Tag: Conservative Values

Texas GOP Senator: Perjury Now a ‘Technicality’

Jon Ponder

Fine. Can We Rescind the Clinton Impeachment Now?

Corrupted beyond redemption: On Meet the Press yesterday, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison floated one of the GOP’s talking points intended to mitigate indictments that may be forthcoming against White House officials:

This is from a woman who 1) is a client of Karl Rove’s and 2) voted for the impeachment of President Clinton on the “technicality” that he perjured himself about a blow job.

[Hutchison] compared the leak investigation with the case of Martha Stewart and her stock sale, “where they couldn’t find a crime and they indict on something that she said about something that wasn’t a crime.”

Funny, we don’t remember any outrage over Martha’s prison sentence from Republicans like Sen. Hutchison.

Ms. Hutchison said she hoped “that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn’t indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars.”

Of all the gall! This is from a woman who 1) is a client of Karl Rove’s and 2) voted for the impeachment of President Clinton on the “technicality” that he perjured himself about a blow job.

Rightwing Meltdown Continues: ‘American Conservative’ Mag Blisters Bush Admin, Contractors on Iraq Corruption

Jon Ponder

Rats overboard: There seems to be new evidence every day that the American Right has awakened to the fraud of the Bush Presidency. Now comes a scathing indictment of Bush’s management of post-war Iraq in American Conservative magazine, which was founded by the gentlemanly wingnut, Pat Buchanan. The author of the article, Philip Giraldi, details how the Administration, and especially the civilian Pentagon leadership and their contractors, squandered or stole billions of dollars from the Iraqi and United States treasuries:

An estimated 363 tons of $100 bills were shipped to Iraq in C-130 cargo planes.

When the final page is written on America’s catastrophic imperial venture, one word will dominate the explanation of U.S. failure—corruption. Large-scale and pervasive corruption meant that available resources could not be used to stabilize and secure Iraq in the early days of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), when it was still possible to do so. Continuing corruption meant that the reconstruction of infrastructure never got underway, giving the Iraqi people little incentive to co-operate with the occupation. Ongoing corruption in arms procurement and defense spending means that Baghdad will never control a viable army while the Shi’ite and Kurdish militias will grow stronger and produce a divided Iraq in which constitutional guarantees will be irrelevant.

How corrupt was it?

The American-dominated Coalition Provisional Authority could well prove to be the most corrupt administration in history, almost certainly surpassing the widespread fraud of the much-maligned UN Oil for Food Program. At least $20 billion that belonged to the Iraqi people has been wasted, together with hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars. Exactly how many billions of additional dollars were squandered, stolen, given away, or simply lost will never be known because the deliberate decision by the CPA not to meter oil exports means that no one will ever know how much revenue was generated during 2003 and 2004.

The level of corruption is so monumental that it literally involves tons of cash. Millions in currency “was flown into Iraq on C-130s in huge plastic shrink-wrapped pallets holding 40 ‘cashpaks,’ each cashpak having $1.6 million in $100 bills.” An estimated 363 tons of $100 bills were shipped to Iraq in C-130’s.

Here are hightlights of the Amcon article’s bill of indictments:

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Bill Kristol: A Propagandist Who Puts Ideology Ahead of Patriotism

Jon Ponder

Snarky smirker : William Kristol, currently the editor of the rightwing’s Pravda-esque Weekly Standard – and formerly Vice President Dan Quayle’s brain – is the winner of this week’s “GOP Hypocrite of the Week,” from Buzzflash:

But Kristol just uses a ten-dollar vocabulary to mouth the same basic Republican message points and platitudes that slip off of Bill O’Reilly’s prostituted tongue. So now Kristol, FOX News, and the entire right wing echo chamber are claiming that investigating treason, perjury and the obstruction of justice is a trivial waste of time.

Kristol’s Karl Rove/Frank Luntz focus-group tested charge is that Patrick Fitzgerald is part of an effort to “criminalize politics.”

Forget that Fitzgerald is a Bush appointed U.S. Attorney who was assigned by Bush’s justice department to investigate TreasonGate. Forget that it was the Republicans who unrelentingly abused the judicial and Congressional process to try and impeach a Democratic President over an act of fellatio. Forget that it was Kristol and his cohorts who told America that their only concern was the consistent application of the rule of law when it came to Clinton.

Actually, don’t forget it. Remember it well.

Perp Walk, Mug Shots, Fingerprints: Nothing but the Best for Tom DeLay

Trish

Mom taught me not to be gleeful at other people’s misfortunes, but surely she didn’t mean Tom DeLay. A warrant has been issued for the accused felon, and arresting him will involve fingerprints and mug shots.

Bwwahhhhaha!

Houston Chronicle:

DeLay was expected to appear at the sheriff’s office in Fort Bend County today for booking on state conspiracy and money laundering charges.

“Tom DeLay, turn to the right.” Oh yeah, you already did.

Fort Bend County Chief Deputy Craig Brady said arrangements were being made to bring DeLay to the sheriff’s office in his home county sometime Thursday for booking and fingerprinting.

The process was expected to take between 45 minutes and an hour.

“Tom DeLay, turn to the right.” Oh yeah, you already did.

Tom’s team has employed the time-tested “I know you are but what am I?” defense on Prosecutor Ronnie Earle with no success.

“It’s retaliation, plain and simple,” [DeLay attorney Dick] DeGuerin said. “He’s retaliating because we haven’t given him any quarter.”

Now they’re crying they’re being persecuted. I guess when you hang out with people like Indian-tribe-stealing-contract-killer-using Jack Abramoff and play by the kind of rules DeLay uses, you naturally assume everyone else does. And you expect to have a more dignified arrest than the average American. Guess again.

When DeLay was first indicted Sept. 28, DeGuerin said he wanted to avoid having Earle put the congressman through a publicly humiliating “perp walk” like those federal defendants often face.

“What I’m trying to avoid is having Ronnie Earle having him taken down in handcuffs and fingerprinted and photographed,” he said. “That’s uncalled-for, and I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

That is when Lynch issued the summons at Earle’s request.

“We’re treating him just like any other felonious scumbag fraud,” Earle said.

O.K., he didn’t really say that but he should have. Can’t wait to see those pix!

Heavy Is the Crown: Bill O’Reilly Laments His Fame

Jon Ponder

“I don’t need to do the show anymore [and] I’m as famous as I need to be. I don’t like being famous. … I can’t take my family and stay in a hotel, so what good is it?

“You have to worry about who’s looking at you – are they taking your picture? Did you curse at this guy? If you nudge somebody’s bumper, are they going to sue you for $80million?

“I never felt sorry for people like Lindsay Lohan in my life. I thought they were dopey little movie stars. Now I feel sorry for those people. That poor little girl is 19 and can’t leave the house without some idiot doing something.”

— Bill O’Reilly

Fun With Polls — Vote Like a Wingnut, or Not!

Buck Banks

P-U poll: Our favorite jughead wingnut, Richard Viguerie, has rolled out a poll on his ConservativeHQ.com Web site and is exhorting true conservatives to let their opinions be known. At least within the skewed confines of his heavily weighted survey, that is.

The questions clearly convey the fact that Ricky feels betrayed from his pinstripes to his wingtips.

For a lark, go here and take the survey. Be sure to be free with those A+ grades when it comes to the Prez and Congress — remember, you’re there to skew Ricky’s poll results, not tell the truth. Peace out!

Terror Alert in Baltimore – Are Indictments Imminent?

Jon Ponder

Playing the terror card? Two tunnels under Balitmore Harbor have been closed due to “recent” and “credible” threats, according to newsreaders on both CNN and MSNBC.

Most of us – 61 percent – no longer believe the President and his staff are credible.

Here we go again.

If the threats were made “recently,” why are the tunnels just now being shut down?

When a threat and the reaction to it are asynchronous like this, it’s a marker for hidden government mischief. We’ve all seen many instances when, on bad news days for Team Bush, the government suddenly reacts to a threat that had been languishing for days and weeks.

These alerts benefit the Bush message-meisters two ways: They refocus the wall-to-wall coverage on cable news from Bush’s bad day onto terror, which is the President’s (only remaining) strong suit. And the alerts put red meat on the table for the Rightwing Echo Machine. These days, Rush, Hannity et al find themselves too often in the uncomfortable position of defending the indefensible about the Bush Administration. They’re happier when they can remind their Dittohead and Unsmart-American listeners to be fearful and to trust Dear Leader to protect them.

The serious side to this is that the rest of us – the other 61 percent – no longer believe the President and members of his staff – especially Scott McClellan – are credible sources of information. It turns out there are limits to the amount of spin the citizenry can swallow.

Read Keith Olbermann’s list of 13 coincidental terror alerts here.

Rightwing Thinktank Says WH Did Not Force Firing of Senior Staffer Who Criticized Bush as Reaganite ‘Impostor’

Jon Ponder

Next stop – re-education camp: Bruce Bartlett’s conservative bona fides would appear to be in good order. He was an early proponent of the failed “supply side” economics scheme, who worked in the White House for Reagan and at Treasury for Bush I. He has been a reliable pundit/propagandist on rightwing economic policies for 20 years.

Like many economic conservatives who are principaled, albeit misguided, in their beliefs, Bartlett has grown increasingly disenchanted with the flagrant fiscal irresponsibility of the current President Bush. Now, after writing a book critical of Dear Leader, he has joined the swelling ranks of those who have experienced the sting of retribution meted out by rightwingers to those in their own ranks who dare to suggest that Mr. Bush is anything but brilliant and infallible.

Bartlett recently lost his day job as a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a rightwing thinktank in Dallas, after he showed his bosses the manuscript for his new book, “The Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy.”

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Rightwing Talker Advocates Saving Wealthy First in Natural Disasters

Jon Ponder

“OK, I’ve got an insensitive thought, folks. There’s a news story out there — there’s a news story out there that rich people got some sort of an email notification of the terrorist threat against the New York subway before poor people did. OK? They’re making a big deal out of it…

“OK, let’s get logical about this, folks. Let’s play logic with this. This is as it should be. OK? If we are faced with disaster in this country — let me ask you this, OK? You just be logical. Get all of the emotion out of this. Get all of the emotion out of this.

“But if we are faced with a disaster in this country, which group do we want to save? The rich or the poor? Now, if you have time, save as many people as you can. But if you have to set some priorities, where do you go? The rich or the poor? OK?

“Who is a drag on society? The rich or the poor? Who provide the jobs out there? The rich or the poor? Who fuels — you know, which group fuels our economy? Drives industry? The rich or the poor…?

“I’m serious about that, folks. You see, that’s the kind of thing that’s going to end up in news stories: “Neal Boortz said that in times of disaster we should save the rich people first.” Well, hell, yes, we should save the rich people first. You know, they’re the ones that are responsible for this prosperity. I mean, you go out there and you look at this vast sea of evacuees, OK? You want to get an economy going in some city? Well, who you gonna take back? The people who own businesses? Or the people that sit around waiting to get their minimum wage job, work ’til Friday, get a paycheck and then not show up again until the following Wednesday?

“Come on. Just put a little logical thought into this, folks.”

— Neil Boortz, on the October 13 broadcast of Cox Radio Syndication’s The Neal Boortz Show

Jeb Packs Appeals Courts with Creationists, Flat-Earthers, and Homophobes

Trish

Jeb’s appeals court choices have been so far to the right that they’d have to befriend Michael Moore and start listening to Air America just to be called conservative. The Miami Herald printed a partial list of the judges Jeb has appointed, which we’ll be stuck with long after his sneering countenance is a bad memory:

• Charles Canady to the Second District Court of Appeal in Lakeland. Canady, a former congressman from Lakeland, was one of the floor managers in the House effort to impeach President Clinton.

• Paul Hawkes and Brad Thomas to the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee, the court most likely to hear any challenges to laws passed by the Legislature. Hawkes is a former state legislator and top aide to House Speaker Tom Feeney with well-known conservative views. Thomas, a former prosecutor and top aide to Bush, helped devise the governor’s plan to hand over some Death Row inmate appeals to private lawyers, a move that has since been roundly criticized for shoddy work by state Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero, himself a Bush appointee.

• Leslie Rothenberg to the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami. During her unsuccessful run for state attorney in 2004, Rothenberg signed a pledge from the Miami-Dade Family Christian Coalition that she would oppose gay marriage and domestic partnerships with “my votes, powers and privileges of public office.”

• Frank Shepherd to the Third District Court of Appeal. Before he was placed on the bench, Shepherd was Florida senior attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation, a fierce advocate of private property rights that often challenges environmental regulations.