Tom DeLay Says Top Democrats Are Acting Like Traitors [More Bush enemies]– Democratic leaders are acting like traitors by opposing the Iraq war, and President Bush must answer with a toughened stance, former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said Monday. Delay praised the president, but had harsh words for his handlers: “If they let George W. be George W., he’d be just fine.” “It’s not good enough to defeat somebody politically or vilify him publicly,” DeLay said. “They’ve got to carpet-bomb you and drive you out of office, disgraced, bankrupt, your family busted up, headed to jail.” But DeLay quickly added that he’s not complaining or whining.
Comment: DeLay is wrong because he has been complaining and whining non-stop for months. But he is right about “headed for jail.” – JLV
Neo-Conservatives Work Their Way Through the Ten Steps To Close Down Our Open Society – It is very difficult and arduous to create and sustain a democracy – but history shows that closing one down is much simpler. You simply have to be willing to take the 10 steps. As difficult as this is to contemplate, it is clear, if you are willing to look, that each of these 10 steps has already been initiated today in the United States by the Bush administration.
The Political Bad Deeds Led by Karl Rove – The Office of Special Counsel, Scott Bloch, is preparing to jump into one of the most sensitive and potentially explosive issues in Washington, launching a broad investigation into key elements of the White House political operations that for more than six years have been headed by chief strategist Karl Rove. The question of improper political influence over government decision-making is at the heart of the controversy over the firing of U.S. attorneys and the ongoing congressional investigation of the special e-mail system installed in the White House and other government offices by the Republican National Committee. All administrations are political, but this White House has systematically brought electoral concerns to Cabinet agencies in a way unseen previously. For example, Rove and his top aides met each year with presidential appointees throughout the government, using PowerPoint presentations to review polling data and describe high-priority congressional and other campaigns around the country. Some officials have said they understood that they were expected to seek opportunities to help Republicans in these races, through federal grants, policy decisions or in other ways.
Follow-up: Rove’s Investigator Is Under Investigation – Who is Scott Bloch, and should his vow of investigating Rove be taken at face value? Bloch is a George W. Bush appointee, and his recent record is not one of a relentless pursuer of government corruption and wrongdoing. What’s up here?
MSNBC Ignores Their Success; Looks To Emulate FOX News – MSNBC may be considering Michael Smerconish as the replacement for Don Imus. Do we need another fact-challenged pundit that goes out of his way to smear liberals? Have they not internalized the results of the last election? Why are they ignoring the fact that the show on MSNBC with the rising ratings in the money demographic is Countdown, a show thankfully devoid of conservative punditry in lieu of news? Please, unless you really want another apologist for the Republican party on the air, let the management of MSNBC know who you’d rather see get Imus’s slot. Remember, nasty-grams are easy to dismiss and ignore. Being polite and reminding them of the advertising potential of the demographic they shouldn’t be ignoring will get you much further.
Ninety Days Ago, House Minority Leader John Boehner Said We Would Know if the Iraq Surge Was Working in 60 to 90 Days – TIMES UP! – Ninety Days Ago, Boehner told CNN, “I think it will be rather clear in the next 60 to 90 days as to whether this plan is going to work. And, again, that’s why we need to have close oversight, so that we just don’t look up 60 or 90 days from now and realize that — that this plan is not working. We need to know, as we — as we’re — we move through these benchmarks, that the Iraqis are doing what they have to do.”
Regards,
Jim
Andy Hailey