Rove Still Involved

USNews reports Karl Rove is still involved (occasionally pronounced not•in•volved by administration officials) as the political architect. U.S. News has learned that Rove resumed his role as Bush's chief political architect and guru when he briefed his boss on last Tuesday's off-year elections. Rove, using an array of numbers gleaned from the results, argued that voters mostly reaffirmed the "status quo" when they handed the GOP defeats in Virginia, New Jersey, and California. And he told the president that the outcomes were based on state and local concerns and individual candidates, which, of course, was what Bush wanted to hear. It would have been more candid to add "and the seedy tactics I've relied on for so long are finally catching up to us and sucking away our support".

White House Levees Need Shoring?

From the WSJ's Washington Wire: Six in 10, including 43% of Republicans, say there should be a public investigation and hearings into exposure of operative Valerie Plame's identity. Translation: 43% of Republicans don't buy the right wing talk angle that it's all about Wilson. They want the facts out in the open. Is Plamegate touching base, so to speak? This doesn't bode well for an administration whose sole PR strategy has been to use the "ongoing investigation" excuse as a dam to keep the public uninformed. They know it will eventually crash down when Fitzgerald finishes his work, so they're already laying new mortar with the "ongoing trial" excuse. If the calls for a public investigation mount their levee system will be overwhelmed in short order.

Pat Robertson - God Hates Science

See AMERICAblog for details: According to Pat Robertson, a Pennsylvania school district can expect God's wrath for voting out ID supporting board members. There's a very easy way to solve the whole Intelligent Design vs Evolution controversy. Just add a footnote at the bottom when teaching evolution in science class: 1. btw - many people think God got the ball rolling. See religious studies for more detail It's every bit as comprehensive as the Intelligent Design Theory and points the curious in the right direction. Why does everything have to be so difficult?

Kennedy vs Bush

Our adversaries have not abandoned their ambitions, our dangers have not diminished, our vigilance cannot be relaxed. But now we have the military, the scientific, and the economic strength to do whatever must be done for the preservation and promotion of freedom. That strength will never be used in pursuit of aggressive ambitions--it will always be used in pursuit of peace. It will never be used to promote provocations--it will always be used to promote the peaceful settlement of disputes. We in this country, in this generation, are--by destiny rather than choice--the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of "peace on earth, good will toward men." That must always be our goal, and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: "except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." JFK: from remarks prepared but never delivered Dallas, November 22, 1963 Source: John F. Kennedy Library and Museum

Learning from Buchanan

Say what you will about Pat Buchanan - the man can get a point across. Nixon's former speechwriter does just that in Bush Leaves GOP in Crisis. He rips into the administration with a terse tantrum that puts the leading left pols to shame. Watch him demolish the foundering case for war in a single sentence: Thus, in March, 2003, Bush, in perhaps the greatest strategic blunder in U.S. history, invaded an Arab nation that had not attacked us, did not want war with us, and did not threaten us—to strip it of weapons we now know it did not have. Clinton, despite the Slick Willy tag, always understood the political logic of framing an issue in such a stark manner. Two examples: "It's the economy stupid" and recently, "One hundred percent of the people recognize that -- that it [Katrina response] was a failure." There's an unspoken 'duh' hanging at the end of the phrases. It's Buchanan's style with the edges sanded down. Democrats need this sort of confidence in their talk if the sincerity and passion is to come across to the electorate. Let's hope their speechwriters leave the qualifiers and escape hatches on the cutting room floor as 2006 approaches.

What was Casey Worth?

The New York Times reports Jack Abramoff sought $9,000,000 to arrange a meeting between the President of Gabon and George Bush. Despite a history of human rights issues POG met POTUS. In a related story, Cindy Sheehan - who gave substantially but in a different currency - is still working on her audience with the president.

Pontius Powell

Raw Story reveals the thrust of a purported conversation with Joe Biden before the UN speech. $Q: “Mr. Secretary, tell them what you know,” Biden said, according to those familiar with the conversation. “…When we are both out of office for two years, I will tell you what is going on here,” they say Powell replied. In fairness to Powell the quote is general and second hand. But it is consistent with Powell's modus operandi since going political. He's spun a lot of mileage out of the "Loyal Soldier" bit. A perfectly laudable label for a soldier, but it bears closer scrutiny when we're talking about the Secretary of State. In effect the stance becomes the Pontius Pilate sin - take yourself out of the equation by washing your hands of the hard decisions. And in so doing let others misuse the enormous power of your reputation and office. The public shouldn't have to wait for Senator Biden's retirement. Colin Powell should speak his mind now. Of course it's too late. But not too late to do some good.

Frist/Hastert Plan to Backfire?

Crooks and Liars has the details. Frist and Hastert have suddenly found Jesus over all those Washington leaks. Problem is, the one they're complaining about might have come from a GOP senator. Cui Bono? The leak certainly benefits those supporting McCain's stance against Cheney re:torture.

Pardon Pressure

From Yahoo: No presidential pardon for White House aide: Democrats. Harry Reid pushes for Bush to take the pardon option off the table. Smart move. It does more than ratchet up the pressure on the White House over the ethics issue. "Get out of jail free" is the only card left in Libby's deck. Without it he'll be extremely motivated to plea. When Scooter comes at him Fitzgerald will give him the Heisman until he gets what he's looking for.

A Parable from the National Catholic Reporter

In Sinking Under the Weight of Lies the NCR challenges the integrity of the White House and chastises the NYT for the Miller fiasco. It ends, fittingly enough, with a parable about a corrupt mayor who ends up dragging around a 100-pound ball and chain that represents his lies. One day, crossing the bridge over the river, the mayor spied one of his accusers in a canoe about to pass under the bridge. Filled with rage, the mayor stood on the railing, lifted the 100-pound ball and dropped it on his adversary. The attack on Wilson may yet be the most self-destructive action the administration has taken. At its root is an ethics question so clear it's immune to the usual barrage of Mehlmanesque misdirection. Does the administration put political retaliation above the interests of national security?

Rove Under the Gun

Raw Story says Fitzgerald has been "working tirelessly" to determine if Rove committed perjury. Two interesting bits jump out: Rove disclosed that the Administration enlisted conservative interest groups and the Republican National Committee to get the job [leaks against Wilson] done, suggesting that perhaps dozens more individuals than previously known were aware of Plame-Wilson’s classified CIA status. Still, Rove did not reveal to investigators that he spoke with Novak before his column was published, the lawyers said. This implies Rove took the "dirty politics as usual" defense. Makes the administration look horrible and opens up a myriad of difficulties re:handling of classified info. It was only after Cooper had been forced to testify about his conversation with Rove this past summer that Rove recalled the interview, even though the conversation had taken place just three months before the October 2003 interview with the FBI. Too convenient to be credible? Fitzgerald is the Kasparov of prosecutors - time will tell if he's building a crushing attack against the question mark.

Cheney Fights for Torture

In secret of course. From Newsweek: Staffers were quickly ordered out of the room—what Cheney had to say was for senators only. Normally taciturn, Cheney was uncharacteristically impassioned, according to two GOP senators who did not want to be on the record about a private meeting. He was very upset over the Senate's overwhelming passage of an amendment that prohibits inhumane treatment of terrorist detainees. Looks to be an uphill battle for him. Imagine trying to run in '06 as the pro-torture candidate. And Cheney's creeping onto Fitzgerald's radar isn't going to help his drag either. The whole argument points up how far things have gone awry. Lawmakers having to explicitly say no torture allowed? Always thought it was the default case in a civilized nation.

Russert Goes Hannity

C&L has the take. Tim did a classic Sean Hannity by reading a bellicose pre-war quote about WMD before asking for comment from Senator Kennedy. Russert could hardly wait to tell him John Kerry was the one who said it. It kind of fizzled because Kennedy's response had been understated and restrained. Just for old time's sake, thought I'd post a clip of Russert's inspiration in action. Here's something the audience was definitely not supposed to see. Watch Hannity coach his guests before a segment on Terri Schiavo. Too bad the prep for Juanita Broaddrick will never see the light of day. (update Nov 10, 2005: belated attribution - clip originally appeared on Crooks and Liars)

Frank Rich on Pat Tilman

Beat the NYT firewall here. The Ministry of Propaganda gets derailed by a grieving family that didn't buy the Sgt. Rock mock-up of their son: "They blew up their poster boy," Patrick Tillman told The Post; he is convinced that "all the people in positions of authority went out of their way to script" the fake narrative (or, as he puts it, "outright lies") that followed. Pat Tillman's mother, Mary Tillman, was offended to discover that even President Bush wanted a cameo role in this screenplay: she told The Post that he had offered to tape a memorial to her son for a Cardinals game that would be televised shortly before Election Day. (She said no.)

Bugsy Tailing the Terminator

Check it out. Beatty's going to have to get off the pot if he wants to challenge Arnold. The "I'm only a concerned citizen" angle is a little hard to buy when a whack of cameras follow his every move. He's not going to be able to fully leverage his celebrity unless he commits. A Schwarzenegger aide told the "Bulworth" star he was not on the guest list and did not have the appropriate wristband to get inside. "You have to have a wristband to listen to the governor?" Bening asked. "He represents all of us, right?" Arnold: "There's the main event, then there is the sideshow," Schwarzenegger said. "I don't care about the sideshow." Arnold's got a point. Everyone knows Beatty's a political animal - go for the main event Warren.

Ashley Simpson in TO

Ashley at McDonald's. Drunk, but not too outrageous. Imagine if cameras had followed us around when we were nineteen.