Friday’s Mini-Report

November 3, 2006

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Time reported last night that U.S. Sgt. Santos Cardona, a military dog handler convicted for his role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, was ordered back to Iraq to help train Iraqi security forces. It was one of those decisions that seemed to defy any notion of common sense imaginable. Fortunately, today, the Pentagon announced that it had changed its mind. Good move.

* I don’t want to say that National Review is so unethical and unprofessional that it would run propaganda written by a Bush administration official and then try and deceive readers about his identity but … oh wait, that’s exactly what I want to say.

* Rep. Don Sherwood (R-Pa.) was sued by his mistress, whom he allegedly tried to strangle, earlier this year, before a quiet out-of-court settlement ended the case. How much did Sherwood end up paying his mistress? $500,000.

* White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett said on CNN today it’s “fundamentally within [Democrats’] DNA to spend money.” If his boss wasn’t the biggest presidential spender since LBJ, his comments might not be quite so amusing.

* Conservatives have some very specific arguments about the negative consequences of a minimum-wage increase. Unfortunately for the right, these arguments are wrong and their predictions never seem to come about in reality.

* Maybe it’s just me, but I’m inclined to think that Veterans of Foreign Wars should support veterans of foreign wars. Maybe I’m old fashioned.

* Bob Ney is now a former congressman. It took him long enough.

* I have no idea how or why the right came up with this “Where’s Nancy?” silliness, but it seems some mainstream news outlets are dumb enough to fall for it. Oh wait, I guess that explains the “why” part of my question, doesn’t it.

* Richard Viguerie is still giving his GOP friends a very tough time, arguing that the Republicans’ campaign tactics are likely to backfire on Tuesday.

* Call me over-sensitive if you will, but I’m starting to get the impression that the AP’s John Solomon has some kind of vendetta against Democrats. I’m not sure what the party ever did to him, but whatever it was, he seems intent on some payback, even if it means writing stories that don’t make a lot of sense.

* Babies born in the United States should go out of their way to choose the right parents; if the chose incorrectly, they might end up with no Medicaid coverage.

* A school bus driver in Seattle was fired recently fired for making an obscene gesture at the president, but has filed a grievance with her union to try to get her job back. In June, the driver was driving middle school children back to school after a zoo visit when the President and Republican Rep. Dave Reichert drove slowly by in a motorcade. The children waved, and with the windows down in their car, Bush and Reichert waved back. The driver gave Bush the finger. A school district spokeswoman said the firing was not political, but was because the bus driver made an obscene gesture in front of the kids. (Thanks to G.L.) for the tip.

* And I thought I’d add, in case there was ever any doubt, that Steve Beren and Steve Benen are entirely differently people. Just FYI.

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

I called it — news reports are parroting Bush’s Missouri speech without pointing out that he’s lying.

At least the WaPo isn’t falling for it.

Have a great weekend, everyone! I’m going to go home and slap anyone I see with a “Talent for Senate” yard sign. (j/k)

  • I don’t see how these Mini-Reports are saving you any work (which I think was your original reason for doing them), but they have become a daily event for me that I really look forward to. Thanks for all the hard work.

  • I’m so pleased to know the Army is looking out for Sgt Cardona. What could be more important than the safety of a scum sucking piece of crap who abused prisoners? And I’m sure all of the guys catching bullets in Iraq will get warm fuzzies knowing he’s nice and comfy in Kuwait. I mean, it’s not like he and his fellow jolly pranksters made life difficult for them or anything.

    This must be Rumsfeld’s idea of supporting the troops.

    tAiOutraged

    p.s. I’m hazy on military law but how can someone get court martialed and still be in the service?

  • Nice try with the Beren/Benen confusion, but we’re not having it. It’ll take a whole lot more than a misplaced “r” to hide your neo-con ways, pal. Thus said, if you win that Congressional race in WA, try not to forget us little people. I’m not necessarily saying that you owe us anything for being such faithful readers; only that I could use a new yacht and you’re the best shot I have of gettng one. Good luck.

  • tAiOutraged
    p.s. I’m hazy on military law but how can someone get court martialed and still be in the service?

    Comment by The answer is orange

    There are lesser punishments for lesser crimes. And a simple torture charge? Sheesh, that’s hardly a blip on the radar. You get off easier than for not boxing for your unit in pre-WW II Honolulu. 🙂

    Remember there’s no I in the TAO.

  • On another note, when the Saddam verdict is read late tomorrow our time, any guesses for what happens in Iraq? Ive been reading that its likely a death sentence, but if not, supposedly the Shiite militias are going to rampage, and if it is, Sunnis will go nuts instead. Im thinking, while the US was originally planning this to be a pre-election look at what we’ve done – brought justice to Iraq – it may well blow up in their face if the country descends into an even deeper degree of madness on the eve of elections. But I must say, it would be a fitting end to the madness (of our policy there), that’s for sure.

  • And I thought I’d add, in case there was ever any doubt, that Steve Beren and Steve Benen are entirely differently people. Just FYI.
    I was reading the Gadflyer earlier this afternoon and ran across the article to which you allude. I immediately recognized the similarity in the names and given my own penchant for typos I couldn’t rule out the possibility that you had secret life as a necon. I accept your assurance to the contrary, but will from now on be some careful about what opinions I express here. You can’t be too safe.

  • On Pelosi. It’s funny, but I was thinking where’s Pelosi before the Republicans started that Where’s Nancy campaign. So the real story is where was the damn media when she was busy as ever but didn’t show up in the news?

  • Every time I read another of John Solomon’s petty bundles of blithering blah-blah-blah, I find myself more and more convinced that the man is bi-lingual. He speaks equal amounts of two foreign languages—Mehlmanese and Rovian—with perfect fluency. So fluent, that it looks just like the things that Mehlman and Rove would write. So much so, in fact, that I’m pretty certain that everything he’s “writing” IS written by Mehlman and Rove.

    The only question is: How much is Solomon being paid by Mehlman and Rove to forge his own by-line at the head of Mehlmen and Rove’s writing? And—how much is AP being paid to look the other way, while this fraudulent fiction is allowed to continue?

  • I dunno, but from the way it sounds in the blurb as CB wrote it, they were probably right to fire that bus driver.

    And I bet this blog is all a ploy by your Internet marketer employers!

  • Here is Josh Marshall’s take on Solomon:

    I know a number of people who know or have worked for Solomon. And I’ve never gotten the impression that Solomon has any political or ideological ax to grind. His rep is as an easy mark for oppo researchers peddling their wares — and from both sides.

    Here’s what one former colleague of Solomon’s said last week: “I worked [X] years in the same office as Solomon, sometimes with him. The consensus: he’s lazy, and takes hit jobs handed him on a platter by opps research teams (and anyone will do.) And doesn’t do much to clean it up. I also know one of his fave and frequent sources is Barbara Comstock, former DOJ spxwoman and GOP attack dog.”

    So according to Josh, Solomon isn’t a GOP hack, he’s a lazy sob who will take opposition research from whoever is trying to hand it out. This of course is based on what others have to say about Solomon rather than an analysis of his writing.

    Josh does refer his readers to an Atlantic Monthly piece on opposition research and suggest that one checks the authors of the referenced stories. There is one big problem with this: the Atlantic Monthly article is behind a subscription firewall. Anyway I’d like to see some one flesh this out with an actual analysis of Solomon’s writing. This would be a job for Bob Somerby or CJR.

    If Josh’s take turns out to be true then the best way to counter Solomon’s cuting-and-pasting GOP opposition research would be for the Democrats to get there first with there version of events.

  • White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett said on CNN today it’s “fundamentally within [Democrats’] DNA to spend money.”

    I bet a lot of conservatives who don’t know anything about DNA are saying a lot of things about Democrats’ DNA recently.

  • The plans are just the latest effort by Bushco to destroy life on earth.

    • Failing to punish A.Q. Khan for arming N. Korea.

    • Failing to guard Tuwaitha and eight other Iraq nuke dumps — releasing two tons of yellowcake, and an unknown amount of dirty-bomb-ready Cesium and Strontium.

    • Failing to guard advanced precision machine tools, which were stolen all over Iraq. The stuff that REAL ‘aluminum tube’ centrifuge makers need. Probably a lot of this equipment is now in Iran.

    • Failing to guard Al Qa-qa, releasing 194 metric tons of HMX, 141 metric tons of RDX (both used in nuclear bombs as the catalyst), and 5.8 metric tons of the plastique that Reid put in his tennis shoes and tried to ignite on an airliner.

    • Failing to remove former-Soviet nuclear material from poorly- or unguarded dumps. These dumps are generally ‘guarded’ by chainlink fences.

    • Breaking the nuke agreement with N Korea over useless Uranium processing, in effect returning the PLUTONIUM (previously under UN guard) to the madman, leading to a nuke test and five or six other bombs.

    • Breaking the non-proliferation treaty, and pouring unknown millions into taking over orbital space for nuclear bomb – charged lasers. Reactors, fully fueled, are due to be launched over our heads, endangering all life, in another five years.

  • Bartlett’s comment, when considered alongside the similarly themed (and reprehensibly gay-baiting) ad running in Montana by wingnut Bob Perry’s FEF, seems to indicate (yet again) illegal coordination among GOP outfits and the White House.

    Isn’t FEF supposed to be an independent outfit, and therefore barred from coordinating their efforts with those of the White House, GOP, or individual candidates?

    Bartlett doesn’t engage in the obvious gay-baiting, but he’s saying exactly the same thing. Bartlett and the FEF are obviously coordinating. This seems like a transparent violation of FEC rules.

  • By the way, don’t look at the pictures of Bush and Cheney in the Vanity Fair article before you go to bed. You’ll have nightmares.

  • Hail to the bus driver,
    Bus driver, bus driver,
    Hail to the bus driver,
    Bus driver, man.

    The Pres-nit drives by,
    And he gives him the bird,

    Hail to the bus driver,
    Bus driver, man.

  • OT

    It was kind of dumb, all the press that the Kerry story got. If he wanted to apologize, good for him. He was just trying to be a mensch and it’s not the kind of thing people should be criticized for. However, his initial response was also great leadership and in general that’s the kind of thing we should be doing and seeing more from the Democrats. We shouldn’t be standing for people saying we should apologize for things when they’re just making it up, that we have anything to apologize for, anf they know it.

    Either way he’s a class act.

    On the other hand, anyone who puts Kerry down for it is either clueless or has a lot to answer for– anyone should know that Kerry would disrespect the servicemen and women.

  • White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett said on CNN today it’s “fundamentally within [Democrats’] DNA to spend money

    but did an infinitely wise and infallibale God create us that way, in which case it should be ok with those right-wing Jesus freaks, or did God make us differently an we evolved into having the “spend money” gene which proves they have been wrong all of this time denying evolution?

  • Homer, thanks for the Vanity Fair link. I think this passage pretty well sums up it all up:

    Richard Perle: “Huge mistakes were made, and I want to be very clear on this: They were not made by neoconservatives, who had almost no voice in what happened, and certainly almost no voice in what happened after the downfall of the regime in Baghdad. I’m getting damn tired of being described as an architect of the war. I was in favor of bringing down Saddam. Nobody said, ‘Go design the campaign to do that.’ I had no responsibility for that.”

    The blame game begins.

  • Cheney also gave his first reaction to the Vanity Fair report that two of the Pentagon’s strongest supporters of the war, Richard Perle and Ken Adelman, now say they would not have supported the invasion if they had known how incompetently the administration would handle it.

    Cheney said, “I haven’t seen the piece I’m not going to comment on it. I think there is no question that it is a tough war but it is also the right thing to do,” he said. “And it is very important that we complete the mission.”

    Cheney asserted that the anti-war message is coming primarily from the Democrats, despite their own policy disagreements.

    From the Vanity Fair article:

    According to Perle, who left the Defense Policy Board in 2004, this unfolding catastrophe has a central cause: devastating dysfunction within the administration of President George W. Bush. Perle says, “The decisions did not get made that should have been. They didn’t get made in a timely fashion, and the differences were argued out endlessly.… At the end of the day, you have to hold the president responsible.… I don’t think he realized the extent of the opposition within his own administration, and the disloyalty.”

    “In the administration that I served [Perle was an assistant secretary of defense under Ronald Reagan], there was a one-sentence description of the decision-making process when consensus could not be reached among disputatious departments: ‘The president makes the decision.’ [Bush] did not make decisions, in part because the machinery of government that he nominally ran was actually running him. The National Security Council was not serving [Bush] properly. He regarded [then National-Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice] as part of the family.”

    Does anyone know when Perle changed his registration to Democrat? Also, Perle is telling us the Decider can decide.

    The next few years are going to be fun as the rats start to leave the ship.

  • Dan Froomkin wrote: “The order comes in the form of an obscure provision that terminates his federal oversight agency, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, on Oct. 1, 2007. The clause was inserted by the Republican side of the House Armed Services Committee over the objections of Democratic counterparts during a closed-door conference,

    WTF? Did the Dems in that committee think they that their job was done because they protested? How about letting every other Dem and the press know the Repubs were pulling that crap? Stop being polite and obeying the rules, Dems. Squawk loudly about anything those a-holes try to sneak by.

    I’m disappointed.

  • Either way he’s a class act.
    On the other hand, anyone who puts Kerry down for it is either clueless or has a lot to answer for– anyone should know that Kerry would disrespect the servicemen and women.

    Comment by Swan

    Well said, Swan. We don’t need to be blaming Kerry for the Republicans libelous, excremental behavior with their Noise Machine. For one thing if the President of the US says something the press is going to print it. Who knew such a liar as Bush would lower the presidency like he has.

  • Perle was responsible: he helped set up the call for war and could have insisted on better planning, and it would be good to see him in the dock at the Hague alongside Feith, Wolfowitz, Cheney, Rumsfeld, & Bush.

    On an allied note, from http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15552211/

    “Just days after President Bush publicly affirmed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s job security through the end of his term, a family of publications catering to the military will publish an editorial calling for the defense secretary’s removal.

    ‘This is not about the midterm elections,’ continued the editorial, which will appear in the Army Times, Air Force Times, Navy Times, and Marine Corps Times on Monday. ‘Regardless of which party wins Nov. 7, the time has come, Mr. President, to face the hard bruising truth: Donald Rumsfeld must go.’

    The newspapers are published by the Military Times Media Group”
    (sure it’s not about the midterm elections. It’s timing is exactly as coincidental as the timing of the Hussein verdict.)

  • From Peggy Noonon:

    I end with a story too corny to be true, but it’s true. A month ago Mr. Santorum and his wife were in the car driving to Washington for the debate with his opponent on “Meet the Press.” Their conversation turned to how brutal the campaign was, how hurt they’d both felt at all the attacks. Karen Santorum said it must be the same for Bob Casey and his family; they must be suffering. Rick Santorum said yes, it’s hard for them too. Then he said, “Let’s say a Rosary for them.” So they prayed for the Caseys as they hurtled south.

    A friend of mine called them while they were praying. She told me about it later, but didn’t want it repeated. “No one would believe it,” she said.

    But I asked Mr. Santorum about it. Sure, he said, surprised at my surprise. “We pray for the Caseys every night. We know it’s as hard for them as it is for us.”

    It’s nice of you to show such concern Ricky.

    On Sunday, Santorum cited a report by the Center for Security Policy, a conservative think tank that has pushed for divestment from companies doing business in terror-sponsoring nations.

    “Bob Casey has invested Pennsylvania pension funds in companies with ties to terrorist-sponsoring states and states that engage in genocide,” Santorum said. “Bob Casey is aiding and abetting terrorism and genocide.”

    The third-ranking Republican in the Senate said preventing terrorists from getting funding was an essential part of combating terrorism.

    “I’m the one trying to fight this war politically and economically so we don’t have to fight it militarily, and he is asleep at the switch because he’s not doing his job,” Santorum said.

  • ***The consensus: he’s lazy, and takes hit jobs handed him on a platter by opps research teams (and anyone will do.)***

    —————–Josh Marshall’s take on John Solomon, via rege

    When you take a “hit job” from someone, you usually take an envelope of cash with the job assignment. And, since “anyone will do,” I’m thinking that those “jobs on a platter” are coming from a “certain address on Pennsylvania Avenue.” Comstock is likely to still has active connections at Justice

    Quick—someone check the serving-ware inventory at the White House….

  • Call me over-sensitive if you will, but I’m starting to get the impression that the AP’s John Solomon has some kind of vendetta against Democrats.

    Well, thousands of us did email the AP trying to get him fired after his first anti-Reid smear (the one Solomon got a $500 bonus for because it garnered so many links pointing out all of his factual errors). I guess he might be a little bitter over that.

  • It is official BushCo. is worse than Nixon:

    The Bush administration has told a federal judge that terrorism suspects held in secret CIA prisons should not be allowed to reveal details of the “alternative interrogation methods” that their captors used to get them to talk.

    The government says in new court filings that those interrogation methods are now among the nation’s most sensitive national security secrets and that their release — even to the detainees’ own attorneys — “could reasonably be expected to cause extremely grave damage.” Terrorists could use the information to train in counter-interrogation techniques and foil government efforts to elicit information about their methods and plots, according to government documents submitted to U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton on Oct. 26.

  • Re: Solomon

    The way not getting taken advantage of works, though, is out of all the people who have something that makes them someone you probably shouldn’t trust, you trust none of them. At least you then won’t get led down an alley and raped. 1 out of 10 of them might be someone you can trust, but who cares?

    You don’t need to feel sorry for everybody and have a rapport with everyone you might. It’s like if you have a friend who’s kind of dumb sometimes and might tell someone else something hurtful if you tell her. If you really don’t want people to find out, one thing you can do is you can not tell her. You won’t be any less a friend if you don’t tell everyone you really like everything they’d like to know. So there’s no reason to make assumptions that can be harmful.

  • Hail to the bus driver,
    Bus driver, bus driver,
    Hail to the bus driver,
    Bus driver, man.

    The Pres-nit drives by,
    And he gives him the bird,

    Hail to the bus driver,
    Bus driver, man.

    Actually, the bus driver is a SHE according to all the local news in Seattle.

    • Comments are closed.