Day: December 4, 2006

Sen. Brownback May Carry Rightwing Freak Flag in ’08

Jon Ponder

In the 2000 elections, the ultra-rightwing candidate was Gary Bauer, an ideologue with no elected experience whatsoever. In 2004, of course, the wingnut candidate was the president himself.

Looking ahead to the 2008 campaign, with the losses of prospective candidacies by soon-to-be-former senators Bill Frist of Tennessee, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and George Allen of Virginia, the far rightwing position is open.

Probable candidates include Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and one of the wingnuttiest wingnuts left in the Congress, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas. (Imagine Santorum without the killer looks and winning smile.)

Brownback announced today that he is forming an exploratory committee:

[Brownback] announced 20 members of his exploratory advisory committee, an eclectic mix ranging from anti-abortion activists to business executives, including: Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, former Major League Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, and the Rev. Frank Pavone, head of the advocacy group Priests for Life.

My candidate for the GOP nomination remains former Speaker Newt Gingrich. I hope every Democrat and independent will support Gingrich as the Republican nominee.

Rummy’s Parting Shot

Jon Ponder
What remains unclear is whether Rummy was fired because Bush considered the memo to be insubordination, or whether he was let go to appease voters and shift the spotlight off the Democrats’ victory in the midterms.

Someone leaked a memo to the New York Times last week that was written by outgoing Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld just two days before Pres. Bush forced him to resign. In the memo, we learn that Rummy may not have been as stupid about the Iraq Civil War as he appeared to be, or as stubborn as his betters in the West Wing continue to be:

“In my view it is time for a major adjustment,” wrote Mr. Rumsfeld, who has been a symbol of a dogged stay-the-course policy. “Clearly, what U.S. forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough.”

Nor did Mr. Rumsfeld seem confident that the administration would readily develop an effective alternative. To limit the political fallout from shifting course, he suggested the administration consider a campaign to lower public expectations.

“Announce that whatever new approach the U.S. decides on, the U.S. is doing so on a trial basis,” he wrote. “This will give us the ability to readjust and move to another course, if necessary, and therefore not ‘lose.’ ”

“Recast the U.S. military mission and the U.S. goals (how we talk about them) — go minimalist,” he added. The memo suggests frustration with the pace of turning over responsibility to the Iraqi authorities; in fact, the memo calls for examination of ideas that roughly parallel troop withdrawal proposals presented by some of the White House’s sharpest Democratic critics.

We may have to wait for Rumsfeld’s book (and you know there will be one) to find out whether he was fired over the contents of the memo, which Pres. Bush probably viewed as insubordination, or whether, as most people assumed before the memo was leaked, he was thrown overboard to appease voters and to take the spotlight off the Democrats the day after they won control of Congress.

Bolton-Free U.N.; Sanity-Free White House

Trish

That John Bolton and George Bush have accepted the inevitable and are finally relinquishing the U.N. ambassadorship is great news.

“This is a clear example of the breakdown in the Senate confirmation process,” Perino said. Huh?

Facing opposition from key senators, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton will leave office in a matter of days, the White House announced on Monday.

But how bizarrely they view things was evident in the comments of White House spokesperson Dana Perino.

“This is a clear example of the breakdown in the Senate confirmation process,” Perino said.

Huh?

Bolton being in the U.N. to begin with is a clear example of the breakdown and frickin’ subversion of the confirmation process — by Bush. Or has the White House already forgotten how they snuck Bolton in through the back door while everyone was leaving through the front?

Bush had bypassed the Senate in August 2005 by appointing Bolton to the position when the lawmakers were in recess, avoiding the confirmation process and angering senators concerned that Bolton had a temper and intimidated intelligence analysts to support his hawkish views while at the State Department.

At last, and thanks to the Democrats coming back (yah-hoo!), this smarmy move is being cancelled out. Take a few notes, and don’t try this underhanded crap again, you weasels.

On This Date – December 4

Jon Ponder
  • 2000 – A Florida state judge refused to overturn Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush‘s certified victory in Florida, and the U.S. Supreme Court set aside a ruling that had allowed manual recounts. [NYT]
  • 1991 – Hostage Terry Anderson was freed in Lebanon on December 4, 1991. [History Channel]
  • 1978 – Future California Sen. Dianne Feinstein became San Francisco’s first woman mayor when she was named to replace George Moscone, who had been assassinated. [NYT]
  • 1875 – On December 4, 1875, William Marcy “Boss” Tweed, notorious leader of New York City’s Democratic political machine, escaped from prison and fled to Europe. Between 1865 and 1871, Boss Tweed and his cronies stole millions of dollars from the city treasury. Convicted of forgery and larceny in 1873, Tweed was released in 1875. Immediately rearrested on civil charges, he was allowed daily visits to his family in the company of his jailor. On one of these trips, Tweed made his escape. Elected an alderman in 1851, the former bookkeeper and volunteer fireman worked his way up New York City’s Democratic hierarchy by holding various elected and unelected positions in the municipal government. He served one congressional term, but operated most effectively at the state level. By 1868, the year he gained a seat in the New York senate, Tweed firmly controlled the state Democratic Party. Two years later, he maneuvered passage of a revised city charter. A newly instituted board of audit became the principle means by which the Boss and his friends siphoned the city treasury of between twenty million and two-hundred million dollars. [Library of Congress]
  • 1860 – Outgoing President James Buchanan sends a distressed State of the Union message to Congress. In it he states that secession is unconstitutional, says the federal government lacks the authority to prevent it and calls for a constitutional amendment allowing Southern states to retain slaves as property. [Civil War Timeline]