for it

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/culture-politics-and-majoritarianism.php
[Matt Yglesias] The underlying dynamic here illustrates why it’s always been a mistake to try to draw a contrast between gay rights groups’ efforts to secure equality through the courts and to secure equality through the political process. The fact of the matter is that the political process simply isn’t very friendly to minority rights claims even when the claims themselves are reasonably popular. Repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell has become a majoritarian position, but the Obama administration would still prefer to avoid the headaches involved in working to repeal it. At the same time, if a court case were to order the administration to end this policy, it’s abundantly clear that there would be no critical mass of political support for trying to put it back in place.

Either way, the basic fact of the matter is that the political system is biased toward doing nothing. The mere fact that a majority is prepared to support claims of equality doesn’t mean that political leaders want to expend time and energy making our clunky legislative mechanics produce laws reflecting that fact. Under the circumstances, people with just claims to make on their own behalf are wise to pursue those claims through all available avenues including the judiciary.

Obama wants to put an end to torture. Well, he could start here

http://washingtonindependent.com/48989/why-isnt-the-doj-enforcing-the-convention-against-torture

Same old, same old

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/06/members_of_us_house_financial.html
Members of U.S. House Financial Services Committee snapped up or dumped bank stocks as bottom fell out of market . . .

Interesting roundtable interview

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/28/AR2009062802069.html
A transcript provided by the White House of a roundtable interview with President Obama, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Carol Browner, assistant to the president on energy and climate change. . . .

Mountaintop mining – the phrase “raping the earth” may be overused, but in this case it fits

http://washingtonindependent.com/49008/congress-takes-on-mountaintop-mining

Well, thank you very much for the advice

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/28/quit-spending-pawlenty-tells-obama/
Minnesota’s Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty took aim Sunday at the high price tag for President Obama’s ambitious plans to reform the nation’s health care system.

“The president said not long ago in an interview, quote-unquote, we are out of money,” Pawlenty told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King when asked whether the country could afford health care reform right now. “With all due respect Mr. President, if we’re out of money, quit spending it,” Pawlenty added.

Gov. Pawlenty says he will approve Al Franken as senator as soon as the Minnesota Supreme Court makes the call

http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/0609/Pawlenty_wont_delay_if_court_rules_for_Franken.html

You know that it drives the establishment press bonkers when Obama calls on bloggers – BLOGGERS! – at his press conferences. Well, they’re going after Nico Pitney from Huffington Post, and it’s become quite the little inside-the-Beltway kerfuffle. You tell me who comes off looking worse

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/reliable-sources-dana-milbank-gets-h-0

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/washington-posts-dana-milbank-called.html

The ability of Matt Drudge, that self-promoting hack, to almost singlehandedly drive issues (or pseudo-issues) onto the national press agenda was inexplicable during the Bush years. Well, those days seem to be over

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/27/747645/-The-End-of-the-Drudge-Era

***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

 
INDEFINITE

The debate continues over indefinite detention

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090627/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_guantanamo_detainees_18
The White House is considering whether to issue an executive order to indefinitely imprison a small number of Guantanamo Bay detainees, concerned that Congress might otherwise stymie its plans to quickly close the naval prison in Cuba.

Under the proposal, detainees considered too dangerous to prosecute or release would be kept in confinement in the U.S. or possibly overseas, two administration officials said Friday. Otherwise, the White House could get bogged down for months seeking agreement with Congress on a new legal detention system. . . .

Reactions: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/27/preventive_detention/index.html

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2009/5/22/112959/706

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/27/747513/-Obama-Considering-Indefinite-Detention-Executive-Order

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/27/747566/-A-short-note-on-indefinite-detention

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/05/guantanamo-quandary

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018802.php

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/obama-considering-indefinite-detention.html

The Obama admin’s slightly opaque commitment to transparency

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/transparent-obscurity-by-digby-last.html

Is the latest delay in the release of the CIA torture report an encouraging sign?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/27/the-ig-report-delay-may-actually-be-a-good-sign/

The crucial role of women in Iran

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/27/opinion/27cohen.html
[Roger Cohen] From Day 1, Iran’s women stood in the vanguard. Their voices from rooftops were loudest, and their defiance in the streets boldest. “Stand, don’t run,” Nazanine told me as the baton-wielding police charged up handsome Vali Asr avenue on the day after the fraudulent election. She stood.

Images assail me: a slender woman clutching her stomach outside Tehran University after the blow; a tall woman gesticulating to the men behind her to advance on the shiny-shirted Basij militia; women shedding tears of distilled indignation; and that young woman who screamed, “We are all so angry. Will they kill us all?” . . . [read on]

In Iraq

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/200-killed-in-one-week-in-iraq.html
[Juan Cole] As the dramatic events in Iran have taken the world focus off Iraq, the news that some 200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in bombings and other political violence during the past week has been overlooked by many in the West.

On Friday, a bus station in Baghdad was bombed, killing 7 persons and wounding 31.

Still, Big Oil is nevertheless getting back into Iraq . . .

More: http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/maliki-says-iraq-can-patrol-own-cities.html

Will the climate change bill die in the Senate?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/feeling_the_heat.php

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018801.php

Republicans complain: We’re a shrinking minority whose policies have been overwhelmingly rejected by the public. Why won’t the Dems let us take the lead on governing?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/obama-praises-energy-bill-calls-for-senate-passage.php
"Republicans are offering common-sense solutions that will make a real difference in creating jobs, making health care more affordable, and promoting a cleaner, healthier environment, and reducing energy costs," said Boehner. "We hope our Democrat colleagues will abandon their failed go-it-alone approach and work with us to make these reforms a reality."

Republicans complain about the “coarsening” of national politics

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/rove-oreilly-whine-about-those-mean

“Coarsening,” r-i-i-i-g-h-t

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/eliminationism-parade-coulter-joe-pl
Coulter, Joe the Plumber, and military chaplains' leader wish for deaths . . .

More questions about Mark Sanford’s “trade mission” trip to Argentina

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/27/747454/-New-doubts-about-propriety-of-Sanfords-Argentina-trade-mission

The kind of people they are: blaming the “other woman” in the Sanford affair

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/446383/adultery_in_south_carolina_blame_the_woman
"Like most married men, he got caught involved with a woman of ways who seduced him. . .”

"This gal is having the time of her life. She's enjoying a sexual encounter with a governer in the US . . . . WOW! Ladies and gentleman this gal is a professional COUGAR"

"She is a jaded divorcee and a gold-digger, a climber. . .”

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/the-sunday-show-line-ups-11.php
• ABC, This Week: Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod; Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

• CBS, Face The Nation: Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS); Susan Rice, Ambassador to the United Nations.

• CNN, State Of The Union: Gen. Ray Odierno; Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN); Senate candidate Rob Portman (R-OH) and gubernatorial candidate John Kasich (R-OH).

• NBC, Meet The Press: Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod; Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA).

***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 @ 7:34 AM

 
NAKED POWER

Over there

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/mousavi-vows-to-continue-efforts.html
[Juan Cole] At his Friday prayers sermon on Friday, hard line cleric Ahmad Khatami (no relation to former president and liberal Mohammad Khatami) called for capital punishment for leaders of the popular demonstrations against the outcome of the election. This call is a new and dangerous turn . . .

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/06/meanwhile-iraq-and-afghanistan
[David Corn] Under usual circumstances, the withdrawal of US troops from a theater of war would be considered a big deal.

Not these days. . . .

Not good

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/26/AR2009062603361.html
The Obama administration, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, is crafting language for an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely . . .

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/report_obama_admin_drafts_memo_to_detain_terror_su.php

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/obama_moving_towards_detention_order.php

CIA torture report delayed (again)

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/probes-of-bush-administration/cia-again-postpones-release-of-torture-report-that-could-undermine-cheney/

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/26/AR2009062604187.html

New initiatives in education reform

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/bayh-bunch-eager-to-move-on-education-reform.php

Climate change bill passes

http://washingtonindependent.com/48968/breaking-house-passes-energy-and-climate-bill

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018793.php

None dare call it tyranny (thank god for Michele Bachmann)

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/bachmann-on-climate-change-bill-we-choose-liberty-or-we-choose-tyranny.php
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) took to the House floor this evening, in order to make what may be the strongest Republican argument there is against the climate-change bill -- that it represents a full-scale takeover of "every aspect" of people's lives by a tyrannical government . . .

Yes, she said it: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/bachmann-speaks-out-against-census----and-government-asking-about-peoples-mental-stability.php
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) appeared on the Glenn Beck show yesterday evening, to keep on her new campaign to not completely fill out her census reform. . . .

"Does the federal government really need to know our phone numbers?" she asked. "Do they really need to know, like you said, the date and time that we leave mental stability?"

[NB: Yes, “we” indeed.]

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018786.php

Is HE still around?

http://firedoglake.com/2009/06/26/joe-the-plumber-wonders-why-chris-dodd-hasnt-been-lynched-praises-founding-fathers-anti-communism/
Joe the Plumber Wonders Why Chris Dodd Hasn’t Been Lynched, Praises Founding Fathers’ Anti-Communism . . .

Sarah Palin seems to be basing her political status on a perpetual series of aggrieved complaints and whining about how badly she is being treated. So appealing, and so appropriate in someone who aspires to national leadership

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/25/746721/-The-outrage-factory

Mark Sanford invokes biblical precedents for his adultery

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/sanford_king_david_didnt_resign_so_i_wont_either.php
[T]he South Carolina governor started out by using an interesting comparison to respond to calls for his resignation. King David didn't back down after his own sex scandal, he told his colleagues, and neither will I. . . .

Sanford’s wife speaks – and, wham!

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/26/jenny-sanford-lays-the-wood-to-lovey-govey/
[Bmaz] AP's Bruce Smith has, through Yahoo News, put up an interview with Jenny Sanford; and it is a doozy. Do go read the entire piece, it is totally deserving. Many key questions are addressed, and Jenny Sanford puts on a tour de force.

How did Jenny find out about her husband's affair . . .

More: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/26/jenny_sanford/index.html

More GOP playas

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/slideshow_gop_playas_on_parade.php

More: http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/roy-blunt-r-mo-and-curious-case-of.html

Dan Froomkin’s last column for the Washington Post

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/white-house-watch/?hpid=opinionsbox1
I started my column in January 2004, and one dominant theme quickly emerged: That George W. Bush was truly the proverbial emperor with no clothes. In the days and weeks after the 9/11 terror attacks, the nation, including the media, vested him with abilities he didn't have and credibility he didn't deserve. As it happens, it was on the day of my very first column that we also got the first insider look at the Bush White House, via Ron Suskind's book, The Price of Loyalty. In it, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill described a disengaged president "like a blind man in a room full of deaf people", encircled by "a Praetorian guard,” intently looking for a way to overthrow Saddam Hussein long before 9/11. The ensuing five years and 1,088 columns really just fleshed out that portrait, describing a president who was oblivious, embubbled and untrustworthy.

When I look back on the Bush years, I think of the lies. There were so many. Lies about the war and lies to cover up the lies about the war. Lies about torture and surveillance. Lies about Valerie Plame. Vice President Dick Cheney's lies, criminally prosecutable but for his chief of staff Scooter Libby's lies. I also think about the extraordinary and fundamentally cancerous expansion of executive power that led to violations of our laws and our principles.

And while this wasn't as readily apparent until President Obama took office, it's now very clear that the Bush years were all about kicking the can down the road – either ignoring problems or, even worse, creating them and not solving them. This was true of a huge range of issues including the economy, energy, health care, global warming – and of course Iraq and Afghanistan.

How did the media cover it all? Not well. . . . [read on]

Bonus item: Ledes that make you want to read more (ok, maybe, maybe not)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/not_pretty.php
A former mayor found sitting naked and holding a beer at a Rabun County campsite told police he wasn't the same naked man seen walking around earlier. . . .

***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 @ 7:45 AM

 
CRAZY

Iran in crisis

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/ahmadinejad-slams-obama-70-professors.html
Ahmadinejad Slams Obama; 70 Professors Arrested; Wednesday Protest Violently Attacked . . . [read on]

http://washingtonindependent.com/48572/so-the-crackdown-is-working
[Spencer Ackerman] As best I can piece together this morning, the Iranian regime’s crackdown is halting the momentum of the opposition. . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/25/basij/index.html
[Mike Madden] Since Iranian authorities began their brutal repression of protest marches a week and a half ago, rumors have been flying that the Basij paramilitary force -- whose hardline members are fiercely loyal to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- has been joined in the streets by foreign partners. Iranian exiles have told Salon frequently that friends and family in the country keep encountering non-Farsi speakers at demonstrations, wielding batons and helping to put down the protest movement. The foreigners, the rumors say, are members of Hezbollah or Hamas, the terrorist groups that Iran has backed over the years, coming to repay their patrons. . . .

I suppose it’s an obvious point, but while the salacious details of Mark Sanford’s affair provide much delight – the substantive issues, which should cost him his position, are his use of public funds to travel to see her, his irresponsible disappearance from his job, and his lies and misuse of his staff to cover up the affair

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/06/25/sanford_planned_to_be_away_for_ten_days.html
Politico reports that South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) intended to be in Argentina for 10 days and only cut short his trip when questions were raised about his whereabouts.

"The bookings also cast light on the governor's recklessness, and his belief, or hope, that he could vanish from the state for well over a week without raising questions about his absence."

A statement from Sanford also indicates he will reimburse the state for a trip he made last year that was paid for with public money.

"However, while the purpose of this trip was an entirely professional and appropriate business development trip, I made a mistake while I was there in meeting with the woman who I was unfaithful to my wife with. . .”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/25/746873/-Sanford-saw-lover-during-trade-mission
[Politico] According to the agenda, the trade mission included meetings on sugarcane, ethanol, and other renewable fuels.

Those subjects potentially overlap with Maria Belen Shapur’s profession, according to Brazilian media, which reported that she works for an international agribusiness firm called Bunge y Born. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/25/746835/-Sanfords-original-plan:-10-days,-AWOL
[Jed Lewison] Think about it for a moment. Mark Sanford thought it was okay for him, as a sitting governor, to leave the country for 10 days without telling a soul what his plans were, where he would be, or how to contact him. . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/25/sanford_reax/index.html
For now, Mark Sanford is still the governor of South Carolina, and he's given every indication he wants to keep that job, at least until his term runs out at the beginning of 2011. . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/25/sc_poll/index.html
A new poll by SurveyUSA, conducted Wednesday, shows that 60 percent of South Carolinians believe Sanford should resign . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/25/AR2009062502013.html
Some Republican officials joined Democratic lawmakers in calling for the two-term Republican governor to resign. Sanford's security detail described their anxious and failed efforts to locate the missing governor over the Father's Day weekend and painted a portrait of an erratic politician who often preferred to be alone. . . .

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/governors/sanford-adviser-resignation-no.html
Although some in South Carolina -- and nationally -- are calling for Gov. Mark Sanford to resign his office in the wake of his six-day hiatus from the state and his acknowledgment of an extramarital affair on Wednesday, a close adviser to the Republican governor told the Fix that Sanford is not considering such an option. . . .

A question of timing

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/sanford_learned_of_emails_hours_before_confession.php
[Zachary Roth] We hate to kick a guy when he's down. But as we get a clearer picture of exactly how the events surrounding Mark Sanford's admission of an extra-marital affair went down, it's seeming more and more likely that the randy right-winger was still hoping to keep things under wraps -- even just hours before his dramatic announcement.

The State has put together a pretty thorough account of the back-story that led to two-timing two-termer's teary confession. . .

So Sanford had already announced the 2pm press conference. It's possible he planned to come clean even before The State showed him the emails -- according to a source, the paper contacted both Sanford's office, and Tom Davis, his former chief of staff, who the paper had worked with before -- and made clear they had the goods on him. . . .

The people who made excuses for Sanford – before the full story broke

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/from_the_alternate_universe.php
[Red State] First, we need to be clear on the facts -- not the media speculation:

-- Sanford did tell his staff and family where he was going.
-- Because he was traveling without a security detail, it was in his best interests that no one knew he was gone.
-- His political enemies -- Republicans at that -- ginned up the media story.
-- When confronted by a pestering media, things went downhill.
-- Again though, at all times there was no doubt that Sanford's staff and family knew where he was.

Then after: http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/06/24/the-real-lessons-of-mark-sanfords-hike/
[Red State] Well, what I wrote yesterday was wrong. Sanford’s lies spread through his office and out to the rest of us.

The left is linking to yesterday’s post to laugh at it. What they are missing is that most of us tend to give people the benefit of the doubt — even people like John Edwards.

We live in a fallen world and we ourselves are fallen. I am disappointed in Sanford, but not angry. The default for politicians seems to be unchaste. All we can do is work for ideas and try to find men of good character to fight for those ideas. . . .

What Mark Sanford did was wrong. He needs to go in a dark hole somewhere where no one can see him or hear him and rehabilitate himself. On the bright side, I doubt his indiscretions will affect the FisCon movement. The left is going to spend the next week making Sanford into the second coming of James Dobson to smear real marriage advocates and social conservatives — positions Sanford was rarely vocal on.

Blessed is the Lord God Jehovah who brings forth bread from heaven, water from rocks, and men like Mark Sanford from the dust of the earth. His will be done.

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/the_chosen_few.php

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/25/gods-law-and-mark-sanfords-diy-consequences/

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/media_recap_credulous_press_ate_up_spin_from_sanfo.php

Destroying themselves . . .

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/25/social-conservatives-fall-from-moral-high-ground/
[Washington Times] Extramarital affairs, gambling, alcohol abuse, prostitution and sexual pursuit of minors have taken a toll on the GOP. . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/06/sex_scandal_flow_chart.php
“An Interactive Guide to Recent Republican Sex Scandals”

. . . . but really it’s the Left’s fault

http://firedoglake.com/2009/06/25/late-night-praise-the-lord-for-stupid-sex/
[Red State] So many hopes have devolved on the next generation, the 50-and-under Republicans, many of them in state government or in the House: Sanford, Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, Pat Toomey.

Among that younger generation, Sanford stood out as the most experienced, and has compiled a strong record not only of principle but of public integrity, from leaving Washington after three terms in Congress to battling his own party back home over spending....

The Left, of course, sensing the removal of an obstacle to ever-greater social control, is ecstatic at Sanford’s downfall.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/us/25repubs.html

http://washingtonindependent.com/48525/conservatives-write-off-sanford-as-a-national-leader

Yes, the Left’s fault

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/limbaugh-on-the-sanford-affair-its-obamas-fault.php
On his radio show today, Rush Limbaugh offered his own explanation for the Mark Sanford scandal: That Sanford flew out of the country to have an affair because President Obama drove him over the edge . . . [read on]

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/25/746852/-Rush-Limbaugh:-Mark-Sanfords-Affair-Is-Obamas-Fault

Obama: too perfect?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/24180.html

Now it’s clear: if the Dems want a “bipartisan” bill on health care, they have to give up the public option – ergo, they have to give up the pipedream of bipartisanship

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/25/746754/-Grassley:-Bipartisan-Means-No-Public-Option

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/the_choice.php
[Jay Rockefeller, D-WV] "There is a very small chance any Republicans will vote for this health-care plan. They were against Medicare and Medicaid [created in the 1960s]. They voted against children's health insurance.

"We have a moral choice. This is a classic case of the good guys versus the bad guys. I know it is not political for me to say that," Rockefeller added.

"But do you want to be non-partisan and get nothing? Or do you want to be partisan and end up with a good health- care plan? That is the choice."

More from the Bush Dept of “Justice”

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/bush-administration-leaks-bolstered-rick-renzis-reelection-bid-2009-06-24.html
[Murray Waas] In the fall of 2006, one day after the Justice Department granted permission to a U.S. attorney to place a wiretap on a Republican congressman suspected of corruption, existence of the investigation was leaked to the press — not only compromising the sensitive criminal probe but tipping the lawmaker off to the wiretap. . . .

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/24/bush-officials-compromised-renzi-investigation-for-political-gain/

The vicious right threatens Media Matters for the gawdawful sin of revealing their lies and hypocrisy

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/ed-schultz-psycho-talk-michael-savage-vows

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/michael-savage-issues-threat-aimed-at.html

Good news: torture critic Harold Koh finally confirmed for a senior State Dept position, despite Republican obstructionism

http://washingtonindependent.com/48756/harold-koh-newly-confirmed-thanks-his-friends

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018777.php

“No torture. No exceptions” http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0801.koh.html

Bonus item: Michele Bachmann (R-MN), the crazy bag lady of the GOP, now says she will refuse to cooperate with the 2010 census – see, it has something to do with Japanese internment during WW II

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/bachmann-warns-of-link-between-census-japanese-internment.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018769.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 @ 7:11 AM

 
THE LONG GOODBYE

Mark Sanford, soon-to-be former Republican governor of South Carolina, fesses up. He wasn’t in Atlanta, nor hiking the Appalachian Trail. I’m sure you’ve heard by now where he was, and why. Watch a major league meltdown in real time . . .

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#31533633



E-mails. E-MAILS??!!?? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#31533984
“You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light . . .

In the meantime please sleep soundly knowing that despite the best efforts of my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul.”



[NB: Obtained by a state newspaper in December, but kept quiet until now.]

Here’s what I want to know: how did the newspaper get the emails, and why did they sit on them for so long?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/06/about-those-sanford-emails-maria

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/06/25/anonymous_tipster_gave_emails_to_newspaper.html

Fox News misidentifies Sanford as a Democrat (again)

http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/shocking-fox-news-labels-disgraced-re
[Logan Murphy] I think it's just automatic now. When a high-profile Republican gets into trouble, Fox News steps in to mislead their viewers by labeling them as Democrats.

Here's a short list . . . [read on]

Sanford condemns himself – some quotes from his past

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/24/sanford-affair/

More: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/06/24/inglis-to-gop-lose-stinking-rot-of-self-righteousness/
South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis made a name for himself in the late 1990s as one of Bill Clinton’s most zealous pursuers, an impeachment “manager” who attacked the moral failings of the president with a gusto that earned him a devoted following in the staunchly conservative “Upstate” of conservative South Carolina.

But with his governor now felled by similar temptations, Inglis sees an opening for the Republican Party, a chance to “lose the stinking rot of self-righteousness” and “to understand we are all in need of some grace.”

More questions for Sanford

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/sanford_press_conference_leaves_unanswered_questio.php

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/questions_for_sanford.php

Jenny Sanford gets her revenge

http://firedoglake.com/2009/06/24/decoding-jenny-sanfords-dog-whistles/

Good news for John Ensign (R-NV) – this drives his story off the front pages. But of course we’re not ready to let it go

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/report_fox_got_ensign_letter_three_days_earlier_th.php
[Zachary Roth] The Las Vegas Sun reports that Fox News received Doug Hampton's bizarre letter -- about the affair between Hampton's wife Cindy and Sen. John Ensign -- three days earlier than the right-wing news channel had previously acknowledged. . . .

Of course, the main significance of the news, as the paper notes, is that it raises the likelihood that someone at Fox, or in touch with them, tipped Ensign to the news, prompting the Nevada senator to come clean. Fox senior producer Tom Lowell has previously denied telling Ensign about the letter, but Lowell declined to comment for this story.

This could get even more interesting...

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/revealed_the_sanfordensign_connection.php
Revealed: The Sanford/Ensign Connection . . .

The fight over the “public option” in health care reform – and why it matters

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/my-health-reform-provision.php
[Matt Yglesias] [M]y take is that we’ll either get a very strong progressive bill or we’ll get a real legislative train wreck. . . . [read on]

More: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/24/robust_health_care_reform_is_the_moment_of_truth_f/
Robust Health Care Reform is the Moment of Truth for Obama and the Democrats

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/robert_reich/2009/06/why-the-critics-of-a-public-op.php
Why the Critics of a Public Option for Health Care Are Wrong

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/sebelius-health-care-legislation-must-lower-costs--and-its-hard-to-do-that-without-a-public-option.php
Sebelius: Health Care Legislation Must Lower Costs--And It's Hard To Do That Without A Public Option

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/06/24/the-pillars-of-a-robust-public-option/
The Pillars of a Robust Public Option

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/5906
What Should a Public Health Plan Option Include?

http://christyhardinsmith.firedoglake.com/2009/06/24/whip-the-public-plan-putting-the-public-back-in-health-care-policy/
Putting The Public Back In Health Care Policy

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/would_any_public_plan_really.php
A Public Plan Might Not Be The Panacea...

Total war against the public option

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/06/24/pay-to-play-14-a-day-buys-a-lot-of-votes/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018754.php

Bad press coverage (of course) – they just don’t know how to cover policy issues with any sense of accuracy or depth. It’s so much easier to put on talking heads spinning the political pros and cons

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/5928
CBS and ABC Help the Private Insurers Misrepresent the Public Health Option; NYT Then Makes Up Obama Claim He Didn’t Make

More: http://mediamatters.org/research/200906240029

Vitter, Ensign, Sanford, all still in office – but the GOP spin machine rolls on. . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018753.php
[Politico] For the first time since their 2006 election drubbing, top Republicans see signs -- however faint -- of a political resurgence over the next year. . . .

Good news for Mitt Romney?

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MThiOTYzNjI5NmMxM2I5MjEzMGZlMzYyMmNiMDM1NzQ

The curse of 2012: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/democratic-national-committee/msnbc-and-dems-agree-sanford-destroyed-by-gop-curse-of-2012/

Sarah Palin remains wildly popular among Republicans – but not with anybody else

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/republican-national-committee/among-republicans-most-popular-gop-figure-is-palin-by-a-mile/

***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 @ 8:00 AM

 
WHAT NEXT?

What next in Iran?

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/guardianship-council-rules-out.html
[Juan Cole] Iran's Guardianship Council, a sort of clerical senate on Tuesday ruled out any cancellation of the results of the recent presidential election, as called for by the opposition. The official outcome gave incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term. The vote tallies for Ahmadinejad have struck large numbers of Iranians as wholly unbelievable. So the Supreme Leader has spoken and the Guardianship Council has spoken. . . . [read on]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/opinion/24iht-edcohen.html
[Roger Cohen] Iran’s 1979 revolution took a full year to gestate. The uprising of 2009 has now ended its first phase. But the volatility ushered in by the June 12 ballot-box putsch of Iran’s New Right is certain to endure over the coming year. The Islamic Republic has been weakened. . . . [read on]

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/6/23/11222/0442
[Charles Lemos] A news report from Al Arabiya and analysis from EurAsiaNet suggests that a power struggle may be occurring behind the scenes in Iran. The battle seems to be centered on control of the Assembly of Experts, or the Majlise Khobregan. The Assembly of Experts has 86 Islamic scholar members. Candidates are chosen from the ulema. All Assembly of Experts candidates are vetted by the 12-member and appointed Guardian Council. Candidates are elected by direct public vote. They are charged with electing and removing the Supreme Leader of Iran and supervising his activities. It meets for at least two days, twice annually.

The current chairman of this assembly is the former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, considered a pragmatic conservative and the strongest rival to the Supreme Leader, the Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. . . .

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/jun/23/khamenei-rafsanjani-iran-qom

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/iran_/2009/06/why_im_rooting_for_moussavi.php

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/engagement-with-a-post-crackdown-iran.php

http://washingtonindependent.com/48322/iran-beyond-its-borders

http://washingtonindependent.com/48344/making-the-regimes-argument-for-it-contd

Fascinating: how Internet surveillance works in repressive states

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/internet_surveillance_and_iran_a_primer.php

Why won’t NPR call torture “torture”?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/22/npr/index.html

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/examining-runes-by-digby-greenwald-has.html

http://firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/npr-and-torture-time-to-revisit-publicly-funded-media/

The fight over health care and the “public option” heats up

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/dems-respond-to-gop-attacks-on-health-care-legislation.php

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/06/predictions_what_will_happen_w.html

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/feinstein-to-critics-its-not-the-public-option--its-the-mandate.php

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/5904

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/competition-redefined/

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/5926

Obama channels Spock: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/obama-attacks-illogical-opposition-to-public-plan.php
OBAMA: Why would it drive private insurance out of business? If private insurers say that the marketplace provides the best quality health care; if they tell us that they’re offering a good deal, then why is it that the government, which they say can’t run anything, suddenly is going to drive them out of business? That’s not logical. . . . [read on]

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/president-obamas-presser-public-option

Are we going to get a climate change bill?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/06/climate-change-hobbles-forward

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/the-other-energy-bill.php

Quote of the day

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/06/quote-day-7
[Barack Obama] "I know everybody here is on a 24-hour news cycle. I'm not. OK?"

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/the-bachmann-comic-our-review.php

Mark Sanford, governor of South Carolina, still MIA. And the conflicting stories about where he ran off to get more and more outlandish

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/23/745854/-After-five-days,-Sanford-finally-contacts-staff
[Jed Lewison] 1. His wife said Sanford had left to get away from his children and do some "writing" -- but now we're told he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, not writing.

2. His wife said she didn't know where he was -- but now they say they knew all along.

3. His staff initially said Sanford was attending to some projects he had neglected -- but now they say they knew he was hiking all along.

4. The Lt. Gov.'s office said Sanford had been contacted and was doing fine -- but that turns out to have been false.

5. Sanford's staff said they knew Sanford would be "difficult" to reach -- but it turns out that it was impossible to reach him.

6. We learned that Sanford took his journey using a taxpayer-funded, publicly-owned state vehicle, but he clearly wasn't available for any official state business.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/06/23/1974627.aspx
Gov. Mark Sanford went missing Thursday and hasn't been seen since. Fact 2: His staff has since told us that the governor has been hiking the Appalachian Trail. Fact 3: Sunday was "Naked Hiking Day" on the Appalachian Trail. We kid you not. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/23/746046/-Anon.-sources:-Sanford-boarded-plane-in-Atlanta
[WYFF] On Tuesday, sources told News 4's Nigel Robertson that a state vehicle is missing and was tracked down, not to the Appalachian Trail, but to the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta. . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/pretty_standard_hiking.php
CNN reports that the state security Chevy Suburban that Gov. Mark Sanford drove off in last Thursday has turned up. At the airport. But not Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta, where Sanford had reportedly been seen. They found it at Columbia Metropolitan Airport, the airport in the state capital. . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/sanford_watch.php
This is really weird stuff. I mean, mind-boggling kind of weird . . .

Meanwhile, his wife is pissed: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/23/sanford_update/index.html
[I]t turns out she still hasn't heard from him. "I am being a mom today,"Jenny Sanford said. "I have not heard from my husband. I am taking care of my children." . . . [read on]

And so is his Lt. Gov: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#31514948

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/why_did_sanford_staffer_mislead_lieutenant_guv.php

The pliant press seems to think that now that Sanford has been “found” the story is over. But of course the story is his habit of disappearing like this, the conflicting stories and lies, and the sheer irresponsibility of it all – in a man who thinks he can be President

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/dynamite_press_work_under_adverse_circumstances.php

Heh

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/coining_a_phrase.php
[SP] Whatever Sanford has actually been doing, he's just made "hiking the Appalachian Trail" a euphemism for mysterious disappearances as a result of illicit activities.

Come home after a weekend blackout bender? Hey, honey, I was just hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Boss wants to know why you were out of the office for two hours while screwing a co-worker at a nearby hotel? Just a quick hike on the Appalachian Trail. . . .

John Ensign (R-NV): his problem is bigger than the affair now

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_150/news/36161-1.html

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/john-ensign-back-on-the-job-in-dc----and-not-taking-questions.php

http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/40663

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/23/did-ensigns-mistress-fail-to-report-her-own-payoff/

BTW, an interesting tidbit here is that for days no one could find a photo online for “the other woman.” Now they have

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/photo_of_ensigns_girlfriend_surfaces.php

Kick ‘em when they’re down

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/dems-to-push-gops-historic-unpopularity-as-key-talking-point/
Dems To Push GOP’s Historic Unpopularity As Key Talking Point . . .

In for a penny, in for a pound, I guess – having lost the Hispanic vote over their race-inflected opposition to Sonia Sotomayor, the GOP apparently figures they have little left to lose

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/23/745960/-GOPs-Latino-bashing-to-kick-up-a-notch

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/tpm_alum_greg_sargent_has.php

Another fat old white guy who thinks he can become the GOP’s savior

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/eye-on-2012/haley-huddles-with-top-gop-str.html

Bonus item: Michele Bachmann (R-MN) lampooned in the only format that makes sense: a comic book

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/the-bachmann-comic-our-review.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 @ 8:18 AM

 
BEHIND THE SCENES

We’re going to learn something about Obama in the upcoming health care fight. How prepared is he to put Democrats on the hot seat?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/leading-questions-by-digby-ed-kilgore.html
[Digby] Indeed, if Obama still wants to emulate the great "game changer" himself, Ronnie Reagan, that is exactly what he would do. Reagan used his personal popularity to get rank and file Democrats to support his policies. And he rhetorically always framed his policies as the common sense policies of the everyman out in the country, and then they backed it up with polling that showed that the people trusted him.

Obama can pass health care with Democrats and then legitimately call it bipartisan by citing public support. But he has to not care that David Broder and David Brooks have a hissy fit over it. They do not speak for Americans; they don't even speak for Republicans on this one.

This is what the bully pulpit is all about. He can take his case directly to the people and if he backs a real plan, with real teeth, he can get it passed, I don't have any doubts. The party grassroots and the public at large, including a large number of Republicans, are with him. The only people standing in the way are the insiders in the ruling establishment who want to protect the status quo. . . . [read on]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/jun/22/obama-administration-congress-healthcare-bang-heads
[Michael Tomasky] What time is it? Simple. It's time this week for Barack Obama to start banging some heads in Congress. . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018725.php

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/opinion/22krugman.html

http://www.openleft.com/diary/13875/rightwing-democrats-are-the-problem

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/06/congress-good-place-for-health-care-to.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/learn-damn-you-learn-by-dday-something.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/22/politics/main5101921.shtml

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/house-gets-its-act-together-on-health-reform.php

Polls: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/poll-centrist-position-on-health-care-is-to-back-public-plan-with-higher-taxes/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/22/745508/-Polls,-Polls,-Polls:-GOP-Spinning-Away-on-Health-Care

Until we get the actual CIA Inspector General report, we still have Emptywheel to tell us what’s in it

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/22/the-cia-ig-report-on-the-inefficacy-of-torture/
Much of the focus on the now-delayed but upcoming release of the CIA IG Report on torture has been on whether the six page section on "Effectiveness"--the section that most challenges Dick Cheney's claims--would be released.

What people seem to be oblivious to, however, is that much of this section has already been released . . .

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/22/the-cia-ig-reports-other-contents/

Gee, I guess this is what happens when you fire career professionals for partisan reasons and replace them with lackeys and mediocre graduates of Christian bible colleges

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/how_bad_was_it_in_bush_doj.php
How Bad Was It In Bush DOJ? . . .

The weirdest story of the day: Mark Sanford, SC governor and putative presidential aspirant, has a strange habit of disappearing from time to time, without disclosing his whereabouts or how to reach him. Really

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/where-world-gov-mark-sanford

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/sanford_confusion_govs_office_wont_say_theyve_talk.php

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/22/sanford/index.html

Watch: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#31497153

On the Appalachian Trial? http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/sanford_story_takes_more_serious_turn.php

The GOP just can’t get traction in trying to block Sonia Sotomayor. The “controversy” isn’t even helping them raise money

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23991.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/22/745493/-The-GOPs-Sotomayor-bust

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/tpm_alum_greg_sargent_has.php

Another GOP Senator has more important things to do than meet with the Supreme Court nominee

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/22/745454/-Bob-Corker-Blows-Off-Meeting-With-Sotomayor

Inside the Republican Bubble

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018727.php
[Andy McCarthy] "The fact is that, as a man of the hard Left, Obama is more comfortable with a totalitarian Islamic regime than he would be with a free Iranian society. In this he is no different from his allies like the Congressional Black Caucus and Bill Ayers, who have shown themselves perfectly comfortable with Castro and Chavez . . .”

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/rubio-iran-should-have-2nd-amendment-like-ours.php
[Marco Rubio, Senate candidate in Florida] “I have a feeling the situation in Iran would be a little different if they had a 2nd amendment like ours.”

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018721.php

And then there’s Michael Steele, who seems to be perpetually in his own little bubble

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/michael-steele-on-health-care-do-the-deal-its-not-that-complicated.php
STEELE: So if it's a cost problem, it's easy: Get the people in a room who have the most and the most direct impact on cost, and do the deal. Do the deal. It's not that complicated.

If it's an access question, people don't have access to health care, then figure out who they are, and give them access! Hello?! Am I missing something here? If my friend Trevor has access to health care, and I don't, why do I need to overhaul the entire system so I can get access he already has? why don't you just focus on me and get me access?

[Eric Kleefeld] This sounds kind of like Kenan Thompson's "Fix It!" routine from Saturday Night Live last fall, explaining the solution to the financial crisis. "Take it one step at a time: Identify the problem -- fix it! Identify another problem -- fix it! Repeat as necessary until it's all fixed!"

The Fox News “All-Stars”? Or the Washington Generals?

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/5886

Shepard Smith came out a couple of weeks ago to express concern about the unhinged hatefulness of emails he was getting at Fox News. That REALLY got them angry . . .

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/22/shep-belong-fox/

Bonus item: Obama’s inner nerd revealed

http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=2784320

***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 @ 7:41 AM

 
NEDA

Uhhhh . . . ooops?

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/98711.htm?sectionid=351020101
Iran's Guardian Council has suggested that the number of votes collected in 50 cities surpass the number of people eligible to cast ballot in those areas. . . .

"Statistics provided by the candidates, who claim more than 100% of those eligible have cast their ballot in 80-170 cities are not accurate -- the incident has happened in only 50 cities," Kadkhodaei said.

Kadkhodaei further explained that the voter turnout of above 100% in some cities is a normal phenomenon because there is no legal limitation for people to vote for the presidential elections in another city or province to which people often travel or commute. . . .

The spokesman, however, said that although the vote tally affected by such issues could be over 3 million and the council could, at the request of the candidates, re-count the affected ballot boxes, "it has yet to be determined whether the possible change in the tally is decisive in the election results" . . .

“Massive ballot fraud” http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/chatham-house-study-definitively-shows.html

Mousavi speaks

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/mousavi-letter-translated.html
In these days and nights, a historical crossroads is taking shape in the history of our nation. People ask each other, and they ask me, as to what should be done and what path should be taken. . . . [read on]

More: http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/06/20/moussavis-message-of-reform/

What next?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/06/whats-next-iran

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/mousavi-defiant-calls-for-more-rallies.html

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/06/iran-update-0

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/21/AR2009062100146_pf.html

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Rafsanjanis-daughter-arrested-in-Iran/articleshow/4683868.cms

Fox News is shocked and appalled that the President of the United States is getting so much press coverage

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/fox-news

Bonus item: Our fair and balanced media

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200906200002
Poll: Obama down, Cheney up . . . [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 @ 6:35 AM

 
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

Crackdown starting in Iran

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/06/19/supreme_leader_speaks/
Supreme Leader Khamanei starts speaking. He emphasizes that difference in opinion, difference in program between candidates is normal, natural. But beware, he says, for months the enemy had been laying the groundwork to label these elections a fraud. "The enemies of Iran are targeting the Islamic establishment's legitimacy by questioning the election. ... After street protests, some foreign powers started to interfere." . . .

When Khamanei speaks of the violence, it is clear that the regime is laying the groundwork for a crackdown. Chaos has to be stopped. . . . [read on]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018700.php
[NYT] One day after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned of bloodshed if street protests continued over the nation's disputed elections, witnesses, quoted by news services, said that thousands of demonstrators had attempted to gather for a scheduled opposition protest on Saturday, but that riot police, using tear gas and water cannons, had dispersed them.

Witnesses reported that the black-clad security forces lined the streets of two squares in central Tehran . . .

More: http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/it-begins.html

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/crunch-time-in-tehran-karroubi-says.html

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/20/tehran_protests/index.html

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/mousavi-defies-khamenei-police-attack.html

http://washingtonindependent.com/48097/moussavis-reformist-message

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/lyons-khameneis-past-power-play-against.html

Obama’s statement: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/20/obama_statement/index.html

WTF? Why they don’t want to release Cheney’s FBI interview

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/19/justice-department-worrie_n_218015.html
[AP] Justice Department lawyers told the judge that future presidents and vice presidents may not cooperate with criminal investigations if they know what they say could become available to their political opponents and late-night comics who would ridicule them. . . . [read on]

Sunday seminar: is health care reform in trouble?

http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2009/06/memo-to-president-what-you-must-do-to.html
[Robert Reich] Momentum for universal health care is slowing dramatically on Capitol Hill. Moderates are worried, Republicans are digging in, and the medical-industrial complex is firing up its lobbying and propaganda machine. . . .[read on]

More: http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2009/06/public-option-smokescreens-and-what-you.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23906.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/6/20/141347/639

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/votre-sante-by-digby-our-pal-senator.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/someone-fax-this-to-congress-by-dday.html

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/house-dems-step-up-to-deliver-on-real.html

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/universal-health-care-an-idea-whose-time-came-a-long-time-ago.php

The kind of people they (still) are

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/20/742975/-GOP-Rhetoric-On-A-Downward-Spiral:-The-Political-Costs-of-Ugly

Dr. Beck calls progressivism “a disease”

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/if-glenn-beck-thinks-progressives-ar

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/the-sunday-show-line-ups-10.php
• ABC, This Week: Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

• CBS, Face The Nation: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

• CNN, State Of The Union: Sen. Dianne Feinstin (D-CA), Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IA), Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA); Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski.

• NBC, Meet The Press: Former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA) and former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TV); Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Bonus item: Obama’s standup comedy routine

http://lafiga.firedoglake.com/2009/06/20/obama-makes-jokes/

***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 @ 6:53 AM

 
LET’S NOT PRETEND

CIA delays release of torture report

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/cia-postpones-release-of-big-torture-report-that-could-undercut-cheney/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/19/cia-stalling-on-the-ig-report/

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/19/cia_ig/index.html

Cheney’s FBI testimony blocked from FOIA

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/18/judge-sullivan-steven-bradbury-not-qualified-to-withhold-cheney-interview-materials/

Well, let’s not pretend, shall we?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/inhofe-turns-down-meeting-with-sotomayor----mind-already-made-up.php
Inhofe Turns Down Meeting With Sotomayor -- Mind Already Made Up . . .

[NB: Yeah, but they still want to delay the hearings to gather more information . . . http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/19/sessions_sotomayor/index.html]

On health care, a new “coalition of the willing” – what genius came up with THAT branding?

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/06/brief-reminder.html

Michael Steele should learn to keep his mouth shut – but lucky for us he can’t. Now he tells us that solving the health care crisis is “easy”

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/michael-steele-is-definitely-missing-something.php
“If it’s an access question, people don’t have access to health care, then figure out who they are, and give them access! Hello?! Am I missing something here? . . .” [read on]

[NB: The answer is “yes.”]

More nonsense: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018684.php

The Ensign scandal: he’s still having trouble keeping his story straight

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/extortion_shmortion.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018687.php

The Ensign scandal: when the Senate knew

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/19/ensigns-senate-colleagues-confronted-him-about-his-affair-in-may-2008/

When Fox "News" knew (and did nothing with the information)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/19/744475/-Fox,-Coburn-knew-about-affair-before-Ensigns-admission

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/please_help_me.php

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/19/foxs-non-denial-denial/

Glenn Greenwald comes down hard on the Washington Post – and deservedly so

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/19/washington_post/index.html

More: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/19/washpost/index.html

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/06/19/froomkin-v-washington-post-the-battle-continues/

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/what-liberal-media-washington-post-sa

May become a new PBD item: the Republican Bubble

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018693.php
[Hilzoy] Today the Washington Post, fresh from canning one of its best writers, lets Charles Krauthammer send us a dispatch from the alternate reality in which he lives. . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018691.php
[Steve Benen] Once in a while, misplaced Reagan worship is even more cringe-worthy than usual. . . .

The need for a progressive voting block in Congress

http://www.openleft.com/diary/13836/the-progressive-block

Bonus item: the poor oppressed GOP

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/19/744434/-Irandecision-2009:-Stewart-mocks-oppressed-GOP

***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 @ 8:30 AM

 
FRAT BOY

The kind of man he is. Despite saying repeatedly that it’s not right for a former President to directly criticize his successor, Dubya – with that trademark frat-boy smirk – goes on to do just that

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/18/bush-takes-aim-at-obama-policies/
"I told you I'm not going to criticize my successor," he said, according to the paper. "I'll just tell you that there are people at Gitmo that will kill American people at a drop of a hat and I don't believe that persuasion isn't going to work. Therapy isn't going to cause terrorists to change their mind." . . .

[NB: Because, you know, that’s the Obama plan – just use persuasion and therapy. And by the way, brilliant phraseology too: “I don't believe that persuasion isn't going to work.”]

More: http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/18/bush-takes-swipes-at-policies-of-obama/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018665.php

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/jun/18/george-bush-barack-obama

Robert Gibbs responds

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/18/gibbs_bush/index.html
“I think we've had a debate about -- about individual policies. We had that debate in particular. We kept score last November and we won.”

I hope the GOP will condemn this mealy-mouthed milktoast

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/jun/18/george-bush-barack-obama
"Clearly, there's a level of frustration on the Iranian streets. It looks like it's not a very fair election."

How the GOP does health care

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/shameless-by-digby-shrill-one-i-know.html

The Ensign scandal is growing far beyond just another adulterous affair

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/did_ensign_act_on_behalf_of_girlfriend_husband.php

How low can they go?

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/6/18/71845/0291
GOP Posts Lowest Ever Favorable #s in NYT Poll

Another moment of insight into how the Village journalists think

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/marie-antoinette-rotary-club-and.html
[Jamison Foser] Time's Mark Halperin frequently repeats right-wing myths about the "liberal media." But today he undermined his already-weak case by arguing that one reason "to bet AGAINST major health care reform passing this year" is that "Most journalists still have health insurance."

The clear implication is that because most journalists have health insurance, they don't see the need for reform -- and that colors their reporting. . . [read on]

This is a damn shame. Dan Froomkin was one of the “must-reads,” and a frequent contributor here

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ombudsman-blog/2009/06/post_axes_froomkins_white_hous.html
After five and a half years as a regular feature on the Web site, Dan Froomkin’s White House Watch column is being axed. . . .

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/18/froomkins-sins-of-the-village/

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/18/froomkin/index.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/froomkin-torched-by-dday-it-may-sound.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018675.php

Bonus item: Fox News – looking for something to write about

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/18/743894/-Youve-got-to-be-kidding

***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 @ 6:18 AM

 
RIDICULOUS

Could be a big release tomorrow: the CIA IG report, which reportedly says that torture DID NOT yield significant results (triggering Cheney to commission his own reports to say it did). The question is, how much of the report is the CIA going to try to redact and keep secret?

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/is-cia-supressing-holy-grail-torture-report-that-would-undercut-cheney/

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/17/743641/-CIA-Still-Trying-to-Suppress-Torture-Evidence

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/17/cia-now-reviewing-opr-report-on-yoo-bybee-and-bradbury/

The NSA is still eavesdropping without a warrant

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/06/still-listening

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/17/743660/-Gosh,-why-does-this-keep-happening-to-us

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/17/dennis-blairs-spokesperson-the-domestic-surveillance-program-violates-the-fourth-amendment/

Don’t worry, they won’t abuse this power: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/17/nsa-bill-clinton-email/
NSA analyst ‘improperly accessed’ Bill Clinton’s e-mail through domestic surveillance program. . . .

Obama is finding in area after area that he wants to try to protect areas of Executive authority and privilege (now that he’s holding them). I understand it, but I don’t like it

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/17/holder-refuses-to-stand-by-statements-saying-violating-fisa-breaks-the-law/
[Emptywheel] By far the most disturbing part of the Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing today came when Russ Feingold asked Eric Holder whether he stands by a statement he made before the American Constitution Society last year.

In the midst of a speech that repeated "rule of law" like a Greek Chorus, after introducing this passage from his speech by saying certain steps taken by the Bush Administration "were unlawful," Holder said, "I never thought a President would act in direct defiance of federal law by authorizing warrantless NSA surveillance of American citizens."

When Feingold asked Holder whether he stands by that statement, Holder ignored the early part of his speech where he described all of Bush's abuses to be "unlawful," and instead tried to claim he was narrowly saying that Bush simply "contravened" FISA. . . .

The President we could have had

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018662.php

Hilarious! Remember on April Fool's Day (really), when the Republicans rolled out their “budget alternative” to Obama? It had no numbers in it, no actual budget – but it did have a nifty bubble chart of all the things they were promising to do. It was ridiculed endlessly, as it deserved. Now they try exactly the same thing with health care – affirming for everyone that THEY HAVE NO PLAN FOR HEALTH CARE, and aren’t really interested in helping to pass one. Great work, guys

Before: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/17/743676/-Another-Failed-Republican-Roll-Out
[BarbinMD] Remember, it was less than three months ago, to much fanfare, that House Republicans rolled out the "Republican Road To Recovery," their alternative budget to counter President Obama's proposals ... the only thing missing from it was numbers, although it did come with really cool charts . . .

Now: http://www.rollcall.com/news/35940-1.html
House Republicans presented a four-page outline of their health care reform plan Wednesday but said they didn’t know yet how much it would cost, how they would pay for it and how many of the nearly 50 million Americans without insurance would be covered by it. . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/17/gop_healthcare/index.html
GOP releases healthcare plan; actual plan not included . . .

The GOP bleats from the wilderness: Look, the Iranian dissidents are using Twitter to get their message of freedom and democracy out – just like us!

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018654.php

Start the ridicule: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/twitter-users-heckle-hoekstra-en-masse.php

The GOP tries counterprogramming

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/17/743590/-The-RNC-versus-ABC-News

This won’t surprise you: but it’s still remarkable to see it in print

http://foxattacks.com/facts.php
Fox executive John Moody sends internal memos each morning, dictating what Republican talking points should be reported on air.

Some examples:

* After Democratic victory in 2006: “Be on the lookout for any statements from the Iraqi insurgents...thrilled at the prospect of a Dem controlled Congress” (11/9/06) Fox reporter Martha MacCallum then claimed on-air that terrorists were dancing in the streets over Democratic congressional victory, with no proof. (11/9/06)

* On George W. Bush, during start of 2004 election: "His political courage and tactical cunning are worth noting in our reporting through the day." (6/3/03)

* On US troops dying in Iraq: “Do not fall into the easy trap of mourning the loss of US lives and asking out loud why are we there? The US is in Iraq to help a country brutalized for 30 years protect the gains made by Operation Iraqi Freedom and set it on the path to democracy.” (4/6/04). Fox anchor Brit Hume then commented on-air about 2000 American deaths in Iraq: “By historic standards, these casualties are negligible.” (Link)

* On Bush judicial nominees: “Let's spend a good deal of time on the battle over judicial nominations, which the President will address this morning. Nominees who both sides admit are qualified are being held up because of their POSSIBLE, not demonstrated, views on one issue -- abortion. This should be a trademark issue for FNC today and in the days to come.” (5/9/03).

* On the 9-11 Commission: “The so-called 9/11 commission has already been meeting… this is not ‘what did he know and when did he know it’ stuff. Do not turn this into Watergate. Remember the fleeting sense of national unity that emerged from this tragedy. Let's not desecrate that.” (3/23/04).

* On Bush tax cuts: “The tax cut passed last night by the Senate, though less than half what Bush originally proposed, contains some important victories for the administration. The DC crew will parse the bill and explain how it will fatten -- marginally -- your wallet.” (5/22/03)

* “Larry Johnson, a former part-time Fox commentator…[said] Moody missives were ‘talking points instructing us what the themes are supposed to be, and God help you if you stray.’” (Washington Post, 7/11/04)

***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 @ 5:45 AM

 
IT’S DIFFERENT WHEN WE DO IT

(No it isn’t)

I didn’t like it before, and I don’t like it now

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/obama_admin_mimics_bush_again_white_house_records.php
Obama Admin Mimics Bush Again: White House Records Are Secret . . .

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/16/white-house-visitor-log/
FLASHBACK: Obama Promised To End ‘Secret Meetings’ And Make The White House The ‘People’s House’

More examples: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/17/transparency/index.html

When the Obama admin laid out the principle that releasing information on misconduct or abuse by the military could open up our troops for hatred and retaliation, the question was asked, Where does that end? Should we then cover up all such information? Sure enough, we find ourselves on the slippery slope already

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/16/secrecy/index.html

Remember when it was a monstrous crime against our troops to reject military funding bills for partisan political reasons?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/flashback-boehner-attacked-obama-and-hillary-for-voting-against-a-war-funding-bill.php

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/06/gop-vs-troops

The usual yappers are all hot for Obama to throw down the gauntlet with Iran. Don’t bother them with the fact that an aggressive US stance would HURT the chances for reform there – for them, acting tough is an end in itself

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/16/kristol_iran/index.html

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/16/pence_iran/index.html

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/16/iran/index.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018646.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018647.php

Breaking News: Torture gets you false information

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/15/AR2009061503045.html

DOMA and DADT: Obama and the Dems break two promises to gay supporters

DOMA: http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/wsj-covers-doma-hate-brief-controversy.html

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/rachel-maddow-and-howard-dean-on-obamas.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/6/16/101656/515

DADT: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/16/743187/-Dont-Ask,-Dont-Tell,-Dont-Look-At-Me

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/5798

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/16/743242/-Gay-America,-just-wait-another-seven-years

http://www.365gay.com/news/study-obama-doesnt-need-congress-to-halt-gay-discharges/

Well, this is something: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/16/benefits/index.html
Obama to give benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers . . .

The future of health care: which is more important, a bipartisan bill, or a good bill?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/16/743284/-Reid-Claims-Hell-Ditch-Bipartisanship

Another right-wing hate crime?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/more_rightwing_violence_anti-immigrant_suspects_in_1.php

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/minuteman-tactical-leadermurder-susp

Getting to the bottom of the US Attorney firings – Harriet Miers testifies, Karl Rove on tap

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/miers_testifies_in_us_attorneys_probe_--_when_will.php

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/16/rove-has-a-date-he-just-doesnt-want-to-tell-fox-news-that/

Look, politicians (and other people too) have affairs – it’s a problem for both parties. It’s a bigger problem when you hire the person on your staff. But isn’t it striking that many of the most prominent GOPers today have a checkered past on marital commitment (Rush, Newt, McCain, and now (former?) presidential aspirant John Ensign, R-NV)

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/gop-sen-ensign-admits-to-affair.php

Bill O’Reilly: an evil, evil man

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/bill-oreilly-edits-joan-walsh-intervi

Glenn Beck: just plain creepy

http://crooksandliars.com/node/28972

Bonus item: the GOP and new technologies just don’t mix

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/top-7-conservative-new-media-fails-so-far-this-year.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 @ 7:37 AM

 
TAKIN’ IT TO THE STREETS

The next phase of the Iranian election will be fought in the streets. Evidence of fraud is overwhelming, and young voters aren’t gonna take it. More marches, and then a national strike are planned. Most interesting, despite govt efforts to restrict the press and communication outlets, news and video are getting out of the country. How? I think you know how

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/struggle-over-election-results.html
Struggle over Election Results Continues in Iran . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/tide_turning.php
Tide Turning? . . .

A digital revolution: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#31378527

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/its_too_easy_to_call.php

So, which is it?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/15/gerges.iran.election/index.html
Commentary: Iran's hardliners are the real losers . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/15/world/middleeast/15assess.html
Leader Emerges With Stronger Hand . . .

How the press covers health care

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/howard-dean-shoots-down-norah-odonnells-re

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/debate-by-digby-this-morning-john-king.html

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/another-day-another-republican-parroting-frank

I’d like to see someone ask Michael Steele about this

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/south-carolina-gop-operative-doesnt-deny-racist-tweet-against-obama.php
JUST HEARD OBAMA IS GOING TO IMPOSE A 40% TAX ON ASPIRIN BECAUSE IT'S WHITE AND IT WORKS.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/south-carolina-goper-apologizes-for-calling-michelle-obama-a-gorilla----and-says-she-started-it.php
Rusty DePass, a prominent South Carolina Republican activist, is now apologizing for making a racist joke about Michelle Obama, and taken down the Facebook page where he made it -- though he does make sure to shift the blame and say that Michelle started it. . . .

Worst: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/15/742796/-TN-Republican-Staffer-Caught-Forwarding-DISGUSTING-Racist-Picture-(Updated-x2

Another manufactured Republican hissy fit. Leon Panetta, head of the CIA, says Dick Cheney has been talking so much about an attack showing that Obama’s security policies have failed, “it’s almost as if he wants it to happen.” Everyone knows exactly what this means, and no one thinks that Panetta is saying Cheney actually wants an attack to happen – but sure enough, the usual phonies get the vapors, flooding the air waves with shock and outrage that mean old Leon could say such a thing about good ol’ Dick. And eventually, as in the course of these things, Panetta has to apologize for saying something he didn’t ever say. Note to self: sarcasm doesn’t play well in public discourse

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/contrived_political_battle_du_jour_dick_cheney_v_leon_panetta.php
Contrived Political Battle Du Jour: Dick Cheney v. Leon Panetta

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/intelligence/cia-panetta-wasnt-saying-cheney-is-rooting-for-terrorist-attack/
CIA: Panetta Wasn’t Saying Cheney Is Rooting For Terrorist Attack . . .

Blah, blah, blah: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/mccain-bashes-panetta-but-in-2004-he-said-bin-laden-gave-gop-a-boost/

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/15/cheney_panetta/index.html

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/cia-walks-back-panetta-comment-he-doesnt-think-cheney-wants-a-terrorist-attack.php

Bonus item: Zombie pols

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/watching_conservatives_/2009/06/newt_gingrich_zombie_politician.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 @ 6:17 AM

 
LIMITED OPTIONS

More on election theft in Iran, and what the Obama admin should (can) do . . . not much

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/06/laura-secor-irans-stolen-election.html

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/13/irans_political_coup/

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/post-election-demonstrations-violence.html

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/06/14/brief_iran_update

http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/06/13/iran-dont-lead-dont-follow-and-instead-get-out-of-the-way/

The role of the Internet in covering the story

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/we-had-to-kill-media-in-order-to-save.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/14/742453/-High-Definition-Democracy-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html

Not much news today, so just skip everything else and read this. Jane Mayer is terrific

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/22/090622fa_fact_mayer
Leon Panetta, the C.I.A.’s new director—and the man who bears much of the responsibility for keeping the country safe—learned the details of Cheney’s speech when he arrived in his office, on the seventh floor of the agency’s headquarters. . . . Panetta, pouring a cup of coffee, responded to Cheney’s speech with surprising candor. “I think he smells some blood in the water on the national-security issue,” he told me. “It’s almost, a little bit, gallows politics. When you read behind it, it’s almost as if he’s wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point. I think that’s dangerous politics.” . . .

More: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/biden-questions-cheneys-judgement-national-s

Reading her book, “The Dark Side,” you discover what a key role psychologists played in developing, refining, and in some cases overseeing torture and abusive interrogation techniques

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/14/from-the-bloggers-basement-on-jane-mayer/
In April, Panetta fired all the C.I.A.’s contract interrogators, including the former military psychologists who appear to have designed the most brutal interrogation techniques: James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen. The two men, who ran a consulting company, Mitchell, Jessen & Associates, had recommended that interrogators apply to detainees theories of “learned helplessness” that were based on experiments with abused dogs. . . .

More on psychologists, torture, and the APA

http://www.propublica.org/article/tortured-profession-psychologists-warned-of-abusive-interrogations-505
Psychologists versed in the military's Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape "SERE" program, which was meant to train American soldiers how to cope with torture if captured by the enemy, warned officials as early as 2002 that reverse-engineering SERE techniques for use on detainees could be ineffective and dangerous, a Senate Armed Services Committee report revealed last week. What has been little noticed is that the same psychologists helped develop the very interrogation policies and practices they warned against. . . .

The APA: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/07/psychologists-under-fire_n_199249.html

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/kgb999/2009/05/apa-psychologists-torture-deba.php

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/05/secret-apa-torture-mailing-list-archive-released.ars

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/10-apa-complicit-in-cia-torture/

http://psyrel.blogspot.com/2007/10/torture-psychology-and-ethics-in-apa.html

http://psysr.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/apa-ethics-policy-maker-endorses-torture/

http://www.apa.org/releases/editorial-bray.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 @ 6:28 AM

 
LOSERS

The election results in Iran

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/stealing-iranian-election.html
[Juan Cole] Top Pieces of Evidence that the Iranian Presidential Election Was Stolen . . .

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/jun/13/iran-election-coup
[Michael Tomasky] The "election" "result" in Iran can't possibly be accurate or honest. Ahmadinejad won more than 60% of the vote in Tabriz -- Mousavi's hometown? Right. . . .

More: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/06/vote-iran

What should the Obama admin do about it?

http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/06/13/the-theft-of-the-iranian-election/

Increasingly, positions the GOP is taking to placate its activist base are putting them at odds with the DC national security establishment – and with that, the one remaining area where people tend to trust the Republicans more than the Democrats is disappearing

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018602.php
[Steve Benen] Consider the areas of disagreement: closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, ending torture, Mirandizing specific detainees in limited cases, and funding the International Monetary Fund. In each instance, the administration has drawn angry, often incoherent, attacks from the likes of Cheney, Gingrich, Limbaugh, assorted Fox News personalities, and GOP congressional leaders.

And on the other hand, on the same issues, the administration has garnered support from Gen. David Petraeus (Bush appointee), Secretary Robert Gates (Bush and Obama appointee), Secretary Colin Powell (Bush appointee), and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen (Bush appointee), not to mention the military leaders appointed by Obama to key posts, including DNI Adm. Dennis Blair and NSA Gen. James Jones. . . .

The GOP: in denial about its long decline

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/14/742242/-Sunday-TalkA-Ghost-of-Its-Former-Self
[Silly Rabbit] Gallup released a couple of polls this week which appear to contain nothing but bad news for the Republican party.

First came confirmation of a leadership vacuum. Almost half of those who identify themselves as Republicans were unable to name who the party's leader is. Among those who could name a leader, the top answers were Rush Limbaugh (10%), Dick Cheney (9%) and Newt Gingrich (10%).

That was followed up by news that almost 4 out of 10 Republicans hold a negative view of their party. . . .

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1904136,00.html
[Mike Murphy, GOP strategist] Despairing Republican friends have been asking me what I think we should do to rebuild the GOP and begin our certain and inevitable comeback. My answer disappoints them: "Build an ark."

I say this because I've made a career out of counting votes, and the numbers tell a clear story; the demographics of America are changing in a way that is deadly for the Republican Party as it exists today. A GOP ice age is on the way. . . .

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2009/06/murphys_strange_math.html
[Jay Cost] Of course, it was just four years ago that George W. Bush pulled in a historically large number of Latinos to the Republican Party. The exit poll had it at 44%. Some thought that was overestimated, and other estimates had it around 39%. Either way, a significant pull. This is something that seems to me to be worth mentioning when making an argument about the enduring Democratic majority. Yet it rarely is.

Anyway, Murphy's math is correct on Latinos in Indiana. The exit poll estimate has them giving Obama a plurality of something like 58,000 votes. However, his conclusion - "a brave new world ruled by Latino Hoosiers" - is completely overdrawn, which I think is characteristic of these demographics-mean-GOP-doom arguments.

The reason is...drumroll please...white voters! Shock of shocks, right? Yet it's true! In 2004, John Kerry won 34% of the white vote. In 2008, Obama won 45%. That's an 11-point improvement, and it made a significant difference. McCain won about 218k more white Hoosiers than Obama did. Bush won 681k more whites than Kerry.

So, Hispanics moved. But so also did white voters, and their movement was much more substantial. . . .

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/13/AR2009061301209.html

The kind of people they are (again)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/13/742083/-GOP-Activist-Calls-Gorilla-One-of-Michelles-Ancestors
[WISTV] COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A state Republican activist has admitted to and apologized for calling a gorilla that escaped from the Riverbanks Zoo Friday an "ancestor" of First Lady Michelle Obama.

. . . We spoke with DePass over the phone Friday night. He said, "I am as sorry as I can be if I offended anyone. The comment was clearly in jest."

[NB: It is the FACT that you meant it in jest that is so offensive, you jerk.]

Today’s must read

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/opinion/12krugman.html
The Big Hate . . .

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/the-sunday-show-line-ups-9.php
• ABC, This Week: Sec. of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius; Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA).

• CBS, Face The Nation: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL).

• CNN, State Of The Union: Sec. of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius; Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE); Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME); Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND).

• NBC, Meet The Press: Vice President Joe Biden; Republican strategist Mike Murphy; MSNBC host and former Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-FL).

***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 @ 7:27 AM

 
TERRORIST PROPAGANDA

The argument that the release of more detainee abuse photos puts our troops at risk is, if you think about it, a terrible precedent. By that rule, we would never have seen the Abu Ghraib photos either – we’d never see ANY evidence of severe misconduct because it might open up troops to potential retribution. Of course such evidence would inflame the groups that hate us – but a better rule of thumb might be, don’t do such things in the first place

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/new-gop-phrase-for-detainee-pictures-terrorist-propaganda-photos/
New GOP Phrase For Detainee Pictures: “Terrorist Propaganda Photos” . . .

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/12/afghanistan/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] Using the standard that is now so accepted across the political spectrum in Washington -- information that will inflame anti-American sentiment should be suppressed rather than disclosed so at to not endanger our troops -- isn't it better if we just cover-up, rather than learn the truth about, the civilian deaths we caused in Afghanistan? . . . [read on]

Here’s what we’re going to find out: even with the custom-made permission slip the Bush gang demanded and received from the Dept of Justice, their interrogation methods went beyond what was permitted

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/12/the-scope-of-the-ssci-investigation-and-where-it-leads/

John Yoo, come on down!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/13/us/politics/13brfs-BUSHLAWYEROR_BRF.html
A federal judge has ruled that John Yoo, a former Bush administration lawyer who wrote crucial memorandums justifying harsh interrogation techniques, will have to answer in court to accusations that his work led to a prisoner’s being tortured and deprived of his constitutional rights. . . .

The dumb new Republican meme

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/boehner-gop-planning-major-attack-on-obama-for-mirandizing-terrorists/
Boehner: GOP Preparing Major Attack On Obama For Mirandizing Terrorists . . .

Oh, great

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/11/hate.groups/index.html
Hate groups have intensified their rhetoric in recent months, but this new energy hasn't necessarily translated to an increase in the rate of hate crimes in the U.S., according to some researchers. . . .

The number of active hate groups in the United States rose from 602 in 2000 to 926 in 2008 -- an increase of 54 percent -- according to the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center. . . .

"If you look at the Web site postings, this is what they're talking about: a terrible economy, immigrants taking your jobs, and having a black president” . . .

A primer on the public options for health care

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/cheat_sheet_the_public_plans.php

Hey!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/opinion/12brooks.html
[David Brooks] Facing the possibility of systemic collapse, the government stepped in and replaced private borrowing with public borrowing. The Federal Reserve printed money at incredible rates, and federal spending ballooned. In 2007, the federal deficit was 1.2 percent of G.D.P. Two years later, it’s at 13 percent.

The crisis response more or less worked. Historians will argue about the Paulson-Geithner-Bernanke reaction, but the economy seems to be stabilizing. . . .

Obama’s very smooth White House operation

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/cookreport.php
[Charlie Cook] A third of the way into his first year as president, Obama has established a White House operation as impressive as any before; in fact, you can't throw a rock in a West Wing hallway without hitting someone who would otherwise be among the most experienced people in any previous White House. In some ways, Obama has discovered that effective governing requires a blend of the strongest elements of his campaign with the seasoning, experience, and awareness of the pitfalls that hurt previous presidencies.

A fabulous June 7 piece by Matt Bai in The New York Times Magazine argued that Obama, after running as an outsider, has "quietly but methodically assembled the most Congress-centric administration in modern history." . . .

Pat Buchanan misses the good old days of simple racism

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/buchanan_prefers_the_old_bigotry_to_affirmative_ac.php
One prefers the old bigotry. At least it was honest, and not, as Abraham Lincoln observed, adulterated "with the base alloy of hypocrisy. . . .” [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/12/741739/-MSNBC,-Pat-BuchananWhite-Supremacists
[Think Progress] The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that MSNBC’s Pat Buchanan has invited the editor of a white nationalist, anti-immigrant website to speak at the upcoming conference for his group, the American Cause. . . .

The last honest Republican?

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/6/12/154532/865
George H.W. Bush Defends Sotomayor . . .

Sarah Palin loves to play the victim

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/sarah-palins-politics-of-grievance-are-back/

http://washingtonindependent.com/46757/fear-of-a-palin-planet

The long decline

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/12/murphy/index.html
[Republican strategist Mike Murphy] "I've made a career out of counting votes, and the numbers tell a clear story; the demographics of America are changing in a way that is deadly for the Republican Party as it exists today. A GOP ice age is on the way," Murphy writes. "Rather than face up to all this, too many in the GOP are stuck in a swoon of nostalgia. Most of our party leaders come from bloodred GOP states or safe districts, so they are far more at home in the tribal politics of Republican primaries than in those of the country as a whole. You could say their radio dials are stuck on AM. The result is we hear a lot about going back to 'the winning ways of Ronald Reagan.' Well, I love Reagan too. But demographics no longer do."

More: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/the_coming_republican_reality_check.php
[Matthew Cooper] This is one of those moments where a party is going to have to give up a fundamental tenet of its belief in order to grow. . . .

Republicans can live with the political realities of the moment or indulge a fantasy world. My guess is that this one fantasy they'll learn to live without.

Bonus item: Fox News thinks you’re stupid!

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/oreilly-and-ingraham-team-bash-joan

***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 @ 6:26 AM

 
FROM THE FRINGE

I think all of us were prepared for the fact that a black man being elected President would unhinge some right-wing fringe groups. I don’t think we were prepared for the degree to which open hate discourse would permeate the political conversation, even in ostensibly “mainstream” conservative voices and publications. But it seems to be getting worse. . .

What should we make of the fact that Rev. Jeremiah Wright and James von Brunn both think the Jews are behind Obama?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/10/rev-wright-no-hard-feelin_n_213768.html
"Them Jews ain't going to let him talk to me.”

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/note_found_in_von_brunns_car.php
“Obama does what his Jew owners tell him to do”

Rush has an explanation: von Brunn is actually a leftist

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_061109/content/01125106.guest.html
Very predictably, ladies and gentlemen, the media, the American left is trying to score some political points as a result of this tragedy at the Holocaust Museum in Washington yesterday, and as predictable, they are trying to blame this on me, other conservatives and right-wingers. It's the traditional approach taken by the American left. The facts of the case, however, are such that if we want start assigning blame for this beyond this nutcase Jew hater, and notice that very few people actually want to do that. They want to claim this guy didn't have the ability to act on his own. He only could act if he was inspired by somebody. Well, who did he hate? He hated both Bushes. He hated neocons. He hated John McCain. He hated Republicans. He hated Jews as well. He believes in an inside job conspiracy of 9/11. This guy is a leftist, if anything. . . .

The left runs our government, the left in this country is creating a very dangerous climate, and they're doing it on purpose. This president thrives and needs chaos and unrest. An incident like this yesterday, I dare say, had people on the left applauding inside their hearts for the purposes of advancing their political agenda. And, yes, I mean to say that. And you can tell with the eagerness that the left and its cohorts in the media went to television last night to try to make this a political thing, they are excited. This is a great political opportunity for them. That's the first emotion that they felt. . . .

There is a general attitude on the left that's hard for most of us to comprehend. They embrace genocide figures like Castro and Chavez and Che Guevara. They embrace these kind of people. . . .

Sponsoring hate, promoting hate, is an exclusive of the left. They own it. They thrive on the promotion of hate and angst and contempt and unrest and chaos. It is the only way to distract people sufficiently so that the left can accomplish its statist objectives. They want turmoil, and if it doesn't exist, they create it.

Picked up by the yahoo echo chamber: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/latest_right-wing_meme_von_brunns_a_lefty.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/it_gets_better_2.php
[Andrew Breitbart] Von Brunn is a "multiculturalist just like the black studies and the lesbian studies majors on college campuses."

A leftist, huh?

http://firedoglake.com/2009/06/11/irrefutable-proof-that-holocaust-museum-shooter-wasnt-one-of-dhss-right-wing-extremists/

The nexus of right-wing hate talk in the media and right-wing violence

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/joan-walsh-asks-question-peoples-mind
[Joan Walsh] If there's a through-line between any of these acts of terrorism and the right-wing rhetoric that abets it, of course, it's the one linking Bill O'Reilly to Scott Roeder, the man who murdered Tiller. O'Reilly more than demonized Tiller; night after night he called him a baby killer, compared him to the Nazis, and suggested that he must be stopped. Roeder stopped him, all right. If I were O'Reilly I'd feel terrible for putting a private figure in my public sights night after night, simply for doing his lawful job. But O'Reilly has no conscience, so he's proud of it.

And there's clearly been an uptick in rhetoric suggesting that white men are having their rights abridged by the Obama administration, especially since his pick of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. In a debate with Buchanan a couple of weeks ago, he told me that what was happening to white men was exactly what happened to black men — he didn't give me any examples of lynching — and that it was open season on white men. Wealthy Sen. Lindsay Graham suggested an average white guy like himself wouldn't get a fair shake from Sotomayor, and now even the new face of the GOP, Michael Steele, has said the same thing. . . . [read on]

Hate, hate, hate, hate

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018580.php
[Erick Erickson] "You only thought leftists got excited when American soldiers got killed. As I've written before, leftists celebrate each and every death of each and every American solider because they view the loss of life as a vindication of their belief that they are right." [read on]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/terry-video-a-vote-for-sotomayor-means-dead-baby-blood-is-on-your-hands.php
Terry Video: A Vote For Sotomayor Means Dead Baby Blood Is On Your Hands

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/terry-press-conference-hot-wings-guinness-and-the-inevitability-of-violent-rightwing-extremism.php
Terry Says Obama Makes Attacks Inevitable . . .

Michelle Malkin: never let the facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/11/741439/-Michelle-Malkins-idea-of-ha-ha-ha

Glenn Beck has a mental disease

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/11/beck_brunn/index.html

Liz Cheney has learned the lesson from her Dad – go on these talk shows alone, so no one can argue with or contradict you. Then go ahead and lie your head off. The interviewers won’t challenge you

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018578.php

Fox News does polling

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018577.php
"Barack Obama says he quit smoking cigarettes. Do you think Obama is still sneaking cigarettes at the White House or do you think he has completely quit smoking?" [read on]

Bonus item: Right-wing extremist, and proud of it

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/11/741264/-Embracing-The-Crazies

***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 @ 6:49 AM

 
DON’T TREAD ON ME

The Department of Homeland Security issued a report on the rise of right wing extremist groups – and all we heard from the usual yahoos is that this is the state threatening the freedoms of good Amurcans merely exercising their rights of free speech, free assembly, and free religion. Well, now we’ve had two horrific hate crimes by individuals with long histories and extensive ties to right-wing groups. Time to take the DHS report more seriously?

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/dc-shooting-time-to-revisit-criticism-of-right-wing-extremists-report-part-two/
“Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.” [read on]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/does-holocaust-museum-shooting-vindicate-dhs-report.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018561.php

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/10/dhs-report-warned-against_n_213920.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/10/eveningnews/main5079442.shtml

What the GOP said

http://mediamattersaction.org/blog/200906100013
Michael Steele, for example, said the DHS was trying to "segment out Americans who dissent from this administration." A few of the other criticisms included:

Rep. Bachmann: "To me, it looks like the extremists are those running the DHS."

Rep. Burgess: "I don't know that the secretary understands the depth of the disruption that she's caused...I think the appropriate thing to do is for her to step down and let's move on."

Rep. Boehner: "The report that came out of DHS was offensive, and unfortunately, Secretary Napolitano still has a lot of explaining to do."

Rep. Peter King: "[Napolitano] has never put out a report talking about look out for mosques. Look out for Islamic terrorists in our country. Look out for the fact that very few Muslims come forward to cooperate with the police. If they sent out a report saying that, there would be hell to pay."

Sen. Ensign: "...this report raised some serious red flags about the mission of the Department of Homeland Security."

Sen. Inhofe: "I believe this report to be very offensive to many Americans."

Newt Gingrich: "The person who drafted the outrageous homeland security memo smearing veterans and conservatives should be fired."

More: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/feature/2009/06/10/dhs_report/index.html

What they’re saying now

http://firedoglake.com/2009/06/10/late-night-its-the-false-equivalencies-stupid/
[Watertiger] Not an hour elapsed after crazed white supremacist James Von Brunn opened fire in the Holocaust Museum in D.C. when the apologists on the right commenced lobbing moral equivalency grenades at anyone foolish enough to try to catch them.

Mike Rogers [R-Sorry Excuse], in this interview with Chris Matthews, hastily likened Von Brunn to the "ecoterrorists" on the "left". . . . [read on]

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/despair-by-digby-many-gasbags-on-tv.html
[Digby] Many gasbags on TV seem to have concluded that the root cause of the Holocaust Museum shooting is "economic despair." Since the shooter was a product of right, the obvious way to solve the problem is to cut taxes so that these despairing white guys don't have to shoot black people in order to stop the jewish conspiracy from stealing all their money. . . .

Who is von Brunn?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/von_brunn_revered_by_some_neo-nazis.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/james_von_brunn_a_profile.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/von_brunn_a_birther.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/more_on_the_suspect.php

His “writings” http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/06/writings_of_james_von_brunn.php

And here’s the big question: Will “mainstream” conservative politicians stop knowingly fanning the flames of hatred and bigotry? (I think we know the answer to that)

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/in-wake-of-dc-shooting-whither-gop-reps-pushing-birther-bill/

Fox anchor calls out "frightening" Fox News viewers – but fails to make the connection with what Fox News does to attract and agitate those viewers (yeah, YOU O’Reilly, YOU Beck)

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/shepard-smith-blasts-right-wing-extremism-from-fox-news-viewers.php
Shepard Smith has spent a good chunk of his time on Fox News today saying how today's shooting at the Holocaust Museum vindicates the Department of Homeland Security's report on the threat of right-wing extremists -- that birthers and other such conspiracy theorists who vilify President Obama have to stop.

At one point, he focused his ire on a particular group of right-wing extremists -- the Fox News viewers who write e-mails to the channel . . .

"I read a lot of e-mail around here," said Smith. "And the e-mail to me has become more and more frightening. It's not a new thing. it's been happening over the past few months. It's been happening, you know, to some degree, since the election process went along."

Watch: http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=2706277

Our hero, Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/10/sheldon-whitehouse-no-further-actionable-intelligence-was-obtained-from-abu-zubaydah-by-waterboarding/
Sheldon Whitehouse gave a barnburner of a speech last night, in which he described how egregious Dick Cheney's lies about torture have been. . . .

The text: http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2009_cr/s060909.html
“I want my colleagues and the American public to know that measured against the information I have been able to gain access to, the story line we have been led to believe--the story line about waterboarding we have been sold--is false in every one of its dimensions. . . .” [read on]

The next big revelation?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/09/cia-ig-report-to-be-released-on-june-19/
[Emptywheel] The detail that Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in a month and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed got into the OLC memo via the CIA IG Report released May 2004. So, too, did the reports that CIA interrogators exceeded the guidelines laid out in the Bybee Two memo. And the conclusion that the torture couldn't be said to have stopped any attacks? That was in the CIA IG Report, too.

Which is why the IG Report's reported release--on June 19--might be big news. . . .

I'll be pleasantly surprised (though not satisfied) if they release pages 85 though 91, which talk about the (in)efficacy of the program. It was in response to these six pages that at least some of Dick Cheney's CYA documents were written.

What’s going to happen with health care?

http://www.openleft.com/diary/13710/democratic-leadership-pressuring-progressives

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/the_public_option.php

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124467554761003983.html
[Karl Rove] Defeating the public option should be a top priority for the GOP this year. Otherwise, our nation will be changed in damaging ways almost impossible to reverse.

Michael Steele continues his sad, pathetic descent into a man who will say ANYTHING

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018558.php
In an interview with CNN's Campbell Brown on Tuesday, the Republican Party leader insisted that white males would not be granted even-handed jurisprudence under a Court with Obama's nominee.

"God help you if you're a white male," said Steele. "If you're seeking justice, this may not be the bench you want to go before." . . .

[Steve Benen] Got that? On May 29, Steele saw no value in attacking the Supreme Court nominee with racial politics . . .

Goofy too

http://minnesotaindependent.com/36567/not-a-big-tent-gop-is-a-hat-says-steele
[Paul Schmelzer] Here’s more evidence that the GOP is still struggling to find fitting metaphors to talk about itself. The party was likened to a miffed Eminem by Gov. Tim Pawlenty at the College Republicans’ national confab over the weekend, while at another of the convention’s sessions, RNC chair Michael Steele was coming up with imagery of his own. Steele told the audience that “no one knows what the hell it means” when the GOP refers to itself as a “big tent.”

So he offered another analogy: The GOP is a hat. . . . [read on]

The GOP can’t defeat the Sotomayor confirmation, but can they delay it?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/graham-republicans-have-the-leverage-to-delay-sotomayor-confirmation.php
[Brian Beutler] Time will tell how Republicans actually respond, but just because Republicans probably won't filibuster Sotomayor doesn't mean they won't drag the process along, raising money and attacking the nominee along the way. . . .

Did we need a poll to tell us this?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-06-09-poll-parties_N.htm
[USAT] Who speaks for the GOP?

The question flummoxes most Americans, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, which is among the reasons for the party's sagging state and uncertain direction.

A 52% majority of those surveyed couldn't come up with a name when asked to specify "the main person" who speaks for Republicans today. . . .

Of those who could, the top response was radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh (13%), followed in order by former vice president Dick Cheney, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former House speaker Newt Gingrich. . . .

"We cannot be a party of balding white guys," says former Republican Party national chairman Ed Gillespie . . .

Dissatisfaction with the GOP extends to within its own ranks. Among Republicans, 33% had an unfavorable impression of their own party. In contrast, 4% of Democrats had an unfavorable impression of their party.

Heh: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/gallup-official-only-05-say-sarah-palin-speaks-for-gop/
Less Than 0.5% Say Sarah Palin Speaks For GOP . . .

You say that like it’s a GOOD thing

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/10/krauthammer-alternative-reality/
KRAUTHAMMER: What Fox did is not just create a venue for alternative opinion. It created an alternate reality. . . . [read on]

Bonus item: You’re fired!

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Miss-Calis-Crown-Yanked.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 @ 7:01 AM

 
THE LOYAL OPPOSITION?

Good. Obama’s got the votes, and he’s not going to screw around placating Republican demands for more time

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/09/sotomayor_hearings/index.html
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced Tuesday that his committee will be holding confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor on July 13. That's the start of a pretty ambitious schedule -- he wants her confirmed by the time the Senate goes into recess on Aug. 7. . . .

The Repubs go ballistic

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/senate-gops-reaction-to-sotomayor-hearings-well-have-to-review-76-cases-per-day.php
[Eric Kleefeld] The Senate Republican Communications Center has put out a new objection to the scheduled hearings for Sonia Sotomayor: That this schedule represents a double standard compared to the time it took for John Roberts' hearings to begin, because it means Republicans will have to review 76 of her cases per day, beginning from the day when the nomination was announced, to be ready on the day the hearings are supposed to begin.

The key here is that Sotomayor has spent a lot longer on the bench than Roberts did. Roberts had a total of 327 cases, to be reviewed in 55 days before his hearings -- about six per day. Sotomayor has 3,625 cases, to be reviewed in 48 days, working out to a ratio of about 76.

Now hold on a second, the math can get even trickier from here.

I did some number-crunching, and it turns out that in order to get to the same per-case ratio as Roberts, then the hearings would have to start 610 days after the initial nomination -- or a year and half from the current scheduled date. . . .

Boo effin’ hoo: http://washingtonindependent.com/46245/spill-the-whine

The time line for other Supreme Court nominees

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/democrats-circulate-graph-dramatizing-republicans-desire-to-slow-walk-sotomayor.php

David Brooks: when he wants to, he knows how to do the right thing

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/06/restraint
[On Sotomayor] She is quite liberal. But there’s little evidence that she is motivated by racialist thinking or an activist attitude. . .

When you read her opinions, race and gender are invisible. I’m obviously not qualified to judge the legal quality of her opinions. But when you read the documents merely as examples of persuasive writing, you find that they are almost entirely impersonal and deracinated. . .

To my eye, they are the products of a clear and honest if unimaginative mind. She sticks close to precedent and the details of a case. There’s no personal flavor (in the boring parts one wishes there were). There’s no evidence of a grand ideological style or even much intellectual ambition. If you had to pick a word to describe them, it would be “restraint.”

And then there’s this clown . . .

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/race-obsessed-victor-davis-hanson-attacks-sotomayor-for-delivering-single-speech-on-hispanic-issues.php
Victor Davis Hanson argues that Sonia Sotomayor is “race obsessed” . . .

It’s not good when the Obama admin echoes the arguments and excuses of the Bush gang

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/panetta_too_dangerous_to_release_torture_tape_docs.php
Panetta: Too Dangerous To Release Torture Tape Docs . . .

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/08/leon-panetta-kisses-his-credibility-goodbye/
[Emptywheel] Well, that didn't take long, for a Director of Central Intelligence to totally lose his credibility in the servitude of the institution. What has it been? Three, four months?

I'll have more to say about Panetta's declaration in the ACLU FOIA case tomorrow. But for now, a little unsolicited advice for the spook-in-chief.

When you say,

I also want to emphasize that my determinations expressed above, and in my classified declaration, are in no way driven by a desire to prevent embarrassment for the U.S. Government or the CIA, or to suppress evidence of unlawful conduct,

Yet the entire world knows--and the CIA has itself acknowledged--that the materials in question do, in fact, show evidence of unlawful conduct, and when you sort of kind of pretend that no one else knows what they all know--that the materials show evidence of unlawful conduct...

Then you look like a fool. . . .

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/09/leon-panetta-ive-got-to-protect-the-contractors-from-unwarranted-invasion-of-privacy/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/09/the-cias-cherry-pick/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/09/gravely-damaging-intelligence-gaps/

Bush 2.0?

http://washingtonindependent.com/46192/bush-lawyer-prolonged-indefinite-detention-is-already-widespread

The big problem with the “Justice dept lawyers told us torture was legal” defense

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/secret-indemnity-by-digby-greenwald.html

[NB: Let me add one point to Digby’s argument – the rather obvious point that these legal opinions were made-to-order under White House pressure. The WH wasn’t ASKING if what they were doing was legal – they were TELLING the Justice Dept what they wanted permission to do. And they found willing hacks to give them what they wanted.]

A question of priorities

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/9/740518/-Graham,-Lieberman-Will-Shut-Down-Senate-over-Photos
Graham, Lieberman Will Shut Down Senate over Photos . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/legalizing-lawbreaking-by-digby-oh-for.html

Is it acceptable for a congressman to actively talk down the financial trustworthiness of the US government when talking to a foreign nation?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/rep-mark-kirk-r-il-i-told-china-not-to-believe-us-budget-numbers.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018544.php

The kind of people they are

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/09/gaffney/index.html
[Alex Koppelman] Sometimes, if you're making a careful, reasoned argument, you need to include a caveat or two. For example, "This is not to say, necessarily, that Mr. Obama actually is a Muslim." That's the kind of caution that makes Frank Gaffney's latest op-ed for the Washington Times the restrained, thoughtful piece it is.

Yes, the Washington Times really did publish an op-ed titled "America's First Muslim president?" in which Gaffney writes . . .

More great advice from the peanut gallery: the GOP needs a bloodthirsty political fighter and strategist, a new Lee Atwater (because Karl Rove, you know, who used to be the “boy genius,” is just too soft and ineffective)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/8/739995/-Breitbarts-Brain

Palin’s rock star status overwhelms GOP fundraiser

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/09/GOP.fundraiser.palin/index.html
The Alaska governor's last-minute appearance at the GOP's biggest fundraiser of the year ended 24 hours of speculation that the she might skip the event. A late attempt to have her speak at the dinner fell through when organizers feared she might upstage Gingrich, the onetime House speaker. . . .

[W]hen Palin and her husband, Todd, sauntered across the stage with Gingrich and his wife, Callista, shortly before the program commenced, their appearance was met with cheers from the audience of 2,000 party loyalists. . . .

Palin did not speak at the event, but during a break in the program for dinner, Republicans clustered around the former vice presidential nominee's table near the front of the ballroom, eager to meet the governor and pose for pictures.

It was the only table in the vast ballroom that had a crowd gathered around it -- and despite their distance from Palin's table, multiple television cameras kept their lenses trained on the governor for much of the night. . . .

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/republican-party/the-story-behind-the-sarah-palin-dustup-her-staff-sucks/
[Greg Sargent] There’s actually a real and somewhat important story behind the whole brouhaha yesterday over whether Sarah Palin would or wouldn’t attend the big GOP fundraising gala: Republicans say that her staff is basically a disaster. . . . [read on]

Bonus item: The decline of conservative “thought” (don’t miss it!)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018546.php



More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018543.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 @ 7:18 AM

 
ROUND AND AROUND . . .

Unspinning the spin

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/doj_torture_emails_how_the_times_could_have_report.php
DOJ Torture Emails: How The Times Could Have Reported The Story . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/8/740075/-New-York-Times:-Comey-Did-What

More spin, this time from the Washington Post. Bush apologist Fred Hiatt says, about the Dems, ain’t it terrible when one party controls all the levers of power? Uh, Fred? . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/8/740005/-Fred-Hiatt-Suffers-Six-Year-Blackout-

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/fred-hiatts-strange-op-ed.php

Hmm. . . . stop me if this sounds familiar. Known terrorist says that he has information about upcoming attacks. They need to be prevented at all costs, right? So what should we do?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018528.php
The man accused of assassinating Dr. George Tiller in Kansas a week ago called the AP to say there are plans for additional attacks. . . .

Waterboard him! http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/torture_advocates_mum_on_whether_they_support_wate.php

[NB: No, not really, of course]

I guess Rush really means it when he says he wants Obama to fail. He wants him to fail so badly that he’s willing to destroy a major American corporation and throw thousands of American workers out of their jobs to do it. This is more brilliant strategy from the fat blowhard – I’d love to see the GOP run on this campaign: “We destroyed GM”

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/right-wingers-to-boycott-gm.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/8/740047/-Teabagging-GM

Is there NOTHING this man can say that will earn him the condemnation he deserves?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/good-god-by-digby-says-undisputed.html
"It is offensive to the sensibilities of millions of people to hear a member of the state-run media refer to a half-black, half-white human being with no experience running anything of substance referred to as a god. He may be president of the United States, but he's not a god."

The GOP today is like friggin’ high school. Ex-beauty queen gets invited, then uninvited, then reinvited to big fundraiser. She’s asked to speak, then asked NOT to speak, because the main speaker (a boy named Newt) is worried she might upstage him. Ex-beauty queen is in a snit . . .

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23454.html

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/republican-party/gop-leader-working-behind-scenes-to-get-palin-reinvited-to-big-fundraiser/

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/08/palin/index.html

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/republican-party/breaking-palin-will-come-to-gop-fundraiser-after-all/

http://lafiga.firedoglake.com/2009/06/08/kiss-of-fail-palin-gets-un-vite-sulks-pouts-prevails-sorta/

Of course, we should do all that we can to encourage a major role for Palin in the party. If we’re lucky, she gets the nomination!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/8/740110/-Dont-give-up-hope-just-yet

Please, oh please: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/palins_told_ya_so.php
HANNITY: You know but it goes back - It does go back a little to the campaign. I mean, 'spread the wealth, patriotic duty...'

PALIN: Kind of a 'we told ya so'.

HANNITY: Well, is that how you feel?

PALIN: That's how I feel! I feel like... and I think that more and more constituents are going to open their eyes now and open their ears to hear what is really going on and realize ok... Maybe we didn't have a good way of expressing that, or articulating that message of 'here is what America could potentially become if we grow government to such a degree that we cannot pay for it and we have to borrow money from other countries, some countries that don't necessarily like America.

And this many months into the new administration, quite disappointed, quite frustrated with not seeing those actions to rein in spending, slow down the growth of government. Instead Sean it is the complete opposite. It's expanding at such a large degree that if Americans aren't paying attention, unfortunately our country could evolve into something that we do not even recognize.

Or this guy

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/6/9/3158/41187
[Charles Lemos] In the keynote address at the 2009 Republican Senate-House Dinner, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stressed that the GOP needed to get back to "first principles" but that party needed "to be inclusive." This from a man who earlier over the weekend argued that nation was beset by "paganism" . . .

Arlen Specter, what a piece of work. For EFCA, then against it, now for it again. Didn’t we know that once he switched parties he would have to find a way to back this pro-labor bill?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/specter-to-labor-youll-like-how-i-vote-on-efca--labor-skeptical.php

More opportunism from Specter: http://www.openleft.com/diary/13679/specters-greatest-hits

Great news for the GOP: now they’re calling THEIR OWN MEMBERS pinko commies

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/08/crist/index.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/8/740060/-FL-Sen:-The-battle-of-the-holier-than-thous

Still, don’t think the GOP is the only party that knows how to shoot itself in the foot. In NY, the State Senate votes to shift control from the Dems to the Repubs – despite a Democratic majority! (Two Dems voted to give control to the other party.) These people are ’way too smart for me, I guess, because I can’t see the genius behind such a move

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/08/new_york/index.html

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/the-new-york-state-senate-switch-back-room-politics-at-its-best.php

Bonus item: More evidence that the geriatric GOP and technology don’t mix

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/8/739923/-Someone-needs-to-de-tweet-Sen.-Grassley

***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 @ 7:21 AM

 
NEWS ON NEWS

Not much in the news today, so let’s make the news the story. Yesterday we had a few posts on somebody friendly to the Bush admin feeding the NYT a series of spin-inflected stories on torture policy, with the Times gullibly reflecting the spin. Today we have more

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/nyt_editors_note_walks_back_claims_in_front-page_g.php
NYT: We Made Big Mistakes On Front-Page Gitmo Story, But We Did Not Get Spun . . .

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/07/legal/
[Marcy Wheeler] When I first started bitching about this NYT story, I did so because it appeared someone had come to the NYT with three pieces of data--the news that Jim Comey concurred with the May 10, 2005 OLC "Techniques" memo, the previously known fact that Daniel Levin had authorized waterboarding under certain circumstances in August 2004, and the self-evident fact that Jack Goldsmith had not withdrawn the Bybee Two memo in 2004 when he had withdrawn the Bybee One memo (though not for lack of concern about the memo)--and turned it into an A1 story trumpeting that "US Lawyers Agreed on the Legality of Brutal Tactic." . . . [read on]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/07/torture_memos/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] I want to focus on what the Comey emails actually demonstrate about what these DOJ torture memos really are. The primary argument against prosecutions for Bush officials who ordered torture is that DOJ lawyers told the White House that these tactics were legal, and White House officials therefore had the right to rely on those legal opinions. The premise is that White House officials inquired in good faith with the DOJ about what they could and could not do under the law, and only ordered those tactics which the DOJ lawyers told them were legal. As these Comey emails prove, that simply is not what happened. . . . [read on]

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/07/cheneys-and-gonzales-cya-libraries/

Now, on health care

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/get_rewrite.php
[Josh Marshall] [Y]ou really must read this article in the Times on the battle over including a 'public option' in the new Obama health care reform bill. If you're not familiar with the lingo of this debate, the 'public option' refers to allowing the federal government to sell its own insurance plan which would compete with private health insurance providers. Think of it as a version of Medicare that everyone could buy into.

Here's the key graf . . .

More: http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/5642

More examples

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018516.php
[Steve Benen] As much trouble as conservatives have had with governing, they're adept at not only getting their message out, but getting the media to internalize their talking points. . . . [read on]

The GOP is hammering Obama on this statement, from his Cairo speech

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/04/obama.speech.political/index.html
The United States, he said, "does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements."

Outrageous, huh? http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/clinton-denies-knowledge-of-secret-bush-era-agreement-on-settlements.php
[Matt Yglesias] Talking to ABC News’ George Stephanoupoulos in an interviewed aired earlier today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denied the existence of any record of an alleged secret Bush-era deal with the Israeli government granting them a loophole out of their public, international agreement to halt settlement activity. . . . [emphasis added, read on]

Is the economy getting better? (thanks to Elaine N. for the link)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/opinion/07cohanWEB.html

The GOP’s race-based strategy against Sotomayor: don’t they realize that the more they try to attack her with these accusations, the more they prove her worldview correct?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/airbrushing-southern-strategy-by-digby.html
[Digby] The latest hissy fit over Sotomayor is even stupider than others. Evidently, she's considered to be a radical leftist freak for writing back in 1981 that "capital punishment is associated with evident racism in our society." . . . [read on]

Foreign policy genius Sarah Palin lectures Obama

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/07/palin-defense-cuts-are-a-sign-of-weakness/

***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 @ 6:49 AM

 
THE LINGERING STAIN

Misleading journalism from the newspaper of record

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/us/politics/07lawyers.html
U.S. Lawyers Agreed on Legality of Harsh Interrogations . . .

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/06/pre-emptive-strike-on-opr-report-comey-said-waterboarding-legal/
[Marcy Wheeler] Read the Comey emails. The NYT has--IMO--grossly misrepresented the emails. Not only have they printed a story with their source's spin completely untouched, but they have ignored the real news in these emails. . . . [read on!]

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/06/all-the-news-nyt-does-not-print/

Still trying to find a way to avoid using the word “torture”

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/06/nyt/index.html
[NYT] Much of the evidence against the men accused in the Sept. 11 case, as well as against other detainees, is believed to have come from confessions they gave during intense interrogations at secret C.I.A. prisons. . . .

[NB: I’m still working my way through “The Dark Side,” Jane Mayer’s account of the evolution of the Bush/Cheney torture regime. Terrific book. But it’s not just about torture – it’s about brutal mistreatment on a massive scale, including several murders that still haven’t been accounted for.]

His name is Mudd

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/06/05/dhs_intel_nominee_to_be_withdrawn
[Laura Rozen] The White House nominee to be the undersecretary of intelligence and analysis at the Department of Homeland Security has withdrawn, he and the White House said in statements Friday.

The withdrawal of the nomination of Philip Mudd, a veteran CIA analyst who had worked in recent years as a senior executive at the FBI, comes after an AP report yesterday. The report said that a Republican lawmaker planned to question Mudd over whether he had "direct knowledge" of the Bush-era harsh interrogation program while serving in a senior analytical role at the CIA. . . . [read on!]

More: http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/06/05/puddle-of-mudd-pt-2/

Republicans trash Obama’s even-handed approach in his Cairo speech

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/04/obama.speech.political/index.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018507.php

Lobbyists gear up for the fight over health care

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/robert_reich/2009/06/the-public-option-smokescreens.php
[Robert Reich] I'ved poked around Washington today, talking with friends on the Hill who confirm the worst: Big Pharma and Big Insurance are gaining ground in their campaign to kill the public option in the emerging health care bill.

You know why, of course. They don't want a public option that would compete with private insurers and use its bargaining power to negotiate better rates with drug companies. They argue that would be unfair. Unfair? Unfair to give more people better health care at lower cost? To Pharma and Insurance, "unfair" is anything that undermines their profits. . . . [read on]

The left pushes back: http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/5631

This is what THEIR guy says

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/06/kerr/index.html
George Washington University Law Professor and Volokh Conspiracy blogger Orin Kerr announced yesterday that he has accepted a position as Special Counsel to GOP Sen. John Cornyn for the Sotomayor nomination. On several occasions, however, Kerr has rather expressly disputed some of the key GOP talking points used against Sotomayor. . . .

“[A]t this point I would think Sotomayor is very likely to be confirmed. I don't know a ton about Sotomayor, but her resume hints at someone who is sort of like a liberal mirror image of Samuel Alito: the humble kid who goes to Princeton and Yale Law, becomes a prosecutor, and then gets appointed at a young age to the federal bench and puts in 15 years as a respected (if not particularly high profile) federal judge.

In some ways, that makes Sotomayor a pretty conservative pick: Her resume is the kind of very accomplished resume that Supreme Court picks have tended to have in the last two decades or so. Given the make-up of the Senate, and the absence of surprise, I would imagine at this point that Sotomayor is very likely to be confirmed. . . .

I don't think the meaning of "empathy" is really such a vital issue. Like the John Roberts baseball analogy, it seems like a phrase that captures the public attention for its (superficial) simplicity rather than the depth of its insight. . . .

In 2005, Republican President George W. Bush selected Harriet Myers for the Supreme Court largely because he wanted to pick a woman, even though Miers had no experience as a judge and no real experience in areas relevant to the Supreme Court. The GOP White House then tried to sell the Miers nomination on the ground that she was the first woman to achieve what she did, even going so far as to suggest that people who opposed her were being sexist and opposing Miers because of her gender.

Given that recent history, isn't it sort of odd to suggest that the emphasis on race and gender in an internet comment thread concerning the next female nominee somehow echoes "the vile racist and sexist past" of the Democratic Party? Isn't it significantly less offensive than what the most recent Republican President did just 4 years ago?”

You certainly can’t say they don’t make their intentions clear

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/culture-o-life-by-digby-bob-enyart.html
Bob Enyart, spokesman for Colorado Right to Life. . . . said that although his group doesn't condone Tiller's slaying, abortion providers should expect that violence begets violence.

"If a Mafia hit man gets killed, people recognize it's an occupational hazard," he said. . . .

Ironic for anyone who has tracked his career, but Newt seems determined to reinvent himself as the candidate of the religious right

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/6/7/03058/78525
[Virginian-Pilot] Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee urged Christians to get involved in politics to preserve the presence of religion in American life.

"I think this is one of the most critical moments in American history," Gingrich said. "We are living in a period where we are surrounded by paganism." . . .

Ask not for whom the bell tolls . . .

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23434.html
Seven months after Minnesota's Senate election, the state's highest court hasn't reached a decision but election law experts agree: Norm Coleman doesn’t have a prayer. . . .

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/the-sunday-show-line-ups-8.php
• ABC, This Week: Sec. of State Hillary Clinton.

• CBS, Face The Nation: David Axelrod, Senior White House Adviser; Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA).

• CNN, State Of The Union: David Axelrod, Senior White House Adviser.

• Meet The Press will not air this weekend, due to NBC's coverage of the French Open.

Bonus item: The best and the brightest

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018510.php
[Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.)] "This whole thing strikes me if it weren't so serious as being a comedy, you know. I mean, we just went from winter to spring. In Missouri when we go from winter to spring, that's a good climate change. I don't want to stop that climate change, you know. Who in the world want to put politicians in charge of the weather anyways? What a dumb idea....

"Some of the models said that we're going to have surf at the front steps of the Capitol pretty soon. I was really looking forward to that....

"We've been joined by another doctor, a medical doctor but also a guy who graduated from high school science as well, from Georgia, my good friend, Congressman Gingrey.... So to have actually a guy who's passed high school science is tremendously helpful. . . . ."

***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 @ 6:25 AM

 
PLAYGROUND LOGIC

It ain’t working, but it’s all they’ve got

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/05/obama-muslim-speech-inhofe/
[The Oklahoman] Sen. Jim Inhofe said today that President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo was “un-American” because he referred to the war in Iraq as “a war of choice” and didn’t criticize Iran for developing a nuclear program.

Inhofe, R-Tulsa, also criticized the president for suggesting that torture was conducted at the military prison in Guantanamo, saying, “There has never been a documented case of torture at Guantanamo.”

“I just don’t know whose side he’s on,” Inhofe said of the president. [read on]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/inhofe-obama-not-on-the-side-of-terrorists--or-our-troops.php
[Brian Beutler] Curious which 'sides' Inhofe might have had in mind, I asked his communications director, Jared Young, to complete the picture a bit. According to Young, Inhofe was saying he's "kind of confused about why the President's going on foreign soil and in some cases echoing talking points from al Qaeda about Guantanamo Bay."

So is he saying he think's the President's on the side of terrorists?

"No, no, he's not saying that, no. He just certainly doesn't seem to be on the side of our men and women in uniform."

Well, I guess that clears that up. . . .

Hannity: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018503.php

Pruden: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/5/739267/-PRUDEN:-Inner-Klansman-at-work-in-Washington

Rove: http://firedoglake.com/2009/06/05/karl-rove-may-not-care-about-muslims-opinion-of-the-us-but-we-should/

[NB: Can we say that nothing is more “un-American” than accusing other loyal citizens of being “un-American” just because they disagree with you? It’s a pretty tired old line by now – but it also reveals a deep belief that the US really is at war with Islam, and any acknowledgment of the legitimacy of grievances against the US is treasonous.]

Two jihads: a kind of symmetry

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/5/739134/-Obama-the-secret-Jew
Rachel Maddow reports that Al Qaeda is taking on Fox: President Obama isn't Sean Hannity's secret Muslim, they say -- he's actually a secret Jew. . . .

House Intelligence Committee gets a classified briefing on the torture docs Cheney wants released – the ones that supposedly “prove” that torture worked. And it wasn’t minutes after when one GOP member started leaking what he’d heard (in direct violation of congressional rules, and possibly the law). But even then, the best spin he could give it was pretty lame

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/intel-firestorm-gop-reveals-briefing-info-2009-06-04.html
[Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.)] “Based on what I heard and the documents I have seen, I came away with a very clear impression that we did gather information that did disrupt terrorist plots.”

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/05/the-hills-campfire-games-on-intelligence-briefings/
[Emptywheel] And from this, the apparently English-challenged Hill writer, Jared Allen, claims that GOP members--plural--said they "were informed that the controversial methods have led to information that prevented terrorist attacks." In the bits Allen quotes, after all, Kline makes no claims they were even briefed about what information they got from torture, and he certainly makes no claim that the information that disrupted terrorist plots came from torture. [read on]

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/hoekstra_leaking_classified_info_is_terrible_--_ex.php
Hoekstra: Leaking Classified Info Is Terrible -- Except When GOP Does It . . . [read on]

This could be big

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/justice_department_to_probe_tiller_killing.php
The Justice Department has announced an investigation into whether federal crimes were committed in connection with the murder of Dr. George Tiller. . . .

"The Department of Justice will work tirelessly to determine the full involvement of any and all actors in this horrible crime, and to ensure that anyone who played a role in the offense is prosecuted to the full extent of federal law."

More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908#31132949

We’re gonna get a health care plan

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/06/health/policy/06health.html

K Street lobbyists really don’t care whether Dems or Repubs are in power – the system works the same for them either way

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/democratic-industrial-complex-by-digby.html

Tough time to be a College Republican

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/05/college_gop/index.html

The end of the Minnesota stall?

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/06/05/franken-coleman-update-060509-when-bluffers-fold/
When Bluffers Fold . . .

The ubiquitous Liz Cheney

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/liz-cheney-appeared-on-msnbc-and-cnn-ten-times-in-less-than-a-month/
Media Matters runs the numbers on Liz Cheney’s over-exposure on the networks, and they’re startling: She’s had at least 22 on-air appearances in less than a month. . . . [read on]

The GOP has been throwing the racist line around quite a bit lately, you might have noticed – but when one of their own is deservedly tagged that way, it becomes a “lynching.” Uh huh

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/bay-buchanan-after-assaulting-black-woman-calling-her-nigger-epstein-was-lynched.php

http://washingtonindependent.com/45914/bay-buchanan-speaks-out-against-the-lynching-of-marcus-epstein

http://firedoglake.com/2009/06/05/late-night-elephants-on-parade-10/

Michael Steele, after condemning it, picks up the “Sotomayor is a racist” line. This is a man of true principle and character

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/5/739240/-Now-Steele-says-Sotomayor-would-be-a-racist-judge

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018502.php
[O]nly 8% of Americans agree with right-wing charges that Sotomayor is a "racist," and majorities had a favorable opinion of the Supreme Court nominee and believe she's qualified for the high court. . . [read on]

WTF?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/05/national_review/index.html
[Vincent Rossmeier] The cover image depicts Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, as the Buddha. She's clothed in an orange robe and is seated in a traditional Buddhist teaching pose. The title of the cover, "The Wise Latina," plays on one of Sotomayor's most controversial statements.

NewsSalon contacted Rich Lowry, the editor of the National Review and asked him about the idea behind the cover. "[S]eems kind of self-explanatory," he said in an e-mail. "She has characterized herself as a wise Latina, so we ran a caricature of her in a pose associated with extraordinary equipose, peace and--yes--wisdom..."

Salon then asked Lowry about the rendering of Sotomayor's eyes in the caricature. The slanted eyes used in the picture are typical of racist depictions of Asians, but the Buddha is not usually shown with them. (Indeed, in the picture accompanying this post, which appears -- given its location on the Wikipedia entry for Gautama Buddha and the deer, mountains and lotus flowers in it -- to be the basis for the magazine's cover, the Buddha's eyes are not slanted.) In an e-mail, Salon asked Lowry, "Why approve the depiction of her with slanted eyes, given the sensitivity of that stereotype? Was that something you considered before publication? Were you worried about the reaction to it?"

Lowry responded, "[N]ot sure I'm following you. Can you be more specific?"

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/nrs-sotomayor-cover.php
[Matt Yglesias] It seems that what happened was that, as conservatives are wont to do, they tried to do something that would be racist, but also arguably not racist. Hence, instead of depicting a Latina with a racist stereotyped image of a Latina, they depicted her with a racist stereotyped image of an Asian. . . . [read on]

“Judicial activism” is in the eyes of the beholder

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/5/739274/-Judicial-Activism,-IOKIYAR

Bonus item: Limbaugh logic

http://firedoglake.com/2009/06/05/rush-limbaughs-failure-paradox/
[Eli] Hey, remember when Rush said he hopes Obama fails? I wonder if Rush does.

“With all of this unemployment, and the recession, look at the drastic drop in tax revenue to the government, so their... deficit projections and... government revenue are already way off, and it doesn't matter a hill of beans. The worse it gets, is my point, the better for him... for his designs.”

So... if Obama fails and makes the economy worse, that's good for him and "his designs"? Which means that if Rush roots for Obama to fail, he's actually rooting for him to succeed, right?

Or is Rush shrewdly rooting for Obama to fail by succeeding too much? Or is he rooting for him to fail to succeed enough to fail?

Truly, he has a dizzying intellect.

***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 @ 7:34 AM

 
A MOMENT IN HISTORY?

Reactions to Obama’s Cairo speech

Here: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/quote_of_the_day_jeffrey_goldberg_on_obamas_cairo_speech.php
[Jeffrey Goldberg] An African-American President with Muslim roots stands before the Muslim world and defends the right of Jews to a nation of their own in their ancestral homeland, and then denounces in vociferous terms the evil of Holocaust denial, and right-wing Israelis go forth and complain that the President is unsympathetic to the housing needs of settlers. Incredible, just incredible.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/04/cairo_speech_fair_balanced_and_not_backing_down/

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/06/obamas-nine-hard-truths

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/04/obamas-cairo-speech/

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/04/10_comments_on_obama_in_cairo_-_still_accumulating/

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/obamas-cairo-speech-telling-all-sides-what-they-dont-want-to-hear/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018488.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018489.php

http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/06/04/measure-for-measure/

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/06/obama-cairo

http://www.slate.com/id/2219758

http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/06/04/the_speech

Across the Middle East: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/jun/04/obama-hamas-cairo-speech

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/obamas_speech_plays_better_with_palestinians.php

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/hezbollah_mp_muslim_world_doesnt_need_sermons.php

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/reactions-to-obamas-speech.html

From the right: http://firedoglake.com/2009/06/04/wingnuts-react-to-obamas-cairo-speech-hes-just-like-bush-were-all-doomed/

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/cairo_reactions_conservatives_go_past_apology_meme.php

From Rush: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_060409/content/01125108.guest.html
President Obama's Cairo Speech: Outrageous, Absurd, Embarrassing . . .

The biggest complaint from the right: Obama never used the word “terrorism” (gee, guys, think that was an accident?)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018484.php

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/terrorism/politico-the-word-most-associated-with-islam-is-terrorism/

The end of the Geithner Plan

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/06/geithner-plan-dead

Is Norm Coleman getting ready to give up in Minnesota?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/06/coleman-ready-bow-out

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/will-coleman-give-up-the-fight-in-minnesota.php

The ubiquity of Liz Cheney – why?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018477.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/please_make_her_go_away.php

The concerted effort by the Cheneys to rewrite or erase history

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/4/738874/-Caught-on-tape:-The-Cheneys-lie-about-Iraq9-11

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#31113837

Okay, let’s be honest: Sonia Sotomayor used the “wise Latina” or similar formulations on repeated occasions. Personally, I have no big problem with it – but we’re going to have to drop the excuse that she just misspoke or made a poor word choice

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/06/04/sotomayor_repeatedly_used_wise_woman_in_speeches.html

How they play the game

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/mitch-mcconnell-wants-right-wingers-to.html
[Joe Sudbay] The New York Times profiles Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and the supposedly tough job he has of reining in all those right wing lunatics who have been viciously attacking Sotomayor . . . But, that's all B.S. And, the New York Times fell for it. . . . [read on]

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/gun-shy-gop-urges-attacks-on-nominee-2009-06-03.html
[Alexander Bolton] In public, Senate Republicans have kept their distance from conservative attacks on Sonia Sotomayor — but behind the scenes, they have encouraged activists to keep their crosshairs trained on the Supreme Court nominee. . . . [read on]

Rush Limbaugh: defender of the white man

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_060409/content/01125110.guest.html
[I]t is really uncool to be white male today. . . .

There's a stigma attached to it when talking about, oh, social or political things. I understand what you're talking about. I think this is the culmination of multiculturalism. It is the... We're not quite at the end of it yet, but this is a process that's been underway for a long, long time -- longer than I have been doing this program -- to basically tar and feather the majority. . . . White men particularly. White women are considered a minority, and everybody else but white men have always been minorities. And the white men have been tyrants. They have controlled everything. They have denied or approved based on their own discrimination and bias and racism, and all of this. And so the multicultural curriculum was basically oriented around how Western Civilization and white Europeans actually destroyed what was once a great civilization and continent, North America, and gave it the polluted existence known as the United States of America -- a land of bias, a land of unfairness, a land of racism, slavery, sexism, homophobia, disease, pestilence, environmental destruction. That is why you have someone like Sonia Sotomayor or who was educated under those precepts thinking and saying the things that she says. . . .

That is how you end up with a Barack Obama, who lives and breathes and believes the things that he says, because that's what he's been taught about this country. His wife, ditto. And those people are all enraged. They're all angry. Then you throw the white liberals in there who have guilt over the charge, and so they don't want to be the focus of the charge. So they join with the critics of the white male, and that makes them feel enlightened and advanced. . . .

But, see, they have been told that they can't be racist because they don't have the power to implement their racism. This has been the argument the Reverend Jackson has proffered throughout my life, that it's impossible for minorities to be racist because they don't have any power. Well... (chuckling) President of the United States? We're talking now about a Supreme Court justice? The days of them not having any power are over, and they are angry, and they want to use their power as a means of retribution.

That's what Obama's about, gang. He's angry. He's gonna cut this country down to size. He's gonna make it pay for all this multicultural mistakes that it has made, its mistreatment of minorities. I know exactly what's going on here. . . .

Don’t call it a “litmus test” – but abortion trumps everything else

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/04/limbaugh-ready-to-support-sotomayor-2/
A week after calling Sonia Sotomayor a "racist" in reference to her 2001 "wise Latina" remarks, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh said Wednesday he's now open to supporting President Obama's Supreme Court nominee. . . .

"I can see a possibility of supporting this nomination if I can be convinced that she does have a sensibility toward life in a legal sense," Limbaugh said on his radio program. . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/4/738683/-Limbaugh-Versus-Limbaugh
[Think Progress] Limbaugh’s hope that Sotomayor will allow the anti-choice stance of the Catholic church to influence her rulings in the court room is a direct contradiction of his insistence last week that Sotomayor’s nomination must be stopped by conservatives because, as he argued, she would allow her personal experiences to influence her rulings from the bench ...

Apparently in Limbaugh’s view, when judges allow their religious backgrounds to directly influence their rulings in ways conservatives view favorably, it’s blind justice. When judges remark that being a minority can give individuals perspective on the impact of their rulings, it’s racism. . . . [read on]

The press we have

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/03/AR2009060303239.html
[E.J. Dionne] A media environment that tilts to the right is obscuring what President Obama stands for and closing off political options that should be part of the public discussion. . . [read on]

Bonus item: Strange bedfellows

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/barack_obama_/2009/06/just_sayin.php
[Mark Kleiman] Hezbollah, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, John Bolton, Hugh Hewitt, the Republican Jewish Coalition, and John Boehner all disliked the President's speech. . . .

As was said of Grover Cleveland, "We love him for the enemies he has made."

***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 @ 7:28 AM

 
CODE-SHIFTING

Obama’s speech in Cairo today: highlights

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/obamas_speech_top_five_quotable_phrases.php

Full text: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/06/a_new_beginning.php

The right-wing yahoos get busy: Is Obama revealing his true inner Muslim self?

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/yikes-did-obama-really-call-america-a-muslim-country-nope/
Did Obama Really Call America A Muslim Country?

More: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/03/obama_muslim/index.html

Stupid mainstream press coverage helps

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/06/abc-news-jake-tapper-and-sunlen-miller-report-the-other-day-we-heard-a-comment-from-a-white-house-aide-that-neverwould-have.html
[ABC] The Emergence of President Obama's Muslim Roots . . .

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/obama-signals-themes-of-mideast-speech/
[NYT] Obama Says U.S. Could Be Seen as a Muslim Country . . .

The Dems wanted a President who would close Gitmo. They got one, and guess who ended up blocking it?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/bipartisan-fear-by-dday-so-when.html

More reasons to doubt the accuracy of CIA accounts about congressional briefings on torture

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/still-more-doubts-arise-about-cias-info-on-torture-briefings/
[Greg Sargent] The CIA documents that Republicans have widely cited as proof that Nancy Pelosi lied about what she knew didn’t mention Cheney’s presence at these briefings . . .

What you have to do if you want to run for President as a Republican these days

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/romney_uber_alles.php
We're listening to Mitt Romney on TV right now complaining about Obama's speech in Egypt, essentially saying that he's 'apologizing' for America . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/pawlenty_watch.php?ref=fpblg
Out-going Gov. Pawlenty (R) of Minnesota is on Fox right now talking about Obama's 'nationalization' of the health, auto and energy industries in the US and comparing to the country to a Latin American dictatorship circa 1970. . . .

Newt sorta kinda takes back his “racist” comment – but not really, of course

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/gingrich-walks-back-calling-sotomayor-a-racist----not.php
. . . So he shouldn't have called Sotomayor a racist -- he's just saying she makes her legal decisions based on race!

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018460.php

Rush calls Newtie a wimp

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/rush-newt-can-retract-sotomayor-racist-claim-but-im-not-retracting-squat/
On his show just now, Rush Limbaugh professed himself bewildered by Newt Gingrich’s retraction of his claim that Sonia Sotomayor is a “racist,” and reiterated that he’s not backing off the charge . . .

More: http://christyhardinsmith.firedoglake.com/2009/06/03/scotus-why-stand-up-to-asshattery-from-the-right/

Well guess what? Sotomayor made a nearly identical comment in 1994, but that didn’t prevent several Republican senators from voting for her in 1998

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/exclusive-sotomayor-made-same-wise-latina-comment-in-1990s-and-no-one-objected/
“Justice O’Connor has often been cited as saying that “a wise old man and a wise old woman reach the same conclusion in dueling cases. I am not so sure Justice O’Connor is the author of that line since Professor Resnik attributes the line to Supreme Court Justice Coyle. I am not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, if Prof. Martha Minnow is correct, there can never be a universal definition of ‘wise.’ Second, I would hope that a wise woman with the richness of her experience would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion.”

The phony, hypocritical “temperament” argument

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/huckleberry-taking-point-by-digby-they.html
[Politico] In his post-meeting news conference Graham also raised questions about Sotomayor's temperament. He said that while she was friendly in the meeting, he could not simply ignore reports from other lawyers she’s dealt with that she has a fiery temper.

“I think she does have the intellectual capacity to do the job,” Graham said. “But there's a character problem. . . .” [read on]

Not enough votes to filibuster Sotomayor – but don’t think that means that the confirmation process will go quickly and smoothly

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/top-gop-senator-we-dont-have-enough-votes-to-filibuster-sotomayor/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/3/738434/-Not-Enough-Votes-to-Filibuster-Sotomayor,-but-that-Wont-Stop-the-Sideshow

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018462.php

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/battle-over-sotomayor-rages-within-gop.html
The battle over Sotomayor rages -- within the GOP . . .

Obama’s numerous GOP appointments serve two purposes. (More evidence that the Dems are learning to play the game smarter)

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/06/03/obamas_plan_to_sabotage_the_republican_party.html

An end-game in the Minnesota Senate fight?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/3/738549/-Coleman,-Meet-Bus

The kind of people they are

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018458.php
[Steve Benen] On Monday's edition of Glenn Beck's hopelessly bizarre Fox News program, the host discussed General Motors' bankruptcy, and the federal intervention to save the company, with the National Review's Jonah Goldberg. If you're already thinking, "Uh oh," you still might be surprised by their chat. . . . [read on]

More: http://firedoglake.com/2009/06/03/glenn-beck-and-jonah-goldberg-obamas-support-of-fuel-efficient-cars-proves-hes-a-nazi/

Bonus item: That’s why I keep people like you around

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/report-bush-needed-condi-to-explain-articulate-flap-during-dem-primary.php
[Justin Elliott] Bush found himself perplexed by the flap over Joe Biden describing Obama as "articulate and bright and clean" in January 2007. So, naturally, the president turned to the top U.S. diplomat, the trusted Condi Rice, to explain what the heck this was all about. . . .

***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 @ 7:21 AM

 
RACE TO THE FINISH

The GOP now tilts toward an explicitly racist campaign against Sotomayor

The letter: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23212.html

http://christyhardinsmith.firedoglake.com/2009/06/02/scotus-help-expose-filibuster-hypocrisy-from-gop-leadership/

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/cheney-edges-away-from-claim-that-cia-docs-will-prove-torture-worked/
But in an interview with POLITICO, Manuel Miranda - who orchestrated the letter - went much farther, saying that Mitch McConnell should "consider resigning" as Senate minority leader if he can't take a harder line on President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court nominee.

Miranda accused McConnell of being "limp-wristed" and "a little bit tone deaf" when it comes to judicial nominees.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/2/738112/-Sotomayor-Round-Up
[Pat Buchanan] Like Lani Guinier, the Clinton appointee rejected for reverse racism, Sonia Sotomayor is a quota queen. She believes in, preaches and practices race-based justice. Her burying the appeal of the white New Haven firefighters, who were denied promotions they had won in competitive exams, was a no-brainer for her. . . . In her world, equal justice takes a back seat to tribal justice.

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/group-friendly-to-gop-equates-sotomayor.html
The Council of Conservative Citizens, a southern group that has been wooed by former GOP Senate leader Trent Lott and current GOP presidential hopeful Haley Barbour, has a doctored photo on its Web site of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in KKK garb. The CCC also calls Sotomayor "whitey hating." . . .

Those rascals

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/head-of-coalition-to-end-judicial-filibusters-now-promotes-filibustering-sotomayor.php
Head Of Coalition to End Judicial Filibusters Now Promotes Filibustering Sotomayor . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/02/manny/index.html
[Mike Madden] If Manuel Miranda is really becoming the leader of the conservative opposition to Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, this summer might be more fun for the White House than the administration anticipated.

The former aide to Bill Frist -- who was forced out of his job, and investigated by Senate officials, for hacking into Democratic staffers' e-mail accounts five years ago -- is now trying to organize a pressure campaign by conservatives to push Republican senators to filibuster the nomination. . . .

More on Miranda: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/disgraced-miranda-repeatedly-calls-republicans-limp-wristed-for-not-breaching-ethics-in-judicial-mat.php

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/leader-of-conservative-opposition-to-sotomayor-was-busted-for-hacking-and-spying-on-senate-dems/

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/head-of-anti-sotomayor-group-hispanic-voters-think-just-like-everyone-elsenot-like-african-americans/
Head Of Anti-Sotomayor Group: Hispanic Voters “Think Just Like Everyone Else…Not Like African Americans” . . .

The shortest press conference on record

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/02/qotd/index.html
MCCONNELL: It's my pleasure to welcome the judge here to my office for our first meeting. And we're going to have an opportunity to discuss some of the issues that have arisen and the process for going forward with the nomination.

Again, I want to congratulate you on your nomination.

SOTOMAYOR: Thank you, sir.

MCCONNELL: Quite an accomplishment. And thank you very much for coming by to see me.

Thanks, everyone.

QUESTION: Judge Sotomayor, what do you think of the fact that two prominent conservatives have called you a racist?

STAFF: Thank you very much, everybody.

Read it all

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/opinion/02herbert.html
[Bob Herbert] One can only hope that the hysterical howling of right-wingers against the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is something approaching a death rattle for this profoundly destructive force in American life.

It’s hard to fathom the heights of hypocrisy currently being scaled by the foaming-in-the-mouth crazies who are leading the charge against the nomination. . . . [read on!]

The Tiller murder might have been prevented

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/rubber_hits_the_road.php
[Josh Marshall] Roeder, the suspect in Tiller's murder, had apparently twice tried to vandalize another clinic in the last two weeks -- and in a way that suggested it might be setting the stage for a more serious break in. An employee at the clinic managed to get Roeder's license plate number and reported it to federal authorities, only to be told that nothing could be done before a grand jury had been impaneled.

It seems difficult to imagine that similar suspicious behavior, let alone actual vandalism, would have generated such a passive response if the clinic had been a synagogue or a federal building and the suspect had an Arab name.

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/source_roeder_tried_to_vanadalize_abortion_clinic.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/did_fbi_fail_to_act_on_roeder_tip.php
Did FBI Fail To Act On Roeder Tip?

The people behind Tiller

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/2/737764/-Scott-Roeders-Network-of-Support

Bill O’Reilly knew EXACTLY what he was saying about Tiller, and the emotions it would whip up

http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=2651280

http://www.openleft.com/diary/13598/movement-conservatism-as-mental-disease-bill-oreilly-the-murder-of-dr-george-tiller

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/2/737890/-Bill-OReilly-Claims-He-Told-The-Truth-...-Seriously

What to do about right-to-life terrorism

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/terrorism_and_its_control_/2009/06/law_enforcement_and_domestic_terrorism.php

If Tiller is a terrorist, does that mean . . .?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018454.php
[Jack Balkin] Should the United States be able to hold Roeder without trial in order to prevent him from returning to society to kill more abortion providers? If we believe that Roeder and other domestic terrorists will plan further attacks on abortion providers and abortion clinics if we let them free, can we subject them to indefinite detention? . . . [read on]

Today we learned that Dick Cheney personally participated in arm-twisting sessions with Congress to get them to support his torture program. That’s no surprise – the question is, Why was his role in those briefings originally covered up?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/03/why-did-cia-hide-dick-cheneys-role-in-briefing/

Oh, ho ho. Cheney starts to qualify his boast that unreleased documents PROVE that “torture worked”

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/cheney-edges-away-from-claim-that-cia-docs-will-prove-torture-worked/

A handy guide to torture rationalizations

Long version: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/torture-apologia-chart-by-batocchio-it.html

Short version: http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2009/06/02/tomo/

What’s next in Minnesota

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/whats-next-in-minnesota-a-virtually-certain-ruling-for-franken----and-big-choices-for-pawlenty.php

He Who Must Not Be Questioned

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/khmer_rush_strikes_again.php
[Wausau (Wisconsin) Daily Herald] The Republican Party of Marathon County has stripped its spokesman of his title less than three months after he wrote a column critical of conservative talk radio star Rush Limbaugh. . .

***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 @ 8:00 AM

 
BLOODY MURDER

Don’t think for a second that these abortion killings are the work of random nutjobs. There is an anti-abortion terrorist movement, encouraging and praising these murders; an organized movement with websites and newsletters openly calling for violence against health professionals providing an entirely legal service. If this was a group of blacks or Muslims, calling for and executing such killings, the Feds would be all over them – will they do something about it now?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/tiller_is_eighth_murdered_in_attacks_on_abortion_p.php
[Justin Elliott] The killing of George Tiller in Kansas Sunday was the latest act in three decades of violence aimed at abortion providers. Although the violence dates back to the years immediately following Roe v. Wade in 1973, the first murder occurred in 1993.

Tiller is the eighth person killed in attacks targeting abortion providers . . .

Watch: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#31053948

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#31053988





Hmm . . . http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/1/737712/-Number-for-top-Operation-Rescue-staffer-found-in-suspects-car
[Jed Lewison] Via KMBC of Kansas City, MO, here's video from the scene of Dr. George Tiller murder suspect Scott Roeder's arrest -- including the little-reported detail that Roeder had a handwritten Operation Rescue phone number on his dashboard . . . It turns out the number belongs to Operation Rescue senior policy advisor Cheryl Sullenger, who was convicted of conspiring to bomb an abortion clinic in 1988 . . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/1/737568/-Domestic-terrorism
[NYT] Scott Roeder, 51, of Merriam, Kan., whom authorities have described as a suspect in Sunday’s fatal shooting here of George Tiller, the doctor who had been a focal point for abortion opponents for decades, was once a subscriber and occasional contributor to a newsletter, Prayer and Action News, said to Dave Leach, an anti-abortion activist from Des Moines who runs the newsletter. Mr. Leach said he and Mr. Roeder had met once, and Mr. Roeder had described similar views to his own. Of Dr. Tiller’s death, Mr. Leach said, "To call this a crime is too simplistic," adding, "There is Christian scripture that would support this."

Enablers like Bill O’Reilly have been screaming bloody murder for years – but then try to back off the entirely predictable consequences of their incitements

Watch: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#31054073


- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:06 AM

 
DOMESTIC TERRORISM

Carried out by a defender of the sanctity of human life, no doubt

http://www.kansas.com/news/breaking/story/833730.html
George Tiller, the Wichita doctor who became a national lightning rod in the debate over abortion, was shot to death this morning as he walked into church services. . . .

Suspect identified

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/31/737357/--Suspect-Identified-in-Tiller-Assassination

More: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/69151.html

Anti-abortion groups say, don’t blame us (even though we’re glad he’s dead)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/05/far-right_quasi-celebrates_tiller_death.php
[Randall Terry] George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder. Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/terrorism-by-digby-it-appears-that.html

http://firedoglake.com/2009/05/31/dog-whistling-conservatives-and-dr-george-tiller/

Calling it what it is: an act of domestic terrorism

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/terrorism_and_its_control_/2009/05/about_that_rightwing_extremists_report.php
[Mark Kleiman] Remember how Republicans in Congress were all in a dither about the DHS report on right-wing extremist organizations as potential terrorist threats? The Tiller gunman was affiliated with at least two of those organizations. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/5/31/204713/056

http://firedoglake.com/2009/06/01/they-are-terrorists/

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/terrorism_and_its_control_/2009/05/if_youve_ever_said_abortion_is_murder_.php

So-called serious, responsible Republicans still can’t find it in themselves to repudiate attacks from their colleagues labeling Sotomayor a “racist”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/hoping-for-scandal-by-digby-these.html

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/05/conservative-soul
[Kevin Drum] On Friday it looked as though the conservative movement was suffering from a personality disorder. The insane half wanted to brand Sonia Sotomayor as a dull-witted affirmative action hire whose seething racist bitterness would soon turn the Supreme Court into a cesspool of radical retribution against whitey. The adult half thought that although she was obviously well qualified, her generally liberal record ought to be challenged and her judicial philosophy debated. Which side would carry the day?

It's starting to look like we've got an answer. Republican senators have been fairly restrained up until now, but by Sunday they were starting to defect en masse to the insane wing of the party . . .

Jeffrey Rosen tries to excuse his sloppy, irresponsible TNR column on Sotomayor: I was just blogging

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/05/31/rosen/index.html

Sotomayor’s decision on the Ricci case – here’s the irony. Republicans are attacking her for NOT being a judicial activist who overrides legislative actions and ignores precedent

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/05/ricci-and-activism.php

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/05/29/anonymity/index.html

Cheney’s strategy: blaming Obama for the next terrorist attack

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/opinion/31rich.html

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_05/018414.php

Cheney’s big tent: of course Colin Powell can remain a Republican – just as long as he agrees with us about everything

http://www.americablog.com/2009/05/cheney-changes-mind-says-powell-welcome.html

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- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:59 AM