'Arbitrary' Political Thoughts for a Wednesday Afternoon

It is with a heavy heart that we at TBWA announce the resignation of Random Political Thoughts for a Wednesday Afternoon. RPTFAWA has served us well, but in an attempt to shake things up a bit, we at TBWA feel comfortable with a change. After an exhaustive search that spanned 1 day, we found our choice to fill this position within our own ranks, not venturing far from the blogosphere. So it is with great honor that we present to you; Arbitrary Political Thoughts for a Wednesday Afternoon.

The Democratic National Security Plan. Seems as though the Democratic leadership has been listening to us at TBWA (… along with every other Liberal site) as Congressional Democrats are set to unveil a national security plan today that looks to “eliminate” Osama bin Laden, “immediately implement” the 9/11 Commission recommendations (wow, there’s a concept for ya) and an all-encompassing increase in security, both domestically and abroad. This marks the first major plan provided by Democrats on national security (in what can only be coincidentally in a midterm election year). Strategists hope the ever-deepening discontent with Bush and the Republican-led Congress will lead to Democratic gains in November. (Fingers crossed, but, this almost smells of desperation, but I’ll withhold my final analysis until I hear every detail)

Card shuffling. The resignation of COS Andrew Card is being seen in some circles as the start of a “second-term overhaul.” Others think that if you are trying to shake things up, you don’t bring someone in from, literally, ‘across the street’. I could see hiring someone from outside the current administration to shake things up, but someone who is already working, in some capacity, in the Administration is not shaking things up… it’s simply changing times for their depositions in the Libby and/or Abramoff trials.

This week’s shameless Op-Ed Plug. Read this gem from WaPo columnist David Ignatius. Hopefully, the leaders of the Democratic Party read it as well.

An ‘outside’ chance? Nope. Earlier this week the Senate voted down (67-30) the plan to set up an independent office that would investigate any ethics complaints against Senate members. This clears the way to pass a broad-based ethics and lobbying bill this week.that would be overseen and ran by… can you guess? That’s right, the Senate itself. Well sure, having an outside office overseeing corruption and ethics lapses would force them to be… well… ethical… and we can’t have that now, can we? Note to all the Senators on BOTH sides of the aisle: It will catch up to you all, via a little something we at TBWA like to call, ‘Karma, baby!’

More card shuffling. Andrew Card’s replacement as Chief of Staff (COS), Josh Bolten, is a Bush loyalist (read: crony) who is known up and down K-Street as someone who is modest, competent and non self-promoting. Unmarried, Bolten likes to unwind by riding his Harley, bowling in the White House alley, or singing with his band, Deficit Attention Disorder. (Yeah… seems as though someone is trying too hard to prove he’s not a geek, but we all know better, don’t we?) See a few earlier posts by Scott and me for more on this train-wreck waiting to happen.

The antagonizing continues. Just when you thought “President” Bush couldn’t antagonize Iraq any more, he goes and surprises you. The American ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, told Shiite officials that the President doesn’t want Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to stay as the country's leader in the next phase of the Iraqi government . Naturally, this is increasing the already tense relationship between the US and Shiite leaders, but why should that surprise anyone. Bush has shown, many times in the past, his elitism with foreign potentates and prime ministers…

Trailing… trailing… gone? A new poll shows that weeks of turmoil in Katherine Harris’ campaign have not hurt her popularity with the voters. The problem is, it hasn’t helped either. For nine months, Harris has HHatrailed her Democratic opponent, Sen. Bill Nelson, 35 percent to 51 percent. The new poll shows the same spread. What part of ‘we wouldn’t vote for you Katherine if you were the last politician on earth’ does she NOT understand??? Maybe she’s hoping the pity vote will catapult her to Washington… though that seems less and less likely with every give day. Remember her actions during the 2000 voting recount and her campaign for Congress? Seems Karma is coming back to bite her in the ass… big time.

Immigrants? What immigrants? The Senate will take up a (very) broad revision of the country’s immigration policies today, Wednesday. There are signs everywhere that point to the fact that conservatives may be ready to do a little give and take on efforts to give illegal immigrants new ways to gain lawful employment. Yeah, protest after protest after protest can have that effect on people… (editor's note: You noticed that we at TBWA have not taken a position as of yet on this issue, that is because we are not prone to knee-jerk reactionary thinking. While we agree that drastic reform is needed, we want to have more facts before rendering an opinion on what the proper reform should be.- Scott)

The 5th plane? Convicted al-Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui's said in court this past week that he (along with would-be "shoe bomber" Richard Reid) were to hijack a 5th airliner and fly it into the White House in the September 11,2001 terror attacks. This confession has now undermined his attorneys' arguments that he shouldn’t be sentenced to death. That seems unlikely now, and, being a Liberal who supports the death penalty in some cases, I say kill the fu****.

And this is only the beginning… Jack Abramoff, he of the disgraced lobbying fame, was sentenced today to nearly six years in prison for fraud. Nice. And btw, this has nothing to do with his dealings in Washington; this is all about the purchase of a Florida casino cruise line, so more prison time is likely on its way for the one-time über-lobbyist. (All together now: ‘Karma, baby!!’)

Son of a bi***. Want outrage of a Republican lying to make things in Iraq look rosier than they are? Then trot on over to Daily Kos and check out this tasty tidbit. Im – be –cile.

Put the resolution down and take 1 step back. Due to this week’s FEC decision that the nation's new campaign finance laws won’t apply to most political activity on the internet, House Resolution (HR) 1606 has been put away by the House leadership. The resolution isn’t completely derived of life, but it has been locked away for now, to which I give a Homer Simpson-esque ‘Whoo-hoo!’

Downing Street Memo: The Sequel. In the weeks leading up to the US-led invasion of Iraq, “President” Bush offered up an ultimatum to Saddam Husein: Disarm or face war. The story behind closed doors was very different as Dubya was positive that war was certain. During a private two-hour meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 31, 2003, Bush stressed to British Prime Minister Tony Blair that he was determined to invade Iraq even if the arms inspectors failed to find WMD’s, second resolution be damned. This all according to a confidential memo about the meeting written by one of Blair's top foreign policy advisers. (editor's note: I've said it since before the 'war' began, Bush came into office looking for an excuse, 'any' excuse to invade Iraq. My feeling is that he was looking to get even for making daddy a 'one-termer'- Scott)

Take them as you will…