It looks like Congress is well on its way to crippling prosecution of white collar crime.
It will remove tools from the investigators’ arsenal that are crucial to getting information and finding hidden assets.
I would also add that while the targets of such probes find the tactics coercive, they are completely in line with what prosecutors do with other crimes, and I support them as long as they can be used against a burglar or a corner street dealer.
The law is not just for brown people.
H/T Oliver Willis for the catch.
Hans von Spakovsky, the Bush administration’s point man on illegal voter suppression at the DoJ, has been nominated as a member of the Federal Elections Commission.
Democratic senators, with Feingold and Obama taking the lead, have said that he is not acceptable, and the Republicans are blocking any vote on any other nominees unless they are all voted on at once.
Bush could theoretically make recess appointments, but he’s already cut a deal with Harry Reid not to make recess appointments after Reid announced plans to keep the Senate in session with local members to prevent this.
The problem is that quorum for the FEC is 4, and without these approvals, they would have only two members.
Fred Wertheimer, states it thusly:
Either one of those scenarios is “fraught with potential danger,” Fred Wertheimer, the executive director of the nonpartisan watchdog Democracy 21, told me.
If the FEC were crippled, that would be bad, he said, creating a situation where outside groups funded by millionaires (like the Swift Boat Vets) could run amok in a campaign year. “That would be a license to steal and to completely ignore campaign finance laws.”
But if the commission were stocked with the president’s appointees, that would be much worse. “You could have an agency that leaves one party free to do whatever it wants, while raising concerns that the other party is breaking the law.
“The whole fight at the Justice Department over the firing of the U.S. attorneys has arisen over misusing the criminal justice system in order to influence political results…. Now, if you don’t get some legitimate form of a commission ready to go for the 2008 election, you face the same danger, except with far greater stakes involved, mainly the presidency, the Senate and House — who wins and who loses.”
I tend to agree that no FEC would be worse than an FEC run by Bush and His Evil Minions&trade.
At least both sides would have an equal opportunity to break laws with no FEC.
One note, look at his picture: 
, he really does look like those photographs of those 30 something SS camp guards one sees in history books.
I’m going to miss him when he drops out.
This time Freddie Dalton Thompson is calling Rush Limbaugh “One Of The Strongest Supporters Of Our Troops”.
Seriously. Thompson makes Ronald Reagan in his later years* look alert and aware.
*AKA, the official state vegetable of California.
I believe that I’ve said before that I am a hard liner on immigration, though I don’t side with the nativists who favor going after the illegal aliens in a draconian manner.
As such, I whole heartedly agree with Jack Cafferty’s take on the judge that issued a stay on “no match” letters, which put employers on notice when there are irregularities in the social security data for employees.
It puts the onus of compliance with the law with the employers, where it should stand, and it gives 90 days, which is sufficient time to resolve the issue, and the idea that it “potentially enormous burden on the employer” (like OSHA, as Jack says, or the EPA as I say) is ludicrous.
No one living in another country has a right to work here. Immigration should be legal, and should be governed by the interests and values of us as a society.
He’s going after he on a number of levels, but his attacks against Mark Penn are likely to be effective.
I’ve previously mentioned his financial ties to union buster, but now Edwards is pounding on Penn’s ties to Blackwater
Mark Penn is the worldwide president and CEO of Burson-Marsteller. The firm’s lobbying subsidiary BKSH helped Blackwater’s top executive, Erik Prince, prepare for his congressional testimony this week.
I believe that both Obama and Edwards have held off attacking because they feel that the other will be the primary recipient of the benefits, and that Edwards has concluded that it’s time to take the gloves off.
Good.
Penn is pond scum, and making him an albatross around Hillary’s neck will either hurt Hillary, or get Penn out of the campaign, both of which are positive actions.
Reports that Blackwater would be bodyguarding the FBI agents in Iraq are false. The agents will be protected Diplomatic Security Service.
In reading this account of the congressional investigation of illegal phone jamming in 2002 by Republican operatives, there is a very interesting quote:
The case moved slowly — the pleas not occurring until June of 2004. And it wasn’t until after the 2004 election that James Tobin, who’d been the Republian National Committee’s New England Regional Political Director, was indicted for his role in the conspiracy. He was ultimately convicted, but then the verdict was reversed on appeal. Tobin will go to trial again this December.
Democrats say it’s no accident that the case took so long.
As part of a civil suit over the jamming, the FBI turned over more than 5000 pages of investigative materials to Democratic lawyers. The documents revealed, they say, that only one FBI agent was assigned to the case on a part-time basis, and that “the agent was continually given other assignments which interfered with her ability to conduct a coherent intensive investigation.” The lawyers will be transferring those documents to the Conyers’ committee sometime next week.
While this is a generally positive development, I have come to believe that the Demleadership is too risk averse, and won’t allow a contempt of congress motion to go forward.
Seriously, for Republicans in Minneapolis-St. Paul, the symbol is an elephant bending over.
This is almost as good as the Goatse’ed* logo finalist for the UK Olympics!!!
*If you are wondering, “What is goatse, Do Not Google It. If you find out, you will never be the same, and I do not mean that in a good way.
Remember when I said that Domenici had health and behavior issues? He will be citing a form of dementia called frontotemporal lobar degeneration as the reason for his retirement.
In related news, Republican Heather Wilson will run for his seat. This should be interesting, as she nearly lost her house seat in 2006, and she is as hip deep in the US Attorney scandal as Domenici is.
The judge has denied Craig’s request to withdraw his guilty plea, and Craig si
now saying that he’s staying in the senate until the end of his term.
The Republicans are threatening an ethics committee investigation against him, but I think that it’s going nowhere, as we would have to see David “Diaper” Vitter, and Mitch “Handjob in the Shower” McConnell testifying.
I am amused.
My worry about Barack Obama is that sometimes I get the sense that he, “Likes to please people too much,” something that Ernest Gruening said of Hubert Humphrey, but his stand against Hans von Spakovsky, who has been extensively involved in what are likely illegal voter suppression activities, and their coverup within the DoJ, as a member of the Federal Election Commission, is a good sign.
Letting “Clever” Hans von Spakovsky on the FEC would be like allowing Colonel Sanders to be on the board of the Chickens as Pets society.
Members of the religious right are threatening a 3rd party bid if Rudy wins, and Rudy’s response is not to talk to them.
Let’s be clear, this is not a tactical decision, some sort of attempt to present himself as tough. This is who Rudy is.
Veteran Rudy insiders have been predicting this for some time, because there’s a backstory here that longtime Rudy watchers know about. Back in 2000, when Rudy was running for Senate, he was being attacked by the leader of New York’s Conservative Party for his pro-choice views. This was a big deal because Republicans in New York need the Conservative Party to overcome the state’s Dem tilt and win statewide office. But Rudy steadily ignored the Conservative chief for weeks and weeks, and at one point started lambasting him in the press. He even said what he’s saying now: That conservatives would gravitate towards him despite what their leader said.
This is part of who Guiliani is. He has consistently refused to deal with people who were not in complete lockstep with him.
Any future foreign policy under a Guiliani administration would make Bush/Cheney look like Mahatma Ghandi.
Scary thought.
Not surprising. When you consider reports of corruption (he’s hip deep in the US attorney purge), health problems, and erratic behavior (he showed up to work in pajamas), it’s pretty clear that he’s going.
In this case Howie Kurtz, the Washington Post’s walking conflict of interest media critic who says that the media is going all out on Hillary’s laugh because it was fun to do.
Jon Stewart, setting the pace for political journalism, kicked things off last week by assembling a grab bag of giggling and guffawing when the senator appeared on all five Sunday talk shows, from a barn outside her Chappaqua, N.Y., home. As Clinton was seen bursting into belly laughs– sometimes oddly and abruptly — at queries by the likes of Bob Schieffer and Chris Wallace, the “Daily Show” host likened her to a robot switching into chuckle mode when aggressive interrogators needed to be neutralized.
It’s nice that reporters like Jon Stewart, but to quote Mr. Stewart (with bleating from Carlson and Bergalia)
STEWART: Will jump on it. In many ways, it’s funny. And I made a special effort to come on the show today, because I have privately, amongst my friends and also in occasional newspapers and television shows, mentioned this show as being bad.
BEGALA: We have noticed.
STEWART: And I wanted to — I felt that that wasn’t fair and I should come here and tell you that I don’t — it’s not so much that it’s bad, as it’s hurting America. But I wanted to come here today and say…
STEWART: Stop, stop, stop, stop hurting America.
….
STEWART: See, the thing is, we need your help. Right now, you’re helping the politicians and the corporations. And we’re left out there to mow our lawns.
BEGALA: By beating up on them? You just said we’re too rough on them when they make mistakes.
STEWART: No, no, no, you’re not too rough on them. You’re part of their strategies. You are partisan, what do you call it, hacks.
….
STEWART: … is that the news organizations look to Comedy Central for their cues on integrity.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
STEWART: So what I would suggest is, when you talk about you’re holding politicians’ feet to fire, I think that’s disingenuous. I think you’re…
CARLSON: “How are you holding up?” I mean, come on.
(CROSSTALK)
STEWART: No, no, no. But my role isn’t, I don’t think…
CARLSON: But you can ask him a real question, don’t you think, instead of saying…
(CROSSTALK)
STEWART: I don’t think I have to. By the way, I also asked him, “Were you in Cambodia?” But I didn’t really care.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: Because I don’t care, because I think it’s stupid.
CARLSON: I can tell.
(CROSSTALK)
STEWART: But my point is this. If your idea of confronting me is that I don’t ask hard-hitting enough news questions, we’re in bad shape, fellows. (LAUGHTER)
CARLSON: We’re here to love you, not confront you.
(CROSSTALK)
CARLSON: We’re here to be nice.
STEWART: No, no, no, but what I’m saying is this. I’m not. I’m here to confront you, because we need help
from the media and they’re hurting us. And it’s — the idea is……
STEWART: It’s not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery. And I will tell you why I know it.
CARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniff his throne and you’re accusing us of partisan hackery?
STEWART: Absolutely.
CARLSON: You’ve got to be kidding me. He comes on and you…
(CROSSTALK)
STEWART: You’re on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: What is wrong with you?
….
Emphasis mine.
The fact that Ron Paul has raised as much as John McCain is less about Ron Paul than it is about George W. Bush, and the fact that Ron Paul is the only one willing to call him out, notwithstanding Mike Huckabee’s timid critique of Bush a few days back.
People are sick of the war. They are sick of torture. They are sick of incompetence.
This is the jist of this article, from the Wall Street Journal, of all places.
“More striking,” Pew concluded, was the change in party identification since 2002. Five years ago, the population was evenly divided — 43% for each party. This year, Democrats had a 50% to 35% advantage.
What you have left in the Republican party are dead enders, bigots, and Religious nuts waiting for the apocalypse.
These folks are not good markets to sell to.
Adding a surtax for the war is more than good policy, it’s our patriotic duty, and the fact that Steny Hoyer is doing his best to kill it (and Pelosi doesn’t get it either) is depressing.
It appears so from a conference call.
Campaign manager Jonathan Prince that said that Edwards “made a decision that he did not want to advocate for ending the problem of the corruption in our political financing” without taking meaningful action himself — that is, opting into the public system in order to prove his dedication to public financing.
When the subject of campaign finance and lobbiests came up int he debates, Hillary was an enthusiastic defender of the status quo, and this is a laying the groundwork to do this.
Let me be clear: I believe that this strategy is stupid, it appears to have sprung from the mind of Joe Trippi, but it is not insanely stupid.