Filed under: 2010 Election, Breaking, Progressives, Scandal, Senate | Tags: 2010, Alexi Giannoulias, Barack Obama, Cheryle Jackson, Christopher Kennedy, Congress, Democrats, Illinois, Resignation, Rod Blagojevich, Roland Burris
Usually I wouldn’t celebrate a Democratic Senator declining to seek re-election, but when it’s the ethically-questionable crony of Rod Blagojevich then it’s welcome news:
Sen. Roland Burris, whose deep ties to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich seemed to doom his Senate tenure from the start, will not run for a full Senate term in 2010. The move increases Democrats’ chances of holding on to the former Senate seat of President Barack Obama.
Burris has begun informing fellow Democrats about his decision and is expected to make an announcement on Friday, a Democratic official and a friend of Burris’ told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because Burris has yet to discuss his decision publicly.
[...]
Senate Democrats had long made clear they had little tolerance for a full bid from Burris. Other Illinois Democrats have also lined up for a chance to run for the full term.
First-term Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and Christopher Kennedy, a Chicago businessman and son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, and Chicago Urban League president Cheryle Jackson are all considering wading in.
Thankfully, Roland Burris has a bit more common sense than his corrupt benefactor and realizes that he has no hope of holding on to that Senate seat. In all honesty, he never should have held it in the first place, but this is an acceptable compromise–Burris can finish out Barack Obama’s term and then step aside and let the people of Illinois choose their next Senator.
Filed under: 2012 Election, Breaking, Conservatives, Corruption, Governors, Scandal, Senate | Tags: 2012, Affair, Bribery, Cindy Hampton, Doug Hampton, Extramarital Affair, John Ensign, Mark Sanford, Nevada, Paul Coggins, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Senate, Senate Ethics Committee
It looks like Republican Sen. John Ensign didn’t just have an extramarital affair with a married campaign staffer–he also paid her a substantial amount of hush money:
Sen. John Ensign’s attorney acknowledged Thursday that the Nevada Republican’s parents paid nearly $100,000 to the family of his mistress around the time she and her husband left his staff in April 2008.
Paul Coggins, Ensign’s attorney, said in a statement that the senator gave Doug Hampton, Cindy Hampton and their two children gifts worth $96,000 and that “each gift was limited to $12,000.”
[...]
His disclosure comes as the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington called on the Justice Department to investigate potential criminal wrongdoing of Ensign reportedly giving Cindy Hampton more than $25,000 in a severance package. The group says that under federal law, failing to report contributions of more than $25,000 can result in five years in jail.
[Emphasis mine]
I would be surprised if this hush money payout didn’t land Sen. Ensign before the Senate Ethics Committee–this is at least a serious breach of the public trust, if not a violation of public disclosure and accountability laws.
Mark Sanford, Sarah Palin, John Ensign–it looks like the GOP is continuing their long, slow collapse. At this rate, there won’t be anyone left to run for President in 2012.
Filed under: 2012 Election, Conservatives, Corruption, Government, Governors, Polls, Right-Wing Noise Machine, Scandal | Tags: 2012, Alaska, Corruption, David Frum, Ethics, Numbers, Quitter, Republicans, Sarah Palin
The verdict on Gov. Sarah Palin’s resignation is in–and things are not looking good for the soon-to-be ex Governor:
At the same time just 37% of Americans now say they believe Palin is fit to be President, while 55% say she is not. And while her move last week may not have hurt her overall favorability, it does seem to have negatively impacted voters’ inclination to some day put her in the White House. 57% of respondents said her resignation makes them less likely to support her in a future Presidential bid.
[Emphasis mine]
And, still, the reason for Gov. Palin’s resignation still isn’t clear. Was it for a presidential bid? To get her family out of the limelight? To deal with the various ethical charges that have been brought against her?
Well, subsequent interviews with Palin appear to point to the latter, with Palin basically claiming that the ethics charges against her were paralyzing. But that’s a pretty damn poor justification–resigning because there are so many ethical charges against you that you can’t possibly fight them all and still do your job. And it certainly doesn’t bode well for your political future when you basically have to admit that your state would be better off without you running it.
But, more importantly, Palin’s allegations that fighting the ethical charges against her would be too costly for the people of Alaska appears to be completely false:
During her resignation speech last week, Palin presented herself as a heroic defender of the taxpayer. She said that money being spent on government lawyers to defend against these “frivolous ethics violations” could be “going to things that are very important, like troopers and roads and teachers and fish research.” Palin repeated exactly the same point this week.
But David Murrow, a spokesperson for the Governor, said in an interview that much of this money was budgeted to the lawyers in advance and would have gone to them anyway, even if state lawyers hadn’t been defending against these ethics complaints.
In response to our questions, the Governor’s office provided us with a detailed breakdown of the millions Palin has claimed has gone to defending against ethics complaints. It does list roughly $1.9 million in expenditures.
But Murrow, the spokesperson, acknowledged to our reporter, Amanda Erickson, that this total was arrived at by adding up attorney hours spent on fending off complaints — based on the fixed salaries of lawyers in the governor’s office and the Department of Law. The money would have gone to the lawyers no matter what they were doing. The complaints are “just distracting them from other duties,” Murrow said.
In other words, while these lawyers might have been free to do other legal work for the state, the ethics complaints have apparently not had the real world impact Palin has claimed, and didn’t drain money away from cops, teachers, roads and other things.
[Emphasis mine]
Plus–according to TPM–there are only three outstanding ethics complaints against Palin, anyway.
Even conservative commentator and former Bush speechwriter David Frum thinks Palin is toast:
Between her speeches and her book deal, [Palin] can reasonably hope to earn $10 million over the next two years. She’ll fly in private jets, sleep in sumptuous hotel suites, receive rhapsodic applause.
Yet there will be no escaping another story line. Faced with exasperating criticism and the accumulating cares of public office—she quit to cash in. Her admirers can excuse anything, but to the much larger audience of non-admirers, Palin will look a lot like those CEOs who wrecked their banks and the national economy while accepting huge bonuses for themselves. John McCain’s slogan in 2008 was “Country First.” Palin’s in 2012? “I seen my opportunities, and I took ‘em.”
[Emphasis added]
Sarah Palin has become a fascinating story again; her abrupt resignation is so bizarre–there is no positive way to spin it, there is no real upside in quitting unless she plans never to hold elected office again.
Like I remarked a few days ago, we might have just borne witness to the steepest rise and fastest fall of any politician in modern American history; much like a meteorite crashing to earth, it’s hard not to watch in awe.
UPDATE: And then there’s this:
David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, told Newsmax that Palin has to stop complaining. “You’ve got to recognize that there are people who want you to fail,” he said. “And if you spend your time worrying about them, or whining about what they say, at the very least it’ll get you off your game.”
Filed under: Conservatives, Corruption, Government, Scandal | Tags: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General, Fail, George W. Bush, Republicans, Texas, Texas Tech University
Former Bush administration Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has landed a teaching gig at Texas Tech:
Alberto Gonzales, who resigned as the Bush administration’s embattled attorney general nearly two years ago, has lined up a fall-semester teaching spot at Texas Tech University, the university confirmed today.
Gonzales, who was Gov. George W. Bush’s lawyer, Texas secretary of state and then a Texas Supreme Court justice before joining Bush in Washington, will be working in the university’s political science department, teaching a “special topics” course on contemporary issues in the executive branch, according to Dora Rodriguez, a senior business assistant in the department.
Filed under: 2010 Election, 2012 Election, Breaking, Conservatives, Corruption, Government, Polls, Scandal | Tags: 2010, 2012, Alaska, Alaska Lieutenant Governor, Elections, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Sean Parnell
Alaska Governor (and 2008 GOP VP candidate) Sarah Palin announced that she will resign the Governorship of Alaska later this month, transferring power to Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell
Developing…
UPDATE: Palin has confirmed that she will resign the Governorship on July 26th.
Personally, I can think of only two reasons for her abrupt resignation. The first is that Palin wants to focus on a candidacy for President. But if that’s the case, then this is perhaps the worst move she can make, abandoning the people who elected her before her first term is even over. It makes her look feckless and untrustworthy and ruthlessly ambitious; it certainly doesn’t make her look the least bit Presidential.
And even if Palin wants to run for President, her term ends in January, 2011–which would give her plenty of time to campaign if she simply chose to wait her first term out. But abandoning her office like this is putting nails in her Presidential coffin.
Or, it could be the case that there’s a major scandal coming down the pipeline that is likely to sink Palin’s political career and she’s trying to head it off at the pass–I mean, if she already resigned then there can’t be any pressure on her to resign, regardless of how bad her scandal is.
We don’t know for sure why Palin stepped down the way she did (though there are rumors) but it’s likely her resignation signals the end of her political career. Considering that Sarah Palin was a virtual unknown just one year go, it looks like she may have been the steepest rise and fastest fall of anyone in modern political history.
Filed under: 2012 Election, Breaking, Conservatives, Media, Scandal, Senate | Tags: Affair, Congress, John Ensign, Las Vegas Sun, Nevada, Republicans
In the wake of Sen. John Ensign admitting that he had an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer, the Las Vegas Sun is now reporting that he has resigned his leadership position as the 4th highest-ranking Republican in the Senate:
Nevada Sen. John Ensign resigned his leadership positition today as chair of his party’s policy committee in the Senate after admitting having an extramarital affair with a former member of his campaign staff.
Ensign had been a rising star in his party Republican Policy Committee chairman, the the fourth-ranking leader of his party in the Senate. This year, he was mentioned as a possible presidential contender in 2012.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell released a brief statement, saying Ensign has “accepted responsibility for his actions and apologized to his family and constituents. He offered, and I accepted, his resignation as chairman of the Policy Committee.”
Filed under: 2012 Election, Breaking, Conservatives, IOKIYAR, Rights, Scandal, Senate | Tags: Affair, Hypocrisy, John Ensign, Nevada, NRSC, Republicans, Same-Sex Marriage, Senate
See those Republican family values in action:
Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) has acknowledged an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer in a statement released by his office. “I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions,” said Ensign.
[...]
The affair, which was with a woman who worked for both Ensign’s re-election campaign and his Battle Born leadership political action committee, began in December 2007 and ended in August 2008.
Of course, Ensign opposes same-sex marriage–in 2006, he voted for a constitutional amendment that would have banned it. In 2004, Ensign took to the Senate floor and said:
Marriage recognizes the ideal of a father and mother living together to raise their children. Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded.
[...]
I would simply point out that marriage, and the sanctity of that institution, predates the American Constitution and the founding of our nation. Marriage, as a social institution, predates every other institution on which ordered society in America has relied.
So John Ensign believes in the “sanctity of marriage” enough to want to deny same-sex couples the right to marry, but not so much that he won’t have an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer. Hypocrite, much?
And keep in mind that John Ensign isn’t just another Republican Senator–he’s the former Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and serves as the 4th highest-ranking Republican in the United States Senate.
I wonder what Ensign’s Republican colleagues think of his interpretation of the “sanctity of marriage”?
UPDATED: And the sanctimony and hypocrisy continue:
During the height of the scandal surrounding Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, the Nevada Republican denounced the president’s conduct as “an embarrassing moment for the country.”
‘I think we have to feel very sad for the American people and Hillary and Chelsea,’ he said.
Weeks later, Ensign would call on Clinton to resign. “I came to that conclusion recently, and frankly it’s because of what he put his whole Cabinet through and what he has put the country through,” he was quoted saying at the time. “He has no credibility left,” he added.
[...]
In fact, not only did Ensign envision the Lewinksy affair as a political boon for Republicans, he actively made it an issue in his campaign against Reid. At one point during the campaign, Ensign accused his opponent of having a double standard when it came to politicians and sexual dalliances. Reid, he argued, had been much tougher on former Sen. Robert Packwood — who resigned from the Senate under allegations of sexual harassment — than he was with Clinton.
[Emphasis mine]
So, according to John Ensign himself:
- This is an embarrassing moment for the country.
- John Ensign has no credibility left.
- John Ensign has to resign.
You heard it from the horse’s mouth, folks.
Filed under: Conservatives, Government, International, Iraq, Progressives, Right-Wing Noise Machine, Scandal, Terrorism | Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, Democrats, Incompetence, Intelligence, Iraq, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Republicans, Speaker Pelosi, Torture
So DC is consumed with trying to figure out what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi knew about torture and when.
Strange, since I thought that the people who committed crimes were more important than the people who heard about them.
Still, what led to this media-created firestorm? First, some Congressional Democrats–Pelosi included–discussed launching a truth commission to determine who was responsible for the authorization/implementation of torture.
Second, the CIA released several documents showing that Pelosi and other Congressional Democrats were briefed on “enhanced interrogation techniques” in 2002. There was no indication which techniques were described, nor was there indication of whether Congress was told those techniques were purely hypothetical or being implemented.
Nonetheless, Republicans jumped on the documents of proof that Speaker Pelosi knew about waterboarding in 2002 and was therefore somewhat culpable in the torture coverup. But that conclusion isn’t borne out by the evidence–it makes assumptions about what was in those briefings that aren’t grounded in reality.
The CIA alleged that Congress was told exactly what they were doing; Pelosi contradicted them and said the CIA was misleading the public, just like they had mislead Congress in 2002. Since there are no solid records of what the CIA told Congress–since these were classified intelligence briefings–we don’t know who is telling the truth.
Conservatives are taking the CIA’s side because it’s politically advantageous to them, but it’s not very sensible. It’s hardly as if the CIA is an objective, unbiased player in all this–doesn’t it serve the CIA’s interest to divert attention away from the implementation of torture and onto a political sideshow? I mean, if there was a comprehensive investigation into torture, wouldn’t it put the entire CIA under a microscope? They have a vested interest in clouding up the investigation with political posturing and conflict, since it saves them from having to confront–and be held responsible for–their role in torture.
Plus, the CIA is pulling together records of these briefings from whatever they have lying around from 2002. Remember, the CIA circa 2002 wasn’t a bastion of competence and credibility; that was about the same time they were gathering the faulty intelligence that led to the Iraq War. As much as John Boehner may cry about the poor maligned “intelligence professionals” I don’t think you can give them the benefit of the doubt.
This story is only a few days old and we’re already seeing evidence that the CIA’s recollection of events isn’t accurate. Take this, for instance:
Almost every briefing described in the document — including the September 2002 Pelosi briefing that’s directly at issue — refers to “EITs,” or enhanced interrogation techniques, as a subject that was discussed. But according to a former intelligence professional who has participated in such briefings, that term wasn’t used until at least 2006.
That’s not just an issue of semantics. The former intel professional said that by using the term in the recently compiled document, the CIA was being “disingenuous,” trying to make it appear that the use of such techniques was part of a “formal and mechanical program.” In fact, said the former intel pro, it wasn’t until 2006 that — amid growing concerns about the program among some in the Bush administration — the EIT program was formalized, and the “enhanced interrogation techniques” were properly defined and given a name.
And this:
Rep. David Obey has sent a letter to [CIA Director Leon] Panetta complaining that a staffer identified in the documents as being briefed was in fact denied access to the briefing.
And this:
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who chairs the oversight subcommittee of the House intelligence committee, told MSNBC’s Ed Schultz (h/t Democratic Underground):
On our subcommittee we are beginning an inquiry into a situation … initiated by the ranking minority member to look at a situation where the CIA did mislead the Congress … a documented issue of the CIA misleading the Congress.
A Schakowsky spokesman told TPMmuckraker that she was referring to the findings of a CIA inspector general report, portions of which were released last fall, which concluded that the agency had withheld crucial information from Congress and DOJ investigators who were probing whether CIA personnel committed crimes relating to the shooting of a missionary plane in Peru in 2001.
[Emphasis added]
And:
April 2002 (two briefings), September 2002: When Bob Graham first asked the CIA when they had briefed him on torture, they gave him a list of four dates, two in April 2002, and two in September 2002. However, when Graham reviewed his famously detailed notes, he discovered he had not attended any briefing on three of those dates (both April dates and one September date). The CIA conceded he was correct on the issue.
[...]
February 4, 2003: The CIA claims that, along with Pat Roberts and two staffers, it briefed John Rockefeller on EITs “in considerable detail” including “how the water board was used.” Rockefeller says, however, that he “was not present and was not later briefed individually by anyone in the intelligence community.”
And finally, from the CIA themselves:
As the agency has pointed out more than once, its list — compiled in response to congressional requests — reflects the records it has. These are notes, memos, and recollections, not transcripts and recordings.
[Emphasis mine]
In short, the CIA hasn’t proven themselves trustworthy in the past and they don’t appear to be very trustworthy on this particular issue.
Let me be clear: this entire issue is nothing more than a political witchhunt. The CIA is doing classic CYA, trying to keep their complicity in the torture debacle from becoming public. The GOP is piggybcking on the CIA’s CYA in order to attack Speaker Pelosi and Congressional Democrats.
They want to drive a wedge between Pelosi and the anti-torture left by trying to mixing Pelosi up into the Bush administration’s torture program, hoping she’ll be forced to justify at least some of it.
They want to throw enough dirt on Pelosi to keep her from launching a truth commission, in case she ends up implicated.
And most of all, they want a scalp. They want to destroy Pelosi’s career, make that the opening salvo in their much dreamed-of political comeback. All the GOP knows to do anymore is drum up a scandal and ride it to political success; it looks like they’re hoping like that particular chapter of their playbook still works.
Let’s not take our eye off the ball. The Bush administration authorized and implemented torture. They broke the law; they need to be held accountable. Whoever may have been told what when isn’t important; who actually justified torture and made it happen is. Don’t let the real criminals get away; don’t let them divert your attention onto trivial political distractions.
Filed under: Conservatives, Right-Wing Noise Machine, Scandal | Tags: Epic Fail, Fail, Hypocrisy, Michael Steele, Republicans, RNC, RNC Chair
RNC Chairman Michael Steele just declared that “The era of apologizing for Republican mistakes of the past is now officially over.”
Over? When did it ever begin?
The way I see it, the GOP has a lot to apologize about; we haven’t heard nearly enough contrition from Republicans to even begin to make up for it.
Heck, I think Michael Steele alone has a fair amount to apologize for; I mean, wasn’t he doing such a poor job that the RNC took away much of his power as Chairman?
UPDATE: As Steele spins out all that happy talk about the Republican Party, keep this in mind:
Today in an interview with Fox News, Steele suggested that if too much of his power is taken away, he may resign:
They can contemplate all they want to, but the reality is if they want a figurehead chairman you can have a figurehead chairman, but it won’t be Michael Steele.
Steele’s threatening to quit, yet we’re supposed to believe the GOP is doing just fine? Please.
Filed under: Conservatives, Government, Progressives, Right-Wing Noise Machine, Scandal, Terrorism | Tags: CIA, Congress, Democrats, George W. Bush, Nancy Pelosi, Republicans, Shame, Spin, Torture
Recently, CIA released memos indicating that Nancy Pelosi, now Speaker of the House, was briefed on “enhanced interrogation techniques” in 2002.
What those memos don’t indicate is which particular “enhanced interrogation techniques” Pelosi was told about, or whether waterboarding was among them. Those memos also don’t indicate whether those techniques were described as something that American forces were using/planning to use, or whether they were described to Pelosi and other members of Congress as purely hypothetical.
Right now, it’s a he-said she-said conflict between the CIA and Pelosi, and who you give more credibility to depends on where you fall politically.
Regardless, Republicans are pretending that, since Pelosi was briefed in some capacity about hypothetical “enhanced interrogation techniques” that neither she nor any other Democrat has any standing left to criticize the Bush administration or Republicans for the use of torture.
Even if you assume that members of Congress had some idea of what techniques were being implemented, this is still a false equivalence. Apples and oranges. Because there is a huge difference between people who justified and implemented torture and people who were simply told about it.
This is the standard GOP technique when they’re caught in some kind of scandal: claim the Democrats are also culpable in order to diffuse the eventual fallout.
Republicans want to shut down the torture debate because they know that it’s going to end poorly for them. A lot of politicos with vested interests in seeing the investigation end before it even begins are out there making these false equivalencies are trying to poison the well.
UPDATE: And here’s the right’s new talking point: they’re claiming that the government has documents proving definitively that torture works, but the Obama administration is refusing to declassify them in order to make the GOP look bad.
I don’t know whether such documents exist or not, but something tells me they don’t–or, at least, they don’t say what Cheney & co. are claiming they do.
Remember, the Bush administration were masters of the strategic leak, declassifying memos or leaking information at opportune moments in order to provide political cover. If they had smoking gun documents that proved torture worked, why didn’t they declassify them when they still had the power to? Even if they waited until Bush’s very last day in office, if those documents didn’t contain information that needed to be kept top secret, why didn’t they release them to the public and vindicate themselves once and for all?
And here’s the thing–even if those documents don’t exist, it doesn’t matter for Cheney and the Republicans; they can continue to claim they do in order to portray the Obama administration as acting in bad faith. The administration can’t prove that nonexistent documents don’t exist, so the Republicans can simply spin any claims that those documents aren’t there as attempts to keep those documents covered up.
I don’t think the GOP is hoping to prove that torture worked; I think they’re simply trying to taint whatever investigation may be launched. Their claims about secret smoking gun documents dovetail nicely with their allegations that Pelosi knew something and their calls for a “full investigation”; conservatives are trying to taint any investigation into torture as inherently politically-biased.
Filed under: Conservatives, Right-Wing Noise Machine, Scandal | Tags: Republicans, NRSC, NRCC, RNC, Fail, Michael Steele, RNC Chair, Katon Dawson, Ada Fisher
If at first you don’t succeed, pay off your critics:
With Republican criticism of Michael Steele intensifying following his dust-up earlier this week with Rush Limbaugh, the new Republican National Committee chairman’s high command is moving to rebut claims that he’s not up to leading the party.
The RNC announced Thursday that it would transfer $1 million apiece to the cash-hungry National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee—contributions that could buy Steele good will among party operatives and GOP members of Congress.
[Emphasis mine]
Unfortunately for Steele, the criticism doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon:
- “I have a very different management philosophy and style,” said Katon Dawson, the South Carolina GOP chair who finished second to Steele. “It wouldn’t have taken me four weeks to give them the money,” he said, alluding to the transfers to the congressional campaign committees.
- “We’re now how many weeks in now and the key positions there haven’t even been filled yet,” complained another former Steele rival, who only spoke on the basis of anonymity. “We all had perceptional problems when we were running [for the RNC chair] and this slowness plays into the perceived weakness he had.”
- “Nobody really understands what those comments mean,” said a veteran party strategist, likening Steele to a teenager who has now “got the keys to the car and is excited.”
- Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), a moderate who Steele said in an interview last month that he’d be be open to taking on in a primary, gave Steele an earful at a party lunch last month. “You couldn’t mean that, otherwise we’ll continue to be a minority in perpetuity, without us we can’t be a majority,” Snowe said she told Steele about his comments.
- In an e-mail to fellow RNC members obtained by The Hill, Dr. Ada Fisher, North Carolina’s national committeewoman, said Steele is “eroding confidence” in the GOP and that members of his transition team should encourage him to step aside.
Plus, the RNC has pulled Steele’s blog offline.
I wonder, how long until Michael Steele is removed/resigns as the head of the RNC?
Filed under: 2012 Election, Conservatives, Government, Governors, Scandal | Tags: Bobby Jindal, Hurricane Katrina, Lies, Louisiana, Republicans
It figures that the only way Republicans could use Hurricane Katrina to make themselves look good is by lying:
Looks like the game is up.
Remember that story Bobby Jindal told in his big speech Tuesday night — about how during Katrina, he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a local sheriff who was battling government red tape to try to rescue stranded victims?
Turns out it wasn’t actually, you know, true.
[...]
[A] Jindal spokeswoman has admitted to Politico that in reality, Jindal overheard Lee talking about the episode to someone else by phone “days later.” The spokeswoman said she thought Lee, who died in 2007, was being interviewed about the incident at the time.
This is no minor difference. Jindal’s presence in Lee’s office during the crisis itself was a key element of the story’s intended appeal, putting him at the center of the action during the maelstrom. Just as important, Jindal implied that his support for the sheriff helped ensure the rescue went ahead. But it turns out Jindal wasn’t there at the key moment, and played no role in making the rescue happen.
[...]
The central anecdote of the GOP’s prime-time response to President Obama’s speech, intended to illustrate the threat of excessive government regulation, turns out to have been made up.
And Jindal couldn’t even admit his falsehood himself–he had a spokesperson do it for him.
First Bobby Jindal gives one of the worst speeches in modern political history, then it turns out that one of the central anecdotes in his speech–meant to illustrate his entire point about the role of government–was a lie.
Like I said right after Jindal’s speech, never have I seen a rising star fall so fast. I wonder if this is one-two punch will dog Jindal’s chances if he decides to run in 2012; blatant lying doesn’t tend to sit well with the American people.
Filed under: Conservatives, Corruption, Economics, Government, House, Progressives, Scandal, Senate | Tags: Congress, Democrats, Economic Stimulus Package, Harry Reid, Hypocrisy, Mitch McConnell, Pork, Republicans
Remember the weeks-long Republican campaign to derail the economic stimulus package? Remember all the ranting about “pork” and complaining about “wasteful spending dressed in ’stimulus’ clothes“? Remember the Republicans complaining that it was”generational theft“ “larded up with wasteful spending“?
Well, turns out the Republicans have no problem with wasteful spending when it benefits them:
A ten percent increase in the budget for Congressional operations was needed because Senate Republicans wanted to retain previous staff levels despite having lost roughly 20 percent of their ranks in the 2008 elections, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Wednesday.
[...]
Reid, asked about the increase at a press conference, initially dodged the question, speaking instead about spending in general.
The unsatisfied reporter repeated the question about a ten percent raise for the congressional budget. “How is that going to help get out of the depression?” she pressed.
Don’t blame us, said Reid.
“We had a situation — you should direct that question to Senator McConnell,” he said, referring to the Senate Minority Leader, “because we had trouble organizing this year. He wanted to maintain a lot of their staffing even though they had lost huge numbers. And the only way we could get it done is to do what we did. So you should direct that question to Senator McConnell.”
A McConnell spokesman didn’t immediately return a phone call.
Oh, the hypocrisy.
So, according to Republican logic, spending money to help the American people through an economic crisis is wasteful pork that should be opposed at all costs, yet spending a couple billion dollars to give Congressional Republicans bigger staffs is a completely worthwhile and necessary expense.
When it comes to helping you, the GOP is the Party of No. But when it comes to helping themselves, the GOP is the Party of Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie. ‘Let them eat cake’ indeed.
Filed under: 2010 Election, Corruption, Government, Governors, Progressives, Scandal, Senate | Tags: Congress, Crime, Democrats, Illinois, Perjury, Rod Blagojevich, Roland Burris
He hasn’t even been in office for two months and Roland Burris is already under investigation:
Sangamon County state’s attorney John Schmidt is reviewing documents provided by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to determine whether perjury charges should be filed against U.S. Sen. Roland Burris.
[...]
Burris caused an uproar by releasing an affidavit in which he supplemented his testimony before a legislative impeachment committee that asked whether he had had any contact with anyone close to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, including the former governor’s brother Rob Blagojevich, who was in charge of fundraising for the impeached governor.
Burris did not mention any contact with Rob Blagojevich in his testimony before the impeachment committee but said in his affidavit dated Feb. 4 that the governor’s brother had, in fact, asked him to raise money for the former governor before Blagojevich appointed Burris to the Senate.
In other words, Burris deliberately withheld the fact that he was approached by Blagojevich’s camp and asked for money in exchange for a Senate appointment.
Unless the Senate gets fed up with Burris’ antics and expels him, it looks like Roland Burris will be an embarrassment to the Democratic Party and the state of Illinois until at least early 2011.
Even if he’s around that long, though, there is a silver lining–this scandal should make it easier for Burris to be defeated in a primary, ensuring that the Democrats put fourth a competent Senate candidate in the 2010 elections.
UPDATE: It looks like Burris is being sent to the Senate Ethics Committee.
UPDATE II: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is calling for Burris to be expelled from the Senate.
Filed under: Conservatives, Economics, Government, Right-Wing Noise Machine, Scandal | Tags: Budget, Congress, Economic Stimulus Package, Job Creation Bill, Republicans, Roadblock Republicans, Stupidity, Taxes
The Roadblock Republicans have put together a list of programs in the job creation bill that they have deemed “wasteful.” While some of the programs on their list are somewhat questionable, a lot of them are undeniably stimulative, raising the question of what their definition of “wasteful” entails.
More importantly, though, the Senate version of the job creation bill costs $888 billion. The total amount of “wasteful” spending the GOP highlighted? $19.14 billion. That means the GOP is complaining about a little more than 2% of the spending in the bill.
So, if Democrats cut 2% out of the bill will the Republicans support it? Or are they just cherry picking bits and pieces out of a broad piece of legislation in order to unfairly cast the whole thing in an unsuitable light? And will the GOP really kill millions of potential jobs over just 2% of the price tag? Are they really so married to obstructionism that they’re going to use the 2% of this bill they don’t like as a rationalization for killing it?
Filed under: Conservatives, Economics, Government, Progressives, Scandal | Tags: Budget, Corporations, Democrats, Internal Revenue Service, IRS, Republicans, Taxes, Tim Geithner, Tom Daschle
Even though they’ve railed against taxes for decades, Tim Geithner and Tom Daschle’s recent tax troubles have given conservatives a new appreciation for paying taxes on time.
Of course, it goes without saying that nobody should get special treatment when it comes to paying taxes, politicians and governmental officials included. But some conservatives seem to be under the impression that making a mistake on your taxes is a jailable offense. That’s not really how it works–if the IRS finds out you made a mistake, they come to you and collect the taxes you owe, as well as any fees or fines that may apply. They don’t prosecute you unless you were purposely trying to defraud the federal government; just making a mistake on your taxes won’t land you in jail (nor should it).
What happened with Geithner and Daschle was embarrassing, but it’s not uncommon or unusual. There’s really no evidence that either of them got any kind of special treatment from the IRS; if there was, I would be condemning all of them for it.
That being said, I’m glad to see conservatives now believe everyone should pay their fair share in taxes; hopefully now we can deal with the biggest tax cheats of all:
The news that more than 60 percent of U.S. corporations failed to pay any federal taxes from 1996 through 2000 when corporate profits were soaring and that corporate tax receipts had fallen to just 7.4 percent of overall federal tax revenue in 2003 – the lowest since 1983 and the second-lowest rate since 1934 – is an outrage. But it should come as no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to national tax policy over the past few years. The General Accounting Office (GAO) report also found that an astonishing 94 percent of corporations reported tax liability of less than 5 percent of their total income during the same time period. Corporate tax dodging has gone on for far too long. But the policies of the Bush administration have exacerbated the problem by furthering the culture of tax avoidance by big corporations and creating a pervasive unfairness in our tax code.
[Emphasis mine]
Geithner and Daschle failed to pay tens of thousands of dollars in taxes; American corporations avoid paying tens of billions of dollars per year. I’m sure conservatives–with their newfound appreciation of tax laws and support for everyone paying their fair share–will join Democrats to end the pervasive culture of corporate tax cheats and reclaim the hundreds of billions of corporate dollars rightfully owed to the United States Treasury.
(That is, unless GOP criticism of Geithner and Daschle was just partisan posturing and Republicans dont’ really care if people who aren’t Democrats pay their taxes.)
Filed under: Conservatives, Polls, Scandal, Senate | Tags: 2006, Maryland, Michael Steele, Republicans, RNC, RNC Chairman
Remember how newly-minted RNC Chair Michael Steele spent his failed 2006 Senate campaign pretending to be a Democrat?
And remember how the Steele campaign passed out a bunch of “Democratic Sample Ballots” with his name (and the name of Governor Rod Erlich, who Steele served under as Lieutenant Governor) on them instead of the actual Democratic candidates?
And how the Steele campaign hired a bunch of homeless people from out of state to hand them out:
Inaccurate sample ballots describing Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Senate candidate Michael S. Steele as Democrats were handed out to voters in at least four polling sites in Prince George’s County this morning.
The ballots were handed out by people who said they arrived by buses this morning from Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Erik Markle, one of the people handing out literature for Ehrlich, who is seeking reelection, and Steele, the current lieutenant governor who is campaigning to replace retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D), said he was recruited at a homeless shelter in Philadelphia.
If you’re a Republican, you should probably be disturbed that the new chairman of your party spent his last campaign pretending to be a Democrat. If you’re anyone else, you should probably be disturbed that the Republican Party’s new chairman has a history of being completely dishonest and underhanded.
Filed under: Breaking, Corruption, Government, Governors, Media, Progressives, Scandal | Tags: Democrats, Illinois, Illinois Lieutenant Governor, Illinois Senate, Impeachment, Pat Quinn, Rod Blagojevich
The Illinois Senate just voted to remove Governor Rod Blagojevich from office, 59-0.
Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn will now be sworn in as the 41st Governor of Illinois.
UPDATE: They also voted 59-0 to bar Blagojevich from ever holding elected office in Illinois again.
