Edwards Wants Gonzo Out

Edwards Becomes First Prez Candidate To Call On Gonzales To Resign | TPMCafe

By Greg Sargent | bio

'"Yep -- John Edwards is first out of the box. Again. A statement just out from his campaign makes him the first of the Dems to demand that Alberto Gonzales step down:

"Today's news is only the latest and most disturbing sign of the politicization of justice under President Bush. From the abuse of investigative authority under the Patriot Act to the unconstitutional imprisonment of the Guantanamo Bay detainees and illegal torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Bagram Air Force Base, this president has consistently shown contempt for the rule of law.

"Attorney General Alberto Gonzales betrayed his public trust by playing politics when his job is to enforce and uphold the law. By violating that trust, he's done a great disservice to his office. If White House officials ordered this purge, he should have refused them. If they insisted, he should have resigned in protest. Attorney General Gonzales should certainly resign now."

Edwards, recall, was the first to pull out of the Fox-hosted debate. Let's face it -- the guy is making what's shaping up as a very credible bid for the "had enough, let's fight back on all fronts" wing of the Dem primary electorate."'

Good On Us

Poll: 69 percent oppose pardon for Libby in CIA leak case

CNN.com - CNN Political Ticker: "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Nearly 70 percent of Americans oppose a presidential pardon for former White House aide Lewis 'Scooter' Libby after his conviction on perjury and other charges related to a CIA agent's exposure, according to a CNN poll out Monday.

Just 18 percent said they would support a pardon for Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, while 69 percent said they opposed the idea. Meanwhile, a narrow majority said they believe Cheney was part of a cover-up in the case.

The new poll was conducted for CNN by Opinion Research Corp. between Friday and Sunday. Pollsters quizzed 1,027 adults for the survey, which had a sampling error of 3 percentage points..."

Justice and The Other Shoe

The Blog | Arianna Huffington: The Injustice at Justice: The White House's Fingerprints Begin to Show | The Huffington Post

"...But now that this use of the Justice Department for partisan advantage is unraveling, Rove and the White House must know the investigations will continue to gather steam. Just yesterday the New York Times called for the ouster of Alberto Gonzalez, as did Senator Chuck Schumer on Face the Nation.

It's an outrage that U.S. Attorneys were fired because of their unwillingness to go along with the abuse of the judicial system being imposed from the top. But the real scandal lies in those who did go along with the abuse. According to a recent study reported by TPMmuckracker.com, 79 percent of elected officials and candidates under federal investigation between 2001 and 2006 were Democrats, and only 18 percent were Republican.

Hard to believe that's just a coincidence and that the pressuring phone calls we've learned about are the only ones that were made. Now that Democrats have the power of subpoena, we can finally uncover the White House connection to those calls. Indeed, according to Newsweek, the list of which U.S. attorneys whose heads were to go on the chopping block was generated by Kyle Sampson, Alberto Gonzales's chief of staff, "with input from the White House..."

Rock 'n Roll Politics

James Wolcott's Blog: Gamers and Famers: Wolcott's Blog: vanityfair.com

"...Congratulations to Patti Smith, J. D. Daugherty, and Lenny Kaye on their admission into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. However, That Little Round-Headed Boy has a slate of overlooked worthies that the Hall of Fame should take into consideration, and it's to argue with...

30. The Monkees. Let's get the rock snobs in a lather: The pre-Fab Four. But how can anyone deny the body of songs? Last Train To Clarksville, (I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone, Valleri, I'm A Believer, Pleasant Valley Sunday and the numerous album cuts (several written by Michael Nesmith) proved they were more than just a fake TV band. Hey, the weirdness of Head alone should be their Hall pass.

...

28. Alice Cooper. Two words: School's Out! Also I'm Eighteen, Elected, Billion Dollar Babies, No More Mr. Nice Guy, the wack concept album of Welcome To My Nightmare (remember Vincent Price's cameo?) But even more than the songs, he made glam rock and cross-dressing and snake chic acceptable for a whole generation of white-bread, '70s suburban teens. If Wayne and Garth can bow down to Alice, why can't the Hall?
...

24. The Hollies. Inexplicable. The last great British Invasion band to be denied. Isn't Bus Stop, Carrie-Anne and especially Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress) enough? Apparently not. Or is the Hall holding He Ain't Heavy (He's My Brother) against them?..."

Kiley Gone

Mad In The Middle: Walter Reed Timeline

According to ABC (radio) News, Gen. Kiley has resigned.

Dixie Chicks Moment

The Blog | Steve Benen: What if We Don't Want to 'Get Over It'? | The Huffington Post:

Benen's post concerns a WSJ editorial whose short version is that anyone who has disagreed with anything from the Right should just get over it and move along. The following is taken for the comment thread from the post; it is quite a list of things we should "get over:"

"Yeah, get over it.

The stolen 2000 election. Katherine Harris. Bush v. Gore. Halliburton, Lockheed/Martin, and other crony war profiteers. The Aug. 6, 2001, presidential daily briefing. 'My Pet Goat', Jack Abramoff. David Safavian. Ken Tomlinson. Signing statements. The phony Unitary Executive theory. The manipulation of terror alerts. The suppression and perversion of science, especially on global warming. The phony case for war in Iraq. The Downing Street memo. Ohio in 2004. Voting machines. Swiftboating. Claude Allen. Jeff Gannon. The lack of planning for and putting unqualified cronies in high positions in 'postwar' Iraq. (See Kate O'Bierne's husband.) Dusty Foggo. Katrina. Michael Brown. Enron. Wiretaps. Bank records surveillance. The $8.8 billion (300 tons of cash) missing in Iraq. Destruction of Habeus Corpus. Torture. Illegal wiretapping/data mining. The politicization of AIDS prevention, the Justice Department, and economic statistics tracking. Unconstitutional Faith Based Initiatives. Cheney's energy task force. Record high gas prices. Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, "Extraordinary Renditions", Mark Foley (covered up by the White House/Rove), 9/11 Workers Health Risk suppression, shooting people in their face then obstructing an investigation, pay for positive political coverage, the destruction of Iraq antiquities, lack of body armor, up-armored Humvees, and training. Walter Reed. U.S. attorneys purge. Scooter Libby and destruction of the covert CIA Brewster-Jennings operation. Less water & electricity in Iraq than under Sadam. The botched execution. Record opium production. The stagnant stock market (markets hate instability). The pitiful state of health care in America; ditto education. The sinking of America's middle class. 3000 dead American soldiers in Iraq, 30,000 wounded, $1 trillion wasted, 650,000 dead Iraqis, 2 million Iraqi refugees. Osama still on the loose and the Taliban still strong in Afghanistan. Kim Jung Il has nukes. China holds a huge part of our debt. Putin is having people assassinated on American soil. Bush is trying to start a war with Iran, who probably couldn't have nukes for ten years. The Saudis are still grooming terrorists. The destruction of Colin Powell. The destruction of the National Guard. Recruiting felons. The world hates us.

By: tommo on March 12, 2007 at 12:09pm"

I'm sure there is more to get over. Sorry. I am not getting over it. Rollo Tomaso, I hope, will eventually be busted.

"The Army You Got"

TPMmuckraker March 12, 2007 08:40 AM: "Today's Must Read
By Paul Kiel - March 12, 2007, 8:40 AM

Salon's headline, 'The Army is ordering injured troops to go to Iraq,' pretty much sums it up.

On February 15th at Fort Benning, GA, Salon reports..."

Rove Firing Lawyers?

The Raw Story | White House admits Rove was conduit for attorney complains: "The White House acknowledged on Sunday that presidential adviser Karl Rove served as a conduit for complaints about federal prosecutors as House investigators declared their intention to question him about any role he may have played in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys,' McClatchy Newspapers reports Sunday..."

The Missing Rove

White House Watch -- News on President George W Bush and the Bush Administration - washingtonpost.com

By Dan Froomkin

"Denis Collins, a juror in the Scooter Libby trial, wasn't just channeling his fellow jurors on Tuesday when he faced the microphones and asked: "Where's Rove?"

Collins's point was that Libby, who he had just helped convict on obstruction-of-justice charges, was quite obviously not the only person involved in the politically motivated outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Rove managed to wiggle off prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald's hook in June with a just-in-time recanting of earlier testimony in which he -- just like Libby -- misinformed investigators about his role. (See my June 13, 2006 column, Fitzgerald Leaves Questions Unanswered.)

And in spite of President Bush's assurances that anyone involved in the leak of Plame's identity to journalists would be fired, Rove -- who eventually admitted confirming Plame's identity to Robert Novak and volunteering it to Matthew Cooper -- is still on the White House payroll..."

Kristol Wants Libby Pardoned Now

Think Progress: "In this week’s Weekly Standard, editor Bill Kristol writes that Bush must pardon Libby immediately. “If the president does intend to pardon Libby, there is no reason to wait,” he writes.

Asked to comment further on his editorial, Kristol claimed this morning that pardoning Libby would remove the “cloud hanging over his White House and over the war.” He added that if Bush waits, “Fitzgerald will keep repeating that there’s a cloud over the White House, and Bush will be passive, and it will demoralize his supporters...”"

The Millennium Week

Saturday Morning Open Thread - AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth:

After a week like this, it's almost possible to have outrage fatigue. In just one week, we've dealt with:

the outrages of abuse and neglect at Walter Reed and other military medical facilities that are supposed to care for our wounded soldiers and vets;

the fact that leading Republicans, including Representatives Bill Young (R-FL) and Tom Davis (R-VA) knew about the conditions at Walter Reed and did NOTHING:

the revelations of political pressure being applied (by Senator Domenici, Rep. Heather Wilson and Rep. Doc Hastings for sure) to the now-fired U.S. Attorneys in pending cases;

the Scooter Libby verdict which represents the much bigger story of lying about the Iraq war and outing an undercover spy for partisan reasons;

the FBI breaking the law by spying on Americans; and

the confirmation that the escalation in Iraq is much bigger then Bush said it would be.

That's just one week of news from the Bush Administration and his Republican allies. But each of those represent years of lies, nefarious behavior and in some cases actual criminal conduct..."

GOP Not Good For Troops

Retired Army Major General Paul D. Eaton, the original commander in charge of training Iraqi troops, in an interview with Bill Maher on Real Time, said (from Crooks and Liars): "'We've got this thing that so many military believe that Republican administrations are good for the military. That is rarely the case. And, we have to get a message through to every soldier, every family member, every friend of soldiers that the Republican party, the Republican dominated Congress has absolutely been the worst thing that's happened to the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps...'"

C&L has the video here.

The Daily Flashback

Words of Power: Words of Power #33: A Quarter-Century Ago, Jimmy Carter Warned of This Grim Period, His Prophetic Call was Not Heeded: "In January 1981, after losing the election to a lesser man who was fronting for a corporatist juggernaut, Jimmy Carter delivered a remarkable farewell address to the nation and the world. His words should haunt us all. But, unfortunately, most people either weren't listening then or have never heard them..."

Excellent post. Read it all by clicking above.

Cenk Uygur On Fred Thompson

The Blog | Cenk Uygur: Fred Thompson Considering Entering the Presidential Race | The Huffington Post: "...He sounded like the kind of Republican I used to be. I'm sure that's why I found him so reasonable. It would be interesting if he ran a campaign the way he just talked to me one on one. But as he acknowledges, the system in Washington is hard to change. Ultimately it would be very hard for him not to pander and tell voters what they want to hear. After all, if he told the conservative base that he did not agree with them on some core issues, they would be out drafting yet another new candidate."

The Daily Flashback

From digby:

Dems Say "No" To Fox

Melinda Henneberger: Democrats Dump Fox | The Huffington Post

"Democratic Party insiders say they are backing out of a Fox News-sponsored presidential debate in August following Fox President Roger Ailes's recent remarks comparing Democratic Senator Barack Obama to al Qaeda terrorist Osama Bin Laden.

Fox News did not answer calls seeking reaction to the decision.

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards had already announced that he would not participate in the Fox debate."

Clinton Did No Political Firings

Think Progress » Former Clinton Chief Of Staff Rebuts Rove Claim That Clinton Purged Prosecutors Too: "...Clinton’s former chief of staff John Podesta told ThinkProgress that Rove’s claim is “pure fiction.” The Clinton administration never fired federal prosecutors as political retribution:

Mr. Rove’s claims today that the Bush administration’s purge of qualified and capable U.S. attorneys is “normal and ordinary” is pure fiction. Replacing most U.S. attorneys when a new administration comes in — as we did in 1993 and the Bush administration did in 2001 — is not unusual. But the Clinton administration never fired federal prosecutors as pure political retribution. These U.S. attorneys received positive performance reviews from the Justice Department and were then given no reason for their firings.

We’re used to this White House distorting the facts to blame the Clinton administration for its failures. Apparently, it’s also willing to distort the facts and invoke the Clinton administration to try to justify its bad behavior..."

FBI Broke Law

The Blotter: "The FBI repeatedly failed to follow the strict guidelines of the Patriot Act when its agents took advantage of a new provision allowing the FBI to obtain phone and financial records without a court order, according to a report to be made public Friday by the Justice Department's Inspector General.

The report, in classified and unclassified versions, remains closely held, but Washington officials who have seen it tell ABC News it documents 'numerous lapses' and describe it as 'scathing' and 'not a pretty picture for the FBI...'"

Remember all those assurances about the program not being abused?

Scandal Free Bushland

David Gergen Is Mentally Retarded - Wonkette: David Gergen thinks there have been no scandals under the doleful watch of Dick and Dubya. Sigh.

Gingrich: Hypocrite Deluxe

Gingrich Had Affair During Clinton Probe | The Huffington Post: "WASHINGTON — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged he was having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, he acknowledged in an interview with a conservative Christian group.

'The honest answer is yes,' Gingrich, a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson to be aired Friday, according to a transcript provided to The Associated Press. 'There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards.' [Do tell, Toadman.]

Gingrich argued in the interview, however, that he should not be viewed as a hypocrite for pursuing Clinton's infidelity..."

Oh, really. Do as I say say... in spades.