Category: Politics (2005-2006)

Judge Shredd.

“‘To lose a case like this is huge,’ said William B. Mateja, a former official of the Justice Department’s corporate fraud task force. ‘Arthur Andersen was the poster-child case of all the corporate fraud cases.'” The Supreme Court overturns the 2002 conviction of Arthur Andersen LLP, thus facilitating future corporate shredding binges. “More broadly, some lawyers said the court’s decision shows its sympathy for corporate America’s view that companies should be freer to engage in routine document destruction — often under the ironic title of ‘document retention policy.’“

Throat Cleared.

As suspected by several journalists and at the ripe young age of 91, Deep Throat reveals himself to Vanity Fair as W. Mark Felt, the FBI’s #2 man during Watergate. “‘I don’t think (being Deep Throat) was anything to be proud of,’ Felt indicated to his son, Mark Jr., at one point, according to the article. ‘You (should) not leak information to anyone.’” Update: With great hullabaloo, the Post confirms. Update 2: Nixon weighs in, as do Slate‘s Tim Noah (multiple times) and David Greenberg.

Capitol Hil.

“The president gazed intently at poll data and then turned to his wife. ‘Women,’ he announced, ‘want to know why you stayed with me.’ There was an awkward pause among the group of political operatives. But Hillary Clinton did not seem embarrassed. Instead, a half-smile crossed her face. ‘Yes,’ she responded, ‘I’ve been wondering that myself.'” John Harris plugs his new book on the Clinton White House with an excerpt on Hillary’s lessons learned — and possible strategy — for 2008.

Wasted Capital.

“‘There is a growing sense of frustration with the president and the White House, quite frankly,’ said an influential Republican member of Congress. ‘The term I hear most often is “tin ear,” ‘ especially when it comes to pushing Social Security so aggressively at a time when the public is worried more about jobs and gasoline prices. ‘We could not have a worse message at a worse time.'” The WP wonders aloud if Dubya’s already in lame duck territory. One can only hope. Update: Dubya pushes back.

Delicate Dick.

“‘Frankly, I was offended by it,’ Cheney said in the videotaped interview. ‘For Amnesty International to suggest that somehow the United States is a violator of human rights, I frankly just don’t take them seriously.'” Awww. Our thin-skinned veep’s feelings are hurt by an Amnesty International report claiming all is not kosher at Guantanamo Bay. Well, as a colleague of mine noted, perhaps someone should fill Dick in on Abu Ghraib (or, for that matter, countless other episodes in US history, from chattel slavery to the Trail of Tears.) For his part, the president of Amnesty responded: “It doesn’t matter whether he takes Amnesty International seriously. He doesn’t take torture seriously; he doesn’t take the Geneva Convention seriously; he doesn’t take due process rights seriously; and he doesn’t take international law seriously. And that is more important than whether he takes Amnesty International seriously.” Touche. (FWIW, the WP cried foul as well.)

DeLay meets Derrida.

“Today’s conservative activists have become the new postmodernists. They shift attention away from the truth or falsity of specific facts and allegations — and move the discussion to the motives of the journalists and media organizations putting them forward.” By way of Crooked Timber, E.J. Dionne calls out the po-mo bent of today’s GOP.

From Stem to Stern.

On the Sunday shows, Republican Senators Arlen Specter and Sam Brownback go toe-to-toe on stem cells. “Brownback questioned ‘what it does to the culture of life’ when government approves performing research on the embryos, which he considers ‘young human life.’ Specter shot back, asking what it does ‘to the culture of life when you let people die because there are medical research tools which could keep them alive?’” For what it’s worth, Specter believes the Senate has the votes to override a Bush veto, even as Boss DeLay erroneously invokes various world religions to keep the House in line.

Terrible Lie(s).

Exemplifying MTV’s consistent downward spiral since the heady days of Rock the Vote and Randee of the Redwoods (yes, I just dated myself), Nine Inch Nails drops out of a performance at the Movie Awards after the network got nervous about (gasp!) a “partisan political statement.” “‘We were set to perform “The Hand That Feeds” with an unmolested, straightforward image of George W. Bush as the backdrop. Apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to MTV as it is to me,’ Nine Inch Nails’ leader Trent Reznor said in a statement posted on the band’s Web site.” Hmmm. Well, maybe the Breakfast Club will pick up Reznor’s standard… (Last link via Freakgirl.)

Foundation & Empire.

After 30 years of funding all manner of right-wing agitprop, the John M. Olin Foundation closes its doors, thus answering the question, “What if It’s a Wonderful Life had been about Old Man Potter instead of George Bailey?” “Without [Olin], the Federalist Society might not exist, nor its network of 35,000 conservative lawyers. Economic analysis might hold less sway in American courts. The premier idea factories of the right, from the Hoover Institution to the Heritage Foundation, would have lost millions of dollars in core support. And some classics of the conservative canon would have lost their financier, including Allan Bloom’s lament of academic decline and Charles Murray’s attacks on welfare.“