Saturday, October 07, 2006

Lies and the Lying Liars

Poor Joe, he just can't help himself.

More Thread

Enjoy.

Incumbency Protection Racket

It's important to remember that first and foremost the various party organizations are incumbency protection rackets. While taking and retaking Congress as a whole is of course a goal, a more important goal is keeping as many of their own jobs as possible. These goals obviously aren't entirely at odds with each other, but nor do they necessarily align perfectly. In a year when incumbents are feeling nice and safe there's plenty of money to throw around to challenge incumbents and try to win open seats. But in a year when the incumbents start fearing for the jobs the money is going to start flowing to them.

And, yes, yet another reason why it's not so crazy to run candidates everywhere. It can really help to suck all of the money out of the system.

WHEEEEEEEE

Bush at 33% in Newsweek poll. That's some bounce! And, it's a new low for that poll which means...

Fresh Thread

Denver airport edition.

Media Matters

From Jamison Foser.

Travel day for me, so light posting.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Galactica Blogging

That was pretty good. Seemed eerily familiar though. I think I've seen that movie before.


...and, entirely unrelated, but jeebus are there any reporters who are able to resist the mind control powers of Republican talking point bullshit? Google. Use it.

Friday Night

enjoy.

Lies and the Lying Liars

Dead man walking edition.

We're all a bit annoyed that reporters are unwilling to call a lie a lie, but there's something even worse going on. I've found that reporters are unwilling to believe that they're being lied to, based on an odd belief that their power to fuck over the person who lied to them insulates them from things. There's such a strong presumption of innocence based on their own perceived power. Which they never use. It's weird.

The odd sight of b-list Republicans fanning out to suggest that what this scandal is really all about is What Nancy Pelosi Knew And When She Knew it is somewhat entertaining, but it's really time for the press corps to not put up with this game.

Yea, yea, not holding my breath.

Dead Man Walking

Not too many people think Denny Hastert should keep his job.

Don't quit, Denny! Don't quit! Stand up to the liberal media!

Dose of Shrill

I'm not sure how shrill Portastatic is generally, but Mac occasionally gets a bit shrill on his blog. And Thers likes them, and everyone knows he's shrill, though mostly about expanding his vast collection of progeny and consuming delightfully tasty pork products.

In any case, the new CD, out next week, is quite good. Here's a free legal download of the lead track, Sour Shores, from Be Still Please.

Bye Sue

Rove's aide, Sue Ralston, resigns.

Dead Man Walking

Well, it appears we're likely to get to 5PM before Denny Hastert resigns, but I'm not sure how much longer he'll last.

Meow

Jealous much?

OWWWWWWWWW

The stupid! It burns!

"Walter Cronkite of his Era"

Mark Halperin is such a wanker.

Melanie Sloan of CREW on CNN



Discusses the lying FBI.

Teh Funny

Randy Kuhl (R-Bedlam) makes a joke.

Wanker of the Day

Peter Beinart.

F.U.

I know regulars understand this, but for those coming in late and wondering what all the discussion of Friedman Units of time is about, it began with FAIR pointing out that Friedman was forever labeling the next six months in Iraq as a critical, decisive time. But the real issue isn't about prognostication, but about the perpetual punting of The Iraq Question to a future date. It allows the pundit, or politician, to seem Real Concerned About The War without actually bothering to take it seriously.

George Bush is president. He is incompetent and a bit nuts. He is in charge of running the war. One half an F.U. or a full F.U. or even four F.U.s from now things in Iraq will be pretty much as they are, only a bit worse. If you are concerned about things in Iraq you'll stop furrowing your brow while pontificating about how we're, once again, At A Really Critical Moment, and start accepting the fact that the only thing which could possibly improve things is new leadership. This involves, at the very least: the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld and his replacement by a competent person, the resgination of Condi Rice and her replacement by a competent person, the permanent relegation of Dick Cheney to an undisclosed location far away from any actual power to make decisions, the replacement of the current military leadership who have been chosen for their loyalty to their incompetent civilian leaders, and the election of Democrats to Congress who can hopefully engage in some of the meaningful oversight that the Republicans have shown no interest in having in order to force some of these changes.

I didn't back this war, but those who did have an extra moral responsibility to the troops they sent there, their families, and the people of Iraq to prevent President Bush from continuing his incompetent leadership there. But most of them don't. They continue to punt the issue one F.U. at a time, while their little sociopathic brains dream of ponies.

One F.U. from now, what are you going to suggest we do differently? If you don't have a realistic answer to that, then I politely suggest you S.T.F.U.

The Big Money

If you have been considering giving a contribution to help one of your favorite candidates win now would be a good time. Election day is only a month away.

Give to one of these fine candidates or choose your own favorites.

Clenis Comes to Town


Please join us for a rally to

Change the Direction of Our Country

with
President Bill Clinton
and
Democratic Nominee for Congress
Patrick J. Murphy



Mill Street, Bristol
Wednesday, October 11th
10:00am gates open

This event is open to the Public, so invite all your friends!

Enter on the corner of Mill Street and Wood Street, Bristol
Street parking in Bristol or take the R7 to Bristol Station


More info here.

Hastert: Boehner's a Liar

Meow:

Conservative activist Paul Weyrich, president of the Free Congress Foundation, told ABC News that in a private phone conversation Hastert "assured me that Congressman Boehner had never, ever talked to him about this."

"He didn't call him a 'liar,' " Weyrich said, "but he said, 'Paul, I assure you that phone call or visit from the majority leader never took place."

As to the claim by Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., that he also had told Hastert earlier this year about the e-mails, Weyrich said Hastert said in private, as he has in public, that he doesn't remember that, but he did not challenge Reynolds' veracity.

Reynolds' former chief of staff Kirk Fordham, who resigned earlier in the week, told the FBI that as Foley's chief of staff in 2003, he told Hastert aide Scott Palmer that Foley had a page issue.

Palmer denied that claim, but Hastert said today that he could not say whether anyone on his staff had heard the earlier warnings about Foley's inappropriate behavior. "I don't know who knew what when," Hastert added. "If it's members of my staff and they didn't do the job, we will act appropriately."

Your Liberal Media

Mark Halperin and John Harris:

Matt Drudge Rules Our World


Reality:

Drudge is full of shit


Swatting flies.

One Warner

Is equal to 1/2 Friedman.

Jobs

Damn, forgot to make my over/under bet. Needless to say I would've gone where the good money goes, with the under bet. Which would've won. Consensus forecast was +120K new jobs. Actual number of net new jobs was +51K.

Bush's Job Description

Daily Show:

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Hobos, the Alphabet, and Cheese

Spent the evening watching John Hodgman discuss hobos, David Rees sing the alphabet song (including a special version for Tom Friedman), and Amy Sedaris make cheese balls. Though, sadly, the place was full so I was watching by video in the overflow area.

WHEEEEEEEEE

Bush at 36% in Time poll.

Fresh Thread

Rock on.

Oh My

More hoaxes:

Three more former congressional pages have come forward to reveal what they call "sexual approaches" over the Internet from former Congressman Mark Foley.

The pages served in the classes of 1998, 2000 and 2002. They independently approached ABC News after the Foley resignation through the Brian Ross & the Investigative Team's tip line on ABCNews.com. None wanted their names used because of the sensitive nature of the communications.

"I was seventeen years old and just returned to [my home state] when Foley began to e-mail me, asking if I had ever seen my page roommates naked and how big their penises were," said the page in the 2002 class.

The former page also said Foley told him that if he happened to be in Washington, D.C., he could stay at Foley's home if he "would engage in oral sex" with Foley.

In for a Friedman

General Casey punts another Friedman:

WARSAW (AFP) - The US general in charge of the multinational coalition in
Iraq, General George Casey, said that the next six months will be a decisive period that will determine Iraq's future.

"This is a decisive period for everyone and everyone knows it. The next six months will determine the future of Iraq," Casey said in a statement after attending two days of closed-door meetings in Warsaw to address "the challenges facing Iraq and the US-led coalition."


See you in 6 months.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Bush at 38 in new AP-Ipsos, 37 in new Pew.

Freeh No More

Apparently Pelosi shut that one down. Shame, actually, would've been fun to spend a couple of days talking about all the reasons Freeh was a truly awful choice before he ended up resigning anyway.

Journamalism

Marc Ambinder edition.

Is it really so hard? The question is, of course, did Ambinder scribble down what some Republican flunky told him, or did he even try to research this issue?

Freeh

Well, with the appointment of Louis Freeh, worst FBI chief ever, to investigate this stuff we can be sure the investigation discovers who is ultimately responsible.

That's right, Bill Clinton.

The Triumphant Return of Lee Siegel

Now this is funny. Forwarded from an email list:

I'm looking for a research assistant to help me with a book about Internet culture that I'm writing for Doubleday, which is due to be finished by the end of next March. My name is Lee Siegel, and I'm a senior editor at the New Republic, and the author of "Fallling Upwards: Essays in Defense of the Imagination," a collection of essays that has just been published.

I would prefer a graduate student. Salary is to be decided with the person I hire.

Anyone who is interested can respond to me at this email address : [address redacted]

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Lee Siegel



What's next? A textbook on theoretical physics by George W. Bush? A Guide to Civility and Manners from Michael Savage? A foreign policy treatise by Peter Beinart? Oh, wait...

Stay, Denny, Stay

Seriously. The idea that Democrats actually want Hastert to resign is absurd. Of course, he should resign given what he covered up, but from a purely calculating political perspective the longer he hangs in there the better.

Heckuva Job, Katie

Your liberal media at work.


...heckuva ratings, too.

Beverley Lumpkin, Ace Reporter

Beverley Lumpkin of CBS yesterday:

In July, when Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) provided the "innocuous" emails to the FBI, they were heavily redacted.

The FBI asked CREW to go back to its source and ask for more information so it could follow up, but CREW refused. That's why the FBI did nothing further at that time.


They weren't heavily redacted.

They didn't ask CREW to go back to its source and ask for more information so it could follow up.

CREW didn't refuse that request because no request was made.

That isn't why the FBI did nothing further because none of those things are true.

Beverley Lumpkin, ace reporter, obviously after Steno Sue's job.


...between me writing this and posting this at some point they changed it to this:


The Justice Department told CBSNews that in July, when Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) provided the "innocuous" e-mails to the FBI, they were heavily redacted. CREW adamantly denies that and says they provided an FBI agent with complete, unredacted e-mails.

The Justice Department also said that the FBI asked CREW to go back to its source and ask for more information so it could follow up, but CREW refused. That's why the FBI, Justuice said, did nothing further at that time. CREW says the FBI made no such follow-up requests for more information at any time. An FBI agent did place one clarifying phone call on the day CREW turned over the e-mails to double-check that Mark Foley was the congressman involved, CREW said.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story failed to present CREW's account. That was a mistake for which we apologize.



...more from CREW.

Lies and the Lying Liars

FBI and incompetent sucker media edition:

CREW DEMANDS DOJ I.G. INVESTIGATE FBI COVER-UP ON INACTION ON FOLEY EMAILS SENT BY CREW



FBI Lied to Reporters



Washington, DC – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) wrote to the Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General’s (I.G.) office today to ask for an investigation into why the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has fabricated and disseminated a cover-up story as to why it never investigated the Foley emails sent to it by CREW.



CBS News has reported that according to the FBI when CREW gave the Bureau the original set of emails from Rep. Mark Foley to a former House page, they were “heavily redacted.” The FBI is also claiming that it came back to CREW and asked for more information so that it could follow up, but that CREW refused to provide anything further. Reporters from several other news organizations have repeated this allegation. The FBI is lying.



On Monday, October 2, CREW sent a letter to the DOJ I.G.’s office, attaching exact copies of the emails CREW had sent to the FBI on July 21, 2006. Both the former page’s name and the person to whom the page forwarded Rep. Foley’s emails were clearly visible. Moreover, after CREW sent the emails to the FBI, CREW’s only subsequent contact with the Bureau was one telephone call from the special agent to whom CREW had sent the material confirming that the emails were from Rep. Foley. CREW had no further contact with the FBI.



In contrast with this new explanation for failing to investigate the Foley matter, The Washington Post has reported that an unnamed FBI official stated that the Bureau decided not to investigate after concluding that the emails “did not rise to the level of criminal activity.”



Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director said today, “the FBI cannot have it both ways; either it failed to investigate the Foley emails because they did not rise to a level of criminal activity or because it did not have adequate information to do so. Pick one.



“Attorney General Gonzales has told the public repeatedly that the investigation and prosecution of those who sexually exploit children is a top priority. We are outraged that the FBI failed to investigate Rep. Foley and is now blaming others for its inaction.



“It is time for all of those who had knowledge about Rep. Foley’s conduct to step up and take responsibility for leaving a sexual predator on the loose.”

Or What?

Aside from a fervent belief in The Green Lantern School of Foreign Policy, the only other part of the Bush Doctrine seems to be the belief that if you send Karen Hughes and Condi Rice out to give stern lectures to people that you'll accomplish something.

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, making an election-season visit to Iraq, said Thursday she will tell its leaders they have limited time to settle political differences spurring sectarian and insurgent violence.

“They don't have time for endless debate of these issues,” Rice said during a news conference aboard her plane. “They have really got to move forward. That is one of the messages that I'll take, but it will also be a message of support and what can we do to help.”

Kennedy to Joe: STFU

Indeed.

Hacktackular Howie

Hacktackular, even for Howie.

Forever

I've been saying this for a long time, but I haven't seen it repeated enough by others. Yglesias:

According to Woodward's book, Bush says he'll continue the war in Iraq even if the only ones left supporting him are Laura and their dog. And, presumably, he means it. Loose talk of winning or losing the war is, at this point, irrelevant. The president has defined our war aims in Iraq purely in terms of continuing the war indefinitely. For him, keeping all of these troops over there and handing the whole shitpile off to his successor is success. Nobody else should find that very comforting.


Why this isn't obvious to everyone I don't know.

Lockdown

Someone close to Denny really should tell him that it's over.

Wankers of the Day

The complete shitheads that are the leading lights of the conservative blogosphere.

No ethics, no scruples, no morals, no compassion, no sense. Just really bad people.

Morning Thread

Enjoy.

Overnight

Enjoy.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Teh Funny

Pro-Torture Joe is a sick human being.

Late Night

Enjoy.

Iraq'd

Michael Ware just now on CNN:

Listen, Wolf. This is the way to put it in a nutshell. If the US continues its policy and operations as they are now the situation will worsen and the enemies of the US - principally al Qaeda and Iran - will continue to strengthen. There's a number of options that are presented to Washington at the moment. They either do this or they don't do this. They either need to get serious about the battle here on the ground - physically against al Qaeda and the insurgency - and commit the troops that the commanders need, or they need to look for alternative solutions. At the end of the day what they're facing is the potential of most of this country being subsumed by a Shia-led theocracy-style government with other parts of the government left as Western al Qaeda desert training camp facilities. To avoid that something radical has to be done. So Colin Powell is right. Staying the course will only strengthen America's enemies.

Oops

CNN sez AP reporting Fordham had "more than one conversation with senior staff at the highest level of the House of Representatives asking them to intervene."

Bye Denny.

Time to Face Reality

Yes, it's time to ask the last honest man, Joe Lieberman, why he won't.

Blunted

Blunt sez Hastert messed up.

Kicking Ass

Cliff Schecter returns to MSNBC.

Pretty Obvious

Your Republican congress. Can't keep themselves away from the pages.

LAHOOD: It just — it's a program that simply is flawed. It has its flaws. We should fix it. And then if it's a valuable program, perhaps bring it back.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, that's kind of a sorry state of affairs. In essence, what you're saying is that members of Congress can't be trusted to be around young people.

LAHOOD: Well, that's pretty obvious.

Scapegoat

More from ABC:

The chief of staff for Republican Congressman Tom Reynolds, Kirk Fordham, resigned after questions were raised about his role in the handling of the congressional page scandal, according to Republican sources on Capitol Hill.

Those sources said Fordham, a former chief of staff for Congressman Mark Foley, had urged Republican leaders last spring not to raise questionable Foley e-mails with the full Congressional Page Board, made up of two Republicans and a Democrat.

"He begged them not to tell the page board," said one of the Republican sources.

People familiar with Fordham's side of the story, however, said Fordham was being used as a scapegoat by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

They said Fordham had repeatedly warned Hastert's staff about Foley's "problem" with pages, but little was done.

The complaint about Foley was brought to the chairman of the page board, Congressman John Shimkus (R-IL), last spring, and he then consulted with the Clerk of the House of Representatives, Jeff Trandahl.

At Fordham's urging, according to the sources, the matter was not given to the full board, and instead Congressman Foley was privately approached and told to stop all contact with the page he had been e-mailing.

They Write Letters

Patrick Murphy writes to Mike Fitzpatrick:

Levittown, PA – Patrick Murphy, former captain in the U.S. Army, Iraq war veteran, and Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, today renewed his call for Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert to resign and asked whether Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick would do the same.

“Congressman Fitzpatrick should take a stand: either support Speaker Hastert’s actions in covering up Ex-Rep. Mark Foley’s predatory behavior, or demand Hastert’s resignation. As a former federal prosecutor, I’ve put sexual predators behind bars. Anyone who is willing to turn the other way while a predator lurks in the halls of Congress is unfit for the title of Congressman. Speaker Hastert must resign, and I urge Congressman Fitzpatrick to join me in calling for his resignation.”

Fordham Resigns

ABC is reporting that Reynolds' Chief of Staff, Kirk Fordham, is resigning. I'm sure he'll just slither into a new job, either in Congress or somewhere on the wingnut welfare circuit.


..make that fired?

The Good Fight Against Straw

Frank Rich has a good review of, among other things, Peter Beinart's ongoing courageous battle against straw.

(via altercation)

Indicted

HP's former chair and 4 others will be indicted over their spying.

Bye Rick

With the Republican-bought-and-paid-for-Green off the ballot in PA the chances of us saying goodbye to Mr. Man on Dog have increased quite a bit.

D-FL

First O'Reilly and now the Associated Press.

Love it.

How's That Going?

Speaking of America's Worst SenatorTM, here's what Mr. Serious had to say in July:

BRIDGEPORT — U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman believes the U.S. will withdraw a "solid' contingent of its military forces in Iraq by the end of the year because of gains made by the Iraqi armed forces.

"There really has been progress made by the Iraqi military," Lieberman said Tuesday during a meeting with the Connecticut Post's editorial board. "Two-thirds of it could stand on its own or lead the fight with our logistical support."

The three-term U.S. senator said he believes a complete withdrawal is possible by late 2007 or early 2008.


Wishes are not ponies. We need better leadership.

Bring on the General

Wesley Clark going to U Conn to stump for Ned.

And No Show Joe is losing all his labor friends. Wahh.

Dose of Shrill

I'm not quite sure if the Decemberists really qualify as shrill, though in its more subtle way 16 Military Wives (song and video) did achieve some level of understated sophisticated shrillnes.

The new CD, the Crane Wife is quite good. It seems to be a bit more of a cleaner recording than some of their earlier stuff, with individual instruments coming through more distinctly. In some ways it's more accessible than their previous recording, but it also has some odd influences. There's one song which would be at home on a Steve Miller Band CD from the 70s. Another one which could've been pulled right off of a Jethro Tull CD. And I can imagine big chunks of the epic title tracks being performed by Yes. Perhaps The Decemberists are trying to make the world safe for progressive rock again. Don't tell Steve Simels.


Hack Metrics

Yglesias writes:

It's worth keeping in mind that whatever you may think of the NRO gang, they're about three hundred times as intellectually honest as the average conservative broadcast media outlet.


He overstates the case, but there's some truth to it which I think rests mostly on the fact that in print or online your words have a degree of permanence which force you to at least moderate your tendencies towards hacktackular hypocrisy as others can easily call you on it.

On the radio you can largely say what you want without fear of anyone actually calling you on it. Sure, a couple of the biggest conservative talkers have liberal watchdogs like Media Matters paying attention and transcribing them, but there are dozens and dozens of little Limbaughs all over the country who say whatever the hell they want.

Stern Times

For local people, Andy Stern of SEIU will be coming to Philadelphia on Thursday for a Drinking Liberally/Reading Liberally sponsored event. Not our usual night, it'll run from 6-8 upstairs at Fergie's Pub at 1214 Sansom. He'll be promoting his book.

Bring it On

Preparing the faithful for what's to come:

he House page scandal engulfing former Rep. Mark Foley and House Republican leaders enters its sixth day with Speaker Dennis Hastert working to hold onto his job and the GOP rank and file worried that the pre-election drip, drip of damaging political news isn't over yet.

The daily disclosures about Foley's salacious Internet exchanges with former teenage congressional pages have GOP lawmakers and conservative activists fearing the foibles of other politicians may be exposed.

"People are very, very concerned," Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., said Tuesday night. "I think there are going to be more disclosures."

"We have heard rumors that other, similar activity has occurred involving additional congressmen and will be released prior to the November elections," said the Arlington Group, a coalition of 70 pro-family conservative groups.

Hey, Glenn

Tell us what you really think:

If the term "moral degenerate" has any validity and can be fairly applied to anyone, there are few people who merit that term more than Rush Limbaugh. He is the living and breathing embodiment of moral degeneracy, with his countless overlapping sexual affairs, his series of shattered, dissolved marriages, his hedonistic and illegal drug abuse, his jaunts, with fistfulls of Viagra (but no wife), to an impoverished Latin American island renowned for its easy access to underage female prostitutes.

Yet that is who Hastert chose as the High Priest of the Values Voters to whom he made his pilgrimage and from whom he received his benediction. The difference between Rush Limbaugh and Mark Foley, to the extent there is one, is one of hedonistic tastes, not moral level. Rush Limbaugh isn't just tolerated within the party that stands for religious piety and moral strength. He is a leader of it, arguably the leader of its most righteous wing. Is it really all that surprising that a political movement that has chosen a moral degenerate like Rush Limbaugh as one of its most revered and morally respected leaders is not all that bothered by -- and therefore actively harbors -- the Mark Foleys of the world?

WHEEEEEEEEEEEE

Bush bouncing all the way to 39%.

Dishonest

Boehlert writes about mindless jerk Mark Halperin and John Harris.

Morning Thread

Enjoy.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

The Dumbest Man in America

Really, it's Tom Friedman. If I wrote a parody of Broderella writing a parody of a Tom Friedman column it wouldn't come out that stupid.

The idiots who rule us.

Mission Accomplished Again and Again

oy:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 — Even as the Bush administration urges Americans to stay the course in Iraq, Republicans in Congress have put down a quiet marker in the apparent hope that V-I Day might be only months away.

Tucked away in fine print in the military spending bill for this past year was a lump sum of $20 million to pay for a celebration in the nation’s capital “for commemoration of success” in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Not surprisingly, the money was not spent.

Now Congressional Republicans are saying, in effect, maybe next year. A paragraph written into spending legislation and approved by the Senate and House allows the $20 million to be rolled over into 2007.

The original legislation empowered the president to designate “a day of celebration” to commemorate the success of the armed forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, and to “issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe that day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

More Thread

Enjoy more.

Fresh Thread

Enjoy.

Foley "Bombshell" Coming in a Minute

Sez ABC. Put your seatbelts on and getting ready for the ride..

...amato's sources have one possibility...


...takes responsibility. says he never had sexual contact with a minor... in rehab/mental health and will be for 30 days...says he was molested by a member of the clergy when he was between the ages of 13-15...

They Make Ads

Patty Wetterling makes an ad.

(tip from oliver)

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

New CNN poll has Bush approval at 39%.

58% say administration deliberately misled about Iraq war.

Foxy

One amusing footnote to Denny's attempt to switch the focus from the coverup to the leakers and those who got the information is that group apparently includes... Fox News.

Did You Know?

That liberals caused Denny Hastert to do nothing about a guy who was preying on the House pages and to try to cover the whole thing up based on campaign concerns?


Hard to believe, but it's true.

Wanker of the Day

Little Ricky Santorum.

Denny Time

So, will he resign from his leadership position before Friday at 5pm or after Friday at 5pm?

Hiding Behind Children

This is gross.

Oh My

Oh my.

Former Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) interrupted a vote on the floor of the House in 2003 to engage in Internet sex with a high school student who had served as a congressional page, according to new Internet instant messages provided to ABC News by former pages.

ABC News now has obtained 52 separate instant message exchanges, which former pages say were sent by Foley, using the screen name Maf54, to two different boys under the age of 18.

This message was dated April 2003, at approximately 7 p.m., according to the message time stamp.

Maf54: I miss you
Teen: ya me too
Maf54: we are still voting
Maf54: you miss me too

The exchange continues in which Foley and the teen both appear to describe having sexual orgasms.

Maf54: ok..i better go vote..did you know you would have this effect on me
Teen: lol I guessed
Teen: ya go vote…I don't want to keep you from doing our job
Maf54: can I have a good kiss goodnight
Teen: :-*
Teen:


(via Desi)

Fresh Thread

enjoy

Mission Accomplished

How many lies have the Gang of 500 Wankers eagerly swallowed.

KING: We're back with Bob Woodward. The book "State of Denial." Tell us about Rumsfeld talking about Mission Accomplished banner on the ship.

WOODWARD: This is May 1st, 2003, the very famous speech the president gave on the aircraft carrier, the Kennedy. You know there was that sign, Mission Accomplished. And I asked Rumsfeld about it and said he was -- Rumsfeld was in Baghdad and they sent him an advanced copy of the speech. And he said, I almost died because mission accomplished was in the speech. And he said, I got it out of the speech but I didn't get the sign down. Now they've always put out the story that it was the Navy that put up the sign. And there's the secretary of defense saying it was in the speech.

Free Speech

Katie's doing a heckuva job.

Flippity Floppity

Boehner puts his finger in the wind and decides to pile on Denny.

ABC's Teddy Davis reports: In a radio interview with 700 WLW radio in Cincinnati, House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) placed responsibility for the Foley matter not being handled properly on House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL).

"I believe I talked to the Speaker and he told me it had been taken care of," said Boehner. "And, and, and my position is it's in his corner, it's his responsibility. The Clerk of the House who runs the page program, the Page Board—all report to the Speaker. And I believe it had been dealt with."

Please note that by saying that he talked with the Speaker about Foley, Boehner is reversing course and going back to his original position.

Not the Most Important News of the Day

But, yes, all good people should watch Veronica Mars tonight. It is probably the best show on broadcast TV, and it is a rare show which actually deals with race and class issues head on. More than that it's good fun.

Meanwhile

Because Henry Kissinger doesn't like salted peanuts*:

Meanwhile, the U.S. command announced the deaths of nine soldiers and two Marines in recent days.

Four of the soldiers were killed in Baghdad on Monday in separate small-arms fire attacks, the military said. Another four were killed the same day in a roadside bomb attack on their patrol northwest of Baghdad.

The ninth died Sunday when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb west of the capital.

The two Marines, both with the Regimental Combat Team 7, were killed in fighting in Anbar province, one on Sept. 30 and one on Oct. 1, the military said.


*Perhaps the most convincing explanation for why we're in Iraq that I've yet to hear.

The Slate Stupids

I don't know if Slate just hires stupid people, or if working at Slate somehow makes you stupid (perhaps whatever Kaus has is infectious), but either way for years Lord "YOU MUST ADMIT ABORTION IS ICKY!" Saletan has been marveling at himself in the mirror for his brilliant idea that if only the pro-choice movement would push contraception as a means for reducing abortion then they could find common cause with anti-choicers. Everyone from yours truly to Katha Pollitt to, well, basically every sentient human has tried to explain to him, very slowly, that the pro-choice movement has always pushed contraception and that the anti-choice movement (not all anti-choicers, but the movement) isn't just anti-abortion but anti-sex and anti-contraception. It seems like the sweet light of understanding is beginning to penetrate, just a little, the Slate Helmet of Confusion which protects his brain from inconvenient facts which contradict his stupidity.

You can read here, here, here, here, ...

Morning Thread

Enjoy.

An Odd Footnote

Helen Chenoweth:

CARSON CITY (AP) -- Helen Chenoweth-Hage, a conservative Republican firebrand who served three terms as an Idaho congresswoman, was killed Monday when thrown from a car that overturned on an isolated central Nevada highway.

Chenoweth-Hage was a passenger in the S-U-V-type vehicle that flipped just before noon on State Route 376, the main route between her Pine Creek Ranch, in Monitor Valley, and Tonopah.

The Nevada Highway Patrol says the 68-year-old victim was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver, daughter-in-law Yelena Hage, and her 5-month-old son Bryan weren't seriously injured.

N-H-P Trooper Rocky Gonzalez says Chenoweth-Hage was holding the baby and wasn't wearing a seatbelt. State law requires both seatbelts and babyseats. Both Chenoweth-Hage and the baby were thrown from the car but the child had only minor injuries.


...to be clear, the odd footnote is a footnote in the written history of the Gingrich revolution, and not about mocking someone's death. Sometimes I forget that the context of my thoughts is not always obvious.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Fresh Thread

Iggles might win.

Oh My

Moonie Times gonna call for Denny to resign. And lots of other good stuff at the link, too.

Fristed!

Frist fristed himself and wants a do-over.

Bring it On

Republican or Democrat, gay or straight, it's just not appropriate to see the Congressional page's dorm as your fishing pool.


BRIAN ROSS: So far, Foley is the only member whose overt sexual approaches have been documented. Charlie?

CHARLES GIBSON: The only one to be documented, but are there other shoes to drop?

ROSS: We’re hearing quite a bit from former pages. They’re sending us all sorts of messages about possible other members.

Lies and the Lying Liars

So, Rice briefed that an attack was coming. A month later the president is briefed that an attack was coming. He tells the briefer that he's covered his ass. A month later an attack happens. And Rice magically forgets all this stuff. These are bad people, they lie about important things, and the Old Wise Men of Washington and their fluffers at the Note have been covering for them for years.

JIDDA, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 2 — A review of White House records has determined that George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, did brief Condoleezza Rice and other top officials on July 10, 2001, about the looming threat from Al Qaeda, a State Department spokesman said Monday.

The account by Sean McCormack came hours after Ms. Rice, the secretary of state, told reporters aboard her airplane that she did not recall the specific meeting on July 10, 2001, noting that she had met repeatedly with Mr. Tenet that summer about terrorist threats. Ms. Rice, the national security adviser at the time, said it was “incomprehensible” she ignored dire terrorist threats two months before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Mr. McCormack also said records show that the Sept. 11 commission was informed about the meeting, a fact that former intelligence officials and members of the commission confirmed on Monday.

When details of the meeting emerged last week in a new book by Bob Woodward of The Washington Post, Bush administration officials questioned Mr. Woodward’s reporting.

Now, after several days, both current and former Bush administration officials have confirmed parts of Mr. Woodward’s account.

Officials now agree that on July 10, 2001, Mr. Tenet and his counterterrorism deputy, J. Cofer Black, were so alarmed about an impending Al Qaeda attack that they demanded an emergency meeting at the White House with Ms. Rice and her National Security Council staff.

Bring Back the Taliban!

So says Bill Frist.

I swear I'm living on Bizarro Planet.

Politics, Not Children

So, neither Denny Hastert nor (according to Haster) Reynolds could see the issue of a member of congress behaving inappropriately with minors as anything other than a campaign issue.

Your Liberal Media

Mindless jerk Mark Halperin and John Harris (warning, link to Drudge):

Matt Drudge rules our world.

...

So many media elites check the DRUDGE REPORT consistently that a reporter is aware his bosses, his competitors, his sources, his friends on Wall Street, lobbyists, White House officials, congressional aides, cousins, and everyone who is anyone has seen it, too.


Drudge:

And if anything, these kids are less innocent — these 16 and 17 year-old beasts…and I've seen what they're doing on YouTube and I've seen what they're doing all over the internet — oh yeah — you just have to tune into any part of their pop culture. You're not going to tell me these are innocent babies. Have you read the transcripts that ABC posted going into the weekend of these instant messages, back and forth? The kids are egging the Congressman on! The kids are trying to get this out of him. We haven't got the whole story on this.

Et Tu, Bay?

Bay Buchanan lays into Hastert.

Nedrenaline!

New ad.




More here.

Fresh Thread

Sweet, sweet, crude...

Hastert

So, Hastert thinks the really important thing to do is investigate those who had copies of the IMs and emails like, say, the guys Foley was sending them to in order to find out why they didn't turn them over to the FBI.

This is a sick and twisted bunch of people running our government - letting a predatory colleague stick around in order to cover it up and then essentially threatening to go after anyone who comes forward with information.

Your Republican party, protector of predators.

Ring Your Republican Rep

Ask them if they still have confidence in Denny Hastert.

Wankers of the Day

The bunch of mindless jerks at The Note.

They Write Letters

Charles Kaiser writes to Romenesko:

It defies the imagination that the weekend editors of the New York Times read the four stories they had about Congressman Mark Foley that were written on Sunday, and then decided that the one by Rachel Swarns, which explained what a lovely person Foley had been to some of the pages, was the one that belonged on this morning's front page. Not the one that said the F.B.I. had started an investigation of the Congressman, and reiterated the fact that the Republican leadership knew for months about the Congressman's repugnant behavior, and chose to do nothing about it.

The really amazing thing about the Swarns story was that if anyone had realized that her lead was the opposite of the one she used -- and appeared in the 11 th paragaph of her piece--then it might have belonged on the front page. That was the graph which reported the "news" in the piece: that several pages had been driven out of the program by the Congressman's disgusting e-mails.

I have never seen more unusual news judgement in my life

Oh My

It's a bit more than just "naughty emails."

n another message, Foley, using the screen name Maf54, appears to describe having been together with the teen in San Diego.

Maf54: I miss you lots since san diego.
Teen: ya I cant wait til dc
Maf54: :)
Teen: did you pick a night for dinner
Maf54: not yet…but likely Friday
Teen: ok…ill plan for Friday then
Maf54: that will be fun

The messages also show the teen is, at times, uncomfortable with Foley's aggressive approach.

Maf54: I want to see you
Teen: Like I said not til feb…then we will go to dinner
Maf54: and then what happens
Teen: we eat…we drink…who knows…hang out…late into the night
Maf54: and
Teen: I dunno
Maf54: dunno what
Teen: hmmm I have the feeling that you are fishing here…im not sure what I would be comfortable with…well see

How It's Done

Cliff Schecter has a bit of fun on MSNBC.

Predatorgate Coverup Continues

Hastert pulling press releases from his web site about protecting kids. I guess we can give him credit for honesty on that one as he isn't interested in protecting kids.

Ghorbanifar

The Wise Old Men of Washington also told us that after Nixon resigned it was time to move on and that the pardon of that nice Cap Weinberger was just and true and it was time to put all that Iran Contra stuff behind us.

The Wise Old Men of Washington, effing wrong about everything.

Simply Naughty E-Mails

Republicans sure do care about your kids.

Iraq'd

Jack Abramoff knew what all of the Wise Old Men of Washington pretended to not know. I have to say I still feel a sense of profound rage when I remember how much the media played along with the White House little game of pretending that maybe they wouldn't go to war, and then when the UN inspectors didn't find anything pretending that somehow meant nothing. Thanks Wise Old Men of Washington for presenting the show precisely how the White House staged it. You done good!

From: Jack Abramoff
To: 'octagon1'
Monday, March 18, 2002 8:31 AM
Subject: RE: Sunday

I was sitting yesterday with Karl Rove, Bush's top advisor, at the NCAA basketball game, discussing Israel when this email came in. I showed it to him. It seems that the President was very sad to have to come out negatively regarding Israel, but that they needed to mollify the Arabs for the upcoming war on Iraq. That did not seem to work anyway. Bush seems to love Sharon and Israel, and thinks Arabfat [sic], is nothing but a liar. I thought I'd pass that on.



(tip from attaturk)

Bad Law

Indeed, the Adam Walsh law does sound like bad law. Yes, most of us aren't too thrilled with the idea of 52 year old men having sexual relationships with 16-year olds (not accusing Foley here - there's no evidence available that says he actually did), and yes the custodial relationship between Foley on the pages makes the possibility even worse.

But, still, however improper such relationships are there's a reason that they aren't necessarily criminal. Statutory rape laws deny agency to people, they say that aren't capable of making decisions about their own bodies. That's fine up to a point, but there are limits and I personally am quite uncomfortable setting the age of consent above 16 generally, though I'm happy to increase it when custodial relationships (teachers, coaches, bosses of minor employees, etc...) are involved.

And, obviously, if the sex isn't illegal it's a bit weird that soliciting sex is illegal.

Still, while I don't like denying people agency, I also recognize that parents of minors still have authority, which is why rather than criminalizing all such relationships - the prosecution of which isn't good in all cases for the minors in question - having structures in place which allow parents to invoke state authority to intervene in such relationships if they deem it necessary is desirable.

I shouldn't have to say it, but whether it is or should be legal or not Foley's behavior was highly inappropriate.

And the Predatorgate Coverup Continues

With more lies from Hastert:

Several House leaders including Hastert, Majority Leader John Boehner and Rep. Tom Reynolds, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, have said in recent days that they knew for months about some of Foley’s correspondence. They said they knew about one “over-friendly” e-mail exchange Foley had with a 16-year-old page from Louisiana but not the sexually explicit instant messages later publicized by ABC News.


To bolster his argument, Hastert refers to an editor’s note published on the St. Petersburg Times Web site Saturday that explains that the newspaper received copies of some of the e-mails to the Louisiana page in November 2005, but characterized them as “friendly chit-chat” and chose not to print a story about them after speaking to Foley.


But on Sunday night, St. Peterburg Times editors rebutted his statements.


“The speaker is inaccurate. Our decision not to publish last fall was not based on an explanation from Rep. Foley,’’ managing editor Stephen Buckley said.


Apparently the Republican talking points are now to call the emails "overly friendly" or "naughty emails."

They sure care about your kids.

Overnight

PGMG - This is Our Emergency

Borat

Curious about why Drudge has been obsessed with Borat lately. Haven't quite figured out his angle.

Anyway, whatever the politics of the movie (not so much, really), it will, for a moment at least, be Huge.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Booby

Booby on 60 Minutes video here.

Oh My

Pages warned years ago, but maybe only REPUBLICAN pages. Leadership did nothing.

More Thread

I got nothin'.

Fresh Thread

Enjoy.

They Write Letters

Nancy Pelosi writes to Doc "Not a Doctor" Hastings:

Pelosi Letter to Ethics Committee on Cover Up of the Foley Matter

Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following letter sent today to House Ethics Committee Chairman Doc Hastings and Ranking Member Howard L. Berman about the Foley matter. The text of the letter follows:

October 1, 2006

Chairman Doc Hastings
Ranking Member Howard L. Berman
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Hastings and Ranking Member Berman:

On Friday, I offered and the House unanimously passed a resolution directing the Ethics Committee to begin an immediate investigation and provide the House with a preliminary report in 10 days concerning allegations about Congressman Mark Foley's highly inappropriate and explicit communications with a former underage Page. The resolution called for an investigation of "when the Republican leadership was notified, and what corrective action was taken once officials learned of any improper activity."

Since that resolution unanimously passed, Republican Leaders have admitted to knowing about Mr. Foley's outrageous behavior for six months to a year, and they chose to cover it up rather than to protect these children.

As the author of the resolution that the House unanimously passed, I am writing to insist that the Ethics Committee act as directed and immediately form the investigative Subcommittee and begin work on the preliminary report in 10 days. Central to the investigation is immediately questioning, under oath, the House Republican Leadership.

It is a nightmare for every child, parent and grandparent to learn that a child is being stalked on the internet by an adult in a position of authority. The fact that Mr. Foley was engaging in this behavior with underage children, that the Republican Leadership knew about it for six months to a year and has characterized the inappropriate behavior as "overly friendly" and "acting as a mentor" and that apparently no action was taken to protect these underage children is abhorrent.

The children, their parents, the public, and our colleagues must be assured that such abhorrent behavior is not tolerated and will never happen again.

Sincerely,

/s/

NANCY PELOSI

Daily Dose of Shrill

There's probably no one more shrill than Ed Hamell of Hamell on Trial, whose most recent album Songs for Parents Who Enjoy Drugs, is, while shrill, also a kind of sweet rumination about the difficulties of raising a kid when you have a sordid and a national sordid national presence. The song Values addresses the difficulties of teaching your children morality in the Busha era, and there's also a naughty song about Ann Coulter which very shrilly addresses just how debased our political discourse has become, and not because of foul mouthed bloggers or one-man acoustic punk shows.

Here's a free legal download of the song Inquiring Minds.

Here's a video of a performance of a different tune from a local club in Philly.



Remember, kids, support shrillness in all of its forms because only shrillness can save America.

Oh My

From the New York State Democratic Committee:

Rep. Reynolds' NRCC received $100,000 from disgraced Rep. Foley in July, after he learned about Foley's inappropriate emails with minors

As reported yesterday, Reynolds declined to report the inappropriate emails to authorities or act on them -- now we may know why

During the same period Rep. Tom Reynolds was keeping Mark Foley's inappropriate emails with minors secret, his campaign committee coffers received a $100,000 donation from Foley, it was revealed today. Reynolds has come under fire for knowing about the inappropriate emails for many months and covering it up to protect his colleague who has since been forced to resign.

Shep Smacks Kristol

This is pretty stunning.



transcript here.


...adding, as a side note Kristol's anecdote about the unnamed Democratic senator who months ago asserted that of course Bush was going to reduce troop numbers before the election, proves once again that nobody listens to Atrios. Sure, there was the possibility that there would be some troop number kabuki, but only if things weren't continuing to go to shit in Iraq. But things were of course going to continue to go to shit into Iraq, so that wasn't going to happen.

Democrats need to come to terms with the fact that the troops aren't going to start coming home in 1, 2, 3, or 4 Friedmans unless they try to make it happen.

Wanker of the Day

Assrocket.

Oh My

Things are looking good in Montana even with Tester running around saying "crazy" things like we should repeal the Patriot Act.

Up 47-40 over Burns.

We Super Responsible

Well, the Republicans' line is apparently that since they covered up these allegations for at least 10 months or so, then lied about them, that this proves they're super super responsible. And, oh, a Democrat did something 20 years ago.

Morning Thread

Enjoy.