Thursday, December 6, 2007

Justin Frank: Let George Do It. Nancy Pelosi and George W Bush have something dangerous in common: they both ignore the voice of the American people. In November 2006 the people voted for change. Both Pelosi and Bush responded by not changing at all: she kept impeachment off the table; he sent more troops to Iraq. What it means to Bush that Pelosi took impeachment off the table is that he feels free to continue doing whatever he wants to do. Not only does he feel free to twist the NIE report that Iran had no nuclear weapons program since 2003, he IS free to continue his saber rattling. It means that Pelosi simply perpetuated the Supreme Court's December 12, 2000 ruling that the US Constitution no longer applied to the Presidency. Bush has always been comfortable breaking the law, but now he has official approval. Even Chuck Schumer recently approved an Attorney General who wouldn't say torture was against the law. If Bush were my son I'd take away his credit card and his car keys. He'd be grounded and would get intense parental supervision. But he's not my son. He is the President. If George Bush were my patient I would insist on family intervention, and possibly hospitalization if required to interrupt his delinquent behavior. But he is not my patient. He is the President. If George Bush were my employee and I found out that he withheld essential information for four years that affected my business decisions, I would suspend or fire him. But wait! George Bush really is my employee; he works for us all. He is the CEO of a publicly held corporation, the USA. If the CEO of any other corporation did what he just did, the Board of Directors (read Congress) would fire him immediately. . By continuing to put their heads in the sand, Pelosi, Schumer, Reid - and almost every Congressman and Senator - have joined the media, the Supreme Court, and the ever-supportive Republicans to support Bush. Even the two leading Democratic candidates pre-approved his willful mis-reading of the NIE report: Clinton voted her approval of Kyl-Lieberman; Obama didn't even show up to vote. Perhaps these people mean well, but they are recklessly playing with our future - all of our futures - by avoiding the tough but necessary need to set limits, and set them now. All these tiny Senators and Congressmen could tie up the giant Gulliver Bush. Instead they urge him on from the sidelines: last week, neo-McCarthy-ite Jane Harman proposed a new program to abrogate even more of our civil liberties. The alternative is deafening silence punctuated by the occasional threat to set a troop withdrawal date. Nothing is said about being lied to because the Democratic leadership is lying to itself. This all might be comical if it weren't so heartbreaking. And it would be heartbreaking if it weren't also breaking America. [The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com] 5:53:18 PM    comment []

Arlen Specter Single-Handedly Blocks Contempt Vote Against Rove, Bolten. A Senate Judiciary Committee vote on contempt resolutions against Karl Rove and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten were postponed following an objection by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). Under Judiciary Committe rules, the vote will be postponed for one week. Rove and Bolten were subpoenaed as part of the committee's investigation into the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys last year. Citing executive privilege, President Bush has refused to allow top White House officials, including both current and former, from testifying before the House and Senate Judiciary committees, which have spent months looking into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys last year. The House Judiciary Committee has already approved criminal contempt resolutions against Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriett Miers for refusing to comply with its subpoenas, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has not yet set a floor vote on the measures. [The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com] 12:19:56 PM    comment []

Perino Defends Bush’s Lie: ‘The President Was Being Truthful!’. During the White House press briefing today, Press Secretary Dana Perino attempted to defend President Bush’s lie about when he first learned that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program. Recall, Bush originally stated that Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell came to him in August “and said, ‘We have some new information.’ He didn’t tell me what the information was.” But last night, Perino conceded he was told that Iran’s program “may be suspended.” White House reporters repeatedly confronted Perino about this discrepancy in the press briefing this afternoon. Perino tried to claim that when Bush said he didn’t know what the information was, he actually meant, “he didn’t get any of the details of what — what the information was, in terms of what the actual raw intelligence was.” When reporters pressed her on this, an exasperated Perino said: OK, look. I can see where you could see that the president could have been more precise in that language. But the president was being truthful. Watch it: <script type="text/javascript"> var flvperinobushnie32024018116 = new SWFObject('/wp-content/plugins/flvplayer.swf?file=http://video.thinkprogress.org/2007/12/perinobushnie.320.240.flv&;autoStart=false', 'em-flvperinobushnie32024018116', '320', '260', '6', '#ffffff'); flvperinobushnie32024018116.addParam('quality', 'high'); flvperinobushnie32024018116.addParam('wmode', 'transparent'); flvperinobushnie32024018116.write('flvperinobushnie32024018116'); </script> During the briefing, Perino was also asked about the timeline of when Bush was briefed on the NIE. As ThinkProgress reported earlier this week, The New Yorker’s Seymour Hersh said that Bush spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert about the NIE on Monday, Nov. 26. CNN’s Ed Henry asked Perino: “How could he brief Olmert on Monday about a report that he found out about on Wednesday?” Perino responded, “I don’t — I will check. I mean, it’s possible that he knew that there was information coming.” Transcript: (more…) [Think Progress] 12:18:37 PM    comment []