Sunday Discussion Group

March 12, 2006

The New York Daily News’ Thomas DeFrank, who does terrific work covering the White House, made a provocative point a couple of days ago, after the relative collapse of the Dubai Ports World deal, that seems to have become part of the conventional wisdom.

Not since Watergate, when GOP congressional leaders told Richard Nixon they would vote him from office if he didn’t resign, have Capitol Hill Republicans challenged their President like this.

The intramural rebellion against the White House over the Dubai ports deal, however, has been building since the early days of the Bush presidency.

It’s a sentiment that we’ve been hearing a lot of lately. Congressional Republicans are fed up with Bush and, with his awful approval ratings and midterm elections coming up, they’re finally ready to show some independence from the White House they have loyally — or more accurately, blindly — followed since 2001. Or so the story goes.

Is any of this true? A New York Times editorial yesterday made the case that it is not.

We keep hearing that the Republicans in Congress are in revolt against the president. Some rebellion.

Yes, the Republicans defied President Bush on the United Arab Emirates ports deal. But it wasn’t over a major principle, like the collapse of Congressional supervision of the executive branch or the incredibly lax security in the nation’s ports, or even the security issues posed by this particular deal.

The Republicans dumped the ports deal into the harbor because of xenophobia and electoral tactics. Republican pollsters have been saying the president could be a liability in the fall elections, so lawmakers posed as rebels for voters who, they think, want rebels. They know those voters are unhappy about globalization, and specifically hostile toward Arabs.

The idea that a happy few are charging the White House ramparts is ridiculous.

So, which is it? Are we looking at a new Republican congressional caucus, ready to assert itself against an unpopular and uncooperative president? Did the ports controversy truly change the dynamic in Washington? Will Republican lawmakers start putting their principles before their president? Will they start to take their oversight responsibilities and duties seriously for the first time since Bush took office?

Or with the DP World controversy largely behind them, can we expect the same kowtowing GOP we’ve seen since 2001?

Internet blows CIA cover
It’s easy to track America’s covert operatives. All you need to know is how to navigate the Internet.

By John Crewdson
Tribune senior correspondent
Published March 12, 2006

WASHINGTON — She is 52 years old, married, grew up in the Kansas City suburbs and now lives in Virginia, in a new three-bedroom house.

Anyone who can qualify for a subscription to one of the online services that compile public information also can learn that she is a CIA employee who, over the past decade, has been assigned to several American embassies in Europe.

The CIA asked the Tribune not to publish her name because she is a covert operative, and the newspaper agreed. But unbeknown to the CIA, her affiliation and those of hundreds of men and women like her have somehow become a matter of public record, thanks to the Internet.

When the Tribune searched a commercial online data service, the result was a virtual directory of more than 2,600 CIA employees, 50 internal agency telephone numbers and the locations of some two dozen secret CIA facilities around the United States.

Only recently has the CIA recognized that in the Internet age its traditional system of providing cover for clandestine employees working overseas is fraught with holes, a discovery that is said to have “horrified” CIA Director Porter Goss.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/ne…ack=1&cset=true

  • The NY Times got it right, but alas so did the GOP (probably).

    The GOP, already well-known for its racist “Southern Strategery”, simply cranked up its strategy of shouting “no rag-heads” and is thus trying to cover its own highly kickable ass for this Fall’s elections.

    The Regal Moron and The Shooter have nothing to lose and many more slimey deals to sneak through on behalf of the Bush Crime Family before they leave office. It’s better that they not be overly involved in campaigning this Fall. And the move gives the Congressional GOP the appearance of having done something when, in reality, they’re still the same old kowtowers they always were.

  • Will Republican lawmakers start putting their principles before their president?
    Its hard to think of lawmakers in congress as having principles stronger than political survival and personal economic gain.
    Principled Lawmaker is an oxymoron

  • Update- perhaps I stand corrected
    *******
    Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” declared that he will introduce a censure motion against President George W. Bush over the President’s warrantless wiretapping program.
    ********

  • As the elections draw closer, Republicans will be opposing Bush and Cheney more frequently and more publicly over controversial issues. It plays well to the press and voters back home. However, don’t expect to see any prinicipled opposition over things that truly matter — like NSA wiretaps, addressing port security, rebuilding New Orleans or the Iraq War. On those matters, Republican congressmen will vote in lockstep with Bush and Cheney.

    If Republicans do lose either the House or Senate, expect to see a flood of outrageous legislation introduced and passed in record time. If the GOP retains control of both chamber, it will be business as usual now that something as inconvenient as an election has passed.

  • Somewhat OT: Viewing the “Dubai Ports World deal” through the prism of rewarding your friends and campaign contributors (the Carlyle Group, Neil Bush, CSX-John Snow, etc.) gives insight into the “India nuclear deal.” What entities or individuals would gain from this extraordinary nuclear deal that diminishes the non-proliferation treaty? Companies that come to mind are Betchel Corp. (privately held and strongly Republican) and Kerr-McGee (from the Texas-Oklahoma oil patch) and others invovled in nuclear technology. Any thoughts?

  • I second prm’s analysis. All that I have to add is that the GOP is all about maintaining power in order to keep the keys to the treasury.

    If it looks like Bush is a campaign burden, as it does now, there will be cosmetic opposition to him. However, any true oversight will add to the burden and will therefore be avoided.

    As far as the outrageous legislation, which would follow a GOP loss in the fall, most of it will be aimed at clearing out the treasury’s vaults before they have to turn over the keys, with a few bones thrown in for the religious conservatives.

    Tech. Note: Yesterday I noticed that while you can preview a post without demonstrating your knowledge of citrus fruits, if you do not first answer the eternal question,”what color is an orange?” an a-tag will not render a link properly in the preview If you do answer then the a-tag is properly rendered in the preview.

    On the topic of the question, how about replacing it with,” Who shot Vince Foster?” While providing us with some variety, it would also serve as a troll filter.

  • I go with prm’s comment and would add that, in the light of the blatant corruption (coopting?) of the Republican Party since 1994, we shouldn’t be in the least surprised.

    Much more worrisome is the kowtowing of the Democrats. At first it seemed like a kind of natural, post-9/11 phenom. But it’s gone way, way beyond that.

    I hope you’ve all seen Molly Ivins’ latest and the calls of many others for defection from the Democratic Party. It’s the only thing that makes sense to me, unless Russ Feingold, the only Dem I think we can count on, manages singlehandedly to restore the Democratic Party to anything near the realm of honor. Ain’t holdin’ mah breath.

  • I agree with The New York Times. Republican
    Congressmen are simply playing to the public’s
    irrational and paranoid fear of terrorism. If anything,
    this signals full steam ahead on “the long war” as
    part of its arsenal to maintain power. Unlike many of its
    weapons, which strike only its base, such as
    flag burning, abortion, the Ten Commandments
    etc., fear mongering crosses over the line and affects a
    great many Democrats and independents.

  • Republicans ready to assert itself against an unpopular president? Nope. It is too easy to talk shit about ragheads. But opposition against Bush, based on principals? Not gonna happen. We saw it this week when the Intelligence committee, in essence, said that we know the President is breaking the law, but, by Jesus, we are going to let him break the law in 45 day increments and we will keep our eye on him while he is breaking the law. Man, Karl must have some serious info to keep these idiots in line

    Oh, and Ed Stephan? Let me take this opportunity to say you rock. You sir, are a clever man.

  • Feingold Will Introduce Resolution To Censure President Bush

    From the inteview,

    STEPHANOPOULOS: So if you’re so convinced that the President has broken the law, why not file an article of impeachment?

    FEINGOLD: Well, you know, that’s an option we could look at, if somebody thought that was a really good idea. There are other options out there. In fact, this conduct is right in the strike zone — even though the Founding Fathers didn’t have strike zones, they didn’t have baseball — but it is right in the strike zone of the concept of high crimes and misdemeanors. We have to consider, is it best for the country to start impeachment proceedings? Is it best for the country to consider removing the President? We’re not mandated to impeach a president who has broken the law, but I think we are required to do our job, to live up to our oath of office, and say, wait a minute, there has to be — at least as a first step — some accountability. Proper accountability is a censuring of the President, to say, “Mr. President, acknowledge you broke the law, return to the law, return to our system of government.” That’s what I think we should do.

  • There is no real comparison to the Dubai port deal and Watergate for the Republican stance. Watergate was a case of the president, Nixon getting caught red handed. The Dubai deal is about prejudice. The Republicans rely on the prejudice of their supporters. Prejudice and Conservative are almost the same word. If the Republican leadership supported the Dubai deal then they would lose their primary tool.

    The fact is that UAE is the strongest, pro American, Arab state there is. They are moving towards a real democratic form of government as fast as possible complete with women’s rights, the whole nine yards and even more so than us. And they are not just cooperating with us in the war on terror. I expect the Republicans were shocked to find that their’s were so emphatic about not letting them run US ports.

    Prejudice has a history of it’s own that is a little much to go into here. My home page: http://www.hoax-buster.org will give you a look at it’s beginning that up until now has been unknown.

  • Dems could give them a push by focusing more on Cheney. Corruption, betrayal of the CIA and military, etc. He’s got it all and he’s virtually indefensible.

    Republicans will have the option of facing angry voters who dislike the betrayal of CIA agents and influence pedalling, or facing Cheney. Bush will be stuck in the middle defending human scum.

  • Actually, Crewsdon’s bit of toilet-paper-substitute in the NYT about using the Internet to blow the cover of a CIA agent has it completely wrong. I am surprised someone intelligent enough to come here would be dumb enough to be taken in like that, but then there are lots of liberals who are computer illiterates.

    My friend Larry C. Johnson has a post on his site No Quarter (and probably also at TPM Cafe) that explains in detail how Crewsdon has his head where the sun doesn’t shine. (Shameless personal plug follows) We will have his post up at That’s Another Fine Mess (nominated for 2005 Koufax Award, Best New Blog) in awhile.

    Republican disinformation: you have to watch out or you can easily be taken in by the modern practitioners of Josef Goebbels’ “Big Lie”.

    As to the Question of the Day:

    While the Times gets it wrong with Crewsdon, they get it right on the editorial. The Dubai Ports World “issue” was a Big Nothing from beginning to end, which only had value by showing the Democrats could learn from the Republicans how to demagogue on a Nothing and turn it into a Something. Big Deal that DPW is going to sell their operation to the Carlisle Group – which both 41 and 43 are personally involved with – or Haliburton. The Dubai government has billions invested in both. The same bunch of crooks win either way. And the Thugs in Congress get to look like they aren’t a gaggle of sock puppets.

    Bush also won this week on the Patriot Act and the NSA business, so (as Big Eddie pointed out) he’s batting .666 right now. Only 37% of the public may still be taken in by his Bushit, but 100% of the Congressional GOP are still goose-stepping to his flute.

    There’s only one way to end this – win the damn election and drive a stake through their chest (I’m not going to say “heart” because there isn’t a Republican who has one).

  • 100% of the Congressional GOP are still goose-stepping to his flute.

    Sie sind immer führertreue.

  • Bill, I’m sorry, but let’s review:

    Terrorists involved in 9/11

    UAE: 2, Iraq: 0

    Known instances of tranfering nuclear technology to designated “terrorist states”

    UAE: 7, Iraq: 0

    If we start looking at the flow of money to terrorism, the UAE and the House of Saud lead the pack…

    Congressional racism has nothing to do with it, nor does standing tough to El Whoppo. The public hates the deal, so pandering to racism gives the illusion that the GOP is not simply money grubbing corruption monkeys. It also avoids a 45 day investigation. Care to look at who profits from a huge UAE port deal?

    CB wonders about Rove’s power. Really, it is a no brainer, consider some of the cult/militias that appeared during two of the more recent genocides in Africa. Once you’ve eaten human flesh, your bound to the group…

    Seriously, there probably is not a single GOP politician in national politics who has not kissed Tom Delay’s ring and licked Jack A.’s ass. It is one big slimey pay-to-play slush fund, and they all rise and fall together. They may ‘pretend’ to be something other than bought and paid for puke faces, but they will stay lock step until they are frog marched to prison.

    -jjf

  • Just to correct a slight misstatement in the quote from Feingold (#11) about the Founding Fathers not having baseball, the White House website states “A soldier’s diary reveals that George Washington and his men played an early version of baseball called “rounders” on the fields of Valley Forge. History records that John Adams played bat and ball and Andrew Jackson played a similar game of baseball called one old cat.”

    Of course, you don’t have to go to Shrubie’s White House pages to learn that. Any good history of the game will tell you as much. In fact, my old professor’s nose sniffs out the possibility that this quote was plagiarized from something I’ve read, but it’s not worth the bother to track it down now.

  • Shruby was always just a wave, he wasn’t the ocean. And if his utility is waning, then it’s time to move on. No hard feelings on either side. Shruby will be revered for his willingness to open the doors to the barn and let the rich and connected have their pick of the pony’s and RepubCo has to do what it has to do in order to stay in the game. Even if it’s dissing Dear Nitwit to create a diversion. He understands. Or he’s oblivious. Either way, no matter.

    The NYT editorial was great and I wrote to tell them so.

    But for me, PW gets the conversation on track with:

    “Much more worrisome is the kowtowing of the Democrats. At first it seemed like a kind of natural, post-9/11 phenom. But it’s gone way, way beyond that.”

    The Democratic Party is as consequential as a fart on a windy day. I am not into Dem bashing. I am into Dem dismissing and they are on their knees begging for it. Of what relevance is the Democratic Party in this scenario? Why does it have to be so mind blowing that Feingold would call for a censure of Dear Nitwit? Shruby is far past deserving it and isn’t that what an opposition party should highlight? Why was it such a blast of fresh air when Reid threw out the anchor and took the senate into closed door session for some straight talk. It was deemed a stunt by the opposition, though at the time that was indignantly refuted by the Dems. But looking back, what was the result? What was the follow up to keep the story alive? It was fun for a few newscycles but in hindsight, maybe stunt status is all it deserves.

    RepubCo is doing what they’ve blatantly said they wanted to do for years. They’re doing it with a heavy dose of corruption but with the party of greed having taken complete control I wouldn’t have expected any other outcome. Nor would I necessarily crave a completely Dem dominated gov’t. Checks and balances are what we’re shooting for but no cigars are being handed out in the early 21st century. The Dems have dropped the ball and very, very few are even bending over to pick it up.

    Supreme Leader has gotten RepubCo farther than they ever could have imagined 6 years ago. But his political capital is about spent. They’re all on the same page. Now, who get’s to hold the key’s to the barn next?

  • “The Dems have dropped the ball and very, very few are even bending over to pick it up.”

    oh, i dunno, Burro – it seems to me the Dems are doing a whole lot of bending over and have been for the past six years.

  • Things are going “very, very well” today in Iraq according to General Pace, 66 dead and more than 300 wounded in today’s bombings in Iraq. What would a bad day look like?

    Thank goodness for Russ Feingold. Finally somebody has started to reach for the handle to flush this toilet Washington has become.

  • I look at the Republicans in Congress, and I see people who are interested in doing whatever it takes to acquire, augment, and hold on to their power. There are occassional expressions of disagreement that grab a moment in the media that is just enough to create an illusion of fealty to the voters or the so-called principles on which they were elected. It takes the heat off and conveniently deflects attention back to a cherished narrative: “Why don’t the Democrats have any ideas?” It is a lazy but reliable narrative for the MSM. I always wonder why they never ask whether the “ideas” advanced by the party that controls the entire government are (a) anything “new,” (b) good for the welfare of this country, or (c) in actual keeping with the Constitution or the values of the founders. I believe the DPW “revolt” was little more than window dressing for the folks back home.

    If Hagel and Snowe had voted with their Democratic colleagues or if Heather Wilson (remember her brief rumble about the NSA program?) had followed through on her rhetoric, then I might buy more of Thomas Frank’s premise. DPW was an opportunistic thumbing of the nose that would not have been possible and probably not necessary if Bush’s approval ratings were strong. So, I predict that if Bush’s approval ratings remain dismal, the craven bunch on Capitol Hill will be opportunistic in their “disloyalty.” I think Arlen Spector still may have a shoe to drop or stick in his pocket. Since he was publicly neutered by Bu$h, he may find courage through personal bitterness. I do not hold my breath. Also, Trent Lott is another in malcontent-through-personal-wound faction. I look to him to be particularly entrepreneurial in seeking opportunities to plant a knife in the administration’s back whenever he can.

  • Couple correctiuons in order from my last post – Crewdson, not Crewsdon, and it was in the corporate owner’s edition of my used-to-be-hometown paper, the Chicago Tribune (currently destroying the LA Times). For once, the New York Times was entirely innocent.

    And you can indeed now read Larry Johnson’s reply to that still-a-piece-of-toilet-paper-substitute Crewdson wrote over at http://www.thatsanotherfinemess.com

    Hey, it’s 43 degrees at noon (the high temp of the day so far) and we just had hail here in the San Fernando Valley. Not what “California Living” is all about – that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. 🙂

  • Actually, the repubs are flailing. They’re ripping through the playbook and desparately trying all the old favorites. It’s kind of amazing, because they are all over the map, trying to find that magic soundbite. They thought they had a winner with Schiavo, but that flopped. Gay marriage was losing steam, so they went to gay adoption – to less than the hoped for hysteria. The old standy, flag burning, gets tossed about to snores. ‘Aid and comfort to the enemy’, as Frist pulled out as a knee jerk reaction to Feingold, is turning into self-parody. They even went back to terror warnings at sporting events, but were forced to admit that they had no evidence of any actual plots.

    The DPW deal gave them cover to run from Bush, but do they really have any other choices? It should be easy enough to cream these guys with Bush, no matter what they say. They have voting records and quotes. All Dems have to say is, “You’re not saying anything we didn’t say 5 years ago. Why wouldn’t you listen to us then?”

  • burro makes a good – if depressing – point about the Democrats. While Republicans never take their eyes off the prize (i.e., the ponies in the barn), the Democrats seem to be having an identity crisis. I cannot think of any segment of the citizenry more influenced by the Bush Administrations’ fear mongering than Democrats on the national stage. I place part of the blame on the MSM narratives with which they must contend. Also, the flagrant manner with which the Republicans stifle debate must be frustrating on all levels. However, such times and such circumstances demand that they tap their reserves for courage and creativity- rather than plumb the depths of passivity. I am not sure that the Democrats have come to terms with their minority status and what kind of tactics are required to be an effective opposition party. That said, I am not sure what needs to be done to improve, but I sure hated to see Jay Rockefeller swallowing his justified outrage in the name of collegiality. Perhaps step one is to acknowledge that “collegiality” is regarded by the Republicans – in their role as the majority party – as an arrow in their quiver and not an honorable expression of respect for the rights of the minority.

    Finally, the “face(s)” of the Democratic party all seem to be angling for 2008. Individual honors seem to trump team cohesion. Gets back to lack of hierarchy and discipline, I guess. And, again, I am conflicted by just how much I want to see Democrats adopt the either the policies or the iron-fisted discipline over ideology that recently seems to have been part of Republican success.

  • I only read the Times editorial on the subject (because I read it prior to this post), but I’m inclined to agree with the Times editorial board. For many of the same reasons the Times stated:

    The program violates the law. Congress knows it. The public knows it. Even President Bush knows it. (He just says the law doesn’t apply to him.) In response, the Capitol Hill rebels are boldly refusing to investigate the program — or any other warrantless spying that is going on. They are trying to rewrite the law to legalize warrantless spying. And meanwhile, they’ve created new subcommittees to help the president go on defying the law.

    Over the last couple of years, Republican lawmakers have been given proof that American soldiers and intelligence agents abused, tortured and even killed prisoners, or sent them to other countries to be tortured. Without hesitation, the Republicans did nothing — no serious investigation, no accountability.

    Congressional and White House negotiators then watered down the new anti-torture law, which Mr. Bush said did not really apply to him anyway. And they passed another law actually encouraging the abuse of prisoners by allowing the use of coerced evidence at hearings on the prisoners’ status.

    After 9/11, Mr. Bush created a network of prisons outside the American legal system so he could hold people indefinitely without any hearings. When the Supreme Court said twice that he was reaching beyond his powers, the Republicans in Congress were determined not to let this assault on the rule of law continue. So they rose as one, and legalized the president’s actions. In case there was any confusion about its resolve, Congress told the courts that they could no longer rule on these matters.

    Plus demanding Bush’s resignation is a far, far cry from opposing him on ONE issue (that doesn’t happen to be that he should resign.)

  • “….the Dems are doing a whole lot of bending over and have been for the past six years.”

    Comment by Zeitgeist

    Yes, but those are toe touching exercises to demonstrate flexibility and a willingness to see things from an upside down perspective. In order to work with their “good friends” across the aisle, an upside down viewpoint is often required.

    It’s also good for balance as one must try to remain on one’s feet while being kicked in the butt while bent over.

    It’s all very difficult and doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

    Picking up balls however….that’s just harder and there should be understanding if that concept is a little hard to………..grasp.

  • The Republicans in Congress are setting themselves up as the “national security party” for the November elections. They want to show the American people that they are the ones to trust when it comes to national security and safety against terrorism, based on their – so far – support for the warrantless spying and their outrage aimed at the DP World deal. The White House is a witting participant in propping up the ethically-challenged Repubs so that they will retain their majority status this fall. Bush and company cannot afford to have the Dems take over Congress. And they will stop at nothing to prevent it from happening. even if it means having Bush take a further hit.

  • If the Repubs are “the national security party” why are we squandering our troops and our treasury in the Iraq quagmire … so George Bush can pretend to be a “war president” at the start of “the long war”? Why are our ports no more secure than they were in 2000? Why is recruitment down? Why Katrina? Why aren’t we arresting business owners and home owners who hire illegal aliens? Etc., etc., etc.

    Security doesn’t merely consist of making old ladies take off their shoes at airports, though that’s the only “advance” the Bush Crime Family has made in this area of concern.

  • Rebellion my aunt Fanny. Just look at what happened in the Senate over the NSA hearings. They took this because they could play their GOP zenophobic routine and because thir constituents were calling and writing. These are people closest to the voters (unlike the WH with it scripted “town hall” meeting) they were going to feel the heat the most.

  • All people do is react to the environment in the best interest of themselves as they can see it. Please refrain from calling any family a crime family! Look at things from the perspective of the person you are about to judge!

    Best

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