Thursday, March 08, 2007

David Gergen refers to the Bush administration as "mostly free of scandal." Wonkette responds incredulously ("David Gergen is mentally retarded"), and makes a list:

Mostly free of scandal? Jesus Christ, it’s the most corrupt, incompetent kleptocracy in American History. The election itself was an international scandal. How about Cheney’s secret "Energy task force," Jack Abramoff, Halliburton’s no-bid contracts, Chalabi, Cheney hunting humans, Cheney’s unmarried pregnant lesbian daughter, the invasion of Iraq, Mission Accomplished, Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, Katrina, FEMA, Nigerian uranium, Armstrong Williams, Jessica Lynch, Pat Tillman, Jeff Gannon, Dubai Ports, blocking the 9/11 Commission, anthrax, WMDs... nope, no scandals there.
(A Kos diarist has a list of his own.)

Sen. Pete Domenici has hired a lawyer. Specifically, Duke Cunningham's lawyer, K. Lee Blalack. Kos points out the obvious ("Blalack may well be a good lawyer, but is it in Domenici's best interest that every time this story is covered, he is linked to Duke Cunningham?").

Everyone in the world thinks Chuck Hagel's going to announce on Monday.

And TAPPED thinks Newt Gingrich is laying the groundwork for an announcement of his own. [TAPPED also points out that Newt's website, Newt.org (naturally), hosts a group of podcasts called "iNewts," which is amusing.]

I think the Newt speculation is dead-on, but I'm not buying the Hagel thing. 2:1 says he announces on Monday that he's running for reelection in 2008.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Loyal readers! This past weekend's travels made it difficult to get anything done 'round these parts. After twenty-four hours of extensive news consumption, I think I'm finally caught up with the world, but it's left me with a blog backlog (backblog?) several stories deep; and rather than wait until I have time to write about each of them individually, I figured I'd just lump the whole mess of 'em them into one link-heavy post that you can browse at your leisure. (Notice my folksy patois. I think that means that I need to go to bed.) Here goes:

  • Coulter
    • TPM Cafe notes that the Lancaster (PA) New Era has dropped Ann Coulter's column, writing in explanation that Coulter "no longer provides" the "intelligent discussion" the paper's readers deserve.
    • And Kos provides a lengthy list of advertisers that have pulled their ads from Coulter's site since the the CPAC incident. Highlights include Verizon, AT&T, Washington Mutual, Sallie Mae, and the perpetually annoying Classmates.com.
  • U.S. Attorneys
    • An anonymous AUSA emails TPM to thank the site for its work on the U.S. Attorney story.
    • Fired USA David Iglesias confirms that he received uncomfortable, "pressuring" phone calls from Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson.
      • Domenici says his complaints about Iglesias arose out of Iglesias's "inability to move quickly," but a bit of research indicates that Iglesias has actually moved significantly faster, on average, than his predecessor.
    • One of the fired U.S. Attorneys emails the other five regarding a very questionable call he received a couple of weeks ago from Mike Elston, chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty.
    • And Mike Battle, the Justice official who did the actual firing of the various fired U.S. Attorneys, resigns. (Kos figures he just wanted to spend more time with his family.)
  • FNC
    • A Fox News anchor behaves tolerantly.
    • And in unrelated news (...), John Edwards becomes the first candidate to announce that he'll skip the FNC-hosted Nevada Democratic debate.
  • Op-Eds
    • Tom DeLay demonstrates that he is still a dick.
    • And Walter Mondale warns against a runaway vice presidency, noting "the dangers of the Cheney precedent."
Whew!

Don Spagnolo, editor of Mondesi's House, previews the Pirates' upcoming season with a list of 79 reasons why it's hard to be a Pirate fan. A bit of a departure from my normal subject matter, I know, but worth a read all the same.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Verdictastic!

Monday, March 05, 2007

From Sunday's New York Times comes this editorial, a non-comprehensive list of "things that need to be done to reverse the unwise and lawless policies of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney." Entitled "The Must-Do List," the article lays out a sort of bare-minimum twelve-step program to set the country on a road to post-Republican-rule recovery.*

Five years of presidential overreaching and Congressional collaboration continue to exact a high toll in human lives, America’s global reputation and the architecture of democracy. Brutality toward prisoners, and the denial of their human rights, have been institutionalized; unlawful spying on Americans continues; and the courts are being closed to legal challenges of these practices.

It will require forceful steps by this Congress to undo the damage. A few lawmakers are offering bills intended to do just that, but they are only a start. Taking on this task is a moral imperative that will show the world the United States can be tough on terrorism without sacrificing its humanity and the rule of law.
The whole article is worth reading, but in the interest of full service to my loyal readers (ha!), here's a quick list of the twelve steps:
  • Restore Habeas Corpus; Stop Illegal Spying; Ban Torture, Really; Close the C.I.A. Prisons; Account for "Ghost Prisoners"; Ban Extraordinary Rendition; Tighten the Definition of Combatant; Screen Prisoners Fairly and Effectively; Ban Tainted Evidence; Ban Secret Evidence; Better Define "Classified" Evidence; and Respect the Right to Counsel.
Hard to argue with any of those.

* - Obviously, that's not how they frame it. But this is the liberal media we're dealing with. That's clearly what they meant.