“It took a long time for Democrats to step up and challenge the administration’s baseless assertions that the Patriot Act could not be changed without threatening the security of the American people. When we finally did so, when we decided to make the case that we can fight terrorism and protect our American principles at the same time, it looked like Democrats were finally ready to stand on principle and offer strong leadership. Instead, too many Democrats have folded, and momentum for critical changes to the Patriot Act to protect our freedoms has been squandered.” In Salon, an angry Russ Feingold calls out his party for capitulating on the Patriot Act extension. Ugh. Are the Democrats irreparably broken at this point? Does our party leadership lack all conviction? At this point, the evidence is piling up against them, and, if we don’t get our act together, we’re going to lose our best chance in a decade to take back Congress this November. Update: Feingold filibusters alone.
Tag: Congress
Rebel Pretensions.
After the GOP co-opt the Star Wars universe for their own nefarious purposes, George Lucas makes an appearance with House Democrats (including his own congresswoman, Nancy Pelosi.) The Republican video (shown at CPAC) “depicted GOPers as the virtuous rebels, being pursued by ‘Darth Nancy’ and her imperial henchmen, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Democratic campaign chief Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.).” Um, yeah, you guys own every branch of government, your boy in office is ignoring the law and desperately trying to wrest power from the Senate, and you’re the Alliance. C’mon now, at least the Yankees own up to it.
Here comes the story of the Hurricane.
“‘If 9/11 was a failure of imagination then Katrina was a failure of initiative. It was a failure of leadership. In this instance, blinding lack of situational awareness and disjointed decision making needlessly compounded and prolonged Katrina’s horror.’” A new House report makes official what we all already know — From ignoring information about broken levees to needlessly squandering federal funds, the Dubya White House badly bungled the response to Katrina. (“Heck,” even Brownie is proclaiming it from the rooftops these days.) As Get Your War On so aptly put it months ago, “There should be a rule that if you slack off while an American city is destroyed, and then your response is to fly around hugging people and making excuses, you have to stop being President. And if it happens again four years later, you really have to stop.”
Schisms aplenty.
“‘I can’t believe I’m in a conservative hall listening to him say [Bush] is off course trying to defend the United States,’ Sorcinelli fumed.” As a result of his questioning Dubya’s NSA powergrab, right-wing civil libertarian Bob Barr finds himself persona non grata at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. Similarly in the doghouse with the powers-that-be is right-wing pollster Frank Luntz, due to a longstanding feud with John Boehner — Luntz backed the wrong horse in ’98. And, speaking of Boehner, the new Majority Leader is apparently causing mild tremors along another GOP faultline, the one between evangelicals and pro-business stooges. (Boehner numbers among the latter.) Could this all be the prelude to a ’06 crack-up of ’94 proportions?
Crossing Pombo’s Palm.
The continuing probe into the Abramoff morass yields up more possible quid pro quo corruption, this time between mining firm lobbyist Duane Gibson and GOP Congressman Richard Pombo (R-CA). “Last fall, Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy), chairman of the House Resources Committee, attached an amendment to a budget bill — without hearings or floor debate — that would have opened national forest and other public land to mining…Three months before Pombo inserted the amendment, Gibson and his lobbying firm had a $1,000-a-head fundraiser for the congressman.” As for Gibson, he — as you might expect — is a real class act: “In 2000, he was part of the so-called Brooks Brothers Riot in which young Republicans descended on the Miami-Dade County polling headquarters in Florida during the presidential recount, chanting ‘Stop the fraud!’“
Capt. Obvious Rides Again.
“Democrats are heading into this year’s elections in a position weaker than they had hoped for, party leaders say, stirring concern that they are letting pass an opportunity to exploit what they see as widespread Republican vulnerabilities.”.” Gee, you think? “‘What the American people are hungry to hear from us is, what is the difference?’ Mr. Edwards said in an interview. ‘What will we do? How will we deal with the corruption issue in Washington? How will we deal with the huge moral issues that we have at home? This is a huge opportunity for our party to show what we are made of.’”
A Deluxe Apartment in the Sky.
My, what a coincidence. New majority leader John A. Boehner is “renting his Capitol Hill apartment from a veteran lobbyist whose clients have direct stakes in legislation Boehner has co-written and that he has overseen as chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee.” That’s Strike 3: Coupled with his stonewalling on lobbying reform and his passing out Big Tobacco checks on the House floor in 1995, it’s becoming abundantly clear that Boehner is just another corrupt GOP party boss in the DeLay mold. I wonder, will that sword of righteousness, John McCain, have anything to say about Boehner’s behavior?
Another Break in the Ranks?
As critics in both parties poke more holes in Dubya’s flimsy NSA defense, Republican congresswoman Heather Wilson of New Mexico, chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence, calls for a “complete review” of Dubya’s wiretapping program.
The McCain Blame Game.
In a fit of misplaced pique, John McCain goes house on Barack Obama over his relatively innocuous decision to skip McCain’s proposed “bipartisan” task force on lobbying revisions (and, by extension, Obama’s point that the Ballad of Casino Jack is primarily a GOP scandal.) I’ve been generally sympathetic to McCain’s work for campaign finance and lobbying reform throughout his career, but, frankly, the outrage of this letter is way outta line. I just posted on this in the comments at National Journal, so I’ll just repost here:
“I’d be more impressed with McCain’s alleged commitment to bipartisan reform if (a) he could find Dems other than Joe Lieberman and Bill Nelson* — not exactly the Democratic mainstream — to back his “task force” play, (b) he didn’t consistently allow himself to be used as the “mythical maverick” smokescreen for GOP lobbying abuses, and (c) he displayed half as much righteous outrage when the Dubya administration eviscerated his anti-torture legislation, violated both the FISA Act and the National Security Act of 1947 with their illegal wiretaps, and generally stood in the way of serious campaign finance reform. Sure, McCain talks tough at Barack Obama, but everytime Dubya comes a-knockin’ at his door, he folds like an accordion, even despite the ugly incident in the South Carolina primary six years ago.
The Republican Party controls the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and — arguably — the Supreme Court at this moment. Is it really McCain’s contention that Barack Obama, a freshman Senator in the minority party, is the one stopping real lobbying and campaign finance reform from happening? Please. If McCain wants real reform, he should be directing his wrath at the people in charge. Otherwise, he’s even more guilty of putting the partisan game above the public interest than is Obama.” Update: Obama answers.
Specter v. S.P.E.C.T.R.E.
The Specter hearings into the illegal NSA wiretaps begin, and, so far despite Specter’s tough talk on Sunday, they’ve been pretty much a sideshow. For one, as they did with Big Oil, the GOP ensured by a 10-8 party-line vote that Gonzales didn’t have to testify under oath. For another, Gonzales has been falling back on the ridiculous Article 2 defense and saying little of import as of yet. Still, at least Republicans like Specter and Lindsey Graham are joining Feingold and others in calling out the administration’s dubious rationale for the Imperial Presidency, so perhaps these hearings may be of some service yet. Update: As the NYT points out, we’ve been here before. Update 2: Dahlia Lithwick is not amused.