Monday’s Mini-Report

February 5, 2007

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey’s (R-Texas) new McClatchy interview included some pretty stunning responses from the far-right Republican. He bashed Tom DeLay (“I don’t believe he’s a good person”) and he lamented the 2002 Iraq war resolution (“Had I been more true to myself and the principles I believed in at the time, I would have openly opposed the whole adventure vocally and aggressively”). I know; I couldn’t believe it either.

* Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) saw some reporters in a hall last week, who wanted to hear the senator’s opinion on a pending resolution against the president’s escalation plan. Instead of answering their questions, however, Sununu “took off in a sprint, determined to say as little as possible.” I think it’s safe to say he just disqualified himself for a Profile in Courage award.

* The “prosecutor purge” I’ve been following took an interesting turn over the weekend when an administration official “said the spate of firings was the result of “pressure from people who make personnel decisions outside of Justice who wanted to make some things happen in these places.” As Paul Kiel put it, “In other words, the pressure to replace the prosecutors did not come from the people who would know about the U.S. Attorneys’ job performance (their supervisors at the Justice Department), but rather from power players in the White House or Republican Party.” I still think this is a story to keep watching; it’s got real potential.

* Fox News tried to pin down Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) on that little run-in he had with the president at the White House last month. Webb wasn’t interested in playing games: “[I]n that particular situation, I don’t think the lack of courtesy was mine.”

* Some progressive foreign policy heavyweights believe the Bush administration plans to bomb Iran without congressional approval. (Time to write up a draft article of impeachment now, just in case?)

* As part of his ongoing appreciation for eliminationist rhetoric, Rush Limbaugh referred to liberals as “cockroaches.” One has to assume this might undermine his chances at winning a Nobel Peace Prize. Call it a hunch.

* Those of you following Scooter Libby’s trial carefully will be pleased to know that the presiding judge ruled this morning that the public is entitled to hear audiotapes of Libby’s testimony before the grand jury. Defense attorney William H. Jeffress Jr. said, “It is great stuff, and all of the radio stations and television stations will be broadcasting soundbites.” Sounds fun to me.

* Joseph Fuller and Brock Reeve had a great op-ed over the weekend on stem-cell research and the degree to which the United States is falling behind because of the president’s indefensible policies.

* On a related note, Chris Mooney and Alan Sokal also had a great op-ed over the weekend, explaining how and why Congress has “embarked on a key task: restoring respect for science — and more generally, for evidence and reason — in the federal government.”

* If you missed the speeches from the DNC’s winter meeting, most of which were quite good, PoliticsTV has them all.

* Late last week, Tennessee became the latest state to “halt executions of death sentences amid rising concerns about lethal injection procedures.” It’s not only encouraging, it’s fascinating that moratoriums like these have become routine and uncontroversial.

* And, finally, it was distressing to learn that former Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) lost her day job as a member of Congress, but she’s still driving to work — and parking in her lawmaker’s parking spot. “The car still had a medallion hanging in it from the 109th Congress, and a House Administration aide said Friday that House officials were still in the process of distributing parking permits for the 110th Congress. So for now, cars with permits from the 109th are being allowed in the garages. After that, Harris may have to find somewhere else to park the car when she’s visiting her old digs.” Enjoy it now, Katherine, it won’t last.

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

”Had I been more true to myself and the principles I believed in at the time, I would have openly opposed the whole adventure vocally and aggressively” – Dick Armey

Translation: “If I hadn’t been such a spineless, rubber-stamping administration tool who was only too glad to jump on the bandwagon and feed like a hog in slop when everything was going our way, I wouldn’t have to be making this spineless and moronic act of contrition now.”

Gee, thanks, Dick. I feel so much better now. 🙁

  • The Iraqi War, the “Decider-In-Chief,” and his “correcting” escalation surge: The mistake that keeps on giving.

  • “You know where I stand,” [Sununu], who is considered politically vulnerable back home, said repeatedly as he fled down stairways at the Capitol. “I’m still looking.”

    This conjured a lovely image of a ReThuglican with damp pants scampering away from rabid members of the press. “Bloooood, we smell blooood in the waaaaater.”

    ‘Bout damn time.

    As for Armey, what Curmudgeon said. The only way I’d be interested in hearing who knew it was wrong and went along anyway is if it is brought up as evidence during their trial before the Hauge. Otherwise, shut up.

  • Thanks for fixing Jim Webb’s party, CB. I’m sure the Republic Party would like to reclaim him as one of their own, but they can’t have him!

  • So Lieberman voted with the filibustering Republicans to keep the anti-escalation resolution from going to a wider vote. It’s on the record.

  • * Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) saw some reporters in a hall…***

    …and Little Pigs who fear Big Bad Wolves shouldn’t build houses of straw.

    “Prosecutor purge” is a synonym for obstruction of justice, and I look forward to the Constitutional challenge of the Presidential power to pardon criminal co-conspirators. I seem to recall a guy who hammered the Catholic Church over the issue of peddling “indulgences” about 600 years ago. Luther, I think his name was. Fought a big fat war over it and everything.

    As for Kath-Har(s)is, someone ought to have the damned car towed. She knows full well that she can’t park there—the brain-dead she-twit….

  • “Time to write up a draft article of impeachment now, just in case?”

    No, it’s *well* past the time to be writing this shit up. In fact, if Conyers and Pelosi don’t have Word Macros for draft articles of impeachment, they’re slacking. They should be handing a draft of articles to Bush and Cheney every time they drop by the damn White House, and they should be ready to impeach Bush if he does *anything* to Iran. You know, they got a saying down in Texas, or Tennessee, or wherever we are, fool me once, um, yeah, well, fool me twice, or something like that.

  • I’ve lost what little respect I had for Nader after he said that he would probably run for President if Hillary was the Dem candidate. He knows he can’t win, but he would be willing to help put a Republican in. He deserves a Corvair all gassed up.

  • I don’t think Bush will really bomb Iran. Even he must realize his presidency is hanging by a thread. (what’s his popularity, minus 5 or something?) Unless Cheney stages a Coup d’état and declares himself “president for life”, (fortunately, with his weak heart, the won’t be too long)

    It should be noted that several other Right wingers besides Rush have called liberals “cockroaches.” Haven’t these idiots seen “hotel Rwanda.” Or did they see it and get some ideas?

  • Oh, and about that “Iran” thing—the Navy now shows the Eisenhower entering the northern Arabian Sea, with three other carriers—Nimitz, Stennis, and Reagan—steaming outbound on deployment orders in the Pacific. The Truman’s in the Atlantic…steaming eastbound, it seems. As of today, they show 34% of available combat ships on deployment station, with another 37% underway. Submarines—25% on deployment station, with another 34% underway.

    Now, I might not be CNO, and I might not be a plum expert at naval strategies, but I do know that the last time the US had 71% of its surface combat units and 59% of its sub-fleet out of harbor was during the Second World War. We didn’t have that large a percentage out during Vietnam, or Korea—not even the Cuban Missile Crisis. You don’t just send that much tonnage out to sea, unless you intend to use it. There is power behind this gambit—and it’s way too heavy for just a “fleet exercise….”

  • When Clinton assumed the Presidency, he required every Federal Attorney to submit a letter of resignation.

  • The protests against bombing Iran, it seems to me, are all made based on the immorality of it all.

    Never out of any concern that Iran, with the help of Iraqis, may come back and wallop our troops in the region. Don’t they have troops? Don’t they have missiles? Are our aircraft carriers really that safe after we’ve made a pre-emptive strike?

    Can we really be confident that 30,000 of our troops won’t go down in the first week? That we will be sent home with our tail between our legs and this will mark the end of the American century?

    Aren’t we taking this all too lightly?

  • When Clinton assumed the Presidency, he required every Federal Attorney to submit a letter of resignation.

    Right. But he didn’t start firing them all in the waning years of his administration, in particular going after any who were handling cases that were/might become embarassing to his administrration.

    But go ahead and put your head back up your ass, Fallenwoman – but beware, that’s not Chanel No. 5 you’re inhaling in there.

    As usual, you have it half-right, which translates as an “F”

  • For the benefit of Fallenwoman and others who may equally thick-skulled:

    All presidents routinely ask for letters of resignation from US attorneys; they’re political appointees. However, when the President appoints new ones, they are confirmed by the Senate, as they have always been. The new wrinkle with Bush and Co., is that by removing his own appointees, a newly enacted amendment to the Patriot Act allows him to appoint replacements without subjecting them to Senate confirmation. For some strange reason, many of us feel that Mr. Bush may use that loophole to appoint political hacks who would otherwise have zero chance of confirmation, if they had to actually be qualified.

  • The Republican Senators up for re-election in 2008 who voted against cloture (in other words, to not allow the anti-surge declaration to come to a vote in the Senate):

    Senator John Warner (R-VA)
    Senator John Cornyn (R-TX)
    Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
    Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR)
    Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
    Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
    Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
    Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
    Senator Thad Cochran (R-MI)
    Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM)
    Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK)
    Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS)
    Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO)
    Senator David Vitter (R-LA)
    Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
    Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY)
    Senator Larry Craig (R-IO)
    Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK)

    I’ve bolded the “anti-surge” Republicans who were “leading the charge” to prevent the surge.

    I now officially take back any and all good words or thoughts I might ever have had at that spineless sonofabitch, Chuck Hagel. He’d have served his country better had his name ended up on a certain wall in D.C.

  • I am sure that everyone here was concerned about what would happen to poor old Curt Weldon after he lost his bid for re-election to Congress. Well, worry no more. Curt has bounced back.

    Former U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon has taken an executive position at a suburban Philadelphia defense company.

    Weldon is chief strategic officer for Exton-based Defense Solutions, which specializes in military services and sales, said Tim Ringgold, the company’s chief executive officer
    […]
    Weldon, a 10-term Republican, lost to Democrat Joe Sestak in November, just months after the FBI began probing allegations that Weldon used his office to help a company created by his daughter, and a friend doing business in the former Soviet Union.
    .

  • Thanks Tom, #18. It irks me even more that the Republicans have been taking the lead on the issue in the news for the last two weeks.

  • CB: As part of his ongoing appreciation for eliminationist rhetoric, Rush Limbaugh referred to liberals as “cockroaches.” One has to assume this might undermine his chances at winning a Nobel Peace Prize. Call it a hunch.

    LMFAO!

  • Tom,

    I’m no expert on parliamentary procedure, but Hegel may have done this to allow him to re-introduce the issue on a later date. Maybe not, but I recall someone else mentioning something similar.

    Perhaps he’s a dickhead but I want to give him the benefit of the doubt after the way he spoke on the issue. I don’t think he could speak out quite that loudly and then back down so quickly, which makes me think that there may be something else going on.

  • Jurassicpork @11 –

    Good link. I especially liked this part:

    Because, historically, wars start out popular then, given enough time, will inevitably turn unpopular. Wars never start out popular, turn unpopular, then experience a revival in popularity like old pop stars and sitcoms. Populations, once the initial adrenalin rush of taking on another bad guy passes, eventually weary of war. Iraq is absolutely no exception. Iraq already has hair and warts all over it and this ugly duckling will never, ever turn into the swan that Bush and Cheney insist on seeing. It will, like the picture of Dorian Gray, continue to get fuglier and fuglier.

    Scary, though, the massing of troops on Iran’s border. CB’s other post linking the LATimes article about what Congress should do to prevent it is very interesting but I doubt that any majority of Congressmen, Dem or GOP, will endorse taking any option off the table. And saying that el presidente (this has become a banana republic, no?) has to go to Congress for any military action would be seen as a repudiation of the War Powers Resolution Act and I doubt that any have the stomach for that. No brass balls here.

  • Those Republican Roadblocks will have bad enough re-election with the way Iraq’s going now. They’ll be totally hosed when Bush bombs Iran.

    Of course, one can make a compelling argument that we will all be totally hosed when Bush bombs Iran.

    All for the vanity of one man.

  • Jim Webb ran circles around that pipsqueak, Chris Wallace, yesterday. Wallace would ask a question, Webb would start answering and Wallace would try to interrupt, but Webb kept answering.

    It was quite fun to watch…

  • Regarding attacking Iran, the Iranians have had five years to mull over and improve on this rather alaming occurrence. Put a few of our carrier groups into the Persian Pond and start blasting away at Iran, and what do you think would happen to them? Are we ready for a replay of those war games, only this time for real?

  • After reading the Guardian article that President LIndsay referenced above it’s easy to see how Iraq has turned out to be such a fiasco. It didn’t inspire great confidence in me that any future endeavors in the ME would turn out any better.

  • Katherine Harris reminds me of that kid who kept hanging around high school long after graduation, not noticing, or trying not to notice, that everyone finds him/her kind of annoying and a little bit creepy. Pathetically, high school/Congress was the high point of that kid’s/Harris’s life.

  • Actually, BC, the high point of Katherine Harris’s life was fucking the Democrats out of Florida in the 2000 election. Congress was just a victory lap for her.

  • Rush Limbaugh referred to liberals as “cockroaches.”

    Did he say it like Tony Montana ?? It’s part of their new humor line coming out this summer.

  • “Cockroaches”? Isn’t that what Hutus called Tutsis before the genocide in Rwanda?

    Why doesn’t Limbaugh take the next logical step, and refer to liberals as “vermin”?

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