Mini-report

October 5, 2006

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* The House Ethics Committee officially opened an expansive investigation into Foley sex scandal this afternoon, approving nearly four dozen subpoenas for witnesses and documents. The committee’s chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), said a newly formed subcommittee’s investigation “will go wherever our evidence leads us.”

* A few moments later, Hastings, who got the job because Hastert gave it to him, undermined his own objectivity when he declared, “I think the Speaker has done an excellent job.”

* If TV preacher Pat Robertson didn’t exist, we’d have to invent him.

* NRCC Chairman Tom Reynolds is now losing in his own district.

* Thanks to all of you who sent me supportive emails about having been quoted in the WaPo print edition today.

* George Will wrote today, “If, after the Foley episode — a maraschino cherry atop the Democrats’ delectable sundae of Republican miseries — the Democrats cannot gain 13 seats, they should go into another line of work.” Similarly, Newsweek’s Howard Fineman wrote, “If the Democrats can’t take the Hill now, they deserve to go the way of the Whigs.” I’m almost inclined to agree with both of them.

* If you’re like me, and want to read Woodward’s “State of Denial” but haven’t had time yet, Slate’s John Dickerson does a terrific job relaying many of the highlights.

* Republicans hate it when Democratic lawmakers say the troops are overextended and under-equipped. Of course, Dems appear a lot more in touch when U.S. troops say the exact same thing.

* The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached an all-time high this week — sort of. If you want to get all reality-based about it, the Dow is still 17% below its 2000 peak once inflation is taken into account.

* As much as I’m enjoying covering the Foley scandal, Sen. Feingold is still absolutely right: Foley is nothing compared to Iraq.

* I realize the political world never really seems to care about Bush’s signing statements — it’s my favorite poli sci story of this presidency — but the Boston Globe’s Charlie Savage deserves some kind of award for his coverage of the issue.

* My other favorite poli sci story of this presidency is the abandonment of congressional oversight. The American Prospect’s Robert Kuttner has a great piece on the subject this week.

* How many congressional candidates have scrambled to check their websites for pictures of their candidate and Mark Foley? How many haven’t?

* The Catholic League’s Bill Donohue is an unusually offensive person.

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

Yeah, my condolences about being mentioned in that bastion of putrid old media.

  • **** If TV preacher Pat Robertson didn’t exist, we’d have to invent him.***

    But he’s already been invented. I saw him in a movie once. There’s been lots of silly, childish sequels with bad special effects, cardboard cutouts, and even a cartoon series about him. He played a nasty-tempered brute that went about smashing and condemning everything he didn’t like. The movie was all about him, and lots of people kept screaming hysterically about “God-something-or-other.” They even spoke in a really strange language.

    The movie’s title? “Godzilla….”

  • Republicans hate it when Democratic lawmakers say the troops are overextended and under-equipped.

    Gee as in Gitmo…

    How do you expect Republicans would feel if Dems suggested that the Taliban needs to be accommodated in Afghanistan?

    Aside: Frist was first!

  • Re: US forces abroad (what’s left of them) and lack of equipment –

    It’s a charge that Army officials hotly deny, pointing toward huge expenditures for body armor, fortified transport vehicles and expanded mental health programs.

    How nice, I can’t imagine where Shrub’s military contractor buddies stuff the cash he keeps shoveling their way. Notice the army officials talk about how much money has been spent, not how much actual equiment has been delivered to the people who need it. From what I understand getting basic things like guns and radios can take several months (if things move really quickly) even if they’re sitting in a warehouse. Several billion dollars for body armor don’t mean squat until it’s wrapped around a soldier.

    I wonder if we’ll ever hear Katie Couric chirp “VoteVets.org rocks!”
    Maybe if we squeeze her really hard. But I’m glad those guys are around and I hope one day there is some sort of death cage battle between them and the Shitboat Vets for Truthiness.

    Regarding claims that this Admin. is trying to improve mental health care for vets: I guess I should ignore the independent report that found an estimated 1 in 5 soldiers returning from Iraq/Afghanistan suffer from PTSD and the Shrub Admin. is trying to alter the definition of the disorder so fewer vets qualify for treatment. I guess they’re trying to create mentally unbalanced people so they don’t get completely trampled during the next election.

    Keep up the good work PIGS.

    tAiO

    p.s. Congrats on your mention in the Post. That’s where I somehow found a link to this blog (so you know who to blame for my posts).

  • More signing statement nonesense…WTF?

    Bush’s signing statement Wednesday challenges several other provisions in the Homeland Security spending bill.

    Bush, for example, said he’d disregard a requirement that the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency must have at least five years experience and “demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management and homeland security.”

    His rationale was that it “rules out a large portion of those persons best qualified by experience and knowledge to fill the office.”

  • I have always found the head of the Catholic League, Bill Donahue, to be highly offensive. Back in his “Firing Line” days he reminded me of the worst of the Jesuits I’ve known — rudely argumentative with absolutely no redeeming features. Today’s assault on those who molested Foley, and by implication those Foley molested, takes the cake: “After all, most 15-year-old teenage boys wouldn’t allow themselves to be molested.” It demonstrates the kind of authoritarian mind which permits and encourages pedophilia, excuse me ephebophilia, to run rampant. Talk about blaming the victims.

  • Howard Fineman wrote, “If the Democrats can’t take the Hill now, they deserve to go the way of the Whigs.” I’m almost inclined to agree with both of them.

    All signs and polls point to a massive Democratic victory in November. If by miracle Hastert and company retain control, I think it’s time for a thorough investigation into how that “miracle” actually happened. Diebold is only the tip of the iceberg of potential ways to rig voting. Elections were stolen long before they came along.

  • …estimated 1 in 5 soldiers returning from Iraq/Afghanistan suffer from PTSD and the Shrub Admin. is trying to alter the definition of the disorder so fewer vets qualify for treatment. — taio

    Not to mention they’ve been trained to kill.

  • Last paragraph of the WaPo “comma” piece: … that these brief periods seem long and protracted now, but when you look back at them in history, they won’t seem that way….

    Shrub wouldn’t know an historical analysis if he snorted one. As to today’s events seeming shorter from the perspective of history. Well, duh, Sherlock! That doesn’t mean the Civil War or the Hundred Years War or expansion of the Roman Empire or the period of Babylonian Captivity were a walk in the park. We had a saying back in grad school stat classes: From the standpoint of Eternity, all variance is error variance.

  • Shalimar – good point on Diebold; it’s almost the forgotten story. It gets mentioned here and there but really, it could almost decide everything.

  • I swear… if the word “smarmy” didn’t exist, we had to invent it just for Pat:

    Robertson also claimed that the scandal would not cost Republicans votes because “the church people understand forgiveness, they understand sin.”

    So then… do they understand that torture is a sin?

  • I’m glad we’re paying for this:

    “Earlier in the day, Cheney had appeared with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to raise $196,000 for the Texas Republican’s would-be successor, write-in candidate Shelley Sekula-Gibbs.

    It was Cheney’s 108th campaign event this season, bringing his haul for the cycle to $38.9 million, all of which will be used in the effort to elect Republicans.”

    No wonder we never see the guy – 108 campaign events?….

  • “* The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached an all-time high this week — sort of. If you want to get all reality-based about it, the Dow is still 17% below its 2000 peak once inflation is taken into account.”

    It also misses the point that the Dow is supposed to go up as a fairly constaint rate. But it’s taked Boy George II six years to get back to where the Dow was during Clinton’s administration. No real progress for America and the money is only there because it’s fleeing real estate (thus reducing the wealth of middle class like you and me).

  • “If, after the Foley episode… the Democrats cannot gain 13 seats, they should go into another line of work.”
    “If the Democrats can’t take the Hill now, they deserve to go the way of the Whigs.”

    Since I’m not a registered Democrat, I’m allowed to be pessimistic about Nov. 7th. So I can ask: what if Democrats come up short? Will it be more of the same, predictions of DOOM notwithstanding? Or will someone actually launch a new party? If so, when? And what would it look like — Democrats, only tactically savvy? Such a beast can’t possibly exist; if it did, it would be running for office this season.

  • Democrats, only tactically savvy? Such a beast can’t possibly exist; if it did, it would be running for office this season.

    You know, why is it that they’re not? Failed leadership? Still trying to recover from ’94 and the complacency that preceded it? The Clintonian witch hunt?

    Seriously … anyone? Bueller?

  • As much as I’m enjoying covering the Foley scandal, Sen. Feingold is still absolutely right: Foley is nothing compared to Iraq.

    Feingold is right in pointing out there are more important issues at hand than the Foley scandal. I have a feeling by next week Foley won’t be dominating the news, and Republicans will be eager to change the subject to their “strengths” — national security and Iraq.

    There have been 21 U.S. soldiers killed since Saturday. Iraq just decommissioned 600 police officers for alleged ties to sectarian death squads. I hope Democrats are ready to finally tackle this issue without backing down.

  • In light of the premeire of season three, devotees of the show Lost may find this post, “The Lost Administration” interesting. Has it ever struck anyone at how closely the administration resembles the Others in how they treat us, the castaways?

    Spoiler alert in advance for anyone who hadn’t seen episode one of season three.

  • From Prufrock’s link @ 4:

    “One intriguing line of research is whether the right-side DLPFC functions similarly in everyone — even hardened criminals or sociopaths.”

    Fascinating stuff…

    Suppose… the above turns out to be true.
    Suppose… that sociopaths CAN be identified by the lack of functioning of some part of their brain…

    Question:

    If Garbarge truck drivers need to pass a piss test for employment… is it too much to ask that Presidential candidates pass a test for a fully functioning DLPFC?

    Just wondering…
    ‘Cuz… I got 10 thou that says Bush wouldn’t pass…

  • On the signing statements, my browser has a section, on the very top, called “Today.” One of the lead stories is the AP story on signing statements, so maybe people are finally going to notice it. If they read it, it it as critical as anything can be, and the picture of Bush that is next to it is a picture of smugness that really has to be seen. It ends with the section “Tin Foil Hattie” quotes.

    On Peter King, he’s now running ads — I heard one during the radio broadcast of the Mets playoff game — sometimes I have to be away from the television for cat emergencies and the like — that feature Ed Koch. The hilarious thing is that every argument that Kock gives drives away any liberal who was used to thinking King ‘wasn’t too bad.’ Support for the war, pointing out his position as head of the Homeland Security Committee, and ending with PRAISING him for ‘suppporting the airlines’ use of profiling.’ (In other words, if you look Muslim, you don’t get a ticket.) You’d almost think it was a dirty trick, except that right after the profiling line, King comes on and announces he supports the commercial.

    To tie the two together, why isn’t he being challenged, as head of Committee, on letting Bush announce his disregard for laws that have been passed?

  • For once I have to agree with Will. And I said pretty much exactly the same thing on my own blog (“Mark Foley: The Gift That Keeps on Giving.”).

    Read this article by Paul Krugman. Just when you thought Wal-Mart couldn’t get any more evil… Here’s a quote:

    “And the company is taking other steps to keep workers from staying too long: in some stores, according to workers, ‘managers have suddenly barred older employees with back or leg problems from sitting on stools.’”

  • I believe that Foley’s Follies will prove to be MORE important than Iraq. Intrinsically, of course not. But they are accomplishing two things that all our three years of shouting about Iraq, about torture, about usurpation simply wasn’t accomplishing.

    First, by disgusting a good portion of the honest part of the Religious Right and other groups, it is almost guaranteeing the Democratic victory in November — and I think it will be in both houses and that one ‘can’t lose’ Senator and two dozen ‘can’t lose’ Congressman — and I am not thinking of any specific people — in fact, will lose. A Democratic Congress will not only set the agenda and terms of debate, it will be able to challenge the President on ‘signing statements’ and remind him that his job is to ‘enforce the laws’ and not rewrite them.

    Second, and maybe more important, it has ‘scratched the teflon.’ Republicans have been safe behind an impregnable ‘wall of sound’ fashioned by Gingrich, Limbaugh, and Rove that has simply kept people from hearing us. This is showing the Republicans for the hypocrites they are. (Please, blast them, but blast them ‘civilly’ not with name-calling. Fact-calling will be MUCH more effective now that we have a chance to reach this audience and not just talk among ourselves.)

    The wonderful Harold Ford line should be posted everywhere, and used everywhere. And has ANYONE thought to make a poster using Hastert, FEMA Brown, and Rumsfeld, with a quote from Bush on the ‘great’ jobs they are doing?

  • Regarding Will’s and Fineman’s obvious goading of Democrats viz the various Republican scandals: if Dems overtly capitalize on Republican malfeasance and hypocrisy, we’ll be accused of “playing politics” with these issues or of “praciticing the politics of destruction” notwithstanding the Repubtards do the same thing at every opportunity. It seems more prudent to simply stand back and let the bastards implode as they have consistently done in the past. This seems a perfect time to focus on Democratic alternatives to, among others, social security privitazation, the Iraq war quagmire, runaway federal debt, homeland security, energy independence, and job creation to name just a few truly important issues facing this nation. Russ Feingold is indeed absolutely correct, Foley is nothing compared to Iraq yet the Foley scandal has actually helped the Repubtards by once again distracting the press and the public with another rightwing scandal involving sex/corruption/venality/mendaciousness/you-name-it.

    I, for one, believe that America does not deserve this government.

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