Day: February 14, 2007

Judge Says Libby Can’t Have It Both Ways

Trish

Isn’t it a bummer when you have to keep your agreements? Just ask ol’ Scooter, whose case closed today with a pissed-off judge.

The judge in the case became upset Wednesday when defense attorneys sought to follow an agreement with prosecutors that was based on Libby’s taking the stand.

Because Libby and his attorneys decided he would not testify, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton blocked them from using some classified evidence in the case.

The defense announced Tuesday that neither Libby nor Vice President Dick Cheney, who was expected to support him, would testify.

“It’s too much of a game now,” Walton said. “It’s supposed to be about finding the truth, and then we play games with the process.”

The agreed-to material was intended to be a partial substitute for Libby’s testimony, said the judge and Fitzgerald.

Because of that, the defense will not be allowed to get that evidence before the jury, which will deny the government a chance to question Libby about how it may have affected his state of mind.

After the defense and the prosecution each pressed their view on the matter, Walton said, “I won’t permit it,” adding, “If I get reversed on that one, maybe I need to hang up my spurs.”

Oh, you’ll probably just get fired a few months down the road for “performance issues” instead, judge.

Closing arguments will be presented Tuesday.

Fla. Gov. Says GOP Wasting $$ on Gay-Marriage Ban

Buck Banks

Duh: I suppose if I were a Republican, this story might mean more to me, but as far as I’m concerned, as long as the Florida GOP wants to piss its money away, who cares? Charlie Crist has turned out to be a pleasant surprise as governor of our state, especially following Jeb Bush’s lock-step Repug tribalism approach to running Florida’s political machine.

So Crist tells his party to stop spending money trying to pass legislation banning gay marriage in Florida (actually, it just defines marriage as between a man a woman, so it’s a positive, not a negative, piece of law — or so the GOP would have us believe).

The Florida GOP spent $300,000 touting the proposed state constitutional amendment narrowly defining marriage between a man and woman.

Under Crist’s predecessor, Jeb Bush, the Florida GOP spent $300,000 touting the proposed state constitutional amendment narrowly defining marriage between a man and woman. The GOP money was 54 percent of the total raised by the amendment’s backers, Florida4Marriage.org, which is still shy 28,000 voter-signed petitions to get the measure on the 2008 ballot.

Though Crist signed the petition and says he backs the measure, hardliners have expressed suspicion about his self-described “live-and-let-live-Republican” stance.

”I just think [the Republican Party’s] money can be better spent on other things that may be more pressing, like elections, for example,” Crist said. “I think that the people care about issues like insurance premiums. They care about property taxes. They care about public safety. And I think it’s important that not only those of us in government, but the party, focus on those issues, too.”

It’s interesting to see who is actually pushing the legislation. A clue can be gleaned from the identity of the guy who argued the case before the Florida Supreme Court:

Matthew Staver, an Orlando attorney who argued for the amendment before the Florida Supreme Court, said Crist’s statement was not a retreat from his pledge of support for the amendment. But he thinks Crist is wrong about whether the amendment is a priority.

”Charlie Crist has his priorities misplaced if he thinks it’s not money well spent,” said Staver, the law school dean of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. “It’s one of the most important issues government can face. It deals with marriage and the family.’

Why, you may ask, is the dean of the law school of Liberty U. fighting the good fight before the state o’ Florida? Because Liberty University is Jerry Falwell’s institution of higher indoctrination and the source of much of the Christian evil spread throughout the land. I’m sure Staver is being farmed out to argue similar cases in states all across the country, and probably on Falwell’s dime. Hopefully, with similar results.

There were whispered suspicions about Charlie Crist’s alleged heterosexuality during the campaign, and I suppose some will make the argument that Crist is actually pursuing a double-top-secret agenda of supporting gay rights issues while “passing” as straight.

Anyway, I like Charlie for calling ’em like he sees ’em and doing and saying what he — not the Repug Party — thinks is right.

Sen. Mel Martinez Still Claiming Iraq is About 9/11

Trish

Looks like someone missed the memo. In his floor statement last week, as Republicans in the Senate filibustered their way out of the debate on Iraq that the country has been clamoring for, Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) did it again. He repeated that old chestnut about how we’re fighting in Iraq because these are the people who attacked us on Sept. 11, 2001.

I’m quoting the entire passage from his very own web site, so as not to be accused of taking what he said out of context or making this shit up.

Jeez, Mel, where you been? Don’t you know we’ve shifted away from that whole “al Qaeda is the root of all evil in Iraq” bit to “Iran is the root of all evil in Iraq?”

But, getting beyond the procedural debate and the tit for tat that so often signifies what Washington is about, what is it that, fundamentally, this debate is about? It’s about the Global War on Terror. It is about the events that unfolded in our country on the morning of September the 11th, 2001, and the aftermath of all of that, the things that have occurred as our nation has responded to the attacks that were brought upon our shores. And, as we have sought to carry out this difficult war, but one in which we must not waiver, which is this War on Terror. And as a result of this War on Terror, our troops are in Iraq today where they have removed a dictator from power, and where they have confronted the enemy, which regardless of how someone might have felt about the original decision to go into Iraq, today we are there and we are engaging an enemy that is the very enemy that attacked us here on 9/11.

It is known that in al-Anbar province, it is fundamentally an al-Qaeda operation. So to send additional reinforcements to al-Anbar province to defeat al-Qaeda in Iraq is in the best interest of this nation; it is in our national interest. To pacify, to bring some peace to Baghdad, which is the capital city of Iraq, which is essential to the peace and security of that nation—of that budding democracy—that is attempting to put itself on its feet and to bring some stability to that capital city, by additional reinforcements of American troops in a new plan, I think is reasonable.

Jeez, Mel, where you been? That is just so, like, last month!

Don’t you know we’ve shifted away from that whole “al Qaeda is the root of all evil in Iraq” bit to “Iran is the root of all evil in Iraq?” Come on, get with the party line already.

For those of you don’t know, Martinez has been tapped to lead the GOP in the next election cycle. I hope for their sake he’s better at fund-raising than making speeches.

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

Of all the delights of this world, man cares most for sexual intercourse. He will go to any length for it — risk fortune, character, reputation, life itself. And what do you think God has done? In a thousand years you would never guess. He has left it out of his heaven! Prayer takes its place.

— Mark Twain

Obama Pulls a Biden

Buck Banks

Harbinger? Come on, Barack, we thought you were smarter and better than that:

Despite the mea culpa, Obama’s gaffe caused no break in the media gushing over his budding candidacy.

If Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, John Kerry or Joe Biden had said that American lives lost in Iraq were “wasted,” a media firestorm would have erupted.

And yet there was Sen. Barack Obama, just 24 hours after his presidential campaign announcement over the weekend, saying the nation had “seen over 3,000 lives of the bravest young Americans wasted.”

Immediately following his off-the-cuff remark during an Iowa town hall meeting — and after huddling with horrified aides — the Illinois Democrat told the Des Moines Register that he regretted his choice of words, and wished he had instead said “their sacrifices are never wasted.”

Despite the mea culpa, Obama’s gaffe caused no break in the media gushing over his budding candidacy. But if he does win the nomination, expect Republicans to play that tape over and over, arguing that it shows a lack of respect for soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice.