Month: May 2006

First Lady and VP Oppose President on Anti-Gay Amendment

Jon Ponder

According to the Unification Church owned rightwing magazine Insight, there is dissension in the Republican upper ranks over the upcoming debate over a proposed anti-gay amendment to the Constitution:

The issue of gay marriage is causing divisions within the Republican Party, including the highest reaches of the White House.

Unlike her husband, whose approval ratings are languishing in the low 30s, Laura Bush’s polling was as high as 82 in January.

The split has been so pronounced that President Bush faces strong opposition within his own administration to a constitutional amendment that would outlaw gay marriage. The split has pitted Mr. Bush against his own wife, first lady Laura Bush.

Mrs. Bush has warned that promoting the amendment could backfire against the GOP in congressional races in November. She has suggested that
a constitutional amendment would hamper any constructive debate over gay marriage.

“Well, I don’t think it should be used as a campaign tool, obviously,” Mrs. Bush said. “But I do think it’s something that people in the United States want to debate. And it requires a lot of sensitivity to talk about the issue, a lot of sensitivity.”

The president even finds himself on the opposite side of the issue from his vice president:

Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter is a lesbian, also opposes the bill. Administration sources said Mr. Cheney has argued against introducing a constitutional amendment in 2006.

So who supports the amendment in the president’s inner circle?

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove have been forceful proponents of the legislation.

Both Mr. Frist and Mr. Rove have assessed that the legislation will help mobilize the Christian Right to support GOP candidates for Congress. Recent polls show a sharp drop in support for the administration among conservatives.

“I basically say, Mr. Vice President, right now marriage is under attack in this country,” Mr. Frist said. “And we’ve seen activist judges overturning state by state law, where state legislatures have passed laws defining marriage between a man and a woman, and that’s being overturned by a handful of activist judges around the country. And that is why we need an amendment to come to the floor of the United States Senate to define marriage as that union between one man and one woman.”

Bushco Tries to Neutralize Wingnut Viguerie

Buck Banks

Cranky since the ’80s: Yesterday, Jon shared a the sad tale of an arch-conservative rending his robes over the betrayal of neo-conservative Bushco. “Reagan-era dinosaur” Richard Viguerie, as Jon accurately labeled him, spewed his vitriolic attack on the administration in the pages of the Washington Post and participated in an on-line forum held by that newspaper.

Today, Viguerie was even hotter under the collar after the administration followed “standard operating procedure for this White House,” as Viguerie wrote, and circulated an e-mail showing him to be a crank from the Reagan era:

‘[Bush] talked like a conservative to win our votes but never governed like a conservative.’
— Richard Viguerie

[Viguerie wrote in his e-mail] Peter Wehner, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Strategic Initiatives, sent the following e-mail message to an unknown number of persons:

Original Message—–
From: Wehner, Peter H. [mailto:Peter_H._Wehner@who.eop.gov]
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 11:54 AM
Subject: Richard Viguerie: Now & Then

Now

“Sixty-five months into Bush’s presidency, conservatives feel betrayed… The main cause of conservatives’ anger with Bush is this: He talked like a conservative to win our votes but never governed like a conservative.” — Richard Viguerie, “Bush’s Base Betrayal,” The Washington Post, Sunday, May 21, 2006

Then

“[Richard Viguerie], who also is a leading fund-raiser for conservative candidates, indicated he would not support Reagan in 1984, adding: ‘I’m very disillusioned with a president that walks away from the Soviet Union.’” — “Conservative Leader Blasts Reagan on Plane Reaction,” Associated Press, September 8, 1983

“‘Just like Jimmy Carter gave conservatives the back of the hand, we see the same thing happening in the Reagan administration,’” said Richard Viguerie, the direct-mail wizard who is the leading fund-raiser for conservative candidates and causes. ‘Almost every conservative I have talked to in the last two months has been disappointed in the initial appointments to the Reagan cabinet,’ Viguerie said.”– “Conservatives Angry with Reagan,” Associated Press, January 27, 1981

“‘The White House slapped us in the face,’ says Richard A. Viguerie, the conservative direct-mail expert. ‘The White House is saying you don’t have a constituency we’re concerned about. We don’t care about you.’” — “For Reagan and the New Right, the Honeymoon Is Over,” Washington Post, July 21, 1981

[…]

So Long Jeb, We Hardly Liked Ye

Buck Banks

Little bubba blues: With the ghost of Terri Schiavo haunting his political career and a demonstrated inability to get any of his pet legislation passed in Tallahassee this session, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush strikes us as among the lamest of lame ducks. Besides that people just don’t like him, and a fair number people don’t recognize the president’s little brother’s name, according to today’s National Journal PollTrack.

In a FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll only about a quarter of respondents said President George W. Bush’s younger brother would be a “strong candidate” if he ran for president in 2008; 62 percent said he would not. Only 36 percent of Republicans said he would be strong, compared with 21 percent of independents and 18 percent of Democrats. When asked the general question if Jeb would make a good president just 22 percent answered affirmatively.

Only 28 percent of those polled said they had a favorable view of Jeb. Forty-five percent said they had an unfavorable view, and 21 percent weren’t sure.

Jeb apparently lacks name recognition as well: 6 percent said they had never heard of him, one of the highest percentages among the nine prominent politicians polled. (Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) tied Jeb Bush, and only Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) was higher with 7 percent.)

Jeb also came up short when pollsters pitted him against potential presidential candidates in 2008. He garnered just 35 percent in a hypothetical matchup with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., who got 51 percent. Former Vice President Al Gore had 50 percent to Jeb’s 33 percent.

Meanwhile, Jeb’s big brother fared a little worse than last month in a new American Research Group poll. George Bush’s job-approval rating came in at 32 percent, down 2 points since the group’s April poll.

God Sez: Charlie Crist Next Florida Governor

Trish

Dear Lord: First, thank you for all your blessings upon me and my family and friends. But can I ask you something? Why are you always giving the inside scoop to rightwing ministers like Pat Robertson and the Rev. O’Neal Dozier? You told Pat about hurricanes and now you’re tipping Jeb crony Rev. Dozier about Charlie Crist.

Lord, you know I live in Florida. I’d appreciate a little direct communication from time to time too. That’s all I’m saying. Southwest Florida Herald Tribune:

“The Lord Jesus spoke to me and he said ‘There’s something I want you to know. Charlie Crist will be the next governor of the state of Florida.'”

A reverend who introduced Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist during a breakfast with other pastors Monday said the Lord came to him in a dream two years ago and told him Crist would be the state’s next governor.

The Rev. O’Neal Dozier said that before the dream he did not know Crist, nor had Crist made known his plans to run for governor.

“The Lord Jesus spoke to me and he said ‘There’s something I want you to know,'” said Dozier, pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach. “‘Charlie Crist will be the next governor of the state of Florida.'”…

“It’s the most amazing thing anyone’s every told me,” Crist said. “It’s beyond overwhelming, but the reverend has a very strong faith in his heart and he’s a good man. I’m very grateful for his help and his support and his belief.”

Gov. Jeb Bush, who appointed Dozier to a group that nominates judges in South Florida, didn’t directly respond to the remark, but praised Dozier.

“Far be it from me to judge about people’s faiths and what occurs because of it,” Bush said.

As you know, God, none of this has prevented some of your people from speculating that Crist will be undone once he’s exposed as a homosexual who, according to people like Rev. Dozier, you have condemned to hell. It also hasn’t stopped rightwingers who think Crist is too liberal from putting up cheesy anonymous web sites ridiculing him, like SorryCharlie.com

Unprecedented Raid on Congressional Offices More Evidence of an Executive Branch Out of Control

Buck Banks

What separation of powers: In yet another example of George Bush’s disdain for the law, the FBI Saturday night raided the Rayburn House Office Building office of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La. The raid — the first of its kind in 219 years — has drawn criticism of the the Justice Department from past and present lawmakers and legal experts.

As reported in CongressDaily, even former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., is mighty pissed about it, as evidenced by the harsh language of an e-mail Gingrich sent to members and aides:

“There is no excuse for the FBI for the first time in history searching a congressional office and apparently doing so in total [dis]regard of due process as it relates to the legislative branch.” Gingrich was particularly critical of what he described as the executive branch trampling constitutional lines of authority.

‘There is no excuse for the FBI for the first time in history searching a congressional office.’
— Newt Gingrich

“The president should respond accordingly and should discipline (probably fire) whoever exhibited this extraordinary violation,” he wrote. “The protection of the legislative branch from the executive branch’s policing powers is a fundamental principle which goes all the way back to the English Civil War,” he added, describing the incident as “the most blatant violation of the constitutional separation of powers in my lifetime.”

Neither Jefferson’s attorney, Robert Trout, nor the general counsel of the House were allowed to monitor the surprise search, according to the Associated Press. “The government’s actions in obtaining a search warrant to search the offices of a United States congressman were outrageous,” Trout said in a statement, according to AP. “There were no exigent circumstances necessitating this action.”

Jefferson told ABC News that the FBI investigation will not cause him to resign his seat.

The raid bypassed usual channels employed in the investigation of members of congress, according to Charles Tiefer, a law professor at the University of Baltimore who served as solicitor and deputy general counsel of the House for 11 years.

CongressDaily quotes Tiefer as saying the incident “raises some serious separation of powers questions when extraordinarily harsh and extreme tactics are used on the legislative branch.”

During his tenure, Tiefer said the FBI conducted “many successful investigations” of members of Congress without having to resort to raids. “The FBI could have assured the safeguard of these materials just as well by involving the House Sergeant at Arms in the subpoena process,” he said.

Tiefer said the raid could set a chilling precedent. “Congress is frequently at odds with the FBI and the Department of Justice and other investigative or security agents working with them,” he said. “It must intimidate critical overseers to know that the FBI feels they have the power to seize their file cabinets without even serving a subpoena beforehand.”

Jefferson has not been charged with any crime and maintains his innocence, although he has publicly acknowledged that he could be indicted. The 83-page affidavit used to justify the raid states the FBI has videotape of Jefferson accepting a $100,000 cash bribe from an FBI informant. The cash was later found in his refrigerator during a search of his Washington home last August.

Tiefer told CongressDaily the incident is reminiscent of the 1980 Abscam scandal when FBI agents posed as Middle Eastern businessmen to bribe members of Congress in the first major public corruption sting operation that also resulted in accusations of entrapment against the FBI.

“Tactics that seem justified in the individual instance don’t seem justified in the long term,” said Tiefer, who served as assistant Senate legal counsel during Abscam. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had not released any statement on the raid at presstime.

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

The age-old barbarism, which for centuries lay bound and hidden under the severe discipline of a high culture, is again awakening that warlike healthy joy in one’s own strength, which despises the age of rationalistic thought and literature, that unbroken instinct of a strong race which wishes to live otherwise than under the pressure of books and bookish ideas.

— Oswald Spengler (1880-1936), German philosopher

More Than You’d Ever Want to Know About Tony Snow

Buck Banks

The nerd I never knew: Since fellow editor Jon decided to “out” me as a former Davidson College classmate of White House Press SecretaryTony Snow, I figured I’d share a profile published recently in an alumni newsletter.

In the interest of full disclosure, I will note that I have no recollection of Tony Snow, who was two years ahead of me, and as far as I know, never met him. Of course, as you’ll see from his curriculum vita, it’s plain that while I was off playing with cool kids like Jon, Snow was diligently copying over his notes from philosophy class and polishing his rhetoric to debate his philo prof.

Robert A. “Tony” Snow ‘ 77, named on Wednesday, April 26, as White House Press Secretary by President George W. Bush, was an outstanding Davidson student who has remained engaged with the college throughout his professional career.

“He really was a remarkable student,” recalled Professor Lance Stell, who taught Snow in a seminar on political philosophy. “As a matter of fact, he’s the only student who has ever challenged me to a debate.

And it wasn’t just a fly-by-night idea. He followed up on it, secured a venue, and we had it. He assigned me to argue against the viability of libertarianism, and he argued for it. He was passionately interested in political philosophy, and believed deeply that people’s political beliefs had real meaning in the world.”

Snow, a Cincinnati native, majored in philosophy at Davidson, and was a great admirer of the substance and style of the late Professor Emeritus of Philosophy George Abernethy. In 1997 Snow wrote a syndicated Media General national column about his time as a pupil in Abernethy’s class,

“Once you got in George’s thrall, you stayed,” Snow wrote. “He enticed students with lectures of rare pith and energy. I did something for him I’ve never done before or since. I raced back to my room and reworked my notes to preserve as much as possible.”

[…]

NYT Covers California Governor Race

Jon Ponder

Every so often, the New York Times parachutes in to give its readers an update on goings-on in California politics. The reason the Tri-States’ newspaper of record reports on California politics has less to do with how interesting it is — in fact, without a movie star serially shooting himself in the foot, our politics tend to be rather drab — it’s because California is one of the few places west of Jersey that people educated in the public schools there have heard of. (Which is not to say they could find it on a map.)

Still, if you’re just tuning in to California governor’s race, this article is a good place to start. The Democratic primary is in about three weeks:

[…]