Month: March 2006

Novak: GOP Congress Hates Bush

Jon Ponder

When Democrats criticize President Bush, Republicans accuse them of hating the president, which is the same as hating America. Writing for the ultra-rightwing website Human Events Online, GOP propagandist Robert Novak chronicles the growing tide of Bush-hatred among Republican members of Congress:

Republican congressmen are tired of being bullied and ignored by a heavy-handed executive, and they are playing hardball with their President. Given his unpopularity, many of them find it useful to distance themselves from Bush anyway. In short, Bush has little leverage left within his own party, and his transformation to lame-duck status is all but complete.

Republicans in Congress is are arraying themselves against their Dear Leader across the board:

Ports Deal: [Language] de-funding the ports deal will be written into the upcoming emergency supplemental [by the GOP congressional leadership]. This would be some real intra-party hardball—Bush would have to veto funding for Katrina, homeland security and the troops, or else suffer the undoing of a deal he has promised will go forward.

And…

Budget: Another Republican rebellion is breaking out on the budget front, where independent-minded Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is taking on the administration for its budgeting proposal. Bush’s budget zeroes out the so-called “Crime Victims Fund,” which is funded through criminal fines, fees and forfeitures, and thus pays for itself. Coburn is accusing the administration of playing a “budget shell game” by zeroing out the fund in order to make room for more spending elsewhere, but planning to restore the fund later.

Coburn’s hearings, set for today, will include a victim of the Oklahoma City bombing. They are significant because they could be politically damaging for Bush if anyone notices them. More and more conservatives seem emboldened nowadays to snipe at the President, whose poor efforts at reaching out to Congress have not helped his overall cause.

And…

Katrina: [The] administration’s inert posture and opacity with respect to the Katrina rebuilding process is all the more baffling. The White House has done little to get its act together and work with members of Congress on the reconstruction… Moreover, through its curious inflexibility and inaction, the White House has again incurred the wrath of conservative Republicans in Louisiana’s congressional delegation, including Sen. David Vitter (R) and Rep. Richard Baker (R). Even in matters as small as the itinerary of visiting congressmen, FEMA proved inflexible, drawing criticism from conservative Rep. Bobby Jindal (R).

Christians Vow to Continue Protests at Soldiers’ Funerals

Jon Ponder

Members of the Baptist Church led by Rev. Fred Phelps of Kansas say they will continue protesting at the funerals of service members killed in Iraq despite new state laws intended to preventing them from disrupting the grieving families:

“We obey the law,” said Shirley Phelps-Roper, a lawyer and member of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, a fundamentalist congregation headed by her father, the Rev. Fred Phelps.

Church members have outraged mourners across the nation by showing up at soldiers’ funerals with signs that read “God Hates Fags” or “God Made IEDs,” a reference to roadside bombs.

Church members contend that soldiers are being killed for defending a nation in which gays and lesbians are accepted.

Bush Commands that DHS Shall Get Religion

Buck Banks

God’s in the White House: In a move that is intended to either a) establish a theocracy in Washington, or b) consign faith-based initiatives to the dustbin of incompetency, yesterday George Bush signed an executive order calling for the establishment of a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the Department of Homeland Security.

I am not making this up, here’s the link. The austensible purpose of this order is to “to help the Federal Government coordinate a national effort to expand opportunities for faith-based and other community organizations and to strengthen their capacity to better meet America’s social and community needs.”

Within 45 days from the date of the order, the secretary of DHS, Michael Chertoff, is supposed to appoint a director in consultation with the director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (or WHOFBCI director in White House speak), put together appropriate staff, administrative support, and other resources to meet the center’s responsibilities.

Sounds like crony time!

Bush did end the order with this caveat: “This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a party against the United States, its agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.”

Well, that’s a relief!

Mean Jean Forced to Remove Endorsement Claims from Site

Jon Ponder

Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, has been forced to remove two purported endorsements of her candidacy for reelection from her campaign website.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, the Republican anti-immigration zealot from Colorado, demanded that Schmidt remove his name from her site yesterday:

Early in the afternoon yesterday, Schmidt’s homepage touted that Tancredo was publicly backing her: “Rep. Tom Tancredo — Chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus endorses Congresswoman Jean Schmidt and thanks her for her hard work to end ‘illegal’ immigration and protect American jobs.”

But Tancredo never endorsed Schmidt in her bid for reelection this year, said his spokesman, Will Adams.

“Congresswoman Schmidt and Congressman Tancredo recently met to discuss immigration,” Adams said. During the meeting, Schmidt joined the immigration-reform caucus but that was all that transpired, he said.

“There was no endorsement,” Adams said flatly. “We normally do not endorse out-of-state races.”

He added that while Tancredo had done so occasionally this was not one of those instances.

At the same time, another Ohio Republican congressman, Rep. Steve Chabot, denied that he had endorsed Schmidt, even though her site listed him as a supporter:

Rep. Jean Schmidt’s campaign Web site lists several political endorsements, including one from fellow Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Westwood.

There’s only one problem.

Chabot says he didn’t endorse Schmidt, who faces a primary challenge May 2 from Republican Bob McEwen, a former congressman from southern Ohio.

“We have not been asked for an endorsement by anyone in that race,” Chabot spokesman Gary Lindgren said Tuesday, adding that Chabot backs both Schmidt and McEwen.

Liberal Group Launches Ad Campaign against Dobson over Abramoff Ties

Jon Ponder

The Campaign to Defend the Constitution, a liberal group that fights Christian extremism, has launched an advertising campaign against mullah James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based hate group, over his ties to disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff:

The campaign will begin with a $200,000 ad in The New York Times, claiming that “These Religious Leaders Have a Serious Gambling Problem.” Television ads will run in Colorado Springs, Washington, D.C., and New York.

The ads center on the actions of Abramoff, who represented Indian tribes with gambling interests before he was accused of bilking the tribes out of millions of dollars and improperly influencing public officials.

One of Abramoff’s clients, the Louisiana Coushatta tribe, tried to block approval of a competing casino project in Louisiana by the Jena Band of Choctaws.

Abramoff reportedly paid former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed to start a campaign blocking the Jena project.

Meanwhile, e-mails released during a subsequent congressional investigation, suggested that Abramoff claimed he got Dobson involved, too.

Dobson’s group denies the charges.

GOP Senate Intelligence Committee Backs Bush’s Illegal Spying

Jon Ponder

“The committee is, to put it bluntly, basically under the control of the White House.”

— Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D- W.V., vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee

Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed their status as a giant, expensive rubber stamp for President Bush and the worst of his fascistic tendencies yesterday when they opted to approve — not investigate — his illegal domestic spying program:

The agreement, hashed out in weeks of negotiations between Vice President Dick Cheney and Republicans critical of the program, dashes Democratic hopes of starting a full committee investigation because the proposal won the support of Senators Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine. The two, both Republicans, had threatened to support a fuller inquiry if the White House did not disclose more about the program to Congress.

“We are reasserting Congressional responsibility and oversight,” Ms. Snowe said.

The proposed legislation would create a seven-member “terrorist surveillance subcommittee” and require the administration to give it full access to the details of the program’s operations

Snowe also called it “the beginning, not the end of the process” — where “process” means “our heritage as a democratic nation.”

Next Texas Governor Might Hold a Grudge Against DeLay

Trish

Texas politics is so interesting, it’s easy to see why George W. Bush hopped a taxpayer-funded plane home to vote today. Consider the governor’s race.

Former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell appears to have easily won the Democratic primary. Were Bell to take the governor’s mansion this fall, it would be a particularly sweet victory, since he was knocked from office after only one term by Tom DeLay’s nefarious redistricting scheme, currently up for review by the Supreme Court.

If Bell does win, he’ll have to face these challengers:

  • Republican Gov. Rick Perry, long rumored to be involved in extramarital affairs with people of both genders, and signer of the state’s Defense of Marriage Act.
  • Carole Keeton Strayhorn, better known as White House Spokestool Scott McClellan’s mom. Yes, she’s had more husbands than just Scottie’s dad, but then, that’s why we need to defend marriage. She’s running not as a Republican, but as an Independent.
  • A Libertarian named James Werner out of Austin.
  • Our favorite perennial candidate: Kinky Friedman, former rock star and very bad mystery writer. Friedman, for the younger PR readers out there, once toured the country with Bob Dylan and a band called the Texas Jewboys, which had a hit, “Asshole from El Paso.”

Kinky brings up another interesting Texas political fact. When Gov. Perry signed a bill banning same-sex marriage in 2005, he invited religious leaders for a photo op, including a “rabbi” of the Jews for Jesus variety as the representative for real Jews. He was later forced to apologize.

The day might not be far off when he’ll have to do more than say he’s sorry — he might have to pack his bag and get on down the road.

Tweety Says He Can See Boehner’s ‘Greatness’

Jon Ponder

Chris Matthews is cable TV’s Lady MacBeth. We constantly see him obssessively trying to wash his hands clean of stains that won’t go away — that he was a staffer for the late House Speaker and Democratic Party legend Tip O’Neill and a speech writer for President Jimmy Carter. In other words: he was a Democrat.

On Monday, the new House Majority leader John Boehner, a perpetually tanned, nicotine-addicted Republican Party hack from Ohio, on his show. Boehner, who is probably best known for handing out bribes on the House floor, may be a lot of things but I think even he would admit that “great” is not one of them:

MATTHEWS: Is [Hillary] a socialist?

BOEHNER: Uh, no. I’ve worked with her on a number of issues —

MATTHEWS: Well, on the issue of health care, is she a socialist?

BOEHNER: She would be to the left of most people I know.

MATTHEWS: But not a socialist?

BOEHNER: I wouldn’t go that far.

MATTHEWS: You wouldn’t go that far? What stops you?

BOEHNER: I don’t like labeling of people.

MATTHEWS: You call her a liberal. You called it Hillarycare.

BOEHNER: I don’t want to call her a socialist.

MATTHEWS: Could she carry Ohio in the general?

BOEHNER: I don’t think so.

MATTHEWS: Who could beat her?

BOEHNER: Anybody.

MATTHEWS: Anybody. Strong words. We’ll be right back with House Majority Leader John Boehner. You can see this man’s greatness.