Day: June 30, 2005

Poll Stunner: 25% of Republicans Would Favor Impeachment; Invasion of Syria Imminent

Jon Ponder
A quarter of Republicans are disgruntled with the president. They say he is doing a poor job – and they would call for his impeachment if they were convinced he lied about the war.

Good thing President Bush doesn’t look at polls because the new Zogby poll would seriously harsh his mellow: “Among President Bush’s fellow Republicans, a full one-in-four (25 percent) indicate they would favor impeaching the President” if he lied about the reasons for taking the country to war in Iraq. Impeachment is favored 59 percent of Democrats.

Inside the bitter outer shell, more creamy badness:

In a … significant sign of the weakness of the President’s numbers, more “Red State” voters … now rate his job performance unfavorably, with 50 percent holding a negative impression of the President’s handling of his duties, and 48 percent holding a favorable view. The President also gets negative marks from one-in-four (25 percent) Republicans—as well as 86% of Democrats and 58 percent of independents.

Notice how the 25 percent figure shows up twice. The number of Republicans who think Bush is doing a poor job equals the number who would see him impeached. Bush has done serious damage to a quarter of the party faithful. The blowback on Republicans in Congress next year could be horrendous.

It is obvious that the president and his team did mislead the country, so additional documents and witnesses will undoubtedly come to light. As evidence against Bush mounts, the number of Republicans calling for impeachment- or at least Congressional hearings – will rise.

And that is when we will invade Syria.

Katherine Harris’ Hand Just Keeps Getting Stuck in the Money Jar

Trish

If there’s one thing that distinguishes Katherine Harris’ career, it’s the ability to play fast and loose with the rules. You might be able to believe that Harris was just looking for her missing contact lens when her hand got stuck in the MZM Inc. cookie jar, except for the pattern of such behavior her entire elected life.

Now Harris is offering to return the illegal contributions she received from the defense contractor, which is implicated in a shady deal with another Republican Representative, California’s Dean Cunningham.

Southwest Florida Herald-Tribune:

Harris, R-Longboat Key, received $50,000 in contributions from defense contracting firm MZM Inc…

Most of the money was contributed individually by employees of MZM, which has headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Recent news stories have quoted anonymous MZM workers complaining that they were pressured into giving money to the firm’s political action committee. Such coercion violates federal campaign finance laws.

Harris wants to make the whole thing go away but she’s hanging onto the cash for now.

After hearing of the reports, Harris said she sent letters offering to refund the money…

This is Florida’s former Secretary of State, the person charged with not only knowing the ins and outs of every election and campaign finance law in the land, but enforcing them and prosecuting violators.

Harris said in an interview Tuesday that she has no idea if the campaign money she received was obtained illegally.

At the time they offered the contributions, Harris said MZM officials told her that the firm planned to open a facility in Sarasota.

Harris said she saw no downside: The deal would have brought at least 40 jobs to her district, and the firm’s agents were writing checks to her campaign account.

But she said she was a little puzzled by the donation, since she wasn’t assigned to any committees that handled defense budgets or policy.

At that time, she wasn’t on the Homeland Security Committee. She has since won a seat on that panel.

Is it me, or is there open acknowledgment here of the quid-pro-quo expectations resulting from accepting MZM’s money?

This isn’t the first time Harris has been caught groping in the bottom of the money jar, or funneling illegal contributions through a company’s employees. In 1998, the St. Petersburg Times reported on Harris’ violations while she was still a state sentor.

Federal prosecutors say nearly $400,000 of Riscorp contributions to Harris and dozens of other politicians were illegal…Riscorp’s founder, Bill Griffin, was sentenced to five months in federal custody earlier this month in connection with the scheme to reimburse his employees for the illegal contributions…

Harris got $20,292 in illegal contributions from Riscorp during her 1994 state Senate campaign — more than any other legislative candidate…Harris also received $13,000 in legal corporate contributions from various Riscorp companies, more than any other candidate in any race, federal records show.

Federal prosecutors described her 1994 campaign manager as one of the “co-conspirators” or “co-schemers” in an effort to hide the true identity of campaign contributors on campaign finance reports.

And a 1994 memo shows that Riscorp advised the campaign manager on how to change the addresses on Riscorp checks to keep the media from tracing them back to Riscorp.

Harris said she thought her campaign wanted different addresses for Riscorp checks because they preferred street addresses rather than post office boxes.

Harris might be forgiven for her current troubles, if she hadn’t already been down this road, and if she wasn’t an expert on campaign finance laws, and if she could come up with an alternate explanation for her actions besides, “I am a nasty Republican skeezer and I will do anything I can get away with. Now, beat it and let me get back to figuring out who to shake down next.”

Breslin — Florida Not Big Enough for Me and Jeb

Buck Banks

At a recent writers workshop in Fort Lauderdale, “Sun-Sentinel” sports writer Michael Mayo asked legendary columnist and rabble-rouser Jimmy Breslin, 75, whether he was ready to retire to Florida:

After his talk, I asked if he’d ever become a Floridian, like so many other New Yorkers. He let out a curse and said, “You think I could move to this place, with this idiot of a governor?”

GOP Rep. Hayes Contradicts Bush & 9/11 Commission, Says Saddam Was Connected to 9/11

Jon Ponder

Rep. Robin Hayes – a Republican from Concord, N.C. – has been caught red-handed, lying to the American people and his constituents, apparently attempting to bolster President Bush’s assertions in a speech Tuesday night that Iraqis were involved in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. connection Hayes made the untrue statements on CNN:

[Hayes said] on Wednesday that the “evidence is clear” that Iraq was involved in the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001.

“Saddam Hussein and people like him were very much involved in 9/11,” Rep. Robin Hayes said.

Told no investigation had ever found evidence to link Saddam and 9/11, Hayes responded, “I’m sorry, but you must have looked in the wrong places.”

Hayes, the vice chairman of the House subcommittee on terrorism, said legislators have access to evidence others do not.

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said that Saddam was a dangerous man, but when asked about Hayes’ statement, would not link the deposed Iraqi ruler to the terrorist attacks on New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.

“I haven’t seen compelling evidence of that,” McCain, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CNN.

In a speech to the nation on Tuesday night, President Bush once again tried to make an imaginary connection in the minds of the public between the attacks on 9/11/01 and the war in Iraq. He mentioned the events of 9/11 five times in his half hour speech about Iraq.

However, last year the the 9/11 commission appointed by President Bush concluded that no evidence had been found that any “contacts ever developed into a collaborative operational relationship.” And “nor have we seen evidence indicating that Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda in developing or carrying out any attacks against the United States.”

President Bush said in September 2003 that “We’ve had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11 [attacks].”

Nevertheless, Hayes insisted that the connection between al Qaeda and Saddam and “folks who work for him” has been seen “time and time again.”