“LisaNova” Damns Bush with Praise
Good stuff.
Author: Trish
Nixon on Fred Thompson: “He’s Dumb as Hell”
Pres. Nixon didn’t want Fred Thompson as minority counsel during the Watergate hearings because he doubted the mental capacity of the future actor and lobbyist.
Nixon to Haldeman: “Oh shit, that kid!” Haldeman: “Well, we’re stuck with him.”
Thompson, then 30, was appointed counsel by his political mentor, Tennessee Sen. Howard Baker, the top Republican on the Senate committee. Thompson had been an assistant U.S. attorney in Nashville and had managed Baker’s re-election campaign…
Nixon was disappointed with the selection of Thompson, whom he called “dumb as hell.” Nixon did not think Thompson was skilled enough to interrogate unfriendly witnesses and would be outsmarted by the committee’s Democratic counsel.
This assessment comes from audiotapes of White House conversations recently reviewed by the Associated Press at the National Archives in College Park, Md., and transcripts of those discussions published in Abuse of Power: The New Watergate Tapes, by Stanley Kutler.
“Oh, s—, that kid,” Nixon said when told by his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, of Thompson’s appointment on Feb. 22, 1973.
“Well, we’re stuck with him,” Haldeman said.
The two were concerned that Thompson would be outgunned by much brighter lawyer John Dean, who was ready to desert their sinking ship. Appealing to Thompson’s strong partisan side helped him focus and prepare for the questioning.
Dean, the panel’s star witness, had agreed to tell what he knew if he was granted immunity.
Nixon expressed concern that Thompson was not “very smart.”
“Not extremely so,” [Nixon lawyer J. Fred] Buzhardt agreed.
“But he’s friendly,” Nixon said.
“But he’s friendly,” Buzhardt agreed. “We are hoping, though, to work with Thompson and prepare him, if Dean does appear next week, to do a very thorough cross-examination.”
Five days later, Buzhardt reported to Nixon that he had primed Thompson for the cross-examination.
“I found Thompson most cooperative, feeling more Republican every day,” Buzhardt said.
Later in the conversation, Buzhardt said Thompson was “willing to go, you know, pretty much the distance now. And he said he realized his responsibility was going to have to be as a Republican increasingly.”
That seems to be one lesson that got through Thompson’s thick skull and stuck.
Four Years Ago Today Leakin’ Libby Called Judith Miller
The record is set straight yet again, this time by Clarence Page. But for all those folks who continue to leave comments on this site disputing what Libby did, I doubt it will help.
Weeks before Novak reported Plame’s name in his July 14, 2003, column, Libby revealed Plame’s CIA job in meetings with then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller on June 23 and July 8
…Valerie Plame was a covert agent under the relevant 1982 law that makes it a crime to disclose the identity of a covert intelligence officer. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald cleared up that dispute in a memorandum during the sentencing phase of Libby’s trial. “It was clear from very early in the investigation,” he wrote, “that Ms. Wilson qualified under [the 1982 law] as a covert agent whose identity had been disclosed by public officials, including Mr. Libby, to the press.”
…yes, Armitage did leak Plame’s name to columnist Robert Novak, who was the first to report it to the public. But Armitage was not the first or the only leaker. Weeks before Novak reported Plame’s name in his July 14, 2003, column, Libby revealed Plame’s CIA job in meetings with then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller on June 23 and July 8. Novak also received confirmation of Armitage’s tip from Karl Rove, Bush’s senior political adviser. Rove also discussed Plame, without mentioning her name or covert status, with Matt Cooper, then of Time magazine…
Alas, Libby was snagged by a version of the old Watergate rule: It was not the initial “crime” but the cover-up that got him. Fitzgerald could not find enough evidence to meet the law’s high threshold of proof to prosecute the leak of Plame’s identity. Libby’s false statements did not help…
I sympathize with the public’s confusion about this. I blame the drumbeat from Libby’s supporters who don’t let facts get in the way of a lively argument. I thank the researchers at Media Matters for America, the liberal media watchdog site, for their assistance in helping me collect examples. They include:
– William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard on NBC’s “Today” show: “… I would remind Joe Wilson that Scooter Libby did not leak Valerie Plame’s name. Richard Armitage told Robert Novak, we now know …”
– Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in a Republican presidential debate: “I think the sentence was way out of line, … grossly excessive in a situation in which, at the beginning, the prosecutor knew who the leak was, and he knew a crime wasn’t committed.”
– Republican former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee in an ABC radio commentary: “The leaking of Valerie Plame’s name didn’t constitute a crime because she was not a ‘covered person’ under the relative criminal statue.”
And FYI, all you doubting posters. We really did land on the moon. And the Nazis purposefully killed millions of Jews in the 1930s and ’40s.
Are We Still in Iraq So Democrats Can Win?
Independent weekly columnist and author Hal Crowley was no doubt already working on this masterpiece when headlines proclaimed that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) would — incredibly — not yet consider impeachment an option for either Bush or Cheney.
Crowther tries to MOVE US ALREADY from our collective inertia and the delusions we’ve accepted about what we have to lose by leaving Iraq (nothing) and by impeaching Bush/Cheney (nothing).
He also asks a damn good question.
The Bush administration is a cadaver decomposing on America’s doorstep—yet no one will take responsibility for it, no one will give it a decent burial, no one even has the courage to step over it and try to get on with a nation’s decent business.
Democrats are so desperate to win the presidency in 2008 that they refuse to relinquish their two most persuasive, most visible arguments for regime changeThis is the president who cannot be resuscitated and cannot be removed. A lame duck is a thing we’ve dealt with before…A dead duck in the White House is a constitutional crisis no scholar ever anticipated and no think tank ever analyzed.
The president’s Memorial Day speech at Arlington was a crowning outrage, one that pushed many a patient, hopeful citizen over the edge into incoherent despair… “Now this hallowed ground receives a new generation of heroes,” he declaimed. “I hope you find comfort in knowing that your loved ones rest in a place even more peaceful than the fields that surround us here.”
…Hypocrisy of such concentrated toxicity seems almost superhuman. “Shame!” the dead cry, but in America, shame died years ago and lies buried in an unmarked grave, perhaps at Arlington…
As Baghdad disintegrated, body bags proliferated and his henchpersons’ interlocking scandals reverberated—as his approval rating scraped bottom near an historic 25 percent, meaning he’s squandered the trust of at least half the people who voted for him in 2004—President Bush faced no future but no certain reckoning. Can no one rid us of this albatross?
…Across the country, from Hawaii to Maine, 70-odd city councils and 14 state Democratic parties have voted to impeach both Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney…But in Congress no one seems to have the stomach for the job.
Celebrate Bush’s Birthday in Your Own Special Way
We at Pensito Review would be remiss if we let the whole day go by without wishing the Current Occupant, our very own Preznit Bush, a happy birthday!
The asshole of the world turns 61 today, while more than 3,500 American service members and likely hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians will never have another birthday again.
We’d get him a gift, but we could never top the one bestowed on him by a passing bird during a recent rose garden press conference.
Leave a comment and let us know what gift you’d like to give Dumya today to show him how much you hope he enjoys his special day.
Tune in Live Earth 7/7/07
Take a break from whatever you’re doing tomorrow and check out Live Earth, the international music event to combat global warming.
Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.
Live Earth will reach this worldwide audience through an unprecedented global media architecture covering all media platforms – TV, radio, Internet and wireless channels…
Live Earth was founded by Kevin Wall, the Worldwide Executive Producer of Live 8, an event that brought together one of the largest audiences in history to combat poverty. Wall formed a partnership with Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection to ensure that Live Earth inspires behavioral changes long after 7/7/07.
Live Earth will stage official concerts at Giants Stadium in New York; Wembley Stadium in London; Aussie Stadium in Sydney; Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro; the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg; Makuhari Messe in Tokyo; the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai; and HSH Nordbank Arena in Hamburg.
Live Earth concerts will be broadcast to a live worldwide audience by MSN at www.LiveEarth.MSN.com.
The newest artist to be added to the list of performers is Yusuf, formerly known as Cat Stevens.
Hate Crime Victim Ryan Skipper’s Rep, Tom Feeney: No Need for Hate Crime Bill
Let the party begin! Rep. Tom Feeney rings the bell opening the American Stock Exchange.This just in from Vicki Nantz, an independent film maker planning a documentary on Ryan Skipper, whose March murder in Central Florida is being investigated as a hate crime.
I recently wrote U.S. House Representative, Tom Feeney, Republican of Central Florida, and asked him why he does not support federal hate crime legislation that includes the gay and lesbian community. Why are acts of brutality, physical assaults and murder, which are meant to intimidate and terrorize the LGBT community, not included in our current, or likely-to-be-passed federal hate crime laws – the legislation that President Bush has promised to veto. I received written correspondence yesterday from Feeney that included the following:
…”I do not support specialized punishment for particular mentalities. This idea singles out groups for special treatment…When someone is murdered because the killer does not like the color of their skin, that killer deserves harsh punishment; but the killer deserves it because the victim is a human, not because of the killer’s hateful thoughts…Justice ultimately ought to be based on the fundamental worth of a human being and not the thoughts of the specific criminal…I hope in the near future crime legislation can be voted on that protects all equally and punishes the offender for the crime committed and not the thoughts in his mind.”
And yet Feeney and the other overwhelmingly Republican, antigay hypocrites like him have voted in support of federal legislation that does punish people for the thoughts in their minds. The following is part of the U.S. Code, federal law currently being followed in this country:
TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 113B
CHAPTER 113B—TERRORISM
(1) the term “international terrorism†means activities that—
(A) involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any State;
(B) appear to be intended—
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and…
(5) the term “domestic terrorism†means activities that—
(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;
(B) appear to be intended—
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping…
Clearly, hypocritical Representative Feeney, President Bush and the American religious extremists who decry inclusive hate crime legislation as being “thought crime” legislation reveal much behind their own selective, hate-filled thoughts. It is that same base thinking that led to the murders of Matthew Shephard and Ryan Skipper, and the dozens more LGBT murders and innumerable of acts of brutal violence that most people have never bothered to know about.
Use your voice. Use your votes.
Thanks Vicki. We agree with everything you said and find it particularly upsetting that Ryan’s own representatives, and those of his family and friends, can’t see the need for hate crime legislation.
But Tom Feeney’s words mean nothing. Feeney was among a group of fellow members of Congress investigated by the FBI because they were known by jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff to be for sale.
Feeney, former speaker of the Florida House, is one of three men who were U.S. House members when they accompanied Abramoff to Scotland on trips that included rounds of golf at the legendary Royal & Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews.
The others: former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who is serving prison time for corruption related to his Abramoff relationship, and former House Republican leader Tom DeLay, who was indicted in an unrelated Texas fundraising case and is under investigation in the Abramoff case.
The Anti-Hillary: GOP’s Kay Bailey Hutchison for VP
Sen. Kay Bailey HutchisonNo one is suggesting any variation in the all-male, all-white GOP presidential pool, but a new idea has sprung up to reassure Repubs they have a chance in 2008. It’s simple. Just trot out Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Tex-R) for vice president!
Republicans must win Texas if they have the slightest hope of keeping the White House.
Next, consider current polls. They suggest that New York Sen. Hillary Clinton may well be the Democratic nominee for president…
Presenting a softer side to the GOP ticket might be the remaining chance the party has to harvest a significant number of women voters, particularly against Clinton.
Hutchison’s “softer side” includes support for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge after receiving more contributions from big oil and gas than anyone in Congress, overturning a ban on handguns in the nation’s capital, and receiving a rating of zero from the League of Women Voters for her environmental record.
On the other hand, she is a leading critic of immigration reform, and wanted to go Bush one better with her “No Amnesty Amendment.” Although defeated, it would have forced those trying to become citizens to leave the country for at least two years before applying. This last move has red meat Republicans sniffing a winner. All I smell is the same old Texas cow pies.
Bush Turns Americans Against Flying the Flag
There’s a way to see how America feels about itself without opinion polls: Count how many flags fly on the 4th of July.
“When people are feeling better about the country they buy more flags. It was like this during the Nixon years.”
After decades in the flag business, Randolph Smith, president of Chicago-based Advertising Flag Co. Inc., said he has seen interest in the flag ebb and flow, according to the general sentiment people have about the country’s direction.
Immediately following the 9-11 attacks, for example, U.S. flag sales accounted for 25 percent of his business. Today, it’s about 16 to 18 percent and has been declining since 2003, he said.
“When people are feeling better about the country they buy more flags,” Smith said. “It was like this during the Nixon years. It wasn’t our bread and butter then either.”
Kimberly Sklarz, corporate secretary for Bartlett, Ill.-based FlagsUSA, said the run-up to the July 4 holiday, normally a busy time, has been particularly slow this year. The company’s U.S. flag sales were down 49 percent in June over the same period last year.
“It is a very sad time right now. We are just kind of baffled by how things are going and all because of the war,” Sklarz said. “We expected it to make some kind of effect on the company, but it is getting pretty bad.”
A quick check of my own home shows…no flag. On the 4th of July, 2002, one was out there. But too many speeches by Bush and Rumsfeld and Cheney about the United States and Iraq and democracy and terror and liberty and secret prisons and going it alone and the way forward and surges and sacrifice that costs them nothing but costs others everything and support for people who betray America have left me feeling like most former flag-fliers: over it.
Mitt’s Heartfelt Convictions Do Another Flip-Flop; Now He Supports Pardons
If, like most Democrats, you weren’t born with the defective gene that causes the brain to short-circuit and allows the mouth to lie and spew hypocrisy even while the vocal tones and facial expression exhibit assertions of extreme sanctimony, you might not appreciate Mitt Romney’s interpretation of the Bush/Libby commutation.
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney…yesterday called President Bush’s commutation of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison sentence “reasonable.”
Romney often proudly points out that he was the first governor in modern Massachusetts history to deny every request for a pardon or commutation during his four years in office.Defending Bush, Romney, a Republican, said at a campaign stop that “the president looked very carefully at the setting” before deciding to commute the 2 1/2-year sentence given the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney in the CIA leak case…
As governor, Romney twice rejected a pardon for Anthony Circosta, who at 13 was convicted of assault for shooting a boy in the arm with a BB gun — a shot that didn’t break the skin. Circosta worked his way through college, joined the Army National Guard, and led a platoon of 20 soldiers in Iraq’s deadly Sunni triangle.
In 2005, as he was serving in Iraq, he sought a pardon so he could to fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer.
In his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Romney often proudly points out that he was the first governor in modern Massachusetts history to deny every request for a pardon or commutation during his four years in office.
