Even as the fundies rattle the leash, the House moves to placate the GOP’s real masters by approving the corporate-friendly bankruptcy bill 302-126. “Its passage by Congress is a victory for executives in the credit card, retail and auto financing industries who have pushed it for nearly a decade.” But, not to worry, y’all — the base is protected: The bill “preserve[s] loopholes that enable wealthy individuals who file for bankruptcy to shield unlimited amounts of money in complex trusts and in multimillion-dollar homes in states including Texas and Florida.”
Category: Campaign Finance
Momentum v. DeLay.
“Tom‘s conduct is hurting the Republican Party, is hurting this Republican majority and it is hurting any Republican who is up for re-election.” Calling Boss DeLay “an absolute embarrassment to me and the Republican Party,” moderate Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) calls for the Hammer’s removal. And even right-winger Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), forced to shore up his centrist cred for a tough 2006 reelection bid, now says DeLay has some questions to answer.
And here’s even more trouble for the Hammer: The investigatory noose is tightening around “Casino Jack” Abramoff, a sleazeball GOP lobbyist of the first order and one of DeLay “closest and dearest friends.” Can the DeLay Ring be saved? While the Dems may even want him around at this point, it doesn’t look like it, not with Dubya already suffering terrible poll numbers. “‘Within six months, Karl will force him out,’ a senior administration official from the first term says.“
Feeding Frenzy.
American Airlines is not alone. “‘Neither the House nor Senate offices responsible for keeping records on K Street’s activities have audit or investigative powers,’ said Roberta Baskin, the center’s executive director. ‘It is impossible, for example, to determine how many lobbyists there actually are in Washington.’” A report by the Center for Public Integrity finds that, while lobbying expenditures have doubled in the past six years, nobody in DC is minding the store.
From Russia with Cash.
Sorry, GOP’ers, you really should have dropped him when you had the chance. The WP unearths yet another lobbyist-financed boondoggle taken by the Hammer in recent years, while the NYT finds that Boss DeLay’s PAC has paid his wife and kid over $500,000 since 2001. Didn’t the 1994 Contract with America say something about restoring “accountability to Congress” and ending “its cycle of scandal and disgrace“? Well, if the Republican Party had any shred of credibility left, they’d start working on phasing out Tom DeLay immediately. But, sadly, no.
Update: DeLay’s response? “[I]t’s just another seedy attempt by the liberal media to embarrass me.” Nice. Liberal media or no, I’d say you’re doing a pretty bang-up job of embarrassing yourself, Tom. Unfortunately, you’re bringing down the country with you…so it’s time to go.
Expect DeLays.
Speaking of the GOP pyramid, and in a move that should leave principled conservatives aghast, the right-wing base begins to organize behind Boss DeLay. The more you tighten your grip around a corrupt and hypocritical goon like the Hammer, y’all, the more voters will slip through your fingers.
Puppets of Industry.
“Fortune 500 companies that invested millions of dollars in electing Republicans are emerging as the earliest beneficiaries of a government controlled by President Bush and the largest GOP House and Senate majority in a half century…Bush and his congressional allies are looking to pass legal protections for drug companies, doctors, gun manufacturers and asbestos makers, as well as tax breaks for all companies and energy-related assistance sought by the oil and gas industry.” In the stating the obvious department, the Washington Post discovers the Republicans are in the thrall of corporate power.
Spin, Spin Sugar.
It’s been Extreme Makeover time lately for the GOP, with Antonin Scalia acting chummy in hopes of landing the Chief Justice spot, Boss DeLay dismissing the recent allegations of incessant boondogglery, Karen Hughes coming out of mothballs to sell the Islamic world on Dubya, and the administration trying to sell the rest of us on pre-packaged news. I’m not buying any of it.
Paper beats Hammer.
“‘We always knew Tom DeLay was involved…but we never realized the extent to which he was involved in fund-raising directly with corporations.'” There doesn’t seem to be a smoking gun just yet — still, documents unearthed in the Ceverha trial in Texas suggest Boss DeLay was more involved than his cronies suggest in the daily procuring of corporate contributions for TRMPAC. Who would’ve thunk it? Update: The Ceverha trial aside, DeLay now also seems to be in a spot of trouble regarding an all-expenses-paid boondoggle to South Korea in 2001.
The Most Dangerous Game.
John McCain, to many the face of campaign finance reform in Washington, struggles to avoid the appearance of impropriety regarding recent donations by Cablevision to the Reform Institute, an independent group with ambiguous ties to the Senator. After his awful performance prostrating himself before Dubya in 2004, I’ve run sour on the mythical maverick — to paraphrase Progressive era Senator George Norris (R-NB) speaking of his colleague William Borah (R-ID), McCain “shoots until he sees the whites of their eyes.” But, still, he’s campaign finance reform’s biggest blue chip, and he should know better than to endanger the cause with this type of shadiness…particularly with anti-reform forces gunning for him. What would be plausible deniability for anyone else seems rather implausible coming from McCain, given his place at the head of the movement.
Open War.
With the Social Security fight looming on the horizon, Dems and the GOP clash over ethics in the House and both abortion and the minimum wage in the Senate. (Salon‘s Tim Grieve exposed the fraudulence of the Santorum “alternative” minimum wage plan yesterday.) Speaking of Social Security, several prominent Dems — including James Carville, Stan Greenberg, and Harold Ickes — advise our side to produce an alternative reform plan to Dubya’s private accounts, and soon.