Is this one of those moments where I think I got the zed, only to hit the server snags?

i like mike gravel and ron paul on abc… there’s much i don’t agree with them on… but at least i don’t have to worry about either of them supporting an attack on iran. and mike gravel has accomplished more from his time in the senate than either senators obama or clinton.

senator schumer on face the nation…. saying he spoke with senator leahy yesterday about the possibility of calling pat fitz to testifiy before the senate judiciary committee – on his meeting with bush and cheney (since this was not testimony before the grand jury)

am i the only person who can post a comment?

Tweet!

The server problems couldn’t happen to a better thread. I hope everyone spent some time outside. *wink

a note of thanks to bill kristol~

hi bill –

saw you on fox’s sunday show just now. while you continue to manipulate the facts of the events surrounding the outing of valerie plame, (why don’t you ever use the words “obstruction of justice” when you say you would be willing to debate the issues?), you did let fly one fact today that i will be eternally grateful for.

thanks for publicly coming clean on the role of that “brilliant republican strategist” – ed gillespie, in the commutation & its timming. all the points you made supporting your theory that it was his hand, rather then those of the doj, or pardon lawyers, which guided bush’s decision rang true to me too.

your analysis today reminded me that ed was hired by the whitehouse for a reason & that i need to look closer at him & watch for how his advise may influence bush in his decision making in the future.

thanks again bill! i hope you have a wonderful day – i know i will, adding the subject of ed gillespie to my pile of sunday reading materials. i have the pieces of a puzzle a bit clearer now.

best ~ e.p.

I don’t see much on the 2 billion person worldwide Live Earth event. The NYT calling for an end to the war on Iraq is worth reading as is Frank Rich’s op-ed on W’s cowardice.

selise @ 3

senator schumer on face the nation…. saying he spoke with senator leahy yesterday about the possibility of calling pat fitz to testifiy before the senate judiciary committee – on his meeting with bush and cheney (since this was not testimony before the grand jury)

could you hear me cheering & see me dancing in my livingroom when schumer said that???

Wolf asked Senator Leahy about Senator Schumer’s suggestion of calling Patrick Fitzgerald in to testify. Senator Leahy said he would to talk to Senator Spector about it. Then, Wolf asked Senator Spector his opinion and Senator Spector said he would like to ask Patrick Fitzgerald a few questions. So, cool. Looks like we’ll finally get to see Patrick Fitzgerald taking questions from Congress.

oh good, i wasn’t the only one having trouble posting.

i’ve been absolutely convinced that one reason the libby commutation went down on monday was that it would be old news by the following sunday — that would be today — and thus less likely to be a topic around which a meme of resentment could be built.

that and the fourth of july dropping right in the middle of the week. the ultimate soft-summer-news dump. in another time, it would have fired up the house judiciary committee to commence impeachment hearings. now? not so much.

Ok, Chuck Schumer done good in saying they may call Fitz to testify, and also in explaining that commutation means Libby gets to claim the 5th and refuse to testify as opposed to a pardon, as Libby could not have refused to testify after a pardon.

HOWEVER he was TOTALLY lame on the difference between Clinton’s pardons and this commutation — Hatch kept repeating that Rich etc. were pardoned after Hugh Rodham received big bucks from them. Schumer kept saying well, that’s the past, we should look forward.

AAARRGGGHHH why aren’t our guys better prepared?? Why couldn’t he point out that Clinton’s pardons, while you might think they were wrong, were not done to protect Clinton and Gore from investigation into their own wrong-doing?? That Libby’s commutation ensures that this White House can continue to break the law, advance their un-Constitutional agenda, and get away with it??

AAARRGGGHHH why aren’t our guys better prepared?? Why couldn’t he point out that Clinton’s pardons, while you might think they were wrong, were not done to protect Clinton and Gore from investigation into their own wrong-doing?? That Libby’s commutation ensures that this White House can continue to break the law, advance their un-Constitutional agenda, and get away with it??

i agree – i felt the same way about conyers’ appearance on george stephanopoulos’ show.

the dems should also encourage sen whitehouse to do more interviews on the sjc hearings

Why is it on the various talk shows the Libby commutation and subsequent outcry is seen as a partisan for Dems only issue when the polling shows that if anything the political independents in the nation are even more outraged than partisan Dems?!? I expected that from FOXNEWS Sunday and of course they did not disappoint in their attempts to whitewash the Libby commutation and of course spend more time being critical of Clinton actions than that of GWB. However, I am far less amused to note that on CBS Face the Nation this point was completely overlooked, and that this was dismissed as a partisan advantage for Dems short term by Howard Kurtz on (un)Reliable Sources. I have yet to watch my recording of The Week from ABC, and I just finished listening to Leahy and Specter on CNN and still this was ignored.

I know I should not be surprised, yet somehow I am. This is the most blatant and egregious example of at best special treatment and at worst active covering up of the President and VP’s own involvement in this outing of Plame and the subsequent cover-up seen in America in decades and it is clearly offensive to a supermajority of Americans (pretty much everyone except hard core GOPers) and yet this is somehow an inside the beltway partisan non-issue?!? Wow, even knowing just how much the US political media will carry the GOP’s water this was outstanding in its blatancy.

Indeed, not one voice mentioned when the “no underlying crime” dodge was raised that the reason there was no underlying crime charged according to the prosecutor himself was as a direct result of Libby’s obstruction! I really hope that this excusing of this as no big deal also offends the wider public as the commutation itself clearly did. This is something I find so appalling, so amazingly corrupt, and so incredibly obvious for what it is and yet it is just one more piece of GOP swill that the dutiful political media accept without serious scrutiny/question. Thank Gods for the blogs like this one and Glenn Greenwald; otherwise I would be forced to conclude that Americans had completely abandoned the principles of their own Constitution instead of just the beltway press alone having done so. That is the only comfort I have gained from this entire sorry fiasco.

Good morning everyone! The sun is shining and it promises to be another boiling hot day.

The six pound alpha furry person I live with woke me early this morning so I got to watch Washington Journal from start to finish. Why do we rely on think tanks? It amazes me that the old college bull sessions are now a business classifying themselves as “experts”. Just what makes an “expert” an expert other than they hang a shingle out calling themselves thus?

There was an “expert” on Iraqi and Middle East oil who generally answered an obvious question with, “That is complicated.” No it was a simple yes or no question about privatizing Iraqi oil for profit. It became an extensive circular defense of irrelevant miss-mash with “there must be some incentive for profit” squeezed between the endless string of subterfuge, thus lost. Boiled down, the answer was YES. Who would ever know.

Has anyone ever heard from the on-the-ground NGOs in the area on C-SPAN? I am bored with stunted college bull sessions think-tankers.

What caught my eye on the blogs? TPM on Fred Thompson’s folksy non-responsive response when quizzed about his prochoice lobbying.

“I’d just say the flies get bigger in the summertime. I guess the flies are buzzing.”

This man is a Presidential disaster waiting to happen. Cheney apparently been shortlisted for the office, since he’s such a good actor as “Commander” and has no scruples.

But are we really desiring four years of answers like “If grasshoppers carried 45’s, birds wouldn’t mess with them,” and “That dog won’t hunt if its legs are broken,” and “He couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel,” every time Thompson is asked a serious policy question?

Chris Matthews has the hot-and-sweaties for Thompson, which to me indicates that the guy is getting the Republican nod. If Cheney and Rove are using the Vote Machine to install Thompson in office, then we are in for a rough time. It’s time to get those offshore accounts started so that you won’t have to begin life as a refugee in Canada totally penniless.

Louise @ 16

What caught my eye on the blogs? TPM on Fred Thompson’s folksy non-responsive response when quizzed about his prochoice lobbying.

“I’d just say the flies get bigger in the summertime. I guess the flies are buzzing.”

This man is a Presidential disaster waiting to happen. Cheney apparently been shortlisted for the office, since he’s such a good actor as “Commander” and has no scruples.

But are we really desiring four years of answers like “If grasshoppers carried 45’s, birds wouldn’t mess with them,” and “That dog won’t hunt if its legs are broken,” and “He couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel,” every time Thompson is asked a serious policy question?

Chris Matthews has the hot-and-sweaties for Thompson, which to me indicates that the guy is getting the Republican nod. If Cheney and Rove are using the Vote Machine to install Thompson in office, then we are in for a rough time. It’s time to get those offshore accounts started so that you won’t have to begin life as a refugee in Canada totally penniless.

hes now the front runner over guiliani tho…

Any speculation on Thompson’s VP?

but … but … but … Thompson has not *even* announced yet. whatsup with that?

Heya!
Beautiful overcast near Albuquerque! Pumpkins blooming! Chortling hummers seeking latest sugar rush!
But deeper drier odiferous shadows over Chris Floyd-Empire Burlesque!
Does anybody know what happened?
Is it a final plea for support–or the final stage of a radical blog?
Rus

QuakerGirl @ 15

“there must be some incentive for profit”

Um… profit? Just a guess.

GordonM @ 21

QuakerGirl @ 15

“there must be some incentive for profit”

Um… profit? Just a guess.

You win! And, get to spin the wheel again!

I watched the debate on Fox this morning between the two Chris’s, and Van Hollen ate Canon for breakfast.

Van Hollen came off as knowledgable, well spoken and calm as he repeatedly put down and ripped apart the pathetic, rambling statements by Canon.

Canon is a fat, ugly, greedy looking person, and Van Hollen couldn’t help himself from smiling smugly as Canon spewed out his nonsense.

Score one for the Dems, and they don’t score many wins on Fox!

i like david gregory better than tim russert, but not by much. what passed as a panel discussion on the libby commutation was a joke. chuck hagar was okay, for a republican addressing some issues brought up … such as libby-gate. but that panel … was that supposed to be representative of individuals on both sides of the libby issue?! david brooks (?) islaughable, gene robinson tried to present a more reasonable side (what partisanship?), but he didn’t come close to pinning down the salient points. the woman from the washington post only wanted to make a shrill point or two about the clintons.

geeeez … this is what passes as MSM investigative reporting these days? how pathetic.

QuakerGirl @ 18

Any speculation on Thompson’s VP?

Ummmm…… Fourthbranch? There are no term limits on the office of the Vice-Presidency. And he certainly acts as if he intends to occupy his Undisclosed Location forever.

fdl reader @ 19

but … but … but … Thompson has not *even* announced yet. whatsup with that?

Once he announces, all of his “Law and Order” episodes have to come off the air.

But even more importantly, he would lose his daily radio show, “The Fred Thompson Report”, where he gets to misrepresent himself and his facts with folksy, down-home, plain-speakin’, political snake oil.