Think Progress on today's important news:
During a press conference today, President Bush was confronted about recent accusations made by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey regarding the White House’s shocking efforts to seek legal sanction for its warrantless wiretapping program. According to Comey, Bush personally directed a White House effort to bypass Comey’s authority and seek approval from John Ashcroft, who was then hospitalized and in intensive care.
. . . NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell pressed Bush on this point. “Sir, did you send your then Chief of Staff and White House Counsel to the bedside of John Ashcroft while he was ill to get him to approve that program,” she asked, “and do you believe that kind of conduct from White House officials is appropriate?”
Bush twice dodged the question entirely. “Kelly, there’s a lot of speculation about what happened and what didn’t happen. I’m not going to talk about it.” He added, “I’m not going to move the issue forward by talking about” it.
As Joshua Marshall remarked, "The president's refusal to answer tells the tale. The president gave the order and even placed the call, as James Comey all but told us yesterday." (And Kevin Drum wryly notes that Dubya wasn't even able to claim the cover of a legal investigation, even though "practically everything in the Bush administration is under investigation these days, [so] it's a pretty handy excuse.")
What's so important about this? Early on into the scandal over the politicized firing of U.S. attorneys, White House spokesliar Tony Snow freaked out over questions of the Shrub-in-Chief's possible role, exclaiming, "Don’t be dropping it at the president's doorstep." He knew that for the low-information voters who Republicans rely on fooling in order to win elections, a scandal generally has no political meaning unless the President is shown to be personally involved. And now, another manifestation of the hydra-headed criminality that is this administration's trademark has shown up, uninvited, on Dubya's doorstep.
I wrote a year and a half ago that Democrats were failing to get the appropriate political mileage out of the Valerie Plame Wilson leak scandal because they didn't recognize the opportunity to raise the legal questions of Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation to a higher moral level, about the kind of behavior this President condones:
… the message every Democrat who gets on TV this weekend should be communicating [is], It's not a matter of legal or illegal, it's right or wrong — and this administration has no sense of what the difference is.
That opportunity is in front of Democrats again now. The minutiae of who authorized what has its place, but don't lose sight of the basic, gut-level wrongness that any normal person can grasp intuitively. Think about it… you have the wife of the U.S. Attorney General, standing by his hospital bedside, calling his deputy in a panic and saying, "The White House Counsel and Chief of Staff are on their way over — you have to help me!!"
What kind of monsters are these people? How can a president with any kind of moral compass put a sick man's wife in that situation? The answer is, he doesn't have a moral compass. And the American people need to be reminded of that.
(P.S. For a graphic-novel retelling of the Comey-Ashcroft hospital incident, see my co-blogger Fubar's just-posted effort at Needlenose.)
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zed?
Cool! Now to go tell everyone and then come back and READ!
it’s hardly speculation when the primary witness testifies to it under oath.
the wh press corp are just so eunuch’d.
swopa in da lake
A key phrase.
Obstruction is the motive.
Very good post swopa, very intersting, very thoughtful.
What Kelly O’Donnell should have said is “I’ll take that as a yes.”
All he had to say was “No, I didn’t send them” He might have been lying but that wouldn’t be a first. Instead, he gives a thoroughly weasily canned response. “They’re going to get us! They’re going to chop off our heads! I needed to protect you.”
Even the most terrified winger has to be seeing a pattern by now.
Yeah, I agree with Josh. Bush admitted to the dirty deed.
This is a flaming bag of doo doo on the Preznit’s doorstep.
Even the WaPo finds it despicable.
But that doesn’t matter unless you get to the underlying crime.
And there *is* an underlying crime.
Swopa, do you think the SJC pulled a fast one Tuesday, getting Comey on deck in the slot that Schlozman blew off?
Been wondering about this…
David Ehrenstein @ 7
now THAT would be the move of a lady worthy of her estrogen.
I’m glad SJC is striking while the iron is hot to ask for a vote on Gonzo: Comey’s testimony and the WH ever-extended middle finger to requests for documents.
Too bad we have to rely on the toobz for the real deal. At least the announcement made MSM before the LAX scare.
and they will be reminded of it, too.
just as soon as every managing editor in the country is, as rude pundit reminded us the other day, either fired or executed…
til then, the SCUM (SoCalledUnbiasedMedia) will preserve the status quo, which is their job under the CorpoRat info-tainment regimes whihc prevail in all the news rooms , editorial offices, and corpoRat boardrooms of the fucking country…
in another venue, i am noted for reminding my readers of the following, invariant truth:
In the Corporate State, ‘corporate media’ ARE the State Media…
./
David Ehrenstein @ 7
That would be a Dan Rather moment and would have made her career. She would be wildly popular.
Of course, she would have lost her WH press credentials…
We must impeach this gang of criminals NOW!!!!
Our unwillingness to act will echo through history’s chambers like a gong that won’t stop clanging.
I hope the press continues to pound away at this question w/ both Tony Snow and Bush himself when they get a chance. And esp Gonzo, every time he gets in front of a microphone (I’d love to hear him say “I don’t recall” to this one!)
Preamble with “I am not asking you about a specific program” and then ask “did you send Andrew Card and Alberto Gonzales to John Ashcroft’s hospital bed to get him to sign something?”
Make them evade and dodge and squirm.
Coward. Hey, George, got anything else to hide?
“What kind of monsters are these people?”
The kind that won’t worry a twit about plunging the planet into world war. Isn’t that obvious by now?
He didn’t even leave wiggle room that suggested it was Cheneys office that placed the call.
It was President Junior.
Swopa writes:
So much for bringing honor and morality back to the WH, huh? Everything this admin is saying these days is based on:
“We didn’t do it and you can’t prove it.”
I do remember a time when most people understood the difference between legal/illlegal and moral/immoral. I guess in the Redubyacan eyes the only things that can be considered immoral relate to sex and drugs, everything else is fair game to them.
I’m just going to say:
Good post.
Notice the tie.
Andy Card isn’t such a nice guy after all, ‘eh?
Bush has exactly the kind of moral compass one would expect for someone who pretends to be a Christian only for the sake of gaining votes.
Rayne @ 10
For what it’s worth, I think that is exactly what happened. Schumer & Leahy have been wanting to get him in front of that committee for awhile; this was a purrrfect oportunity! And very clever…
Mary4 @ 21
I was surprised Jon gave Andy such an easy pass on TDS, I thought he would ream him like he did McCain.
Oh… and Rayne…
“My Weekly Reader” is still pretty good. ;0)
dakine01 @ 20
And that sentence contains two unequivocally false statements.
Rayne @ 10
You bet they did. It was kept as far under the radar as it possibly could be.
Startin ta get interesting- agree that unless Bush is named- the whole thing is a yawner for most people- but now we’ve got him in our sights.
I think you’re right to put the focus sharply on Bush on lack of character. And the reinforcement is the other piece of Comey’s news, which is that the Administration had for months/years operated a program long after they knew the AG’s Office of Legal Counsel could find no legal justification for it. The hospital meeting was just the last ditch effort to put a figleaf on a program they had already been told was nakedly illegal.
Great post, Swopa. Fubar’s graphic novel take is a kick in the ass… ;)
the chimpster was in up to his jughandles on the effort to coerce authorization of an illegal wiretapping program from a man in a hospital bed.
now THAT’S the kind of imagery you want to hammer over and ovah into the electorate.
that’s why bush is so obviously desperate NOT to give this story any oxygen. he knows a killer when he smells it.
Mary4 @ 21
Without looking I am going to guess it’s yellow.
Yes?
rwcole @ 28
It’s kind of nice that this shows what kind of sleazebags Bush and Gonzales are in a way that will score even with the base. Yes, Virginia, they will eat their own young.
Clusterfuck has managed to get the immigration issue before the senate at just the right time to take some wind out of the sails of his felonies. Not dumb- hope the dems are prepared.
Wouldn’t it be a simple matter for the Senate Judiciary Committee to ask Ashcroft’s wife who placed the call…or am being naive?
dmg @ 31
Perps usually do…but not always in time to save themselves.
Thanks for the post.
I am so in agreement that what’s needed here is to find ways to explain things that are practically at the level of a child’s bedtime story.
Pound it home over and over using the simplest possible story lines – literally at the level kids could understand and know how wrong the behavior is.
If kids can understand it, the adults will also.
bmaz @ 27
Another interesting thing: LHP said Comey looked exhausted (she knows him), meaning he must not have been sleeping well before this hearing. It is likely that he knew very well that the Prosecutor scandal was just a ruse to get him up there, and that he would be asked about the Ashcroft event. Watching him tell the story was like watching a baloon slowly deflate–the tension in his body language was palpable. Very different than when he appeared before Conyer’s committee.
Mary4 @ 21
“What situation?” Andy was just there to see how his friend Ashcroft was doing. These guys look out for each other.
Again I ask the WH press corp to turn in their yellow I heart Tony bracelets as they follow up on the Godfather scene.
is it just me or do many people associate the “moral compass” phrase with the Clinton/Monica mess? “criminal” resonates with me, but I get swopa’s point about it doesn’t have to be illegal to be wrong. One can’t legislate (im)morality, but like pornography, we know it when we see it?
These Bushies are despicable.
EvilDrPuma @ 26
Agreed. Because the appropriate answer when Abu and such say “no proveable offense” is “yet.” But the day is coming and karma can be a mean payer of offenses, whether in this life or the next.
What is the likelihood that Goldsmith and the other guy (forget his name) will be called to testify about this story?
bmaz @ 27
Yeah, that was pretty damn slick. I don’t think anyone saw that coming. In fact, I gotta wonder if Conyers was in on it too when Comey testified about the USAttorney scandal. The subject never came up. In fact, it was even MORE clever than that. Because they lulled the WH into a state of complacency and then sprang it on them. On a Tuesday. At the beginning of a news cycle. Where it was bound to get LOTS of attention.
Hey, Leahy and the SJC *can* be taught.
Woodhall Hollow@38 – I could be wrong, but I think LHP was saying that Comey looked tired and beat at the first hearing but was much better yesterday. That is certainly how I saw it.
First off, this has Darth’s fingerprints all over it.
Raise your hand if you think Pres. McFlightsuit has a sense of urgency about anything other than clearing brush in Crawford.
I know Comey said Bush made the call, but we all know Darth (like the crook he is) doesn’t leave fingerprints anywhere other than up
Charlie McCarthy’sBush suit coat.rwcole @ 34
I think the no-confidence vote on Gonzales may counter this.
Personally, I think it’s suicide to bring up immigration right now, so many are upset at the way it has been handled. I think this “guest worker” program is a slap in the face of those who did the right thing and followed the rules.
Yep, yellow tie.
Not dumb- hope the dems are prepared.
the dim dumbocraps will cave…
you’re right,this immigration bill is a stalking horse…i’ve lost a LOT of confidence in Teddy Kennedy since he got taken so thoroughly on NCLB…
.
Bustednuckles @ 47
It draws the eye away from the yellow streak on the other side.
bmaz @ 44
Well, I don’t know him, but I thought he looked a whole lot calmer at the 1st hearing. His whole body language was different at the 2nd–like the way his chair was pushed further back from the table, like he was trying to increase his “personal” space. Etc.
maybe this wasn’t the reason they called Comey this week, but that story about the lights-and sirens race to Aschroft’s hospital bed surely shows Gonzales acts aggressively and is very much hands-on, not a dithering befogged incompetent.
What we have to make clear is the midnite raid on Ashcroft in itself was illegal. He was not the AG at the time…even if they’d of managed to lift his hand and sign the damn thing himself…it would have been non-binding. Comey was the Acting AG and the fact that they’d do what they did, implies they knew Comey wasn’t going for it and they’d pull an illegal fast on just to keep this on the books. And…for 2 weeks, those two weeks, the “program” was a rogue program, with no authoriztion of a…it passes the smell test with the DOJ. Two might important sins and violations all rolled into one.
I would like Congress in one of these hearings ask why the President refused security clearances to DOJ investigators looking into the warrantless spying on citizens and why they didn’t scream about it.. Wasn’t this after he admitted he was doing it illegally?
Swopa — what’s your take on the “which program was it” debate? Gonzales says there was no disagreement about “the program the President confirmed.” Comey says they almost resigned over [something]. So is Gonzales playing with semantics —
1. Abu: “the program the President confirmed” = what they had left after the changes forced by FBI director and Comey
2. Comey: “the program over which I almost resigned” = what it was before we forced changes.
Or . . . separate programs all together?
What does the “yellow tie” signify? Is there a secret language of neckties?
Elliott @ 51
One can be a competent hatchet man without knowing squat about managing a Cabinet-level department.
Gee, want to bet that “Countdown” is going to be interesting tonight?
Bush did more than duck the question. He lied. Twice.
He said the program was constantly reviewed. It wasn’t. Ashcroft signed off on it repeatedly without knowing what the justifications were. Comey didn’t even have that information until he pressed for it.
He also said Congress was briefed. That’s a lie. A couple members of Congress were told a little bit about it. But if the Attorney General didn’t even know the details of its legal basis, how could anybody claim that Congress had a legitimate role in determining the reasonableness of the program. They couldn’t even learn from Comey whether there are any documents relating to the initial discussions about the program’s legal justifications.
I think the no-confidence vote on Gonzales may counter this.
is it a nice, little pink and blue pastel world you inhabit?
the on-going investigation of Abu Gonzo just provides cover behind which every miscreant and malefactor in the Bushevik regime can hide and deflect questions…
gonzo ain’t gonna resign…if he goes down, he’s gonna take the DoJ with him–not incidentally, this was his job from the get-go…
mission accomplished…
.
STTP in Ohio @ 45
Being a Brush Rancher is hard work.
I’m going to forgive Senator Schumer for his love of the limelight.
Badwater @ 22
And to have cover for overseeing 3,400 needless deaths of our servicemen and women in Iraq.
Remember, he prays for our soldiers and their families all the time.
peony @ 35
It doesn’t seem it would address the crimes that are the subject of investigation.
I’m happy to see Democrats have amplified attention to the gangsterism of the hospital episode by calling for the no-confidence vote.
scarecrow @ 54
I think the first option — Abu is saying, “after we fixed the program to meet their objections, there were no objections.”
The Muck on the Plame vs Libby/Rove/Cheney/etc hearing today.
scarecrow @ 54
My take: it doesn’t matter, at least not for our purposes at this moment. What matters is to frame this as badly as possible for Bush and Gonzales–which is helped greatly by the self-evident despicability of their actions–and to repeat as often and as loudly as possible. The details can be sorted out later when we have the popcorn popped.
wgg @ 59
Ok, maybe it won’t — what I’m really hoping is that the DC Madam’s list goes public at the same time. As I said earlier today — this could be the blo*job…
Sally @ 61
you’ve got to. chuck has always been about the camera. but to make sure he gets it, he always brings the goods.
EvilDrPuma @ 56
sure, but the general public image of Gonzales right now seems to be that of a well-meaning friend of George, in a bit over his head.
David Ehrenstein @ 7
Can’t see Noron going that far.
but, um….. not knowing the difference between right and wrong is actually the legal definition of insanity… as in: Insanity Defense.
The yellow tie seems to be a Republican merit badge.
Mary4 — heh. Had fun explaining that yellow tie thing to my spouse, told him it’s the mark of a weasel. I caught him double-checking his ties after that, making sure none of them were yellow.
Might have to show this pic above to him, just to make my point.
nellieh @ 53
already evident: Gonzales and Bush didn’t want the questions asked, so they hid behind “classified information” yet again.
Woodhall Hollow @ 65
I actually liked Bates’ question there. He sounded incredulous at the argument.
nellieh @ 70
Norah not same as Kelly.
Elliott @ 69
I’ll take your word for that; I try hard to avoid those media that define the “general public image.” The Ashcroft hatchet-job story can’t do much to promote any picture of Gonzales as a Homer Simpson-esque well-meaning boob, though…
Excellent post Swopa. I am afraid we already know what kind of
mobstersmonsters these are.Sally @ 61
It will actually be a good thing to advance matters if Senators begin to act on their egotistical impulses. History is happening and fame is in the offing, and, maybe for a few vestigial Republican consciences, a chance to clear their names. What was so dispiriting about the Republican majorities was seeing our Congress turned into a Soviet-style Party Congress, and, in particular, seeing our Founders’ vision of the Senate fail.
portia.vz @ 14
Agreed!
Such a good point, Swopa. This administration has somehow or another been able to twist every corrupt move into something acceptable to the press. I do not understand it unless there is bribery involved.
bmaz @ 75
I wish he had asked them about the “precedent” set by the Paula Jones lawsuit. These people are beyond shameless–they just say whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want because they are not (in their own minds) bound by the legal and ethical constraints that are applied to most people.
Cheney’s argument was a genuine authoritarian argument.
EvilDrPuma @ 77
nothing says thug like hospital bed. think the newtster.
a powerful image — one which should not be ceded to the memory hole too quickly.
A smart aspiring Representive looking to make some political hay would be moving forward to impeachment procedures.
Yeah, who am I kidding?
brendan @ 63
Especially since the Comey testimony was not on TV.
Loo Hoo @ 81
“Extortion” might be more to the point. Of the “make us look bad and we throw you off the gravy train” variety.
Brisingamen@67
Speaking of the DC Madam; isn’t it funny how once Darth’s name was rumored to be in the mix, ABC went from “Must See TV” to “Nothing to see here, move along”.
EvilDrPuma @ 77
it showed him to be a commmon thug
nellieh @ 70
hat kelly o’donnell SHOULD have said is:
“What the fuck do you MEAN you’re ‘not going to comment?
“We have credible reports that you or someone in the whitehouse dispatched a couple of cheap gunsels to extract a signature authorizing illegal surveillance a from a hospitalized Attorney General, who were only prevented from doing so by the presence of FBI agents and the Assistant AG, and you have nothing to say?
“And you’re “not gonna comment?
Just who the fuck died and made you king for life, you fucking lying dry-drunk piece of shit?”
that’s what she SHOULD have said…
TexBetsy @ 85
Heh. CSpan missed the boat on that one. So far, it doesn’t look like this is going away as fast as Der Shrubbenfuhrer and Goonzales would like.
Woodhall Hollow @ 82
That is different. It is partially because of the Jones ruling that this suit is going forward before they leave office. The argument Cheney is making is that he is immune for any stated actions under the principle of sovereign immunity.
Woodhall Hollow @ 16
There you go! You beat me to it. Limit the question to ONLY the authorization to bother sick man.
Elliott @ 88
Oh, I’d say it makes him uncommon, even among thugs…
nellieh @ 70
Noron is Nora O’
Kelly is a bit more open to reason
emptywheel has an important update to her “Gumming” post on Griffin.
dmg @ 68, works for me.
We really need to hear from Mrs. Ashcroft about the hospital scene, starting with the call from whomever and what (scare?) that conjured up which resulted in her call to Comey’s man. I don’t think I have ever seen a picture of her so perhaps she avoids the limelight.
I do not understand it unless there is bribery involved.
i repeat: In the Corporate State, ‘corporate’ media ARE the State Media.
now you try it…
/
STTP in Ohio @ 87
You noticed that too, huh? What are they going to do when it all comes out — and it will — after watching DC scandals since I was in college (1970s) you can bet someone will spill the beans. I’m praying that most of them will be members of Bushco.
njr @ 94
and Noron would never have gone so far as Kelly did.
brendan @ 95
Well, it seems as if in this case they did indeed suceed in “gumming it to death.”
scarecrow @ 54
I’d like to know if they provided proof that they actually made the changes that Comey wanted made, or if they just sent a letter saying ‘we fixed it’. Because if it was the latter, they probably were lying. Again.
peony @ 35
I wonder if they will call her to testify too.
Brisingamen @ 98
I’m not sure my stomach can take a media frenzy involving Dick Cheney and sex.
The silence of the MSM on this is deafening.
Woodhall Hollow @ 42
And then Card and Abu.
EvilDrPuma @ 103
Probably relatively harmless; all the drugs the crotchety codger would need are not suitable for a guy with his heart condition.
Likely had bevvies of young “quail” run around while he tried to “shoot” them for his kicks.
Rayne @ 106
Now, see, that’s already more than I want to hear. A Dick Cheney sex scandal could knock this country below zero population growth
real damn quick.
Hooray ! PBS has announced that they will not be having Melanie Morgan back on – according to Think Progress. This is truly good news.
Can anyone tell me who or what is preventing the publication of the names on the DC Madam’s list?
Rayne @ 106
Please! No more!
I’m with the Evil Dr. on this one.
The silence of the MSM on this is deafening.
not if you understand that –beyond obscenely increasing profits–the sole and only motive for the incredibly complete project of media consolidation since watergate–raised to an art under raygun’s thugs and gunsels–has been to ensure as far as possible that the ruckus raised by Watergate, and the consequences for the status quo, NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN…
.
Marcy has more on Schumer and the Comey testimony–and it’s a real sizzler!
Digby’s take:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com…..gby-i.html
The key graf:
“It would be nice of all the “Democratic strategists” pushed this today when they appear on the gasbag shows. Bush is personally on the run, now. They should chase him.”
Rayne @ 106
Just imagine Cheney’s personal MASH unit having to hang around nearby while he’s ‘busy’.
Rayne @ 106
Cheney, aka Charon, gets his kicks on Rude Sicky-Styx.
Brisingamen @ 109
IIRC, it’s the judge in charge of her criminal trial. Or maybe the civil trial judge but a judge nevertheless.
David Ehrenstein @ 7
What Kelly O’Donnell should have said is “I’ll take that as a yes.”
now THAT would be the move of a lady worthy of her estrogen.
Do they teach interviewing a hostile witness only at law school? The point here is is BUSH DOES NOT DENY sending Gonzo and Card. Failure to deny an action when asked directly is usually treated as an admission, or at least should be. “Bush does not deny sending Gonzo and Card to hospital” should be the headline.
Brisingamen @ 109
the judge
Hey! I have an extra pitchfork!
Stop on by, I just sharpened all the points.
I think Bush et al are losing the image of bungling incompetents and being seen instead as the criminals they are. Their true character is beginning to be revealed. And it’s not pretty.
We’ve heard a lot about Abu ‘being in over his head’ etc. And, while that may be true, another image is emerging. That of a thug.
Brisingamen @ 109
How do we tell the children and the precocious 15 year old firepups.
Frank33 @ 119
Honestly, yet discreetly. Just like we explain everything else.
Bustednuckles @ 119
I sharpened my scythe and my pitchfork
Something else I noticed was that Kelly O’Donnell twice addressed Bush as ‘Sir’. Not once did she address him as ‘Mr. President’. I recall one time during a press conference in Bush’s early years a reporter addressing him as ‘Sir’. To which Bush, as a belligerent fool of a person might do, snapped at the reporter so that he would correct himself by addressing him as ‘Mr. President’.
TexBetsy @ 121
For example: “What is now becoming clear is that large numbers of AG Gonzalez’s employees had secretly changed their names to ‘John’….”
My God, she actually followed up with “was it on your order?”
Hey, man – kudos to her. Everybody say her name – we want good behavior to be rewarded: Kelley O’Donnell.
Bustednuckles @ 118
I just sharpened my tongue.
Frank33 @ 120
I think I was about that age when a Congressman went wading the the Tidal Basin with a lady of the evening…I understood EXACTLY what was going on!
scarecrow @ 76
If you had been following the particle physics discussion on the last thread,
you would know that a Noron is a subatomic particle that forms the nucleus of stupidity rays.
Anyone got firm scheduling for when/where Goodling, Schlozman etc. etc. :) are spozed to be testifying? Or a pointer to where The Real Thing is posted? TIA — gotta make sure an ample supply of popcorn and butter is on hand donchaknow…
Xenos @ 117
you are correct. in large type lettering.
wgg @ 111
Actually, not anymore apparently. CNN ran with the story all day.. the vision of Comey racing to the Ashcroft’s sickbed in a car, with sirens blazing, to rescue him from the shrub’s imperial thugs, in reply to the AG’s wife’s pleas, was too much for MSM to dodge. I really do want to know what Card and the other thugs said to the AG while they were squeezing his IV tubes.
Swopa’s right. These people are monsters, and, slowly, in drips and drabs, the truth is coming out. They’re running the country as a gestapo clown act.
EvilDrPuma @ 103
be brave. close your eyes and lay back and do it for your country.
Blub @ 130
God bless Mr. Comey!
That almost destroyed an almost brand spankin’ new keyboard!
Brisingamen @ 127
Oh, those were the Hays.
Back when a D.C. scandal was about a fleshpot,
and not about shredding the Constitution.
dmg @ 132
Stop punching my inner child.
Woodhall Hollow @ 135
same thing happen to the old one?
Kate O’Biern on Tweety re: Comey story; “There’s no there, there.”
Helen @ 138
Sorry, Kate, today it’s our turn to decide where there is.
shucks lads, you know how many monitors i’ve spewed over reading FDL comments?
Helen @ 137
Kind of a big THERE to deny at this point.
Kate O’Beirne, sent out to say “these are not the droids your’re looking for . . .”
Swopa,
Great post!! I have to say that I felt like a fool through the plame case because my mantra was to pick up at every turn where the behavior said something about the president. My thoughts were that he was all over it, but it was not a ball that would be picked up. He was clearly involved and the evidence was there but it was as if the whole crew bought the imaginary line created by the conspirators. All laid out so well, so orchestrated. But sometimes the best orchestration fails because it looks “too orchestrated and organized”. It doesn’t contain the natural holes, the naturals ebbs and flows. The pattern is too rigid.
Well, finally the asymmetry comes to the surface and tells the WHOLE story as it does.
Thank you swopa…the american people want an honest, safe administration and this administration has proved itself liars and “killers”. (that’s no hyperbole when you consider 9/ll, katrina, and the Iraq war)
Helen @ 139
Elliott on Kate O’B: there ain’t nothin’ there
brendan @ 95
where is it?
I’m coming late here and this may have been pointed out but I think the fact that Ashcroft was deathly ill is a total distraction. Yes, it is fun to contemplate that these are really awful people but the real point is that the order, what ever order it was, REQUIRED certification by the AG in order to be legal and the fuckers put it into effect without the AG certification. The media is sounding like it is being tough on them by focusing on how awful they are when the point is that at least one law was broken. I think there is also one or two counts of lying to congress that compounds this. These are not just a bunch of rotten stinkers, they are criminals and we need to work to get the media to say this. The only one to even come close to saying this was NPR and even they got it wrong.
Randy Rhodes noted that the muscling of Ashcroft occurred the day after the Madrid bombing. She stressed that FBI Mueller, who must have been somewhat alarmed by another Al Qaeda attack, albeit in Spain, nonetheless backed up Comey and Ashcroft in trying to keep the warrantless surveillance program contained. What does this tell us–it must have been pretty bad, is my guess.
Comey (I wrote Comely at first — that fits) wouldn’t have said he “thought” the Prez made the call if he hadn’t. But he didn’t say so definitively because it meant dragging Mrs. Ashcroft into it. She obviously knows who made the phone call to her. And told the DOJ folks.
Kate O’Biern on Tweety re: Comey story; “There’s no there, there.”
no, actually that’s her chin she’s describing…
realworld @ 147
Oh I agree with you, but that’s not what MSM is going to focus on.. for them, it’s the sobbing wife and the sickbed thug attack that’s going to resonate, not the fact that shrub put the new surveillance directives into effect after FAILING to secure permission from the AG. This is the best we can hope for from MSM, in any event, it makes the shrub regime look all the worse
C. C. in NC @ 147
He was very clear that he “thinks” the Prez made the call. But since he wasn’t “there” he had to say he wasn’t certain. Lawyer-speak. And honest.
How can there be anyone who is surprised at this behavior from this White House?
This is very like the crap that went on here in Texas before the shrub ever got to D.C. Where was everybody then?
DeeinBigD @ 151
Right here warning the rest of the country to stay away from these criminals!
For all this, I have to ask: when are we going to be ready to impeach Abu? I mean, we let him lie and perjure day after day, in contempt of congress.. and all we can do to him is a proposed nonbinding no confidence vote? I’m sorry. That’s not good enough. He needs to be fired, and probably prosecuted. Anything short of that is unacceptable.
Why is anyone surprised that a spoiled baby who never had to follow any rules in his life thinks the Constitution is “just a piece of paper”?
DeeinBigD @ 152
I don’t recall many here saying they were surprised. Appalled, yes. Surprised, no.
Woodhall Hollow @ 112
Can someone confirm for a confused Brit who remembers Watergate.Isn’t this stuff much, much more serious?
The timing of this immigration bill is ticking me off. It’s taking the focus off Comey’s revelation big time.
Blub @ 155
i have the image of abu as the lead administrative weeble: he wobbles but he won’t fall down.
yet.
Chetnolian @ 158
oh, gracious.
way way more.
Blub @ 155
i am morally certain that Abu ben Gonzo is acting on the explicit instructions of Cheney/Rove’s sock-puppet to behave as outrageously as possible in order to PROVOKE the Congress to impeach him, and thereby take all the wind from any OTHER potential impeachment procedings…
yeah, i am a cynical sob…’
./
Chetnolian @ 156
Waaaaay more serious. And frightening. And I remember Watergate as well.
Chetnolian @ 158
Equivalently so, I’d say, although the underlying stakes here are probably higher, since the apparent scope of the crimes may end up being greater. .. but all this seems to bring to mind the same basic issues.
Kat-o on hardbal sayin- “Well ya gotta go out and defend the gooper president ya got- not the one ya wish ya had.
wgg: tokin librul @ 162
How much do you have to pay somebody to serve as your personal whipping boy? I mean, Abu’s reputation will be non existent after this, as will any prospect of a political future. Even his freedom’s probably at risk. So what do they have on him? Or what are they offering?
Blub @ 162
I’d say that the cover-up part is relatively equivalent. But that the underlying crime (ie, the Prez being willing to personally commit multiple felonies wrt domestic spying) is much more serious.
Gooper dude on Tucker sayin that it doesn’t matter if the Iraqi govt. asks us to leave- we’d stay anyway cause it’s in our interest!
Fuckin gooper congresscritter.
Blub @ 164
Having ex-Nixon guys in the Administration may have been an early clue that this Bush Administration was headed towards a dark future.
This whole thing reminds me of a supervisor I once knew. TPTB really didn’t think she was very competent and couldn’t fire her easily. So, they kept arranging for her to be offered better jobs elsewhere. She kept turning them down. Finally, they let her know that her days were numbered and she left. When the new appointee took over it was discovered that she had been robbing the place blind.
And that’s how I feel about Abu. How can Bush possibly let him go. If an honest AG were appointed, too many crimes would be revealed. And all their hard work corrupting the DOJ might be for naught. Bush has a problem.
Chetnolian @ 158
As someone who watched Watergate, yes this is much more serious — trying to suborn agreement from a man who was deathly ill and did not have the authority to sign at that time, betraying the identity of an operative of the CIA who was involved with tracking the very thing Bush/Cheney were getting ready to lie about, plus turning the Executive Branch Departments into an arm of the Republican political machine…
Need I say more?
The constitution decorator toilet paper
NPR reporting that Wolfie has RESIGNED!!!!!!!
OT: World Bank: Wolfie steps down by June.
Mary at 4
I was UPUd on this bit from several threads ago.
I wonder if someone out there is trying to connect some of the dots on the DOJ issues with Andy Card and the imprisonment of his cousin.
http://www.watchermagazine.com/?p=6763
It is interesting that his own cousin was a victim of these attacks on our Constitution, and he was the one who ratted her out.
smapdi @ 174
AFTER HIS BIG PAY-OFF?????????
BBC Wolfie goes June 30.
Woodhall Hollow @ 173
Well, hallelujah, it’s raining the President’s men…
smapdi @ 172
Officially. But is on “adminstrative leave” until then. Part of the face-saving package.
you know, this i like.
the larger the cascade of scandals, the more bushie is forced to push his minions off the ledge just to get the spotlight off him.
keep it coming boys.
rwcole @ 168
Sorry Mary4 at 21
Wolfie AP story
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics…..amp;page=1
sorry.. quotes problem in the last #181
I read about Card’s cousin earlier. Byron York had a piece I found after googling. Don’t know what to think yet. But if she’s telling the truth, Card deserves a special place in hell.
This is becoming a perfect storm of scandals. Reminds me of the Lee Atwater strategy (adopted by Newt, DeLay, Rove et al) “to sow confusion and keep swimming.” ‘Cept now they are not doing the sowing anymore. Ha!
dmg @ 180
When is Daddy Bush going to step in and fix this mess for the little guy? Why is Darth Cheney so quiet?
ccmask @ 170
looks accurate.
ugh
allan_in_upstate @ 136
Hays was in a maze without a typist, but Mills (Wilbur, that is) took the strippy dip in the tidal basin.
Tucker mocking John Edwards
Woodhall Hollow @ 186
Maybe Bush got tired of being the puppet and had a tantrum. So they let him actually call the shots, thus the current situation.
solai @ 176
Exactamundo. There was some bonus he gets if he’s still there June 1st.
Wolfowitz out, sez TPM.
When things are fubared this badly, I don’t think anyone would want to “step-in” to it. It’s run for cover (or just stay silent) time. Poppa’s best alternative now is to somehow leak a story about shrub somehow being an illegitimate changeling…
Badwater @ 187
Badwater @ 187
daddy has done all he could — gates at defense and the baker report on iraq, and his peeps are still getting dissed. type a 30 on him.
not sure about cheney. think it could well reflect a bit of a rift between potus and ovp. and also, cheney thinks, i’ve got mine, the hell with everyone else.
of course, he thinks that reflexively, almost every five seconds. like men do with sex.
dick c @ 193
He needs to spend more time playing PNACle..
Eureka Springs @ 196
wonderful!
Blub @ 166
i’m not worried about Abu bin Gonzo in the least…
he’s assured of sinecures on boards of directors, plus some nice, cushy appointment teaching real estate law (HIS SPECIALTY) at Regents or Liberty U…
he’ll not suffer, i promise you
./
OMG–the rats are running scared. According to his lawyer:
From TPM:
Sort of like when Michael Corleone looks at his goon and says
“Nothing is to happen to him [Fredo] as long as my mother is alive.”
It will be interesting to see how much Wolfowitz’s leaving will cost. I heard today that he was guaranteed a severance package of #385,000 and in the past there was talk of a $250,000 bonus if he made it to June. He’s leaving at the end of June so I wonder if he gets the bonus or not.
The above post is about Mike Elston!
When it comes to right or wrong — this administration has no sense of what the difference is. They’ve been fundamentally dishonest from the very start, and nothing has changed.
Exactly. Attention Democratic politicians — Hammer on this point for months!!!
Hello to all firepups, the spook is floating ectoplasmically over the lake…
i just finished reading emptywheel’s post at TNH. If i’m reading her correctly, comey and schumer cooked this up between them. comey WAS NOT SUBPOENAED he came on his own. and because they managed to keep it a secret from bushco, the wh couldn’t step in and stop it.
her take seems to be that specter knew about all this in advance and that’s why he now says “when the investigation is over AGAG will have resigned” almost in terms you’d describe a terminally ill family member in denial. and her piece seems to be saying that the NC vote is actually a ranging run for a full-on impeachment of AGAG. why bother? simple.
wait for it
IT WOULD LEAVE MCNULTY RUNNING THE DOJ UNTIL CONGRESS CONFIRMS A NEW AG. AND CHIMPY CAN’T FIRE MCNULTY OR FORCE HIM TO RESIGN, ***HE ALREADY HAS.****
can you image what kind of h*ll mcnulty could raise at the doj now that bushco has publicly thrown him under the bus?
I invite counterarguments from the lake.
Exactamundo. There was some bonus he gets if he’s still there June 1st.
then he;ll join Douggie “The dumbest fucking man in government’ Feith, teaching at George Mason U, or Georgetown, or some other DC-area sinecure…
./
wgg: tokin librul @ 198
Yeah, but he would have had all that anyway, without throwing himself repeatedly into big steaming vats of the raw sewage that is shrubdom. I’m just wondering what “special” incentive he gets for, politically speaking, off’ing himself over and cover again
Wanna see the compromise language of Wolfie?
“WASHINGTON – Embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz will resign at the end of June, he and the bank said late Thursday, ending his long fight to survive pressure for his ouster over the generous compensation he arranged for his girlfriend.
His departure ends a two-year run at the development bank that was marked by controversy from the start, given his previous role as a major architect of the Iraq war when he served as the No. 2 official at the Pentagon.
“He assured us that he acted ethically and in good faith in what he believed were the best interests of the institution and we accept that,” the board said in its announcement of his resignation.”
Massive support from the guys firing his ass.
Wolfie apparently gets the 400 grand.
Check this out on Card.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?pid=72645
He was supposed to be Bush’s minder for the pappy and 9/11 was his big moment and big muck-up.
Joe Galloway does not like George Bush:
http://www.realcities.com/mld/…..240097.htm
rwcole @ 207
nice parsing on the part of whoever drafted that for them. We accept the fact he, Wolfie, takes the position that he did nothing wrong…” We just, for our part, also accept that he’s a lyin’ sack of shite…
Haralambos @ 175
Maybe she was a test case and did it for the party.
Haralambos @ 208
Also, Cheney and Powell were supposed to be the adults there to help guide the little fellow. That didn’t work so well either. Powell bailed as soon as he could. Cheney smelled plunder and has never stopped gathering it.
aReader @ 209
hasn’t mclatchy been the chain that’s leading on purgegate? the old knight-ridder chain?
FYI, new thread
wgg: tokin librul @ 205
Yes, the simplest way to tell that Feith’s students are smarter then he is is to check to see if they are breathing.
Alfred Kelgarries @ 202
Whoa! If that is true, that is some masterful chess playing. I said the other day that I thought that Comey had been waiting for exactly the right moment to play this card–and it looks like he did. Lessons learned from years of tracking down & entrapping racketeers as a prosecutor.
nellieh @ 53
Yes, I think this needs to be revisited!!!
Bob in HI
Badwater @ 212
That’s my take too, but Card was supposed to be the bottleneck and gatekeeper, and I think he even admitted this was his role in several interviews–his job was to guarantee W enough nap time and mountain bike time. Both were asleep at the handlebars through every crisis they faced together.
I know – I’m late and EPU’d, but anyhow,
I comment on the DailyNightly NBC News blogs fairly often – usually with pointed criticism of failed journalism and challenges to ask hard questions. Yesterday, Kelly O’Donnell posted a vapid piece about the Bush/Cheney gift records. I shot a scathing comment, challenging her to ask Bush whether he had ordered Card and Gonzales to coerce Ashcroft to sign off on the illegal domestic spying. I also asked her exactly what she got paid to do, if she wasn’t asking those questions and covering the Comey testimony story. My comment, because it criticized O’Donnell directly, didn’t get posted.
BUT SHE ASKED THE QUESTIONS TODAY! And I complimented her at that same vapid post- that comment went through.
I also criticized the Daily Nightly about why they weren’t covering this as a front and center story more serious than the Nixon Saturday Night massacre.
I have received responses from both Brian Williams and the former executive producer, and I’m fairly certain that the blog’s comments are read in a timely manner. I would encourage FirePups to join me there, because it seems as if there’s some reception to hearing us at last.
There is also a new, as of this week, blog called Nuthin’ But Net written by a news reporter there, and she’s linking to DailyKos, Glenn Greenwald, TPM Muckraker and other pertinent sites with blurbs about blogger takes on the news. So far, she’s been hitting hard news investigation and has stayed away from wingnuttery.
Let me know what you think. Am I way off base?
I didn’t think anyone knew Comey was testifying because IIRC, wasn’t Spector yelling for more Republicans??
ccmask @ 211
This story is pretty scary if accurate (as much so as anything else coming out about the shrubthugs).. an American citizen held at an extended facility on a military base, at a psychiatric facility, on trumped-up charges, forcibly medicated and restrained, to keep her quiet and pliant. That sounds.. um… so… American.
The Chinese and the Russians, at the height of their respective Communist repressivenesss, did that aplenty didn’t they?.. the political abuse of state psychiatry… and, what, the shrubthugs lacked the ability to improve on their example?
So according to the Bush comment, he has less power to talk about the program than Comey. If Comey spilled classified information, why not arrest him?
Blub @ 221
it was known as “sluggish schizophrenia”. symptoms included appearing at anti-government rallies, distributing anti-government literature, having meetings where you “acted out” by talking with others about your “delusions”…
until now, the western medical establishment utterly rejected that rubbish. now, well, they don’t call him Kommissar Karlosivitch for nothing…
TomJ @ 222
That’s next
Wonder if Wolfie negotiated another nice raise fer his punch on the way out?
Woodhall Hollow @ 65
And while you’re there, check out The President’s Secret Program: A Timeline
By Paul Kiel – May 17, 2007, 10:50 AM
Important stuff!
Bob in HI
ccmask @ 218
I think they didn’t show up because they were afraid to take Comey on. This is not a guy who is easily intimidated (as the hospital story clearly reveals) and they would’ve just looked dumb if they tried to spin it into something it wasn’t. As it was, Spector was left trying to frame a lame excuse for the Prez, since ultimately (after being faced with the possibility of a mass DOJ resignation before the ‘04 election) he ordered Comey to do “the right thing.” The rethugs didn’t have the cajones to touch any of this with a 10 ft pole.
Can I add a late, perhaps lame, analogy about public perception of Abu?
I don’t know if anyone followed the Scott Peterson trial here at FDL, but early in the trial some diehard Scooter fans were lovin’ on him so bad. He would never, ever do something so heinous…the prosecutors fairly let the jury fall in love with him too. Then they played the Amber (mistress) tapes and everything fell apart because of trust betrayed.
Maybe this hospital scene is the “amber”/”He really is a weasel” moment for Abu?
Just a thought.
lizard @ 71
Are you sure?
Just for fun, I tried to find (In-)sane or (in-)sanity in the DSM-IV-TR. None of those terms are in the index. Like the term “moron”, which used to have a precise medical definition, “sanity” may have legal definitions, but not a clinical definition.
Bob in HI
Basic questions…
When did the program begin in 2001?
Did it begin as a program or mere activities grouped into a so called program in order to continue operations without tripping alarm bells?
What agency did/is now doing the spying without warrants? FBI, CIA, DOJ, White House, Defese, State, Pentagon, or just the NSA?
Were any other authorizations by the White House or other Agencies/Dept made without DOJ certs?
Are/have there been multiple programs? Were they/are they operating jointly or separately? Which program operated first? Which operated last?
If evidence gathered hasn’t produced one prosecution, why contine the program for six years? What becomes of the data?
What changed factually in 2004 for the DOJ to find the program operating since 2001 now lacked legal basis for its reauthorization? If began in 2001, legal authority was basically a weak Art II claim; there was no AUMF yet, possibly no Patriot Act yet, and few signing statements.
In 2004, the DOJ had greater basis for claiming legal authority than they did in 2001 when the program began. More authority and it’s now illegal? What changed their minds? Gathering methods or usage? – b/c they obviously believed gathering itself was legal.
Specific questions…
1) In 2001, was there an ACTUAL PROGRAM operated by a government agency or was there a group within an agency or were there private individuals operating under orders from the White House to spy outside of FISA? Were there any plumbers used? Did they work with an Agency or were they on a Rogue spying operation gathering info never intended to be brought to FISA or used in a criminal prosecution.
2) Were the 2001 activities unlimited in scope and later revised several times creating several distinct programs from each period of revision? Or are/were there several programs with differing purposes and scope limits existing currently? Is that why Alberto was so specific? What does Alberto mean by program? Was there any written guidelines in 2001 or beyond?
3) If the White House reauthorized the program in 2004 without a DOJ cert of legality, did the White House authorize the same or similar program in 2001-2003 without a DOJ cert? Did activities begin before an actual program began with or without the White House’s authorization? Did spying begin under orders from the Vice President? We know he ordered Jet strikes in DC without the President’s knowledge in 2001.
Or was the Pentagon under Rumsfeld behind starting the program under the guise it was a military operation gathering military intelligence based on the notion we were under attack at home?
Did these activities begin without the knowledge of Congress, FISA, or the DOJ under the pretense it was to defend the homeland by avioding the red tape of getting authority? Did these activities expand to include other agencies taking the same course of action? Is this another reason why Congress was kept in the dark because the decision to begin the activities were not properly authorized as well as being unconstitutional and blatently useless in a court of law?
Did they initially believe they were doing the right thing in an emergentcy only to find themselve unable to put the genie back in the bottle or without getting themselves into Constitutional trouble?
4) If in 2004, the DOJ found no legal basis for the current program; was that because the program under review REMAINED unConstitutional from prior revisions OR because the version under review BECAME unConstitution because of it’s scope and/or purpose? Did the DOJ reject the latest version of the Program or continuing the prior version or continuing the program in general?
5) Did the DOJ discover, the DOJ authorized a program within FISA’s domain and spying was occuring outside of FISA with a weak assertion of Art II authority? If the program was ok in 2001, what made it so objectionable in 2004? What changed factally because the legal basis for the program expanded from 2001 to 2004 with the 2001 Patriot Act, the 2003 AUMF, the Iraq Resolution, and several signing statements. So why did DOJ reject the reauthorization so strongly in 2004 when there was a greater legal arguement for it’s legality in 2004 than there was in 2001. What changed their minds? Perhaps what was being gathered or perhaps what it was being used for OR both.
6) If the program was not certified for weeks in 2004, its continued use was illegal; evidence gathered during this time is inadmissible. What harm was done to National Security by gathering evidence that was tainted, thereby giving suspects the ability to use the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine to dismiss any evidence gathered during this time that would be presented in court? Does that help shed light on the lack of prosecutions using evidence gathered by this program – the evidence is so blatently tainted the DOJ could never present it in court without revieling the extent of taint.
So why gathered evidence you can’t use for 6 years? Databases? Political Esponiage? Blackmail? Even if terror plots are foiled what becomes of the junk info scooped up that is not related to terror suspects?
The info being gathered must be useful to somebody – otherwise the program would not continue to be reauthorized over 6 years. So far, the DOJ can’t use it to prosecute anybody. So who’s using this info and for what purpose if not to bring terrorst to justice?
TexBetsy @ 78
Welcome back to the lake, TexBetsy! I was cut off from the Lake last night by some cyber-abnormality, with some unfinished business. Please contact me at bobschacht AT infomagic DOT net to close the loop.
Bob in HI
johnny come lately but– I keep going back to gonzos testimony re the “program” and The more I look at it the more I am sure that he was determined to parse so that on recall, there will be wiggle room regarding whether or not “illegal” wiretapping is continuing to take place. These bastards won’tstop until they are removed form office. Impeach the bastards, and do it now.
Chetnolian @ 158
Same general idea of establishing a dictatorship or Imperial Presidency, but different techniques and the Bush administration is doing a LOT more things to get us there. Apparently George is in a hurry.
TexBetsy @ 197
He’s going to spend more time with his wife, er, mistress, er uh, some mangy stray dog.
Blub @ 221
Maybe Schumer or Leahy or Conyers oughta bring her in to testify. Ironic, don’t you think?
Haralambos @ 175
That answers Chetlonian whether this is way way worse than the plumbing job from all those years ago.
Hugh @ 201
He collects the bonus – thats what he really fought for – you realise its supposed to be a performance based productivity bonus – so what does it say for the gravy trains that the old boys have set up – i hope people realise that these bonus/severance/salary payments are coming out of ‘development’ donations/share contributions of donor countries.
brendan @ 95
She’s got a whole series of dynamite posts today!
Go, Marcy, Go!!!
Woo-hoo!!!
Bob in HI
I didn’t realize that Speedy Gonzales has an evil twin called Seedy Gonzales, who goes by the name Alberto Gonzales during his day job.
You know, Seedy Gonzales, who showed up at a sick man’s hospital bed one night to try to strongarm the sick man into approving an unconstitutional, un-American secret spying program.
Yep, that Seedy Gonzales. The evil, faithful sidekick to Oil Can Dicky and Ernst BloBush.
Woodhall Hollow @ 216
YES!!! YES!!!
And masterful analysis by the always brilliant emptywheel, as well as others who have been all over this. Hopefully, this will be the equivalent of the Saturday night massacre–
But is it, really? I remember instant firestorm after the SNM; but am I compressing the actual sequence in my memory?
If we want this to be the equivalent of the SNM, we are going to have to help by spreading the word to all our friends, writing letters to the editor, etc.– We need to get the broader public more involved!!!
Bob in HI
Imagine that, for one time Douchebag Bush doesn’t want to move forward. “I’m not going to move the issue forward by talking about” it.
After all, his slogan for his “surge” is “the new way forward”. What was the old way? Forward or backward, or just backassed?
Hi all in severe EPU-land!
bernada “forward or backward” – I like it.
we were out enjoying migrating birds with guests all yesterday, so no time to post till now, but I wanted to share a new thing I tried, in the short time I DID have before we took off with them.
I’ve spread the word to friends & other contacts before, & written MSM folk as well as Congress inumerable times.
But somehow I never broke thru to our local Dem. forces-that-be, who normally post stewings about local schools & sewers, & pass along the occasional stale article from the paper, but tend (at least to my eyes) to miss the national level shenanigans that may seem distant & inaccessible to them (I’m guessing wildly here; I just dunno the reason. It just has always seemed to me they could look at the “larger picture” more than they do.)
In the last 2 days, I tried to turn their lil’ e-newsletter inside-out, as it were, by ramming a teaser with links into their system, directly e-mailed to a local head-honcho & accompanied by a plea for coverage. Bingo! It was not only put on their little blog, but it spawned some MORE coverage (which, btw, was much more fiery than my little screed, heh!), concerning the obscene behavior of Gonzo in re Acroft & at least some of the evilagenda jr.’s crew have been foisting off on J.Q Citizen under the radar.
I suggest other FDL folk might want to try anew to tickle the noses of their local honchos with some of the national stuff. It surely did strike a chord here. Below is what I sent in, fwiw… [yes, painfully arm’s-length & dry - on purpose - ya just have to try to understand… this “worked” whereas previous ranting or simply suggesting links, or anything in tw’, hadn’t… ;->]