The Political Chase

Spanking a Republican

Hunter at Daily KOS gives Mark Noonan (Blogs for Bush) a serious spanking here for threatening a civil war because of the grave injustice done to Tom ‘nolo contendre’  DeLay.

Your party has set aflame the entire political landscape, and now, once burned, you warn sternly from the branches of a burnt-out tree about "playing with fire". You used the ashes of one of the great liberal cities of America, New York City, as war paint for your own sick, racist dreams. You shudder at a burning flag, yet are willing to snip-and-cut basic tenets of the Constitution as needed or convenient.

And now, you’re outraged, not by any of the rest of it, not by anything that has come before, but because a few prominent Republican faces have — shock of shocks — been indicted in probes that have spanned years of investigation, and interrogation, and deposition. That, you say, represents the underpinnings of a civil war.

You poor, hollow, blood-painted clowns. Cheering the trials and failures of your country with the same pennants and giant foam hands that you wave at your favorite sports teams. Willing to accept the most outrageous of lies, if they are spoken from your favorite talking heads, and soothe your own notions of America for you, and only for you.

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Franklin Guilty of Espionage

Pontificator at Daily KOS says that Larry Franklin pleading  guilty to violations of the Espionage Act puts the Judy Miller release at a distant second.  Bad news for George and the rest of the gang at the White House.

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NYT Article on Judith Miller

Judith Miller is expected to testify before a grand jury tomorrow (Friday).  The New York Times has published their article on her release.  The article is cryptic; I’m reading it again trying to discern what’s between the lines.

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The Daily Kos

The Daily Kos has a must see open thread on Tom DeLay..

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Judith Miller

MSNBC says Judith Miller has been released from jail.

Update: Miller, according to MSNBC, was released at approximately 4:00 PM EDT today.

The source Miller was protecting allegedly gave Miller a full release; the release frees Miller from having to keep her source confidential.

House Majority Leader Roy Blunt

As you know, Roy Blunt (R-MO) assumed the role of House Majority Leader upon Mr. Delay’s (R-TX) sudden resignation.  Congressman Blunt has an interesting resume background.

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FEMA Still Can’t Get It Right

FEMA fired, or moved Brownie to another position (medal of freedom is next).  Chertoff managed the events.  Two admirals have been put in charge, and President Bush has made seven photo-op trips to the areas damaged by Katrina and Rita.

 They still can’t get it right.

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Another Republican Falls From Grace

The Republicans are on a criminal roll.  Former Illinois governor George H. Ryan (R) illegally steered business to his friends and cash to his family for more than a decade, a federal prosecutor charged Wednesday.

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DeLay Accuses Pelosi of Conspiracy

Last night, on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, Tom DeLay (R-TX) denied any guilt associated with his indictment by a Texas grand jury for criminal conspiracy.  Instead, DeLay accused House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) of leading a conspiracy to have Delay indicted. 

My interpretation of DeLay’s statement is he accused Pelosi of a criminal act(s).

MSNBC has not published the transcript from the show yet, therefore I cannot provide a reference to the statement at this point.  When the transcript is published, I will provide the appropriate reference. 

Late Update:   Excerpt of conversation between Matthews and DeLay.  The transcript is here.

MATTHEWS:  Here‘s your toughest charge.  Mr. Leader, your toughest charge tonight—and everybody is still going to keep calling you Mr.  Leader, I‘m sure.

The toughest charge, they coordinated an attack on you.  Who did the prosecutor, Ronnie Earle, coordinate with to nail you today in that grand jury?

DELAY:  Oh, Democrat leaders. 

MATTHEWS:  In the state or up here? 

DELAY:  Both.

MATTHEWS:  Who is involved up here? 

DELAY:  You need—you need—you need to ask him that question. 

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS:  No, but you have said that there‘s a coordinated attack on you involving the leadership of the House on the Democratic side now.  Is Pelosi involved? 

(CROSSTALK)

DELAY:  Yes. 

MATTHEWS:  What‘s her role in this? 

DELAY:  I don‘t know.  Ask her.

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Reflection

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Prognostication

If Bill Krystol sees things like this:

"Even though DeLay has nothing to do with Frist, and Frist has nothing to do with Abramoff, how does it look? Not good."

Then there are a few folks weary of some striped sunshine in the future and a few houses tumbling down, not due to high winds and rising tides.

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Tom DeLay Indicted

Tom DeLay is singing Jail House Rock.

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Repository of Katrina information

In response to my request for additional resources, KC at Katrina Coverage has "five hundred posts about the media and politics side of the hurricane."

A quick glance at the site reveals a lot of detailed coverage on Katrina.  I have asked KC, if possible, to provide some specific info directly related (example) to Brown’s testimony yesterday (debunking).

I would like to compile a response to Brownie’s delusional testimony yesterday. 

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Proof of one overcooked brownie

Michael Brown made one big lie yesterday.  He accused Gov. Blanco of not including several parishes, including Orleans, in her request that President Bush declare an emergency for the state of Louisiana.  Brown’s testimony:

BUYER: I would like to ask some questions about the pre- landfall. So I’d like to know why did the president’s federal emergency assistance declaration of August 27th not include the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquemines?

BROWN: Under the law, the governor makes the request for the declaration and the governors of the states specify what areas, what counties they want included in that declaration.

And, based upon the governor’s request, that’s the recommendation that we make to the president. So if a governor does not request a particular county or a particular parish, that’s not included in the request.

BUYER: All right.

Orleans Parish is New Orleans. I was listening to my colleague, Mr. Jefferson’s, questions about when they talked about, you know, they asked for this assistance for three days and then president responded the very next day, not the day that it was made — the request — but the governor of Louisiana actually excluded New Orleans from the president’s federal emergency assistance declaration?

BROWN: Again, Congressman, we looked at the request. The governors make the request by…

BUYER: Let me ask this. Since you went through the exercise in Pam, was that not shocking to you that the governor would excluded New Orleans from the declaration?

BROWN: Yes.

BUYER: When that request came in excluding these three parishes, did you question it?

BROWN: We questioned it. But I made the decision that we were going to go ahead and move assets in regardless because we have the ability to add those parishes…

From Gov. Blanco’s formal letter to President Bush dated 8/27:

I request that you declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period beginning August 26, 2005, and continuing. The affected areas are all the southeastern parishes including the New Orleans Metropolitan area…  

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Blanco Rebuttal

Gov. Blanco is in Washington to testify this morning; a rebuttal to Brownie’s deluded state yesterday.  I suspect it will be a good, gloves off fight.

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