While Dubya and the GOP continue to smear and threaten the whistleblowers who exposed this administration’s recent egregious violations of civil liberties — the warrantless wiretaps or the secret gulags, for example — papers filed by Plamegate prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald disclose that Scooter Libby was actually told to leak classified information to the press by Dubya and Cheney (although not necessarily the identity of Valerie Plame.) “Libby said he understood that ‘he was to tell [Judith] Miller, among other things, that a key judgment of the NIE held that Iraq was “vigorously trying to procure” uranium,’ Fitzgerald wrote.” Replied DNC chair Howard Dean today, “The fact that the president was willing to reveal classified information for political gain and put the interests of his political party ahead of America’s security shows that he can no longer be trusted to keep America safe.” At the very least, given his own penchant for selective leaking, it means Dubya is being a tremendous hypocrite every time he starts equating whistleblowers with terrorist sympathizers, and that his repeated promise to find the leakers in his administration is roughly equivalent to OJ’s hunt for the real killers. Update: ABC’s John Cochran and Salon‘s Farhad Manjoo break down the implications. Update 2: Fitzgerald makes a correction.
Category: Politics (2005-2006)
Insurance Ensured.
“‘We insist that everybody who drives a car has insurance,’ Romney said in an interview. ‘And cars are a lot less expensive than people.’” In a new tack on ameliorating the problem of the uninsured, Massachusetts passes a law mandating that all citizens buy health insurance. “As simple as the idea sounds — buy insurance or else — the proposal is complex and, in some cases, still unfinished. For instance, it leaves the task of determining exactly how much some low-income residents will pay for their new, more affordable policies to a new agency that would serve as a liaison between the government, policyholders and private insurance companies.“
Hard Candy.
Oof, and y’all thought shoplifting was bad…I don’t really want to get into the sad and horrifying story of Homeland Security flak and child molester Brian Doyle. Suffice to say, is this what “restoring honor and dignity to the White House” looks like? Ok, that may be a cheap shot, but if this sick tale had happened on Clinton’s watch, we would never hear the end of it.
Straight Talk on Gay Marriage.
“‘Obviously, it’s a very difficult issue and evokes a lot of emotions,’ Feingold said in a telephone interview yesterday. ‘I think it’s something ultimately that people throughout the country will accept, but it’s not an easy issue.'” Unlike many of his Dem colleagues (and potential rivals in 2008), Feingold comes out for legalizing same-sex marriage. “Feingold noted that removing the prohibition against gay marriage would not impose any obligation on religious groups. He indicated that no religious faith should ever be forced to conduct or recognize any marriage, but that civil laws on marriage should reflect the principle of equal rights under the law.“
Hammering Away.
“‘Any rational person in [DeLay’s] position would be very concerned,’ said Kendall Coffey, a former federal prosecutor who is now a prominent defense lawyer in Miami. ‘Whether it’s working up the ladder at Enron or a drug organization, it’s classic strategy to work up by getting plea agreements and cooperation at each level.‘” As the GOP preps for a DeLay-less future, it seems that, for Boss DeLay — despite having theoretically left “on his own terms” — the legal woes are just beginning.
No more DeLay.
Breaking news: In a boon for the republic (and likely for the Republican party, now that the poster boy for their culture of corruption will be out of sight through November), Boss DeLay is done. “DeLay’s fall has been stunningly swift, one of the most brutal and decisive in American history.”
Arch Conservative.
“‘Mr. Bush is in the hands of a fortune that will be unremitting on the point of Iraq,’ Buckley said…’If he’d invented the Bill of Rights it wouldn’t get him out of his jam…It’s important that we acknowledge in the inner councils of state that it (the war) has failed, so that we should look for opportunities to cope with that failure.’”
By way of Cliopatria, National Review founder and Firing Line wit William F. Buckley discusses Dubya’s failings, his own problems with neoconservatism — “The neoconservative hubris, which sort of assigns to America some kind of geo-strategic responsibility for maximizing democracy, overstretches the resources of a free country.” — and the presidents of his lifetime. “‘[Bill Clinton] is the most gifted politician of, certainly my time,’ Buckley said. ‘He generates a kind of a vibrant goodwill with a capacity for mischief which is very, very American.’”
The Granite State Strikes Back.
Faced with the prospect of his state losing its disproportionate influence on presidential campaigns, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch (D) begins twisting the arms of possible presidential candidates in 2008, with Evan Bayh the first to cry uncle. “New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has assiduously avoided taking a position on the issue despite personal urgings by Lynch to do so. Former Virginia governor Mark Warner, the hot ‘anti-Hillary’ candidate these days, is similarly noncommittal.” Pushing back on New Hampshire’s entreaties are Bill Richardson (New Mexico) and John Edwards (North Carolina), for obvious reasons. Feingold is also uncommitted (as far as I know), although one would think that, as an independent-minded maverick, he’d be a prime candidate for an early Granite State boost. That is, provided John McCain doesn’t suck all the air out of the state, as he did in 2000 versus Bradley.
Jose, can you see?
“‘Even if the Court were to rule in Padilla’s favor,’ Kennedy went on, ‘his present custody status would be unaffected. Padilla is scheduled to be tried on criminal charges. Any consideration of what rights he might be able to assert if he were returned to military custody would be hypothetical, and to no effect, at this stage of the proceedings.” By a margin of 6-3 (Ginsburg, Breyer, and Souter dissenting), the Supreme Court punts on Padilla, on the grounds that Padilla’s dilemma has been rendered “hypothetical” now that he’s been transferrred into the normal justice system.
Justice Ginsburg disagrees: “This case…raises a question of profound importance to the Nation. Does the President have authority to imprison indefinitely a United States citizen arrested on United States soil distant from a zone of combat, based on an Executive declaration that the citizen was, at the time of his arrest, an ‘enemy combatant’? It is a question the Court heard, and should have decided, two years ago. Nothing the Government has yet done purports to retract the assertion of Executive power Padilla protests.“
McClellan to stand down?
“‘You’re going to have more change than you expect,’ one GOP insider said.” According to CNN, Andy Card’s permanent vacation was just the beginning of Dubya’s White House shake-up: The next victims may well be press shill Scott McClellan and Treasury Secretary John Snow. Update: In related news, Gen. Anthony Zinni calls for Rumsfeld’s resignation on Meet the Press.