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NOTE: Looseheadprop prepped a fantastic piece to start the day today as a lead-in to the Comey testimony in the House Judiciary Committee. Comey's testimony begins at 9:30 am ET today. Unfortunately, we had a little hiccup, and the post went up yesterday afternoon by accident. So, please, take a little time and go back and read the wonderful post before the Comey testimony. You'll be glad you did.
For those of you awaiting James Comey's appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, it will be broadcast on C-Span3 today beginning at 9:30 am ET. And the lovely and talented Emptywheel will be liveblogging it for us while I take in the sights in NYC.
Had a great time grabbing some coffee and chatting with a number of great NYC FDL readers and the always beautimous Watertiger yesterday afternoon. It is always so fun to put faces and screennames together — and to my new coffee pals who are thinking about dipping their toe in the comments, please do — the blog will be all the richer with your voices added to the mix. Then, I went off to dinner with Looseheadprop and the adorable Littleprop. And, the best news is that my luggage finally arrived close to 10 pm ET last night. Boo yah — things are feeling better already. Now, where's the coffee? What is catching your eye this morning in the news and on the blogs?
I'll tell you what caught my eye: the DoJ is probing whether or not Monica Goodling used political affiliation as part of her hiring criteria. Well…duh. (This has been another edition…) She can cut that goody two shoes act any time now, don't you think? And is it just me, or does anyone else have that "witness tampering" feeling:
In newly released statements, the two alleged that they were threatened by Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty's chief of staff immediately before Gonzales testified in the Senate in January.
Paul K. Charlton of Phoenix and John McKay of Seattle said that Michael J. Elston called them on Jan. 17 and offered an implicit agreement of Gonzales's silence in exchange for their continuing not to publicly discuss their removals. Gonzales testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee the next day and refused to provide details about the firings.
"My handwritten and dated notes of this call reflect that I believed Mr. Elston's tone was sinister and that he was prepared to threaten me further if he concluded I did not intend to continue to remain silent about my dismissal," McKay wrote in response to questions from the House Judiciary Committee.
Elston's attorney, Robert N. Driscoll, said the calls were to reassure the two prosecutors that Gonzales did not plan to reveal their dismissals, which were not public then.
"Mike didn't intend to intimidate anybody," Driscoll said.
Two other fired prosecutors complained pointedly about Elston, according to the statements released yesterday.
Don't know about you guys, but the anticipation about what Comey will talk about during his testimony today just went up a few notches. And here are a few questions: When did this probe begin? Before or after there were rumblings about voting her immunity for Congressional testimony? Is Goodling the only one facing DoJ scrutiny on this issue? Do you hear a bus rumbling along at high speed, too?
Reader "WB" coined the "spontaneous termination" phrase — because it seems that no one at the DoJ is responsible for any of the termination decisions. Who did make them? Guess we'll have to keep digging…because executive privilege doesn't apply where there is a question of criminality. I'm just saying…
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Isn’t the sudden interest in Goodling in the DOJ really just a pretext to interfere with her testifying for the House?
With an ongoing investigation in the DOJ, the immunity that the House gave her would be meaningless, wouldn’t it?
Why else would the do it? It’s not like they’ve investigated anything else that stunk of criminal behavior.
When I read about Carol Lam and think about Patrick Fitzgerald, I have to wonder why not him? Special prosecutor status, so ably insulated by Comey? Could it also be that the intense scrutiny from this blog raised his profile high enough that it was deemed more risky? Is that hubris on behalf of this blog?
Seeing Hannity go after the blog (and no, I couldn’t watch all of it) has renewed my appreciation for the way this blog has found the pressure points and helped us understand them.
Christy and everyone,
You have no idea the withdrawal pains I am going through this week. All I can do is “drive by” with no time to read and comment, no CSpan, no Comedy Central!
But I am finding a great congregation of people with whom I share a vision and the blog evangelism territory is ripe!
I sure hope that all the hearings will amount to something other than kicking at a stone wall.
Have a great day everyone and take good notes for me.
Mornin’ Christy, hope you’re having fun in what
former mayor John Lindsey called Fun City. Lindsey also said that he was uncomfortable in the country, breathing air he couldn’t see.
Sadly, I’ll miss Marcy’s live blog as I’ll be traveling, but can’t wait to read it all tonight.
Mornin’ Christy! I’ve been out of it for five days – up in very rural Vancouver Island visiting family. Nice to come back to the sweet smell of oversight.
Sadly, every time I leave the country, Commander-guy is still in charge.
Enjoy NYC…and let us know when you get re-skedded.
Mornin’ Christy,
was asking about their motives wrt Goodling – IG/OPR ‘investigation’ downstairs – like everyone else, I simply don’t trust their motives on anything – swear to goodness, the NIH could find a cure for cancer and I’d be suspicious
link downstairs (thanks Margot) – they are now investigating Iraq Reconstruction IG Bowen – funny, their criteria sounds all too familiar (Yglesias anyone ?)
Reuters
I saw the Goodling piece on TPM this morning. My reaction to this:
was “Go figure”?!?!?! This was an intentional move to either taint or block her testimony. But then I thought, maybe Josh’s snark is just very subtle. Still can’t decide.
mornin’ Redd. getting all warmed up for Comey. Some reminders on liveblogging are in order, no? No extraneous comments. Strictly limit one-liners. Feed the kitty. What else?
forgot to add this question -
if in fact Goodling is being investigated for Hatch Act violations – why isn’t that being handled by Scott Using My Religion Bloch ??
didn’t Yglesias file his complaint with Bloch’s group b/c it’s the office for Hatch complaints ???
I found this little nugget at coolaqua.blogs.com about Congressman Dave Reichert from Washington state through http://www.washblog.com.
It’s a short and interesting read. What would really be nice if we were able to tie Congressman Dave Reichert to the USA purge and give Darcy Burner a better chance at winning his seat.
To RevDeb @ 4 – Waving at you as you drive by….
Good morning Christy -
And boy, did you pick a great day to come visit us or what? Don’t know if you’re already here yet, but it’s probably gonna be one of the 10 best this year.
I’ve got an appt down in the Village (near Sheridan Sq.) at 11:30. Feel like meeting an old lawyer for coffee?
looks like Comey will be testifying before the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. here’s the list of members:
Snchez, Chairman – (D) California, 39th
Conyers Jr. – (D) Michigan, 14th
Johnson – (D) Georgia, 4th
Lofgren – (D) California, 16th
Delahunt – (D) Massachusetts, 10th
Watt – (D) North Carolina, 12th
Cannon, Ranking Member – (R) Utah, 3rd
Jordan – (R) Ohio, 4th
Keller – (R) Florida, 8th
Feeney – (R) Florida, 24th
Franks – (R) Arizona, 2nd
NZ Expat, now in KS @ 3
I sure as hell hope that the truthtelling on this blog helped, even by a little, to insulate Fitzgerald.
Georgesimian @ 2
sure looks that way
OMG I am SO ready for Comey and Emptywheel’s liveblogging!
… and now we return you to your normal thread now in progress…
“looks like Comey will be testifying before the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. here’s the list of members”
Just curious… Is there a particular reason for this committee to have Comey testify instead of Waxman’s committee or Leahy’s Senate committee?
S.O.S. from MA @ 17
gabbly! almost forgot! thanks SOS. see you there.
Tired Fed –
hopefully someone will post the Gabbly link – as that will ease pressure on the servers as well
and there’s always
windcatpond
as a meet up point
good morning, pups… coffee is ready – gonna be an interesting day.
Since I could not be on the threads related to the posts I had up yesterday (had to go to court–can you believe the nerve? expecting me to do work when there’s threads to read?)
I found some quesrions folks left for me and thought I would reply to them here while we are waiting for thelive blogging to commnece.
Lawd! It’s a miracle!
But instead of up and vanishing like a f*rt in the wind, the miracle is names appearing on a piece of paper with the moving hand having writ and moved on, with no one able to discern the handwriting’s style so that no knows who writes. Just another bunch of names on anothe g*d d*mn’d piece of paper.
OT: Since your in NYC, redd, go to the met!
If your on a tight budget just plop down a quarter on the admission desk and they will let you in :)
I used to spend many hours there drawing.
I have to say that with the Goodling “investigation” being both a smear and a way to prevent her testimony, or even if (thought I doubt this) it’s a legitimate investigation, it looks like she has something very big to say. Something that the DOJ, at the very least, wants to keep control of.
I know this is stating the obvious, but the more they cover this up, and lie about it, and withold evidence, the bigger the story looks.
Excellent Post Christy. My feeling is they are working diligently to throw Goodling under the Bus. With the leak of the Authorization Memo and now the OPR investigation, I can see DOJ taking the position of: “See, we had a rogue member on our staff and now it is all taken care of. I believe the memo leak and the OPR investigation leak are diversion tactics.
Goodling’s testimony and the emails are critical.
IrishJim @ 26
No wonder Goodling was scared to testify.
Hey I just sent this link to the Dems on Judiciary: just a wee bit more evidence and it’s a go?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05…..owman.html
I do think politicization of DOJ constitutes subversion. I also think trying to turn other executive branch agencies into parts of the cmapaign machinary (think about that lovely power point Karl sent around) is a sterling example as well.
The again, outing a CIA agent also fits the bill.
Oh, and lying us into a war of choice and undermining our worldwide credibilty
and
and
Aw heck, you get the drift…
dakine01 @ 23
Toooo funny, must have been thinking the same thing.
When I read “spontaneous termination,” I was thinking, “immaculate dismissal.” His Noodly Will be done.
Maybe that’s the problem; we should be looking not for fingerprints and emails, but traces of spaghetti water and smatterings of pasta…
“witness tampering”
Thank you!
That was all I needed.
This bunch of criminals – wish I had a name for a Mafia of supposed public servants. But that’s what we’ve got here!
They are like Dr. Frankenstein. They have created a monster, by taking bits of fetid and decaying matter, sewing it all together to make it look like a government – and passing it all off as a “new reality.”
I sometimes wonder if we should scrap what we’ve got and go to a Parliamentary system – where at least you could have a vote of no-confidence, at least you’d have a Prime Minister directly elected within a district, to which he was also beholden. But I digress….
I have come to the conclusion that it is the ethical duty of our elected representatives to impeach gonzales – at the very least – because not to do so looks criminal in itself! He is behind not only the flaying of justice, but also the cynical imposition of torture and the insidious spying on citizens.
I have dealt with too many topics for one comment. But I am MAD and SICK AT HEART!!! To the nth degree.
While we are waiting for Comey I thought everyone might enjoy this story (I left it at TNH too). Last week I was in Washington with a pretty conservative business group and we had an audience with Karl and Cheney. Everyone was asking softball questions (like “why doesn’t the press talk about all the progress we are making in Iraq?”)so when Turdblossom picked me to ask a question, I asked him if anyone in the WhiteHouse put together the list of the 8 US attorneys to be fired. Karl was pissed. You could tell. He answered with an abrupt “NO!” but then he must have changed his mind. He asked me if I had a follow up but I demurred (hostile crowd,Karl Rove’s beady eyes boring down into mine…sorry). Karl went ahead anyway and launched into an extended diatribe about how unfair everyone was being,that they could fire whoever they wanted and besides, mean Senator Leahy didn’t say anything when Janet Reno fired all of those attorneys. I must of hit a nerve. It was really funny.
who is gonna believe that Monica thought up all those names (except Kevin Ryan’s of course)? even if they throw her under the bus, it will become clearer and clearer that the White House provided the names of U.S. Attorneys to fire.
IrishJim @ 26
It would be irresponsible not to speculate!
How about, Karl Rove told her which USA’s to fire?
Christy, I hope you have a great time today in NYC; apparently the cosmos felt you deserved a day in the Big Apple to slum around and have fun.
And yes to this: “And is it just me, or does anyone else have that “witness tampering” feeling”
Multiple times, not limited to Charlton and McKay. Some of this was much more subtle, like that in Margaret Chiara’s case. From her emails she sounded as if she was very much in need of another government gig, and understood the unspoken rule that she had to go along to stand any chance at getting a referral to the next gig. What a pity, since I have seen no indication that her silence was ever rewarded — used and set aside like Kleenex.
hmmm… just checked the c-span schedule and c-span3 no longer has the comey hearing scheduled… although the front page still has it posted in the top spot… so hopefully the schedule it wrong.
there’s always the committee webpage for the webcast as backup.
Katie Jacob @ 31
That is funny!!!
I don’t know about a “new” division. But there have been previous Assistant Ags for National Security. David Kris, who tesitfied during that day when they had the FISA judges (he was on a seperate panel before the same committee) once held that post.
he has written somewhat extensively on the topic of the NSA program and indicates that it is a clear violation of FISA and several other statutes.
Trivia factoid.
Wainstein was at SDNY when Comey and Fitz (and Fran Fragos , now Townesend) were there.
Katie Jacob @ 32
ooh. great story. funny thing, though, only the President has the authority to fire a U.S. Attorney, not Karl (AFAIK). Is that the royal “we” he was using?
Katie Jacob -
a big phat FDL – Good On Ya !!!!
and how in the hell did you ever get rid of the sulphur smell ?!?!?
lhp or other legal eagles -
would like an answer to the question about not using Bloch’s office for Hatch related complaints on Goodling -
Thursday’s Seattle P-I has more on former Seattle USA McKay.
Quote: “It was a strained conversation, according to a written account McKay provided to the House Judiciary Committee that was released Wednesday in advance of a hearing Thursday. According to McKay, Elston, who was chief of staff to the deputy attorney general, advised him in a “sinister” voice to simply repeat public statements from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales when asked about his firing or face serious consequences.”
McKay’s notes detail efforts to ‘buy my silence’
cbl @
10
Damn good question, really. THough perhaps it has already moved from SPC to OPR/OIG, having been determined to go beyond Hatch Act violations. Or, it could be that DOJ is just playing games with the jurisdiction of internal investigations, as Sheldon Whitehouse has already shown they were doing.
Katie Jacob @ 32
MAJOR Kudos to U Katie Jacob! Right-thinking Americans thank you for your steadfast patriotism.
Buenos Dias!
I read that Sen. Tester is asking that his USA who is only doing 3 days a month in Montana step down. The USA is one of those seconded to main Justice. Talk about absentee landlord, one of the charges laid on the former NM USA.
Christy, it was a pleasure to meet with you in NYC yesterday. However, I was too startled by everyone’s non-virtual presence to remember to ask about Monica Goodling’s attorney, whom I gather does not come cheap. The original notion was that she was claiming the Fifth to avoid testifying, which presumed that someone was footing the bill. Which leads to:
if she’s talking, then how’s she paying?, and
if someone’s paying, who’s she serving (other than the Lord, of course)?
Corry
If I give Elston/McNulty the benefit of the doubt, I would say tyrants always think they are being “reassuring” when they are actually threatening.
Another former pup emailed me the link to Mary’s well analyzed diray at Koss. I read it when I got home from having dinner with Christy last night.
I really do think everyone should read it. Mary and I have very different views on Jim Comey’s character, but I do think she is on to something about the back story–I would just take a different slant on the motivations.
TiredFed @ 33
Good Point TiredFed. I believe they also need to haul Tim Griffin in to testify. After reading Bud Cummins written responses to Congress – Mr. Griffin told Bud Cummins of the secret provision in the Patriot Act that was going to be used to appoint him through Bush’s term. Here is the link
Good for you, Katie Jacob. I wonder how it must feel to be any of that set now. Monica, Karl, Abu-any of them. After six years of doing anything they pleased, and now oversight. It must be a scary place to be.
corry342 @ 45
Waah!! If this silly comment system allowed me to change text color, this would be a nice envious green! :)
cbl @ 40
What is the question?
Katie Jacob @ 32
Good on you! It isn’t easy to do that, especially in a crowd of conservatives and colleagues.
S.O.S. from MA @ 43
MAJOR Kudos to U Katie Jacob! Right-thinking Americans thank you for your steadfast patriotism.
I have been really uncomfortable being eyeballed by Rove. Good for you.
Katie Jacob @
32
Well, well done.
And the thing is, the USA issue really is bipartisan. Turdblossom probably realized that and pulled himself back from throttling you.
corry342 @ 45
In the immortal words of Dylan: “It may be the Devil or it may be the Lord…
selise @
14
Whoa. It just hit me — 3 of the 5 Republicans may have been directly impacted by folks involved in some way with the Gonzales Eight dismissals.
Need to check the location of Keller’s district, but Feeney’s is in the Middle Florida district, where Abramoff fixer Russell Stoddard had been sent after his work as interim USA in Guam following USA Black’s termination. Feeney’s been named one of the most corrupt members of Congress, having been on an Abramoff junket (oh, there’s lots more than this going on with this guy). And Stoddard showed up as FUSA in Michigan in Margaret Chiara’s office.
Stoddard sure seems to have an interesting ability to attract unusual circumstances, yes?
edit: forgot to point out that Franks’ district in AZ was impacted by Paul Charlton’s dismissal, since there is only one USA for that state.
correction @53 I “would have” been uncomfortable being eyeballed by Rove. *shiver*
AZ Matt @ 44
Note too that there have been questions raised whether Mercer’s continued “service” as Montana USA has anything to do with the fact that Conrad Burns hasn’t been indicted on Abramoff related charges yet. After all, he has had dual appoints for two years now; they don’t seem to want him to lose that post.
emptywheel
thanks!
when Bloch’s name surfaced 2 wks ago, I found a link to his current office’s totally inappropriate advocacy on behalf of some Intel Design nutters
long story short – thanked them and gave them a heads up on TNH (and Anatomy of Deceit of course!)- got an e mail from them the other day –
“wow” “boffo!” “are you the resistance?!?” “and who are all those braniacs in the comments?” “Does emptywheel teach forensics at MIT ?” – lol
they went on to say they felt intimidated about commenting for now but would definitely watch that space
these are R&D engineers for Motorola – pretty high praise
Politcal
emptywheel @ 58
I wish one of our Senators (Not lieberman) would be more aggressive in protesting our so-called US Attorney’s double-gig and absentee landlordism. Lieberman has a slushfund or two that wants investigation.
OT but it just shows the way the game in DC is played. From TPM:
“Stuart Bowen, the inspector general “who uncovered cases of waste, fraud and abuse in the U.S.-led reconstruction effort in Iraq,” is under investigation by a presidential panel. Former employees “filed complaints last year about Bowen not showing up for work for long periods of time in 2004,” and that he “had employees work on a book that is to explain the lessons of Iraq reconstruction.”
The immaturity of the Rove knows no bounds.
cbl @ 59
Wow, thanks!
Tell them I once did the CMM documentation for a big Motorola project in the 1990s and my uncle did some major MOtorola projects in the early/midterm space program days. R&D engineers are like family to me…
Anyone want to start listing the impeachable offenses of Gonzo, in regards to the NYT editorial? It seems to me, he missed a few.
Lying to Congress
Witholding evidence
Destroying documents
Influencing politcial prosecutions
Was it Ashcroft who went around FISA?
Feel free to chime in here.
looseheadprop,
emptywheel answered my question at 5:53 above
thanks very much for the Mary/kos link – going over there now to read it
some of the kidz were swooning over his Comeyness last night and I didn’t have the heart to disabuse them with mention of Padilla as Mary did for me long ago in a thread far, far away :)
Christy have a great time in NYC. That piece by LHP is really worth reading.
Go Comey! Please continue to push and speak truth to power.
So is it normal for an AG to pass the responsibility of hiring and firing prosecutors to underlings? Or is this a pass the buck sort of thing
Oft a little:
wrt to the Repub debate tonight – what time does “My Name is Earl” come on?
Is this away to take McNulty out?
When Bill Kristol was excited by the Gonzales scandal and wanted Gonzales gone I knew something was up. I have always thought that a big part of this Gonzales scandal was a way for the Israeli firsters to take out Paul McNulty. This is a great article about the upcoming espionage trial http://www.counterpunch.org/petras01072006.html
There has been very little written or reported about this upcoming trial over the last year in the MSM…hell no! I did hear Chris Matthews whisper on his show that the trial had been delayed again. A bit of Chutzpah! You can go to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Haartz, Antiwar.com and Forward to read more about this upcoming trial.
There are four weeks until this trial starts.What a way to cast clouds over the upcoming A*P*C/Rosen espionage trial coming up on June 4th. That is if the trial is not delayed for the 5th time, or dismissed which the Israeli lobby has been pushing for.
Four weeks for a cloud to be cast over the trial. Taking out McNulty would be one big cloud.
A*P*C and the U.S. media
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/gs…..leid=10853
This article has been on the front page at Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s Website for over a month…. unusual.
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iow…../1483.html
Abe Foxman of the Anti Defamation League has been interferring with the trial and attempting to cast a cloud over this trial from the beginning.
Abe Foxman and A*P*C
http://www.richardsilverstein&…..#more-2394
jayt @ 67
Is that the one Chris Matthews is moderating?
Georgesimian -
nope. Comey went with Card and Abu to Ashcroft’s hospital bed with the intent to ensure they did not violate FISA
btw firedogs, I was away from toobz all day yesterday -
Commander Guy ????
it’s official, we can just call him President Helmet Boy now
I may actually force myself to watch the Republikan debate.
Kathleen -
thanks for those links – I may not have time to get to them before tonight
whatever happened to the subpoena for Condi ???
cbl @ 70
Purple Helmet Boy, or Brown Helmet Boy, take your pick.
cbl @
70
The Commander Guy
mui @ 69
Is that the one Chris Matthews is moderating?
yes it is. I’m afraid that his drooling over the R’s might somehow short out my teevee…
emptywheel @ 63
dang Marcy, is there anything you can’t do?
Correction: the Bowen info was from ThinkProgress.
http://thinkprogress.org/
cbl @ 72
I think she told them where to get off and let them know that she would sit down and write them a letter …when she has the time.
maybe it’s just me, but Romney sounds like he’s running in 1980, not 2008.
A way..
jayt @ 75
That is so funny. I hope Tweety will at least supply an unwitting comic element.
ok. time for one last comment before the Comey show. Let’s follow this story to one of several logical conclusions.
1. Gonzales made the decisions to fire U.S. Attorneys (including Black in Guam). If so, he repeatedly lied to Congress and should be impeached.
2. Karl Rove provided the names through Monica Goodling (the gatekeeper) to Kyle Sampson (the aggregator), based on feedback from various partisan sources (Sen. Domenici, Abramoff, etc.). If so, Karl should be hauled before Congress and then impeached for assuming powers of the Presidency he does not have.
3. Bush approved the firings (this must be in writing btw). This surely rises to an impeachable offense. Getting rid of U.S. Attorneys who were investigating members of the President’s own party or were not aggressive enough in investigating members of the opposition party (whether legitimate or not) should not be tolerated by either party.
emptywheel @
63
OK, another reason to be jealous of you Marcy! I wants me a job where I can do CMM type things. I joined the SQA field before CMM had even been invented but learned how it was supposed to be done. Then after learnong how to do testing, I don’t have CMM on the res, so it’s like I’m a newbie. (getting off my whine box now!) :})
TiredFed @ 79
I think a lot of NorthEastern Republikans are stuck in the Golden 80s, the Ronnie Raygun era. It helps them “deal.”
OT
Christy
I reiterate my Two Boots pizza recomendation
Moon Pie is also supurb.
Happy Comey Day to all!
dakine01 @ 83
Oh, this was a long time ago. Haven’t done anything like that for a while. I’ve been working in the auto industry–the quality standards in the auto industry–particularly in sales and mktg in Asia, which is what I’ve been working on–is a lot less “mature” than CMM.
Tired Fred..let’s hope you are correct!
GeorgeSimian @ 64
I didn’t like that editorial at all. It had unsourced quotes. Stated as fact a lot of silly interpreations that have become twisted from their original meaning. For example:
“I serve at the plesure of the president” was a line from a resignation latter (I can’t remember who’s right now–Was it Cyrus Vance? Arrrgh- I have a brain like a sieve!)
It orginally was a courtly remark made by a person who felt that if he could not in good conscience carry out a presidential policy, then he had no choice but to resign, publicly and overtly breaking with that president and that policy.
Not unlike the “noisy withdrawal” provisons in Sarbanes-Oxley—BTW any DOJ types out their who want to do a post departure noisy withdrawl, now might be a good time–
Anyway, back to my point. Somehow I serve at the pleasure” has gotten twisted to mean that the Presiedet can fire for ANY reason or no reason.
I’m sorry, but you find me a stute or case where the President is allowed to fire in bad faith. I don’t know of one, and if it existed, you’d think ambitous law school [professors who want to get onto the hNYTimes Op Ed pages would cite to that cse in their article
I hate that article. It is calcifying a myth.
Repug debate? Why?
Here it is…
I won’t raise taxes. Tax cuts are needed. 9/11. Reagan said. Abortion is wrong. Democrats are weak. 9/11. New threat. Democrats raise taxes. God. 9/11. 9/11. Blah, blah
Leahy issued his first subpeona from the SJC investigation into the US Attorney firings Tuesday. Rove. Maybe Comey knows something of Rove’s meddling in DOJ.
cbl @ 65
If the real backstory of Comey and Padilla ever makes it into the public domain, I am sure Mary will be the first one to appologize to him. Comey got lied to.
Oh, I just love a little “threatening” & witness tampering evidence:
I believed Mr. Elston’s tone was sinister and that he was prepared to threaten me further if he concluded I did not intend to continue to remain silent about my dismissal,” McKay wrote.
Thanks for the read, Christy. Yes, we are looking forward to Comey’s testimony today!!!
emptywheel @ 86
Most s/w development orgs are far less mature than CMM. I discovered that when I left the first DoD related job. For all the battles I had with the contrator, they were at least USUALLY willing to do things correctly and follow the documented processes/procedures. Then I left and ever since, a lot of things on paper that are mostly ignored.
I’m looking at CSpan 3 and nothing – some replay from ‘03. Nothing on 1 or 2 either.
I’d be interested in seeing how many Regent law school alums were hired by Goodling.
lhp,
I believe you are correct about Mary and her character – and I too have come to the conclusion he was Bushboozled and have been looking for my Comey screensaver to relaunch ever since :)
dakine01 @ 83
what is CMM? (from the ignorant peanut gallery here… thx)
looseheadprop @ 88
I kind of agree with you, but I thought his point was that, even if all that other stuff is true, Gonzo still committed crimes.
I definitely agree that the argument that the President can fire any AG he feels like falls flat when he fires them because they didn’t bring false charges against a Democrat, or because they didn’t sit on a case against a Republican.
GeorgeSimian @ 89
reconnaisance, as the Dear General would say. Reconnassance. Pardon my French.
dakine01@93
Me too, and the committee site sends you to the CSPAN3 link (but I’m getting no picture; only sound)
You know, we here at the lake have our own national holidays” Fitzmas, Comey Day. Soon we will have to publish our own calendar!
Hearing up on CSPAN3 now.
Here we go kids!!
selise @ 96
Capability Maturity Model. Developed by a DoD funded group from Carneghie Mellon Univ. called the Software Engineering Institute. Identified five levels of maturity for developing computer programs. Came out in the early ’90s but still very true today. Most s/w companies are at level one which means it’s a damn miracle if anything gets out the door. Usually through a lot of heroic efforts and some people deciding they don’t need a life.
Hearing room up on CSPAN3
Helen @ 99
Hearing just now starting. SAanchez chairing
Tom @ 94
The Real Player live link here is also not linking to a live program (HJC Comey testimony).
We’re up on CSPAN 3 now.
Christy and TiredFed @ 6:26 -
Who was the House Majority Leader at the time this plan was originally concocted? What, if at all, was his involvement in devising or implementing the plan described in your 6:26 comment?
coverage starting on cspan3 now. Mornin all. Pass the popcorn please. Christy in NY. WOOOOW
((((Jane, Kobe, Katy, Lucy))))
mornin folks!
“What is catching your eye this morning in the news and on the blogs?”
Police to Review Clash at LA Rally
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap…..78986.html
see, a magic Forbes transformation!
it goes from a “riot” to a “clash”.
cbl @ 95
I have tremendous respect for Mary and believe that her contributions to the discussions we have are worth their weight in gold. Also, he warrinss about some of my personal heros makes her more likely to pick up on things that I would otherwise miss.
I really do think she is close to a breakthrough in that Kos piece. Not quite right yet, but so tantalizingly close. I hope she follows up on it.
Comey Liveblog thread up…
The big news this morning really shouldn’t come as any “news” at all. What it should do is finally push Congress over the edge of inaction so that it formally and uniformly demands that President George W. Bush put an end to the charade of propriety and good governance that is otherwise known as the Alberto R. Gonzales Era at the Justice Department.
Bench Conference-WAPO
Odd all of the links that I set up and checked before I submitted the “is this a way to take out McNulty” did not link after I submitted them. Odd.
Here are the links
A*P*C on trial
http://www.counterpunch.org/petras01072006.html
Is the Media satotaging the A*P*C trial?
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/gs…..leid=10853
Abe Foxman and the trial
http://www.richardsilverstein……i-bishara/
Checked them again
Stephen Parrish, CPA @ 108
will look into later. TF
CHS @ 0
I must be missing something here. Gonzales offers his silence if Charlton & McKay agree to not go public? That’s about as intimidating as a threat to be flogged with a wet noodle.
Where’s the leverage here? Was Gonzales et al that bankrupt from a negotiating standpoint, or just that inept?
cbl @ 72
Not sure what happenned checked all of the links before I sent that ‘is this a way to take McNulty out”. Once it was sent the links were not working. Have never had that happen before. I posted those links again down the line.
LHP @ 88
I went looking for “pleasure of the president,” but it didn’t come from Cyrus Vance’s resignation letter. After reading your comment, my memory started twitching, too, but it’s not from him.
“Calcifying a myth” — at the NY Times? I’m shocked, shocked I tell you . . .
looseheadprop @ 100
Great idea
looseheadprop @
88
Excellent discussions wrt removal powers of president are found in Louis Fisher’s book “Constitutional Conflicts between Congress and the President.”
This clip shows Cannon (R-Utah) babbling on about nothing, in an obvious attempt to waste time during the Comey hearing. I know this is a very common thing during these hearings, but this instance is just so awkward and awful… you have to see it to believe it.
There are other videos at the bottom – but they are outdated at this point.
http://snuffmonkey.com/gonzales/
-Matchoo