Wednesday’s Mini-Report

August 22, 2007

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Former CIA operative Bob Baer told Fox News yesterday that the Bush administration will likely attack Iran in the coming months. Today, on the same network, former U.N. ambassador John Bolton said he “absolutely” hopes Baer is right.

* In related news, Brave New Films has unveiled “Fox Attacks: Iran,” which, among other things, highlights the similarities between the partisan network’s rhetoric about Iraq in 2002, and rhetoric about Iran in 2007. It’s discouraging, to put it mildly.

* It’s kind of a long story, but right-wing hatchet-man Roger Stone was hired by the New York GOP to attack Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D). As part of his efforts, Stone ended up calling the governor’s elderly father and leaving an odd voice-mail message. Referring to a potential subpoena, the message said, “There is not a goddamn thing your phony, psycho, piece-of-shit son can do about it. Bernie, your phony loans are about to catch up with you. You will be forced to tell the truth and the fact that your son’s a pathological liar will be known to all.” Stone resigned today.

* Speaking of resignations, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), in the midst of a corruption scandal and criminal investigation, is now facing pressure from Alaska Republicans to end his career and gracefully step aside. Stevens told reporters yesterday he will not resign.

* In an amusing Michael Kinsley Moment (making a mistake by accidentally telling the truth), Fox News’ Brit Hume reported yesterday that “[t]he Senate Judiciary Committee’s latest deadline for the White House to comply with its subpoena for documents relating to warrantless — allegedly warrantless wiretaps has come and gone.” Hume didn’t have to correct himself; the administration has already admitted to conducting warrantless wiretaps. (Yes, FNC personalities are even more deferential to the administration that administration officials are.)

* AP: “The Justice Department said Tuesday that records about missing White House e-mails are not subject to public disclosure, the latest effort by the Bush administration to expand the boundaries of government secrecy. Administration lawyers detailed the legal position in a lawsuit trying to force the White House Office of Administration to reveal what it knows about the disappearance of White House e-mails.”

* At the end of those Freedom’s Watch ads we talked about earlier, the group urges viewers to call 877-222-8001 in order to contact members of Congress. But when you call the number, you get a right-wing operator who makes sure you’re convinced that Bush is right about everything. Callers are also given a quiz to ensure ideological purity. As IraqCampaign.org explained, “Ari Fleischer brings Bush ‘town hall’ screening tactics — come in tell us what you think. First, you need to take a test to see if we agree.”

* Chris Matthews has the lowest-rated program on MSNBC primetime, so the network fired his producer. Note to MSNBC: the ratings aren’t the producer’s fault.

* John Stossel is still confused about healthcare. What a shock.

* As if their ideas weren’t bad enough, voucher proponents in Utah are now conducting push-polls, suggesting the National Education Association supports gay marriage. For the record, a) it’s not true; and b) what does this have to do with public funding for private schools?

* TPMM: “In a motion filed yesterday, Justice Department lawyers argued that the Office of Administration is not subject to FOIA. Their reasoning: the office is not an ‘agency,’ by the definition of FOIA.” On the White House website, the Office of Administration is listed among “agencies” that are subject to FOIA.

* The offices of Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) have been squabbling over some earmark expenditures, and it apparently got a little heated. After Coburn’s office found a suspect request from Nelson, John Hart, Coburn’s communications director, sent an email from his Senate account to several of his colleagues. “This will shut that fu**er up,” Hart said. “I can’t wait to send an In Case You Missed It to Nebraska press that will be forwarded to a**face.”

* Former Reagan DoJ official Bruce Fein is still pushing hard for impeaching the president, and is challenging Pelosi’s decision to take the option off the table.

* The Bush gang was for S-CHIP expansion before they were against it.

* Bush’s poll numbers on terrorism have dropped well below 50%, but the far-right Washington Times doesn’t realize that’s a bad thing.

* CNN reports, “Vermont is a picture perfect place — its rivers and mountains and covered bridges are a draw to some 10 million visitors a year. Yet, the Green Mountain State is the forgotten place in the crowded travelogue of President Bush — the only state he has failed to visit in his presidency.” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) apparently wants to change that, daring Bush to visit Vermont before the end of his term. “This president will probably go down in history as the least popular president in history of this country — he should go forward and find out why that is so,” Sanders said.

Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

Stevens told reporters yesterday he will not resign.

You tell ’em Ted! Who’s the Alaskan GOP to tell you what to do?! For that matter, whoever said you had to obey the law?

Stevens, the GOP gift that keeps on givin’!

  • sigh. that last item makes me wistful for the days when i had family to hang out with in Montpelier.

  • Hell, Vermont, you’re welcome to him, we’re sick of him here in Maine.

    Goddam summer people — as bad as leaf-peepers.

  • If the President’s misuse of the lessons of Vietnam sounds familiar, it should. After all, just last week 2008 Republican White House frontrunner Rudy Giuliani said virtually the same thing.

    “America must remember one of the lessons of the Vietnam War. Then, as now, we fought a war with the wrong strategy for several years. And then, as now, we corrected course and began to show real progress. Many historians today believe that by about 1972 we and our South Vietnamese partners had succeeded in defeating the Vietcong insurgency and in setting South Vietnam on a path to political self-sufficiency. But America then withdrew its support, allowing the communist North to conquer the South…The consequences of abandoning Iraq would be worse.”

    For the details, see:
    “Bush, Giuliani Agree on Iraq-Vietnam Parallels.”

  • About the education vouchers in Utah, I’m still wondering how the two bills authorizing these vouchers passed the state house and senate to begin with. While it’s true that there is a vocal minority in Utah that favors governent-funded tuition vouchers, the majority of the “mormon-dominated” populace supports better funding for the public school system.

    Oh, wait, I remember there was an out-of-state organization called Parents for Choice in Education poured a boatload of money into Utah just prior to the 2006 elelctions. This influx of money included financial support of candidates who publicly came out in favor of school vouchers. These candidates were always Republicans, and most Utahns wouldn’t vote for a Democrat under any circumstance. The final result was passage of the school voucher laws.

    The good news is that the school voucher issue is on the November ballot as a referendum. Even though the Utah arm of the National Education Association is not well-liked here (simply because it is a union), I don’t believe that attacking the NEA or the UEA will change enough opinions about vouchers to make any difference when it comes time to vote.

    The uphill battle that both sides have to fight is turning out voters in an off-year election in which the school voucher referendum may be the biggest item on the ballot outside of the Salt Lake City mayoral race.

    out west

  • AngryOne, I was with the Brown Water Navy in the Delta in 71-72. Giuliani is, as usual, full of shit. “Many historians” may believe that we’d defeated the Vietcong insurgency but clearly none of them were actually there: it was alive and well in IV Corps. That we’d supported so many repressive, corrupt governments in South Vietnam, coupled with the fact that we’d destroyed their economy and changed them from a net rice exporter to a net importer meant that they were heartily sick of the war and of us.

    Isn’t it odd that after months of denying that Iraq is anything like Vietnam the Republicans have decided that it is after all just like Vietnam?

  • […] right-wing hatchet-man Roger Stone was hired by the New York GOP to attack Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D). […] Stone resigned today.

    That was fast! Today’s NYT still has him — on front page, too — saying that the allegiation was “the ultimate dirty trick” and asserting that “the allies of Governor Spitzer may have gained access to a phone in his Manhattan apartment to make the threatening call”.

  • Look ma! A shiny new NeoCon Adventurist undeclared war with Iran. I got it from my authoritarian daddy after a few licks from his switch. It only cost a few thousand dead American Soldiers, a few hundred-thousand dead innocent civilians, a bankrupted Treasury, and a disposable Constitution. It’s the greatest thing since 9/11!

  • Bruce Fein was one of the two guests that Bill Moyers discussed impeachment with several months ago on Bill Moyer’s Journal. I think if anything can be given a “mandatory must watch” rating, that show should. Speaker Pelosi can’t allow impeachment of $hrub and Dicktator Cheney because then, Iran’s nuclear facilities wouldn’t get bombed. Pelosi is too concerned with her obligations to AIPAC. She was the key speaker at AIPAC’s annual policy conference in Washington and her much criticized trip to Syria was just a matter of presenting Israel’s case to Syria. I think our Congressmen should have to recite their oath to the US Constitution on a daily basis, sort of like the pledge of allegiance used to be in school. Then maybe it would sink in.

  • It’s kind of a long story, but right-wing hatchet-man Roger Stone was hired by the New York GOP to attack Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D). As part of his efforts, Stone ended up calling the governor’s elderly father and leaving an odd voice-mail message.

    A few days ago CB mentioned an ammunition shortage here in the states. I think part of it may be attributed to ReThugs shooting themselves in the feet. Someone needs to hop on this with an ad designed to appeal to Boomers: “Are your parents safe from the GOP?”

    Their reasoning: the office is not an ‘agency,’ by the definition of FOIA.

    We don’t exist. Really! Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

    Christ, these clowns would be funny if they weren’t so damn dangerous. Congress just needs to cut funding to all of the non-agencies out there. They can present it to the voters as cutting government waste.

    And will someone please hit the state of Utah, with a hammer, a lot? Thanks.

  • More things I didn’t want to hear:
    ” Sen. Clinton urges Iraqi PM Maliki be replaced”.

    And replace Maliki with whom? There’s no one who can sprinkle pixie dust on the Iraqi government and turn it into a functional body. Does she really believe that at this point the Iraqi parliament will unify behind anyone? My guess is that if Maliki were to be removed Iraq would go for months with no Prime Minister. Fighting chaos and anarchy by creating more chaos and anarchy seems like a dubious proposition.

    Set a date certain for the removal of US troops, thereby removing the cover under which the Iraqi factions operate, and watch them pull together.

  • Edo: “You tell ‘em Ted! Who’s the Alaskan GOP to tell you what to do?!”

    It’s not the Alaska GOP making the request, but one Republican state legislator. He’s also suggesting that Rep. Don Young step down, too, as well as the Alaska GOP Chairman. I’m guessing that the legislator in question, Rep. Mike Kelly, probably came to his senses while thumbing through one of his Bibles when he came to Matthew 5:29: “…for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”

    In Kelly’s opinion, of course, “hell” equals “the wretched agenda of the far left,” as he calls it in his letter.

  • I once attended a presidential debate watching party/fundraiser at an iMax cinema. The entry to the theater was in the front of the seating area, near the screen. When I walked in I immediately found myself with a three-story-high head of Chris Mathews. For a moment I was near paralyzed by fear. My first thought was that if he inhales, he will suck all the oxygen from the earth’s atmosphere. My second, was the realization that in order to take a breath he would have to STFU for at least half a second. Then I was OK.

  • “…When I walked in I immediately found myself face to face with a three-story-high head of Chris Mathews…”

  • Re: “Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), in the midst of a corruption scandal and criminal investigation, is now facing pressure from Alaska Republicans to end his career and gracefully step aside.”

    I’ll bet Sen. Stevens answer was an emphatic “NO!”

    Re: “* Former CIA operative Bob Baer told Fox News yesterday that the Bush administration will likely attack Iran in the coming months. Today, on the same network, former U.N. ambassador John Bolton said he “absolutely” hopes Baer is right.”

    These people are just sick. In the head. What exactly do they think this will accomplish? And what are we going to attack with? Pelosi and Reid had better get going on this.

  • Pelosi and Reid had better get going on this.

    If recent performance is any indicator, they’ll rush the passage of a bill retroactively approving yet another attack on another nation that did not attack us.

  • Note to any Daily Show trolls scanning the comments for info/soundbytes/gags/ideas:

    Here is an idea to run with:

    Remember that video Bush made for the Washington Correspondents Dinner in which he is searching for WMDs under the bed, beneath the lectern, back of the curtain, etc?

    Great gag right?
    (Didn’t even need the canned laughter!)

    How about you make a similar with Pat Leahy?
    Of course… he is searching for those subpoenaed papers:
    Under the Friday Cat blog…
    Behind Air Force One…
    In the Green Zone…
    In Joey Lieberman’s front yard…
    Etc.

    If Pat doesn’t want to do it…
    Maybe you can make an animated version.
    Suggestion: Make Pat look like Mr. MaGoo!
    How cool is that?

  • Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

    AP: Environmentalists win White House suit

    SAN FRANCISCO – A federal judge ordered the Bush administration to issue two scientific reports on global warming, siding with environmentalists who sued the White House for failing to produce the documents,

    U.S. District Court Judge Saundra Armstrong ruled Tuesday that the Bush administration had violated a 1990 law when it failed to meet deadlines for an updated U.S. climate change research plan and impact assessment.

  • AP: Environmentalists win White House suit

    I’m sure they’ll get right on that –right after Rove and Miers show up for their Congressional subpoenas. Apparently U.S. District Court Judge Saundra Armstrong doesn’t understand that King George governs by edict, not arbitrary laws written by The People’s duly elected representatives. Obviously she didn’t attend Liberty or Regent University.

  • Beep52, @20

    It’s less than half a loaf; they have till *March* to produce the stuff. By which time, nobody will remember what the fuss was all about…..

    BTW, CB… What’s this Reid/Pelosi as sheeple ACLU cartooon in front of the comments?

  • Something from the link to the Bruce Fein linked article above about our excuse for a Democratic House Speaker worth noting is “she has threatened the removal of Michigan Rep. John Conyers from his chairmanship of the House judiciary committee if an impeachment inquiry were even opened, according to reliable congressional chatter.” Somebody needs to slap the shit out of her and remind her of an oath she took to the US Constitution. Even if an impeachment vote did not pass in the Senate, it would be valuable to start gathering evidence against this misadministration as soon as possible. The actions of the Bush/Cheney misadministration hit all of the categories, war crimes, felonies or high crimes and misdemeanors and the sooner evidence is collected, the sooner punishment can be meted out. In my own opinion, I don’t want Cheney escaping his place in history because he pulled a Ken Lay and expired like curdled milk because his case never went through the appeals process. Best case would be orange jump suits, ankle chains, waist chains and hand cuffs on a plane to the Hague after prosecution here. I think we need to demonstrate to the rest of the world that we want to re-establish some integrity as soon as possible and that means holding people accountable for their crimes.

  • CB, thanks for the Stossel link.

    It crystalized the flaws in his arguments unlike prev ious summaries.
    Very even-handed critique.

    Libertarians like Stossel need to admit that a truly market-based health care system would allow more people to die and would not produce better outcomes for most people. If you’re okay with that, then all’s well and good.

    Pure ECONOMIC Libertarianism requires a little bit of your heart to be made of granite. The fairy tales some people wish to spin about it taint the many valid ideas Libertarianism offers. The whitewash hampers the potential good a libertarian perspective might bring to reform current structures and programs.

    Either let people die, or treat them cheaply. It’s that simple.

    Decide which you want and move on it without apology. The status quo is bad and expensive.
    Let’s pick bad and cheapest or good and cheaper. I’d rather have either than the fuster cluck we have now. If more people died, maybe we’d take health care more seriously and fix it?

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