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Is this maybe the Kanye effect?
The White House on Friday criticized former Education Secretary William Bennett for remarks linking the crime rate and the abortion of black babies.
“The president believes the comments were not appropriate,” White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
Wouldn’t that mean Scooter Libby is the leaker?
E&P:
Judith Miller, The New York Times reporter who has been jailed since July 6 for refusing to identify a source, has been released, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on its Web site tonight. Knight Ridder’s news service then carried the account to other newspapers.
It said that an unnamed jail official had revealed that Miller left an Alexandria, Va. jail late this afternoon, at 3:55 pm., adding, “She was released after she had a telephone conversation with the Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, sources said. In that conversation, Libby reaffirmed that he had released Miller from a promise of confidentiality more than a year ago, sources said.
“It could not be immediately determined whether Miller has now agreed to testify.”
Scooter Libby is the vice-president’s chief of staff. What involvement did Vice President Cheney or President Bush have in this matter - are they, like Tom DeLay, also parties to a criminal conspiracy or at the very least treason (as defined by George H.W. Bush)?
One day someone is going to make an honest to goodness comparison of the Bush and Clinton administrations and realize that the Clinton “scandals” were no more than the RNC cranking out press releases, while the Republican leadership - as is the case with past Republican White Houses (Reagan, Nixon) - is dealing with actual criminal acts.
Prosecutor In CIA Leak Case Casting A Wide Net
The special prosecutor in the CIA leak probe has interviewed a wider range of administration officials than was previously known, part of an effort to determine whether anyone broke laws during a White House effort two years ago to discredit allegations that President Bush used faulty intelligence to justify the Iraq war, according to several officials familiar with the case.
Markos Hunter lays in to the GOP bitching about actually getting something resembling a fight for a change. Dems have a long way to go to be at the same speed as the Cons, but when it does finally happen we know the response to expect: infantile crying.
Yesterday Bennett said “[Y]ou could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down”
Harry Reid, Democratic leader: “I am appalled by Mr. Bennett s remarks and call on him to issue an immediate apology not only to African Americans but to the nation. At a time when so many Americans are struggling to recover from two devastating Hurricanes, now is the time to help one another, not feed the fires of racism. America can do better. The Republican Party has recently taken great pains to reach out to the African American community, and I hope that they will be swift in condemning Mr. Bennett s comments as nothing short of callous and ignorant. They are reminiscent of a time our nation is still struggling to overcome. Again, I call on him to issue an immediate apology to the nation for his insensitive remarks.”
It’s clear: Bill Bennet doesn’t care about black people.
UPDATE: Rep. Conyers says Salem Communications must take action, while Rep. Pelosi spoke on the floor:
I urge President Bush to renounce this statement, and I call on Secretary Bennett to apologize. I encourage my Republican colleagues to join me on the floor to reject these words and to speak for a future of tolerance and equality. I invite Secretary Bennett and other Republicans to join Democrats in creating solutions to national problems and meeting national needs.
These words are a direct hit at our children. Secretary Bennett is a writer. He knows that words have power. He knows how powerful these particular words are. An apology is definitely in order and a rejection of these remarks is also in order from the President of the United States.
>> Dean Calls on Republican Leadership to Repudiate Bill Bennett’s Racist Remarks
“Bill Bennett’s hateful, inflammatory remarks regarding African Americans are simply inexcusable. They are particularly unacceptable from a leader in the conservative movement and former Secretary of Education, once charged with the well being of every American school child. He should apologize immediately. This kind of statement is hardly compassionate conservatism; rather, Bennett’s comments demonstrate a reprehensible racial insensitivity and ignorance. Are these the values of the Republican Party and its conservative allies? If not, President Bush, Ken Mehlman and the Republican Leadership should denounce them immediately as hateful, divisive and worthy only of scorn.”
In case you were wondering if all the Republicans spontaneously came to the exact same conclusions about hwo to respond to the indictment of Tom DeLay
Just minutes after the announcement came, DeLay s closest and strongest supporters began mounting a defense. By 2 p.m., a two-page memo condemning Ronnie Earle and the indictment was hitting Republican e-mail in boxes all over town.
Republicans would not disclose the author of the memo, which is not the first of its kind. Earlier this year, Barbara Comstock, a lawyer and former research director at the Republican National Committee, penned a memo in response to questions that DeLay was facing involving foreign travel and reports that his wife and daughter had received $500,000 since 2001 for work they did for his campaign and political action committee.
And you might be wondering who exactly Barbara Comstock is. Wonder no more.
National Review propagandist in residence Rich Lowry, from May:
Host Tim Russert asked him about his recent comment that Tom DeLay should go to jail. Dean stood by it. DeLay s crimes are so notorious that Dean had to bring a list of them on set to remind himself of what they supposedly are. He couldn t correctly pronounce the name of the lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, at the center of the corruption that so outrages him. Of course, DeLay hasn t been plausibly accused of any crimes, let alone indicted for one, and his offenses are alleged violations of House rules, which don t carry jail time.
I don t think I m prejudging him, Dean told Russert, then in the same breath: I think there s a reasonable chance that this may end up in jail. He defended the DNC having a mug shot of DeLay on its website, then in the same breath: We re not going to stoop to the kind of divisiveness [of] the Republicans. Later on the program he intoned, hilariously, We ought not to lecture each other about our ethical shortcomings.
Again, Howard Dean was right.
Wednesday was the first time in history such a high ranking member of congress has ever been indicted. And the opposition party has done nothing to capitalize on this.
Why? Why in God’s name is the Democratic party completely AWOL from the entire media discussion of this issue?
I think it’s because the Democrats simply do not understand the media, and have been completely clueless about how to play the press since President Clinton left office. Democrats simply believe that we still exist in an environment where someone can simply be left out in the press, to be savaged by the actual facts. Wrong.
That is simply not how the media works today, and I don’t know how many times I have to say it. The way the media works today is that the press simply sits there in the middle, dumb and oblivious and pliable. For Democrats to be effective, they must have a presence in the media beyond a press release.
One argument I’ve heard is that Dems don’t want the indictment to be labeled “partisan”. Are you seriously kidding me? Do you think not having Democrats on-air is going to stop that? We’ve allowed DeLay to already begin framing this issue as poor widdle Tom DeLay persecuted by the mean Democrat Ronny Earle. Simply being invisible is enabling DeLay’s framing. Mass America doesn’t have any context for Tom DeLay, they have no idea who he is, and if they don’t hear any voice from the opposition, why wouldn’t they accept how he’s framed the issue? Simply because the print journalists will provide context for the story will not affect how it plays out. We are in a broadcast world, and not having a Democrat on the air on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox is dealing America a bad hand.
Some hints
Stop worrying about being partisan. This is political corruption, not a hot button liberal/conservative issue like abortion, taxes, etc. Any damn Democrat can make the case that the Republican party embodies a Culture of Corruption that is making life harder for American citizens - from the mismanagement of FEMA to the indictment of Tom DeLay and the insider trading of Bill Frist, it’s clear now to America what happens when you vote for Republicans.
This is the case Democrats have to make. Nobody else will do it. They won’t have “enough rope to hang themselves”. The Kerry campaign used the same logic and lost to an awol teetotaler who led America into an unpopular war, simply because they refused to use the press. 2006 will be another 2002 or worse if the Dems keep this up.
UPDATE: If I don’t see the Tom DeLay mugshot on every screen in America I’m giving up.
>> And yes, if you were wondering if the Democrats really are this stupid… they are.
A Democratic aide said that Democrats were going to step back from the story to keep the heat on DeLay.
We re just going to let the press run with this. Usually we have trouble getting the press to cover issues of corruption in Congress. In this case, that s not a problem, the aide said.
Losers. Losers. Losers.
UPDATE: Ezra points out that I’m missing the whole vacation strategery.
It’s time to take back Maryland
Bruce Springsteen’s “Land of Hope and Dreams” blared over the loudspeakers as supporters waved yellow signs proclaiming “Maryland can do better” and a lime-green banner announced the man the crowd had come to see:
Martin O’Malley, native son of Montgomery County, mayor of Baltimore and now Democratic candidate for governor of Maryland.
It’s time to end the Republican Culture of Corruption in the Ehrlich administration.
Tom DeLay is on Hardball now smearing and accusing Democrats and Nancy Pelosi, saying they’re part of the prosecution of him. I have barely seen any Dems on TV today, and this should be a slam dunk.
Why are they afraid of ever winning on anything?
It’s one of those “I can’t believe he said that” moments.
“I do know that it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could — if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.”
CNN: “House Majority Leader Tom DeLay indicted on one count of criminal conspiracy by Texas grand jury, according to Travis County clerk’s office.”
AP: “A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep.
Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, an indictment that could force him to step down as House majority leader.
DeLay attorney Steve Brittain said DeLay was accused of a criminal conspiracy along with two associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas political action committee formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, who heads DeLay’s national political committee.”
>> CREW Lauds DeLay Indictment, Urges Congress to Investigate DeLay Cohorts
>> Nancy Pelosi: “The criminal indictment of Majority Leader Tom Delay is the latest example that Republicans in Congress are plagued by a culture of corruption at the expense of the American people.”
>> If you’re curious about the GOP talking point that Ronny Earle is a “partisan Democrat” with a vendetta against DeLay — it just ain’t true.
>> How will the RNC deal with their new majority leader?
>> Howard Dean: “With House Republican Leader Tom DeLay under criminal indictment, Senate Republican Leader Frist facing SEC and Department of Justice investigations, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove under investigation, the Republican leadership in Washington is now spending more time answering questions about ethical misconduct than doing the people’s business.”
>> The Truth About Ronnie Earle: “EARLE HAS PROSECUTED FOUR TIMES AS MANY DEMOCRATS AS REPUBLICANS: Over Earle s 27-year tenure, his Public Integrity Unit has prosecuted 15 elected officials, including 12 Democrats. ”
Common Cause: “DeLay indictment underscores rampant culture of corruption in Washington”
Inside The Bubble seems like its going to be must-see viewing for anyone interested in politics in America, and based on what it seems to contain and what I observed of the Kerry campaign in 2004, I think that’s a good thing. The campaign was simply a mistake, a 1990 campaign running in another era and in another world. Where the Gore campaign misfired by running away from President Clinton (though they won anyway), the Kerry campaign lost by simply not being in the real media world. Reading Newsweek’s account of the campaign you can practically hear the Bush team laughing their asses off at the Kerry people, and I would too.
Check out this video. It’s Kerry staffers complaining that the New York Times Magazine picked a bad picture of Kerry for the cover. Why do Democrats continue to think the media is going to cover things the way Democrats want them to if you simply leave them to their own devices? The press is to be bullied and cajoled, strung along and shut out like spoiled children. They are to be managed and force fed, and simply controlled to the best of a campaign’s ability. They aren’t your pals. They won’t write up nice stories about you because you’re a nice guy.
When the Swift Boat Liars were making the rounds, the Kerry campaign ignored them. Sources indicate that Shrum, etc. apparently wanted to just wish them away. It’s as if they were asleep for the Clinton campaign and subsequent presidency, where it was made clear that the news is a 24 hour game and that in the post-blog era — it requires an even nimbler response mechanism.
Democrats need to learn to bring their campaign game up to where the GOP is, then best it. We’re a far way from that, and if it takes watching a movie that shows the Kerry folks in an unflattering way so be it. Maybe we can actually learn from mistakes this time. I’m not holding my breath.
Now to be an ongoing feature.
John Hinderaker gets down on his knees and grovels for Mike Brown, the unqualified corrupt man formerly at the head of FEMA.
It’s hard to say what a marginally-informed citizen would make of the Katrina hearing, but my own impression was that the only person in the room who had any idea what he was talking about was Michael Brown.
This is the part where I rub my eyes like Jon Stewart and go “WAAAAAH?”
Thankfully, CAP and the DNC have done the heavy lifting.
Brown Falsely Smears Blanco Under Oath
Brown s Revisionist History
Brown Blames HorsesAss.org
Michael Brown: PR Was FEMA’s Biggest Problem
Is it possible that the Republican Culture of Corruption includes actual connections to the mafia?
Fort Lauderdale police said yesterday that they charged three men in the 2001 gangland-style slaying of a Florida businessman who was gunned down in his car months after selling a casino cruise line to a group that included Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
If you’re going to pick an actress to be the first woman president you could do worse than Geena Davis. I’ll say that much in favor of ABC’s Commander-In-Chief (CiC). I’ll also say this - it ain’t no West Wing. Even though that show has suffered a significant drop in quality since the departure of creator Aaron Sorkin, West Wing is going to be the gold standard for political drama for some time to come.
CiC comes across as West Wing Lite, as if it decided that it was going to be the poltical drama for the folks who slept through their American History classes. As Tom Shales noted in his review, they need to get over the “Golly gee, she’s the first woman president” and get to the business of being an actual tv show.
Most unrealistic and disappointing is the fact that Davis’ character, Mackenzie Allen, is… an independent. The right-wing Republican president picks an independent woman to help him win election? Come on. West Wing doesn’t ever mince words about the fact that yes, President Bartlett is a Democrat and his opposition is Republican and Dems are good and Republicans are bad. CiC could have done the inverse and still have a good show, but instead they took the weasel way out. The only show to have done the independent thing well was the short-lived Mister Stirling, and even he was probably a conservative Democrat.
Softballin’.
I don’t have a problem with softball, per se. I played it in elementary school and I think Jennie Finch and the US Olympic Team were great for the nation (and easy on the eyes) but softball has no place in journalism.
Yet, the chattering classes of the journalistic universe have made it clear that softballin’ is their official policy for working with the Bush administration in the presentation of the news
In recent weeks, several prominent journalists have publicly acknowledged that the U.S. media accorded President Bush too much deference following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman and NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams both noted that it was only in observing government failures in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort that journalists began seriously to challenge the administration. NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell conceded that reporters have been “less challenging” since the attacks. Friedman wrote that the 9-11 attacks created in the media a “deference” towards the administration. Williams described the press corps as “settling in to too comfortable a journalistic pattern,” a phenomenon he described as the “9/11 syndrome.”
This is just those who are on the record, there are numerous instances documented by more than a couple individuals and organizations of the mainstream media’s reluctance to produce actual journalism with regard to the Republican party and their leadership. I attribute most of it to a press that is fat, dumb, and lazy that needs to be led around by its nose to do even the most basic work, but I wonder if it goes even further than that, from negligence to downright complicity.
It’s hard to rival Tom DeLay as poster boy for a corrupt congress, and every Dem running in ‘06 would be an idiot not to have video of DeLay in handcuffs in their ads if this happens…
DeLay Probe Winds Down; Charges May Loom
A Texas grand jury’s recent interest in conspiracy charges could lead to last-minute criminal indictments - possibly against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay - as it wraps up its investigation Wednesday into DeLay’s state political organization, according to lawyers with knowledge of the case.
We can’t take this any more.
Zarqawi emerging as self-sustained force-US intel
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s network of al Qaeda-linked insurgents is emerging as a self-sustaining force, despite repeated blows by U.S. forces and the reported death of his second-in-command, U.S. intelligence officials and other experts say.
The Zarqawi network, responsible for some of the Iraqi insurgency’s bloodiest attacks, has grown into a loose confederation of mainly native Iraqis trained by former Baath Party regime officers in explosives, small arms, rockets and surface-to-air missiles.
Since U.S. counter-insurgency assaults forced many of its operatives to exit Iraq’s cities, counterterrorism officials say al Qaeda has been trying to set up a safe haven for training and command operations in western Anbar province.
“The suggestion is that this has shifted from being a terrorist network to a guerrilla army,” said Vali Nasr, a national security affairs expert at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
“If this were not checked, the insurgents would become not only militarily more powerful, but politically more powerful. We’re definitely trying to deny that milestone to Zarqawi.”
He’s a part of Team Bush. They lie as easily as others breathe.
Brown Falsely Smears Blanco Under Oath
Today, while testifying under oath, Mike Brown claimed that Louisiana Gov. Blanco s August 27th request to the President for a federal emergency declaration excluded Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquerines parishes.
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The West Wing - The Complete First Season
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