Friday’s Mini-Report

October 27, 2006

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* It may sound like a harsh sentence, but former Bush administration official David Safavian was sentenced to 18 months in prison this afternoon for lying and obstructing justice in connection with the Abramoff scandal. He was facing 20 years.

* We learned two weeks ago that the verdict (and sentence) in Saddam Hussein’s trial was being delayed to coincide with the U.S. elections. For some reason, no one in the media seems to have noticed the coincidence.

* Remember that great new DNC “stay the course” ad? about Ned Lamont is running a slightly adapted version against Joe Lieberman. Take a look.

* Halliburton abused the rules to hide details of its contract performance? Who could have imagined….

* And speaking of Halliburton, have you seen the company’s Voter Guide?

* The middle class is moving away from the GOP in droves. It’s about time.

* If you’re like me, and you find the Limbaugh/Michael J. Fox story both shocking and fascinating, you’ll probably enjoy watching last night’s Olbermann, who had an interesting chat with Air America’s Sam Seder about the political implications.

* The last time O’Reilly was on Letterman, it was an instant classic. Tonight’s show should be even better.

* Way back in May, Richard Viguerie, the legendary far-right consultant, lambasted Bush and the congressional GOP and encouraged conservative activists to start working outside the party’s framework altogether. If anything, he’s even angrier now.

* Love him or not, I think Jacob Weisberg is right that Barack Obama has already given the conventional wisdom a serious jolt, at least as far as the 2008 race goes.

* The RNC’s racist ad in Tennessee wasn’t just offensive for its race baiting; it also seriously displeased the Canadians. Given the ad’s cheap shot at our neighbors to the North, someone in the administration should probably apologize.

* I’m certainly happy to see Katrina victims get some leeway on their tax bills, but the politicization of the IRS is part of a very unhealthy trend.

* The Use-It-Or-Lose-It campaign created by MyDD and MoveOn.org was not only clever and innovative, it was also a great success.

* I get the distinct impression that Scooter Libby’s legal team is significantly more nervous today than they were on Wednesday.

* My friend Anonymous Liberal raised an important substantive point about gay marriage today, but I also really enjoyed reading how Bush doesn’t know the name of the guy he’s campaigning for.

* Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) is really, really an embarrassment to himself.

If none of these particular items are of interest, consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

This might be a little over the top, but what the heck.

Today I won’t bitch and moan. Today I feel positive.

I like who we are. We’re Democrats, we’re progressives, we’re liberal in our acceptance of others. We can freely celebrate the 50% of the population that Republicans are uncomfortable with (unless they have an insincere agenda to use them politically). That 50% that are people of color, gays, immigrants, the poor, and the compassionate of whatever religion or non-religion, are not only celebrated by us, they are us. We have open hearts and open minds. We can rejoice in diversity of thought, being and believing. In 11 days we will start to regain our power after being powerless for 6 years. That undertow of helplessness will start to loosen. That label of ‘losers’ will be shown for the sham it is. This country will start to turn to a new direction. Social evolution will resume.

There’ll be hope for a change.

  • From the Media Matters link about delaying announcement of the Saddam verdict: U.S. Regime Crimes Liaison Office.

    Wouldn’t it be awesome if we had one of those on the Bush Regime? One can only hope…

  • One of those moments came when Loftus insisted that she had never met Fitzgerald. He then reminded her that he had cross-examined her before, when she was an expert defense witness and he was a prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in New York.

    I guess that proves her point, eh? Brilliant. I bet Fitzgerald goes through Scooter like a hot knife through butter.

    Am I the only one who wonders if Weldon and Santorum will wind up sharing a room in the Joe McCarthy Home for Political Wing Nuts?

    Santorum: Back foul orc, for I am Aragon, son of Arathorn!
    Weldon: No you’re not, you’re a liberal spy from the DOJ!
    Curbin: Shut up you two, or I’ll smack you silly!

  • I don’t know if it ever got a full-post mention here but it sounds like the Use-It-Or-Lose-It campaign deserves the treatment. It’s an excellent idea. Myself, in blue Oregon where no seats are really up for grabs, I’ve often wondered how I can contribute to a other campaigns without seeming like a… what’s the word? 😉

    This is an excellent solution and a great way to motivate us liberals stuck in deep blue districts. But what happens to that money if it doesn’t get used at the end of a campaign, anyway? Why would a candidate (winner or loser) want to keep it afterward?

  • If nothing else the DCCC should allow pols to pay their 200k yearly tuition early for the next 2 or 3 years this year. It would be better than borrowing money.

  • Say, whatever happened to Ann Coulter? Not long ago she was splashed all over the media but lately I haven’t seen her evil, vicious, wart-encrusted face anywhere. Did somebody finally throw a bucket of water on her?

    We should be so lucky….. 😉

  • Leeway on their tax bills???? You’re kidding, right CB? The IRS is going to go after those people like a pack of Rabid Dogs once the election is over. Just watch…

    Dont be surprised if they even try to rip more flesh from their hides, by saying, just because we were backlogged, or some sort of crap, that they should have done this earlier, but now you owe even more interest on what you already owe us.

  • What happened at Camp Falcon on October 10th? Why is there a media blackout about it?

  • Re Jurrasicpork’s:

    “Yep, another Goddamned Open Letter to Ned Lamont. I really hope he reads this. It may turn his race around.”

    Sounds to me like Lamont is fast-tracking towards Gore-town by way of Kerry-ville after detouring thru Dukakis-land…

    Which means in a few years time he will be standing before the voters saying all sorts of noble things and mooching about how he deserves another fat chance… and that he has really learned his lesson this time… and blah blah blah…and boo-hoo-hoo…

    Jesus… Ned/Al/Kerry Lamont:

    If you cannot win… at least do everything you can to destroy your opponent.

    In other words:

    Do unto a repubican as a republican would do unto you.

    For Godsakes man… grow a pair will ya?
    You’ve got the money…
    And at the very least…
    Lieberman should be reduced to a pile of smouldering elephant shit…

  • Saturday’s NYTime reports that,

    Corporate America is already thinking beyond Election Day, increasing its share of last-minute donations to Democratic candidates and quietly devising strategies for how to work with Democrats if they win control of Congress.

    This is not an expected occurence, but it is disturbing nonetheless. Corporate America is hedging its bet. But I am sure that most here would agree that a large measure of what has been wrong with this country since the Reagan presidency, is the undue influence of corporations in Washington. Should we win this fall, we will have to work hard to remind those whom we helped to but into power that the Democratic party must stand not for corporations but for ordinary Americans.

  • That Lamont ad is truly brilliant. When Ned loses, as he seems determined to do, the DNC should be pick up that ad company (and fire those they’ve for the last 25 years or so).

  • Spread the Word on how to stop the Profiteering

    The crooks don’t have to get away, even if they are politically connected. There is a powerful weapon to take down companies who defraud the U.S. Government and taxpayers. The problem is that those who possess the weapon don’t know it exists. Under a unique federal law, ANYONE (including employees of defense contractors) who learn that a company is defrauding the U.S Gov’t can pursue the company to recover TRIPLE the amount it has defrauded from the government. If someone does so, they typically get to keep up to 30% of the money recovered, as a reward. To learn how, anyone can go to http://www.FederalFraud.com

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