Recently in National Category

CNN Political Ticker: Nader considering another White House run

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ralph Nader could be poised for another third party presidential campaign.

The consumer advocate will appear on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. Nader launched his 2004 presidential run on the show.

A spokesman for Nader did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Kevin Zeese, who was Nader's spokesman during the 2004 presidential race, but is no longer working for him, said Friday that Nader has been actively talking to "lots of people on all sorts of levels" about the possibility of making another run.

Zeese said he could only guess what Nader might do, but added:

"Obviously, I don't think ("Meet the Press" host) Tim Russert would have him on for no reason."

Great, just what we need, another egomaniacal campaign from brain damaged Ralph. He does not stand a chance. Nor does he gain any political capital. John Edwards gained political capital from his run. He will have some leverage at the Democratic Convention. What power will Ralph wield? None. This is a waste of his time, and ours.

Stay home Ralphy boy. Your time in the light was never about running for office.


Technorati Tags: Ralph Nader, Election 2008,

Speaking of Bush Legacy: Homelessness

Minnesota Monitor

The percentage of American workers represented by unions rose in 2007, reversing a quarter- century decline in union membership.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 12.1 percent of the workforce was made up of organized labor, up from 12 percent in 2006. While the gain was small, it was notable for being the first gain in union membership since the BLS began tracking it in 1983.

Another legacy that can be laid at Bush's feet; an increase in union membership. I guess despite the lack of media coverage about corporate malfeasance and union busting, the utter contempt that Bush displays for the working man has still shown through and people have seen the complete failure of the elite's corporate fascism.

The Hill

Weldon would be the 22nd GOP incumbent to announce that they will not seek reelection in 2008.

My God, the Republican party is hemorrhaging. George W. Bush really did do a number on his party, didn't he.

Orcinus

Over the past week or two, several events have occurred that show just how radically the range of acceptable political and media discourse has changed in the past eight years.

First, the New Republic finally got the Minneapolis Historical Society to cut loose its store of old Ron Paul Reports, put them online, and thus verified -- once and for all -- our repeated contention that Ron Paul's benign good-doctor pose was hiding a noxiously hateful and racist past.

Second, Bill Press called Pat Buchanan a white supremacist to his face on national TV. Of course, this isn't news to regular Orcinus readers -- but it is a first for the mainstream media. Press just put it right out there, like it was a stone cold fact -- and Tucker and Pat sat there, and took it as a fact. Even more stunningly: Nobody called him names. He didn't get his mike cut. He wasn't asked to leave. He'll probably even get asked back. Incredible.

Third, both Max Blumenthal and Joe Conason published different but similarly damaging articles on Friday pointing out the long-standing ties between Mike Huckabee and various Reconstructionist leaders. Huck hasn't said publicly that America needs to dump the Constitution and institute biblical law in its place; but it appears that some of the most influential people who do believe this are also some of Huck's very closest friends. As Joe points out, these friendships raise serious questions about his intentions as president that the voting public deserves some straight answers to.

It's tempting to view this simply as an assertive media just doing its job -- until you reflect on the fact that this is the first election in a decade that any of these of events had the remotest chance of occurring.

It is a long post, as they usually are over at Orcinus. But it is a post of hope, change, and an indication that the Extreme Right has finally lost it's false, glossy cover.

From the Blogger Formally of The Daily Brew.
[Updated and moved to the top.]

The Daily Brew 
Friday, January 4, 2008
The Republican Divorce

It is hard to get inspired by politics when Harry Reid is scheming to figure out a way to excuse the nation’s telephone companies for illegally spying on us.  So if you missed Obama’s speech last night, do yourself a favor and watch it.	

As pathetic as it is to admit, about the only the thing that can get me to set aside my cynicism and contempt for our elected overlords is the soaring rhetoric of speeches like Obama’s.  I know it is stupid, but like Pavlov’s dog, when I hear the voice of the America I believed in during my youth, it gets me every time.  My head tells me its an illusion, but my heart rules.  I guess I still want to be proud of my country badly enough that when the right notes are played, the chord still strikes.

So I loved Obama’s speech.  At the same time, I think it is still too soon to accurately gauge the impact of his historic victory.  Time will tell if he can seal the deal.  I don’t feel the same way about the Republicans, however.  Regardless of who wins the nomination, Mike Huckabee’s win last night is going to rock their world.

Even though Huckabee will likely lose in New Hampshire, by winning last night on the wings of Iowa’s evangelicals, he now has South Carolina in the bag.  Ever since Lee Atwater was teaching Karl Rove how to forge government letterhead, the South Carolina primary has been the GOP’s Alamo. Anyone not pre-approved by the money guys was buried in the fever swamps behind the South Carolina firewall.  

The pawns in this process are and always have been the most gullible members of the party.  But you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. While they might believe that Bennie Hinn can cure cancer, there is a limit to their credulity. Specifically, nobody is going to ever convince these people that they are better off voting for a Mormon (or a New York Mayor in drag) than a Baptist pastor. As a result, Huckabee has set the immovable object of the GOP, of huge bags of cash controlled by their plutocrats, directly in the path of the irresistible force, the foot soldiers of the Christian right.  

These two camps got married in the 1980s to form a union of the true believers.  Except like so many shotgun weddings, the two sides didn’t really see eye to eye. One side believed in money, or more specifically that the divine right of Kings that decreed that they should always control it. The other side believes in God. Or at least the version of God that hates gays and thinks women are property.  

For the past two decades, they’ve stayed together for the three kids of different fathers, abortion, gay marriage and tax cuts.  But now Huckabee won’t dance, at least to the plutocrat’s tune, so they are about to get divorced. The money guys know that if they don’t stop Huckabee before South Carolina, there is a good chance they won’t be able to stop him at all. And if Huckabee wins the nomination, the plutocrats could lose control of the GOP.

So Obama should enjoy his moment in the sun, but he ought to pay careful attention to the shitstorm that is about to rain down on Mike Huckabee like the battle of Armageddon.  Because if Obama is can sing his song sweetly enough over the next month and a half to win the Democratic nomination, that same storm is fixin’ to rain on his parade next.

Update: By the way, if you want mail too, you can sign up here: Daily Brew Signup

Star Tribune

JACKSON, Miss. — Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, plans to resign his seat before the end of the year, congressional and White House officials said Monday.

What the hell is up with this? Something must be coming out about him. He made it on the DC Madam's list? Seriously, why the sudden announcement unless there is some really bad news coming out about his personal life.

Washington Post

Verizon Communications, the nation's second-largest telecom company, told congressional investigators that it has provided customers' telephone records to federal authorities in emergency cases without court orders hundreds of times since 2005.

The company said it does not determine the requests' legality or necessity because to do so would slow efforts to save lives in criminal investigations.

In an Oct. 12 letter replying to Democratic lawmakers, Verizon offered a rare glimpse into the way telecommunications companies cooperate with government requests for information on U.S. citizens.

Verizon also disclosed that the FBI, using administrative subpoenas, sought information identifying not just a person making a call, but all the people that customer called, as well as the people those people called. Verizon does not keep data on this "two-generation community of interest" for customers, but the request highlights the broad reach of the government's quest for data.

So, we find out that more and more of the telecom corporations have collaborated with BushCo™ and ignored our constitutional rights. You know, I seem to remember a section of the constitution addressing the existence of corporations. Somehow, their ability to ignore our constitutional rights is not a part of that section.

But, I doubt the drunken members of congress are going to do anything about this situation, they being overly intoxicated with the money tossed liberally by corporations.

Oh, and this:

Verizon and AT&T said it was not their role to second-guess the legitimacy of emergency government requests.

Is fucking bullshit. What they hell do you pay all those lawyers for if not to make sure you are not breaking any laws?

Ah, ya, that's right. It's to keep from having to actually suffer any consequences as a result of breaking laws. My bad.

New York Times

With only 15 months left in office, President Bush has left whole agencies of the executive branch to be run largely by acting or interim appointees — jobs that would normally be filled by people whose nominations would have been reviewed and confirmed by the Senate. In many cases, there is no obvious sign of movement at the White House to find permanent nominees, suggesting that many important jobs will not be filled by Senate-confirmed officials for the remainder of the Bush administration. That would effectively circumvent the Senate’s right to review and approve the appointments. It also means that the jobs are filled by people who do not have the clout to make decisions that comes with a permanent appointment endorsed by the Senate, scholars say.

Of course Interim Heads are being used. President Bush couldn't get a single person he'd really like to appoint through congress. For now, he is letting things hang, without any regard for it's impact on the country. He's simply living in his own reality, actively pursuing a mindset of denial, ignoring the truths about the shape of the country, the shape of the world, and responsibility for his hand in creating the mess.

Bush has given up on trying to be the leader of a democratic republic. In fact, he has all together given up on leading.

Thus concludes the reign of the Miserable Failure. All that is left is the rotten corpse.

At long last, our national nightmare is over.

He must have developed an immunity to the kool-aid.

Washington Post

The spectacle Tuesday of 151 House Republicans voting in lock step with the White House against expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was one of the more remarkable sights of the year. Rarely do you see so many politicians putting their careers in jeopardy.

[snip]

But Bush insists that SCHIP is "an incremental step toward the goal of government-run health care for every American" -- an eventuality he is determined to prevent.

Bush's adamant stand may be peculiar to him, but the willingness of Republican legislators to line up with him is more significant. Bush does not have to face the voters again, but these men and women will be on the ballot in just over a year -- and their Democratic opponents will undoubtedly remind them of their votes.

Two of their smartest colleagues -- Heather Wilson of New Mexico and Ray LaHood of Illinois -- tried to steer House Republicans away from this political self-immolation, but they had minimal success. The combined influence of White House and congressional leadership -- and what I would have to call herd instinct -- prevailed.

[snip]

In his new book, former Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan wrote that his fellow Republicans deserved to lose their congressional majority in 2006 because they let spending run out of control and turned a blind eye toward misbehavior by their own members. Now, those Republicans have given voters a fresh reason to question their priorities -- or their common sense.

[snip]

This promised veto is a real poison pill for the GOP.

Okay. Who the hell wrote this, and what did they do with David S. Broder?

ABC News

Though Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, had previously pledged to resign by Sunday, amid allegations he cruised for gay sex in a public bathroom, he now says he will stay in office. "Sen. Larry Craig denies that he went into that restroom for anything other than to go to the restroom," said Craig's attorney Billy Martin, arguing Wednesday that his client's only mistake was pleading guilty to a crime he did not commit in the hopes of making it go away.

The Republicans must be getting ready to pull their hair out. This guy just is not going to leave.

By way of C&R

The Carpetbagger Report

I'm glad the matter was resolved, but there are still lingering questions about whether the IRS investigation was driven by partisan motivations. It seems scary to think administration officials targeted All Saints because it's a progressive church, but there's reason to raise the question.

From the outset, the IRS seemed to deal with All Saints in an unusual way. For example, when a ministry is suspected of intervening in a political campaign, ordinarily the first step is a warning letter from the IRS. In this case, the agency skipped that step and went right to a threatening letter, stating that "a reasonable belief exists that you may not be tax-exempt as a church."

Moreover, usually a house of worship is reminded of legal limits, the institution promises to play nice, and unless there's a pattern of repeated abuse, the matter is final. The IRS seems to have taken a far more aggressive position towards All Saints Episcopal. The church provided the IRS with a copy of all literature given out before the election; the IRS said it wasn't satisfied. The church said it never endorses candidates; the IRS told church officials to either admit wrongdoing or face more intense scrutiny.

Looks to be another shiny example of BushCo™ politicizing government, by taking a page out of Tricky Dick's play book.

Given the circumstances, it's not unreasonable to wonder if, perhaps, Bush-appointed staffers at the IRS targeted All Saints because they didn't like the sermon's criticism of their president. It would be an outrageous abuse of power for the IRS to go after a house of worship based on partisan political concerns, but given what we've seen of the Bush gang, it's hard to offer the administration much in the way of benefit of the doubt.

During Watergate, we learned that Nixon used the IRS to harass and intimidate political opponents. Let's hope this isn't a repeat of the same abuse.

Another story to send to Dan Froomkin.

New York Times

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 -- The 21-year-old Jordanian immigrant was in shackles when he was brought into the courtroom of Judge Michael B. Mukasey in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

It was Oct. 2, 2001, and the prisoner, Osama Awadallah, then a college student in San Diego with no criminal record, was one of dozens of Arab men detained around the country in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks as potential witnesses in the terrorism investigation.

Before the hearing, Mr. Awadallah told his lawyer that he had been beaten in the federal detention center in Manhattan, producing bruises that were hidden beneath his orange prison jumpsuit. But when his lawyer told this to Judge Mukasey, the judge seemed little concerned.

"As far as the claim that he was beaten, I will tell you that he looks fine to me," said Judge Mukasey, who was nominated by President Bush last week to be his third attorney general and is now facing Senate confirmation hearings. "You want to have him examined, you can make an application. If you want to file a lawsuit, you can file a civil lawsuit."

Even though Mr. Awadallah was not charged at the time with any crime and had friends and family in San Diego who would vouch that he had no terrorist ties, Judge Mukasey ordered that he be held indefinitely, a ruling he made in the cases of several other so-called material witnesses in the Sept. 11 investigations. A prison medical examination later identified the bruises across his body.

I'll admit, I am concerned about this account. However, I also am willing to give benefit of the doubt, considering just how soon after 9/11 this particular incident occurred. Hopefully, he will answer the questions asked him at his hearing. If they are asked.

Update: Good point. Ah, okay, very good point. (scroll down a bit)

New York Daily News

The old gray lady has some explaining to do.

Officials at the New York Times have admitted a liberal activist group was permitted to pay half the rate it should have for a provocative ad condemning U.S. Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus.

The MoveOn ad, which cast Petraeus as "General Betray Us" and attacked his truthfulness, ran on the same day the commander made a highly anticipated appearance before Congress.

But since the liberal group paid the standby rate of $64,575 for the full-page ad, it should not have been guaranteed to run on Sept. 10, the day Petraeus warned Congress against a rapid withdrawal of troops from Iraq, Times personnel said.

"We made a mistake," Catherine Mathis, vice president of corporate communications for The Times, told the newspaper's public editor.

I swear, if there was ever a case of hitting your head against the brick wall because it feels good when you stop, the orcosphere and it's legacy media cohorts are prime examples. This well was dry from the beginning and yet they continue to go back to it time and again.

General Petraeus' testimony had zero affect on the opinion of the American populous. Yet, here they go again, attempting to score some kind of political resurrection by attacking the New York Times' selling of ad space. In truth, all they are doing is making their voices become background noise to be filtered out with the rest.

But what the hell. Go ahead fellas and fillies, keep beating that particular wall. However, I recommend some Ibuprofen, a strong cup of coffee, and maybe a few minute break in between bashes. Oh, and I suggest you don't add cream and sugar to the coffee, it ruins the ability of caffeine to reduce the pain.

Washington Post

Yesterday, an organization so small its 17 employees don't even have a central office, found itself under attack by not only President Bush, who said the ad was "disgusting," but also by the Democratic-controlled Senate, which passed a resolution 72 to 25 expressing its own outrage. Many Democrats blamed the group for giving moderate Republicans a ready excuse for staying with Bush and for giving Bush and his supporters a way to divert attention away from the war.

In an e-mail to its members last night, the group acknowledged that the content of the ad might have angered its allies but argued that a larger issue is at stake. "Maybe you liked our General Petraeus ad. Maybe you thought the language went too far," they wrote. "But make no mistake: this is much bigger than one ad."

And it turned its criticism squarely back on the Senate, accusing it of "spending time cracking down on a newspaper ad" after failing on Wednesday to pass a bill lengthening the home leaves of U.S. troops fighting in Iraq, a bipartisan measure that some regarded as pressuring Bush into limiting the redeployment of U.S. forces.

Quite frankly, the whole brouhaha over the ad is just giving MoveOn that much more free publicity. It was a stroke of genius. And the more the Republican's rail against it, the more awareness it gains throughout the country. Indeed, a claim could be made it fits into the old adage The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend.

For MoveOn's supporters, the special notice from Bush may only serve to validate its confrontational style. "I think he just raised MoveOn several million more dollars," said Erik Smith, a Democratic media consultant.

I think the Republican's have forgotten their own play book.

The Huffington Post

Before a single Democrat condemns MoveOn's ad, they should insist that George W. Bush and the Republican Party repudiate the anti-military smears on war heroes that have been the hallmark of Mr. Bush's political career.

Too many Democrats still think Mr. Bush's presidency is on the level. Let's be clear. Mr. Bush is not leading a serious, sober discussion about public discourse during a war. He wants to divide progressives and score political points. We should not let him. Throughout his career he's been willing to tolerate and benefit from vicious lies about military men. We should not concede that he is legitimately angry now.

Damn right! It's about time someone pointed out the hypocrisy of the Vastly Corrupt Conspiratorial Right Wing Political Machine (VCCRWPM!)

• In the 2000 South Carolina primary, George W. Bush stood next to a man described as a "fringe" figure - a man who had attacked Bush's own father - at a Bush rally. With Bush applauding him, the man said John McCain "abandoned" veterans. McCain, who was tortured in a North Vietnamese POW camp, was incensed. Five U.S. Senators who fought in Vietnam, including Democrats John Kerry, Max Cleland and Bob Kerrey, condemned the attack and called on Bush to repudiate it. When pressed on it at a debate hosted by CNN's Larry King, Bush meekly muttered that he shouldn't be held responsible for what others say. Even when he's standing next to them at a Bush rally.
• In the 2002 campaign, draft dodger Saxby Chambliss ran an ad with pictures of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, then said Sen. Max Cleland lacked courage. Max Cleland left three limbs in Vietnam as an Army captain. Mr. Bush's political aide, Karl Rove, later refused to disavow the ad, saying, "President Bush and the White House don't write the ads for Senate candidates."
• Also in the 2002 campaign, the PAC for the Family Research Council, a close Bush ally, ran an ad in South Dakota that pictured Sen. Tom Daschle and Saddam Hussein. "What do Saddam Hussein and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle have in common?" the ad asked. Apparently, they both opposed drilling in the Arctic wilderness. First, I had no idea that supporting drilling in the wilderness is a family values issue. Second, I have seen no reporting on the late Iraqi dictator's position on Alaska drilling. But I do know Tom Daschle is an Air Force veteran. Mr. Bush never disavowed the smear.
• But perhaps the worst was what was done to John Kerry. Kerry earned five major medals in combat: the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. And yet supporters of Bush and Cheney decided to smear his war record. The despicable, dishonest Swift Boat attacks alleged that Kerry fabricated reports that earned him the Bronze Star. The Swifties also suggested that Kerry's wounds were insignificant - and that one was even self-inflicted. Kerry's wounds were certainly more serious than Mr. Bush's, who suffered a cut on his finger from popping a beer can while avoiding his duty in the Alabama National Guard. At the 2000 GOP convention, rich, white Republicans were photographed gleefully putting Band-Aids with purple hearts on their chubby cheeks. Mr. Bush refused to condemn the attack - blandly noting he didn't like 527 groups generally - and later nominated one of the men who financed the smear to be Ambassador to Belgium.

Now, granted, maybe the 23 Democrats voting to censure MoveOn felt it was not proper for a progressive group to engage in the same low-brow, divisive behavior as the Republican party. However, censuring MoveOn was even more a waste of congressional time then impeaching Clinton. You see, I'd rather they be working on getting us out of Iraq, improve the economy for the other 98% of the population, restore habeas corpus, the very cornerstone of democracies around the world, and restore competence and integrity back to government.

Unfortunately, the only way to accomplish any of those goals is to remove George W. Bush from the Oval Office. So, what say you start those impeachment proceedings?

Ya, right.

Eric Black Inc.

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison of Minneapolis and House Judiciary Chair John Conyers have moments ago sent a letter to the acting U.S. attorney general demanding all communications from the staff of the Minnesota U.S. attorneys office to the Justice Department about Rachel Paulose's management of the office, documents relating to the evaluations of her predecessor, Tom Heffelfinger that might shed light on why he was on a list of U.S. attorneys to be fired, and all documents reflecting the search for Heffelfinger's replacement, which led to the appointment of Paulose.

Eric continues to be out in front on this local portion of the Prosecutor Purge affair.

One thought I've had is the likely demise of Paulose before her term is up. Indeed, Eric's piece touches on that very issue:

Insiders have speculated the change from Gonzalez to Mukasey could undermine Paulose's chances of lasting that long. The thinking is that if Mukasey wanted to make a statement that the controversies of the Gonzalez era are over, he might try to clear out some of the less-popular, more controversial holdovers.

I really do think Mukasey is going to be the person to finally bring all of the Bush administrations corruption and abuse out into the open.

However, I have also made claims in the past that failed to come to fruition, so take my proclamation with a grain of suga....err salt.