When they are out of office, they are going to write "Running the Federal Government for Dummies."

I can't belive these guys were stupid enough to put all this in email. Masters Of The Unverse Syndrome at work ... and it couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of thugs, liars, and theives.

Well, this I know, given the correspondence defending Carol Lam's immigration prosecutions, the whole she-wasn't-prosecuting-enough-illegal-aliens line is out the door.

Chiara had 4 years to make her "at the pleasure of the President" job open other doors for her, so I don't have too much sympathy. How long did she assumne she would be there? The dismissal was unusually shoddy but, after all, this is how this party wants the job market to work. "Heckavajob" today, gone tomorrow. Really nice employers. Somewhere on the same level as auto dealerships...in so many ways. Glad I'm not working for them. The derived logic would be that all their first round choices weren't extreme enough for them; they needed to go to next level of neo-fascist Republicanism. And they would have preferred to do all 93!

Surprised they don't just out-source the work to Blackadder...I mean Blackwater. Same comedy, only the latter hurts. And costs.

Blackwater is an appropriate feeling on this anniversary.

Back in the Nixon era, it was the taping system that Nixon himself ordered be set up that caught them red-handed. No one was ever dumb enough to try that again, but now we have email, which is even more incriminating. As I recall, it was internal emails that hurt Microsoft when they were being sued.

In fairness, if I were running a criminal enterprise it'd probably be hard to keep day-to-day skulduggery out of all my emails, too. If this is the main communications medium you can't help having it reflect everything you are doing.

Neither the chimp nor the AG uses email personally. Wonder why? (I'm sure part of it is mucky-muck laziness, but it also keeps them from producing this virtual paper trail.)

One theme I'm beginning to see from looking at all the stuff, is that the USAs were continually stressed because of lack of funding. So, the law enforcement budget gets cut, the congressmen whine that their particular law enforcement focus is not being taken care of.

TPMmuckraker is outsourcing the reading of the DOJ document dump to its readers. Pretty democratic of them. I may take some time tomarrow to help out. Thanks in advance to everyone doing the review.

craigie--that's Dummies Running the Federal Government

This little storm will let us know exactly what the current Democratic leadership has in their guts.

They have to take every piece of this and put it in front of the American people. They have to call it what it is, obstruction of justice, criminal conduct, corruption up to and including the White House. [I assume that no one on earth can prove that Bush knows anything.]

Taken together with the evidence in the Libby case, this has to be the end of Karl Rove. And I don't mean a resignation accepted with regret. I mean an indictment for obstruction of justice and conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice.

The Democrats must, and I mean must, ignore any attempt to make this 'bi-partisan' or any attempt to let the Republicans have any say in how this investigation is conducted, what the goals are or what the final report says. Remember the senate investigation into the use of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq invasion? Remember how the Democrats were reduced to sniveling dogs? Do the same to the Republicans.

I put the chances of the Democrats doing the politically and morally right thing at no better than 4 in 10. I am dying for them to prove me wrong. I have been dying for them to prove me wrong for nearly 10 years.

Have no idea why Ms. Chiara was included in the famous 8, but I do note that her district includes the homes, both personal and corporate, of Amway, now known as Alticor, and the DeVos family.

Dick DeVos, whose resemblance to a human being is only physical, attempted to buy the governorship of Michigan in the last election. He and his wife Betsy, who has such a Marie Antoinette complex that she was banished from public sight and sound as soon as Dick decided to run, already own the MiGOP.

I'll bet Ms. Chiara ran afoul of them, their barely legal MLM marketing, their political ambitions, or one of their many corrupt tentacles. Not hard to do. They're all over West Michigan.

I'm sure Ms. Chiari wasn't looking for political corruption. Indeed, she was avoiding it. So she must have done something unwittingly. That might account for the plaintive tone.

I can hear the wingnuts now:

"Stupid bitch. If she'd just been a good little christian wife and mother, she wouldn't be in this mess now."

I love the way this bunch rewards loyalty.

That might account for the plaintive tone.

That or party affiliation.

I think it is obvious that the culture of this administration is brewed at the top by Bush-Cheney-Rove. There is no reason to be bashful about implicating them. This incident, by shining a light on their conduct, should do them in.

If the Dems have the balls.

The ironic thing is that if the US attorneys HAD gone after the democratic wrong-doers like Gonzales wanted, the democrats would be screaming for the attorneys' heads.

The fired prosecutors are not going to starve, but probably corporate law will be out for them because they are "controversial", government service out. Civil action against Gonzalez probably in order.

Do Gauleiters serve at the pleasure of the Prez as well?

Al, is Gonzales part of a troika? We have three Attorney Generals at the top? Hmmm, Gonzo, Meirs and Fielding, yeah, about right. This question from the Democratic side of the aisle. Try to remember that word, Al - DEMOCRATIC.

Wait 'til you guys get to to the 2nd grouping of the document dump of 3/19/07. You'll love it.

The first e-mail is priceless. It's a e-mail from William Moschella (DOJ Office of Legislative Affairs) to Rep. Darrell Issa. The substance of the e-mail praises Carol Lam's performance on immigration issues (a principal "reason" for her firing). Moschella gets into how "fully half of [Southern District of California's] 110 Assistant USAs" focus solely on immigration cases.

But the greatest thing was that Lam prosecuted "substanially more [criminal immigration cases] than any other Soutwest Border district in 2005."

I'm starting to get why the Bush administration is sputtering. They've finally told too many lies to keep track of. They're lost in a sea of falsehoods and inepitudes and finally its catching up to them.

Let's all just sit back and watch them implode. Maybe they will become weak enough to curl into a corner and let the people's representatives run our government for a while.

Do Gauleiters serve at the pleasure of the Prez as well?

No, but a zampolit does.

Thanks for asking.

Yes, indeedee, in the Shrubian world, most hacks are "Zampolits" first, and whatever their title indicates, a far second.

Of course, Uncle Joe and Nikita did use their days as zampolits as springboards.

Trotski did, indeed, make it to the Potomac.

The TPM group thread is massive. I read about half of it.

The most interesting thing I saw: Sen. Specter is working with the DOJ on damage control. This surprises nobody, but his cover is blown, so he won't be able to present himself as bipartisan or high minded, and no one will have any excuse for trusting him at all.

The Chiara story is weird. She's obviously a Repug hack who has been personally hurt (emotionally and financially) by backroom politics she doesn't understand. She thought she was in on the game, but she wasn't. Happens to a lot of them.

This is great. Are there more letters listing the questions that the administration dreads? They should help the hearings move right along.

As for the sad circumstances of the USAs, Chiara's whining just reminds me that they were consenting Republicans and therefore less deserving of the sympathy of a nation in dire distress.

"and no one will have any excuses for trusting him at all"

And the excuses before, were????

And the excuses before, were????

Well, playing devil's advocate, 3P, Specter would always make a lot of noise about a possible independent course, garnering the usual headlines, before inevitably rolling over for the Administration. No one who was paying any attention at all trusted the fucker enough to get fooled by his act, but the national media and Democrats, well....

At least with SPECTRE, I always knew where he stood.

Clio,

As a former resident of Western Michigan, I'm pretty sure you've nailed it. Anyone investigating this should start by googling 'DeVos' in any of the recently released documents relating to "purgegate."

The most interesting thing I saw: Sen. Specter is working with the DOJ on damage control. This surprises nobody, but his cover is blown, so he won't be able to present himself as bipartisan or high minded, and no one will have any excuse for trusting him at all.

Specter is a character in a production. His role is the "Well meaning guy in a tough spot, torn between conscience and loyalty." No one is going to re-write his role because he got caught acting out of character once or twice; anyone can screw up sometimes, and besides, there's no one else who can step into the part easily. And all that re-writing takes work, and these journalist people are, above all else, lazy. Specter is solid.

The GOP party apparatus and its machinations to place the party faithful in every nook and corner of the country sound more and more like the beahvior of the Communist Party of the USSR.

The GOP party apparatus and its machinations to place the party faithful in every nook and corner of the country sound more and more like the beahvior of the Communist Party of the USSR.

The resemblance of the GOP to Brezhnev's Communist Party is especially ironic given the ridiculous obsession with Communism still displayed by some of our commentors. Remember when "conspiracy nut" declared that the GOP was a bunch of Commies because they accept that Communist plot, progressive taxation? Hilarious!

And now for something completely Off Thread -

A former Portland General Electric (Enron owned)employee, who lost over $400,000 in his companies Enron 401K account, just hit the lottery for 183 Million. Houston is beginning their "Pledge Week" appeals to him.

What would Cummings say if called to testify?

How about THE TRUTH????

How about THE TRUTH????

From a Republican? Naaaaaahhhhh.

This reminds me of the firings and the document shredding of travelgate in 1993. Who else remembers that fiasco?

Or are Democrats innoculated from scandal? I forget?

What most of the elected administration officials need here is a spine. And tell all of you to pound sand.

One of the unfortunate facts of the savings and loans crisis was that quite often professionals, that is, accountants and lawyers, were either used as part of the scheme or helped to further the fraudulent schemes that ended up defrauding taxpayers of billions of dollars of money......And, as a matter of fact, there were a number of subpoenas that were issued by these agencies for the Rose Law Firm billing records, simply because they are the best evidence,....And it's only after this subsequent investigation, the reopened investigation, do we know the full extent and nature of, one, the fraudulent transaction underlying this whole land deal, and also Mrs. Clinton's involvement in facilitating, or drafting up documents, that facilitated the concealment of this fraudulent scheme."

Why couldn't she just tell the truth?

Truth from Democrats? Naaaaaaahhh!

Poor Vince Foster.

I wonder if anyone will die as a result of Purgegate?

"The GOP party apparatus and its machinations to place the party faithful in every nook and corner of the country sound more and more like the beahvior of the Communist Party of the USSR."

I think Howard Dean beat them to that "communist" label. LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Dean's List
The Democratic chair plans to fight in every one of the 50 states. Is this shrewd strategy or a recipe for disaster?"

The Republicans have had zampolits in the media for a long time. Pat Buchanan, George Will, William Safire, and Bob Novak were all Republican operatives before they went into journalism, and they're still good, effectiv, loyal Republicans.

Compare the ex-Democrats: Russert, Mathews, Stephanopolous, Estrich. None of them are Democrats any more, except when they are playing the "I'm a Democrat, but...." game.

Posted by: Jay on March 20, 2007 at 10:05 AM

...and at 10:13 AM

...and at 10:17 AM

LOL -- the Bush Administration's mendacity and incompetence is so obvious, the wingnut trolls give up and send in their third string. I love it!

poor dumbshit Jay. Left flailing around, rambling about Clinton and trying to make some idiotic comparison to Howard Dean.

just when I think the wingnuts can't get any more desperate, good 'ole dumbshit Jay proves me wrong.

hemorrhoids still preventing you from going to Iraq?

>" travelgate in 1993 "

How comical... 'travelgate'. Now THAT was a 'manufactured crisis'.

I think changing the White House travel agency or the WH chef is just a wee bit less significant than dumping federal prosecutors to obstruct justice [among other reasons].

To save you Bush apologists the trouble, I'll pre-load your well-reasoned, rational response here.

sputter... blue dress.... blowjob... sputter...

The reality is that when Ford pardoned Nixon, it was all downhill from there. Images of Nixon behind bars would have sent a good message to politicos of the future. Justice was cheated that day, and be cheated again with the Bush I pardons after the Israel-Iran-Contra affair.

Impeach. Now. Before Bush II can do more damage the nation and the world. Even if you don't have the votes to convict, it will at least slow the bastards down.

Compare the ex-Democrats: Russert, Mathews, Stephanopolous, Estrich.

Do not try to assert that Tim Russert--aka, "Little Russ" and aka "Pancake Eating Goofball"--does not toe the Democratic Party line with the fervency of a true believer.

There are thousands of Democrats in the MSM--from producers to camera operators to boom microphone assistants to News Division Presidents and they ALL work to destroy anyone who tries to defend this country.

LOL -- the Bush Administration's mendacity and incompetence is so obvious, the wingnut trolls give up and send in their third string. I love it!

Pick your jaw up off the floor, bub.

The first string is here. I was a starter for four games in college and I am here to clarify reality and give you a royal thrashing.

"Dean's List
The Democratic chair plans to fight in every one of the 50 states. Is this shrewd strategy or a recipe for disaster?"

Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid would probably say it was a shrewd strategy.
I love it!

Norm, you forgot the janitors over at the major networks as well.

So, after betting against your team for four games, how was the bench?

one fun biproduct of this is that, with Democrats controlling Congress and subpoena power, this very real scandal won't be swept under the rug or disappear any time soon--so we get to watch all our "favorite" trolls go into full meltdown mode like you've never seen before.

pass the popcorn.

The resemblance of the GOP to Brezhnev's Communist Party is especially ironic given the ridiculous obsession with Communism still displayed by some of our commentors.

But, is it really? I mean, many of the original neoconservatives had come up as Trotskyites, no less adherents of Bolshevism than Stalinists, just on the losing side of the later split. They joined with the American Right because aggressive elite authoritarianism is fundamentally the same whether it uses leftist rhetoric or not, and they and the American Right both had a passionate opposition to the international Communism of the Cold War, which was essentially Stalinism and its closely related offshoots such as Maoism.

So I don't think its a surprise that now that neoconservatives have become a leading faction, perhaps the leading faction, of the American Right, that an obsession with "Communism"—always implicitly linked to the Cold War Stalinism, though opposing movements and ideas of every type get painted with the label—remains a big factor. Nor do I think its a surprise that the movement itself has a Bolshevik character, with an extra hefty dose of paranoia against divergent viewpoints even, and perhaps particularly, when they are, from the outside, seemingly minor intraparty differences as to approach.

I heard on the radio yesterday that Specter has filed papers to start his re-election campaign.

It's kind of amazing, he's really getting up in age, and I would think that 2008 would be a really good year to avoid being a repug incumbent.

Santorum got beat. Badly. Canned. Booted. Specter is next, will it be a twofer?

Here's Specter's big problem: if he is more 'independent' (i.e., anti-Bush) then he goes down to a wingnut primary challenger, as nearly happened in '02. If he keeps on like before, he goes down in the general election. I bet retirement is looking better and better.

Specter's re-election?

Hmm, rdw could be tough in the primaries, especially, if Mike Cook or Norman becomes his Campaign Manager.

I mean, many of the original neoconservatives had come up as Trotskyites, no less adherents of Bolshevism than Stalinists, just on the losing side of the later split. They joined with the American Right because aggressive elite authoritarianism is fundamentally the same whether it uses leftist rhetoric or not, and they and the American Right both had a passionate opposition to the international Communism of the Cold War, which was essentially Stalinism and its closely related offshoots such as Maoism.

Trotsky? You're trafficking in the currency of "Trotsky" as a political influence?

Anyone who still reads or adheres to the notion that Trotsky had any insight into politics is a quaint professor at the University of Wisconsin (Madison) my dear lad.

Why are you confused? Ronald Wilson Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush dedicated their lives to fighting Communism and the wall came down. I repeat--the WALL CAME DOWN. Reagan asked Mr. Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" and the people--not the Politburo--the people heard that call and tore down the wall.

Liberals have been screeching ever since. They attack good men and try to destroy good government that they cannot legitimately win by the ballot box. No, the Republican Party does what is best for America, for business, and for the common good. THAT is what irks you, along with a thousand other things you will no doubt identify in detail here.

Welcome to America, circa 2007. An Attorney General follows the law that a Senator--Specter--wrote into a piece of legislation and gets rid of some US Attorneys, just like Clinton did BEFORE the law was written. Now you see a scandal in that--fine, run with it.

Hope your next Fitzmas was as good as your last.

Do not try to assert that Tim Russert--aka, "Little Russ" and aka "Pancake Eating Goofball"--does not toe the Democratic Party line with the fervency of a true believer.

Oh this one is TOO easy to debunk...Russert is a patsy, completely devoid of credibility at this point. I refer you to this WaPo piece by Dana Milbank.

Flashed on the courtroom computer screens were her notes from 2004 about how Cheney could respond to allegations that the Bush administration had played fast and loose with evidence of Iraq's nuclear ambitions. Option 1: "MTP-VP," she wrote, then listed the pros and cons of a vice presidential appearance on the Sunday show. Under "pro," she wrote: "control message."

"I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used," Martin testified. "It's our best format."

"Dean's List
The Democratic chair plans to fight in every one of the 50 states. Is this shrewd strategy or a recipe for disaster?"

See November 7, 2006.

the people heard that call and tore down the wall.

Because there was a McDonalds on the other side.

"I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used," Martin testified. "It's our best format."

Yes! Because the Vice President is a fighter. He goes up against a liberal Democrat like Mr. Pancake Eater and takes the good Word to a liberal audience so they can taste the bitter pill of reality.

Thank you for making my point for me, yet again. That is why I am on the first string and that is why you will all be howling and slapping your palms against your cheeks before this is all over.

Boo hoo. All you get for the next Fitzmas is a corncob...

Hope your next Fitzmas was as good as your last.

Another one or more high-level Bush officials convicted? I hope it's that good too!

Enjoy your last year and a half of a failed, scandal-plagued administration. I love it!

Posted by: Norman Rogers on March 20, 2007 at 11:02 AM

I told you these meltdowns were going to be fun.

Shorter Revisionist Historian Norman Rogers: Reagan and Bush 41 single handedly brought down Communism! What utter bullcrap.

Yes! Because the Vice President is a fighter.

Tell it to the five guys who went off to fight in his place.

Hell, better than that...

Tell it to the Wall.

Norman Rogers is a satirist. I'd give him the Reagan-fellating posts because right-wingers actually say things like that, but a full-throated affirmation of Dick Cheney? Game's up.

If you put two small buttons and a piece of yard on that corncob, you can turn it into a puppet. If you turn it into a puppet, you can start a puppet show and entertain people. If your puppet show gains notoriety, and if you work hard, you can audition for an agent. If that agent thinks your puppet show has potential, perhaps he'll set up a series of shows that could be attended by people from the cable outlets. If it looks like the cable people are impressed enough, the agent can go through the back door and find a network that might want to snatch up a hot property and develop it. If you can get a pilot made of your puppet show and get it one the air, maybe you can stave off disaster and use a hip marketing plan to get your puppet show some positive press. If the network gives you a good schedule, gives you a 13 episode commitment and a timeslot anywhere near a modest hit, you can ride the wave into a bigger deal--maybe get a full 24 episodes made and go into hiatus with a commitment for another 24. If you can turn that into a five year run, you can take the network to its knees during a down cycle and get a million per episode and get yourself a home in Laurel Canyon with a view, that Mazerati you were looking at when you were riding with your agent to the People's Choice Awards and all the blow you can fit into seven nostrils.

See what Fitzmas can bring you, liberals? Just work hard and don't deal with anyone who doesn't guarantee points on the backend.

I rest my case.

But, Norman's most prized possesion is that autographed photo of Shrub putting that 5th Mig decal on his F-102 - An Ace over Waco.

Into the skies, Junior Birdmen, and all that.

I rest my case.

Here's your corncob, sir. Do with it what you will...

Cheney support is rampant in Kansas. Which is one of the main things wrong with the damned place.

Norm: yes, Trotsky *shouldn't* have had any influence, because Communism on anything more than a theoretical level was always a sham, doomed to failure and mass murder. And the same goes double for Leninism, which is even more explicitly a totalitarian philosophy and existed mainly so a group of revolutionary psychopaths could get their rocks off by killing anyone who annoyed them. Trotsky was no better, he just had a different view of who/how/when to kill than Stalin did, and since he didn't preside over genocide and (as many) purges, his historical reputation is inexplicably ambiguous.

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean he didn't continue to have political influence long after his death, even if we both agree that he should have ended up on the dustbin of history long ago. It's a matter of record that many of the original neocons were Trotskyites, and that says much more about the neocons than it does about Trotsky. One thing that has become abundantly clear in the past five years is that the neocons are completely divorced from reality, full of grandiose ideas about how the world should work, convinced that they can make it so, and don't really give a shit who dies as a result. Just like Communists.

Reagan and GHW Bush were old-fashioned Republicans (the kind that could actually govern), not neocons, which is why their foreign policy was mostly successful (aside from death squads here and there, and leaving Saddam in power) and significantly enhanced American power. The Iran-Contra scandal, arguably the worst fuckup of the Reagan years, was largely due to Reagan letting the crazies off the leash for a short while. Otherwise, there's not much of a comparison between them and the current batch of incompetent megalomaniacs.

KC: Well, this I know, given the correspondence defending Carol Lam's immigration prosecutions, the whole she-wasn't-prosecuting-enough-illegal-aliens line is out the door.

Has anyone on the threads mentioned Cunningham's letter to Gonzales signed by 18 other Repubs criticizing Carol Lam four months after she had launched the investigation into Duke's criminal activity? Josh has the letter.

Here's your corncob, sir. Do with it what you will...

I think I'll eat it tomorrow while I'm watching The View and paging through the Communist Manifesto, listening to a Che Guevara book on tape, and surfing the Internet trying to arrange for a cheap back-alley (but perfectly legal)abortion for the woman with whom I cheated on my wife last week.

Thanks.

Now Paul - be fair - the ARVN didn't get anywhere close to the Oklahoma state line, so aWol did a heckuva job...

It's a matter of record that many of the original neocons were Trotskyites, and that says much more about the neocons than it does about Trotsky. One thing that has become abundantly clear in the past five years is that the neocons are completely divorced from reality, full of grandiose ideas about how the world should work, convinced that they can make it so, and don't really give a shit who dies as a result. Just like Communists.

I stand corrected, and I am shocked to read this. I reject this implicitly and I am against this form of moonbattery or nuttiness or whatever you want to call it. I reject socialism in all of its forms and I believe in democracy and liberty for all. These are not trite things.

Reagan and GHW Bush were old-fashioned Republicans (the kind that could actually govern), not neocons, which is why their foreign policy was mostly successful (aside from death squads here and there, and leaving Saddam in power) and significantly enhanced American power.

And do you know that these men were spiritual heirs to the twin legacies of Barry Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller? I am a man of the Northeast and a Rockefeller Republican. I have come to blows with Republicans who have denigrated Nelson's impact on our party. I always believed that Nelson (my father knew him as an acquaintance only--I do not have a specific tie to him) was correct on most every issue.

Thank you for the insight. I am dumbfounded--I actually learned something today from this cesspool of willful insanity and screaming matches.

..one of the most inexplicable cases seems to be that of Margaret Chiara, U.S. Attorney for Michigan's Western District.

There's a lot of conspiracy fodder here, but I'll just take the quick and easy route and propose that Chiara was dismissed to make way for a younger, more partisan US Atty for that district.

By most accounts, Chiara is a great attorney. The only thing (in public knowledge, anyway) that the USAG could hold against her is her age; she's probably not going to be promoted to a federal judge seat, so why not make room and allow a party loyalist some time to build his credentials before running for office or being selected to fill a federal judge's seat?

I'll go with that instead of trying to construct something around her being one of four dismissed US Atty's belonging to the USAG's Native American Issues Subcommittee - four of eight dismissed USAs, I mean. I wouldn't put a pre-emptive dismissal to prevent or hinder a corruption investigation past these guys.

Well, I also wonder whether she did anything to irritate Dick DeVos...

Luckily, we fought the Vietcong over there so we wouldn't have to fight them over here.

Speaking of Cheney, anybody catch him on 24 last night itching to blow up something real good? And people say 24 isn't realistic.

Tomorrow is not only the first day of Spring, but the birthday of Bach - In honor of his Two Part Inventions, Norman will pass on his own Three, Four and Five Part Inventions of revisionist history and government.

Hey, Normie, isn't that Blackwater on the line begging for your services in Iraq and Iran?

Kevin,

When are you guys at the monthly going to put in a karma system like Reddit into your comments, so idiots like Norman can be modded down, instead of taking up space in his continual attempts to derail the conversation?

Hey, Normie, isn't that Blackwater on the line begging for your services in Iraq and Iran?

No, I'm just a "parody."

Tell me, do "parodies" admit they were wrong and compliment people who write smart things?

Shorter jay: b b but Clinton got a blow job.

Josh has the letter.

Forgot to tip my hat to TPMMuckracker. Cunningham pleaded guilty about a month after the letter that criticized Lam's "lax" immigration prosecutions was written. Yeah..."It was nothing personal."

I used to live across the street from the McNulty's in Bisbee. His son just never could figure out that you should just worry about filling the back of the shovel, the front will take care of itself. His dad used to give us rides to school driving on the wrong side of the road (not much traffic on late 70's Bisbee roads), built a good sized baseball field next to their house, and served one term as a Rep. for Arizona.

Posted by: former 3rd coaster on March 20, 2007 at 9:26 AM:
Clio,
As a former resident of Western Michigan, I'm pretty sure you've nailed it. Anyone investigating this should start by googling 'DeVos' in any of the recently released documents relating to "purgegate."

The Devos family made their fortune with Amway -- aka scam-way --- a ponzi scheme. For more info, Google the words "Amway" and "fraud". It was hilarious to see them run Amway commercials for the first time EVER during dickie's governor run to show us "see we ARE a real company".

That they continue to run them even after defeat tells me that they will try again to put a devos into office next time. Michigan really needs a "flat-earther" for governor to attract high-tech jobs. (For you out-of-staters, dickie admitted in a campaign interview, that once elected, he would work to have creationism taught in public-school science classes. I wonder if that's why Phizer pulled their R&D facilites out of the state?)

Norm, point taken - Tears for the Terrapins and Blue Devils.

But, Blackwater could have you take out Tierra del Fuego.

8 fired attorneys? Is that all you got? First you get a conviction of a staffer based on perjury about something that was not a crime in the first place and you gloat over this conviction?

Kevin, are you kidding about an attorney being out of work and not able to make a living? And she can't afford the loss of income for even a little while? Tell her to call John Edwards; he knows how to make money as an attorney.

"Mass Firings" - Wasn't it only 8 people who were let go. Call your local large business and they will tell you about mass layoffs and firings. 8 people are not "mass." Now 93 US attorneys fired by Janet Reno, that might be considered mass firings. But that doesn't matter does it?

You Dems gotta find something more interesting than strategy emails as your "explosive" evidence. These things will be laughed off the history books. Bush ought to fire all the other US Attorneys to make his point.

Welcome to the do-nothing-but-investigate-MSM-created-scandles Congress brought to you by the wacky Democratic party. And they still have found... nothing.

Posted by: Orwell on March 20, 2007 at 12:00 PM

...and now the fourth string.

The blathering of the wingnuts shows just how much flop sweat the GOP is in right now. Pass the popcorn!

reno didn't even do the firing. It was the holdover AG from Bush I who axed 'em all.

Better morons, please. With teh Google, they should be able to at least verify the basics.

Your Republican party in all it's fetid glory.

Impeachment time. Cheney goes first.

Substance aside, an amusing illustration of the kind of thing you don't want to have in writing when a decision becomes the focus of a Congressional investigation is documentation, as Kyle Sampson provides on p. 23 of this document set, that the decision was recommended so that "...we can give far less deference to home-State Senators..."

No, I'm just a "parody."

Tell me, do "parodies" admit they were wrong and compliment people who write smart things?

Yeah, it's funny that you suddenly ceased your incoherent rantings momentarily to compliment someone several minutes AFTER being accused of being a satirist. Kind of like the sadist murderer who suddenly finds Jesus after being sentenced to death. Little late, isn't it?

C'mon Orwell (12:00pm), if you're going to just mail it in why bother posting.

To the trolls:

The big issues of the 2006 election were 2:

1) The Iraq war

2) Corruption

This is a direct fit to the second. The Dems are going to HAMMER, HAMMER, HAMMER on the politicization of justice.

Do you want POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS to determine who gets hauled in front of a court?

First you get a conviction of a staffer based on perjury about something that was not a crime in the first place and you gloat over this conviction?

You know, every time I hear a right-wing Libby apologist spout off about how "there was no crime in the first place," I vomit a little in my mouth.

Leaving aside the fact that a prosecutor's decision not to prosecute a particular crime is not dispositive of the absence of the crime itself, along with the fact that Ken Starr was only supposed to be investigating Whitewater, not frivolous dalliances, I can't help but wonder what the hell the "underlying crime" was when they were nailing Clinton to the cross for a blow job. The Paula Jones case was a groundless farce perpetrated by the lowest of scum-sucking ultra-right financiers. The equally vile attorneys handling the case deliberately set a perjury trap that Clinton was foolish enough to walk into, but what was the underlying crime?

A Republican judge who was actually screwed over by Clinton when he was her law professor at Arkansas threw the case out as wholly without merit.

Tell me, what was the actual crime, then?

Unbelievable hypocrites.

TEARS FOR THE BLUE DEVILS - I don't think so.

Tears of laughter and relief. There are two moments in every NCAA Tournament - BDE and ADE - Before Duke's Eliminated and After Duke's Eliminated.

The sooner we put a stake in the black heart of Duke, the better.

Its also interesting, on p. 1 of document set 1-4, that the official guidance is that it is critical that officials relay to any of the USA's complaining about the decision to fire them that the decision was made by "the Administration" and "not any specific person at the White House or Department of Justice".

It is interesting to discover that US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of "the Administration" and "not any specific person at the White House or Department of Justice".

Party of personal responsibility, indeed.

The Paula Jones case was a groundless farce

I almost felt sorry for the pathetic little whelp, until I heard her say "Now tell me agin - the Republicans - are they the good 'uns or the bad 'uns?"

And she reproduced. God help us.

Well, the Democrats will finally get their "smoking gun."

I dare say few people could dump 3,000 pages of their unedited e-mails into the public domain without being nailed for something.

They used dogs. They used probes. They used cardio plate crossoffs. They used teepers. They used bribery. They used stick tites. They used intimidation. They used torment. They used torture. They used finks. They used cops. They used search and seizure. They used fallaron. They used betterment incentives. They used finger prints. They used the bertillion system. They used cunning. They used guile. They used treachery. They used Raoul-Mitgong but he wasn't much help. They used applied physics. They used techniques of criminology. And what the hell, they caught him.

- Harlan Ellison, "Repent, Harlequin, said the Tick-Tock Man"

POed Lib,

Well said.

As to the case of Paula Jones being a farce, just think of all that exposure for the Right to Lifer, Susan Carpenter McMillan. Most of the nation is spared her rants on local So Cal TV.

Norman Rogers: "And do you know that these men were spiritual heirs to the twin legacies of Barry Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller?"

Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater and New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller were bitter inter-party rivals, and opposed each other in the 1964 GOP nomination. Rockefeller had little use for the far right of his own party, and thought they were dangerously deluded.

Therefore, to be a simultaneous heir to the political legacies of both is to be a political schizophrenic.

N.M.: >"I am a man of the Northeast and a Rockefeller Republican."

Such a political species is practically extinct.

Over time (1964-1980), the more moderate "Rockefeller Republicans" as personified by the namesake governor, Connecticut Sen. Lowell Weicker, New York Sen. Jacob Javits and Maine Sen. Margaret Chase Smith were politically isolated within their own party, beginning with Rockefeller's loss to Richard Nixon at the 1968 GOP presidential convention.

Dwspite enjoying a very brief resurgence following the fall of the Nixon Administration and Rockefeller's elevation to the Vice Presidency, progressive Republicans were held responsible by the Reagan Republicans (who claimed the mantle of Goldwater's political legacy for themselves) for Nixon's fall, by their failure to exhibit sufficient loyalty to Nixon.

Indeed, GOP senators like Weicker and Javits, who had been among Nixon's most vociferous congressional critics, were both defeated for re-election in GOP primaries by candidates endorsed by Ronald Reagan.

The 2006 election saw the moderate Republicans virtually eliminated as a political force in New England, as the GOP lost both houses of the New Hampshire General Court (state legislature) for the first time since the late 19th century, and all GOP congressional candidates were defeated save for Connecticut's Chris Shays (who was narrowly re-elected).

Oh yes, for impeachment and removal, definitely go with Cheney first.

Hell, I'd like to see George finish his term without Cheney. I bet it would be tremendously humorous.

Oh yes, for impeachment and removal, definitely go with Cheney first.

Uh, why? Simultaneously is so much more efficient, and its not like they both haven't earned it many times over.

Donald from Hawaii,

Excellent points - However, the Knight Republicans of California were very much like the Rockefeller types. Sen Thomas Kuechel was defeated in the 66 primary, largely, because of his voting for the civil rights legislation. He would have been ranking Minority in the next session. But, the bigots threw him out and lost the seat to Cranston.

As the DoJ mess unfolds, I realize more clearly how divided our nation has become.

Loyal Bushies are a Constitutionally Challenged minority. The rest of us have to figure out how not to misunderestimate their mendacity.

Democracy is a fragile thing.

I fear our own democracy is in danger of slipping away into history without a wholesale impeachment of the current administration.

Sacrificial lambs are not tasty enough.

To all you loyal bushies, thanks for the memories.

Man, this (not so) civil-war of words and lies/deceits will split our country more and more.

It's as if there are those of us who believe in the Constitution, and then there are the repugnacans.

Unbelieveable.

On C-SPAN 2... Why did Chuck Hagel vote against S. 214, which bars the U.S. AG from appointing U.S. Attorneys to serve without Senate confirmation? S. 214 just passed with just two "nay" votes. Did anybody else see this vote? Maybe I'm wrong...*scratches head*

If Hagel wants to have any prayer in the Authoritarian (er...Republican) primaries, he's got to do something to offset the "damage" he's done with his outspoken criticism of the war. Perhaps this is his warped idea of regaining some shred of credibility with the whackjobs he'll need to vote for him.

Tom DeLay was, inexplicably interviewed on NPR this morning, denying wriong-doing, defending the K Street project, advocating for a permanent republican majority, and said at one point that he didn't talk to Democrats because they are the ENEMY.

Funny, I thought we were all Americans, set apart by competing ideologies, but ultimately on the same side...

Foolish me.

"The sooner we put a stake in the black heart of Duke, the better."

Here, here.

Heiress Doris Duke used to live part-time in Honolulu for years, in an ostentatious Black Point estate named Shangri-La -- until she became positively incensed with Hawaii State Agriculture Dept. officials in the 1980s for their refusal to grant her a personal exemption to the state's then-very rigorous animal quarantine laws, so she could bring her pet camels with her whenever she traveled to the islands.

The Duke Blue Devils are a natural tangential heir to such ludicrous frivolity.

On C-SPAN 2... Why did Chuck Hagel vote against S. 214, which bars the U.S. AG from appointing U.S. Attorneys to serve without Senate confirmation?

Kind of odd, actually. Not that there aren't politically useful strategies involving voting against it, but most of them turn on announcing why you are doing so, preferably in advance of the actual vote.

I was enamored of Hagel briefly. I have since decided that the offsets aren't there to make him appealing to me.

I thank him for opposing the war, but there it stops.

Everyone who voted Nay on 214 should be fired next election cycle.

Uh, why? Simultaneously is so much more efficient, and its not like they both haven't earned it many times over.

Exactly. Treat GWB and Cheney as no different than two guys who knocked over a liquor store. Unless you're flipping one against the other, you're going to try them together.

Everyone who voted Nay on 214 should be fired next election cycle.

I dunno. I could probably respect someone who voted no because they believed the problem wasn't with the law allowing such appointments, but with the abuse of the law, and that Congress' response should be to deal forcefully with the abuse. (Provided, of course, that reason was announced, and backed by actions supporting actually dealing with the abuse of the power.)

I'd disagree, but I wouldn't necessarily think it was a priority to defeat them. (Of course, all things being equal, I'd like to see Hagel replaced by a good Democrat, but if this was his reason for voting no, I could continue to see him as among the less-bad of the Republicans in office.)

Blue Girl, Red State (formerly Global Citizen): "Tom DeLay was, inexplicably interviewed on NPR this morning ..."

We're six hours behind the east coast, so DeLay's interview is on our Honolulu NPR affiliate right now. He was also inexplicably on NBC's Meet the Press last Sunday.

The fact that so-called mainstream media is now helpng this indicted and corrupt former Texas congressman sell his hatemongering book speaks volumes of the state of that media in 2007.

Sometimes I wonder how conservatives can keep perpetuating the "liberal media" meme with a straight face these days, but then I realize it's one of those impenetrable mental constructs.

When conservatives see Tom DeLay paraded around the mainstream media, there's no cognitive dissonance, because they tell themselves stuff like, "Well, the liberal interviewer asked him questions that were much tougher than they would have asked a fellow socialist!" Never mind that a truly liberal media would never in a million years put this grossly unqualified slimebag on the air.

These people wouldn't be satisfied until every newspaper writer, television anchor, and opinion journalist had the political bent and lack of intellectual honesty as, say, Hugh Hewitt.

Therefore, to be a simultaneous heir to the political legacies of both is to be a political schizophrenic.

No, because I am a thinking man, I take the good from both and stand upon two great pillars, astride the littered landscape.

Tell me, what have any of you ever been right about? No one, save Mr. I Lewis Libby, has been caught, indicted, tried or convicted of anything. And yet you persist in your "Fitzmas" delusion.

The Roll Call Votes on S. 214 just posted. The two "nay" votes are from Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Kit Bond (R-MO).

Tell me, what have any of you ever been right about? No one, save Mr. I Lewis Libby, has been caught, indicted, tried or convicted of anything. And yet you persist in your "Fitzmas" delusion.

This is really too priceless for words.

Someone so detached from reality that he STILL thinks the Iraq war was a good idea is questioning others' clairvoyance?

And that last line is the equivalent of saying, "No one, save on 9/11/01, has been killed by terrorists on American soil in the last ten years. Yet you persist with this "terrorist" delusion."

I guess you're on the level, Norman, but you really give Colbert a run for the money nonetheless.

Tom DeLay was, inexplicably interviewed on NPR this morning

Well, I would wouldn't go so far as to say that NPR interviewing The Hammer -- who also denied twisting arms to get legislation thru, imagine that -- was inexplicable, but the softball tone of said interview sure the hell was.

Look at what you have wrought:

Cheney visits hospital for leg ‘discomfort'
Ultrasound said to reveal no extension or complication of blood clot
Updated: 43 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney went back to George Washington University Hospital on Tuesday after experiencing discomfort in his left lower leg - the same leg in which a blood clot was found two weeks ago - NBC reported.
Initially the White House had said the vice president had gone to the hospital for a follow-up examination in connection with the clot. “He’s getting a routine follow up on his leg. It’s just a routine checkup,” said spokeswoman Megan McGinn.
Cheney’s office issued an update after his return to the White House, saying, the vice president experienced discomfort in his left lower leg this morning and after consultation with his physicians, he was asked to return to the George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates for "repeat ultrasound imaging of the deep venous thrombosis (clot) in that leg."

How about some sympathy or respect for the poor man? You know, I don't agree with everything he says or does, but I respect the man who holds the office and, frankly, I'm sick and tired of the accusations and the innuendo. If someone broke the law, remember that they're innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, just like they do on "Cops." I'm sick of all the lies you people push. As biased as you claim Fox News to be, why doesn't anyone ever look at the fact that Fox Sports is widely respected and does not fall under criticism for bias? ESPN is CLEARLY biased towards the Big East and the SEC; can you say the same of Fox Sports? Of course not.

Until then, show a little respect and deference please. Thank you.

The remaining unknown is did they use this weekend to read and toss the most damning emails? Can anyone guarantee that these are the only relevant ones and that no others exist?
Here's another take on Lam's investigation: it was reaching into the White House .
... – Wade’s company MZM Inc. received its first federal contract from the White House. The contract, which ran from July 15 to August 15, 2002, stipulated that Wade be paid $140,000 to “provide office furniture and computers for Vice President Dick Cheney.”
– Two weeks later, on August 30, 2002, Wade purchased a yacht for $140,000 for Duke Cunningham. The boat’s name was later changed to the “Duke-Stir.” Said one party to the sale: “I knew then that somebody was going to go to jail for that…Duke looked at the boat, and Wade bought it — all in one day. Then they got on the boat and floated away.”

This reminds me of the firings and the document shredding of travelgate in 1993...Jay at 10:05 AM

Here's your corncob, sir, Do with it what you will... Norman Rogers at 11:26 AM

I think you meant to type "ACC", but slipped and typed "Big East" instead.

Epison is greek for "can't read or comprehend"

Tell me, what have any of you ever been right about? No one, save Mr. I Lewis Libby, has been caught, indicted, tried or convicted of anything. And yet you persist in your "Fitzmas" delusion.

This is really too priceless for words.

Someone so detached from reality that he STILL thinks the Iraq war was a good idea is questioning others' clairvoyance?

I don't remember saying ANYTHING about the War in Iraq. I do recall mentioning that only Mr. Lewis has been tried and convicted of anything, and even that will probably be pardoned away because it amounts to nothing.

All this talk about a "first string" leads me to wonder--who's on the "first string" for the liberal cause on this blog? Because every single day, it's a thousand or more of you against me and I wipe the filthy floor with all of you and send the mop out for a dry cleaning.

...Until then, show a little respect and deference...Norman Rogers at 1:32 PM

To Mr. GoFuckYourself Cheney? Sorry, but he never offered civility therefore, he deserves none. He is just your common smear&lie Republican thug, one of thousands.

Grrr! Look at the little man shake his fists and yell cursewords! Grrr!

it's a thousand or more of you against me ... Norman Rogers at 1:38 PM

Mike: The remaining unknown is did they use this weekend to read and toss the most damning emails? Can anyone guarantee that these are the only relevant ones and that no others exist? ...Here's another take on Lam's investigation: it was reaching into the White House.

Interesting...Wonkette posted on Oct. 30, 2006, a picture of the Mid-Atlantic Shredding Services truck entering Cheney's residence at the Naval Observatory on Oct. 19.

I have NEVER gotten a busy signal when I called Senator Bond's office before (yes, it's on speed-dial) but I have not been able to get through for a half hour.

I think my neighbors are pissed off...

I saw that Delay was on MTP also. My instant reaction was "My God, this guy should be in prison, not on MTP!" [click]

ckelly - I said EXACTLY those same words to my wife - but I also included Richard Perle in my assessment.

I saw that Delay was on MTP also. My instant reaction was "My God, this guy should be in prison, not on MTP!"

All in good time, ckelly. ;)

Blue Girl, Red State:

Does that mean Kit Bond voted against it. Boy, is that guy ever worthless. Makes me embarrassed to live in Missouri.

Yes, Bond and Hagel are the two who voted agin' it.

btw, if anyone can dig up a rationale from Hagel, please post it.

Epsilon - where in our great state are you? There is a whole gaggle of us from KC who hang out here.

you can download some of the documents in text format (instead of pdf images) so they are searchable, here