The Political Chase

Reid Gets Tough on Iraq

Bush’s smart-aleck remark about Harry Reid yesterday must have really ticked him off, because Reid has abruptly withdrawn his “compromise” position on Iraq. He’s playing hardball — at least for now — and taking a no timeline, no funding, no excuses approach.

Despite earlier suggestions from Senate Democrats that they would offer compromise legislation to change course in Iraq that could win the support of Republicans, Senate Democrats announced Tuesday afternoon that they were forgoing any softer language in their bills and would introduce Iraq-related legislation as aggressive as that in previous bills — including two that called for withdrawing U.S. combat troops.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced Tuesday afternoon that the Senate would vote this week on legislation ranging from extending the time troops are allowed to spend at home between tours — a bill that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has suggested should be vetoed — to one that would mandate the withdrawal of almost all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by June 2008, a bill President Bush would unquestionably veto.

Furthermore, Reid is not going to allow do-nothing amendments with suggested withdrawal guidelines to be introduced. For example, Reid pulled the Salazar-Alexander bill, which ever so politely suggests the Iraq Study Group recommendations. That should could the GOP hardliners stirred up for a bit.

McConnell: No Americans wiretapped without court order

Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee today, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said that out of the billions of telephone conversations and emails intercepted abroad, only a “very small number” of Americans have been spied on.

The first issue is, define “small,” which McConnell did not do when questioned by Chairman John Conyers (D-MI).

Furthermore, McConnell said that no there have been no Americans wiretapped without a court order.

I can’t possibly make that up. Watch the video.

Click To Play

Leahy issues statement after meeting with Mukasey

Patrick Leahy issued this statement after meeting with AG nominee Michael Mukasey. As indicated in this statement and press accounts yesterday, Leahy intends to put Mukasey’s nomination in a holding pattern until the White House provides previously requested/subpoenaed information/documents related to the Committee’s investigation of the Justice Department.

I’m not sure I agree with Leahy’s tactic, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now. I may be wrong, but I don’t believe Leahy would unjustifiably slow the process.    

Remarks Of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
After Meeting With
Prospective Attorney General Nominee Judge Michael Mukasey
September 18, 2007

I begin this process of Senate review of the President’s nomination with hope and with optimism. The last thing I or any of us want is to be disappointed in those hopes.

Replacing an Attorney General is part but not all of what needs to be done to restore trust in the Justice Department. The confirmation process can be a catalyst for resolving outstanding issues between the Senate and the Administration. I hope that will happen now.

There are a number of issues that arise from that dark period that still need resolution. Cooperation from the Administration in making progress on our longstanding oversight requests is still needed and will be helpful in moving forward.

I am pleased to report that recent discussions that I have had with Mr. Fielding, the White House Counsel, have been encouraging on that score. I take him at his word that he will work to provide the Judiciary Committee with information and documents that we need. This is relevant to the next nominee and future Attorneys General so that past excesses and mistakes are not repeated.

I met with Judge Mukasey today hoping that after we get cooperation from the Administration and are able to conduct a fair and thorough review process, all Senators will be able to vote in favor of his confirmation.  I want to avoid the kind of witch hunt from the Right that scuttled the President’s nomination of Harriet Miers.

I see Judge Mukasey’s nomination as another chance to clear the decks of some important unfinished business that goes to the heart of accountability in government. It is also another chance for a fresh start in the relationship between Congress and the Justice Department headed by a new Attorney General.

The big job of Attorney General of the United States has gotten bigger, with the erosion of public trust and sagging morale throughout the Department of Justice. The next Attorney General will need to begin the process of restoring the Department of Justice to its proper mission so that it is worthy of its name.

Hoyer not amused with Moran’s AIPAC comment

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) condemned fellow Democrat Jim Moran (VA) today for comments Moran recently made about the Israel lobby American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

In a press conference, Hoyer said Moran’s comments were inaccurate and should be retracted.

His remarks were factually inaccurate and recall an old canard that is not true, that the Jewish community controls the media and the Congress.

In an interview for the current issue of Tikkum magazine, Moran said:

[AIPAC] has pushed this war from the beginning … They are so well-organized, and their members are extraordinarily powerful — most of them are quite wealthy — they have been able to exert power.

Moran’s office issued a statement saying “the congressman admitted that the tone of his remarks were ‘unnecessarily harsh’ but stood by his statements that AIPAC does not represent ‘mainstream American Jewish opinion.’ “

Source: The Hill

Staff Behind the Candidates

In this first Tuesday Snack episode of Political Lunch, Will serves up the best sites for covering campaign staff. If you need a quick bite of political info to get through your day, you won’t want to miss this new feature.

Click To Play

State Dept. Corrupt Too

Bush and Cheney make Nixon look like a saint. We can now officially add the State Department to the list of Bush-Cheney Administration Scandals and Corruption.

In similar fashion to the Justice Department, where Alberto Gonzales was the chief law enforcement officer, the State Department’s Inspector General, Howard J. Krongard, “has repeatedly thwarted investigations and censored reports that might prove politically embarrassing to the Bush administration,” according to charges made by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA). Waxman is Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government.

Waxman sent a scathing 14-page letter (pdf) to Krongard, detailing the charges against him. The Oversight Committee published a summary of the letter on its Web site:

Since your testimony at the Committee’s hearing on July 26, 2007, current and former employees of the Office of Inspector General have contacted my staff with allegations that you interfered with on-going investigations to protect the State Department and the White House from political embarrassment…

The allegations made by these officials are not limited to a single unit or project within your office. Instead, they span all three major divisions of the Office of Inspector General — investigations, audits, and inspections. The allegations were made by employees of varied rank, ranging from line staff to upper management…

Some of the specific allegations include the following:

• Although the State Department has expended over $3.6 billion on contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, you refused to send any investigators to those countries to pursue investigations into wasteful spending or procurement fraud and have concluded no fraud investigations relating to the contracts.
• You prevented your investigators from cooperating with a Justice Department investigation into waste, fraud, and abuse relating to the new U.S. Embassy in Iraq and followed highly irregular procedures in exonerating the prime contractor, First Kuwaiti Trading Company, of charges of labor trafficking.
• You prevented your investigators from seizing evidence that they believed would have implicated a large State Department contractor in procurement fraud in Afghanistan.
• You impeded efforts by your investigators to cooperate with a Justice Department probe into allegations that a large private security contractor was smuggling weapons into Iraq.
• You interfered with an on-going investigation into the conduct of Kenneth Tomlinson, the head of Voice of America and a close associate of Karl Rove, by passing information about the inquiry to Mr. Tomlinson.
• You censored portions of inspection reports on embassies so that critical information on security vulnerabilities was dropped from classified annexes and not disclosed to Congress.
• You rejected audits of the State Department’s financial statements that documented accounting concerns and refused to publish them until points critical of the Department had been removed.

Pretty ugly, isn’t it?

The allegations are based on testimony Waxman received from seven “current and former officials on Krongard’s staff, including two former senior officials who allowed their names to be used, and private e-mail exchanges obtained by the committee.” The Post published the following exchange of emails “between staff members as they discuss Krongard’s decision not to cooperate with the Justice Department on the embassy probe.

“Wow, as we all [k]now that is not the normal and proper procedure,” an investigator wrote to Assistant IG John A. DeDona. DeDona forwarded the e-mail to the Deputy IG, William E. Todd, saying, “I have always viewed myself as a loyal soldier but hopefully you sense my frustration in my voicemail yesterday.”

Todd wrote back: “I know you are very frustrated. John, you need to convey to the troops the truth, the IG told us both Tuesday to stand down on this and not assist, that needs to be the message.”

DeDona responded: “Unfortunately, under the current regime, the view within INV [the office of investigations] is to keep working the BS cases within the beltway, and let us not rock the boat with more significant investigations.”

Waxman included a subpoena in his Hallmark Greeting Letter for various and sundry documents, letters, work product, etc.

I’m beginning to wonder if there are enough people in Congress to support the number of investigations required to review the Bush administration’s massive corruption that went unchecked for six years.

TPC Roundup - White House v. Congress

HEADLINES

• Democrats Threaten to Delay Mukasey Confirmation
• Congress Continues Negotiation on Children’s Health Bill
• Clinton Releases Health Care Plan
• Iraq Withdraws Blackwater USA License
• Muslim Charity Trial Ends
• National Foreclosures Up 36%
• Musharraf Military Command in Limbo

TPC MOST POULAR

(updated 11:41 AM ET)

Telegraph: Bush-Cheney Planning War with Iran
Will Wes Clark be Hillary’s VP?
Bush Selects Mukasey for Attorney General
Judge Mukasey and the rule of law

WASHINGTON

• “Two Senate Democrats warned Monday that the Judiciary Committee would delay confirmation of President Bush’s choice for attorney general unless the White House turned over documents that the panel was seeking for several investigations,” the New York Times reports. “Mr. Bush announced the selection of Michael B. Mukasey, a retired federal judge from New York who has presided over several high-profile terrorism trials, during a morning Rose Garden ceremony.”
• “The White House on Monday rejected demands by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that the administration release thousands of documents related to the U.S. attorneys scandal and other Justice Department controversies before hearings begin on” Bush’s nomination of Mukasey, Roll Call  (sub. req.) reports. “A showdown between Leahy and President Bush over largely procedural matters could turn what is widely seen as a relatively noncontroversial nomination into a political lightning rod for both parties.”
• “The White House in recent days told nearly a dozen Cabinet secretaries to send letters to Capitol Hill rejecting Democrats’ proposed new funds for their agencies, escalating a confrontation between lawmakers and President Bush over domestic spending priorities,” the Washington Post reports. “The Democratic Congress is considering 2008 spending bills that increase funding for politically popular programs including health care for veterans, education, medical research and infrastructure improvements.”
• “The top U.S. intelligence official is asking Congress for even more changes to a law that he says limited the government’s ability to eavesdrop, not just on terrorists but also on more traditional potential adversaries,” AP reports. “Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, says China and Russia are aggressively spying on sensitive U.S. facilities, intelligence systems and development projects, and their efforts are approaching Cold War levels.”
• “The White House threatened on Monday to veto a bill that would add 15 years to a post-Sept. 11 government insurance program that supporters say is critical for major projects like the new World Trade Center,” the New York Times reports. “The legislation, known as the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, was originally passed by Congress after the 2001 attacks. It is due to expire this year, and the House had planned to vote this week on a 15-year extension.”

CONGRESS

• Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday “unveiled a proposal to provide health insurance to all Americans, placing herself at the center of an issue that provided perhaps the greatest setback of her political career,” the Washington Post reports. “In a speech in Des Moines, the Democratic front-runner said she would expand insurance to the 47 million people who do not already have coverage and would attempt to reduce costs for others without spawning a massive new bureaucracy.”
• “Key lawmakers in the House and Senate negotiated into the night” on Monday “on a deal that would expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over the next five years,” the Washington Post reports. “That would set up a clash with President Bush, who has promised to veto such a plan.”
• “Three senators who are considered potential swing votes on war policy said Monday that a weekend visit to Iraq left them discouraged about prospects for political reconciliation there and convinced that the United States must quickly shift more responsibility for security to the Iraqi Army,” the New York Times reports. “‘We must take decisive action to force the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people to secure the peace for Iraq,’ said Senator Ken Salazar, Democrat of Colorado, as the Senate opened a pivotal debate on the war.”
• “Sens. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) are among the biggest winners in the 2008 Appropriations defense bill, according to data gathered by The Hill and the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS),” The Hill reports. “Senate appropriators disclosed about 936 earmarks worth a combined $5.1 billion in the 2008 defense-spending bill, with top committee members in both parties securing the highest dollar amounts.”

IRAQ

• “At least 12 people were killed and 37 wounded today after Baghdad was hit by two parked car bombs and two roadside bombs, police said,” the Guardian reports. “A car bomb blew up in the centre of the Iraqi capital at 9.30am in a car park near the health ministry and the so-called Medical City complex of buildings, which includes several hospitals and a forensic institute.”
• “Blackwater USA, an American contractor that provides security to some of the top American officials in Iraq, has been banned from working in the country by the Iraqi government after a shooting that left eight Iraqis dead and involved an American diplomatic convoy,” the New York Times reports. “A spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, said Monday that authorities had canceled the company’s license and that the government would prosecute the participants.”
• “Despite efforts by U.S. forces to recruit and train women for jobs in the Iraqi security forces, just over 1,000 have been trained, many have quit and those who remain say they are struggling for acceptance,” the LA Times reports. “We’re in our posts because the Americans are here,” the army commander said. “Once they leave, we will all be out.”

NATION

• “As the government’s signature terrorism-financing trial moved toward a close here Monday, federal prosecutors reaffirmed their charge that the largest Muslim charity in the United States was not simply trying to help poor Palestinians but was in fact an arm of the radical Islamic group Hamas,” the New York Times reports. “The charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, and five of its officers have been on trial here since July 16, charged with conspiracy, money laundering and providing financial support to a foreign terrorist organization.”
• “National foreclosure filings in August were up 36 percent from July and 115 percent from August 2006, according to a market forecast out today,” the Boston Globe reports. “Nevada, California, and Florida posted the top state foreclosure rates in August, and Massachusetts was ranked 12th, said RealtyTrac, which defines foreclosure filings as default notices, auction sale notices, and bank repossessions.”

WORLD

• “In a controversial step, election officials Monday announced a rule change under which President Pervez Musharraf would be allowed to stand for reelection while still serving as head of Pakistan’s military,” the LA Times reports. “At the same time, though, the Supreme Court began hearing legal challenges to Musharraf’s plan to remain army chief as he seeks reelection by lawmakers as head of state early next month.”
• “France’s foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, sought Monday to tone down remarks he made in a radio and television interview the day before that the world had to prepare for possible war against Iran,” the New York Times reports. “Attacked verbally by Iran and quietly criticized within his own government, Mr. Kouchner shifted the focus away from the threat of war and back to a call for hard negotiations as the way to force Iran to abandon key nuclear activities.”
• “Every effort should be made to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but failing that, the world could live with a nuclear-armed regime in Tehran, a recently retired commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East said Monday,” AP reports. “John Abizaid, the retired Army general who headed Central Command for nearly four years, said he was confident that if Iran gained nuclear arms, the United States could deter it from using them.”
• “The Sept. 6 attack by Israeli warplanes inside Syria struck what Israeli intelligence believes was a nuclear-related facility that North Korea was helping to equip, according to current and former American and Israeli officials,” the New York Times reports. “Details about the Israeli assessment emerged as China abruptly canceled planned diplomatic talks in Beijing that were to set a schedule to disband nuclear facilities in North Korea.”

The mind of a Bush fan

I seriously wonder what goes on in the minds of those that that strongly support George Bush — what are they thinking, what kind of logic are they applying, etc. Why support an agenda that is so far removed from the norms of society, much less rational thinking? Remove the extremely wealthy (e.g. Hunt from Hunt Oil Co.) from the equation because it is obvious why they support Bush and what they are thinking.

Here’s an email Kos received that is rather enlightening. 

Today was a dark day for the antiamerican left  . The communist  organization Moveon.org and the left wing fascist movement have been demoralized and defeated . The Petraeus report has made it clear that the surge is working and it is clear that the US will have permanent bases in Iraq . The Democrats , the left wing antiamerican groups like yours , the socialist MSM and the Islamofascists  have lost , America  won . Give up , communist cowards  !  We will be in Iraq for generations , like in Germany , Japan or Korea ..
Iran is next and you ( or the Iranians ) can’t to a damn thing about it . The next President will be anther Republican . There will be new laws in the WOT ,   preventive detention camps for Terrorists and their helpers and many new pleasant surprises for the antiamerican left . It is unavoidable .

Kos analysis - “I’ll give this guy credit — it’s one of the very few of these crazy emails without homophobic language.”