Bill Bennett Heals America

3:09 pm EST September 28th, 2005 | Republicans | 76 Comments

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.”

Culture of Corruption: Tom DeLay Indicted

12:09 pm EST September 28th, 2005 | Republicans | 55 Comments

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”

The Raw Deal : How the Bush Republicans Plan to Destroy Social Security and the Legacy of the New Deal

I Hope Every Democrat Sees This Movie

3:09 am EST September 28th, 2005 | Politics | 11 Comments

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.

The Stupidity of John Hinderaker: Brownie, You’re Doing A Heck Of A Job

3:09 am EST September 28th, 2005 | Uncategorized | 14 Comments

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

Topic: Conservative

DeLay Pal’s Mob Connection

2:09 am EST September 28th, 2005 | Politics | 7 Comments

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.

Commander In Chief

2:09 am EST September 28th, 2005 | Politics | 10 Comments

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.

The West Wing - The Complete First Season The West Wing – The Complete First Season

Softballin’

2:09 am EST September 28th, 2005 | Republicans | 1 Comment

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.

Culture of Corruption: Tom DeLay Frogmarch?

12:09 am EST September 28th, 2005 | Republicans | 2 Comments

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.

The Liberated, The Enemy

6:09 pm EST September 27th, 2005 | News | 11 Comments

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.”

Topic: George W. Bush

Brownie Lies Under Oath

6:09 pm EST September 27th, 2005 | Politics | Comments Off

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.