Bush’s man for the ‘Office of Legislative Statecraft’

November 18, 2007

Way back in 2004, the scandal labeled “Memogate” seemed like a pretty big deal. Republican staffers on the Hill accessed Dem computer servers and stole over 4,000 memos and documents. It was, for a short while, front-page news, and the Justice Department launched a formal criminal probe into the scandal.

In time, the story faded and prosecutors declined to file charges. The ringleader of the GOP scheme, Manuel Miranda, was identified as having swiped 4,670 documents, memos, and emails. He was quickly thrown under the Senate Republicans’ bus, but transitioned to a role as a leading advocate of Bush’s most conservative judicial nominees, and the GOP’s absurd “nuclear option” in 2005, which also fizzled.

With this background, one might think competent Republicans would permanently keep Miranda at arm’s length. But not the Bush gang — which has given Miranda a key diplomatic role in Iraq.

What a surprise to find an old face on the Hill yesterday — former Senate GOP leadership aide Manuel Miranda– but an even bigger surprise was learning his new job: giving legislative advice to fledgling democrats in Baghdad.

Miranda’s official title is director of the Office of Legislative Statecraft at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. There, he’s giving instruction on democratic principles to Iraqi lawyers and lawmakers, a group of whom he escorted around the Capitol complex yesterday.

Where did Miranda hone his own legislative statecraft? At the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this decade, where he led an 18-month effort to pilfer documents from the Democratic staff.

Office of Legislative Statecraft? You’d swear the Bush administration had taken up comedy writing.

Indeed, Senate Dems, some of whom were the victims of Miranda’s pilfering, are literally laughing at all of this.

Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), whose aides were the targets of more than half the stolen documents, let out a loud laugh upon learning of Miranda’s current job.

“He’s back,” Durbin said. “Tell him to stay away from my computer.” […]

Thankfully, the new job doesn’t require day-to-day contacts with Democrats.

No, just day-to-day contact with Iraqi officials, whom Miranda teaches about democratic institutions.

The mind reels.

Heckuva Job Manny?

  • He actually challenged Durbin to “meet me in an alley”. He’s the perfect person to teach Iraqis about the fundamentals of democracy.

    One day, a historian will find a link between the writers for the Onion and the Administration’s personnel directors.

  • Office of Legislative Statecraft?

    It’s a sinecure.
    Good pay.
    Good benefits.
    Looks good on the resume.

    Iraq is a boondoggle to enrich members of Bush’s politburo.
    I thought everyone knew that by now….

  • Up next: Mark Foley sent to Iraq to be Director of Child Welfare.

    But you know what? I like the idea of these schmucks being shipped out to Iraq and wish Bush would send more. The next president doesn’t have to bring them back. The next Congress doesn’t have to approve funds to keep the embassy running.

  • It’s really too bad to see drivel like this posted with such glib satisfaction, especially when it’s clear you have no real insight into what’s going on other than what you’ve seen in some bullcrap hatchet piece from three days ago. Miranda was thrown under the bus during Memogate for having read documents on a shared server outlining Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats’ strategies to delay or deny floor votes for judicial nominees. The documents themselves paint an unfortunate picture of how closely tied these strategies were to the requests of special interest groups, and even led to the resignation of the head of the NAACP’s Legal and Defense Education Fund after the exposure of her memo to Ted Kennedy asking the Senate Committee to hold up the nomination of a Bush nominee until after an affirmative action decision was issued by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Unfortunately, further inquiries into the content of the Memogate documents (and the unethical or illegal behavior of Democrats they might have outlined) were foregone in favor of attacks on Miranda, mostly because Hatch and Frist lacked the courage or loyalty to stand up for a staffer that was doing his job or to expose the actions of their Democratic colleagues.

    Miranda then, far from “transitioning to a role as a leading advocate,” was left to scramble for a job while the staffers of Senators Durbin and Kennedy made kindly calls to potential employers threatening hellfire and damnation were they to hire him. He ended up founding a judicial advocacy organization that focused on building a coalition of grassroots and other conservative groups interested in judicial nominations. Miranda had conceived the concept of the “nuclear option” while a Senate staffer, but he played no role in its later ill advised application. He, and the coalition he founded, did however play a large role in sinking the Harriet Miers nomination, and he’s credited with being one of the first to speak out strongly against her. Suffice it to say, this didn’t exactly endear him to the Bushies, and it’s absolutely absurd to imply that he’s some kind of administration insider.

    I don’t know much about what he’s doing now, but I’d guess he got the position by flying under the radar of those in the White House, not through their benevolence. This seems to be backed up by the Novak piece last week about how the delegation of Iraqi lawyers (that conceivably Miranda is leading around the Hill) couldn’t even get an audience with White House Counsel, let alone assurance that a letter they’d written to Bush would get to him. Not exactly the treatment you’d expect for a crony pet and the work he’s doing.

    This stuff is out there, you should look into it. But you’re right, I’m sure Durbin and his staff are “literally laughing,” at all the sheep they’ve inspired to spout crap following the smear piece they placed.

  • There are over 800 Iraqis who helped and supported the the US invasion and occupation, (translators, etc.) who now have targets on their backs for helping us and will be killed as we pull out which Bush’s State dept refuses to give visas to or help them get out of the country. We promised them that if they helped us we would protect them and now Bush just says “screw ’em”. This should take priority over Legislative Statecraft. Or are they telling these future leaders of “Bush democracy” in Iraq that they will be killed for coming here and we will not protect them either?
    A couple of transport planes in Guam could pick these people up and save their lives and has already been planned out but state refuses to do anything about it because a jihadist might sneak through.
    More lives saved through impeachment.

  • Do Some said, “Miranda then, far from “transitioning to a role as a leading advocate,” was left to scramble for a job while the staffers of Senators Durbin and Kennedy made kindly calls to potential employers threatening hellfire and damnation were they to hire him.”

    I feel much better about the Democrats now. Instead of capitulating to the Bush adminstration over everything, some of them were fighting back against the criminal behavior of this administration. I guess to the President the fact that members of Congress have a website means they repudiated any claims to privacy.

  • ***hey do some homework*** Are you suggesting that all the talk about hacking into Kennedy’s computer and stealing emails and memos that got a Justice dept. probe going was just bull because Miranda was just reading documents off a “shared server”? Then further suggest that the real issue was the unethical practices around Judicial Committee strategies used by democrats being obscured by blaming Miranda for theft of memos and emails? So according to you Miranda was actually doing a good job and was smeared for just doing a good job, then blacklisted for bringing out embarrassing strategies used by democrats in the judicial nominating process, and abandoned by his bosses because it was more convenient to resolve the issues at hand. His present job was obtained by his own initiative by remaining quiet and in the background while seeking employment.

    I don’t have a clue about any of this but one thing I do know. Miranda’s assignment and the group he leads now is low on the level of where I would like to see my tax dollars spent. In fact, it’s less than zero. So if it’s a waste of tax payer dollars and reeks of incompetence then it’s a republican plan. “Office of Legislative Statecraft” ??? Give me a break.

  • Aren’t we required to give the Iraqis an updated Miranda Warning”?

    Something along the lies of,
    “Nail everything you own down when this guy is around”

  • Shorter DSH:

    Waah! Democrats are worse! Waaah!

    Get used to it folks, we’re going to hear a lot of this in the coming years.

  • Answer Orange:

    I am so looking forward to hearing how bad the Democrats are in the coming years. I plan on doing a lot of smiling and fluttering of my eyelashes.

  • **To bjbotts** That’s exactly what I’m saying. Use your head here. Yes, there was a Justice Department probe, and it found no evidence of wrongdoing on Miranda’s part. Nor did the New York Bar Association, another venue in which Miranda’s actions were raised in an attempt to see him disbarred.

    As far as the usefulness of his current job, that’s certainly up for debate. I can understand and ultimately agree that US tax dollars could be spent in better ways than working to build an Iraqi legal system or helping them establish the rule of law. But that’s a different argument entirely from a charge that Miranda isn’t ethically qualified for the job or implying that there’s some hilarious irony in his working in the position.

    Miranda’s situation is an example of the sort of shameful politics I usually expect this blog to deride, not propagate. This isn’t about Dems being worse, I’m a Democrat. But understanding what’s going on here doesn’t make me proud to share that label with Senator Durbin at the moment (who clearly planted this story and his laughing quote to fuel exactly this response, a continued trashing of a seemingly decent staffer). I don’t agree with Miranda’s politics, but this is just petty mudslinging and a continued attempt to destroy the guy’s career entirely. It’s not right, whether you’re red or blue.

  • Do Some Homework said: …….. I’m a Democrat

    Yah, Sure You Are…. Don’t blame you for saying it. It is not a good time to self identify as an Republican.

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