I know that the "centrists" (*cough*) who want to reach around across the aisle and grab that K Street money are going to be all about "let's forgive and forget and move forward" (it's the heart of Joe Lieberman's phony "bipartisan" meme — "let's not talk about all the ways that I fucked up in the past, it might get in the way of my ability to screw things up in the future"); Bill Clinton has been saying it all along. Unfortunately, the failure to hold the crooks and war criminals accountable in the past leads to stuff like the appointment of Robert M. Gates to fill Donald Rumsfeld's shoes of failure. Per Kos :
Robert M. Gates was the Central Intelligence Agency's deputy director for intelligence (DDI) from 1982 to 1986. He was confirmed as the CIA's deputy director of central intelligence (DDCI) in April of 1986 and became acting director of central intelligence in December of that same year. Owing to his senior status in the CIA, Gates was close to many figures who played significant roles in the Iran/contra affair and was in a position to have known of their activities.
Rumsfeld, Cheney — these zombies that just will not die and keep cropping up in crooked junta after crooked junta because triangulating "centrists" who peddle non-accountability as "bipartisanship" are succesful in pushing the notion forward that we should all just find common ground, love each other and work together in peace and harmony.
If "common ground" means letting the swindlers and villains off the hook, I just became a law'n'order fanatic.
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Macacawitz is refusing to concede.
…so is Burns
Fitz!
The Libby trial
Jack
Shorter election outcome – America gives Bush the middle finger, dyed blue.
Let’s not forget Elliot Abrams, still doing mischief. I almost expect Ollie North to be named deputy something or other.
How close to 0 did I go?
DonS @
5
Absolutely. The list goes on and on.
And why was Gates arming the Contra? Why, to overthrow Daniel Ortega! History repeating itself, with the exact same people, as Wonkette points out….
Lotsa questions for this Gates fellow, including exactly how Casey got his brain cancer anyway.
Hey all — am stuck in Cleveland again. (Someone remind me to never, ever fly through here again. Ever. Thank goodness for Starbucks, that’s all I’m saying…)
Larry Johnson just sent me a link to a piece that he did on Gates this afternoon. I had my own personal run-in with him when I was in college. I was at a conference at Georgetown when I was a Sophomore or Junior, and he was the keynote speaker for the conference when he was head of the CIA. I asked him about his mysogenistic hiring practices and his failure to promote women within the department — and he blew up at me. (Yes, I’ve always been the sort of gal who thought accountability for public officials was a good thing.) Later, he flat out refused to shake my hand at the cocktail party they had for him and student leaders who were at this conference…he turned his back on me and walked away, much to the embarassment of the conference organizer. I had been polite but firm in asking my question, my usual demeanor that you guys are used to — but he took it so personally he couldn’t even shake the hand of a 19 year old college kid. As I recall, he acted like a major ass. So, needless to say, I’m skeptical…but I can see why he’d be right up George “my way or the highway” Bush’s alley.
No more new Presidents Bush or Clinton forever.
Hi all,
Back on line after a couple of days of hard work.
Anything happen while I was gone?
So I guess the lameduck Senate will be tasked with confirming Mr. Gates? Will the Armed Services Committee get to see all the sealed BoooshOne papers? Will Lawrence Walsh, Larry Johnson, and Robert McGovern be called to testify?
Senator Warner, what’s your agenda look like?
RevDeb @ 11
Brttany Spears filed for divorce. other than that, no, why do you ask?
LOL.
Good to see you again after your hard worjk.
Christy, I got stuck in Cleveland (to and fro) and it is not much fun. I now fly direct, A->B.
Thank you for what you do and I hope that you arrive home safely to warm embraces from Mr. and The Peanut.
TeddySanFran @
8
crashing the Gates
LArry Johnson piece
Harkin comments at Gates CIA confirmation hearings
American Progress article on CIA Team B (under Gates)
Walsh Iran Contra report chapter on Gates
The elusive 3 missing precincts in VA: crossposted at kos as a comment.
SecState says there are 3 precincts that have not reported. I nearly went blind going thru county by county to see who hadn’t reported all areas.
Isle of Wight Co/Raynor (0505)
the rest of the Co went
Allen 57.26%, Webb 41.4%. small #’s
James City County
theoretically has TWO precincts out
Central Absentee 3 and
Roberts B (0502) #’s prob few hundred
But there are TWO IDENTICAL lines for Roberts B, one with results and the other with zeroes.
James City County also reports Central Absentee 1, would it possibly be incomplete? It has 887 Allen and 746 Webb.
check this scarbourgh video out, he says the appointment of rumsfeld made republicans wish clinton was still in office
mond boggling
I’m starting to really like scarbourgh..sorrry bout that
http://movies.crooksandliars.c…..eaving.wmv
Word!
Jane, please don’t conflate the centrism thing with the Rahm Emmanuel/Joe Lieberman branch of the party. If that is where our definitions are going, then I prefer “rational Democrat”. That is, a Democrat who doesn’t rule out anything that works for the common good and makes sense.
Rahm and Joe are power hungry and narcissistic, in that order. That has nothing to do with rational democracy and everything to do with the self.
Okay, that tears it, as if I didn’t already have a million good reasons to oppose Gates, but rude to ReddHedd? Sorry, sir, you are toast.
CHS, you are probably lucky he didn’t shake your hand and pass along some CIA-grown brain cancer in his palm.
Ah yes, the old and haggard comedy of Burns and Allen.
Jokesters from the past.
What part of landlside don’t you to fudgeheads not understand.
-GSD
The Bush family is a crime family. They only promote people they have true dirt on. That’s how they operate, it all pretty much in order to cover for the crimes of the father. George H. Bush has commited insane crimes under the guise of the CIA in the last 40 years. If the public knew the truth of crimes it would be the biggest scandel in American history. He has the dirt on Gates and that’s why Gates getting the job. Gates can’t rat them out.
More good news: we have enough work to keep Patrick Fitzgerald busy for the next 1…5…8…10 years. Go Fitz!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s “High Noon” Mr. President.
two fudgheads.
How come we can’t edit the comments anymore?
-GSD
Shorter republicrooks-
You don’t obey the laws that you have, you obey the laws that you want.
Prairie Sunshine @ 10
Correct.
Christy Hardin Smith @
9
And, think of the people he’ll have tagging along with him–like Donald Gregg. It bothers me that Bush would even consider a spook (although they are showing up in all the nooks and crannies of government these days) for DoD.
This has some real ramifications with regard to Rummy’s plan to end-run accountability using military special operations to gather intelligence and do covert ops (right now, the CIA has traditionally been in charge of that and the law requires a NatSec finding before those ops can officially begin). Gates would be just the guy to show them how to do that without Congress getting into the act.
And, this is yet another way to privatize intelligence. Yellow Fruit should still ring a few bells.
portia.vz @
20
“Centrism” is their brand. Best to leave it to them.
Gate’s was frothing at the mouth, refusing to shake the hand of a 19year old college student who asked him a question about his hiring practices?
If this is how short his fuse is, we might have some fun with him.
Oh yeah, Pus Limbaugh has turned on Bush.
Says he feels “liberated” now that he doesn’t have to defend the indefensible.
Another man with out morals or standards.
Let the mental midgets break out the long knives.
-GSD
In an amazing feat of retrograde election reporting, the percent of precincts reporting in the VA Senate race declined from 99.8% to 94.57% at the official VA website.
Jane, Thank you for kicking these crooks while they are down but nowhere near out. The gates nomination (appointment?) proves, once again, how desperately important investigations and convictions of the neo-family is for the integrity of our democracy. Total exposure of the facts and finally complete accountability with humiliation must take place.
Grandma et. al. say no to Gates.
Hi Jane you rock! Anyway I got EPUed Have you heard anything about the military banning FireDogLake and other liberal, but not republican blogs? I think Nancy Pelosi if you talk to her could straighten the Generals out or make the Generals pay and retirement contigent on their performance on Iraq!
“GOP Zombies Go Home”
O paroxysms of yesses!
Everything w/ this George H. Bush starts and ends with Texas and the CIA. Bay of Pigs was how Bush got his start and I’ll let y’all figure out what that lead to.
Nasty nasty nasty this family.
MayDaze @ 33
saw that and am chewing my nails anew.
wtf?
RevDeb @
11
This morning our nation stood up and said, “Hi. My name is America, and I’ve been sober for one day.”
GSD @ 22
Allen got 1,165,111 votes, Burns got 195,455.
Burns should concede.
RevDeb: “Anything happen?”
Not much. Rahm Immanuel saved democracy; Jane is making sure he gets the proper credit.
Bush said he didn’t anticipate losing; reporters asked him whether he thought that showed he was clueless.
Rumsfeld resigned. Said people had criticized him more than he expected.
Bush lied about the resignation last week, but that’s so pre-election.
The next Secretary of Defense will be someone who tried to arm the contras who tried to overthrow the guy who just took over Nicaragua, so that appointment is just in time.
Bush the father appears to be smarter than Bush the younger, so his guys will try to bail out Junion, again.
The media are doing their usual job of explaining all of this.
The Dems are winning the Senate, but Rove has not conceded.
Somebody here said that they thought VA was all electronic voting WITHOUT a paper trail. Is this true? If so, besides absentee ballots and provisional ballots, precisely how would one go about doing a re-count there? And how ironic would it be if the rethugs’ own love for unaccountable Diebold voting could actually backfire on them in such a hilarious way?
anyone here this civilian’s resignation speech?
he had the nerve to say ” an enemy not well known, not well understood”, and “this is the first war in the 21st century”
news flash rumsfeld, the taliban, in afghanistan was a little before this one, remember that one?
words cannot describe my contempt for what this man did to our military and the armed forces of the United States of America
hey rummy, everybody understood this enemy, every professional told yu “do not proceed”
every war game told him he was out of his friggin mind to even attempt engaging iraq with anything less then 400,00 troops, and this just in last week, every war game was a failure even WITH 400,000 troops
what is wrong with this guy?
even in resignation he’s trying to blame everything but his own miserable ability
this man never ever had support from the armed forces, even from republicans
These are the rendition and torture people coming around again.
The CIA is bad stuff… I am not talking about the geeks who look at sat photos or read pravda. I am talking about the ops and their “agent provocateurs” which are assassinating people and stirring up trouble… as well as the interogations and the renditions. BAD BAD BAD.
We need to rip the veil of secrecy off of the CIA… they are ruining the nation and the world.
Anyone who gets to the head of the CIA is an evil SOB… END OF STORY.
Just FYI,Tucker C just said”you liberal bloggers banging away on your keyboards in your underweare in the basement don’t know whats real”.Are these folks in denial or what?
Does anybody else see the beautiful irony in there not being anything to recount in Virginia? Sure, they can press “retabulate” on all their pretty new voting machines, and be sure the number comes up the same the second time, but there aren’t any pieces of paper to actually recount. If I were Macacawitz, I wouldn’t pay for a recount when there’s actually nothing to recount!
And isn’t his campaign outta money anyway?
Jane were you trolling around little green footballs earlier today? Or maybe it was, TRex…
Oh wait a minute, who *sighs* alot.
It was YOU Redd, wasn’t it?
percy @ 39
Excellent!
Yes, it has been a very long hangover. Long past time to sober up.
GSD @ 32
link please, I HAVE to post that around the WORLD
scarecrow @ 41
nice!
GSD @ 32
Rush is just puttering around, looking for the next totalitarian demagogue to come along. This is more Trotskyism (and you’re going to see a lot of it in the next few days), i.e., “the ideology is correct, the people implementing are incorrect.”
speaking of zombies ms. malkin’s got her panties in a bunch when she reviews the upcoming democratic agenda items. first on her list of offenders — a minimum wage hike (gasp).
Can’t wait for the Gates conf. hearings. Which way will Weaselman vote?
…the calculated intimidation which we see so often of late by the “powers that be” will only keep the loyal opposition quiet for just so long. Because eventually, like it always does, the truth will emerge. And when it does, this house of cards, built of deceit, will fall.
Robt. Byrd
What is so amazing is that they seem to have an endless supply of these corrupt has beens that they can drag out from the closet and prop up as new, fresh faces. Do they think we cannot remember the lies and crimes of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Negroponte and Gates from just a few years ago?
This is tiring and nothing will change. Cheney will still call the shots and the disaster will continue until we can manage to take away Bush’s toys. Come on 2007.
The Game is still about the oil, they’re just putting in a better play-caller. Bob Gates has a long history of politicizing intelligence, which means he’s well-prepared for what the SecDef job will require. He is part of the Frank Wolf-commissioned Iraq Study Group, and the game they’ll play is Regional Containment against Russian and Chinese designs on Mid-East oil.
Chaos in Iraq is not congruent with oil extraction, and the Baker Plan will seek to establish stability as quickly as possible. That means dealing with and buying off the Muslim stakeholders in the region whilst playing them off against each other. It worked in the past century, and it can work again.
All this will be in the Iraq Study Group paper. (”Wait and see” is about all I can offer.) Meantime, check out the Richard Haass article in Foreign Affairs, “The New Mideast.” The Haass article is the signal to the elite that the old game is curtailed, and it outlines the rules to the new one. The new game is still going to be dirty, just sneakier and hopefully more effective.
1,326 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizens Hamsher and Hardin Smith:
First let me say that you two absolutely ROCK and you are first line role models for my 2 collegiate daughters and my 3 little grandaughters.
Now,in the spirit of this post and the “rabid lambs”: NEVER FORGET – WE WILL NEVER FORGET
This “bipartisan” bullshit needs to be shoved firmly up Karl Rove’s ass…nobody is buyin’ it, not even the old wingnut Koolaiders. The Democrats need to get Rahm Emmanuel assigned to his new duties in the House page restroom before he can occupy another news cycle and then get the “first 100 days” agenda worked out and in front of everyone.
Nancy Pelosi is fully capable of keepin the troops in line long enough to get a legislative agenda accomplished and vetoed but the Democrats must seize the initiative. Also, the Gates nomination hearings should be on everyone’s dinnertime TV set as soon as the session starts.
ATTACK-ATTACK-ATTACK KEEP THE FAITH AND DON’T LET GO!!!
“Hi. My name is America, and I’ve been sober for one day.”
won; ‘dey outta time.
percy @ 39
Great line!
scarcrow,
Thanks. I knew I could count on you to summarize it all succinctly.
TeddySanFran @ 46
If you push the buttons just right, you can get any result you want. That’s why they want a recount.
As Christy stands up, they stand exposed.
Eureka Springs,AR @ 34
It’s a sign of how deep the Republican bench is that they managed to find a guy who was only almost indicted but was a material witness wrt to those who were indicted (and pardoned by Bush I).
Christy Hardin Smith @
9
Christy! Why’d you have to go and say that? ;)
scarecrow, great recap.
I think that Bush after the election is just trying to say something like: I call on all of us, to forgive, reconcile and shake hands. Or was that someone else?
sanitas at 63 — wondered when someone would catch that…*g*…it’s the lack of sleep and coffee fumes. Honest.
feakdaddy @ 53
20 miunte hearing and a vote. His car is parked in a handicap space andhe needs to move it.
MayDaze @33.
That is not good. That site was at 99. something% last night!
“Remember 11/7″
“Yon Rahm (and Joe) has a lean and hungry look”
And fwiw, have y’all noticed that Emanuel and Schumer share is a certain feral look about them? But especially Rahm.
We will certainly be getting a wonderful case study in sore loserdom by the junkies, whores and pimps.
Here’s the Pill junkie link.
Bush is such a loser that he can’t let bad news about him settle for one stinking day. Karl Rove still leads him around by the flaccid noodle.
It’s OK Rover, I am sure everyone has forgotten about your “The Math” quote.
-GSD
TeddySanFran @
21
You know, that story finished what was already done for me too (everything about these folks evokes Second Death, doesn’t it?). And Christy said why, really—it’s especially rude to me when adults take that attitude with young people.
DMM @ 45
Blame it on the underwear. (That’s so Haggard)
Gates is another example of why government officials must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law instead of being excused with “not enough evidence to prove they were lying.” Those involved in Iran-contra have come back to haunt us time and again in the second Bush era. Let’s just say we’re leaving Iraq shortly because Bush will not nominate a capable Secretary of Defense and the world simply cannot tolerate another Rumsfeld.
“Yon Rahm (and Joe) has a lean and hungry look”
Well, Joe does have the backstabbing part down cold.
Bush:
All that stuff about yous folks bein’ traitors and terrrists……
I didn’t realized I was gonna have to work with ya after the election.
Ooops.
-GSD
The Gates confirmation hearing can be the first test case for the Democratic members of the Senate to express their willingness to hold the executive branch accountable. In the last six years, the DOD has gained considerable power while ducking all attempts at accountability for the use of that power.
The Dems should use the confirmation hearings as the first “accountability moment” of many to come. Here’s a taste of what some nice questions might sound like:
1) As one who has headed the CIA, do you believe that information extracted by use of torture is credible? Put another way, does torture work, or do those who are tortured merely say whatever they think their captors want to hear?
2) As one who was part of the intelligence community of the executive branch during the Iran-Contra episode, you have a certain insight into the balance of powers between the legislative and executive branches. Given that experience, what are your views on the power of the executive to set aside the expressed will of Congress by using the cover of a “signing statement” instead of the constitutionally-vested power of the veto? Can the Executive branch simply ignore laws (or portions thereof) that they don’t like?
3) What are the limits, if any, of the military when it comes to seizing American citizens or anyone else and holding them indefinitely, without trial or even the filing of charges, without showing them the evidence being used to
justify their detention, and without providing them a recourse to challenge the legality of their detention before an impartial court?
There are so many other subjects to explore . . . Other questions, anyone?
Hayduke @ 67
Yeah, I’m wondering where they found all those lost precincts…
RevDeb @
11
Big Hug and Smooch!
Tucker,
I am not the user that used a cheesy Limbaugh bowtie for right wing auto-erotic asphyxiation for the past decade.
Bite me you loser. You are much less charming and astute than the Joey Scabs.
-GSD
Sorry if someone else already posted this, and did it better, but among the Republican zombies who now have to go home are those leaving the State Legislatures.
If you want to see the “blue tsunami,” look at the change in numbers of total state legislative seats (all seats in all state Houses and state Senates added together) and the number of total state legislative chambers (houses controlled by a party added together, whether House or Senate).
These numbers are not perfect. But they are a first cut.
The 2004 figure on the right is from http://www.ncsl.org/ncsldb/ele…..rsel=2006. It is actually the makeup on the eve of this election, not the results from 2004. (A small number of changes may have occurred during those two years, part way through.) And I omitted independents.
The 2006 figure on the left is from the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which works on gaining seats in state legislatures and keeping track of them. It shows what we know so far. Some races are undecided.
So take the precise numbers with a grain of salt, but the cake sure tastes sweet!
I see a shift of nearly 300 seats in state legislatures out of a total of about 7,200 — enough to shift control of about 10 chambers (out of 98 in 49 states, since Nebraska’s is nonpartisan).
Think of it another way: A shift of fewer than 5% of the seats changed control of 10% of the state legislative chambers.
Little things have big results, like the “buterfly effect.” And this year those butterflies causing storms were blue.
Reverand Al is smoking the pro war dems and the “consultants” on Tucker.
Christy:
Well, hell, it’s better than being Stuck in Lodi again. (if you have ever been there, you know what I mean. Had a burger there many years ago at 5:00 in the morning, with piles of shredded cabbage on it, yuk)
Monitors in place for provisional ballot counting in NC, Kissell:
http://www.fox21.com/Global/st…..8;nav=2KPp
Is the Gates nomination Bush’s first act of bi-partisanship?
Is he evil or tone deaf?
Peterr @ 76
Apart from the loss of life in Iraq, the most egregious problem has been the waste of taxpayer monies in DoD on privatized contracts of dubious provenance and possible cronyism. What are you going to do about accountability with regard to contract and procurement issues at DoD?
from Robert Perry Lost History (Part 2): The Devil & Bob Gates
http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/lost2.html
and much much more…
So are we gonna find the weapons now? Or just keep shipping more over there to be lost and then used against our troops?
We need to stop supporting the troops and begin to rescue them!
excuse my typo, Reverend Al @ my 81.
Hugh and scarecrow from a previous thread today:
To Baker, Israel has jumped the fence and is more part of the problem than the solution. So he will deal with Syria, and with Iran, and Olmert will be shaken up or shipped out. And as for the Kurds,
“U.S. building huge military airfield in Kurdish Iraq:”
http://www.informationclearing…..e15344.htm
TeddySanFran @ 12
The lamestduck of Senates is the next big Repug heist-fest on my horizon.
The Repugs will try to pilfer as many “Going Away Presents” for themselves as they can get away with.
Since Junya, Darth and Abu Gonzales et al are still on the hook for 20 to Life, one of those “Going Away Present” attempts will be the “Domestic Wiretapping w/o Warrant and Get Out of Jail Free cards” bill for Junya and his criminal cabal.
Again like the “Torture and Get Out of Jail Free cards” bill most recently passed, Junya desparately needs his Repug Congressional cronys to pass this bill, ’cause as Laura Belle is fond of pointing out to Junya, “Boy, ya ain’t allowed to pardon yerself!”
Hey! What a GREAT day!
We got da House, woohoo!
But anyway – don’t know if this is youtubed – Charlie Brown’s concession speech is here, click on the video. He really is gracious and classy. You should have heard the speech before this one – he brought everybody (staff and family) on the stage and thanked them for all they’ve done – there were tears and smiles and a lot of applause.
I just want to say that in the concession he said he will be back and taking on ConMan Do Little again, and I agree, he’ll be back and we will too. There wasn’t any feeling of sadness that anything was over because we are not going away, it’s just going to take a little longer in the Reddest District in California – and it was only by around 7,000 votes – less than 4% of the total votes. Charlie won in Nevada County where FDLer Donna lives – woohoo
Talked all night with LindaR and the last hour or two with Nate.
More later. Really gotta go to lunch.
Mahalo
MayDaze @ 77
Is it possible that the new count represents the “canvassing” that was to commence today? IF so, then Allen will have to make a decision very soon.
DMM @ 45
Tucker Carlson…? Oh, wait, I think I remember…he’s one of the little people, isn’t he…?
Christy Hardin Smith @ 9
How come this just seems so DIRTY? Is it just me?
Hey RevDeb & Scarecrow,
How was last night?
I wanted to go to Meriden, but after being at one of Danbury’s polling places for 15 hours last yesterday, I just didn’t have the energy. After the vote count I just went to my local headquarters for the election post mortem.
I had a wonderful time working with the Lamont campaign folks – and I hold Ned Lamont in such high esteem. He deserved better than he got from the Dem party.
I think anyone working on the campaign the last four to six weeks knew that he most likely would lose – but the fact that everyone kept going without skipping a beat, doing whatever they could to push him over the finish line, was inspirational.
Anyway, Tim posted this on the Lamont web site.
If there’s anything you’d like to say to Ned Lamont, just email info@nedlamont.com and we’ll make sure he gets to read your messages.
Are we gonna have some lame duck recipes this saturday? Pressed lame duck; plum lame duck, etc.
njr @ 78
Thanks. I needed that.
As happy as I am for the big picture result, my Ned tears finally came when I got home. The country is really missing out on having a great man serve us all. I’d work for Ned again in a heartbeat.
Peterr – Nice start. How about, if no solid (comprehensible) answers are provided, no confimation.
sofistic @ 95
how about cooked goose?
Next thing you know John Poindexter will be popping up.
Bipartisanship is the number one losing strategy right now. My Republican best friend voted for Democrats yesterday because he wants checks and balances and some accountability. Our newest house members are going to be in for a real short ride if they fall prey to the Emmanuel/Tauscher memes.
Christy, next time you go to DC, go are probably better off driving or taking the train! Don’t know where in WV you live, but it can’t be that far to I-70.
DiFi holding forth on tweety and she is wearing dangly hoops and a black sweater and talking ’bout the “emasculation of the american military.”
that is all.
DiFi on Tweety saying that W. had the Gates thing lined up and ready for today. She’s sounding like she’s not having it.
Democrats win by a landslide and the DOW is up Wallstreet likes us!
dead last @ 99
He’s been popping up enough that he ought to star in his own version of “Whack-A-Mole.” I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to sneak him into DoD, though. Undersecretary of Defense for Fucking With Citizens’ Rights….
Plame duck? Hey maybe Bob McNamara or McGeorge Bundy is available for SecDef? What about Melvin Laird? Can we dig up Allen Dulles?
CNN has a winner in PA08, Patrick Murphy, Democrat.
If you are watching the Webb race at the Virginia SecState, the reason there are suddenly a lot of unreported districts is that they are now entering the provisional votes. There are only a couple small districts that haven’t reported anything. Raisingkaine is all over it. snl sorry no linky, I’m just too tired.
grayslady @ 100
Agreed. It’s not like the Dems have to be as arrogant, condescending, and generally loathsome as the GOP have been to get the job done–but there is a job to do, and it isn’t going to get done by forgiving and forgetting. Tough but fair is what we need–not faux bipartisanship.
Where’s “Bombs Away LeMay”?
Twisted Martini @ 106
JohnSwifty @ 93
It’s just you. But we don’t judge.
montag @ 85
And Sir, what should be the limit to a Presidential pardon, having been party to a round of pardons yourself. As a former CIA dep. director, would outing one of your agents be a pardonable offense?
Robert Gates to return for Iran-Contra rerun at DOD? For a refresher course on the Reagan terror network and its direct application in 43’s regime, FDL book salon could check out NYU professor Greg Grandin’s “Empire’s Workshop” (Metropolitan Books, NY, 2006, ISBN 0805077383). For a quick refresher, see http://www.democracynow.org/ar…..11/1446202. Maybe Nicaraguan President-Elect Daniel Ortega can write in with reminiscences! Just like old times, only scarier.
We need to acknowledge all of the Dem candidates that did not win. I worked for Bill Durston who ran for Congress in the third district of CA. A good man who ran against Dan Lungren. Lungren is a life long jerk and rude to boot. Bill Durston worked along side of McNerney and
Brown. At some point in time the three of them will be working together in Washington.
I am proud of having been part of this race. And I am once again proud of my country.
dab @94
Why do you say that those working for the campaign felt it was unlikely Ned was going to win? The polls? The fact that the Beltway types were deliberately ignoring Ned? Any insights?
Twisted Martini @ 106
And for best comeback of the post-war period… John Foster Dulles’ Ghost.
Bet Al Haig is avaiable too!
dead last @ 99, I believe Poindexter already popped up. Forget where he is now squirreled away in the government.
also
Representative John Dingel (D-Michigan) was interviewed on CNBC today and that man had a list of things to do that made me proud. He’s been doing a lot of thinking and prioritizing to get the House in order. Go, John!
scarecrow at 1:43 pm
LMAO.
montag @ 115
Edwin Stanton – but only if Iraq turns into a “real civil war.”
EvilDrPuma @ 108
Nicely said.
Ed Gilloserspy on Tweety.
Spearheading the Sore Macacaman campaign.
-GSD
This administration keeps going to the retreads, like bad Gilligan’s Island reunion specials.
montag @ 115
General Westmoreland for Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Yes!!!!! I was able to see Ned on Monday at the Danbury rally. It really was his farewell appearance – we all knew it.
I had to get up this morning after five hours sleep and drive up to MA to a client engagement. I haven’t had the time or space to cry yet. It will probably hit this weekend.
RevDeb, I’m sorry we didn’t get to meet – I so enjoyed spending Saturday evening with selise, scarecrow and SharonW. I’m sure we’ll cross paths some day – hopefully sooner rather than later.
{{{{sad hugs to all my fellow Lamonters}}}}
tuneforg @ 104
Wall Street likes divided government, no wait, LOVES it ; )
I think a HUGE shout out is in order for Angie Paccione, who lost CO-4 to Marilyn Musgrave by a slim 7000 vote margin. Musgrave’s bigoted stench will still waft across the House floor but at least her hatred spewing voice will not be heard.
montag @ 115
Would that then be plame duck foster? With rum? On fire?
Listening to the George presser from earlier today on C-Span one. He actually said something to the effect that the midterms “should” have been decided on the strength of the economy, and the economy is going gangbusters thank to his tax cuts. But, I suppose, because American voters are weak, we overlooked all the great things he’s done for our pocketbooks and instead allowed ourselves to be misled by the inherent challenges in fighting a war… any war. Geeesh. He’s hopeless.
Tha’s Ellen Tosser.
dab,
Sorry we didn’t get to meet. Frankly the party wasn’t very perky and it was mercifully short. We hung out with the CT bloggers for a while and then had a glass of wine to end the night with scarecrow, Kathryn, and LisaDawn. Had a great time getting to know Jen from Copenhagen. She’s one of Kos’ rescue rangers and a lurker here. Awesome that she came all that way to help out Ned. Folks came from all over.
Speaking of zombies, Dr. K is on CNN with Wolfie right now.
Somebody forgot to nail the coffin shut on Nosforatu again!
Mary McCurnin @
113
sorry forgot to reference – see my comment at 126(ish)
Hateful Kissinger.
War Criminal.
It depends on whether or not Lieberman wants to hold the executive branch accountable, and I don’t think that he does. All Lieberman needs to do is threaten to go Republican if the vote doesn’t go his way and the Dems loose the Senate.
Heckofajob Chuckie.
Blub @ 128
Sour grapes from the Uniterer.
Somebody tell me that Agnew is dead.
montag @ 105
Poindexter is already in charge of Fucking With Citizens’ Rights. He’s the guy who’s listening to the phone calls and sniffing the emails, and I’m sure he’s doing his usual excellent job. (Hi, Admiral!)
neurophius @ 123
That would, no doubt, cause morale to take an even greater nosedive among the troops in Iraq.
It brings up a good question, though. With Rummy gone, who is going to come in and clean out all of his yes-men? Pace, Schoomaker, the Bloody Christian, Jerry Boykin?
I don’t know who said this, but it’s certainly stuck with me:
A centrist is someone who, faced with the choice between cake and death, opts for a cookie and an amputation.
Maybe someday when we have two political parties who represent the left and right sides of the political spectrum with honesty and integrity, it will again be admirable to seek a middle ground toward the center. Until then, they can stick their cookies and their amputations up their inside-the-Beltway asses.
Nope, no similarity to Vietnam sez Dr. K.
angie @ 140
That’s not what he was saying a month ago. Sheeez.
nicemonster @ 126
I’m sorry to say Minnesota is sending Michelle Bachmann from the 6th. She’ll hear, smell and lap up any hate filled putridity in a five mile range. I fear a harmonic convergence of evil may be imminent.
Is it or is it not the law that there is a recount in Virginia?
DMM @ 45
Tucker has so many issues, not least being he can’t tell the difference between Quickstep and Foxtrot.
The hell with Tucker. I want to thank Christy, Jane, TRex, Paracutec and all the FDL family for creating one of the best blogs around.
angie @ 140
Indeed, no, he would think. His wealthy clients in the Middle East weren’t interested in Vietnam.
angie @ 140
The funniest thing I’ve heard today is that Bush said Rumsfeld’s resignatio had nothing to do with the election, or words to that effect.
Sorry, don’t have a link.
SPEAKER PELOSI on MSNBC now.
Oh, and, while this may be OT, my first experience as an election judge, inspired directly by this post by Pachacutec, went swimmingly! I’ve become so cynical about our political process that to participate in the civic exercise of an election at the neighborhood level was probably the best anodyne for my frayed nerves. We turned in about 370 countable ballots, and, at the end of the day, our count of ballots accounted for was only off 801 to 800. Our scanner jammed about three hours in, so we were doing paper ballots into a ballot box most of the day. I highly recommend volunteering at your local registrar of voters for firepups who want to become more involved.
Raph Levien @
139
Raph, it may have been British comedian Eddie Izzard (”I’m an executive transvestite”). He has a skit in which he goes on about the choice between cake and death for some time.
dab from CT — I left you a response about umpteen threads back. Here’s the gist:
(((((dab from CT)))))
I’m convinced we probably did all we could, but it just couldn’t be, given the obstacles put up by a uniquely dishonest Lieberman, a lazy press, the powers of incumbency and the betrayal by the national Congressional leadership. I’m really proud of what Ned did, and have no regrets whatsoever for the effort. He ran a good campaign, and I’m proud he did not change just to win. We have to change the conditions that led to his loss, not ask him to change who he is — a fundamentally decent man who would have made a fine Senator. I would do this again.
I didn’t go to the wake; guys retreat to caves to lick their wounds. lisadawn found me, so we commiserated for a while and watched the national returns, until the Ladies Auxiliary showed up with the wine. Rowdy bunch; eventually had to throw them out!
It was great meeting you.
MayDaze @ 60
A few points:
1. Although the machines don’t have a paper trail, they apparently can produce a record of each individual ballot cast. Yeah, I know, that’s pretty meaningless if you want to verify that the votes are actually what the voter intended, but arguably it’s something. (Unfortunately for Macacawitz, that something is unlikely to show thousand-vote changes during a recount.)
2. Based on the AG recount last year, a “recount” won’t do anything more than check that all the per-machine totals were recorded correctly unless Allen’s campaign shows evidence of wrongdoing or error. There are still a few areas that do not use electronic voting machines, but they’re all places where Allen’s support is stronger, so it’s unlikely he’d want to accuse the election officials there of wrongdoing.
3. The members of the State Board of Elections were appointed by Democrats. Local election officials may be Ds or Rs, but the state board won’t let anyone “just push buttons” to make things come out in Allen’s favor.
4. There were some surprisingly large errors discovered during the canvass (certification of results) last year, but by “surprisingly large,” I mean that there were a few on the order of ten or fifteen votes, excluding the single biggest, which was a precinct where someone had a dyslexic moment and punched in “170″ as “071″. Election officials do a good job here, and the total adjustment last time, even with that 170->071, was less than 300 votes. No way is it going to shift by thousands from the unofficial total, if it hasn’t by the time the unofficial count is in for all the precincts.
5. Allen is screwed.
Breathe, everyone.
EvilDrPuma @ 135
I think most folks disbelieve that the economy is good or great (gooder service!). Most folks can see that the economy suc*s. Just cuz wonderboy and his minions say it – don’t make it so. Its great for Texaco and haliburton, dyncorp, et al, but that’s about it. Even the real estate market has hit the skids. Everybody woho wants to buy (who can buy) is waiting like vultures for the pending forclosures.
Murphy wins in PA acc to the beard.
grayslady @ 114
Yes, yes and yes.
The energy shifted in August when Clinton was on Larry King Live and threw Ned under the bus. When he said either way a Dem would win in CT – it pulled the rug from under the campaign. How do you fight an 18 year incumbent who is allowed to say that he is more valuable to the party than you are? The Dem leadership certainly did not correct Lieberman when he used his seniority as a major selling point. All else was irrelevent to residents of CT.
I heard a great analysis on NPR this morning. The race was essentially between two Dem “moderates” who differed on one major issue. It was also clear to many in CT that the Dem party was not being supportive of Ned.
That’s not discounting that I think his campaign made some serious errors in judgement – like basically running no ads in August & September, letting Lieberman define him, and thinking the debates (between an experienced and an inexperienced debater) were going to undo all the damage done in Aug & Sept.
All the commenters this morning agreed that his numbers had started to climb after the first debate and if he had had two more weeks, or had the debates earlier, it may have made a big difference. Apparently the Lieberman camp saw this as a much closer race in the final week (their internals were tightening) and they were nervous about last night.
But would have, could have, should have…it was a wonderful campaign to be involved in and I will go to the grave being devoted to Ned Lamont.
Jonah Goldberg:
Should probably invite Ted & Mark along too.
It’s after 5 p.m. in Virginia. Any word from Macacaloser?
Throwing a piece of rotten meat to the hungry lions… This toss would not have been made at all if they had held the house. It may be expedient, but it is not satisfactory.
neurophius @ 156
don’t you mean PRESIDENT macacaloser?
heheheheheheh
On 13 Feb 02, (Big Brother) Poindexter was appointed Director of the Pentagon’s Information Awareness Office which was created by the Pentagon after 9/11 to gather intelligence through electronic sources like the internet, phone and fax lines.
MayDaze @
33
From what I can tell, that’s just because they’re starting to look at provisional/conditional votes. They count those in aggregate as a separate precinct for each county. These pseudo-precincts weren’t part the earlier reports, but now they are. Nothing has changed for any of the real precincts that already reported.
neurophius @ 156
official site here
http://sbe.virginiainteractive.org/index.htm
sanitas @ 155
Hmmm, sounds like something the Doughy Pantload would like to get in on….
Oh my gosh. Presser again. Shrub, suggesting that he expected a better electoral outcome: “When I saw the polls, I THOUGHT the American people would understand the importance of taxes and the importance of security.” (emphasis mine)
I guess we didn’t. We’re just all too stupid for him. We just don’t get it. I don’t believe this crap. Sour grapes is one thing.. this man is insufferable.
Right on, Jane.
The common good way before common ground (especially when it’s for ‘common ground’s’ sake alone). And accountability before we start blundering down another path to nowheresville because of yet more bad, unthinking government policy. That is one objective the Democratic Party is now in a position to achieve, on its own, without any help from Bush or the Republicans: oversight, investigation and the accountability that it brings for the wrongs that have been committed against the American people by their own government.
If the Democrats now want to worship being non-partisan or bi-partisan, they should and must do it in the name of the democratic process. Nancy Pelosi is making sounds in that direction (she’ll be “Speaker of the House” not Speaker of the Democratic Party), but she is in danger of going overboard to embrace, or at least enable, bad ideas and corrupt process in the name of that bipartisanship (a la Lieberman). How does she hold her caucus in line if she’s telling the world partisanship is bad? The blue dogs will be bunking with the Republican bullies in no time, using Pelosi’s own words to do so. Or by using those of Rahm Emanuel, who said on NPR today that ‘there are no Democratic or Republican ideas, just good ideas and bad ideas.’ That’s all well and good, provided you also have a unified caucus behind you when the other side’s bad faith returns in spades. Pelosi should work with anyone who meets her halfway, but work against, or around, those who don’t.
Any progress toward reducing the power of the two-party-system stranglehold on this nation is a plus, but as Ned Lamont said, the bottom line must be results for the common good, arrived at through the full and open debate of the democratic process.
sanitas @ 155
A little Foley Therapy.
-GSD
Blub @ 163, many of so understood the importance of taxes and security that we voted against Bush which he didn’t understand.
If the American people had wanted common ground, love, peace and harmony with this president, they would have voted Republican last night.
“When I saw the polls, I THOUGHT the American people would understand the importance of taxes and the importance of security.”
yep, that’s right, wimpy chimpy: first i want to pay more taxes, then i want to be blown up.
it’s really the only thing that will make me happy. forget the constitution, accountability, oversight, ending the war in iraq and all that rubbish. tax me and blow me up. please.
Blub @ 163
Sounds like a fairly pathetic attempt to turn the debate after the fact. The fact that he had Rummy teed up and ready to fire off into space tells me he knew what the real issues were. This is little more than amateur sleight-of-hand. Very much in character for the now unfortunate son.
dab@154
Thanks. I’m sure all of you had a much better feel being on the ground and hearing the backroom conversations. My heart is still broken. I considered this the most important race in the country.
What do these two sentences have in common?
No planning for winning the peace in Iraq.
No planning for losing the election in the US.
raven @ 143
When the official results are in, a candidate may request a recount if the margin is less than 1%. if it’s less than .5% or if the loser wins the recount, the state pays the cost of the recount. Otherwise the candidate requesting it pays.
But with current machines, it’s also not a real recount. Unless you can show evidence of problems in a precinct (other than “I shoulda won”), it’ll just be checking again to make sure each machine’s total was recorded correctly and they add up to the total for the precinct.
In all the fun last night, I didn’t see this until now. I know someone said we shouldn’t pick on Little Ricky’s kids, but c’mon this is funny.
MarcLord @
88
Another aerial evacuation point/way to shorten the supply line until the main force leaves? Looking back before 2003, I think even a lot of the big oil folks (not Halliburton, but the actual oil men) did not agree with the idea that the best way to control Mid-East oil was by planting several American divisions on top of it.
As of the Vanity Fair pre-release, I think even Cheney could figure out he was in deep shit all of a sudden—didn’t he say something about not knowing in advance that all those neocons were dumping him like a prune overdose “changing their minds” about Iraq? Now with Rum being fired, Bechtel skying up, and moves that might lead to a much lighter force in Iraq, he must really have his cardiologist on speed-dial.
Mary McCurnin @ 2:09 pm (#113)
I tried to do that in an earlier thread. To me, the best thing about this election was that I found a way to support good candidates all over the country, and some of them won! Most didn’t, and I suspect that will be true every year, but I think if we keep at this long enough we can start getting our country back.
So thanks to Diane Benson, Lois Murphy, Coleen Rowley, David Mejias, John Laesch, that Ned guy, and all the other progressives who didn’t quite make it, because you changed things for the better just by being part of the process.
BTW, just got an email from Webb’s campaign basically repeating the theme he won and thanks for the support let’s move on.
angie @ 153
Patrick or Lois?
UptownNYChick @ 173
They sat together for a while, holding his dead political dreams in a fluffy blaket…
Patrick Murphy is what I heard, Cujo.
True tales of cocktail weenies (via Salon):
What a man of integrity (not!)
raven @ 143
Only if the candidate requests it. TPM Cafe has a little primer on recounts.
montag @ 169
ARedshift @ 172
Allen hopes to pull a macaca out of his redneck arse. Welcome to America, kid!
So there really isn’t much point in bitching about what’s going on right?
When the official results are in, a candidate may request a recount if the margin is less than 1%. if it’s less than .5% or if the loser wins the recount, the state pays the cost of the recount. Otherwise the candidate requesting it pays.
But with current machines, it’s also not a real recount. Unless you can show evidence of problems in a precinct (other than “I shoulda won”), it’ll just be checking again to make sure each machine’s total was recorded correctly and they add up to the total for the precinct.
dharmarific @ 84
That’s not an either/or question… *g*
Thanks, Scarecrow. I thought about you guys in Meriden and wondered how the wake was going.
I was glad to spend an hour or two with some of the campaign folks and volunteers based in Bethel. The union guys were awesome – talk about fighting the good fight. People were drinking beer and making jokes about the obnoxious coverage by Channel 8, and cheering for Chris Murphy (it was sweet that he beat Nancy Johnson to a pulp after the kind of campaign she conducted).
There are wonderful progressives out there across the country who care about the direction the Dem party is going in. And thanks to Dr. Dean, we have built an amazing infrastructure for developing campaigns and GOTV.
Screw Rahm and the Washington cretins who want to take credit.
Iran-Contra. What an artful scam that meme is.
There were two totally seperate USG operations in the early-mid 80’s: the operation to provide arms to both sides of the Iran-Iraq War; and the guns ‘n coke running operation of those connected to the Nicaraguan contras.
A connection between them was ginned up to cover them both up.
Does this make you reach for Reynolds?
http://www.fair.org/extra/8910/north-banned.html
In 1989 the Costa Rican government announced that former high officials in the American government were persona non grata due to their setting up a drug smuggling operation on Costa Rican soil.
This story was only covered in one MSM outlet, IIRC: the Washington Post, on page A23 in the international notes, July 27, 1989 (IIRC).
Tin belongs in our drinking water, not on our heads.
Craig in VA @ 160
Thanks, Craig. Angie and I were wondering what was going on.
Rummy’s resignation has replaced the Dem takeover of Congress as the top story on CNN. Tell me that was not part of the Bush WH equation when they did it. The MSM is so complicit in their agenda, it’s truly sickening.
>If “common ground” means letting the swindlers and villains off the hook, I just became a law’n’order fanatic.
David Schuster MSNBC on VA story now
Redshift @ 2:38 pm (#184)
To President Bush, bipartisanship has always meant we all agree to do things his way.
raven @ 183
I don’t think so. The useful thing we can do is to push the news media to cover the dirty tricks done to help Allen (we don’t know yet whether they were coordinated by his staff who have a history of dirty tricks, or just done by the national GOP on his behalf.) One of the theories about what would discourage Allen from pursuing a recount that is unlikely to succeed is that it would put the result on hold with no real news for serveral weeks, so there’ll be nothing to do stories on except how race was run. And on the GOP side, it’s an extremely ugly picture.
CNN — Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi just gave the most intelligent, gracious and non-threatening interview to Wolf Blitzer. Pure class.
I’m sure it scared the hell out of the wing nuts that she sounded so reasonable.
btw, I guess we can now retire the slogan, “no matter what happens, it’s good for the Republicans.” Losing isn’t.
Schuster says we should know the VA results (canvassing) within the next one or two days.
Raven @183
Maybe that’s going to be Macaca’s strategy. Demand a useless recount, then sue alleging that the state is violating its own re-count law by being physically incapable of counting each ballot. Notwithstanding that it was his party that wanted paperless voting in the first place…
“Bush’s Hell Starts Today” From the Telegraph, UK.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new…..ose108.xml
Let me guess — Virginia has a republican Sec. of State who controls the machines. And now the machines are going backwards. And mysterious precincts are becoming uncounted.
Yup, they are messing with the machines. Webb should put people into all the meetings and watch them like a hawk. Pretty soon, Webb will be losing by big bunches. They really don’t want to lose Virginia.
Grandma Pelosi was awesome with the beard.
wow.
Fox News Makes Up New ‘Minority Speaker’ Position For Defeated Conservatives
Cujo359 @ 191
Yup. And the oft-reported “he values loyalty” means he expects you to be loyal to him, but he’ll throw you under a bus in an instant if it’s to his advantage.
And his idea of bargaining isn’t “you give me something I want, I give you something you want,” it’s “you give me something I want, and I let you be in the front row of the photo-op the next time you give me what I want.”
I just heard a caller on a radio chat show make an interesting point. He suggested that the Senate should not hold hearings on the nomination for Defense Secretary until after Jan. 1, when the Democrats who control the Senate agenda will have subpoena power. We can live with an interim secretary until then.
prostratedragon @ 174
Umm, I disagree. The “big airfield” in Kurdistan is a fall-back position to having troops thrown out of Iraq. Kurdistan is virtually autonomous and is already making oil deals on its own. They’ve also been quite friendly with the Israelis. It’s a way of keeping US forces in the Middle East, which has been US policy since 1990, and protecting oil interests in that region. Such a base can be resupplied via air routes over Turkey (Turkey needs moral support for entry into the EU, and will do what the US wants, within broad limits, for a little help to that end). Expensive, yes, but worth the costs, in the estimation of the neo-cons.
It’s also right on the edge of Iran, which makes it one more “lily pad” for staging an attack on that country.
Bush may have lost his mandate, and Rummy is gone, but the ultimate aims remain the same.
new thread
angie @ 198
She has a beard? Who knew.
moe99 @
188
Anything to get Karl Rove’s monumental disaster of a fuck-up off of the news.
Karl Rove is the personal architect of the worst political massacre in a generation.
Karl Rove is no genius, he’s a clown.
-GSD
Oh the hits keep on coming (oops)
from Albany paper
Karma is just so much fun.
Best quote of the day, yesterday…
I was standing next to one of the Lieberman volunteers (who was a lovely person) and some guy drove by us, shouting out his window.. “I held my nose and voted for Joe.”
The Lieberman volunteer and I just looked at each other and started to laugh.
I had been really apprehensive about being in proximity to the Joe folks – it turns out for no reason. First of all – there were only two volunteers throughout the day. Second, they were both lovely people who had their own reasons for supporting Lieberman. Third, I felt sorry for them, they had to wear those ridiculous sandwich boards with a vote Joe diagram on it.
Lou Dobbs calls on Senator Allen to graciously concede, “for the good of the country.” What goes around . . .
sofistic @ 204
hehehehe.
I wuz talking about the wolfman blitzer, silly.
Undersecretary of Defense for Fucking With Citizens’ Rights
Always Poindexter’s portfolio, wherever you find him.
dab
sending you e-mail right now.
GrandmaJ @ 197
Nope. Virginia voting is governed by the State Board of Elections, not the Secretary of State, and they’re appointed, not elected. Since we’ve had two Democratic governors in a row, no matter the length of their terms, they should all have been appointed by Democrats.
Trust me, they won’t let them mess with the machines. As egregious said, the only reason the percentage reporting went down is that they’re now including provisional ballots, which are only validated and counted if they might affect the result.
Keep calm, everyone.
Mary McCurnin @
113
Ladies? Sunday thread?
Okay gang, have another quick call and then I’m on my next flight. You guys play nice until I see you in the morning. And thanks mucho from me as well. We truly have the best damned community in the blogoverse.
Since this all happened this a.m. (Rumsfeld leaving, Gates coming) has anyone on our befuddled media even mentioned his history with Iran Contra?
I believe us toobz inhabitants should say Gates =Iran Contra with every email, phone call, and blog post just to get that idea into the public’s mind. I do not believe that anyone has forgotten that mess. I believe Kerry might be very conversant on it.
prostratedragon @ 174
The cardiologist might just block his call.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 214
Bon voyage, Christy. Way to go. (Dunno about playing nice, I’m feelin’ pretty frisky.)
Once again, Redshift has calmed my nervous nellies troubled thoughts. I just can’t quite get over that it is still true today that we won both House and Senate. I keep expecting the worst.
Let’s see. Back there in 2002 the DEMS were
being “bipartisan” pretty much always. So
how were they rewarded for that during the
2002 elections? And in 2004 who got the
“Mr.Bill” treatment again despite being lame
oppositon party and plenty bipartisan? So now
in post 2006 election world Bush wants to play
nice all of a sudden? When just the other day
he was throwing big shovels of mud at DEMS on
who loves the terrorists most? Jumping Geesus
if DEMS fall for this crap now again they ARE
a bunch of maroons. As for the DC DEMS and the
big push to “find the center” and be willing
to hold hands with GOP and BushWorld freaks
I hope that line of bogus and DC DEM thinking
is fully discredited soon. It is certain the
Corporate Party and it’s K Street minions want
to get things tamped down nice and quick. Rahm
and Chuck directly fronted for JOE LIES being
able to slither back for six more years. Well..
the GOP helped out too. Did that stink or what?
In six months time things should have settled
out in DC well enough for a sounding of where
November 7th lands on the boardgame DC Monopoly
and who’s where and who’s got power and who
got the big shove off. Who got spine and who
got all jello-like. The Decider is already
gaming today’s headlines. Rummy Done. And out.
DEMS…either get with it or get run over.
Again.
Redshift @ 212
Thanks, I’ll redeem the bus ticket soon.
Lou Dobbs calling on Allen – pretty funny.
montag – “It bothers me that Bush would even consider a spook (although they are showing up in all the nooks and crannies of government these days) for DoD.”
It completes that weird yin-yang thing from appointing a General head of the CIA (remember Gen. – why should a uniform and an oath stand in the way of fibbing to Congress – Hayden)
Bob “Scooter” Gates has a memory problem.
OTOH – if Congress blocks him, what if Bush names Leiberman? Then there’s the double screw of also losing the Senate majority.
Leiberman is a spoiled spoiler and Reid and Schumer own him as their problem.
Peterr @
76
What, in your opinion, is the legitimate use of US troops with respect to US citizen in the US? How do you interpret posse comitatus? If the presidents orders to you should ever conflict or appear to conflict with the Constitution, what would your response be?
We know the answer to this one:
If the presidents orders to you should ever conflict or appear to conflict with the Constitution, what would your response be?
Get a memo from Haynes & Gonzales.
Works every time.
scarecrow @
193
Is this gonna be on C&L? Let me know, I’d like to send it to a right leaning friend of mine.
A Senate Democrat should put a hold on any Gates’ nomination…until Democrats actually are in control of the Senate come January…and can chair the nomination hearing…hearings at which they can grill Gates extensively (and under oath) about everything including…about Iran/Contra and (due to his extensive CIA contacts) where the Bush administration has Osama bin Laden under lock and key (and being tortured?) after his capture two months ago.
Hey, Saddam Hussein’s pre-Nov. 7th sentencing was only good enough for midterms. News about Osama bin Laden’s capture (or killing) is pre-presidential election material. Therefore, Karl Rove’s and the Republican’s October Surprise for October 2008 will be a “shocking” announcement involving Osama bin Laden.
And this is one of the reasons why Gates was selected as Rumsfeld’s replacement…to keep a lid on this ultra top-secret internment…because you see, bin Laden must be being held at a U.S. military facility, but his handlers are CIA…probably the U.S. military facility at the island of Diego Garcia in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
Thus, Gates’ former CIA experience in combination with his heading the Pentagon go hand in hand with keeping as few people as possible “in the know” about bin Laden being captured and detained somewhere by the Bush administration…until the “right” moment arrives for releasing this information.