Month: May 2006

Senior GOP Strategist: ‘This Administration May Be Over’

Jon Ponder

From his lips:

“This administration may be over,” Lance Tarrance, a chief architect of the Republicans’ 1960s and ’70s Southern strategy, told a gathering of journalists and political wonks last week. “By and large, if you want to be tough about it, the relevancy of this administration on policy may be over.”

A new poll by RT Strategies, the firm headed by Tarrance and Democratic pollster Thomas Riehle, shows that 59 percent of Americans disapprove of Bush’s job performance, while 36 percent approve — a finding in line with other recent polls.

Tarrance said it would be extremely difficult for any president to bounce back this late in his administration and reassert influence on Capitol Hill when his approval rating barely exceeds his party’s base support and half of all adults surveyed said they “strongly disapprove” of his performance. An overwhelming 73 percent of independents disapprove of Bush’s performance, and two-thirds of those “strongly disapprove.”

Hayden Declined to Deny That Domestic Spying Program Targets Bush’s Political Enemies and Journalists

Jon Ponder

Pretty much says it all:

Gen. Michael Hayden refused to answer question about spying on political enemies at National Press Club. At a public appearance, Bush’s pointman in the Office of National Intelligence was asked if the NSA was wiretapping Bush’s political enemies. When Hayden dodged the question, the questioner repeated, “No, I asked, are you targeting us and people who politically oppose the Bush government, the Bush administration? Not a fishing net, but are you targeting specifically political opponents of the Bush administration?” Hayden looked at the questioner, and after a silence called on a different questioner. (Hayden National Press Club remarks, 1/23/06) (video ) (audio )

Bush Believes September 11, 2001, Was Start of World War III

Jon Ponder

Seriously, can you imagine what would have happened if a normal, otherwise competent president of the United States declared offhandedly that he believed World War III began in 2001:

US President George W. Bush said the September 11 revolt of passengers against their hijackers on board Flight 93 had struck the first blow of “World War III.”

In an interview with the financial news network CNBC, Bush said he had yet to see the recently released film of the uprising, a dramatic portrayal of events on the United Airlines plane before it crashed in a Pennsylvania field.

But he said he agreed with the description of David Beamer, whose son Todd died in the crash, who in a Wall Street Journal commentary last month called it “our first successful counter-attack in our homeland in this new global war — World War III.”

Bush said: “I believe that. I believe that it was the first counter-attack to World War III.”

Does he ever give a thought to what comes out of his mouth? He’s either reading (badly) from a prepared script or spouting off nonsense like this.

The More Bush Speaks, The Less America Likes Him

Trish

CNN Senior Analyst Jeff Greenfield sniffed out a correlation between Bush’s speeches and his approval numbers.

The problem isn’t that the longer Bush is in office, the more we need to see “what he’s really like.” The problem is that we already do.

All through the second term, Bush has been using the “bully pulpit” of the presidency to argue his case on the war in Iraq… And what has happened?

Approval ratings — on Iraq, on terror and on job approval in general — have steadily fallen.

On April 12, 2005, a day when the president gave a speech to military families on terror, Bush’s job approval rating was at 50 percent. Two months later, he made a visit to the National Counterterrorism Center and then gave a nationally televised speech to the nation from Fort Bragg. By month’s end, his job approval was at 45 percent.

Last November, the president visited the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and Elmendorf Air Force Base to talk about terror and Iraq. By year’s end, his job approval was at 41 percent.

So far in 2006, Mr. Bush has given this year six speeches on terror and Iraq, not counting the State of the Union. What has happened? He began the year at 43 percent job approval — in CNN’s latest polling, he’s at 32%…

Every White House loves to argue that its best weapon is the president, connecting directly with the people, and this White House has been relentless in the belief that when the president goes to the country, surrounded by respectful, if not admiring citizens, with the slogan of the day emblazoned in the background, it will be politically effective.

This will come as bad news to new chief of staff Josh Bolten, who recently announced the key to the White House turning things around is trotting Bush out in front of the people.

It’s time for the White House to go on offense and “get our mojo back,” Josh Bolten said Sunday in his first interview since taking over as the president’s chief of staff.

“We’ve taken advice from a lot of folks that we ought to put the president out more in ways that the American people can see what he’s really like,” Bolten said on “Fox News Sunday.”

I got two words for you Josh: social security tour flop.

Anyway, the problem isn’t that the longer Bush is in office, the more we need to see “what he’s really like.” The problem is that we already do.

Gen. Hayden Was Adamantly Wrong about the Constitutional Rights He and Bush Are Accused of Violating

Jon Ponder
Goss’s Replacement at CIA Is Said to Be Gen. Hayden, Engineer of Bush’s Illegal Domestic Spying Program.

Gen. Michael Hayden, director of the National Security Agency, is likely to be President Bush’s nominee to replace CIA Director Porter Goss, or so say chatterers in the capitol.

As NSA director, Hayden was in charge of implementing President Bush’s program of warrantless eavesdropping on American citizens, and the general served as the administration’s spokesperson on the topic during the initial controversy last winter.

While Hayden comes off as a pleasant fellow, an exchange he had with a reporter back in January revealed that he had an alarming ignorance about the constituional law he and the president were accused of breaking:

REPORTER: [Regarding] the standard by which you use to target your wiretaps. I’m no lawyer, but my understanding is that the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution specifies that you must have probable cause to be able to do a search that does not violate an American’s right against unlawful searches and seizures.

GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN: Actually, the Fourth Amendment actually protects all of us against unreasonable search and seizure. That’s what it says.

REPORTER:: But the measure is probable cause, I believe.

GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN: The amendment says unreasonable search and seizure.

REPORTER:: But does it not say probable —

GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN: No.

REPORTER: The court standard, the legal standard —

GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN: The amendment says unreasonable search and seizure.

Text of the Fourth Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

That’s like Dr. Strangelove scary.

Is the Resignation of CIA Director Porter Goss Hookergate Related?

Jon Ponder

Rumors have been swirling around Washington that CIA Director Porter Goss may have been involved in the poker and prostitute parties at the Watergate Hotel hosted by the defense contractors who bribed former Rep. Duke Cunningham. Goss was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee when the parties took place, so it is possible he was involved somehow in either the bribery, the sex with prostitutes or both.

Goss’s abrupt resignation today was offered without a reason — not even the old Washington bromide of an urgent need to spend more time with his familiy. The news readers on CNN and MSNBC are pussyfooting around it but it is hard to see how Goss’s sudden departure after a little more than a year as head of the CIA is not connected to the Watergate II scandals.

Here’s some background on the scandals that posted on Alternet earlier today:

According to recent reports, federal investigators have traced the outlines of a far more extensive network of suspected corruption, involving multiple members of Congress, some of the nation’s highest-ranking intelligence officials, bribery attempts including “free limousine service, free stays at hotel suites at the Watergate and the Westin Grand, and free prostitutes,” tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts awarded under dubious circumstances, and even efforts to influence U.S. national security policy by subverting democratic oversight…

CIA director Goss tied to scandal?

Last week, Harper’s magazine reported that party-goers “under intense scrutiny by the FBI are current and former lawmakers on Defense and Intelligence committees — including one person who now holds a powerful intelligence post.” CIA Director Porter Goss is perhaps the only individual who fits such a description. (“This is horribly irresponsible. He hasn’t even been to the Watergate in decades,” a CIA spokeswoman said. When asked if Goss had attended Wilkes’ parties at the Westin or other locations, she repeated the denial. “It’s horribly irresponsible. Flatly untrue.”) But the alleged links between Goss, Foggo, and Wilkes have led some to return to questions raised when Goss initially selected Foggo to be executive director in November 2004.

Update: NBC’s Tim Russert has been rushed in front of the cameras to insist that Goss’s resignation is a result of head-butting from John Negroponte, the Director of National Intelligence. In other words, “Move along, folks, move along. Nothing to see here.”

New Wiki to Track Bushco’s High Crimes and Misdemeanors

Buck Banks

Wiki of wickedness: Gentle Reader, though I loathe the idea of sending you away from Pensito Review, scampering off to some far corner of the Internet, I feel it is my bounden duty to alert you to a new site on the World Wide Web. People for the American Way — you know, those folks who have a petition for every occasion — have created a wiki — you know, those on-line collaborative things — to track our Fearsome Leader’s every legal, constitutional or moral misstep. You can find it here.

But please come back when you’re done wiki-ing.

Watergate Hotel Supboenaed in GOP Hooker Scandal

Jon Ponder

Watergate-gate: If you are like our co-editor Trish, you’re probably tired of the three decades old practice of attaching the suffix “-gate” to every new political scandal. Well, kids, I’m sorry to tell you, it’s baaack:

[The Watergate Hotel] has received multiple subpoenas in connection with the Wilkes Hookergate scandal. He went on to say that the hotel is complying with those subpoenas but that he couldn’t discuss the content of the orders, nor could he discuss details of the investigation, “out of respect for our guests’ privacy…”

The Wall Street Journal had originally reported that investigators “had requested, and been given, records relating to the investigation and rooms in the hotel,” but not that they had used subpoenas.