Month: May 2006

Common Cause Wants Justice Department to Investigate Katherine Harris

Trish

This shouldn’t take long.

Common Cause, pain-in-the-GOP-ass extraordinaire group that Jeb once referred to as a bunch of “secret squirrels” is at it again. This time, they’re going after beleaguered Senate candidate U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.), asking the Justice Department to do its job and investigate the skanky ho bag.

“Bribery takes two…We know Mitchell Wade has been guilty of bribery. The question is, ‘Is Katherine Harris guilty?’

Common Cause wants to know whether Harris broke the law when she and Mitchell Wade met at an exclusive Georgetown restaurant in early 2005. At that dinner — which cost Wade up to $2,800 — Wade offered to hold a fundraiser for Harris and sought her help obtaining $10 million in federal money…

“Bribery takes two,” said [Common Cause Director of Ethics Campaign’s Mike] Surrusco. “We know Mitchell Wade has been guilty of bribery. The question is, ‘Is Katherine Harris guilty?’ “

It’s a violation of Congressional ethics codes to accept anything worth more than $50. Harris didn’t do too well recently explaining this whole $2,800 dinner deal to reporters. One can only imagine how she’ll hold up under Justice Department questioning.

In her interview Wednesday, Harris acknowledged for the first time that Wade had paid for the dinner at Citronelle, reversing a statement from her congressional spokeswoman earlier this year.

But in the interview, Harris also said her campaign had, at some point, “reimbursed” the restaurant.

When asked how she could have reimbursed a business that was owed no money — Wade paid the bill that evening — she abruptly ended the interview and walked off. […]

Happy ‘Mission Accomplished’ Day!

Jon Ponder

Was it only three years ago?

Update by Trish: Sometimes the words “outrage” and “indignation” seem so inadequate. Read what the lying liar said for yourself.

ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CNN) — The following is an unedited transcript of President Bush’s historic speech from the flight deck of the USS Lincoln, during which he declared an end to major combat in Iraq:

And tonight, I have a special word for Secretary Rumsfeld…America is grateful for a job well done…The war on terror is not over, yet it is not endless…we have seen the turning of the tide.

Thank you. Thank you all very much.

Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.

And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country. […]

On Iran: Double or Nothing Is Not a Foreign Policy

Jon Ponder

Josh Marshall:

With respect to what’s coming on Iran, what is in order is a little honesty… The only crisis with Iran is the crisis with the president’s public approval ratings. Period. End of story. The Iranians are years, probably as long as a decade away, and possibly even longer from creating even a limited yield nuclear weapon. Ergo, the only reason to ramp up a confrontation now is to help the president’s poll numbers.

The period of peril the country is entering into isn’t tied to an Iranian bomb. It turns on how far a desperate president will go to avoid losing control of Congress.

This is a powerful message because it is an accurate message. We have many challenges overseas today. Chief among them, as one of [Democratic candidate for Senate in Virginia, and former Republican, James Webb] puts it, is “refocusing America’s foreign and defense policies in a way that truly protects our national interests and seeks harmony where they are not threatened.” The period of peril the country is entering into isn’t tied to an Iranian bomb. It turns on how far a desperate president will go to avoid losing control of Congress.

Go to his heart. Go to his weaknesses. Though the realization of the fact is something of a lagging indicator, the man is a laughing stock, whose lies and failures are all catching up with him.

To the president the Democrats should be saying, Double or Nothing is Not a Foreign Policy.

The great bulk of the public doesn’t believe this president any more when he tries to gin up a phony crisis. They don’t believe he’d have much of an idea of how to deal with a real one. Enough of the lies. Enough of the incompetence and failure.

No buying into another of the president’s phony crises.