Category: Politics

How Democrats Should Act

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Dan Froomkin notes that when Democrats push back, Bush’s signing statements get withdrawn:

Robert Brodsky writes for Government Executive: ‘The White House and congressional leaders have announced most of the appointees to the long-awaited Commission on Wartime Contracting. The bipartisan team is charged with investigating virtually all war-related contracts, including funds devoted to reconstruction, logistical support for coalition forces, and security and intelligence functions.

‘The commission is the brainchild of Sens. Jim Webb, D-Va., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. The freshmen senators co-wrote the provision creating the panel, which was included in the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act and signed into law in January. . . .

‘The White House’s cooperation with the panel is an about-face from its earlier public stance.

‘Shortly after signing the defense authorization, Bush issued a signing statement that said he did not have to abide by four provisions in the legislation, including the one creating the commission. At the time, Bush said the provisions could inhibit his ‘ability to carry out his constitutional obligations to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, to protect national security, to supervise the executive branch, and execute his authority as commander in chief.’

“Webb immediately pushed back, criticizing the statement as an ‘impingement on the rights’ of Congress and said the Senate would ‘march forward in an expeditious manner’ to create the panel. Webb’s office said the White House seems to have dropped its objections and plans to cooperate with the panel. . . .

“The commission is modeled after the Truman committee, which conducted hundreds of hearings and investigations into government waste during and after World War II.”

For more about that signing statement, see my Jan. 30 column, Bush Thumbs Nose at Congress.

I’m not a big fan of Webb. I think that he’s too conservative.

That being said, he has a spine.

My First Reaction Was to Say, “Barack Obama Can Kiss My Shiny Metal Ass”

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Because when he talks about expanding Bush’s faith based initiative, it seems to me that he is giving the imprimatur of bipartisanship to what has been a disgraceful, and anti-constitutional, spoils system for Republican supporting churches.

It’s a little better when one looks into it though.

The organizations will not be allowed to discriminate, as they can under the Bush program, at least for federally funded work:

“If you get a federal grant, you can’t use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can’t discriminate against them — or against the people you hire — on the basis of their religion,” Mr. Obama said. “Federal dollars that go directly to churches, temples and mosques can only be used on secular programs.”

Needless to say, the Talibapitsts are freaking about this, because they think that the right to discriminate is what makes them “distinctive”.

I would note that Obama’s statement seems to allow discrimination, just not with public funds. I disagree with this.

Religious groups should held to the same standard as the secular organizations if they take public money.

Polish Will Not Sign EU Treaty

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I think that this will be in the long run a good thing for the EU. The behavior of the EU nations, particularly Sarkozy in France, suggesting that the Irish must re vote their referendum plays into all the worst stereotypes of the EU as a fundamentally anti-Democratic institution.

The fact that Polish President Lech Kaczynski is refusing to sign the treaty pretty much puts a stake in the heart of all these efforts, and makes it far more likely that other governments will take similar actions, because they now have political cover.

The point is very simple: If you want to forge a governance document, and what you come up with is so complex that literally no one in the world fully understands all of it, and your response to failed referenda to approve it is simply to restructure the agreement so that there is very little public input, you are being an idiot.

When your policy is rejected by the people that you ostensibly represent, taking the people that you ostensibly represent out of the picture is dangerously misguided.

Ron Arad as Olmert’s Political Tool

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Well, it looks like the deal to swap swap child murderer Samir Kantar for the remains of two Israeli soldiers has hit a snag, Olmert is insisting that there can be no deal without the return of Ron Arad.

The first thing that I will say is that I think that these deals for hostages are counter productive, even moreso when the hostages are dead. Releasing Samir Kantar, who killed a 4 year old girl, for some bones is indefensibly stupid.

Bring Ron Arad into the question however, creates an entirely new dynamic.

Arad has been Israel’s Judge Crater, Amelia Earhart, etc., and his status, and there is some evidence is that he is still alive, has been a focus of public concerns for over two decades now.

If he stands tough and there is no deal, Olmert wins politically, because of the public interest in the Arad manner. If he stands tough and gets back bones, he wins politically for the same reason. If Arad comes back alive, Olmert wins the next election even if he is in prison.

It is a masterful political move.

Lousy statecraft, but very good politics.

You Know That Dobson Is Losing It When His Fellow Winger Evangelicals Call Him Out

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Peter Wehner, a man who has been at the forefront of putting religion in the public sphere, just called out James Dobson as an ignorant twit regarding his recent rants regarding Barack Obama.

It appears that Dobson’s main beef is the phrase used by Barack Obama in a speech, “And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson’s, or Al Sharpton’s?”

His motivation for his rant is largely because he is offended by being compared to Sharpton.

Still, I get the sense that, now that they see the Republican party heading into some very bad years, the Republican party Washington, DC establishment wants to start slapping down the most ignorant and arrogant members of the Christo-fascist community, particularly Mr. Dobson.

Classic Right Wing Smear Job

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Yep, we have Rupert Mordoch’s New York Post going front page on an article about CPS reporter Lara Logan having an affair in Baghdad.

Imagine that, a war correspondent in theater having an affair.

In any case, I agree with Will Bunch. Lara Logan is being smeared for her criticism of Iraq war coverage, which she has been highly critical of.

This started when she said on the Daily Show, that, “If I were to watch the news that you’re hearing in the United States, I’d just blow my brains out. ‘Cause it would drive me nuts.”

Bizarro World: I Agree With Ramesh Ponnuru

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Writing in The Corner, he notes that while Time Magazine reporter Massimo Calabresi suggests that the FISA update drew attacks from both sides, Mr. Ponnure notes that he hadn’t, “heard much unhappiness being expressed from righties,” and that, “If that’s what they [Democrats] want to tell themselves, fine. It sure looks like they got rolled.”

Ponnuru is completely correct. The right has been unable to contain their glee over this abomination, and Mr. Calabresi is either very stupid, or allowed Steny Hoyer to hypnotize him.*

*Just in case the mouth breathers from The Corner come over, let me be clear, the hypnosis bit is a joke…

McClellan Says White House Plame Coverup is Ongoing

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I am not surprised, except for the fact that Congress has been so complicit in this coverup:

“The continuing cloud of suspicion is not something I can remove because I only one part of the story,” McClellan said in his opening statement before the House Judiciary Committtee this morning. “Only those who know the underlying truth can bring this to an end. Sadly, they remain silent.”

Cheney Lies Through His Teeth Again

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And once again, it’s the folks at McClatchy who call him on it, and no one else seems to notice.

This time, he’s claiming that the Chinese are drilling off the Cuban coast, and using that as a justification for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

Well, not true, and not just the Chinese:

Yet no one can prove that the Chinese are drilling anywhere off Cuba’s shoreline. The China-Cuba connection is “akin to urban legend,” said Sen. Mel Martinez, a Republican from Florida who opposes drilling off the coast of his state but who backs exploration in ANWR.

“China is not drilling in Cuba’s Gulf of Mexico waters, period,” said Jorge Pinon, an energy fellow with the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the University of Miami and an expert in oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. Martinez cited Pinon’s research when he took to the Senate floor Wednesday to set the record straight.

It’s not just Cheney. It’s also John Boehner, and George Radanovich.

If a Republican says that the sky is blue, bring a damn unbrella.

Update on Republithug Corruption

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Busy day.

We have former Congressman Curt Weldon tied into a Russian influence buying scheme, all laundered through a shady non-profit.

Curt Weldon was, of course one of those guys who saw agents of hostile governments everywhere…who knew he was one?

The fine folks at TPM note that former Rep. Sweeney’s (now ex-) wife, the one that he beat when he wasn’t driving drunk, was being paid for work she never did at a “fundraising firm” that she ran.

In the small fry category, we have Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) neglection to mention $286,278 in expenditures and $102,044 in contributions in her 2002 campaign. It could just be a clerical error, but seeing as how they neglected to mention a donation from “Friends of Duke Cunningham”, and over a hundred grand spent on her Daughter and Son-in-law’s “political consulting firm”, I’m thinking that we have some self dealing going on.