Hmm.
- April 19, 2007 – Doolittle steps down from the Appropriations Committee following the FBI raid of his home. Doolittle is under investigation for his work with convicted lobbyist Republican Jack Abramoff
- May 11, 2007 – The Republican Conference names Ken Calvert – under investigation for a shady land deal — to replace Doolittle on Appropriations.
- May 15, 2007 – The Republican Conference names Tom Feeney – under investigation for his work with convicted lobbyist Republican Jack Abramoff — to replace Calvert as the senior Republican on the Space Subcommittee of the Science Committee.
Of course, in the GOP’s defense, if an active criminal investigation was enough to disqualify you from a committee assignment, half the assignments would go unfilled.
This phrase “under investigation” is overused in today’s news reporting and political smearing. Have you ever been “under investigation”? If so, were you “under investigation” for something particularly infamous?
amd so it goes, and so it goes.
@1 So far, when discussing GOP members of Congress, there has been a very high correlation between initial “under investigation” media reports and ultimate convictions.
U.S. Attorney Scandal Engulfs More Prosecutors; New Gonzales Lies Are Revealed
“Department Weighed Dismissing 26 Attorneys
“Reuters
“WASHINGTON (May 17) – The U.S. Justice Department considered dismissing more than a quarter of the 93 federal prosecutors in 2005 and 2006, far more than previously acknowledged, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
“Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, considered firing at least 26 U.S. attorneys during the period, the newspaper said, citing sources familiar with documents withheld from the public.
“Gonzales testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that the effort was limited to eight U.S. attorneys fired since last June. Other officials in President George W. Bush ‘s administration have said that only a few other prosecutors were suggested for removal, the Post said.
“Critics accuse the White House of ousting the prosecutors to make room for its allies or because they were seen to be too tough on Republicans and too easy on Democrats. The Bush administration contends the dismissals were justified, based largely on performance or policy differences.
“The Post said sources who have examined or been briefed on records withheld from public release identified at least 26 names, including the prosecutors fired last year and another, Karl Warner, who was dismissed in August 2005.
Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse told the paper the department would not confirm which prosecutors were included on the lists ….”
Quoted under Fair Use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://tinyurl.com/2335a5
Roger Rabbit Commentary: This new information strongly reaffirms the mass of other evidence pointing to the probable true nature of this scandal: A systematic effort to staff federal prosecutor offices with party hacks in order to protect the GOP’s massive illegal vote suppression operation and intimidate Democratic voter-registration drive organizers with malicious prosecutions (which also is illegal and unethical).
There can be no doubt that (a) Rove was the mastermind, and (b) crimes were committed.
Rove, Gonzales, and the RNC operatives made two crucial miscalculations, however. First, they stupidly ignored the fact that Washington D.C. leaks like a sieve and it’s impossible to keep something like this secret (as Nixon, Reagan, and others found out). Second, they stupidly assumed the lawyers they needed to carry out their scheme would go along with it. Even a partisan hack like me puts respect for law and the ethical obligations of being a lawyer above — way above — party loyalty. As partisan as I am, it should go without saying — you don’t even need to think about it — that the Democrats have never asked me to do anything illegal or unethical, and I would squeal on them if they did. Well, it turns out a lot of Republican lawyer-hacks think the same way. Rove and Gonzales didn’t expect that, and now it’s biting them in the ass.
We lawyers also are a prickly and fractious lot, as I’m sure Richard Pope can verify. We don’t like it when someone uses us, drags us through their mud, and cuts a deal with the devil so sell our professional reputations into perfidy. We quit law firms and fire clients for offenses of that nature. To say lawyers don’t take kindly to people who put our licenses in play is a gargantuan understatement. Yet Rove and Gonzo were arrogant enough to do just that, and more: To expose their underlings to potential jail time, as well.
I’m betting they’re all going to squeal. In fact, the Democrats should set up one of those take-a-number gadgets outside the hearing room and set up benches for the witnesses in the hallway.
This is starting to get interesting. This scandal just may go all the way — by that, I mean articles of impeachment against the president and criminal indictments against Rove, Gonzales, Miers, and a gaggle of their aides and underlings.
And don’t forget that people working in the White House and at the RNC sent 500 e-mails to investigative journalist Greg Palast’s “georgewbush.org” web site, many of them containing incriminating evidence.
Gonzales is finished, but I don’t think this scandal will stop with his ouster. And Rove’s protege, ersatz U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin, is jail bait.
As Brad Friedman of “The Brad Blog” points out, a reason for putting Griffin in Arkansas may be to dig up sludge on Hillary Clinton in advance of the 2008 election.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4324
Roger Rabbit Commentary: If she’s the Democratic nominee, he’s in a position where he can file phony criminal charges against her, in an effort to throw the election to the GOP nominee.
And it’s my guess the GOP nominating process is already rigged in favor of Newt Gingrich.
I wonder if the people who defend the actions of the criminals in the Publican party ever secretly wonder why they’re doing it? I guess they see nothing wrong with associating with and defending crooks.
2 the far left can’t handle
a) would you pls reverse the new law forcing kids into baby car seat until age 16. Only in a socialist state can you defend worrying about what happens to some kid in a car (that is, i am ok w/ the other new law on cell phones, cuz a person on a phone is a hazard to the rest of us)
b) Joel Connelly and his predictable use of the Nazi slur, which he learned from Goldstein.
@ 9
1. Connelly is pretty darn moderate. See his positio re impeachment
2. Have you commented on Limbaugh’s frequent use of “femin-nazi?” Or is that OK?
The gonzalez – gate affair got nastier today with four – count em four – Publican Senators calling for his resignation. Can you imagine how bad this thing must really be? For Publicans to be willing to come forward with the truth it has to be VERY bad.
What is amazing is that there isn’t a single Democrat under investigation. And there isn’t a single Democrat who has had their ethics questioned. And not a single Democrat has profited from their position in office.
What a grand country we live in, that the majority party is so clean and pure that they don’t even have to vote on anything any more!
(Oh, I take that back. Pelosi decided not to repeal the rules of the House afterall.)
Democrats are idiots, Republicans are crooks. That’s the thing that’s constant about the major American political parties.
The crooks have had their chance at the helm, so I guess it’ll be the idiots running the show for a while. Unless the idiots are dumb enough to nominate Hillary…..
PudWax’ Toofless Accusations —
1- “Headlice we know what you told us.” Really? And what is that?
2- “And we know your politics.” Really? And what is that? Would I, in your soulful estimation,ever vote for a Republican?
3- “And we know you post from the school district.” I most certainly do not. And how would YOU get information like that?
4- “And we know your hatred pours from your pores.” You are accusing your opponent(me) of your own vice. Typical Republican.
Janet@12 Yeah, it’s gotta be tough, after spending all that time and energy on denial for 12 years. Now that the 109th Congress, perhaps the most corrupt Congress in History is nothing more than a smelly memory requiring massive cleanups, investigations and prosecutions, it only seems natural for you to swing into carping,/b> mode. Eat your heart out, Janet, eat your heart out. And get used to it, for a long time to come!.
So headlice:
You are not the same headlice who posted on SP?
If not you hijacked another’s nick?
Are you the same one who wrote those great posts September 2005?
janet s @ 12:
All the the things Republicans “claim” to be; moral, honest, personally accountable, fiscally responsible, smart, strong on national defense, defenders of our liberties, is exactly what Democrats are, and always have been.
Your little mind is being twisted because you’ve come to believe all the propoganda being spoon fed to you on Faux News, RNC, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and you lying political leaders.
The truth regarding these Republican mythis are plainly evident for those who wish to, or are honest enough to examine them.
Lash out all you want at Democrats, the truth is that in 18 months the Democrats will retain control of the House of Representatives, control at least 54 seats in congress (not including Lieberman), and occupy the White House.
Your party will be excluded from power from 2008 to at least 2012 and more likely 2016 or 2020.
History teaches us that the last time the American public was this dissatisfied with Republicans in congress they lost their majority in the legislative branch for 40 years.
You party worked so hard for so many decades that when you finally did get back into power, corruption and extreme partisanship ruled the day.
Republicans came to believe in the fallicay of a “permanet Republican majority.”
Now, you’re going to know what it feels like to have the “nuclear option” hanging over your heads. And because the corruption is so fresh in the public’s mind, when you guys cry foul, it will be rammed right down your throats.
Get used to sitting on the sidelines watching all your hard work and progress towards conservative ideals simply go down the drain.
The only people you have to blame are yourselves for not holding your corrupt poltical leaders to account. Ultiamtely, Reagan’s 11th commandment is to blame.
How fitting that your iconic leader’s “commandments” became the chief undoing of your political movement.
Janet S: Where are the investigations on:
William “Frozen Money” Jefferson
Harry “Land Deal Nepotist” Reid
Dianne “Steer those Military Contracts” Feinstein
Robert “Illegal Rent Payments” Menemdez
Jane “Use My American Israel Public Affairs Donors to Lobby” Harman
Robert “Earmarks to Friends” Mollohan
Barney “Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs” Franks
And… that’s just a start.
Regarding the level of incompetency and appointment of political hacks, I know some folks who have had to meet with some Bush appointees in various Depts in DC recently, including DOJ and Interior. At least one opinion is that more than half of the appointees are complete TOOLS of astonishingly low ability owing their jobs completely to their ability to suck up (off?). Hope the Dems do better when they kick these clowns out.
Isn’t this all because of some illegal voting in the 2004 gubernatorial election?
I’m really quite positive it exists somewhere, and BY GOD, I’m gonna find it. Or at least I’m gonna make a fool o’ myself blathering about it.
Janet s AKA Pam Roach we don’t have time to investigate Dems because so many of your fellow Publicans are flooding the courts with guilty pleas and such.
By the way, how many Publicans were investigated by the Publican Congress in the 12 years that they had power? THREE!
THIS IS A GOOD ANSWER TO ALL THOSE BRAINDEAD TROLLS WHO ACCUSE PEOPLE WHO ARE FED UP WITH THEIR TROLLING OF “INTOLERANCE”.
Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of toler-
ance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are inolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be most unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to
answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal.
—Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies*
EVERYDAY WINGNUTS CROSS OVER THE LINE AND ENTERTAIN THOUGHTS OF DOING VIOLENCE TO LIBERALS, MUSLIMS AND OTHER GROUPS. THIS IS OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “ELIMINATIONIST” RHETORIC.
WHY SHOULD WE TOLERATE SUCH PEOPLE?
Puddybud:
We’re in charge now!
Get used to being treated unfairly!
Elections have consequences and now the shoe is on our foot and is being planted firmly in ass of George W. Bush.
Can you guess what’s gonna happen when we finally take our foot out of his ass?
Yep, that’s right, it’s the ol’ ‘shit runs down hill’ principle.
@22 Apart from the violence they want to do us, why should we even tolerate their insistence on always getting the last word in?
@9 So you’re in favor of little kids being thrown into seats and through windshields? Doesn’t surprise me, given your track record here.
@10 Calling wingnuts “nazis” is merely stating facts.
Hey GBS: On this board anyone who thinks right is ALWAYS treated unfairly.
Now that you are “in charge”, I expected a tonal change.
Calling libtards fascists is also factual!
@12 “janet s says: What is amazing is that there isn’t a single Democrat under investigation.”
Yes, and with the most partisan Republicans in history running the FBI and Justice Department. Meanwhile, there’s so much Republican lying and corruption we have Republican prosecutors going after Republican congressman.
As Tom Hanks’ character said in “Saving Private Ryan” as he surveyed the carnage on Omaha Beach, “That’s quite a view.”
Wow Cluelessman used attribution.
I’m shocked and amazed!
@13 “Democrats are idiots, Republicans are crooks. That’s the thing that’s constant about the major American political parties.”
Well, you’re half right. Democrats actually did a fine job of running our country for 75 years. They gave us unemployment insurance, Social Security and Medicare, civil rights laws, a rational foreign policy, economic growth, and a far better job growth record than any Republican president ever managed. They did fall on their ass with balancing the budget until Clinton came along.
YLB:
There is a fundamental flaw to the logic and here is the pasage where it occurs:”But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; . . . they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols.”
Violence, i.e. “Fist or pistols,” is the departure point from “intolerant philosophies” to action. Any society, civil or otherwise, has always claimed the right to supress any agressor by force, if necessary.
Conservatism and their followers are no different. They can make all the knuckleheaded and untrue claims they want, but when they start committing acts of violence, that is the moment when it will no longer be met with reason, but superior force and determination.
“The opinions of men must be beyond the reach of civil authority.”
~Thomas Jefferson
Puddybud @ 27:
Oh, there’s going to be a change in the tone, that’s for sure. The Republicans are going to change their tone from bravado to conciliatory. And, they’re going to do it PDQ.
Isn’t that funny though? Even you, as a conservative, expect Democrats to act better. It’s expected that Republicans will be corrupt, corrosive, and criminal, but when a Democrat is corrosive, you retort with “Now that you are “in charge”, I expected a tonal change.”
Very revealing to your subconscious thought process, Puddybud.
Ready to cross over to the light and away from the conservative culture of corruptions and crime?
GBS: Golly you are forgetful.
Search the ‘Wipes archives and you’ll see every time a neocon has been indicted I said if guilty in the slammer and throw away the key. Look it up Thomas Jefferson quoter! I’m sure your sleuthing skillz can go a long way here.
GBS: It was PelletHead, one you so slavishly worship who said:
“What’s the matter Puddinghead? I’ll take our crooks over your crooks every time”.
PelletHead: More Cuban hospital pictures,.
Enjoy your stay!
http://www.gentiuno.com/articu lo.asp?articulo=2167
you’ll see every time a neocon has been indicted I said if guilty in the slammer and throw away the key.
AND THEN IN THE NEXT COMMENT QUOTE A SCAIFE, MOON OR MURDOCH PUBLICATION, I.E THE CRAP YOU “PUT UP”.
WHAT A LOSER!
AND F Y ABOUT “ATTRIBUTION” – JUST ANOTHER BRAINDEAD POSE OF YOURS.
PUDDYBUD:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz….
roger at 9
My opposition to the seat belt law is that its an intrusion into our personal liberties. Gov’t has no business in my seat belt choice. period.
Puddybud @ 34:
You may have said something every time a Republican is indicted, but what you are failing to acknowledge is that the frequency and seriousness of the crimes are not even clsoe.
On a very serious note, it appears that Bush did authorize illegal no warrant wiretaps. A much more serious violation of the constituion than Bill Clinton lying to a Grand Jury about a blow job.
We are in a serious Constitutinoal Crisis and it’s all caused by Republicans either committing the crimes, or allowing them to happen without doing theire oversight.
Republcians have put the 11th commandment above their loyalty pledge to the constitution.
I quote Thomas Jefferson because when I do there’s no dispute I’m correct.
Thanks for noticing. I was beginning to wonder if anyone even knew who the hell TJ is!!