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His Imperial Codpiece pulled the nomination of major Swiftboat donor Sam Fox as Ambassador to Belgium last week because “his nomination would not have passed” the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Now he's using the incredibly short recess to make…you guessed it..a recess appointment.
The sole Democratic US Senate holder from the state of Connecticut, Chris Dodd, cries foul:
"It is outrageous that the President has sought to stealthily appoint Sam Fox to the position of ambassador to Belgium when the President formally requested that the Fox nomination be withdrawn from the Senate because it was facing certain defeat in the Foreign Relations Committee last week. I seriously question the legality of the President's use of the recess appointment authority in this instance. I intend to seek an opinion on the legality of this appointment from the General Accountability Office and invite other Senators to join with me in that request. This is underhanded and an abuse of Executive authority — sadly this behavior has become the hallmark of this administration."
Dodd is also the first Presidential '08 hopeful to co-sponsor the Reid-Feingold bill. As Jeralyn says, "this is the way to step up."
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DELBERT!
Jane! Senator Dodd! The good people of Conn!
Belgium will be polite?
Harriet Miers must be feeling shafted, and rueing that the Supreme Court doesn’t allow for recess appointments
Everyone else gets one, it seems
The only thing that surprises is me is that I’m not surprised by this. And that just a shame.
Impeach Fox. I think most Senators would go along. It’s a quick and dirty, just like his recess appointment.
Is it wise for the Idiot-in-Chief (IIC) to do an end run around the Senate?
They seem to really detest having their prerogatives usurped.
The IIC seems like a child poking a hornet’s nest with a stick — I suspect that if he truly angers the hornets, they’ll urge their fellow House members to remove the problem.
Can you say impeachment, boys and girls?
I knew you could.
I can just imagine Fox smiling through gritted teeth and saying, “Thanks, asshole! How long will I get before I’m tossed out on my face?”
When he pulled Fox’s nomination I had a fleeting thought that he might do this, then said, nah, even Bush is not that stupid. I stand corrected, and I hope this turns into a huge foodfight with the senate. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving idiot.
EPU’d / OT
“The most FOOLISH American”
http://www.crooksandliars.com/…..ools-poll/
*according to Fox watchers
707
These people need to go, I am serious.
Apparently Mr. Mini Monarch does not see any problem continually subverting the processes put in place by actual law.
Any crooked shortcut will do.
I call bullshit.
After Bolton, you’d think he’d know better. But he simply doesn’t care. It’s ‘fuck you, America’ all the way.
He is the first “dry” drunk 12 year old to run his very own empire!
From AP Article:
“Bush also used his recess appointment authority to make Andrew Biggs deputy director of Social Security. The president’s earlier nomination of Biggs, an outspoken advocate of partially privatizing the government’s retirement program, was rejected by Senate Democrats in February”.
I find this recess appointment particularly more troubling than the Ambassador to Belgium. I do not want a Bushcrony messing with Social Security. Biggs was explicitly rejected by Congress. Is it just me or does anyone else feel like we are living in a Monarchy state?
This could be the source of all his problems.
Fur flys for fallen Fox flip-flop foolery. Flam at 11.
Linky reference is incorrect, Jane.
‘Twas Armando (BTD), not Jeralyn.
smapdi @
13
He is the first socially-promoted “dry” drunk 12 year old . . .
slainte,
cl
The real question is, when is the Senate finally going to say “enough is enough! We’ve had it with this a**h**e”, he has finally gone too far. Impeach the S.O.B.
Wanna be King George needs to be taken to the woodshed. Maybe, the congress needs to zero fund a couple of specific offices. Like Ambassador to Belgium and Deputy Director of Social Security. Just as a start and to respond to the little boy poking at the bee hive.
smapdi @ 13
I suspect that he’s not so ‘dry’ these days, if one is to believe the scuttlebutt, and listen to him talk…
SeamusD @ 19
Chris Dodd believes that this is it and is asking (I believe) GSA or maybe OPM for a ruling on the legality
Congress needs to use a new word, not recess. No recess until Feb ‘09
What is the definition of recess? My understanding is that recess appointments are to make necessary emergency appointments and spring from the days when our Congress was more part-time (like no planes).
If one week is OK, what stops PissyPants from declaring weekends recesses and installing whoever he wants. Or nights.
I agree with the idea of defunding the Belgium Embassy. No $$ for cleaning and electricity etc will send a message.
This is not the same Congress as the Bolton fiasco. I think teh Shrub’s bitten off more than he can chew this time.
dakine01 @
22
Call me an idiot: It’s General Accountability Office (GAO). :})
Carolyn in Baltimore @ 24
Or lunch hours?
OT – CNN – army investigating the possibility that 2 soldiers killed in Ramadi were killed by friendly fire – cause of death was originally listed as “hostile fire”, then changed to “pending”
Now kiddos, don’t be harsh. Remember, on his way to Crawford, Junior warned Congress to get back to work. Bwahahahahaha!!
The man is beyond dangerous. He is beyond out of control.
Bring in the table and put impeachment on it!
Bush is talking to his tribe. He doesn’t give a shit about Fox, and however much he may want to privatize SS, Mr. Biggs is going nowhere. So what we are seeing here is doing one for the tribe. Someone made a comment on one post or another that the 30 percenters consider themselves to be a tribe. I think that the creation of a Republican tribalism is the great triuimph of Reagan/Gingrich/Rove. It’s what sets the old Republicans we used to know and have to live with from the new ones. The emotional rush of being part of the tribe is all they care about. Bush is a member of that tribe, too, and he just gave his people a big rush.
It’s sad and sick. And we have to live with it for just a little longer.
OT–My eyes are still burning from reading this exchange of emails — the recruiter is so racist and homophobic and evil…
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/….._0404.html
SeamusD @
9
Fox may be a smoke screen for the appointment of Andrew Biggs to Social Security.
Knut Wicksell @ 30
We can’t. Must not. Shall not. There is mortal danger here, to human beings and to America.
What is a sufficient number of bodies to constitute Congress being in session? Because I agree with whoever it was above who said (possibly being cheeky, but I agree) No. More. Recesses. None. Never.
IMPEACH!
1. Well….Dodd questions legality?? I’m not sure what the basis would be to make it “illegal”?
2. Somehow, I thought recess appts. were for Federal judge slots….I think I was/am wrong.
3. I seem to recall Clinton made alot of recess appts. for Federal judges.
4. ?? How long does a recess appt. last?
It’s more dirty pool by King George…but I’m not sure if anything can be done about it.
Ghostman
I think he’s delusional, since he seems to believe that anything he does is automatically (automagically?) okay, because he says so, regardless of all laws.
Please, can we declare him and Dick incompetent and get someone sane in charge?
Hey pups, speaking of plenty of work to be done, I’m about to set foot on the plane for trip # 30.
barbara @ 29
Get back to work and impeach these recess appointees– fitting that it happen while Bush is off the clock.
I suppose King Albert II of Belgium is too polite to refuse to accept Fox’s credentials, given the circumstances under which they were provided.
*sigh*
Look, if Bush wants to really be the unitary executive, and stretch the powers of his office beyond its proper limits, it is time for Congress to use its rightful powers to the fullest to slap him down.
Anything else would be an abdication of Congressional responsibilities.
That means using the power of impeachment early and often, not necessarily against the president himself, but against people like Fox, Gonzalez, and anyone else who can be reached by impeachment (Rove?)
Impeachment is simply a means of conducting a trial-like procedure in the Congress. It is like the truth generating power of the subpoena. But on steroids.
And we need steroids. We’re up against a coked up and juiced unitary executive. We need everything we’ve got. The power of impeachment is within the proper constitutional authority of the Congress. Let’s get started.
Egad, Lieberfuck’s ugly mug at the top of the thread.
Speaking of, we’re having tons of fun making Harold Ford, Jr. miserable over at TPM. I think he’s learning that the tactics he and his DLC buddies have gotten away with for so long are going to be zero help to him with the Netroots. Especially when he comes at us on our turf.
*xyz @ 40
Fine. How? First step is . . . ?
From Wikipedia -
President Theodore Roosevelt made several recess appointments during a one-day recess of the Senate.
Jax @ 34
…with a one-way trip to The Hague!
(without the use of a boat or plane, see step 21)
The Bushies are clearly manufacturing a gratuitous outrage to divert attention from bigger stuff.
barbara @ 42
Someone has to file the charges. I think some state leges can submit to the Congress, too.
Who’s up for it? That’s the question.
Goodluck Egregious, stay away from the polonium!
ralphbon @ 45
This is also true.
From a CRS document, “recess” is vague enough to mean anything longer than a long weekend:
ralphbon @ 45
You’re no doubt right. (Can you tell I’ve had WAY too much caffeine today??) Back to the Good Friday invasion. Or the Saturday atrocity. Or the Sunday thwacking. Or the Monday . . . . All of which makes me wonder if the Bushies are issued day of the week underwear so they can keep track of which dirty trick is dirty trick du jour.
Go Chris Dodd, that man gives me hope.
That’s it. No more recesses for Georgie.
ralphbon @ 45
Based on the SOP of this administration, I would totally and completely agree.
EPU:
allan_in_upstate @ 80
Whoa –I think that’s far more important than the ambassador. Now Bush has handed the Dems a weapon — “Bush tries an illegal end run on Social Security –is it time to put Impeachment on the table to send this guy a message that he has to obey the law and stop acting like a spoiled child and King?” I say, go for it.
dakine01 @
20
Exactly. And the OVP. Cheney can work from home on his freakin’ laptop.
barbara @ 50
I’d amend that to several sets of day of the week underwear, since they’re having to change them a lot more often now.
The recess appointment is a stick in the eye to Democrats.
Bush used to be able to get away with this when Congress was a Republican rubber stamp.
The White House hasn’t quite realized that every time he pulls this, there’s payback coming.
All he’s doing is steeling the will of Democrats.
A smart guy with some wisdom would find a better path…
Eureka Springs @ 23
This is profound. Huge. Somebody call Congress and explain this will happen every single time they declare a recess, and urge them to stick the junior most person in the chamber during vacations so that “recess” appointments can not happen.
egregious @ 58
Fortunately, we have a lotta juniors to go around. :)
Slothrop @ 57
*cough* ahem, I think you may be on to something.
Must Congress go into recess at all? Isn’t there some loophole in House and Senate rules where Reps and Senators could trade off staying in DC and doing whatever to keep Congress in session, while others return to their districts?
I understand that all presidents make recess appointments, but GWB’s have been particularly egregious. I find the Biggs appointment actually more offensive than Fox, in that he has already been rejected. And, as IrishJim pointed out @ 14, he’s in a position to mess with social security.
Pelosi Delegation includes one Republican
Henry A. Waxman
Tom Lantos of California,
Louise M. Slaughter of New York,
Nick J. Rahall II of West Virginia
Keith Ellison of Minnesota
David L. Hobson, Republican of Ohio
This is probably a great experience for Ellison.
egregious @ 58
Is that all it would take?? if so, then they should definitely do it! I mean, you’ve got Waxman writing letters; couldnt he just do it from the chamber part of the day?
ralphbon @ 45
As in the that country to the east of Iraq.
Carolyn in Baltimore @
24
It’s gotten to the point where, if I were Harry Reid, I’d just say no more recesses until the Republican Senators will guarantee no more recess appointments like this.
Those REpublicans like their vacations more than they like their Codpiece in Chief, you know.
God speed Egregious.
LJ/Aquaria,
Re sticking the juniormost Rep with holding the fort during recesses:
In the Washington area we feel sorry for freshman Congressmen. They have little power and so many people who want them to do something. They spend their days doing grunt work and their evenings and weekends raising money for the next election. Oh and the cost of living is sticker shock for most of them. All in all? We have pity for them.
IrishJim @
14
I’m wondering if the Fox appointment was just the shiny thing to divert attention from the SS appointment.
the criminal-in-chief rides again. soulless mass-murdering rapacious piece of shit. fuck the world for i am king.
Impeachment — is a function of the House of Representatives, so call your Represenative and tell them you want Cheney and Bush impeached.
Call your Senators and tell them the same thing, they can let the House know that they’ll be happy to convict the Bushies if the House will indict them.
I am convinced that what the House is waiting for is a groundswell of outrage from the voters, so that it will not be the House demanding impeachment, instead they will be acting by the will of the people.
Suggestion for Dems.. instead of recess.. call it freedom with our family…
Thank you Busted. There is so much corruption in hospitals in St.P that it was discussed by one of the main candidates for President when Putin steps down next year. We are fighting something truly evil there, and dare I say, here as well.
Godspeed to all of us.
Peterr @
39
Well, write him a letter and ask.
Royal Palace
Department………………
Rue Brderode 16 Brederodestraat
B-1000 Bruxelles – Brussels
Tel.: 32 (0)2-551.20.20
emptywheel @ 65
Marcy,
Did you have a chance to read Goodling’s lawyer’s REPLY to the committees?
It’s not going to happen but Sam Fox if he accepts his appointment becomes a civil officer of the government and could be impeached and removed.
Another possibility would be in the next fiscal year which starts October 1 to defund the embassy in Brussels until such time as an ambassador had nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. This of course won’t happen either.
Belgium refusing the ambassador would be majorly inappropriate. Probably, the recess appointment is fully legal, but kudos to Dodd for sticking it to him anyway.
neil @ 75
Why? It would be sweet if they took his credentials, looked at them, and politely asked where his Congressional confirmation was.
meanwhile, monica goodling’s
akin gump lawyer has offered
additional detail on the reasons
for her assertion of the fifth. . .
and, talkleft is running a pool on
the date and time for the resignation/
firing of alberto gonzales. . .
just fyi. . .
Congress will have to quit taking recesses….
I am just laughing at the petulance. What a child Bush is.
OT – Hugh, WTF is going on with gas prices? I filled up yesterday $3.60/gallon!!
ralphbon @
45
Look over there! The Shiny Shit approach. He’d much rather have a fight over this than have the news be about a globe-trotting and presidential Speaker Pelosi or the wilting Turd-juggler Gonzales.
-GSD
egregious @
67
I know it’s tough to be at the bottom of the totem pole. I’ve been a junior employee with the USPS for 7 years now–believe me, I know all about shit assignments and getting all the jobs nobody wants, working the crappiest hours, no personal life, and not having any say in the matter.
What I was saying above is that we have lots of them to go around, since we won so many seats.
I wasn’t that lucky.
Bush does have authority to make recess appointments but Congress should de-fund the Belgium Embassy. Swift Boat won’t have any place to park his butt.
I suspect Sam Fox will feel right at home amongst those small handed carny folk
;>)
over at muckraker
One expat is restless.
Give diplomacy a chance!
Open letter to: Any diplomats in Belgium representing all other countries.
From: America
Please don’t invite Faux-Ambassador Fox to any of your parties or functions when he gets there.
Thank you.
njr @ 84
Wouldn’t that be great.
boosh:
waaaaaaaah.
this recess appt was a schoolyard bully tactic.
nothing more.
the blowback is coming and it will slow nothing else down (Waxman, Leahy, Conyers and come on Rockefeller).
momentum is building and the floodgates have just started opening.
AZ Matt @ 73
Yup. I’m not surprised. And I still think there’s a chance she’s NOT angling for immunity.
On the McCarthy thing, to some degree the claim is understandable. AFAIK (the lawyers here will correct me) to the extent there is 5th Amendment protection for the innocent, it is rooted in McCarthy hearings.
But here’s the rub. Schumer all but said the other day that Monica Goodling was administering loyalty oaths (party oaths, of course) to AUSAs. So the irony is that she’s using the McCarthy precedent–in place to prevent a guy from taking loyalty oaths–to hide her own administration of loyalty oaths.
El Newto Gingricho.
Douchebaggo Maximo.
-GSD
2/14/09 seems too long, doesn’t it?
angie @
88
I wonder who will think that’s a dam shame… *g*
angie @ 88
At least they’ve been working, unlike you, Mr. I’ll-stay-on-vacation-
even-though-I-just-got-a-PDB-telling-me-it’s-not-if-but-
how-soon-Al-Qaeda-will-attack-America.
pwrlght @
83
Everyone call Dodd and recommend this advice, it is good.
I finally made myself watch the clip and just gotta ask, why in the world does joe bring religion into it???
And I am really sick of his smarmy ‘tripartisan’ line.
Give him the hook, Harry.
Kids, you’re missing a fresh thread upstairs.
New thread
It’s all so exasperating.
but I like this thread
Urban Pirate @ 80
A mild winter and good supply led to a decrease in both oil and gas prices. Then about a month or 6 weeks ago there was a big winter storm in the Midwest and Northeast with a couple weeks of exceptionally cold temperatures. This caused pressure on gasoline prices as the demand for heating oil increased. Crude oil prices also began to go up.
After this, inventories of gasoline never really recovered and the supply remained tight. In California, things were made worse by some refineries that went offline. Meanwhile, a kind of speculative fever took over with the seizure of the 15 British marines that pushed up crude oil prices to the $66-68 range. This had a direct impact on gas prices (which doesn’t always happen).
The Royal Marines will be released tomorrow so hopefully crude oil prices will ease. As for gasoline, supplies remain tight and with seasonal switching to other blends, price declines are unlikely to be large or lasting.
Thanks Hugh for the OT,
Awfully convenient that they dropped for the elections, and then went up $1 once the new Congress came into session.
I have noticed on several blogs that commenters think this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back–the thing that leads to impeachment fever.
I can’t see it. It is not that I consider Fox’s recess appointment low even for Bush/Cheney/Norquist/Rove. I agree this is a F-U gesture designed to get a rise out of Dems. But honestly, if insulting Dems this way were to cause impeachment proceedings, I would be forever embarrassed for Dems. No impeachment for true crimes, high crimes, misdemeanors or treason. Nope. Just a minor appointment labeled “abuse of power” (hit us where we ain’t–when were are out of town).
This is poking a stick at the bear.
I thought it was illegal to make a recess appointment when there was no nomination pending. The nomination was withdrawn, therefore NOT pending.
Is Dodd posing his question to the General Accountability Office, which does not exist, or the General Accounting Office, which does? Yeesh. He’s only been in the Senate for 30 years.
Eureka Springs @ 71
Good idea, and while they are at it, call Goodling’s “leave of absence” what it is, a way to stay on the payroll and be included under Bush’s ploy of “you can’t talk with my advisors” game. Don’t forget that she bows at his feet.
Something tells me that the Dems are going to have to play some real hardball.
Something also tells me that the Repubs might be forced to catch on real quick or be relegated to obscurity. The American public, though slow to the game, is catching on real quick.
OTOH I’d rather him funding caviar buys than bullshit buys.
Ghostman @ 35
Ghostman-
1. It’s totally legal. Though the founders never intended it to be used this way.
2. It’s applies to any presidential appointment that requires consent of the Senate.
3. Clinton did, in fact, make an almost identical appointment of James Hormel to be ambassador to Luxembourg (I think), of course Hormel was blocked by the GOP because, despite his qualifications, he was a dirty homo. This goofball is getting the job for being a loyal party-hack.
4. Until the end of the Congressional term. (Therefore basically the end of Bush’s term)
Yes, what’s so special about “recess”? Sen. Reid should decline to adjourn the Senate for any further recesses during the duration of this Congress. Bush and his lapdogs will howl and whine, but nothing says the Senate can’t say in continuous session.
What’s so great about recess?
LS @
86
Here’s a couple letter samples
Piet.Heirbaut@diplobel.fed.be
Mr Fox has been named US Ambassador to Belgium in a recess appointment when Congress was out of session. The Bush administration had already withdrawn his nomination when it had become apparent that he would face a difficult and possibly unsuccessful comfirmation process in the US Senate. It is insulting to many of the American people and no doubt insulting to the nation of Belgium that would be pushed through in this manner. Please request and read the transcripts of Mr Fox’s confirmation hearings before accepting him as our ambassador. I urge you to at least consider rejecting Mr Fox as an a representitive of the United States.
Dear People of Belgium,
We in the United States have been ashamed of many of the actions of our government in recent years. The recess appointment of Sam Fox to represent us in your lovely country is an insult to all of us. Please know that you have the support of many of us in roundly rejecting a man whose diplomatic skills are nil and who has a history of deviousness.
I apologize in advance for my French but…
Fucking asshole. Seriously. This fucker’s on a runaway train just barreling towards impeachment. I think he’s just trying ot get away with as much as he can. What a scumbag.
Bush made three outrageous appointments today. One a Republican Senate refused to confirm, one a Democratic Senate refused to confirm, and a third appointment, to be chief regulatory officer of OMB, someone who does not believe in regulation.
The President is only authorized to make recess appointments to fill “vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate”. None of these occured during the Senate’s recess, and arguably, the Senate was not in recess for the traditionally required ten days.
I regard these as patronage appointments essential to Mr. Bush’s retirement income. Somebody has to come up with those multi-million dollar speaking fees to hear someone who can’t speak.
More importantly, I regard them as a consequence of Mr. Cheney’s Iago-like whispering in Dubya’s ear while he was putting on his toy cowboy boots.
The Senate wasn’t rejecting an incompetent diplomat. It was controverting the holy writ of the unitary executive, which requires that the heretics be punished. It was also telling Dubya, so Mr. C would whisper, that he’s not really a man. Hence, these stick in the Senate’s eye appointments. Mr. C. must laugh at how easily he manipulates Shrub.
The Senate has several options. It needn’t defund the US embassy in Brussels, which is home to the EU and NATO. It can refuse funding for the ambassador and all his expenditures. Not much hardship for a mega-millionaire, but still. He won’t enjoy being laughed at or paying his own bills.
The Senate can also deem these appointments illegal, since the vacancies did not “happen during the recess of the Senate”, but before it went into recess.
It does need to come up with a suitable, proportionate response to remind Mr. Cheney that, though he may frequently lift his leg to mark his territory, there’s a new hunter in the forest.
Bush isn’t just thumbing his nose at Congress, he’s giving them the finger.
Bunghole. Arrogant, spoiled, frat-boy.
I’m certain the Belgian people will greet the lame-duck ambassador Fox with flowers and candy, or at least in a manner fitting for his recess appointment.
Fox’s un-American appointment is just as much a slap to the face of the Belgian people as Bolton’s recess appointment was a slap to the face of the United Nations and all the nations of the world.
Of course, lame-duck ambassador Fox probably won’t care how the Belgian people greet him, because his recess appointment is probably just “resume building” for some future role the Republicans, like Rove, have planned for him.
Which means he should be watched, well, er, um, like a fox.
We were talking about this over dinner and the question arose whether the Senate can recall an ambassador? Will go back to read thru the comments, in case someone else mentioned this.
Fox is a Rethug crony. This job is his payoff for being so kind to the nightcrawling Swiftboat liars. Kind of like making some nazi underling the assistant Protector of Bohemia u. Moravia during WWII. Fox will live in an Ambassadorial residence, and treated as if he were actually somebody, when he’s just rich. Nothing else to recommend him.
One thing about this — by pulling a typical Bush, our sainted leader is saying that the Swift Boaters were his kind of people — and that he rewards loyalty, by making good on some promise made to Fox. Bush is saying that to lie, to commit character assassination, to do *anything* is fine; even torture and mass murder — ask the 600,000 Iraqis who died during the ‘liberation’ of their country, or the 60,000 who’ve died since. Because loyalty to the will of the sainted leader is more important than truth, or the rights of humanity, or anything else.
Impeach, and indict. Send these people to the Hague.
I think we should pressure Sam Fox to respect the will of the people – the Senate said no. Bush understood that, and if Fox wants to add to the partisan bickering and give more power to the executive branch, then he can take to appointment. But if he wants to keep the Constitutional balance of powers and place a check on the executive branch, he should not accept the appointment.
I think the best strategy would be to flood Fox with letters appealing to his sense of Constitutional decency.
I could be wrong, but what a slap in the face Bush just doled out to all of us.