The Fallout Begins

After a day of flying around the blogosphere, the hatred being brewed by the McPalin campaign (intended or not) is FINALLY getting attention from the traditional media.

Consider this scathing editorial from the NY Times this morning;

It is a sorry fact of American political life that campaigns get ugly, often in their final weeks. But Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have been running one of the most appalling campaigns we can remember. […] Ms. Palin, in particular, revels in the attack. Her campaign rallies have become spectacles of anger and insult. "This is not a man who sees America as you see it and how I see America," Ms. Palin has taken to saying. […] Her demagoguery has elicited some frightening, intolerable responses. A recent Washington Post report said at a rally in Florida this week a man yelled "kill him!" as Ms. Palin delivered that line and others shouted epithets at an African-American member of a TV crew.

About time… even if the mob-inciting is unintentional, their silence about it speaks volumes and people need to be made aware of it… thankfully the Fourth Estate has decided to do their job.

Unfortunately it will probably be short-lived as I’m sure the news cycle will be full of inane celebrity news before the end of today… but try to enjoy it while you can.

Executive Privilege? I don't think so!

A federal judge (a federal judge appointed by “President” Bush in 2001 and then appointed to the FISA court by Bush-nominated SCOTUS John Roberts in 2006 no less) has caused shockwaves in DC as he ruled today that former White House COS Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers must comply with Congress’ request.

Score!

What’s even more maddening for the administration is the fact that this judge, in the past, has handed down rulings that have helped cover-up their wrongdoings including, but certainly not limited to; the decision that allowed the administration to refuse to release documents on their illegal wiretapping program… ruled that Dick Cheney did not need to turn over notes and attendees from his energy task force meetings… and ruled against outed CIA agent Valerie Plame. To which I say; Karma, baby!

Let’s review… back in June, after Bolten and Miers refused to comply with congressional investigations into the U.S. Attorneys scandal, the DOJ made the ridiculous claims that “that senior presidential advisers are absolutely immune from congressional subpoenas.”

Judge John Bates disagreed with that, saying “there’s no legal support for that stance” and “aides can be subpoenaed” and therefore, Bolten and Miers must comply with Congress. Judge Bates went on to say; “Harriet Miers is not immune from compelled congressional process; she is legally required to testify pursuant to a duly issued congressional subpoena.”

Score two!

Judge Bates also said that Miers AND Bolten must give Congress all non-privileged documents related to the firings.

Score three!

If AG Mike “Don’t call me an albatross” Mukasey doesn’t enforce both a congressional contempt citation and a validating court decision, then HE should be held in contempt… literally and figuratively.

And House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) didn’t waste any time picking up from Judge Bates’; decision, releasing a statement that says he looks “forward to the White House complying with this ruling and to scheduling future hearings with Ms. Miers and other witnesses who have relied on such claims.”

All of this is fine and good, but now is the time when House Democrats must be aggressive and unfailing. Anything that the Dems can do to throw light on the cockroaches in this administration needs to be done with expedience prior to November… and this should be a central part of their talking points.

The chips are starting to fall…

Here comes the smack-down

The House Judiciary Committee just voted (along party lines of course), 20-14 to hold Karl Rove in contempt of Congress. The contempt charges stem from Rove’s constant ignoring of subpoenas and his unflinching refusals to testify.

The resolution now heads to the full House, where a straight majority vote will be a necesity in order to formally and officially lock in the contempt citation.

Karma baby!

Money maker or soul cleanser?

One of “President” Bush’s Texas lapdogs is attempting to throw him under the bus… and it could actually work.

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan spent a majority of his time in that position defending the Bush(whacked) Administration’s stance on the Iraq war… but now he’s concluded, either due to guilt or dollar signs, that his employer misled the nation into an unjust war.

Well duhhhhhhhhhh….

McClellan’s book What Happened: Washington's Culture of Deception will be released next Monday and it contains some interesting writings like;

“History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided -- that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder.” […] No one, including me, can know with absolute certainty how the war will be viewed decades from now when we can more fully understand its impact. […] What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary.”

McClellan also says that Bush is “plenty smart enough to be president” and Bush is “an instinctive leader more than an intellectual leader” and chooses what to do “based on his gut and his most deeply held convictions.”

Well… that’s just what we want from a president isn’t it? Screw debate… screw learning the facts… my gut says we invade, so we’re invading…

Explains a lot, doesn’t it?

Liberal pundits and Liberal bloggers have been saying forever that Bush ignores what other people say about a subject and does whatever the hell he wants… McClellan’s book supports that.

Bush doesn’t want or seek widespread counsel and critique in his decision-making, he decides himself using his instincts.

Ignoring for a moment the question of how the hell our nation has not collapsed with this putz in the White house, let’s instead concentrate on McClellan’s sudden discovery of a soul.

It’s been more than two years since he left the White House and seemingly all it took for him to find religion was a lucrative book deal.

Sure, the book gives credence to those of us who said that Bush wasn’t “open and forthright on Iraq” and that he used propaganda to sell the war, and that the “White House press corps was too easy on the administration during the run-up to the war”… but we already knew that…

At least those of us who can use their own mind and haven’t partaken of the Bush Kool-Aid knew that and have been saying it for years… and now we, seemingly, have proof.

Another question is whether or not the MSM reports the story and, thus indicts themselves into the wool being collectively pulled over the eyes of the American public regarding the Iraq war?I don’t see it happening…

And what to make of McClellan’s sudden decision to come clean… for three years he willingly distorted and lied for this administration… he lied about Iraq, domestic spying, secret prisons and the true role that the White House played in the outing of Valerie Plame.

McClellan could have said all this before now, but he didn’t… probably because he knew he could make big money by putting pen to paper and throwing the administration under the bus in a tell-all book.

In the book McClellan claims he was lied to but was he?

I have to say yes… and that can be supported to some extent with the zeal that conservative pundits are jumping up and down on him.

We have Karl Rove on Fox “News” saying that McClellan sounded more like “a left-wing blogger” than himself… we have former Homeland Security adviser Frances Townsend appearing on CNN calling McClellan “self-serving” and “disingenuous”… and then we have the ever famous “former colleague” who says of McClellan; “It looks like a fairly pathetic attempt to restore his reputation by junking the only positive attribute people saw in him — loyalty.”

Why pounce on someone that quickly if the story isn’t true… why not just issue a blanket denial and be done with it?

Simple… because there must be some truth in it and issuing a blanket denial would imperil them in court.

I don’t forgive McClellan’s role in the Bush White House… let’s face it, he had more than enough time from his resignation and the book’s launch to make his claims known, but he waited until he could make money off of it… but perhaps we should view him a little differently now and wait for him to be summoned to Capitol Hill before we condemn or commend him.

Stay tuned…