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March 21, 2007

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They will negotiate a deal on the subpoenas with some small concession by the Dems--maybe not televised hearings, but under oath and open to press and public with a transcript. Gonzales will resign after his butchered testimony to Congress. This will all be over in a couple of weeks, to be replaced by another scandal.

And we know there will be another one. As Ron Brownstein says, it is an example of what happens to a large institution when all mechanisms for accountability have been disabled. (H/t to Laura Rozen.)

The White House response to this almost suggests it believes in magical thinking -- i.e., that if they believe/act as if they're unchallenged the way they were pre-January, all opposition will melt away as it did for most of the past six years. They don't seem to understand that that earlier period was an utterly unique circumstance, brought on by public fears/desires for unity post-9/11, combined with a fierce partsan press in its corner that had no equivalent on the other side. The receding of 9/11, combined with the arrival of the blogs (the first truly successful communication network for progressives since -- what? -- FDR's fireside chats?) has made the playing field far more neutral...which, unfortunately for Republicans, has not only exposed their long-hidden weaknesses, it's coincided with a string of bad news developments (Katrina chief among them, but more every day). For Bush and company to now, Herbert Hoover-like, refuse to move even an inch suggests they (and their coalition) are ready for a major crack-up. At what point do members trying to hold onto tough seats in '08 -- to say nothing of those attempting presidential runs -- decide it's better to jump ship (and antagonize the base) rather than stay aboard and lose all hope for next Election Day?

This is the outcome of six years of no effective Congressional oversight. In most adminstration this would be a rountine hearing, but not in the Bush adminstration. These people don't like to be told no. When will they, if ever, get a sense of reality?

Danny L. McDaniel
Lafayette, Indiana

george's support is melting like ice shelves in the arctic... too bad it doesn't make any difference... he's going to go to the mat on this just like they said they would before the november elections...
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[T]hey're going to fight it all the way to the Supreme Court on every issue, every time, no compromise, no discussion, no negotiation.
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i'm ready... i just hope congressional resolve doesn't start melting in the heat...

http://takeitpersonally.blogspot.com/

The hilarious Limbaugh/Arnold flap, which did not get resolved to Mr. Base's satisfaction today, implies that at least some Rethugs are moving as fast as they can to the center and some semblance of rationality. The question is, are there enough R Senators who want their office to be more than a mere figurehead dressing up the Unitary Deciderer? It took bipartsianship to defeat Nixon, and as Kagro has argued, that's where we are. They want to retry Watergate because they have a theory that they can win. But bipartisan support will stop them, if it still exists. Speaking of El Fatbo, he ended his show with as blatant a racist pitch as I've ever heard on the radio, counting even back in the Jesse Helms era. Amazing.

Beel, are there transcripts? There is no way I'm going to listen to the audio.

Defining George Bush: Head...meet board.

See a tongue-in-cheek visual of George Bush once again beating his head with a board...as he searches for the Holy Grail...here:

www.thoughttheater.com

Any rational person who watched Vice President Gore testify in both Houses of Congress today must be saddened by what we lost when the Supreme Court aborted Gore's election.

The Senate Judiciary has approved subpoenas.
Leahy smacked down Specter too. Arlen was saying let's see what they tell us, then if we don't like it go to subpoenas, and Leahy pointed out that what they're were being told they'd get was 'nothing, nothing, nothing': behind closed doors, no transcript, limited number of people present.

As an Israeli now living in the US I am ever amazed at the incredible patience of Americans with their elected officials. Passivity, really. After all, here we have a president who told us about an imminent threat that turned out not to be, illegally invaded Iraq, told us we would be greeted as liberators - turned out not to be, told us the war would cost $50B - turned out not to be, told us mission accomplished - turned out not to be. Instead, he has mired us in a chaotic situation without end that is destroying our military and our budget and seriously destabilizing the Middle East. His arrogance and incompetence have been without parallel. So where is the outrage? Why did only 30,000 show up for the anti-war demonstration in Washington? Why not 3 million? Why is the Congress not writing articles of impeachment? God knows other presidents (...Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton) were impeached for similar or lesser reasons.

The reason of course is that very few of us (and none of the people who matter) are actually feeling this war - yet. Only 1/10 of one percent of the population is actually in Iraq or Afghanistan. It's a mall war - until the 10 year note hits 9%.

Congress is afraid to impeach. They are afraid it would divide the country. They think it would cost them the next election.

Au contraire! Impeachment would unite the country and convince the electorate that Congress has balls! It would do wonders for the Dems AND the Repubs. Yet so far the only congressman to mention the I-word has been Dennis Kucinich.

What will it take to wake this country up? The public is drugged on TV, on Ambien, on the work ethic, on CNN. Actually it may well be the Republican Party that does the deed. Why the Repubs? Because they will one day – soon – begin to understand that George Bush will destroy the Republican Party if the war continues unabated. And it will if he is left in charge.

Coming Monday: Bush's approval rating at 27%.

If the Dems can muster the votes to stop the war in 17 months, it could be even lower.

Dig in your heels, Lord Dubya. By April 2nd, the numbers will test your loyalty to Doogie Gonzalez.

Man o' Man is Tony Snow ever in lying douchbag, frame the issue, spin mode. Great post of an interview of Snow by Harry Smith of CBS. You guys should see this clip. I have to give Snow credit, he's good. But he's on such thin ice, and working inside such a small box of available arguments that he's beginning to look a little like Baghdad Bob. He aboslutely won't talk about the issue or answer any questions he just keeps on the mantra of "let me tell you what's really going on", and then acting like GW has just bent over backward in a grand gesture. He keeps saying all documents will be provided (while 1 key months of e-mails are misstion), the truth is possible, but always avoids the topic of testimony and subpeoenas. It's amazing to watch his contrtions of redirection. It's actually hysterical, and I can't wait until someone nails his ass to the wall on this. Harry Smith hammered him pretty well, but just missed nailing him. Come on, someone. Nail this fucker - he's just begging for it. Move over Baghdad Bob - Testimony Tony is on the scene.

By the way Raw Story has a link to the clip up at the moment.

Snow Job.

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