LADIES NIGHT

Explain to me why, in the aftermath of one of the most devastating news reports published about this gang’s lawless rule, the Bush bully boys roll out the (few) WOMEN of their administration to defend their policies of torture

Monster with a pretty face

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004378.php
QUESTION: You maintain that the administration still does not torture?

PERINO: Correct....

QUESTION: But is it not possible that some of these classified opinions may have changed the definition of "torture"?

PERINO: No. I don't believe so. I have not seen them. But as everything was described to me, no, I don't believe that's possible....

QUESTION: How can you say that ... how can you say with assurance that we don't torture if you don't know what was in the ...

PERINO: Because we follow the law. . . .

[NB: Now THAT’S what I call an airtight argument]

QUESTION: It is oft declared that the policy of the United States is not to torture, but, of course, you won't describe to us what you do . . . that you don't call torture.

PERINO: Well, there's a very good reason for that.

QUESTION: So once again I will say, whether or not you torture them, whether or not you consider what you're doing to these people torture ... isn't it inconsistent with a commitment to democracy to hold someone outside the United States when you want to do to them what you cannot do inside the United States?

PERINO: I will tell you what ... the reason that we don't provide the classified information on interrogation techniques is because we know very well . . . that individuals like al Qaeda train to interrogation techniques. And we know that these are people who will make sure that they can resist any type of interrogation technique in order to carry out horrible, murderous deeds, like killing 3,000 Americans in New York City and at the Pentagon. And we are in a global war on terror. The President ... go back to the September 6th speech. The President was very clear as to the situation that we are in and why are we are endeavoring to protect the American people like we are. That's exactly why we do it.

[NB: They always fall back on this one, don’t they? “Don’t ask too many questions about what we’re doing, because these are bad people who want to hurt you (i.e., they deserve whatever we do to them).”]

QUESTION: I will stipulate these are bad people. I am not asking you to tell me what is being done to them; I'm asking you about the principle of holding them someplace where you can do what you can't do in the United States.

PERINO: Look, regardless of where they are, we do not torture anyone. And getting that information from those individuals is critically important to protecting this country.

QUESTION: Can I go back to ... you say we do not provide information ... is it because you're saying you don't want al Qaeda to train its people to resist your techniques; is that the reason?

PERINO: That's right. . . .

QUESTION: Dana, these techniques that have been talked about through intelligence sources and published ... whether it's waterboarding, simulated drowning, subjection to extreme temperatures, loud music, deprived of food or sleep for periods of time ... all of that is well known. And if al Qaeda needs a game book, they can read The New York Times and figure out, well, those are a few techniques we might try to train against. So doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose of saying that it is not something we want to ...

PERINO: Just because it's printed in The New York Times doesn't mean that we should talk about it publicly. I just reject the notion ...

PERINO: Well, I think that the American people can understand ... I believe that the American people can understand why there are certain pieces of information and tools that we use in the global war on terror that remain classified in order to protect them ...

QUESTION: Why do you believe they are not disgraced and shamed when torture is attached to our name?

PERINO: Helen, the United States policy is not to torture, and we do not.

QUESTION: I hear what you're saying, the policy. But what do we really do ...

PERINO: The American people have every right to be very proud of what we've done, and we have not had another terrorist attack on this country. And they should be glad of that, as well.

QUESTION: So the end justifies the means.

PERINO: Our end is that we don't ... our means are that we don't torture, and the end result is that we've not had a terrorist attack.

QUESTION: Just you saying it doesn't mean it's true. . . .

http://www.first-draft.com/2007/10/today-on-hold-3.html
Q Just generally, does the administration -- does the President believe that head-slapping and simulated drowning are necessary tactics to use against suspected terrorists to keep America safe?

MS. PERINO: Let me take a step back. In the days after 9/11, when we were getting a steady stream of intelligence about potential new attacks, the President faced a lot of challenges. And he asked his national security team to make sure that we designed and made sure that within the laws we had all the tools that we needed in order to keep this country safe and to prevent another attack. . . .

[NB: I take it that means, “Yes,” right?]

Watch it: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/055107.php

Monster with a not-so-pretty face

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0710/04/sitroom.02.html
FRAN TOWNSEND, WHITE HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER: OK. Well, let's back up and be very clear. You've heard Dana Perino say it today. You heard the president say it numerous times -- the United States does not torture.

Do we have a program?

Yes, we do. It is -- it is very limited. There have been fewer than 100 people in it. . . . These techniques were used on Abu Zubaydah. It produced actionable intelligence that resulted in the capture of Ramzi Binalshibh. This is -- this -- these programs stop attacks.

BLITZER: All right, well, let's go through some of the specifics and you tell us if you're doing that.

For example, the "New York Times" says these memos authorized not only slaps to the head, but hours held naked in a frigid cell, days and nights without sleep while battered by thundering rock music, long periods manacled in stress positions or the ultimate -- water boarding. "Never in history," the "Times" says, "has the United States authorized such tactics."

Is that true?

TOWNSEND: Now, Wolf, obviously I'm not going to talk about each individual and specific technique that we used. . . . Frankly, Wolf, if Americans are killed because we fail to do the hard things, the American people would have the absolute right to ask us why.

BLITZER: Well, let me -- let me rephrase the question. Without confirming that you are actually doing those things, but those things, as described in the "New York Times" today, if someone were doing those things, would that be torture?

TOWNSEND: Wolf, we adhere to the -- to the law. . .

BLITZER: All right. We've got to wrap it up.

But are these techniques, whatever they are -- and I know you don't want to describe them -- are they still being used?

TOWNSEND: Wolf, I'm not going to talk about the operational activity of the CIA. I will tell you that when we capture someone who is in a position to have location data on Al Qaeda leadership or information about a relevant threat, we will use the -- we will operate within the limits of the law.

BLITZER: Was the "New York Times" story accurate?

TOWNSEND: Look, I'm not going to go through which parts of it were accurate and not. I will tell you, as I've said to you before, I think it is incredibly irresponsible to leak classified information that threatens our national security and the effectiveness of the techniques we do have at our disposal. If we want the men and women of the intelligence community to be successful, we've got to give them the tools they need.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/10/04/BL2007100401359.html
[Dan Froomkin] Finding out what our government has been doing in our name, and openly debating our interrogation policies, should have been high on the national agenda since the disclosure of the shockingly inhumane treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Few other issues speak so clearly to how we see ourselves as a people -- and how others see us.

But the White House's non-denial denials, disingenuous euphemisms and oppressive secrecy have repeatedly stifled any genuine discourse. Bush shuts down discussion by declaring that "we don't torture" -- yet he won't even say how he defines the term. . . . [read on]

Greenwald, of course: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/10/04/lawlessness/index.html

Outrage

http://balkin.blogspot.com/2007/10/torture-memo-20.html
[Jack Balkin] The twisting of law by the Justice Department under Alberto Gonzales is far worse than Gonzales' misleading testimony in front of Congress about the U.S. Attorney scandal. That scandal dominated the headlines for weeks. This one deserves far more searching press scrutiny. Despite the fact that Congress repeatedly passed legislation stating that it was illegal for U.S. personnel to engage in torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, the Justice Department repeatedly redefined the terms of these prohibitions so that the CIA could keep doing exactly what the Justice Department had authorized to do before. Gonzales treated all of these laws as if they made no difference at all, as if they were just pieces of paper. . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/4/1321/78325
[McJoan] It is well worth asking about what other secret opinions the Justice Department has issued. . . [read on]

More: http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/10/04/torture-its-all-the-rage/

Will Congress act?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/washington/14cnd-interrogate.html
The Democratic chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees asked the Justice Department today to turn over secret legal opinions issued in 2005 that authorized the use of harsh interrogation techniques against terrorism suspects after the Department publicly repudiated torture as “abhorrent” in a 2004 opinion. . . .

More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071005/ap_on_go_co/bush_terrorism;_ylt=Ah2alVeVlSDoFdU8AORhM1ys0NUE

Hmmm. . . how can we hide the facts of death and destruction in Iraq from the American people?

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004386.php

Oh-oh, looks like Blackwater’s got a LITTLE problem. U.S troops were on the scene during the recent bloodfest, and their version corroborates the Iraq govt’s claims

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/04/AR2007100402654.html
U.S. military reports from the scene of the Sept. 16 shooting incident involving the security firm Blackwater USA indicate that its guards opened fire without provocation and used excessive force against Iraqi civilians, according to a senior U.S. military official. . . .

O – M – G

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004385.php
[Spencer Ackerman] It's a prime example of the lawlessness in Iraq. The details are sketchy and disputed, but here they are: An Iraqi corruption judge, continually thwarted in his pursuit of justice, finally helps convict a high-ranking official. But then the official breaks out of jail. Or, rather, the official is helped out of jail by guards working for one defense contractor, but is then returned -- only to leave jail with the help of another. Allegedly.

You couldn’t make it up

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004373.php
The FBI team traveling to Iraq at the behest of the State Department to assist in the investigation of Blackwater's September 16 shooting at Nisour Square was supposed to be guarded by... Blackwater. . .

Outsourcing our virtue

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-blackwater30sep30,0,5983674.story
Alas, the dream of managing the government more like a business is central to some of the Bush administration's most disastrous mistakes. It was at the heart of the decision to browbeat the generals into agreeing to invade Iraq with a "light footprint," which allowed the insurgency to flourish. Contempt for the bureaucratic process doomed serious postwar planning -- after all, governmental decision-making is political, collaborative and agonizingly slow, and the result is almost always a compromise that may avoid disaster but stifles innovation. To run the occupation of Iraq, President Bush chose a man who promised to make decisions like a CEO, which is why L. Paul Bremer III made the fatal mistake of disbanding the Iraqi army without consulting the cumbersome Washington bureaucracy. And corporate thinking about efficiency led to vastly expanding the outsourcing of functions traditionally performed by the military. The biggest beneficiary has been Blackwater USA, a private security firm with powerful political and personnel ties to an administration that has awarded it more than $1 billion in contracts since 2002. . . [read on]

LONG overdue

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071004/ap_on_go_co/congress_blackwater;_ylt=AnP6qO5.mxkKt3OSEK4lIpis0NUE
The House passed a bill Thursday that would make all private contractors working in Iraq and other combat zones subject to prosecution by U.S. courts. It was the first major response by Congress to a deadly shooting in Baghdad involving Blackwater USA security guards.

Democrats called the 389-30 vote an indictment of the incident, which left at least 13 Iraqis dead. Senate Democratic leaders said they planned to follow suit with similar legislation and send a bill to President Bush as soon as possible. . .

When in desperation, change the subject

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/04/AR2007100401305.html
The Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has thwarted investigations into corruption at the top levels of his administration, including probes of his relatives, while nearly four dozen anti-corruption employees or their family members have been brutally murdered, the former top Iraqi corruption investigator told a House panel yesterday. . .

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004379.php
[Spencer Ackerman] Classy guy, that Rep. John Mica (R-FL). Hearing about how Radhi Hamza al-Radhi's investigators have been tortured and murdered by militias affiliated with Iraqi political parties -- including the prime minister's -- Mica kept his eye squarely on the real target: Bill Clinton. Mica read out a list of what he described as the Clinton administration's misdeeds -- officials under indictment; officials who fled the country rather than testify; and, of course, impeachment -- to make the point, he said, that "no administration is left without corruption." . .

A CONSERVATIVE takes on Petraeus, and when he’s done there’s not much left

http://www.americablog.com/2007/10/definitive-piece-on-petraeus.html
[Andrew Bacevich] [I]n presenting his recent assessment of the Iraq War and in describing the “way forward,” Petraeus demonstrated that he is a political general of the worst kind—one who indulges in the politics of accommodation that is Washington’s bread and butter but has thereby deferred a far more urgent political imperative, namely, bringing our military policies into harmony with our political purposes.

Petraeus has chosen a middle course, carefully crafted to cause the least amount of consternation among various Washington constituencies he is eager to accommodate. This is the politics of give and take, of horse trading, of putting lipstick on a pig. Ultimately, it is the politics of avoidance. . . [read on]

More: http://www.amconmag.com/2007/2007_09_24/article2.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/general-faust-by-digby-andrew-bacevich.html
[Digby] I realize it's treasonous to use the word "betray" in the same breath as The Man Called Petraeus. So I'll frame it another way. He sold his soul to the devil. . . [read on]

31%

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_09_30_archive.html#2900945585836250350
[AP] Public approval for President Bush . . . has sunk to the lowest levels ever recorded in The Associated Press-Ipsos poll. . .

Bush’s legacy of destruction

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/10/04/bushs-betrayal-of-trust-its-not-just-iraq/

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1724

How they get away with it: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/scared-by-tristero-strange-thought.html

US Attorney aficionados know all about the suspicious prosecution of Democratic Gov. of Alabama Don Siegelman. For all I know, Siegelman got what he deserved – but the background makes clear that he was targeted for partisan reasons. Now we learn more

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/10/04/karl-roves-dirty-laundry-the-pile-just-gets-bigger/
[Jane Hamsher] It appears that Lanny Young, Jr., the lobbyist who put Democratic former Governor of Alabama behind bars with his admission of giving him illegal campaign contributions, gave similar donations to Republicans Jeff Sessions and William Pryor. Those allegations, however, were never investigated . . . [read on]

More: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1668220,00.html

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004374.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_10/012185.php
[Kevin Drum] Well, I'm sure there's an innocent explanation for all this. Probably some kind of staff shortage or something. We really shouldn't let this stuff distract us from important symbolic denunciations of liberal interest groups.

Blocking Von Spakovsky – just say NO, for chrissake. If the Dems can’t do this, they can’t do ANYTHING

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004381.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/4/95741/0697

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/4/114213/424

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004389.php

HUD Sect’y under investigation (finally)

http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/071004nj2.htm
In April last year, Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson traveled to Dallas to deliver a speech to a group of minority real estate executives. The event should have been pretty routine stuff. But Jackson -- and these are his words -- shot off his mouth by describing how he believed contracts should be awarded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The secretary recalled, for instance, how he once had killed a contract award because the contractor had disparaged his friend President Bush.

Alfonso Jackson Not too long after his speech, when he was back in Washington, Jackson realized he had blundered. . .

More: http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004387.php

http://www.first-draft.com/2007/10/huds-jackson-un.html

The Roveans depart

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004388.php

The new Republican strategy on SCHIP

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/4/81915/3035
Lie. . .

It’s all they’ve got: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/5/6819/09410

Rush slanders the troops, gets caught at it, and the GOP turns it into a fundraising bonanza (sigh)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/10/nrcc_raising_mo.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/playing-different-game-altogether-by.html

More lies from Rush: http://mediamatters.org/items/200710040013

Ann Coulter comes out against the vote for women . . . no, really, SHE DOES

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13114.html
“If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat president. It’s kind of a pipe dream, it’s a personal fantasy of mine, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.”

More: http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=10&year=2007&base_name=coulter_comes_out_against_wome

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=10&year=2007&base_name=wanted_more_attack_dogs

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=10&year=2007&base_name=disenfranchising_ann_coulter

The kind of people some people are

http://www.americablog.com/2007/10/difficult-discussions-people-dont-want.html
[Smoking Gun] A group of white Louisiana college students dressed in blackface and reenacted the "Jena 6" assault while a friend snapped photos and videotaped the staged attack . . .

Is the Religious Right really contemplating a third party challenge to Rudy? Are they lining up behind McCain?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/055065.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13107.html

Fred Thompson (yawn)

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/10/04/frederick-of-holly-wouldnt/

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/snoozing-on-casting-couch-by-digby.html

Larry Craig goes back on yet another promise. The court won’t let him withdraw his guilty verdict, but he still plans to stay in office. The GOP leadership is apoplectic

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13116.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/4/162319/747

A genius? http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/055102.php

Democrats rejoice! http://www.samefacts.com/archives/corruption_in_washington_/2007/10/god_bless_larry_craig.php

Bonus item: No, this is not a joke – it’s the actual GOP National Convention logo (until they decide to pull it and change it, which I’m sure they will)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/4/145252/385
[Kos] Wide stance? Check.

In Minneapolis? Check.

Prison stripe-wearing? Check.

Starry eyed? Check.

As for the elephant humping the "2008"...

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INTO THE ABYSS

They lied to us (again). New details on the secret authorization to use – ahem – “coercive” interrogation techniques

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/washington/04interrogate.html
When the Justice Department publicly declared torture “abhorrent” in a legal opinion in December 2004, the Bush administration appeared to have abandoned its assertion of nearly unlimited presidential authority to order brutal interrogations.

But soon after Alberto R. Gonzales’s arrival as attorney general in February 2005, the Justice Department issued another opinion, this one in secret. It was a very different document . . .

Later that year, as Congress moved toward outlawing “cruel, inhuman and degrading” treatment, the Justice Department issued another secret opinion, one most lawmakers did not know existed, current and former officials said. The Justice Department document declared that none of the C.I.A. interrogation methods violated that standard. . . . [read on!]

Comment: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054999.php
[Josh Marshall] It seems . . . that there's still much we are yet to learn about how far the Gonzales Justice Department took us into the darkness of state-sponsored torture and lawlessness. Not just the euphemism-laced quasi-torture we've already been numbed to. But everything. . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/sociopathic-governance-by-digby-ny.html

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2007/10/3/234653/107

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/4352

Nope, nothing to worry about here

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/02/AR2007100202456.html
Most of the more than 100 private security companies in Iraq open fire far more frequently than has been publicly acknowledged and rarely report such incidents to U.S. or Iraqi authorities . . .

More: http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004364.php
[Spencer Ackerman] That apparently lax attitude among those who oversaw contract implementation for the State and Defense Departments led contractors to believe they had a license to take a liberal approach to the rules of engagement, which only authorize "defensive fire." . . . At least one ex-Blackwater guard recognized what Prince wouldn't: that indiscriminate violence, even for understandable defensive measures, turns Iraqis hostile; necessitating even more violence, leading to a vicious circle. . . [read on]

Don’t look, just trust us – things are getting better!

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2007/10/polish_ambassador_wounded_one.php
[AP] The Polish ambassador to Iraq was slightly wounded and two civilians, including a body guard, were killed in a roadside bomb attack Wednesday, according to Polish government officials. . . . U.S. authorities confiscated an AP Television News videotape that contained scenes of the wounded being evacuated. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl told the AP the government of Iraq had made it illegal to photograph or videotape the aftermath of bombings or other attacks. . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054976.php
[Josh Marshall] According to a US military spokesman, they were enforcing a new Iraqi law banning photographs or news footage of terrorist attacks.

My question is, How did the US military get in the position of enforcing that law?

Heh

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13103.html
[Steve Benen] I sure am glad Bush came around to accepting Clinton’s policy on North Korea . . . [read on]

Bush, as promised, vetoes the children’s health bill (confident, I suppose, that the GOP in the House will back him up). But politically, this ain’t over

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13095.html
[Steve Benen] The president was very anxious to make his case against expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program in a very public way, complete with a press conference, a radio address, and a fairly aggressive media press. But when it came time to reject the bipartisan measure to provide access to care for millions of low-income families, Bush hid . . .

REPUBLICANS say . . .

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14950307
The president faces a possible rebellion by Republican lawmakers who back the bill. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) berated Bush on the Senate floor for having labeled the legislation "irresponsible" in his radio address Saturday.

"If you want to talk about the word responsible and whether Congress is responsible or not in this bill, I would say that anybody that wants to leave the program the way it is — and that's what's going to happen with a veto — that's an irresponsible position to take," Grassley said. . .

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/uspoliticshealthwhouseveto
And several Republican senators gave notice of looming trouble for Bush, and one, Chuck Grassley of Iowa vowed to call Republican House members to ask them to desert the president.

"The administration's position ... it was either 'my way or the highway.'

"Well, that's not how the legislative process works. Now we've got to do what we can to try to override," Grassley said.

Senator Orrin Hatch, a normally loyal Republican, also said he was dismayed by the veto.

"If we're truly compassionate, it seems to me we'd want to endorse this program.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/03/AR2007100300116_pf.html
President Bush yesterday vetoed a $35 billion expansion of a popular children's health insurance program, a move that left him as politically isolated as he has ever been . . .

Bush’s phony “rationale”

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13100.html

Bush’s veto record

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/10/03/BL2007100301071.html
[Dan Froomkin] The three previous times President Bush vetoed a bill, he did so in public. . . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/3/12317/1137
[AP] The White House sought as little attention as possible, with the president wielding his veto behind closed doors without any fanfare or news coverage.

The fight to come

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/4/7156/53316

The GOP Presidential candidates respond

http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/10/3/201044/672
[CNN] Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, told CNN Wednesday he agrees with President Bush's veto of legislation expanding a children's health insurance program. . .

The others: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/3/182825/130

The disgusting news coverage: why a bill with strong bipartisan support isn’t “bipartisan” enough

http://mediamatters.org/items/200710030012

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_09_30_archive.html#3470070020126336305
[Atrios] [I]t's only bipartisan if John Boehner and George Bush approve.

ANOTHER senior Republican retires – this one with a federal investigation nipping at his heels

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004371.php
[Paul Kiel] A brief walk down memory lane: in October of 2006, Domenici called U.S. Attorney for New Mexico David Iglesias to ask about whether an indictment against a prominent state Democrat on public corruption charges was forthcoming before the election. When Iglesias said no, "the line went dead."

After ducking questions about the first reports of the call this February, then saying "I have no idea what he's talking about," he finally admitted that he'd made the call and said he regretted it.

And not only did Domenici call to pressure Iglesias, he was also instrumental in his firing, making calls not only to the Justice Department, but also to the White House. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/3/164047/349

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/10/breaking_gop_senator_pete_domenici_to_retire.php

Will Congress ever get to the bottom of the US Attorney scandal?

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004339.php
[Paul Kiel] "The scandal at the Department of Justice has gone on long enough," said Rep. Rahm Emmanuel (D-IL) back in March. "Careers have been destroyed and legitimate public corruption cases have been derailed. It is time for accountability -- it is time for the truth."

Six months and several Department senior resignations later, it's a different time. The urgency is gone. . . .

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004369.php
[Paul Kiel] Last month, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) had a simple message: the President's nominee for attorney general, Michael Mukasey, wasn't going anywhere until the administration finally handed over documents he'd long been seeking.

But now it appears that things are moving along, though it seems that the administration hasn't handed over anything. . . .

Anybody remember those missing emails?

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/10/about-those-ema.html

The Dems back off on ANOTHER confrontation

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/03/AR2007100301315.html
The Senate has scrapped its bid to obtain the archive of daily intelligence briefings given to the president on Iraq prior to the 2003 invasion. . .

McCain sinks lower and lower into the fundies’ swamp

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/10/mccain_i_dont_know_if_mormons_are_christians.php
At a meeting with the Spartanburg Herald-Journal editorial board, McCain was asked whether Mormons are Christians — a serious issue with many evangelicals, and a potential pitfall for Mitt Romney.

"I don't know. . . .”

Fred Thompson says, “I can do you one better”

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/10/thompson_limbaugh_one_of_the_strongest_supporters_of_our_troops.php
"Congressional Democrats are trying to divert attention from insulting our military leader in Iraq and pandering to the loony left by attacking Rush Limbaugh. . . .”

It ain’t helping: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/us/politics/03cnd-thompson.html
Twenty-four minutes after he began speaking in a small restaurant the other day, Fred Thompson brought his remarks to a close with a nod of his head and an expression of thanks to Iowans for allowing him to “give my thoughts about some things.”

Then he stood face to a face with a silent audience.

“Can I have a round of applause?” Mr. Thompson said, drawing a rustle of clapping and some laughter.

“Well, I had to drag that out of you,” he said. . . [read on]

Meanwhile, Limbaugh keeps lying, and then lying about his lies

http://mediamatters.org/items/200710020011?f=h_top

http://mediamatters.org/items/200710030010

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/10/03/limbaugh-kicked-the-wrong-hornets-nest/

***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.***

A REAL PRINCE

The Blackwater mess. Where to start? How about a little round of “The kind of people they are”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054836.php
Rep. Darrell Issa [R-CA] went on CSPAN's Washington Journal this morning and had this to say about the House oversight committee's investigation of Blackwater:

“If Henry Waxman today wants to go to Iraq and do an investigation, Blackwater will be his support team. His protection team. Do you think he really wants to investigate directly?”

[NB: I heard this described as a “veiled threat.” It doesn’t seem very “veiled” to me. What does this say about Issa’s opinion of Blackwater personnel?]

Darrell Issa: SO dumb

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13087.html
[Steve Benen] Alas, some House Republicans are just too far gone to act like lawmakers. Take Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), for example, who decided the Blackwater hearing should be about MoveOn.org and Gen. David Petraeus. Seriously. . . .

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054848.php
[Josh Marshall] I've been looking at Issa's record this afternoon. And he seems to have shown up really, really frequently carrying water for Blackwater each time they've come under scrutiny over the last few years. . .

Now, this is what you call a company with connections!

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004355.php
During Darrell Issa's second go-round, he raised an issue that no other member of Congress did: Prince's long family ties to the GOP. Only Issa didn't make the point he wanted to.

Prince seemed uncomfortable about the line of questioning, and confused about its source being a Republican. Was his sister, Betsy DeVos, a "large contributor" to President Bush? "Probably." Did she attend the Republican National Convention in 2000 and 2004? "Probably did." Is it generally the case that his family is known as a Republican family? He paused. "Yes." . . .

Issa ran out of time, but scrambled to say that he was trying to make the point that "labeling some company as Republican" because of a family's background "is inappropriate." To laughter, Waxman replied, "The only one doing that is you!"

More: http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Blackwater_USA_linked_to_Bush_administration_1002.html

http://mbouffant.blogspot.com/2007/09/ome-more-interesting-blackwater-fact.html

Oh-oh

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004363.php
[Paul Kiel] Perhaps it slipped Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-CA) mind when he was detailing Blackwater CEO Erik Prince's Republican bona fides, but Prince is not only a supporter of Republican candidates. Last summer, he and his wife shelled out $10,000 in contributions for a Green.

It was part of an effort by connected Republicans (lobbyists and millionaire CEOs among them) to recruit Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli to enter the 2006 Senate race. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) was trailing Dem moderate Bob Casey in the polls -- and Romanelli, the scheme went, could take some of those liberal votes away from Casey.

Ultimately Republicans raised more than $150,000 for Romanelli (who once told me, "This is America, money is like air. It's out there. You just have to be tenacious enough to go get it.") in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to get him on the ballot. . . .

A Prince of a man

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/02/AR2007100202022.html
[Dana Milbank] Like the company he founded, defense contractor Erik Prince doesn't seem to answer to anybody.

His security business, Blackwater, has been involved in at least 195 shootings in Iraq -- but it has operated outside U.S. and Iraqi laws. Similarly, when Prince made a rare public appearance before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee yesterday, he acted as if the lawmakers were wasting his time.

How much does Blackwater, recipient of $1 billion in federal contracts, make in profits? "We're a private company, and there's a key word there -- private," Prince answered.

What about the 2004 crash of a Blackwater plane in Afghanistan, when federal investigators said the pilots acted unprofessionally? "Accidents happen," Prince explained.

The lack of prosecution for a drunken Blackwater worker who shot and killed a security guard to an Iraqi vice president? "We can't flog him," Prince said.

The high wages for Blackwater security guards? "They're not showing up at the job naked," Prince reasoned.

What's more, Prince said, "I believe we acted appropriately at all times." It was a bold statement for a man whose company is being probed by the FBI for the killing of 11 Iraqis in Baghdad last month . . .

Prince brags about the noble history of mercenaries in U.S. history. Hmmm . . . maybe he should READ U.S. history

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054815.php

What laws, if any, are these soldiers of fortune subject to? Even they don’t know!

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004356.php

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054801.php

Who’s in charge? http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004351.php

You ask if mercenary companies have a trade association? Indeed they do

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054856.php
[Josh Marshall] Their outfit is the International Peace Operations Association. Their "mission is to promote high operational and ethical standards of firms active in the Peace and Stability Industry; to engage in a constructive dialogue with policy-makers about the growing and positive contribution of these firms to the enhancement of international peace, development, and human security; and to inform the concerned public about the activities and role of the industry."

And web sites! http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054853.php

Liveblogging the hearings

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/10/02/house-oversight-blackwater-liveblog-one/

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/10/today-the-house.html

Video clips: http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=813

This is encouraging (maybe)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/02/AR2007100202073.html
The House, with overwhelming, bipartisan support, voted yesterday to give the Bush administration two months to present to Congress its planning for the withdrawal of combat forces in Iraq.

The 377 to 46 vote was the first salvo of a new legislative strategy adopted by House Democratic leaders . . .

Bush meets Iraq President Talabani – and how did that go?

Video: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054859.php

[NB: Oh, MAN is Dana Perino bad at this!]

Heeere’s Squeaky!

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13080.html
[Steve Benen] For reasons that I’ve never entirely understood, the media establishment decided a few years ago that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is a “serious” lawmaker whose opinions on Iraq necessarily have merit. It’s not clear why — Graham has been wrong about Iraq policy every step of the way for five years.

A few weeks ago, Graham said we need not worry about Iraq failing the vast majority of the agreed upon benchmarks for progress, because a major step forward was near. “In a matter of weeks, we’re going to have a major breakthrough in Baghdad on items of political reconciliation — the benchmarks — because the Iraqi people are putting pressure on their politicians,” Graham said. A few weeks later, the South Carolina Republican told a conservative think tank that U.S. troops are “kicking their ass” in Iraq. Kicking whose ass? Graham didn’t say.

This week, the confused senator went in an entirely new direction . .

Super-duper tippy-top secret -- and now we know why

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/02/AR2007100201083.html
Only four top officials at the Justice Department were given access to details about a warrantless surveillance program that Justice lawyers ultimately determined was partially illegal, a former department lawyer testified today.

Jack L. Goldsmith, former head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that access to the surveillance program was so tightly controlled that even the attorney general did not know all the details.

Goldsmith also testified that the White House initially resisted allowing then-Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey to be briefed on the program at a time when the Justice Department was undertaking a legal review of the effort. . . .

More: http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/10/02/sjc-goldsmith-testimony-part-i/

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004359.php

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004352.php

This is great news – for as long as it lasts

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Presidential-Records.html
Presidents don't have indefinite veto power over which records are made public after they've left office, a federal judge ruled Monday.

In a narrowly crafted ruling, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly invalidated part of President Bush's 2001 executive order, which allowed former presidents and vice presidents to review executive records before they are released under the Freedom of Information Act.

By law, the National Archives has the final say over the release of presidential records and Kollar-Kotelly ruled that Bush's executive order ''effectively eliminates'' that discretion. It allows former presidents to delay the release of records ''presumably indefinitely,'' she said. . . [read on]

The Village myth of bipartisanship

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/village-parties-by-digby-both-atrios.html
[Digby] I think it's worth discussing a little bit how this fetish for bipartisanship is a Village construct. They all live together. They want everyone to get along, like back in the good old days when Tip and Bob would fight it out on the floor and then head out and get shitfaced with Wilbur Mills and John Tower. In those days the parties were not aligned ideologically and there was great political utility in having an open line of communication.

We are in a different time, in which the parties have realigned along some old traditional lines. We are also dealing with the fact that one party was hijacked by a radical political movement that sought to take the country back to a 19th century economic system, an 18th century social system and a 1st century Imperial system. Many Americans disagree with that plan and are trying to bring the nation back to the present.

The political system in this country is roiling right now and it is not going to be nice and friendly for a while. We disagree on some fundamental issues . . .

An example: Minority Whip Roy Blunt castigates the Democrats for not being bipartisan enough on the SCHIP bill – which passed BOTH houses of Congress with big bipartisan majorities. For Blunt “bipartisan” means, “work with the dead-enders who hate you and will NEVER compromise with you”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/2/12381/1233

More good news: Texas, which Bush (and Gonzales) helped make Capital Punishment Central, now suspends state executions

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/us/03texas.html

Bad news: a gun control bill that even the NRA supports (!) is being held up by Tom Coburn (R-Goofball Land), because it threatens the Second Amendment

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/02/AR2007100202171.html?

WTF?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13086.html
[Steve Benen] Republican Rep. Pete Sessions, a staunch opponent of abortion rights and a vocal supporter of Rudy Giuliani, told TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network that the former NYC mayor would, if he were in Congress, be considered “pro-life.” He did not appear to be kidding. . . [read on]

We had a piece that a Giuliani friend and advisor was behind the ill-fated California electoral vote theft initiative. Turns out, there might be even more to the story: he was the ONLY donor behind the initiative . . .

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/10/_democratic_group_accuses_rudy_of_moneylaundering_around_california_initiative.php
A Democratic group in California has filed complaints with the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission alleging that the Rudy campaign has engaged in money laundering and violating campaign finance laws surrounding the now-dead California ballot initiative. . . [read on!]

It is well established that this group of GOP Presidential contenders will say ANYTHING – previous records be damned. John McCain’s lies aren’t any worse or any more pandering than the others’ – but they’re harder to stomach from the supposed chief of the “Straight Talk Express.” McCain sees the vulnerability of the other leading candidates on religious issues, so now is refashioning himself as the Theocrats’ Choice

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13085.html

You can tell that Mr. Limbaugh is running scared from the outrage over his “phony soldiers” comment – he has been braying and blustering about his innocence nonstop on his show, editing sound clips to change what he said, and rolling out all the big guns of the right to defend him

O’Reilly: http://mediamatters.org/items/200710020007

Fox News: http://mediamatters.org/items/200710020010

Bennett: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/killing-king-by-digby-i-just-watched.html

Morgan: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/10/rightwing_radio.php

Scarborough: http://mediamatters.org/items/200710020009

If Limbaugh is trying to deny that he would ever, EVER, besmirch the good name of a loyal solider speaking out against the war, then he should probably stop doing it, eh?

Video: http://www.americablog.com/2007/10/injured-iraq-vet-takes-on-limbaugh-in.html

http://mediamatters.org/items/200710020014
Rush Limbaugh denounced a recent ad by VoteVets.org that featured Iraq war veteran Brian McGough, calling the ad "a blatant use of a valiant combat veteran, lying to him about what I said, then strapping those lies to his belt, sending him out via the media in a TV ad to walk into as many people as he can walk into." Limbaugh went on to say that "[w]hoever pumped [McGough] full of these lies about what I said ... has betrayed him." Limbaugh denounced the ad despite admitting "I haven't watched the ad."

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/10/2/21941/8021

Of course the Dems should pull Limbaugh off Armed Forces Radio. Is there any doubt what the Republicans would do if the situation were reversed?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13090.html

More: http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/10/02/eric-massa-calls-for-rush-limbaugh-to-be-removed-from-armed-forces-radio-network/

By the way, I’d just like to say: Bill O’Reilly has a mental disorder

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/2/165229/850

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/10/02/what-andrea-makris-but-not-me/

How they play the game

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/2/145612/122
[Devilstower] Now there's responsive government, eh? Seeing the problem with the Bridge collapse in Minnesota, Matt Blunt (Roy's boy) and the Republican legislative chorus jumped to and put together a plan to whip Missouri's neglected bridges into shape!

Only that's not quite the whole story. To get this peachy keen deal, Blunt and his pals put out a single, 30 year contract giving over the repair and maintenance of 802 bridges in Missouri to a single contractor. And there's another little twist. How did Blunt, who never met a tax he didn't hate or a giveaway to corporations he didn't love, come up with the money to cover all those bridges? . . .

The details of the plan are this: not only does one contractor win this thirty year bonanza, that contractor will repair all 802 bridges over the next five year and then deliver the bill. With interest. The contractor doesn't just play contractor, they also play bank.

What's magic about five years? Well, for one thing, Matt Blunt won't be governor (he probably won't be governor in one year, but that's another story). And, thanks to term limits, almost no one in the legislature who voted for the "safe and secure" bridges, will be there when the bill comes in.

So tell me if you've heard this before:

1. Take advantage of a shocking tragedy to rush through emergency legislation.

2. Award a fat private contract with almost no oversight.

3. Kick the cost of everything you've done down the road so you can pretend to be for "small government" by never paying for anything.

Does that sound familiar? It should, that's Republicanism in a nutshell.

Bonus item: Our postmodern politics

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/02/AR2007100201940.html
[Howard Kurtz] Forget the cleavage. It's now about the cackle.

No joke: Hillary Clinton's laugh is now being analyzed, scrutinized and, yes, mocked as if it were a sound barrier on her glide path to the Democratic presidential nomination: Is it real? Is it fake? Is it a diabolically clever attempt to portray her as a human being? . . .

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/10/going_meta_1.php
[Matt Yglesias] This is great. First we had New York Times articles scrutinizing Hillary Clinton's laugh, and now we have Washington Post articles about the existence of articles scrutinizing Clinton's laugh. And now, I suppose, I'm making it even worse by blogging about the meta-articles. But seriously, at some point doesn't this madness need to stop?

(and, no, don't answer that)

***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.***

BLACK WATERS RUN DEEP

Up. UP! This headline needs the word “Up”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/washington/02blackwater.html
Report Says Firm Sought to Cover Iraq Shootings
Employees of Blackwater USA have engaged in nearly 200 shootings in Iraq since 2005, in a vast majority of cases firing their weapons from moving vehicles without stopping to count the dead or assist the wounded, according to a new report from Congress.

In at least two cases, Blackwater paid victims’ family members who complained, and sought to cover up other episodes, the Congressional report said. It said State Department officials approved the payments in the hope of keeping the shootings quiet. In one case last year, the department helped Blackwater spirit an employee out of Iraq less than 36 hours after the employee, while drunk, killed a bodyguard for one of Iraq’s two vice presidents on Christmas Eve. . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/01/AR2007100100882.html
In one of the killings, according to a State Department document, Blackwater personnel tried to cover up what had occurred and provided a false report. In another case, involving a Blackwater convoy's collision with 18 civilian vehicles, the firm accused its own personnel of lying about the event. . .

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-blackwater2oct02,1,2029709.story
"Even in cases involving the death of Iraqis, it appears that the State Department's primary response was to ask Blackwater to make monetary payments to 'put the matter behind us,' " the memo said.

[NB: When Blackwater paid, did this eventually get billed back to the U.S.?]

http://www.slate.com/id/2175112
[Daniel Politi] The NYT and LAT note that Blackwater guards fired first in 163 of the 195 shooting incidents, even though the company's contract states force should only be used defensively, to protect against imminent harm.

http://www.americablog.com/2007/10/bushs-miscreant-rent-cops-blackwater.html
[Pam Spaulding] Private security contractor Blackwater USA has had to fire 122 people over the past three years for problems ranging from misusing weapons, alcohol and drug violations, inappropriate conduct, and violent behavior, according to a report released Monday by a congressional committee.

That total is roughly one-seventh of the work force that Blackwater has in Iraq, a ratio that raises questions about the quality of the people working for the company.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054723.php
[Josh Marshall] Back in December, when a drunk Blackwater contractor blew away one of Iraqi VP Adel Abdul Mehdi's bodyguards, an official with State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security decided to low-ball the financial compensation for the man's family so as not to give an incentive for Iraqis to "try to get killed to set up their family financially."

The initial suggestion from Embassy personnel of $100,000 to $250,000 was lowered to $15,000 to the man's family.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054665.php
[David Kurtz] Amount billed per day for a Blackwater senior manager: $1,075

Amount paid per day to U.S. Gen. David Petraeus: $493

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054722.php
[David Kurtz] A single Blackwater security contractor costs the government $1,222 every day to guard U.S. civilian personnel, or $445,000 per year. That's six times the cost of getting a U.S. Army soldier to perform the same function.

Meanwhile, that State Dept report, which sought to exonerate Blackwater?

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/the_occupation_of_iraq_/2007/10/you_cant_make_this_stuff_up.php
[Mark Kleiman] The State Department issued a "spot report," on the letterhead of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, U.S. Embassy Baghdad, telling the Blackwater version of the latest shoot-'em-up in Baghdad. The report says it was drafted by "Darren Hanner, RSO [Regional Security Office] TOC [Tactical Operations Center] Watch Officer, Baghdad."

Darren Hanner is a Blackwater contract employee. . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054718.php
[Josh Marshall] So yes, you've got that right. We've now reached what can only be called the alpha and the omega of contracting accountability breakdown ridiculousness. We're outsourcing our investigations of Blackwater to Blackwater.

Just – say – no

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/1007/Republicans_ask_Waxman_to_postpone_Blackwater_hearing.html
Seven House Republicans have urged Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) to postpone a hearing about Blackwater . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054744.php
[Josh Marshall] Blackwater CEO Erik Prince goes to Capitol Hill to testify before Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-CA) House Government Reform and Oversight committee. One issue that's got our attention about Blackwater is the firm's ability to leapfrog a number of much older and well-established US firms in Iraq. And that's got us interested in Prince's Republican political credentials.

Along those lines, a few details about Prince to help frame [today’s] hearing. . . [read on]

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13076.html

It’s not just military outsourcing, but intelligence activities too

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054713.php
[Josh Marshall] We've been talking a lot here about the growing role of private contractors in the military. But to make the discussion complete we also need to focus on the role of contracting in the US Intelligence Community. It's a small part of the overall equation, or hopefully a small part. But it's worth remembering that the growth in private contracting in the intelligence budget was the angle that Mitchell Wade and Brent Wilkes -- the bribers of Duke Cunningham -- used for all their shenanigans. There may not be much accountability or oversight of military contracting. But the thick layers of classification in the intelligence budget meant there was virtually none in the intelligence budget. As long as they had a congressman on the take, Wilkes and Wade could have a field day. They only got caught because someone stumbled upon Duke's outrageous house deal bribe.

Yes, you shouldn’t govern based on polls, and No, the Dems won’t do it anyway. But doesn’t this matter AT ALL?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/2/42411/5200
[WP] Most Americans oppose fully funding U.S. President George W. Bush's $190 billion request to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. . .

Only about 25 percent of Americans support the administration's $190 billion war funding request; 70 percent want the proposed allocation reduced, the Post said. . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_10/012164.php

Dana Perino: I’m still looking for a suitable nickname. “Stupid Ninny” just doesn’t work

http://www.first-draft.com/2007/10/today-on-holden.html
MS. PERINO: Helen.

Q How can the President justify spending billions for a war and denying child health care sanctions in this country, where the needs are there? . . .

MS. PERINO: We believe our funding proposal is sufficient to cover the kids we expect to be covered by S-CHIP in the next five years. . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/1/163342/623
Q This weekend the New Yorker magazine came out with an article claiming that this summer the President, or at least the White House in general, asked the Joint Chiefs to redraw plans to attack Iran. Is that true?

MS. PERINO: Look, you know, I'm glad you brought it up. Every two months or so, Sy Hersh writes an article in The New Yorker magazine, and CNN provides him a forum in which to talk about his article and all the anonymous sources that are quoted in it. . .

Q But what's the -- can you answer actually on the substance of whether or not the White House asked -- I mean, if it's not true, then you can say Sy Hersh is wrong and CNN was wrong to air it. You could say that, but --

MS. PERINO: We don't discuss such things. . .

Q Did he consult -- would he tell Congress before attacking Iran -- before he attacks Iran?

MS. PERINO: Helen, we are pursuing a diplomatic solution with Iran.

Q I'm asking you does he feel committed to ask Congress for permission?

MS. PERINO: We are pursuing a diplomatic solution in Iran.

Watch it: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054742.php

I think the longer you work for George Bush, the dumber you become. Michael Chertoff once seemed like a pretty smart, competent guy

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13078.html
[Steve Benen] I foolishly believed Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff couldn’t appear any more ridiculous. I stand corrected: “Today, Homeland Security Chairman Michael Chertoff on Monday defended the construction of the border fence, by arguing that it’s good for the environment. ‘Illegal migrants really degrade the environment. I’ve seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas,’ he said. ‘And believe me, that is the worst thing you can do to the environment.’”

John, John: just STOP talking about religion

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/01/mccain.christian.nation/index.html
Muslim and Jewish groups on Monday sharply criticized Sen. John McCain's comments that he would prefer a Christian president to lead the United States. . . "I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles, personally, I prefer someone who has a grounding in my faith” . . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13072.html

There are no accidents in politics

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/10/01/giuliani-to-make-english-only-cheesesteak-stop/
It's almost a necessity for any presidential candidate who swings through Philadelphia — making a stop at one of the city's famous cheesesteak shops.

But the landmark Philly restaurant former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani plans to stop at later Monday is also famous for another reason: its controversial 'Please speak English' sign. . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/gop-freakshow-by-digby-via-kevin-drum.html
[John Fund] Mr. Giuliani's deputy press secretary Jason Miller told me the NRA incident was definitely not a stunt. Instead it was a "candid and spontaneous moment" that would humanize the tough-guy former mayor with voters.

Nice try....The fact is that people inside the Giuliani campaign are appalled at the number of times their candidate has felt compelled to interrupt public appearances to take calls from his wife. The estimate from those in a position to know is that he has taken such calls more than 40 times in the middle of speeches, conferences and presentations to large donors. . .

[Giuliani] admitted he had taken calls from his wife "before in engagements, and I didn't realize it would create any kind of controversy." That's hardly possible. Giuliani staffers say he has been warned over and over again that the phone calls are rude and inappropriate and have alienated everyone from local officials to top donors to close friends. If it's a stunt, it's not one coming from him," says one Giuliani staffer. "It's an ongoing problem that he won't take advice on." . . [read on]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/magazine/09Giuliani-t.html
[Matt Bai] There are at least half a dozen reasons that a lot of political prognosticators, including many inside his own party, will tell you that Rudolph Giuliani will never be the Republican nominee for president, no matter what the polls say . . .

I predict that this isn’t going to go on much longer

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13077.html
[Steve Benen] Actor/lobbyist/politician Fred Thompson has been away from politics for a few years, so it probably didn’t surprise too many that he came across as confused and uninformed shortly after he kicked off his odd presidential campaign. He was a little rusty, and needed some time to clear the cobwebs, read some white papers, and listen to some policy briefings.

Well, it’s been a few weeks. How’s the Republicans’ Savior doing? Somehow, Thompson seems to be getting more befuddled, not less. . . .

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/10/1/20327/3005

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/1/211722/365

Here’s the biggest difference between how the Left and Right play things in our national politics. Everybody spins, everybody cherry-picks facts to buttress their case. But not everybody does THIS

http://mediamatters.org/items/200710010005
Gibson aired edited Limbaugh clip to "prove" Media Matters had edited Limbaugh clip
During the September 28 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, in response to Media Matters for America's documentation of Rush Limbaugh's recent description of service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq as "phony soldiers," Fox News host John Gibson asserted, "Rush was specifically talking about a particular one, Jesse MacBeth, who had pled guilty in court to lying about even being in Iraq." Gibson falsely claimed that Media Matters "said Rush said something, posted an audio recording of it and a written transcript, and cut it off at the precise moment where the next thing he said proved them wrong." To support this claim, Gibson aired a clip from the September 28 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show in which Limbaugh purported to air the "entire" segment in question from the September 26 broadcast of his program. In fact, as Media Matters has documented, the clip Limbaugh aired on September 28, which Gibson reaired, had been spliced. Excised from the clip was a full 1 minute and 35 seconds of the 1 minute and 50 second discussion that occurred between Limbaugh's original "phony soldiers" comment and his reference to MacBeth, the full audio of which can be heard here. . .

More: http://mediamatters.org/items/200710020002

Sigh

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_09_30_archive.html#6891318353535280707
[Atrios] Meanwhile, showing that as usual they understand this game much better, the Republicans have introduced a measure in the House to *commend* Rush Limbaugh.

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/hissy-jiujitsu-by-digby-harry-reid.html

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2007/10/01/reid_limbaugh/index.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/ineffectual-politics-for-dummies-by.html
[Digby] I'm tired of defending Democrats against this stuff. They seem to like looking like total assholes and having the public --- and especially the military --- see them as pathetic Charlie Browns who can't even defend themselves against a drug-addled gasbag.

They should have removed Rush Limbaugh from the taxpayer supported Armed Forces Radio long ago, but most especially this week when they had the chance to teach the Republicans a lesson about the perils of f-cking with free speech. Taking out their flagship scumbag (something that should have been done long ago) would have been a hard shot, right in the nose, and would have put them in their place. Instead, the Dems chose to beg for their Republican friends to sign a letter asking Rush's boss to make him apologize for being mean. And what they get in return is this slander beamed directly to the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan on our dime. Wow.

***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.***

THE CHENEY PRESIDENCY

What is the number one thing we’ve learned about these people? Once they’ve settled on starting a war, the decision is made and it’s only a matter of time: “The facts get fit around the policy.” We’re even seeing the familiar pattern of shifting rationales – the point is to attack, the reasons can come later

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/08/071008fa_fact_hersh
[Seymour Hersh] The President’s position, and its corollary—that, if many of America’s problems in Iraq are the responsibility of Tehran, then the solution to them is to confront the Iranians—have taken firm hold in the Administration. This summer, the White House, pushed by the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney, requested that the Joint Chiefs of Staff redraw long-standing plans for a possible attack on Iran, according to former officials and government consultants. The focus of the plans had been a broad bombing attack, with targets including Iran’s known and suspected nuclear facilities and other military and infrastructure sites. Now the emphasis is on “surgical” strikes on Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities in Tehran and elsewhere, which, the Administration claims, have been the source of attacks on Americans in Iraq. What had been presented primarily as a counter-proliferation mission has been reconceived as counterterrorism.

The shift in targeting reflects three developments. First, the President and his senior advisers have concluded that their campaign to convince the American public that Iran poses an imminent nuclear threat has failed (unlike a similar campaign before the Iraq war), and that as a result there is not enough popular support for a major bombing campaign. The second development is that the White House has come to terms, in private, with the general consensus of the American intelligence community that Iran is at least five years away from obtaining a bomb. And, finally, there has been a growing recognition in Washington and throughout the Middle East that Iran is emerging as the geopolitical winner of the war in Iraq. . . .

At a White House meeting with Cheney this summer, according to a former senior intelligence official, it was agreed that, if limited strikes on Iran were carried out, the Administration could fend off criticism by arguing that they were a defensive action to save soldiers in Iraq. . . The former intelligence official added, “There is a desperate effort by Cheney et al. to bring military action to Iran as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the politicians are saying, ‘You can’t do it, because every Republican is going to be defeated, and we’re only one fact from going over the cliff in Iraq.’ But Cheney doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the Republican worries, and neither does the President.” . . . [read on]

Video: http://videohersh.notlong.com

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/09/whats-that-thin.html

The Cheney Presidency

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054582.php
[Josh Marshall] There are two big articles (AP and NYTimes) on the right-wing pressure Freedom's Watch and two big facts that stand out from them.

First, both articles note that Freedom's Watch is made up of Bush-Cheney big-money givers and former staffers at the White House. But the AP makes explicit what the list of personnel makes clear: These aren't people close to "Bush" or "the White House". It's more specific than that: The activists and givers are people close to Dick Cheney.

Second, as the NYT explains, coming off the Petraeus press-rollout, Freedom's Watch's next press campaign is for confrontation (i.e., war) with Iran.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/brass-on-board-by-digby-story-of-day-is.html
[Digby] Cheney isn't really a politician anymore and hasn't been one for a long time. He represents the people who really run things at times like this, the big money boyz, and their concerns are not so parochial as a Republican win. They run things no matter who's in office. (And anyway, they've set certain things in motion, pillaged the treasury so thoroughly and solidified their hold on the media and the Democrats sufficiently enough that they think a few years of GOP R&R is probably a good idea. They need to allow the Democrats just enough power to be blamed, in any case.) . . . [read on]

The smartest thing Thomas Friedman has said in a long time

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/terrorism_and_its_control_/2007/09/friedman_911_is_over.php
9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again. . . .

You may think Guantánamo Bay is a prison camp in Cuba for Al Qaeda terrorists. A lot of the world thinks it’s a place we send visitors who don’t give the right answers at immigration. I will not vote for any candidate who is not committed to dismantling Guantánamo Bay and replacing it with a free field hospital for poor Cubans. Guantánamo Bay is the anti-Statue of Liberty.

No, General Petraeus would never lie to us

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-iraq30sep30,0,7324298.story
Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, acknowledged today that violence had increased since Sunni Arab militants declared an offensive during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. . . .

The Army general said he saw no need to revise the projections he presented to Congress this month for a gradual withdrawal of the additional forces deployed to Iraq as part of the troop buildup. He did not provide figures. . .

Once again, we ask: “Where the HELL is the Secretary of State?”

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1659170,00.html
U.S. First Lady Laura Bush rarely speaks out strongly on foreign affairs. One exception: Burma. She has been a consistent critic of the military junta and a supporter of jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/29/washington/29policy.html
On Friday, Ms. Rice expressed disappointment that the United Nations Security Council could not act more forcefully, largely because of opposition from China.

“I will say on Burma that given what is going on in the streets in Rangoon, I would have hoped that the Security Council would have taken stronger action,” Ms. Rice said in New York. . .

Nice work (if you can get it)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/30/AR2007093001402.html
While waiting to be confirmed by the White House for a top civilian post at the Air Force last year, Charles D. Riechers was out of work and wanted a paycheck. So the Air Force helped arrange a job through an intelligence contractor that required him to do no work for the company, according to documents and interviews.

For two months, Riechers held the title of senior technical adviser and received about $13,400 a month at Commonwealth Research Institute, or CRI, a nonprofit firm in Johnstown, Pa. . . . But during that time he actually worked for Sue C. Payton, assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition, on projects that had nothing to do with CRI, he said.

Riechers said in an interview that his interactions with Commonwealth Research were limited largely to a Christmas party, where he said he met company officials for the first time.

"I really didn't do anything for CRI," said Riechers, now principal deputy assistant secretary for acquisition. "I got a paycheck from them." . . .

Commonwealth Research and its parent company, Concurrent Technologies, are registered with the Internal Revenue Service as tax-exempt charities, even though their primary work is for the Pentagon and other government agencies. . . [read on]

I guess the mortgage collapse hasn’t been a disaster for EVERYBODY (thanks to Buzzflash for the link)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/29/business/main3311669.shtml
Countrywide Financial Corp. Chairman and CEO Angelo Mozilo cashed in $138 million in stock options over the last year, switching his trading plans as the mortgage company went into a tailspin, it was reported Saturday. . . .

Pray for Rudy

http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/9/30/15551/7727
[Todd Beeton] The stronger Hillary Clinton appears, the more effective Rudy Giuliani believes this case for his candidacy becomes:

"I'm the only Republican candidate who can beat Hillary Clinton."

And certainly Giuliani's unlikely strength among constituencies not typically inclined to support a northeast pro-choice, pro-gun Republican would seem to bear out the effectiveness of this strategy. As GOP strategist Mike Murphy says:

"Nobody asks if you're pro-choice or pro-life if you're in a Hillary fight." . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/who-are-radicals-again-by-digby-it-has.html
[Salon] A powerful group of conservative Christian leaders decided Saturday at a private meeting in Salt Lake City to consider supporting a third-party candidate for president if a pro-choice nominee like Rudy Giuliani wins the Republican nomination. . . .

[Digby] I'm certainly looking forward to all the stories about the Republicans being held hostage by their far right "activists" who stupidly refuse to compromise and are ruining their party's chance for victory. I'm especially looking forward to the insightful piece in the NY Times that posits that the 60's narrative that so animates the whole political establishment is now turned on its head: the war is unpopular with a vast (somewhat) silent majority, but the social radicalism and upheaval that fueled the Republican rise back in the day is now all on the conservative side.

You tell me which party should have more to fear that its base is alienating the American people? Which party really needs to be running from the "crazies" of its base and which one's "crazies" are actually average Americans from all walks of life whose most radical proposal is to ensure that all Americans have access to a doctor? . . . [read on]

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13062.html

Theocracy watch: McCain and religion definitely don’t mix either

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13061.html

Pat Buchanan explains why it was a smart move by the four leading Republicans to skip the debate at historically black Morgan State University – the kind of advice I hope they listen to and follow regularly

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13066.html

How the Republicans plan to make Larry Craig’s life miserable (if he doesn’t quit)

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13064.html

Good point: if they’re going to have an ethics investigation, there are higher-priority cases than Craig’s to worry about

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/corruption_in_washington_/2007/09/first_things_first.php

Heckuva job, Mel

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2007/09/30/martinez_will_seek_early_exit_as_gop_chair.html
"Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL), the reluctant general chairman of the Republican National Committee, is planning to step down as soon as a presidential nominee emerges, party insiders say," the Miami Herald reports.

Credit where it’s due: the fate of the California electoral-vote theft referendum was probably sealed the day Arnold came out against it

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/09/a_footnote.php

Good for him: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-08-24-calif-gov_N.htm
[August 24] Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a chilly reception Thursday to a GOP-backed plan to change the way California awards electoral votes in presidential elections — a proposal critics say could tilt the outcome in favor of Republicans.

"In principle, I don't like to change the rules in the middle of the game," the Republican governor told reporters. . . .

Bonus item: Welcome back, Paul

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/28/opinion/28krugman.html
[Paul Krugman] Sometimes it seems that the only way to make sense of the Bush administration is to imagine that it’s a vast experiment concocted by mad political scientists who want to see what happens if a nation systematically ignores everything we’ve learned over the past few centuries about how to make a modern government work.

Thus, the administration has abandoned the principle of a professional, nonpolitical civil service, stuffing agencies from FEMA to the Justice Department with unqualified cronies. Tax farming — giving individuals the right to collect taxes, in return for a share of the take — went out with the French Revolution; now the tax farmers are back.

And so are mercenaries, whom Machiavelli described as “useless and dangerous” more than four centuries ago.

As far as I can tell, America has never fought a war in which mercenaries made up a large part of the armed force. . . .

What it’s doing to us: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054621.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.***