NO MERCY

Scooter Libby gets sentenced to 30 months in prison

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/06/05/BL2007060501030.html
[Dan Froomkin] Scooter Libby today expressed no remorse, and Judge Reggie B. Walton showed no mercy. . . [read on]

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/06/05/evidence-in-this-case-overwhelmingly-indicated-mr-libbys-culpability/
[WP] "Evidence in this case overwhelmingly indicated Mr. Libby's culpability," U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said moments before he handed out the sentence . . .

In the court filing that sought Libby's prison term, Fitzgerald emphasized that Libby's lies prevented investigators from learning the full truth about the campaign to discredit Wilson, and may have helped conceal another administration official's criminal leaks. Fitzgerald noted that Cheney was one of the first people to tell Libby about Plame, and that Libby has testified that Cheney and he may have talked about sharing information about Plame with reporters . . . [read on]

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/06/05/notes-from-the-libby-sentencing/
[Jane Hamsher] Which brings us to, oddly, what for me was the most telling moment of the Libby trial today. It is customary for those found guilty to express contrition during the sentencing phase, a factor that judges take very seriously when determining jail time. Libby expressed none. Zero, zip, bupkis. It was my impression during the trial watching Libby that he thought himself a great man to whom a terrible wrong has been done. Today Scooter's career as a man on trial ended and his life as professional right wing victim began.

Looking at the incredible collection of letters written in his defense is enough to give anyone the bone chilling creeps, but it does offer some insight into the sickness that governs beltway culture these days. As Rick Perlstein notes:

“What's missing from every single one - every one: a single forthright statement about the magnitude of the offense for which he'd already been convicted. . . .”

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/4089
[Swopa] Someone just ran into an obstacle he couldn't spin or leak his way around. (Photo via the Associated Press.)

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/06/libbys_turnarou.html
[Emptywheel] Team Libby must have thought they were in good shape when they walked into the courtroom this morning. And in the process, they forgot about the Judge. He seemed positively unimpressed by their arguments. Good thing those Republicans appoint law and order judges, huh?

Also, I see there's some misunderstanding of Walton's stance on bail. He says no. He has given the Defense a last ditch attempt to convince him that the appeals have merit, But as things stand, the default is Libby gets no bail (though it'll take the prison system some time to get him into jail--perhaps 45-60 days).

I'll repeat something I said on my summary at FDL--One of Walton's most telling statements came when he said that Fitz' appointment must be proper, because if it weren't there'd be no way to hold anyone in DOJ acountable if they broke the law. You think he has someone(s) in mind?

In any case, Libby's team couldn't adjust--they never seemed to sense (or at least Wells didn't) that they had lost the upper hand. So Wells went on reading Paul Wolfowitz' letter, (someone who, it should be said, leaked an excerpt of the NIE to the WSJ on behalf of Libby, so it's not like he's free of taint here). And the whole time, Judge Walton looked--impatient.

Libby’s character references

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502412.html
[Dana Milbank] You knew Scooter Libby was in trouble at yesterday's sentencing hearing when his lawyer decided to read the judge a character reference -- from Paul Wolfowitz. . . .

Mary Matalin . . . and hubby James Carville: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/5/113952/5788

The National Review. . . and the New Republic: http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/06/more_libby.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/5/123717/8810

The GOP candidates: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2007/6/5/234031/2453

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/11024.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502715.html

Selected quotes: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0605071libby1.html

No letter from Cheney, whose backside Libby is going to prison to protect. Of course, Cheney’s in a no-win situation: if he writes one, it’s a quid-pro-quo, if he doesn’t he’s betraying a friend. But in a situation like that, don’t you just ignore the consequences and do the right thing? (Or does that term have any meaning for Cheney?)

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/cheneys-name-missing-from-list-of-libby-supporters-2007-06-05.html
Vice President Dick Cheney’s name is notably absent from a long list of supporters that have urged the judge in the case of his former chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, to be lenient, according to letters released Tuesday by the presiding judge. . .

AFTER the sentencing: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2007/6/5/225430/4273
[Cheney] “Scooter has dedicated much of his life to public service. . . . Scooter is also a friend, and on a personal level Lynne and I remain deeply saddened by this tragedy and its effect on his wife, Harriet, and their young children. The defense has indicated it plans to appeal the conviction in the case. Speaking as friends, we hope that our system will return a final result consistent with what we know of this fine man.”

[Jeralyn Merritt] A tragedy? I like the way he says "our system" rather than "the judicial system" or the "appellate courts." Can you spell p-a-r-d-o-n? . . .

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_06_03_archive.html#7727785422041605737
[Artrios] Because it'll be absent from most if not all media coverage of the Libby trial, I think it's important to ask what kind of man lets his friend take the rap for him.

[NB: Uh, the same kind of man who lets a friend publicly apologize for getting shot in the face and almost killed because of Cheney’s carelessness?]

Appeal?

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/06/05/libby-sentencing-eight/
[Emptywheel] The basis defense argued for appeal is twofold: that Walton rejected the memory defense, and Fitz' appointment in general. Walton basically said, "If you could introduce a memory expert on the basis of that hearing, we'd have to let in any thing, because there was no basis for applicability in this." As to Fitz' appointment, Walton said that, although no one oversaw Fitz' actions WRT this case, he was subject to normal discipline if he did anything bad. The fact that Sampson considered firing Fitzgerald is evidence of this in this case.

Reggie said something very important WRT this issue. He said that if Fitz' appointment were improper, then it would mean no one high in government, and no one in the justice system, could be held accountable for the things they did unless there were a way to appoint a prosecutor free of DOJ oversight in the particular case.

You think maybe Judge Walton has given some consideration of the possibility that high level DOJ employees might be indicted for things recently?

The WH response?

http://www.first-draft.com/2007/06/today_on_holden.html

Will Bush pardon him?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502734.html
The prospect of a pardon has become so sensitive inside the West Wing that top aides have been kept out of the loop, and even Bush friends have been told not to bring it up with the president. In any debate, officials expect Vice President Cheney to favor a pardon, while other aides worry about the political consequences of stepping into a case that stems from the origins of the Iraq war and renewing questions about the truthfulness of the Bush administration. . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060501275.html
The 2-1/2 year sentence imposed on former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby today puts new pressure on President Bush, who may soon confront the choice of triggering a fresh political storm by pardoning a convicted perjurer or letting one of the early architects of his administration head off to prison. . . The White House publicly sought to defer the matter again yesterday, saying that Bush is "not going to intervene" for now. But U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton indicated that he is not inclined to let Libby remain free pending appeals, which means the issue could confront Bush in a matter of weeks when, barring a judicial change of heart, Cheney's former chief of staff will have to trade his business suit for prison garb. Republicans inside and outside the administration said that would be the moment when Bush has to decide.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/05/kristol-turns-on-bush/
“Will Bush pardon Libby?” Weekly Standard editor William Kristol asks. “Apparently not — even if it means a man who worked closely with him and sought tirelessly to do what was right for the country goes to prison. … So much for loyalty, or decency, or courage. For President Bush, loyalty is apparently a one-way street; decency is something he’s for as long as he doesn’t have to take any risks in its behalf; and courage–well, that’s nowhere to be seen. Many of us used to respect President Bush. Can one respect him still?”

http://www.americablog.com/2007/06/libby-might-get-pardon-because-things.html
[Joe Sudbay] The right wingers, led by the National Review, are in a frenzy. They want a pardon for Scooter Libby. They're demanding a pardon for Scooter Libby. According to today's Washington Post, the political situation is so bad for Bush, that may actually help Scooter:

At the same time, some White House advisers said the president's political troubles are already so deep that a pardon might not be so damaging. Those most upset by the CIA leak case that led to the Libby conviction already oppose Bush, they noted. "You can't hang a man twice for the same crime," a Republican close to the White House said.

Ironic that the war Scooter helped launch -- the war which has destroyed Bush's presidency -- may be the main factor that allows for his freedom.

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2007/6/5/154016/0594
[Jeralyn Merritt] I don't think Bush will make any decision on a pardon for Scooter Libby before Judge Walton rules on the Appeal bond, and if denied, before the D.C. Court of Appeals reviews the bond decision. The White House said as much today.

The White House indicated today Bush will not act before Libby's appeal of his conviction is decided. I think that will take about a year. . ..

Fox “News”

http://mediamatters.org/items/200706060001
[H]ere is a list of some of the more pressing news stories that Fox News opted to cover instead of Libby's sentencing:

* The abduction of a Kansas City teenager outside a Target discount store. (Fox News returned to this story several times within the hour.)
* A plane crash into Lake Michigan.
* Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) recent comments about faith in her life.
* Casinos giving away gasoline in order to entice visitors.
* Record producer Phil Spector's murder trial in Los Angeles.
* Lightning striking a house in Oregon.
* A tornado warning issued for western Connecticut.
* News that the father of JonBenet Ramsey is dating the mother of missing teen Natalee Holloway.
* R&B singer R. Kelly's legal woes.
* An update on the JFK Airport terror plot.
* Cuba state-run television airing a new interview with Fidel Castro.
* Foreign policy tension between Russia and the United States.

More on Fox: they run a story about Democratic Rep. Wm. Jefferson’s indictment, but run video of Democratic Rep. John Conyers. Yep, them black folk sho’ do look alike. Maybe the Congressional Black Caucus is rethinking its decision to partner with them on a Democratic debate

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/5/191837/2866

The video: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_06_03.php#014462
[Josh Marshall] [A]pparently Fox News Channel can't tell one African-American member of Congress from another . . .

http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=449
Yesterday, Fox News Channel broke the story of Rep. William Jefferson’s indictment with video of Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers greeting Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at a recent Judiciary Committee hearing. The network apologized on-air for airing the wrong video; however, they did not personally apologize to Mr. Conyers or describe the video they aired the previous day. Chairman Conyers responded today:

“Fox News has a history of inappropriate on-air mistakes that are neither fair, nor balanced. This type of disrespect for people of color should no longer be tolerated. I am personally offended by the network’s complete disregard for accuracy in reporting and lackluster on-air apology.”

More goofs: http://mediamatters.org/items/200706050001
A June 5 article in The Hill falsely reported that when Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) was indicted on June 4, he became "the first lawmaker to be indicted since 2001, when the Justice Department indicted then-Rep. James Traficant (D-Ohio), who is still serving a prison term." In fact, as The Hill itself reported on September 29, 2005, in an article headlined, "DeLay indicted, steps down: Rep. Blunt takes over temporarily as majority leader," then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) "temporarily resigned his leadership position ... after an indictment by a Texas grand jury over his connection to a political action committee in that state." . . .

Fox “News”: the kind of people they are

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/11028.html
[Steve Benen] In a stunning display of dishonesty, Bill O’Reilly told his viewers that the New York Times refused to run a story about the alleged JFK Airport plot on its front page on Sunday — and showed viewers part of the paper to prove it. There was one problem: O’Reilly hid the part of the front page with the story. Wow.

Here it is: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/05/oreilly-lies/

The FULL surge?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/5/175024/3863
[McJoan] Via Think Progress, here's Petraeus in April:

We’re only about two months into the surge. We won’t have all the forces on the ground until mid-June and I pointed that out to them, and noted that Ambassador Crocker and I would be doing an assessment in early September and provide that to our respective bosses at that time.

And here's Petraeus today:

We haven’t started the surge — the full surge — yet. So let me have a few months.

Now there are a lot of questions to ask. First, what the hell is the "full surge" and how many more troops are we going to be sending into that meat grinder? And have a few months to do what? . . .

ISG

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_06_03_archive.html#708990930902353993
[Atrios] It was six months ago today that the all-important Iraq Study Group report was released. For a meditation on its importance, I give you Dean Broder:

“Whatever the final impact of the Iraq Study Group report being issued today, for the 10 commission members this was an exhilarating experience, a demonstration of genuine bipartisanship that they hope will serve as an example to the broader political world.”

He later wrote:

“Bush will reject it at his peril.”

And then after Bush rejected it, wrote:

“It may seem perverse to suggest that, at the very moment the House of Representatives is repudiating his policy in Iraq, President Bush is poised for a political comeback. But don't be astonished if that is the case.”

Since its release, approximately 585 US troops have died.

Brain drain

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003347.php
[Spencer Ackerman] If ever there was an awful epitaph for the Iraq war, it's surely this: "Staying here is like committing suicide." That's a quote from a 25-year old Iraqi medical student, summing up the way many of his college-educated peers feel about their country. According to a harrowing story in today's New York Times, many college graduates are fleeing the country, joining the four million Iraqis estimated to have either abandoned the country or become internally displaced. . . As the Times explains, it's a decision that further hollows out the educated middle class necessary for a nation's ultimate prosperity . . .

Here’s how bad the Bush gang’s detainee tribunal system is – even military courts are refusing to apply it

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060500294.html
The decision by U.S. military judges Monday to dismiss the war crimes charges against two detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has reignited a debate over how to try those accused of terrorism, prompting members of Congress to challenge the Bush administration over a legal system that they say denies proper rights to detainees and has yet to bring a single case to trial. . . .

The trumped-up JFK terror plot – what you need to know

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/5/164046/4431
[Kos] 1. The attackers had no ties to Iraq. Nor the Middle East. Nor Al Qaida.

2. It was homegrown terrorism. (Of course, the perpetrators were brown, so this merits a lot more hand-wringing than white domestic terrorists, especially the ones bombing abortion clinics.)

3. No illegal wiretaps or torture were necessary to crack the case.

4. It was thwarted by good ol' police work -- an informant inside the cell, working with a joint FBI/NYPD task force.

5. Whatever happened to "fighting them over there, so we don't have to fight them over here"?

6. War in Iraq and elsewhere isn't ending terrorism. In fact, it's fueling it.

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_06_03_archive.html#7227520986003324341
[Newsday] When U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf described the alleged terror plot to blow up Kennedy Airport as "one of the most chilling plots imaginable," which might have caused "unthinkable" devastation, one law enforcement official said he cringed.

The plot, he knew, was never operational. The public had never been at risk. And the notion of blowing up the airport, let alone the borough of Queens, by exploding a fuel tank was in all likelihood a technical impossibility.

And now, with a portrait emerging of alleged mastermind Russell Defreitas as hapless and episodically homeless, and of co-conspirator Abdel Nur as a drug addict, Mauskopf's initial characterizations seem more questionable -- some go so far as to say hyped.

Bradley Scholzman testifies, and the fireworks fly!

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_06_03.php#014471
[Josh Marshall] Wow. The testimony in the US Attorney Purge story hearings has occasionally been a little combustible. But there's never been anything remotely like the exchange going on right now between Bradley Schlozman (chief minority vote suppressor and serial dissembler) and Sen. Leahy. I'm not sure I've seen anything like it. . . . Schlozman is ... well, you've just got to see it. . . .[click here]

More video: http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003356.php

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003356.php
[Steve Benen] Schlozman is at the very heart of the purge scandal, not to mention the general politicization of the Justice Department. What’s more, since Schlozman was appointed to his U.S. Attorney position by way of the Patriot Act, the Senate Judiciary Committee has never really had a chance to grill this guy . . . The scandal is still brewing, the no-confidence vote in Gonzales is still coming up, and anyone who hoped the purge scandal was dying down is going to be very disappointed.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/5/172539/8375
[Kagro X] In fact, he prompted Chairman Leahy to comment, "I think you're trying to break Attorney General Gonzales' record of saying you don't recall or you don't remember."

More video: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/05/leahy-schlozman/

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/06/05/schlozman-and-graves-testimony-before-senate-judiciary-part-ii/
[Christy Hardin Smith] Thus far, the things striking me today are as follows:

– For as much time as this man has spent prepping for his testimony, and the number of people who helped him prep, this is appallingly thin and weaselly. Perhaps it is purposely so but, still, the coughing tells and the "Senator" tells are stunningly obvious as a lead-in to a weasel moment. And Schlozman may have bested the AG Gonzales number of "I don't recall" answers already today.

– There are NO Republicans in the chamber to ask questions. This means a couple of things. (1) The more partisan members of the committee are trying to stay away to argue that it is the Dems on a fishing expedition and that they are going to stay above the fray — in other words, they are hiding from their duty of oversight to protect their party's political wing. And (2) the less-partisan, more old-time DOJ affiliate GOP members of the committee are so disgusted by Mr. Schlozman's actions that they do not feel the need to help him cover his own behind, nor make excuses for the Bush Administration's piss poor conduct.

– Mr. Schlozman is woefully uninformed about the usual practices of USAttys, DOJ internal rules and regs and he also has very little respect for the oversight obligations of Congress given how whiny and incomplete his testimony has been thus far. (The Leahy questions early on regarding the Red Book requirements on non-politicizing prosecutions were classic.)

– The members of the Senate Judiciary Committee show up prepared to ask questions. It's either good staffing, good membership, or both. But it is quite impressive. Kudos to them.

– Sen. Leahy quote of the day: "During the course of your preparation, did you find that you remembered anything?"

Lying weasel

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_06_03.php#014474
[Josh Marshall] Schlozman on ACORN: Don't know anything about them really. . . . There's a pretty healthy dose of fibs in Bradley Schlozman's testimony today. But this has to be one of the funniest.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_06_03.php#014478
[Josh Marshall] In Bradley Schlozman's testimony today before the Senate Judiciary Committee he hung most of his decision to deliver a series of pre-election 'vote fraud' investigations on the sign-off of Craig Donsanto, head of the Election Crimes branch of the Justice Department. But the TPMmuckraker staff dug up an email from fired US Attorney David Iglesias contained in one of those DOJ document dumps. And Iglesias provides a very different account of Donsanto's opinion of indictments brought right before elections.

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2007/06/05/schlozman_continued/index.html
SCHUMER: Did you ever boast to anyone that you hired a certain number of Republicans or conservatives for any division or section at the Justice Department?

SCHLOZMAN: I mean, I probably have made statements like that.

SCHUMER: Thank you. OK, why did you do it if you just said a few minutes ago that it wasn't relevant to have that on their résumés because it wasn't political?

SCHLOZMAN: These individuals, Senator, were not hired because they were Republican or ...

SCHUMER: I didn't ask that. If you said it was irrelevant at one point, now you're boasting to people that, "Well, we hired Republicans." Is there a contradiction there?

SCHLOZMAN: No, Senator. . .

More: http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/06/05/department-of-something-or-other/
[Eli] One thing Schlozman did recall quite clearly and confidently was Craig Donsanto of the DOJ's Election Crimes unit giving him the go-ahead to press voter-fraud charges against ACORN right before the 2006 election, which is quite surprising, considering that Donsanto was the author of the DOJ policy against prosecuting voter fraud cases right before an election. I suppose it's possible that Leahy might not think to call Donsanto in as a witness, but I sure wouldn't want to bet my job or my freedom on that.

Todd Graves gets some revenge

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502352.html
Graves, who also testified yesterday, said he would have handled the case differently. . . . "It would have been my understanding that you would not do that," Graves said. ". . . It surprised me that they'd been filed that close to an election."

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2007/06/05/graves_schlozman/index.html
[Tim Grieve] In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, Todd P. Graves, the former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri, repeated to the committee the reason he was given for his firing: not because of any performance issues but because, "The decision's been made at the highest levels of government to give another person a chance."

That quote, from Michael Battle, former director of the Department of Justice's Executive Office for United States Attorneys, has been reported before, but it's particularly relevant considering who had testified before Graves: that other person who needed to get a chance, Graves' replacement, Bradley Schlozman. . . [read on]

Ted Stevens (R-AK), just another GOP crook

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_06_03.php#014466
[Ben Craw] You may know Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) as Mr. Internet tubes or one of the senate's resident porkmeisters. But in today's episode of TPMtv we try to figure out why VECO Corporation, a major oil services corporation in Alaska at the center of a major bribery scandal, was in charge of renovating the senator's house . . .

We don’t want to know about global warming, we don’t want YOU to know anything about it, and we DEFINITELY don’t want anything done about it

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/11017.html
[Steve Benen] The available evidence overwhelmingly suggests that global warming is a burgeoning environmental crisis. The Bush administration has decided to take action — it wants to collect less evidence. . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/5/132254/4205
[Boston Herald] A dozen states, including Massachusetts, would be blocked from imposing new requirements on automakers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under a draft energy bill being prepared for a vote later this month.

The "discussion draft" would prohibit the head of the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing a waiver needed for a state to impose auto pollution standards if the new requirements are "designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions." . . .

The Republicans debate – and it’s a terrifying sight to behold

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/master-debators-by-digby-well-debate.html
[Digby] Well, the debate has wound down and I'm still reeling from hearing about the dire threat from the mexicans who are trying to steal our way of life. (Or was it the Muslims?)Anyway, the solution to the problem is to outlaw socialized medicine and Chinese New Year. Or something.

The rhetoric coming out of these guys is really quite extreme, even by GOP standards, but I guess that's just because the front runners are all a bunch of flipflopping hypocrites who have to fake some kind of red-meat qualifications for the base. They've opted for bullying machismo, which is actually quite smart. It's the tie that binds. They certainly have given up on the "law 'n order" platform with their nearly unanimous support for a Scooter pardon -- especially the ex-federal prosecutor Giuliani who couldn't stop whining and twisting his little lace hankie about how unfair it all was. . . .

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/06/the_challenge.php
[Matt Yglesias] To me, the takeaway message of watching the Republicans debate is that Democrats need to realize that in 2008 they'll be matching up against a campaign of audacious -- almost awe-inspiringly so -- lies, and they need to be prepared to aggressively swat them down. . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/11029.html
[Steve Benen] The good news from last night’s Republican debate in New Hampshire is that no one endorsed torture. The event lasted two hours, and the subject never came up. The bad news is these guys aren’t necessarily opposed to using nuclear weapons against Iran. . . .

More: http://www.slate.com/id/2167686/fr/rss/

One liners: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_06/011436.php

The clock: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/06/dodds_debate_clock_times_out_g.php

Pew!

http://www.first-draft.com/2007/06/ponyboy_rulz.html
For the first time in Pew Research Center polling, disapproval of President Bush’s job performance outnumbers approval by more than two-to-one (61% disapprove, 29% approve). Bush’s job approval is down six points from April, and is three points below the previous low measured in November and December of 2006.

The decline in Bush’s support is most notable among Republicans. . . .

Bonus item: More anti-knowledge from the Conservapedia

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/5/154743/3154
Their entry on kangaroos, for instance, says that, "like all modern animals . . . kangaroos are the descendants of the two founding members of the modern kangaroo baramin that were taken aboard Noah's Ark prior to the Great Flood. . . . After the Flood, these kangaroos bred from the Ark passengers migrated to Australia. There is debate whether this migration happened over land with lower sea levels during the post-flood ice age, or before the supercontinent of Pangea broke apart, or if they rafted on mats of vegetation torn up by the receding flood waters."

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/cowabunga-roos-by-digby-this-via-d-over.html
I must concede that the idea of ancient kangaroos guiding a turfy armada to Australia is nearly sufficient to change my mind about evolution. . .

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WAR IS PEACE

The Bush gang maintains their deft touch in international relations

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070604/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush;_ylt=AhYXWPHpvkZRpQxPGMbgguHMWM0F
[AP] President Bush's European trip was jarred as it began Monday by deteriorating relations with Russia and threatening words from President Vladimir Putin.

Bush and Putin will see each other at the annual summit of industrialized nations, beginning Wednesday at the Baltic Sea resort city of Heiligendamm, Germany. In a diplomatic poke in the eye at Putin, Bush bracketed the summit with stops in the Czech Republic and Poland — the two countries where the United States wants to build a missile defense system for Europe.

Already complaining of being encircled by NATO's expansion, Putin said putting missile defenses on Russia's doorstep would ignite a new arms race. He threatened to retarget Russia's missiles toward Europe.

Bush says the anti-missile program is intended to protect Europe from states like Iran and North Korea, but Putin said neither country possesses the rockets the American system is intended to shoot down.

"It's a defense against something which does not exist," the Russian president said. "It would be funny if it was not so sad." . . .

Just weird: http://www.americablog.com/2007/06/i-call-him-vladimir.html
"My message will be Vladimir — I call him Vladimir — you shouldn't fear a missile defense system," Bush said.

The kind of people they are

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Arkansas_GOP_head_We_need_more_0603.html
In his first interview as the chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party, Dennis Milligan told a reporter that America needs to be attacked by terrorists so that people will appreciate the work that President Bush has done to protect the country.

"At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001]," Milligan said to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "and the naysayers will come around very quickly . . .”

[NB: Gee, you MIGHT think this would do some damage to the “We need to fight them there so we don’t have to fight them here” rationale we’ve been given for this war]

Why the Dems need to keep fighting on Iraq

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/04/AR2007060401230.html
Growing frustration with the performance of the Democratic Congress, combined with widespread public pessimism over President Bush's temporary troop buildup in Iraq, has left satisfaction with the overall direction of the country at its lowest point in more than a decade, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/4/112328/7409

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/4/183750/0655

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/06/04/marathon-not-a-sprint/

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2007/6/4/194010/1191

http://www.americablog.com/2007/06/our-goal-is-political-extinction-for.html

Bob Novak manages to turn Lurita Doan into a victim

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/03/AR2007060300952.html
[Novak] A year ago Lurita Alexis Doan, an innovative African American entrepreneur from Northern Virginia, took a big government job: chief executive of the General Services Administration (GSA). After 12 months she is on the ropes. She is the victim of a fiercely partisan Democratic congressman, an obscure government official trying to vindicate himself and a lame-duck Republican White House unwilling to protect her. . . .

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/06/04/in-the-balance/
[Christy Hardin Smith] And there you have a typical Novak puffer: methinks this was a favor piece to [GOP Rep.] Davis, who comes out portrayed as the always-decent and loyal knight in shining armor for Doan, in the face of great White House indifference to the plight of la damsel in distress. Bloch and Waxman, the two knaves who have the audacity to raise questions about public officials having to actually follow long-established rules and regs.

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/06/novak_pitches_f.html
[Emptywheel] But there's one thing to keep in mind. For longer than he has been writing this comedy series about the scary Waxman, Novak has been writing a series trying to suggest OSC is in the middle of a big battle with BushCo. It's not clear that's really true, though. Witness the way Scott Bloch backed off a recommendation to fire Doan in its final report. Further, Bloch has already said he's only going to pursue these political presentations if he has witnesses, as with the Doan case, complaining about politicizing comments.

And keep in mind the background. The investigation of Doan is not an isolated investigation. Rather, OSC is currently investigating Rove's other political presentations, Rove's use of GWB43 emails, and possible politicization of hiring at the DOJ. Rove Rove Rove. You think maybe there's a connection between Novak's sustained focus on OSC and the fact that OSC--if it investigates those three Rove-related issues honestly--might have to recommend Rove get fired?

More: http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/06/june_9_2003_the.html

http://mediamatters.org/items/200706040006

Scooter Libby’s sentencing hearing: what will we learn?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/5/41823/98255

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/06/05/sentencing-for-libby-today/

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2007/06/05/libby/index.html

More: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2007/6/5/0365/09164

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/06/04/liberty_for_libby.php

With Libby’s sentencing on the horizon, you can be sure the WH line will be, “Now it’s over.” Well, it shouldn’t be over

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/06/june_9_2003_the.html

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/06/04/9494/

A question that Alberto Gonzales can’t answer

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003346.php

Several Republicans have called for Gonzales to resign, but they won’t support a “no confidence” vote? What do they think “no confidence” means?

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/04/gonzales-no-confidence/

Carol Lam tells more about the circumstances of her firing

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/006215.html
[S.D. Union Tribune] At the time, Lam was investigating corruption cases stemming from her successful prosecution of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the Rancho Santa Fe Republican who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion charges after admitting to taking more than $2.4 million in bribes. Cunningham was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison. Besides Lam, four other prosecutors were presiding over corruption investigations when they were dismissed.

About a month passed when Lam got a call from Michael Elston, Gonzales' former chief of staff, telling her that her request for extra time was "not being received positively" and that she "should stop thinking in terms of the cases in the office."

"He insisted that I had to depart in a matter of weeks, not months, and that these instructions were 'coming from the very highest level of the government,'" Lam wrote. . .

More consequences of politicized hiring, this time at DHS

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/11006.html

The sharks are eating each other

http://www.americablog.com/2007/06/gop-is-in-disarray-over-immigration.html

They were for George Bush (before they were against him)

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/06/04/fraud/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] The great fraud being perpetrated in our political discourse is the concerted attempt by movement conservatives, now that the Bush presidency lay irreversibly in ruins, to repudiate George Bush by claiming that he is not, and never has been, a "real conservative." This con game is being perpetrated by the very same conservatives who -- when his presidency looked to be an epic success -- glorified George W. Bush, ensured both of his election victories, depicted him as the heroic Second Coming of Ronald Reagan, and celebrated him as the embodiment of True Conservatism. . . . [read on]

I was never a big Dan Bartlett fan, but is this best they can do in finding a replacement?

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/06/why_pick_gilles.html

I find Candy Crowley, part of CNN’s “Best Political Team on Television,” almost impossible to watch. Here are a couple of examples why

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_06_03_archive.html#3118570937061980587

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_06_03_archive.html#5872104657915721462

Where our dead soldiers are coming from

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/4/123540/5442
[Meteor Blades] Just a year ago, on Father's Day, several of my friends and I stood at the entrance to a shopping mall in Los Angeles and read out the names and hometowns of the 2500 American soldiers, marines, and sailors who had by that time been killed in the Iraq war and occupation.

This coming weekend, sad to say, we'll be doing this again. It will take longer because 1000 more are dead. . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/4/181549/7225

Bonus item: War IS Peace

http://www.first-draft.com/2007/06/war_is_peace_af.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.***

JUST WISHING IT WAS OVER

Frank Rich gets medieval on George Bush

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/opinion/03rich.html
Unlike Nixon, President Bush is less an overreaching Machiavelli than an epic blunderer surrounded by Machiavellis. He lacks the crucial element of acute self-awareness that gave Nixon his tragic depth. Nixon came from nothing, loathed himself and was all too keenly aware when he was up to dirty tricks. Mr. Bush has a charmed biography, is full of himself and is far too blinded by self-righteousness to even fleetingly recognize the havoc he’s inflicted at home and abroad. Though historians may judge him a worse president than Nixon — some already have — at the personal level his is not a grand Shakespearean failure. . .

This is in part why persistent cries for impeachment have gone nowhere in the Democratic Party hierarchy. Arguably the most accurate gut check on what the country feels about Mr. Bush was a January Newsweek poll finding that a sizable American majority just wished that his “presidency was over.” This flat-lining administration inspires contempt and dismay more than the deep-seated, long-term revulsion whipped up by Nixon; voters just can’t wait for Mr. Bush to leave Washington so that someone, anyone, can turn the page and start rectifying the damage. . . .

Settling in for a long stay

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/washington/03cnd-policy.html
Pointing to a long-term American presence in Iraq, Ryan C. Crocker, the American ambassador in Baghdad, said today that the process of stabilizing the country and achieving political accommodation “will take a lot longer than September.”

Mr. Crocker, appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” was responding partly to a recent comment by Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, who led the Iraq war for more than a year, that the best the United States could now hope for was “a stalemate — if you will — not a stalemate, but at least stave off defeat.”

But Mr. Crocker’s comment also appeared to represent a new effort by the Bush administration — which has pointed to September as a significant time to take stock — to prepare the public for a long stay in Iraq.

“It’s way premature to be talking in terms of victory or defeat,” Mr. Crocker said. The troop-increase plan announced in January would only be in place later this month, he said, and by September it would only be clear that “the general direction is right.” . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/washington/03assess.html
For the first time, the Bush administration is beginning publicly to discuss basing American troops in Iraq for years, even decades to come, a subject so fraught with political landmines that officials are tiptoeing around the inevitable questions about what the United States’ long-term mission would be there.

President Bush has long talked about the need to maintain an American military presence in the region, without saying exactly where. . .

Crocker says the “surge” hasn’t even really started yet and it’s too soon to judge. Gen. Petraeus says he’s already decided that his September report will cite good progress. Meanwhile, the facts on the ground say. . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/04/world/middleeast/04surge.html
Three months after the start of the Baghdad security plan that has added thousands of American and Iraqi troops to the capital, they control fewer than one-third of the city’s neighborhoods, far short of the initial goal for the operation . . .

Escalating

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/world/middleeast/03cnd-iraq.html
The escalating pace of troop deaths continued over the weekend as 14 more American servicemen were reported killed in Iraq . . .

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_06_03.php#014442
[Steve Benen] May was the costliest month in Iraq for U.S. forces since November 2004, and the last six-month period has seen more casualties than any other "Friedman" since the invasion was launched in 2003.

Tragically, June isn't looking any better. . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/4/61936/36537

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/4085

Now that they have their money from Congress, the Bush gang is ignoring the conditions attached to the funding (of course)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/3/12588/16576

Bitter medicine for the Dems

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_06/011421.php
[Spencer Ackerman] Haunted by Vietnam, Democrats are determined to express support for the troops. This is admirable. The truth of the matter, however, is this: many troops in Iraq, perhaps even most of them, want to stay and fight. . .

Democrats have made the decision — rightly, I think — that withdrawing from Iraq is the least bad of many bad options. But they shouldn't kid themselves into thinking that a majority of the troops doing the fighting agree with them. For soldiers like Lieutenant Wellman, this will be hard to accept. As he told me of war doubters back home, "I don't want them to just support the troops. I want them to support the mission." This matters, because pretending that in ending the war they're doing the troops a favor hurts Democrats politically. They risk looking condescending, and, worse, oblivious — which has the broader effect of undermining public trust in the Democrats to handle national security. More basically, it does a disservice to those who serve. For soldiers who are optimistic, being told that the war can't be won is bad enough. But to be told that politicians are doing them a favor by extricating them from a mission they believe in is downright insulting.

[Kevin Drum] This is God's own truth. Ditto for the Democratic obsession with using better body armor, higher GI pay, or the quality of military medical care as proxies for "supporting the troops." As with leaving Iraq, these are all good things to support. But they're good things on their own terms, not because anyone in uniform will be fooled into thinking that voting for them means you support the military. It's the equivalent of Democrats who thought that John Kerry had automatic credibility on national security just because he was a Vietnam vet.

Telling the truth, as usual, is better: we need to leave Iraq not because we think the troops need rescuing, but because we think that leaving is what's best for our national security. And in the future? That we'll support the troops by making sure that we send them into war only with proper leadership, proper planning, and when the national security of the United States is genuinely at risk. On all these counts both the civilian and uniformed leadership of the military has let down the troops in Iraq. We need to promise that we won't do the same on our watch.

Cheney vs Rice

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/03/cheney-challenges-rice-on-multiple-fronts/

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/06/internecine_squ_1.html

When will Turkish/Kurdish tensions bubble over into open conflict?

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/06/03/news/nation/15_25_336_3_07.txt

The geniuses in the Defense Dept who thought an Iraq war was a pretty neat idea brought the same subtlety to US-China relations, and nearly started a major international conflict

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_06_03.php#014440

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/06/all_war_all_the_time.php
[Matt Yglesias] This is, of course, no surprise. Francis Fukuyama has recounted that during the 1990s doldrums Bill Kristol and Bob Kagan discussed the fact that their "Neo-Reaganite" foreign policy required a new enemy, and that people in their circle debated whether to make the enemy China or Islamism. They reached the conclusion that China was the best option, only to reverse course after 9/11 and put the emphasis on Islamism. In either case, they regard US-China conflict -- and, indeed, conflict between the United States and other countries generally -- as something to be encouraged.

The breathless media coverage of the goofy JFK airport “threat”

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_06_03.php#014439

Very nice: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_06_03.php#014445
Newsday: Caribbean "another region of the world that increasingly poses a terrorism threat."

Why did Tim Griffin, the Rove protégé installed as US Attorney in Arkansas without Senate approval, resign suddenly? (thanks to Buzzflash for the link)

http://www.pensitoreview.com/2007/06/03/former-rove-aide-resigns-over-caging-evidence/

You know, someone should just say it: Karl Rove is full of crap

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/fact-checking-by-digby-other-day-i.html
[Digby] But it's Rove's specialty. He knows nobody will check it out. It sounds so gooood. . . .

More: http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/06/roves_nongenius.php

Some day, the Republicans are going to settle on their candidate for President – and none of them can withstand the focus of scrutiny they’ll receive then

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/06/03/rudy-patootie/

Bonus item: Here’s how bad it is for Bush – a week with no major new scandals or gaffes, and a few workmanlike achievements, is trumpeted as a dramatic turning point. Well, it’s a new week ahead. . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/11001.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.***

LOOKING AHEAD

I’ve finally gotten around to reading “Imperial Life in the Emerald City,” and if you have the stomach for it, it’s a fantastic read with a lot of telling vignettes. The ways in which Paul Bremer and his merry band screwed up decision after decision in the crucial days after the fall of Saddam would provide a hilarious tale of arrogance, stubbornness, incompetence, and ridiculously naïve ignorance about the circumstances of Iraq – if the resulting consequences hadn’t proved so deadly.

But one thing is crystal clear: from the very start this has been a make-it-up-as-you-go enterprise, with wrong prediction followed by foolish policy followed by unanticipated outcome followed by frantic damage control, all driven more by US political considerations than by Iraqi realities. Then the cycle starts all over again. And the line-up of characters and true-believers sent there to build a nation is perfectly rendered.

Also, if you told any of these people that we would still be embroiled in fighting in 2007, while talking about a Korea-style fifty-year military commitment, they would have thought you were crazy.

Along the way, it is also perfectly clear that political loyalty was always the over-riding criterion for those hired to work there, far beyond actual experience or qualifications – in one case, people were being asked their views on Roe vs Wade. This provides a telling background to the current US Attorney scandal (in case we need any further evidence that partisan, ideological screening is second nature for these people)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/02/AR2007060200905.html
On Aug. 13, 2002, the CIA completed a classified, six-page intelligence analysis that described the worst scenarios that could arise after a U.S.-led removal of Saddam Hussein: anarchy and territorial breakup in Iraq, a surge of global terrorism, and a deepening of Islamic antipathy toward the United States.

Titled "The Perfect Storm: Planning for Negative Consequences of Invading Iraq," the paper, written seven months before the war began, also speculated about al-Qaeda operatives taking "advantage of a destabilized Iraq to establish secure safe havens from which they can continue their operations” . . .

Abusing the troops

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070603stoploss-story,1,3708389.story
As the U.S. moves into its fifth year in Iraq and escalates troop levels there, the Pentagon has kept combat units manned by forcing as many as 80,000 soldiers to stay in uniform and in war zones even after their enlistment obligations have been met or their retirement dates have passed.

The policy, known as "stop loss" and utilized more during the war in Iraq than ever before, has sparked such a spate of lawsuits and backlash in the ranks that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered all branches of the services to formulate plans to minimize use of the unpopular policy while still maintaining combat readiness.

The policy, practically speaking, means that a soldier who signs up for four years can expect to be held on the job five years or more if his unit is deploying. In addition, those who have completed 20 years of service—the time previously required for unquestioned retirement with full benefits—increasingly have seen their applications for retirement denied. And the vast majority of these troops find that stop loss means one thing: Instead of beginning new lives in the civilian world, they are headed back to Iraq for their second, third or even fourth combat tours, a practice critics say amounts to nothing less than an involuntary draft.

"I know a lot of people like to call it a 'back-door draft,' " said Suzanne Miller, a Jacksonville lawyer whose son expects to be stop lossed this summer. "I like even more to call it indentured servitude. It's the perfect analogy: You have no control over your own destiny and are being forced, under threat of prison, to work for an employer you no longer want to work for." . . .

Why did ABC News pull this story?

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/ABC_News_pulls_story_alleging_plan_0602.html
The story, posted around 8 pm Friday, was gone by Saturday morning. . . . According to the article, officials said 50,000 troops could remain for '5 to 10 years' beyond 2009. . .

Is there a war within the Bush administration over what to do with Iran?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/10997.html

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/world/europe/01cnd-Diplo.html

Pentagon goes after ex-troops wearing their uniforms at anti-war events. . . . but not at pro-war Bush speeches and photo-ops

http://www.americablog.com/2007/06/pentagon-launches-more-witch-hunts-of.html

We are happy to hear about “foiled” terrorist bomb plots – but why do they always seem to be harebrained plans with no real possibility of success?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_05_27.php#014432

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_06_03.php#014434

Immigration: an issue that might tear the Republicans apart

http://www.slate.com/id/2167532/fr/rss/
[Ben Whitford] With everyone from Peggy Noonan to Rush Limbaugh attacking Bush's advocacy of immigration reform, the NYT reports that the issue risks splintering the president's dwindling support base. Bush's comment that opponents of reform "don't want to do what's right for America" appears to have particularly rankled the conservative faithful. The LAT off-leads with a look at the Senate coalition that forged the "grand bargain" on immigration and asks whether the unusually-robust alliance will survive this week's debate. The Post reports inside on a sizable rally in support of the legislation and employers' concerns that the proposed changes could unduly complicate hiring processes.

Your Sunday morning think-piece: What should the next President do to fix the things Bush has screwed up?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19001200/site/newsweek/page/0/

Scandal-plagued congressman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) to quit

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=rudys_jersey_coup&ns=RobertDNovak&dt=06/02/2007&page=2

Lurita Doan, soon-to-be-former General Services Administration head, is in very hot water

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/06/the_neverending.html

Speaking of hot water. . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2007/06/global-warming-faster-than-predicted.html
Global warming is accelerating three times more quickly than feared . . .

Once Libby gets sentenced: what next?

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_05_27_archive.html#2005241074805770721
[Atrios] Will the press now understand that the White House refusal to answer questions about the subject based on the fact that "there's an ongoing criminal investigation" will no longer be operative?

More: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2007/6/2/185856/3357

Quietly, without much public notice or credit, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is turning into a pretty good Speaker of the House

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/jun/02/election_central_saturday_roundup_0
[Eric Kleefeld] For all the talk from pundits of Dem disunity on Iraq, a study by the Washington Post's Paul Kane of the House Democrats shows them maintaining a record level of unity in their newfound majority. The average House Dem votes with the caucus 94% of the time. Compared to the previous record level of partisan cohesiveness — the first two years of the George W. Bush Administration — the GOP majority at the time showed an average party-line voting record of just 90.4%.

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/more-majority-by-digby-yesterday-when-i.html

How the media plays favorites with Presidential candidates

http://mediamatters.org/items/200706020001

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/2/14237/33016
* Meet the Press: Bob Shrum (D), James Carville (D), Mary Matalin (R), Mike Murphy (R). Topic: Decision08
* Face the Nation: Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO); Rep. Peter King (R-NY); roundtable of NYT's David Sanger, Politico's John Harris and CBS' Lara Logan.
* This Week: Rep. John Murtha (D-PA); Iraqi Pres Jalal Talabani; roundtable of Sam Donaldson, Cokie Roberts, and George Will.
* Fox News Sunday: Newt Gingrich (R-GA); US Amb to Iraq Ryan Crocker; activist/author Ayaan Hirsi Ali
* Late Edition: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL); Elizabeth Edwards (D); Donna Brazile (D); J.C. Watts (R); WMUR pol. dir. Scott Spradling; WMUR's Jennifer Vaughn; NH Union Ldr's Tom Fahey; Tagg Romney (R-Mitt's son); roundtable of Candy Crowley, John Roberts and John King

Bonus item: Outspoken

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/10992.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.***

NO SURPRISE

More blaring, flashing signposts indicating that it was Karl Rove all along

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_05_27.php#014413
[Josh Marshall] Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D) was convicted on seven counts of public corruption last year. And he's scheduled to be sentenced on June 26th. The Times today has an article about Siegelman's attempts to stay out of prison and, in particular, the fact that his defense has now come forward with an affidavit from an attorney which arguably places his prosecution into the context of the US Attorney Purge and the larger politicization it was a part of. . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_05_27.php#014416
Canary said "not to worry — that he had already gotten it worked out with Karl and Karl had spoken with the Department of Justice and the Department of Justice was already pursuing Don Siegelman," the Simpson affidavit says. . .

[Josh Marshall] The affidavit is from Dana Jill Simpson, an apparently respected Republican lawyer from the state. William Canary, is a GOP operative with close ties to Rove, according to the Times. And his wife is the US Attorney in the jurisdiction in question.

If he said he talked to Rove and that Rove said he'd contacted the Department of Justice about pursuing Siegelman, I think this requires a much closer look.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_05_27.php#014417
[Josh Marshall] Just a lil' more background on Karl Rove, Alabama and William Canary.

As the article in this morning's Times explains, William Canary -- the guy who allegedly said he'd talked to Rove about getting the DOJ to take care of Don Siegelman -- is the head of something called the Business Council of Alabama.

The BCoA happens to be the GOP group that brought Rove to Alabama in the early 1990s to help flip the state's Supreme Court to the GOP. My old pal Josh Green detailed the relationship in great depth in this November 2004 article in The Atlantic Monthly.

So, we can be quite sure that Canary knows Rove very well.

The article also explains how Rove used the vote fraud bamboozlement and charges that his client's opponent was a pedophile to win a court race. But, that's just a bonus.

More: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1627427,00.html

http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/070531nj1.htm
[Murray Waas] In the closing weeks of Missouri's tight 2006 U.S. Senate race, the U.S. attorney in Little Rock, Ark., took the unusual step of revealing that his office's investigation into possible state government contracting abuses in Missouri had found no evidence of wrongdoing by Republican Gov. Matt Blunt.

Separately, less than a week before Election Day, the interim U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo., brought voting-fraud charges against four employees of the activist group ACORN, which registers low-income people who typically vote for Democratic candidates. Justice Department guidelines discourage prosecutors from bringing criminal charges so close to an election.

Although the actions of the two U.S. attorneys were unconnected, they shared a common denominator: Mark (Thor) Hearne, a Republican Party operative who had served as national election counsel for the 2004 Bush-Cheney presidential campaign and played a behind-the-scenes role in both cases. Hearne's role provides a window into how a Republican activist was pushing Bush administration officials -- and perhaps in some cases working in concert with them -- to use the Justice Department for partisan purposes. . . .

When Hearne came to believe that the U.S. attorney for western Missouri, Todd Graves, was not taking seriously allegations that ACORN workers were registering people who did not qualify to vote, he took his complaints to senior officials in Justice's Civil Rights Division and to the White House, according to a former Justice official and a private attorney who worked with Hearne. The private attorney said in an interview that Hearne boasted to him about having discussions with administration officials who wanted Graves replaced. . . .

As national election counsel for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign, Hearne worked with White House presidential adviser Karl Rove and the Republican National Committee to identify potential voting fraud in battleground states . . .

Gonzales acts as if the controversy is over (hey Al, it ain’t over)

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/06/01/22/
Beleaguered Attorney General Alberto Gonzales vowed Friday to remain in his post through the end of President Bush’s second term, in a “sprint to the finish line.” . . .

“I know that I only have 18 months left in my term as attorney general, and that really does not feel like a lot of time to accomplish all of the goals that are important to me. . .”

Will Congress hear John Ashcroft tell about the hospital visit he received to pressure him into approving the Bush gang’s illegal surveillance program?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18990233/site/newsweek/

A bit laughable to read about it now, but here’s more on Rove’s plan for a Permanent Republican Majority – and how it led to the abuse of the Justice Dept

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/majority-of-majority-by-digby-tim.html

No surprise, is it? Bush’s new generals in Iraq tell us that they are ALREADY planning to tell us in September (that’s 3 or 4 months from now), that the surge is working and great progress is being made

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/1/2042/91370

http://www.americablog.com/2007/06/petraeus-has-already-decided-hes-going.html
[John Aravosis] Basically, General Petraeus has already decided that the surge in Iraq will be such a resounding success come September that we're going to keep the surge troops there another four months beyond when we were told they were needed. Did you get that? The mission is such a success that it's going to take twice as long. Now that's a man who knows how to spin.

But it's even better than that. We been told forever that it would just impossible to tell if the surge is working until September or even later because, you know, the surge troops wouldn't even all be in Iraq until July. Now, per ABC, Petraeus is telling people he already knows what he's going to report in September - that the surge has been a huge success. Which is a bit odd, since the last of the surge troops only just arrived in Iraq a day or two ago (yeah, they lied about July). . . .

Oh but it gets better. Petraeus is already making plan to keep a sizable number of troops in Iraq for another five to ten years. And he says he wants us to "draw down" the number of troops to 130,000 by the end of 2008. Draw down? You mean, get us back to the number of troops we had in Iraq before this summer's surge. Some draw down.

It’s been clear for a long time: withdrawal dates or no, the current troop levels in Iraq are not sustainable

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/IraqCoverage/story?id=3236822&page=1

Iraq and Korea: more scorn for Bush’s goofy analogy

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18967769/site/newsweek/
[Jonathan Alter] The Vietnam War and the Iraq War do have some things in common. They were both started and perpetuated by heedless, arrogant leaders unwilling to change course, as Ronald Reagan did in Lebanon, when the facts on the ground changed. They both reflected poor understanding in Washington of local culture and regional politics. They both featured the unconscionable policy of throwing good young solders after good young soldiers—signing the death warrants of our finest in the name of foolish consistency or mindless fortitude. . .

Sensing this reality, the new line out of the White House is that Iraq is Korea. As White House spokesman Tony Snow pointed out, we’ve had U.S. troops in South Korea for 50 years (actually, it’s 57) and the same might prove true in Iraq. Aside from the fact that no one told us in 2002 and 2003 that we were signing on to a half-century commitment (just a slight omission, no?), the analogy is a poor one. . . [read on]

Just don’t call it a “civil war”

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/06/sunnis_versus_alqaeda.php

Where the US got ideas about “enhanced interrogation methods.” This will make you proud to be an American

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003329.php

More unflattering parallels: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/06/01/al_qaeda/index.html

Theocracy watch: Bush’s new Surgeon General (just read it)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/1/11540/63349

Understatements of the century

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/06/buh_bye_bartlet.html
Dan Bartlett's stepping down effective July 4 . . .

"It will be one of those things, when I hang up the spurs for the last time, I'll be able to look in the mirror and say, ‘I know this president and this White House did what they thought was right.' And at the end of the day, that's all you can do." . . .

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/01/the-do-over-presidency/
Fox News’ John Gibson to Dan Bartlett today: “A lot has happened obviously in the Bush presidency, and there are undoubtedly things that, in private thoughts, people say, I wish I’d done that differently. What would you take as a do-over?” Bartlett: “Well, there’s too many to count now.” . . .

More: http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/jun/01/bartlett_delivers_perfect_expression_of_bushs_up_is_downism

I hope you are enjoying this as much as I am: more evidence that McCain secretly has contempt for the Religious Right that he’s cynically courting (and don’t think that they don’t realize it)

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/10981.html

Sooner or later, Romney’s Mormonism is going to become a problem for him – I’m not saying it’s fair, I’m saying it’s inevitable

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/4083

Why is Mitch McConnell (R-KY) blocking a rule requiring electronic disclosure of Senators’ finances?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/1/101355/0562

Bush loses Peggy Noonan

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/006201.html
"What I came in time to believe is that the great shortcoming of this White House, the great thing it is missing, is simple wisdom. Just wisdom--a sense that they did not invent history, that this moment is not all there is, that man has lived a long time and there are things that are true of him, that maturity is not the same thing as cowardice, that personal loyalty is not a good enough reason to put anyone in charge of anything, that the way it works in politics is a friend becomes a loyalist becomes a hack, and actually at this point in history we don't need hacks. . ."

Bonus item: Cindy Sheehan steps aside as a prominent war activist. The Onion offers its sardonic take (thanks to AG for the link)

http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/sheehan_quits_peace_movement
"This is a huge blow to the antiwar movement. Where are they supposed to find another mother mourning the death of her child?"

***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.***

HE’S THE PRESIDENT

More on Bush’s crazy notion that Iraq is like Korea

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/05/31/BL2007053101144.html
[Dan Froomkin] The White House, long irritated by the frequent use of Vietnam as a metaphor for Iraq, embraced its own analogy yesterday: South Korea.

There's an undeniable attraction to holding up America's military presence in South Korea as a model for Iraq: Our soldiers stationed there aren't dying in large numbers every month.

But in other ways, the analogy is troubling. And flawed. And dangerous. And telling.

It's troubling because American troops have been in South Korea for more than 50 years . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_05_27.php#014401
[Barbara Lee, D-CA] "The White House announcement that they view South Korea as the model for a permanent U.S. military presence in Iraq is further evidence of how dangerously out of touch with reality this administration is.

"On a strictly historical level, the comparison is comical. A high school student could tell you that there are virtually no similarities between the Korea and Iraq. The administration's inept attempts to come up with tortured historical analogies to try to justify a failed policy should be another reminder just how little credibility they have on the issue.

"The frightening truth is that there are obviously people within the Bush administration who believe that it is a good idea to occupy Iraq military on a permanent basis, which is why we have fought so hard in Congress to establish a clear policy to prevent permanent military bases in Iraq. . .”

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/05/perpetual_war_1.php
[Matt Yglesias] Bush's decision to analogize the US presence in Iraq to the one in South Korea is truly telling. The two situations could hardly resemble each other less. If we take Nouri al-Maliki's government to be something like Syngman Rhee's dictatorship at the core of the analogy, then who plays the role of the North Koreans? How do the Kurds and the Sunnis fit into the picture? Where's the USSR? Approve of it or not, the decades-long American military presence in South Korea has a very clear-cut rationale -- it was there to defend America's South Korean client regime from the USSR's North Korean client regime and now inertia keeps it there because the DPRK still exists even if the ROK doesn't really need outside protection.

In Iraq, none of this stands up at all. It's just a raw expression of a desire to keep our troops in Iraq more-or-less forever. . . .

The stubborn delusion that “just a little bit longer in Iraq” will suddenly change things

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_05_27_archive.html#3179057741923523335
[US News, Jan. 30, 2007] Even Republicans supporting President Bush's new Iraq strategy have been saying this is the last chance for the Iraqi government, and there may be an underlying message for the President there as well. US News Political Bulletin hears from GOP strategists with close ties to Capitol Hill that the President and his senior aides are too optimistic about keeping GOP congressional support for the Iraq war over the long term. One senior Republican adviser says Bush has "until April or May" to improve things in Iraq. If he cannot, he could face a GOP rebellion that could result in reductions in spending for the conflict and legislation to start bringing the troops home. . . .

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_05_27_archive.html#407536527309828745
[Maliki, Nov. 30, 2006] Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Thursday that his country's forces would be able to assume security command by June 2007 — which could allow the United States to start withdrawing its troops. . .

More: http://www.first-draft.com/2007/05/fu_friedman_uni.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/10973.html

June update

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/31/104410/713
[IHT] The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say. . . . Word of the plan comes after a week in which the American troop presence in Iraq was stridently debated in Congress, with Democratic initiatives to force troop withdrawals defeated in the Senate. . . .

[Kagro X] Ah. This is from last June! My bad. . .

The enabling media narrative that this time, really, Bush understands the need to change course in Iraq – when the only real constant is that he will never, ever, admit that he has made a mistake

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/31/145324/562

http://time-blog.com/swampland/2007/05/today_in_america_1.html

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/05/too_little_too_late.php

Nope

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-geyer_31edi.ART.State.Edition1.4370227.html
[Georgie Anne Geyer] [B]y all reports, President Bush is more convinced than ever of his righteousness. . . Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated "I am the president!" He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of "our country's destiny." . . .

Why do we stay in Iraq?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_05_27.php#014393
[DM] I think saying that our current adventures are all about the oil is only half right. I think that it’s more about political economy broadly speaking, with oil being a necessary factor in the case of the Middle East. Since the dawn of neoliberalism in the 1970s and its takeoff as a grand strategy in the 1980s, a key ideological aim of American policy makers from the Reagan administration through the Clinton administration and up to Bush II has been fostering neoliberal economic policies around the globe: freer trade, rule by law (necessary for the predictability in rules that transnational firms seek), an animus against price fixing, privatization, and anti-import substitution. If a nation or region has had any real potential as trade partner, consumer, and exporter of goods, the US has pushed neoliberal policies on them. Sometimes they have succeeded and sometimes they haven’t. . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_05_27.php#014399
[JR] Re your argument that the quest for oil is a parsimonious explanation for the Iraq war. I have long doubted this proposition. Big Oil may be venal in its pursuit of profit, but it has an intimate knowledge of non-western political structures, and it's far from stupid. These interests would have known from the start that a cobbled together, post-colonial state like Iraq couldn't be invaded without catstrophic consequences. This set me wondering, though. I never did come across any substantial report on what Big Oil actually thought as this loony-tunes adventure popped up in the night. I don't mean the paid mouth-pieces but the power managers within the companies - those advised by anthropologists, political scientists, and other experts who actually have a clue about the workings of the real world. . . .

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_05_27_archive.html#4072726633423645896
[Atrios] The answer is unknowable because there isn't one. There are a variety of powerful actors who have different motives. It's as true, if not more true, for the continued occupation as it was for the initial invasion. . .

The Bush gang’s $600 million outpost in Iraq: not built just for weekend visits

http://www.americablog.com/2007/06/new-us-embassy-in-iraq-plans-posted.html

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/31/22276/2948

Who’s coddling the terrorists now?

http://www.americablog.com/2007/05/bush-administration-negotiating-with.html

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/17306275.htm

“Success has a hundred parents, failure is an orphan”

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/31/wolfowitz-architect/
[Faiz] Shorly after 9/11, Paul Wolfowitz began advocating an attack on Iraq, establishing “what amounted to a separate government” to push for war. He invited journalists to secret meetings, laying out the foundation for his plans. Former counterterrorism official Richard Clarke recounts one particular meeting:

“I began saying, ‘We have to deal with bin Laden; we have to deal with al Qaeda.’ Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, said, ‘No, no, no. We don’t have to deal with al Qaeda. Why are we talking about that little guy? We have to talk about Iraqi terrorism against the United States.‘”

Last night on the Charlie Rose show, Wolfowitz denied being “an architect” of the catastrophic decision to go to war. “I’m not an architect of anything,” he said.

Too late to make the “Stupid White Men” edition yesterday

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/10966.html
[Steve Benen] Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) hasn’t exactly impressed anyone as a mental giant, but he seems anxious to establish a reputation for true nuttiness. . .

Bill Nelson, damn you

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/washington/01intel.html
Elisa C. Massimino, Washington director of Human Rights First and a longtime critic of the C.I.A. program, said the panel’s statement showed that Congress “is no longer willing to blindly accept the assertion that the C.I.A. secret interrogation program using unlawful techniques serves the national interests of this country.”

But the committee stopped short of using its budget authority to shut down the program. In a closed session on May 23, two Democrats, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Dianne Feinstein of California, proposed barring spending on interrogation techniques that go beyond the Army Field Manual, which bans physical pressure or pain. Under their proposal, the only exception would have been when the president determined “that an individual has information about a specific and imminent threat.”

The amendment failed when Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, joined all the Republicans in voting no. . .

Wheee!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/business/01cnd-econ.html
The government cut in half its estimate of economic growth in the first quarter, reporting the slowest rate of expansion since the end of 2002. . . . Growth advanced just 0.6 percent . . .

The underexamined story of the politicization of the DOJ Civil Rights division – basically, they stopped caring about civil rights at all

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003321.php
[Paul Kiel] The Los Angeles Times looks into why Thomas Heffelfinger, the former U.S. attorney for Minnesota, was targeted for removal and finds circumstantial evidence that Heffelfinger might have made himself a marked man by raising objection to the implementation of a voter ID law in the state. Some familiar characters crop up -- namely Bradley Schlozman and Hans Von Spakovsky, the two Republican lawyers who reigned over the Civil Rights Division's voting rights section.

Here's the tale, according to The Times: in the fall of 2004, Minnesota's Republican Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer issued a directive that tribal ID cards could not be used for voter identification by Native Americans living off reservations. On October 19, 2004, an assistant U.S. attorney in Heffelinger's office wrote Joe Rich, the then-chief of the voting rights section in the Civil Rights Division, to raise the alarm about Kiffmeyer's move. The directive might disproportionately affect Native Americans' ability to vote, the AUSA wrote, and was a matter of "deep concern" to Heffelfinger. . . . [read on]

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/10964.html
[Steve Benen] Indeed, one of the common threads of the U.S. Attorney scandal is a GOP drive to disenfranchise those Republicans consider to be likely Democratic voters. We’ve already seen plenty of examples regarding African-American voters; in Minnesota, we’re dealing with Native-American voters.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/31/schlozman-politicization/
[Matt] During her testimony before the House Judiciary Committee last week, former Gonzales aide Monica Goodling admitted that she had “crossed the lines” of the law by screening the political backgrounds of applicants for non-political jobs at the Justice Department. Yesterday, the DoJ announced that it was expanding its investigation of Goodling’s partisan hiring practices to include “scrutiny of hiring in the Civil Rights Division, which oversees voting rights.”

A central figure in the expanded probe is Bradley Schlozman, a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division currently serving in the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. He is set to appear next Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Schlozman is reported to have repeatedly inquired about applicants’ political affiliations . . .

More: http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003322.php
[Paul Kiel] The case for Republican voter fraud complaints being at the root of yet another U.S. attorney firing just got a lot stronger.

The U.S. attorney here is Todd Graves, the U.S. attorney for Kansas City who was fired in January of last year. And Murray Waas, reporting for National Journal, reports that Mark "Thor" Hearne, the GOP operative behind the American Center for Voting Rights -- the conservative organization that served to spread allegations of widespread voter fraud and push voter ID laws as the cure -- had complained to the White House and senior officials in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division about Graves' lack of commitment to the cause . . .

Iglesias speaks

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2007/5/31/11054/0980
Jason Leopold interviews fired New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias. . . .

He fingers Harriet Miers and Karl Rove or others in the West Wing of the White House as being responsible for the firing list.

He advocates James Comey or someone like him to replace Alberto Gonzales.

He explains his role in the Office of Special Counsel investigation. They have subpoena power. He did not approach them, they approached him.

They were mostly interested in Hatch Act issues. He says Pat Rogers pressured him to file "bogus" voter fraud cases.

There's no smoking gun but he believes one exists:

"I believe somewhere on an RNC computer - on some server somewhere - there's an email from Karl Rove stating why we need to be axed." . . .

He also thinks a perjury or obstruction of justice charge is possible against Paul McNulty or Alberto Gonzales.

Next week we will see Libby’s “letters of leniency” (all 160 of them), and who they’re from

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/05/reggies_got_mai_1.html

http://www.first-draft.com/2007/05/today_on_holden_17.html
Q On behalf of him and those who weighed in, saying that he shouldn't have a stiff sentence. When they are released, will we find out that the President and Vice President wrote letters?

MR. SNOW: Well, I think you'll just have to wait and see. . .

Scooter Libby – quite a guy

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/05/i_present_to_yo_1.html
Distinguished public servant. Generous mentor. Selfless friend. Devoted father. This is the rich portrait of Mr. Libby that emerges from the descriptions of him in the more than 160 heartfelt letters submitted to the Court on his behalf. The letter writers, who range from administrative assistants to admirals, neighborhood friends to former colleagues, Democrats to Republicans, bear witness to Mr. Libby’s character and patriotism. . .

Fred Thompson’s version: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/freddies-back-by-digby-good-news-is.html
After years of sacrifice and service to his country, he sits at home with his wife and two children awaiting a prison sentence. His name is Scooter Libby. . .

Coming attractions

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/05/my_name_is_empt.html
[Emptywheel] Topics to be covered by the hearings include:

* The National Security Agency’s wiretapping program and proposed expansions;
* The erosion of Habeas Corpus through the Military Commissions Act;
* The sanctioning of torture through the Military Commissions Act and other government policies;
* The practice of “extraordinary rendition,” or government sponsored kidnapping;
* PATRIOT Act threats to privacy rights, including the FBI’s abuses of the National Security Letter authority and intrusions into Americans’ “Freedom to Read”;
* Government surveillance of First Amendment-protected activities; and
* The gutting of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights and Voting Rights

This isn’t surprising, coming from Bill O’Reilly, but who’s the clown giving him encouragement?

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_05_27_archive.html#8237104466728795786
Bill O'Reilly: But do you understand what the New York Times wants, and the far-left want? They want to break down the white, Christian, male power structure, which you're a part, and so am I, and they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically break down the structure that we have. In that regard, Pat Buchanan is right.. . . .

[NB: The pathetic, shameless race by GOP presidential hopefuls to outdo each other in pandering to the worst elements of the Neanderthal Right continues . . .]

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/10970.html

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070531/31mccain.htm

Bonus item: the RNC’s got a problem

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2007_05_27.php#014389
[Washington Times] The Republican National Committee, hit by a grass-roots donors' rebellion over President Bush's immigration policy, has fired all 65 of its telephone solicitors, Ralph Z. Hallow will report Friday in The Washington Times.

Faced with an estimated 40 percent fall-off in small-donor contributions and aging phone-bank equipment that the RNC said would cost too much to update, Anne Hathaway, the committee's chief of staff, summoned the solicitations staff last week and told them they were out of work, effective immediately . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/6/1/0287/48097
[Jonathan Singer] It doesn't take a genius to see that this article is a rather transparent attempt to influence the legislative effort to reform America's immigration policy, specifically by scaring Republicans into believing that their party's viability is threatened by the potential for a compromise on the issue.

But leaving this aside, it's also clear that the RNC is huring right now, and hurting bad. Whoever is leaking to The Times wants folks inside the Beltway to believe that this is a result of the immigration deal, but in reality it goes far beyond 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.***