You Can't Handle The Truth

When you think the administration cannot screw up any more than it already has, another low is revealed. Allegations are surfacing that the firings of eight DOJ attorneys in 2006 were politically motivated and originated in the White House. What's more, the original plan was to fire all 93 DOJ attorneys. Harriet Miers, the same completely unqualified woman nominated for the Supreme Court, suggested that all chief district prosecutors (people with years of prosecuting experience) be asked to resign. Brilliant! Speculation is that the firings were intended to open up spots for up-and-coming young Republicans, allowing them a two-year stint to burnish their credentials. The reasons, or lack thereof, given for the firings are also under review.

There were apparently three unofficial grades assigned to the attorneys, based on an internal email between Harriet Miers and Kyle Sampson (Gonzales' chief of staff). Top performers demonstrated loyalty to the administration. Weak performers were "weak U.S. attorneys who have been ineffectual managers and prosecutors, chafed against Administration initiatives, etc." The third category was "no opinion". Two of the fired attorneys, Iglesias, whom the movie "A Few Good Men" was partially based on, and Ryan, had consistently been given strong evaluations during their careers. Another, McKay, was awarded the Navy's highest award for a program he spearheaded, a regional law enforcement information-sharing network, known as LINX.

This is utterly ridiculous. Gonzales is an activist AG who has already pushed the boundaries of the executive office too far.

Fair and Balanced Moment of the Day

With two police officers in riot gear about to club a half-naked man, the title to this picture reads "Brazilian Bush-Bashing".

Thou Doth Protest Too Much

It has come out that Newt Gingrich, while leading the Clinton impeachment proceedings, was himself having an affair. It's sad how desensitized I feel towards yet another story of conservative hyprocrisy. So much time and money was wasted impeaching a president who lied about having an affair, and yet there is no serious call to impeach Bush. I'm not advocating that there be one. However, I do imagine how great the call from Republicans for Clinton's head would have been had there been a failing war in Iraq, CIA leak, Katrina, Walter Reed scandal, Abramoff scandal, misuse of the Patriot Act, and so forth. Now, any liberal calling for impeachment is beaten down as crazy, far left, and anti-American. It's always crazy when the shoe is on the other foot.

Coulter Has Gay Friends

That's how she knows that "'Faggot' isn't offensive to gays; it has nothing to do with gays". With criticism mounting, the media pulling her from view, and companies yanking their advertisements from her website, Coulter shamelessly tried to write off her remarks as "schoolyard taunts" on "Hannity and Colmes". It's nice to see repercussions for her thoughtless, narrow-minded bigotry.

I'm Just Saying...

Turns out this past weekend was filled with ignorant comments. Bill Maher, host of HBO's "Real Time", had this to say on Friday about the failed assassination attempt on Dick Cheney's life...

"I'm just saying if he did die, other people, more people would live. That's a fact"

That is so far from fact and lacking in deductive reasoning I'm not sure where to begin. By that "cut off the head" logic, Cheney is making the decisions and without him the war would abruptly come to an end. Does he really think that Dick's assassination would end this war? That Bush would not be further emboldened but rather decide to throw in the towel? Dick's death would become a rallying cry, boosting Bush's determination. The war deaths would continue to mount, if not more so as calls for withdrawal get suppressed by renewed calls of support. The comment was just stupid, but, given the divided state America is in right now and the plummeting support for Bush and Cheney, Maher will probably receive less criticism than Coulter, even though both remarks lacked anything resembling thought.

Coulter Shock

Ann Coulter is ignorant, narrow-minded, and hateful. Why she referred to John Edwards, a married man with children, as a faggot is beyond reason. Such comments achieve two things; they rally the dwindling "I hate liberals no matter what" base and push undecided voters towards Democrats like Edwards. She's a liability to the party and should shut up, if for no other reason than to save what little dignity she doesn't have left. Anything to sell a book about widows loving the deaths of their husbands I guess.

$500 Million

That's the estimate of what each presidential candidate will spend. It's obscene. Politics is no longer about ideas. It hasn't been for a long time. It's about money and who can spend more of it. And from the city council up it's getting more expensive to run a campaign.

Money keeps potentially good candidates from running, and it keeps debates few and infrequent. Politicians, feeling no pressure to risk a debate, maneuver for just the right time and place to do those couple staged ones with the very polite moderator and traffic signals.

Campaigns, especially presidential ones, ought to be publicly financed. Cap candidates at say $25 million. It would force them to support and articulate their ideas through debate, to get out and meet the people. At the very least, America might end up with a team in the White House that knows how to effectively and efficiently spend money.

I imagine all the worthy causes $1 billion could be spent on, and it sickens me to think of it all going to politicians. Maybe Vilsack, who dropped out last week due to lack of funds, wasn't the best candidate, but we'll never know. I think the founders would be appalled to see the spectacle campaigns have become.