Ricky has been a very busy boy.
He is not running for reelection.
Category: Congress
Shadegg (AZ-3) Back in Race
Republicans Throw Tantrum: Refuse to Show Up for FISA Update Meetings
Following the House growing some balls and not caving on telco immunity, the Congress is trying to redraft the bill to get something passed, but the Republicans are refusing to even show up to the meetings on this.
It’s a big whiny baby tantrum.
Ted Stevens (R-corruption Alaska) Files for Reelection
I’m not sure if his decision to run is hubris, or just the recognition that once he is out of power, lots of people will be eager to drop a dime on him.
Should be fun.
Duke Cunningham Briber Brent Wilkes Gets 12 Years
The prosecutor wanted 25 years, the probation officer recommended over 50 years, but the judge went with the low side.
It appears that the judge did not buy the prosecution’s argument that it was all Wilkes, and believed that Randy “Duke” Cunningham was not a mind bogglingly stupid pawn, but shared some responsibility in this.
However, the judge has sent him to jail immediately, no bail on appeal, because he deemed Wilkes a lying sack of sh%$. (My words, not his)
I Endorse Lawrence Lessig for Congress in CA-12
He is not running, but there is aDraft Lessig effort going on, and to this point, the potential candidate has been non-committal.
Congress needs someone who understands that the IP system has run amok, and better still that he would be from California, which typically produces legislators in the pockets of the movie and record industries.
Pigs Fly
The house passes contempt charges against Miers and Bolton, along with authorization to go to court to enforce them.
I predicted that Pelosi would fold. I was wrong, and I happily apologize to her.
Conyers Introduces Contempt Resolution Against Bolton and Miers
It’s actually a bit more complex. He has introduced two resolutions, one for contempt against Bolton and Miers, and a second one would authorize the House Judiciary Committee to go to court, since Mukasey has said that he won’t enforce a contempt citation.
Nice that Conyers is doing this, but it ain’t gonna hit the floor, because it’s:
NOT ON THE TABLE! NOT ON THE TABLE!
Pelosi Showing Some Backbone
Holy crap. She is calling Shrub’s bluff.
February 13th, 2008 by Speaker Pelosi
All Members of Congress fully understand and support our responsibility to protect the American people and the need for the President, the Congress, and policymakers to have the best possible intelligence to fight terrorism.
On Friday, a surveillance law insisted upon by the President last August will expire. Today, an overwhelming majority of House Democrats voted to extend that law for three weeks so that agreement could be reached with the Senate on a better version of that law. The President and House Republicans refused to support the extension and therefore will bear the responsibility should any adverse national consequences result.
However, even if the Protect America Act expires later this week, the American people can be confident that our country remains safe and strong. Every order entered under the law can remain in effect for 12 months from the date it was issued.
Furthermore, the underlying Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which provides for the surveillance of terrorists and provides that in emergencies surveillance can begin without warrant, remains intact and available to our intelligence agencies. Unlike last August, the FISA court has no backlog of cases, and thus can issue necessary court orders for surveillance immediately.
Good Point
Steve Clemons notes that there are very few anti-war Republicans, and now there are one fewer with Gilchrist out.
He’s disappointed. Me, I think that hte more ‘Phants who weld themselves to the Avignon President, Mr. 30% popularity, C+ Augustus, the better.
Conyers’ Being Innundated With Calls Calling for Impeachment
The report of this is here:
Congressman John Conyers’ telephone, by many reports, rang endlessly on Monday, approximately 60 times per minute, or as fast as people could get through. The same thing appears to be happening today (Tuesday).
It needs to be on the table. 202-225-5126, fax: 202-225-0072,Conyers’ Judiciary Committee office: 202-225-3951, his Detroit, Mich., office: 313-961-5670, his Trenton, Mich., office: 734-675-4084.
Wynn, Gilcrest Lose Primaries
Donna Edwards trounced corporate whore Al Wynn in MD-4, getting something over 50% in PG county, and over 60% in Montgomery county, which is about 1/3 of the district.
Gilchrist appears to have lost in a 3-way race by about 6% in MD-1, with state senator Andy Harris getting the nod in the largely Eastern Shore district.
Al Wynn is a bad, bad, man, both personally (won’t go into it) and politically (voted for the Terry Schiavo intervention), in addition to be horrifically bad at constituent service. There is no reason for a Bush Dog in one of the most reliably Democratic districts in the country.
As to MD-1, I think that Harris is a much better chance of a pickup than Gilchrist.
With one exception, paper ballots, Harris is positively Neanderthal (We really are talking Fred Flintstone here), and the Eastern shore has always been a bastion of relatively moderate Republicanism, so Harris is more vulnerable than a multi-term incumbent known for his relative liberalism.
On the Dem side, it will be Frank Kratovil, about whom I know nothing.
In MD-6, which is Western, and very conservative, Maryland, Jennifer Dogherty will Run against Roscoe Bartlett, she’s a former Mayor of Frederick, so hopefully she will be competitive. Bartlett is old, and this is not a Republican year.
The fact that she beat Andy Duck in the primary, and he has ran in, and had built on his organization from the previous election, indicates that she will run a good campaign, but it still a long shot.
Another Republican Retirement, John Shadegg, (Az-3)
That’s 29 in the past 13 months.
I guess that they have discovered it’s less fun to be anvil than hammer.*
*Quoting Goethe: Du mußt Amboß oder Hammer sein (“You must be Anvil or Hammer”)†
†OK, I’m actually quoting Patrick McGoohan’s marvelous serise, The Prisoner. I’m not that literate.
Rep. Tom Lantos Dead at 80
Here.
My condolences to his friends and family.
WaPo Endorses Donna Edwards In MD-4
Good.
Al Wynn is corrupt, ineffective, and a horrible person, and his campaign has been despicable.
Any democrat who voted to intervene in the Terry Schiavo, as Al Wynn did, case needs to be out of a job.
Ron Paul Basically Dropping out of Presidential Race
Rep. Darlene Hooley (D-OR) to Retire
She is in her 6th term, and it appears to be for health reasons, she is 68, and has been hospitalized with lung problems recently.
It’s considered a swing district.
Congressional Democrats Have An Embarrassment of Opportunities
The problem is that it’s a lot to manage.
Last cycle, the DCCC had 10 potential pickups, and this time around 45, between the way the tide is going and the retirements.
Of course, Rahm Emmanuel and the DCCC screwed the pooch on a lot of those 10, propping up Tammy Duckworth in the primary against Christine Cegelis, and then dropping another million dollars on her losing effort.
Hopefully Chris Vanhollen will do better this time than Rahm did.
Tom Davis (R-VA) Out
His wife, a state senator, lost in 2006, and I guess he figures that it’s a sign or something.
Buh by.
And Now Bush is Maintaining that He Can Ignore Congress on Spending
In the National Defense Authorization Act for 2008, Congress prohibited the use of federal funds to “to establish any military installation or base for the purpose of providing for the permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq” or “to exercise United States control of the oil resources of Iraq.” it also,
….requires intelligence agencies to turn over “any existing intelligence assessment, report, estimate or legal opinion” requested by the leaders of the House and Senate armed services committees within 45 days. If the president wants to assert executive privilege to deny the request, the law says, White House counsel must do so in writing.
Finally, Bush’s signing statement raised constitutional questions about a section of the bill that established an independent, bipartisan “Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan” to investigate allegations of waste, mismanagement, and excessive force by contractors.
Bush’s response, “Nyah, nyah, nayh, I’m president“, in a signing statement.
A prohibition on spending by the congress is legally binding on a president, even it makes his job “hard work”.
This is why having impeachment on the table is a necessary thing:
NOT ON THE TABLE! NOT ON THE TABLE!