More on the Rift

Thus far in our coverage of the "GOP Schism" we have focused on two main issues: deficits and Abu Ghraib. But anybody with sense sees that both of these issues hinge on an underlying contrast between sheer, infinitely cynical political expediency on the one hand, and some semblance of sticking to principle and conscience on the other. Thus we get the long-rostered Team Tom DeLay vs. the desperately understaffed Team John McCain. But here's an interesting specimen: Orrin Hatch. He's an uber-Conservative, and certainly we find ourselves revolted by many of his positions, but in firmly denouncing the theft of 5,000 or so Democratic memos ("Memogate"), he made some serious enemies amongst the extreme right. Today the Hill tells us that Hatch is firing back:

Some conservatives have focused their criticism on what they allege is Hatch’s favoritism toward Thomas Griffith, a longtime acquaintance and fellow Utah Mormon whom President Bush has nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

[...]

“There isn’t one judge on our list that I haven’t spilled blood over, and I really resent the sideline second-guessers who have no idea what’s going on and who launch personal attacks without talking to me,” said Hatch.

Hatch’s defense is bolstered by the Republicans’ impressive record of confirming judges during Bush’s administration.

A review of the record showed that the Senate has confirmed 180 judicial nominees since Bush took office, more nominees than any other comparable period in Senate history.

Hatch is especially strong in his replies to those who criticize his handling of Griffith’s nomination.

“I think it’s anti-Mormon prejudice raising its ugly head again,” said Hatch, referring to criticisms of his focus on Griffith. “I’ve dealt with that my entire life and during my time in the Senate as well.”

Hatch said that Griffith deserves to be a priority because the D.C. circuit is such an important court. It hears hundreds of cases that affect all Americans — cases the Supreme Court never has a chance to review.

Hatch said: “Those who don’t understand how important it is to fill a seat on the D.C. circuit are absolute raving idiots. If Griffith doesn’t make it, it’s because of idiots who can’t think past the end of their nose.”

Now things start to get a bit awkward here, because Hatch has spent the last three years screaming right along side the rest of them that Democratic "obstructionists" (this is the central charge against Daschle) have not allowed any Bush judges to get through, and now Hatch is relying on the opposite (and true) argument to bolster his case. And giving Hatch credit for his handling of Memogate might also be premature, since we don't know if he was just trying to shut it down before it got to the White House. But these extremists really are a callous, morally bankrupt bunch, and it seems like having the White House at their fingertips has gotten them drunk with power- just the ticket to put them on Team DeLay. But what of Hatch? As things get worse and Team DeLay is forced to defend more and more abhorrent facts, will there be an outright public split between the Senate and the House? And with this extremist coup attempt, how will the Senate feel about the fact that DeLay and Thomas are bringing a bill to the floor specifically to further their direct influence over this election?

19 Points

LA Times (pdf):

If the November 2004 general election for Congress were being held today, which party would you like to see win in your congressional district: the Democratic Party or the Republican Party?

Democrat 54
Republican 35

Panic time.

GOP Surviror: Webisode II

So rough. So very, very rough...

How Not to Get NATO's Help

There comes a point when denigrating other countries for the sake of a new way to campaign on hate crosses the line from idle despicability to seriously harming our national security interests. The NRCC crossed that line some time ago, but we got another good example on Saturday from the Texas GOP Convention. From the head of the faux minority PAC Dream PAC, we get this "optimistic" campaign slogan:

"There are people who say 'Why can't we be like France or Germany ... ?'" U.S. Congressman Henry Bonilla told the enthusiastic crowd. "If you like those places so much, why don't you move there?"

Here's another headline from the very same day:

Bush, Chirac Hope for Deal on UN Resolution Soon
Reuters - Jun 5, 2004

Wrecking Ball

Oh that Josh Marshall is so five minutes ago. No, but seriously, the swordsman supreme links to the "Safe Harbor for Churches" story today, which we hit up yesterday, but who cares about us - let's hear what Jewish Week reports on the subject:

“This is the most shocking example of politicizing churches I’ve ever seen,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, the Americans United executive director.

Some Jewish groups agreed.

“This week, the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign and President Bush took new steps to politicize religion and jeopardize the integrity of houses of worship for partisan purposes,” said Mark Pelavin, associate director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

Pelavin was referring to both the church electoral gambit and last week’s expansion of the president’s faith-based initiative into three additional executive departments.

By trying to involve religious institutions in politics, the campaign is trying to “hurl a wrecking ball at the wall separating church and state,” he said, and warned that the effort “puts in jeopardy the non-profit status of 1,600 houses of worship by encouraging them to engage in partisan politics.”

[...]

Specifically, the measure would allow church leaders to “unintentionally” endorse or oppose candidates up to three times a year without risking their tax exemption.

“This is very strange legislation; I don’t know of any other law in the U.S. code that allows you a certain number of mistakes before penalties set in,” said an official with a major Jewish group here. “As a matter of legislative drafting, it’s a very awkward bill.”

The measure’s co-sponsors are all Republicans. Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), the majority leader, has indicated it will be a priority for the House leadership.

Numerous Christian as well as Jewish groups oppose the measure. But it has been a top priority for the powerful Christian Coalition, which has gotten in trouble with federal election officials in the past for its distribution of voter guides — which critics charge are blatantly partisan — in churches.

Michael Lieberman, counsel for the Anti-Defamation League’s Washington office, said support for the measure is based on “vast misunderstanding and even disinformation about the extent to which religious leaders can participate in the political process.”

Clergy can already speak out about critical issues, he said, adding, “The question is: ‘Can a tax-exempt organization endorse candidates, and make direct political expenditures?’ That crosses the line.”

Oy.

Let's Have a Little Talk

Well there's just so much going on, the White House couldn't possibly be expected to know what was going on at every single interrogation facility.
Right?

The head of the interrogation center at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq told an Army investigator in February that he understood some of the information being collected from prisoners there had been requested by "White House staff," according to an account of his statement obtained by The Washington Post.

Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, an Army reservist who took control of the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center on Sept. 17, 2003, said a superior military intelligence officer told him the requested information concerned "any anti-coalition issues, foreign fighters, and terrorist issues."

The Army investigator, Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, asked Jordan whether it concerned "sensitive issues," and Jordan said, "Very sensitive. Yes, sir," according to the account, which was provided by a government official.

Well ok, so they asked some guy at some point about it, so what?

The precise role and mission of Jordan, who is still stationed in Iraq and through his attorneys has declined requests to speak with the news media, remains one of the least well understood facets of the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal.

Jordan has been described by other military personnel as playing a key role at Abu Ghraib in overseeing interrogations; they have described him as being deeply involved in an incident on Nov. 24, 2003, when a detainee was confronted in his cell by snarling military dogs, which Taguba deemed a violation of the prisoner's rights.

In a March 9 report on the abuse scandal, Taguba listed Jordan as one of four military intelligence officers he suspected were "directly or indirectly responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib." He also said Jordan had "failed to ensure that soldiers under his direct control were properly trained" in interrogation techniques and were aware of Geneva Conventions human rights protections for detainees.

Col. Thomas M. Pappas, the chief military intelligence officer at the prison, said in his statement to Taguba that Jordan was working on a special project for the office of Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, the top U.S. intelligence official in Iraq. He also described Jordan as "a loner who freelances between military intelligence and military police" officers at the prison.

Asserting that Jordan repeatedly took part in searches of detainee cells without notifying military police commanders -- an activity that fell outside the customary duties of an intelligence officer -- he also told Taguba that "I must admit I failed in not reining him in."

But Jordan, in the statement to Taguba, described himself as more of a functionary than a rogue operator. He said that Pappas was really in charge, as evidenced by the fact that he was not responsible for rating other military intelligence officers in reports to superiors and "had no input . . . no responsibility . . . no resources" under his control. He said he was just a "liaison" between Fast and those collecting intelligence at the prison.

Is this really how it's going to be? One drop at a time for the next five months, every day learning some new stomach-churning detail? The petition is still active, if you haven't signed it, demand the dismissal of Secretary Rumsfeld.

Update: Scandal Scorecard update, that is.

Undoing Reagan's Legacy

Steven Pearlstein, Wa Po:

If Republicans really want to honor the memory of Ronald Reagan, they should toss in the trash the corporate tax legislation making its way through Congress.

One of Reagan's greatest achievements was passage, with bipartisan support, of the 1986 Tax Reform Act. The goal of the landmark bill was to make the tax code simpler and fairer while boosting economic efficiency. Loopholes were closed, tax rates were reduced, and all sorts of distinctions were eliminated so that individuals and companies with the same income or profits were required to pay roughly the same tax.

Those principles, however, are violated on nearly every one of the 930 pages in the recently passed Senate tax bill and the 398-page draft released last week by the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Bill Thomas (R-Calif.).

With a few exceptions, both bills are grab bags of special-interest provisions designed to reward the well-connected at everyone else's expense. They reward companies that have played cynical tax games and open up new vistas for the tax shelter industry. And while claiming that the purpose of the exercise was to create jobs in the United States, they will only enhance existing incentives for U.S. companies to earn their profits overseas.

Worse still, they are almost certain to add billions each year to a federal deficit that is already too high.

The Charitable Mr. DeLay

From the Houston Press:

On that day last September, Congressman Tom DeLay and his wife, Christine, showed they can still mount the perfect photo op. She wore blue; he (and her fingernails) wore red. And they both flashed the smiles of political veterans.

The occasion was a big one. After a few years of talking, planning and $6 million of fund-raising, the couple was breaking ground for the Oaks at Rio Bend, a residential campus for foster kids and their families. The DeLays had come up with the idea. The DeLay Foundation, their nonprofit arm, had raised most of the seed money, and the George Foundation had donated a 30-acre site in Richmond.

Since then, the property has officially been "under construction," as the Sugar Land congressman himself boasted in an editorial in the Houston Chronicle on April 21.

And so it's jarring to drive out to see the place, eight months after the ground was ceremonially broken and construction supposedly started. You know you've arrived only because of the big sign facing Pultar Road: It announces the future home of the Oaks at Rio Bend, then offers a rendering of the Promised Land. Little villas with dormer windows sit under a vivid blue sky; people walk into a chapel; flowers bloom.

Beyond the sign is nothing.

Not a villa, not a chapel, not a sewer pipe. Not even a clearing.

The weedy grasses have grown waist-high. The barbed wire that lines the property is rusty and mashed down in places. Someone has fired six BB-sized holes into the back of the sign; an empty Busch tall boy patrols the perimeter.

Press Release Version:

Reality Version:

The article is a massive five-page expose, have a look...

Ashcroft Transcript

This was an important hearing, the most damning yet in the wake of Abu Ghraib. There are a lot of good parts, and I would encourage one and all to go and do a find for "Leahy" on the page and read the Ranking Senator's opening remarks, as well as Sen. Durbin's exchange and especially Sen. Biden's. But for now I am going to paste a chunk of Leahy's key exchange in the body and extended entry; simply stunning, and certainly explains the Post's bizarre take this afternoon:

LEAHY: Mr. Attorney General, without -- and I know you have no intention of filibustering the answer, but could we go to my specific questions?

Did your department issue a memorandum that would suggest that torture is allowed under certain circumstances as the press has reported? And that's a simple enough question. It could take a yes- or-no answer.

ASHCROFT: Well, first of all, I'm not going to comment on the memos and advice that I give to executive departments of government...

LEAHY: But if you get...

ASHCROFT: ... but I will say this: that while the job is to explain the meaning of the statutes and to explain, in memos, the law, I want to confirm that the president has not directed or ordered any conduct that would violate the Constitution of the United States, that would violate any one of these enactments of the United States Congress or that would violate the provisions of any of the treaties as they have been entered into by the United States, the president, the administration and this government.

In case you don't have the patience to keep reading, I will inform you that Ashcroft simply did, in fact, filibuster the question with that exact phrasing for nearly ten minutes, and Leahy never got an answer. Take a moment to ponder the fact that when questioned about a memo that has been widely and accurately described as a "cookbook" for committing war crimes and technically getting away with it, Ashcroft regurgitated the above technical answer over and over like a broken robot.

Game Over. We want our country back.

Update: One more little tidbit from that exchange for our readers short on patience, just to give you a taste of how embarassing the filibuster got...

LEAHY: Does that mean because you don't know or you don't want to answer? I don't understand.

ASHCROFT: The answer to that question is yes.

Texas Tuesday

It's never too late to get on the Texas Tuesday beat.

Martin Frost

Profile:

In short, Frost will have to wade knee-deep into several red precincts and change some voters' minds to get them to vote for him. Its a task he's been handling as well as can be done, from most outward appearances.

Interviews:

BL: Tom DeLay and the Republican leaders in Austin targeted you from day one of the redistricting fight, and cut up the compact, majority-minority district 24 into about five or six districts. Why do you think that you were targeted, and what does it say about the Republican leadership when they split up the minority communities in Oak Cliff, south Dallas, Arlington and southeast Fort Worth?

MF: I have been an effective advocate for voters and have been willing to stand up to Tom DeLay when others ignored his extremism or actively avoided it. Tom DeLay fears independent thinkers and fighters. I am both.

Go help them help us.

Pelosi on Torture Memos

Washington, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on media reports that Bush Administration lawyers advised the White House in internal memos that the war on terrorism might justify torturing suspected terrorists:

"If these media reports are true, I call upon the President to disavow this legal advice immediately, and to make public the documents that contain it.

"Having served on the Intelligence Committee for 10 years, I know that the American people expect that their security at home and the safety of our troops overseas will be safeguarded by the best possible intelligence. However, Americans also expect that intelligence to be obtained in a manner consistent with the law.

"The notion that the law is whatever a President determines it to be is so contrary to our Constitution and our experience as a nation that President Bush should have rejected it out of hand. He must do so now, clearly and unequivocally.

"If other countries adopted the approach his lawyers recommended in one memo - that 'criminal statutes [do not] infring[e] on the President's ultimate authority' - it would put our troops at risk. Laws regulating the treatment of prisoners are necessary to protect our own soldiers, not just the rights of suspects."

How to Cover a Giant Lie

The Washington Post doesn't seem to know exactly how to cover Ashcroft's explanation of the memo /non-memo reported on earlier in today's Post. You see there is no memo. And he can't comment on it:

Attorney General John D. Ashcroft told Congress today that he would not release to members a 2002 policy memo on the degree of pain and suffering legally permitted during enemy interrogations, but he said he knows of no presidential order that would allow torture for al Qaeda captives.

Angry Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee called on Ashcroft to provide the document, saying leaked portions that have appeared in news reports suggest the Bush administration is reinterpreting U.S. law and the Geneva Conventions prohibiting torture.

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) said the memo on interrogation techniques permissible for the CIA to use "appears to be an effort to redefine torture and narrow prohibitions against it." The draft document was prepared by the Justice Department's office of legal policy for White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales.

"There is no presidential order immunizing torture," Ashcroft told the panel. Nor, he said, is there any other presidential order that contradicts President Bush's statement that al Qaeda captives should be treated in a manner consistent with the Geneva Conventions, even if the conventions do not apply to such prisoners.

Ashcroft said he would not discuss the contents of the memo and said he would not turn it over to the committee.

There is no such memo, and no he can't turn it over.

Ok, Just This Once

Remember last week when the GOP stepped in it by asking churches to work for Bush-Cheney (thereby sacrificing their claim to tax exempt status)? Well Ways & Means Chairman Bill Thomas has found a solution:

Republicans in the House of Representatives have quietly introduced a measure to make it easier for churches to support political candidates, just days after the Bush campaign came under fire from liberal groups for inviting church members to distribute campaign information at their houses of worship.

Representative Bill Thomas of California, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, added the measure to a much larger bill, introduced in the committee on Friday, that centers on revising certain corporate taxes. The provision, called Safe Harbor for Churches, would allow religious organizations a limited number of violations of the existing rules against political endorsements without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status.

[...]

"It looks suspicious," Daniel Maffei, communications director for the Democratic minority on the committee, said of Mr. Thomas's proposal.

The bill, now proceeding on a fast track, is scheduled to move from committee to presentation on the House floor next week. If passed in time for the election, Mr. Maffei said, it could invite "widespread abuse" by religious leaders using their positions to support favorite candidates.

The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the timing "simply reeks to high heaven, literally."

Bills from the future: You can out a CIA agent for revenge, but just once! You can swindle Congress into accepting a sham $534 billion Medicare bill, but you will only get "a limited number of violations." You can cheat the taxpayers out of tens of millions of dollars on contracts in Iraq, but only ten to twelve times, and only if your boss (I mean former boss) is the Vice President.

Bill Thomas, Team DeLay.

This Man Will Not Hold Hearings

Duncan Hunter, GOP Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and loyal member of Team DeLay:

Congress should do more to investigate the abuse of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison rather than let the military probe itself, members of Congress in both parties say.

[but not that guy ^]

Democrats have been most vocal in calling for more hearings, especially in the House of Representatives. But they're joined by some Republicans who say Congress has been slow to respond since the scandal broke in April.

"Our oversight has to take place in front of the American people and the people of the world," says Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., a former Air Force officer who is on the House Armed Services Committee. "What's been going on in private briefings should go on in sunlight. Sunlight is the best disinfectant."

Congress has a "very specific obligation to look into these issues," says Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., a former Army intelligence officer and CIA spy.

...The House Armed Services Committee, chaired by California Republican Duncan Hunter, has devoted one public hearing to the subject. No more are scheduled. Hunter calls that an "appropriate amount of time" and says his main job is to take care of troops.

Hunter's approach contrasts with his counterpart in the Senate, John Warner of Virginia...

GOP Schism Scorecard:

Team John McCain
Sens. McCain, Hagel, Lugar, Graham (?), Warner (?)
Reps. Simmons, Wilson, umm...
Relevant quote: "All we are called upon to do is to not spend our nation into bankruptcy while our soldiers risk their lives. I fondly remember a time when real Republicans stood for fiscal responsibility." (McCain)

Team Tom DeLay
Everybody else
(Subcaptains Inhofe, Hunter, Hastert)
Relevant quote: "If you want to see sacrifice, John McCain ought to visit our young men and women at Walter Reed [Army Medical Center] and Bethesda [Naval Hospital]. There's the sacrifice in this country." (Hastert)

A question to the group: which team is Bush on?

That's What I Call Profiteering!

Knight Ridder:

A dozen current and former truck drivers for a Halliburton Inc. subsidiary said they were directed to drive empty flatbed trucks crisscrossing Iraq more than 100 times this year, putting themselves and military escorts at risk for no apparent purpose.

The truckers, who regularly made the 300-mile resupply run from Camp Cedar in southern Iraq to Camp Anaconda near Baghdad, told Knight Ridder newspapers that their employer charged the government for hauling what the truckers derisively called "sailboat fuel."

"It was one thing to risk your life to haul things the military needed. It's another to haul empty trailers," said David Wilson, a southwest Florida truck driver who had commanded 100 of the Iraqi truck convoys for the Halliburton subsidiary.

This blog post has not been coordinated with the Vice President's office.

Not What Bush Had in Mind

Poor Schools Sue for Funding
Washington Post - June 7, 2004

Giant poster boards filled with data from standardized tests dominate the courtroom where attorneys for some of the poorest school districts in South Carolina are suing the state legislature for billions of dollars in education funds.

...The scene in the South Carolina courtroom has become common across the United States as lawyers use data generated by the drive for higher standards in education as the basis for class-action lawsuits seeking more funding for poorer school districts. According to experts who track the lawsuits, half the states in the country are now involved in litigation over education funding.

Similar lawsuits arguing for education equity between rich and poor districts were filed frequently in the 1980s. The more recent lawsuits, which seek sufficient funding for poor districts rather than parity with affluent ones, have been fueled, in part, by the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind initiative, which is designed to make every child in the country proficient in math and reading by 2014. Many poor school districts that fail to meet the targets established by the law have gone to court to argue that they lack the resources to compete with their richer neighbors.

Compassion.

Cud

From CQ WEEKLY - EMPLOYMENT & LABOR (June 5, 2004):

House Into Summer Reruns With GOP's Procedural Gambit

Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., the minority whip, dismisses the current House Republican agenda as "cud," the regurgitated food that cows chew a second time. More politely, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., calls it "warmed-over stew."

At the very least, House floor action the week of May 31 had an unmistakable air of summer reruns...

Democrats responded to the GOP tactic by reviving one of their top labor priorities, using the floor debate on the re-employment accounts to propose extending supplemental benefits for jobless workers who have exhausted their customary 26 weeks of state aid.

[...]

House Republicans have passed three such packages in the last month. The bundling of similarly themed bills has become so common that GOP aides refer to it as "MIRV-ing," after the military abbreviation for multiple-warhead nuclear missiles.

But the tactic mystifies and increasingly annoys House Democrats. They note that the Senate has yet to act on any of the House-passed bills, before or after they were combined.

Democrats contend that the rules bundling the bills stifle debate. And they say the pattern of revisiting old proposals wastes floor time that could be better spent considering new bills.

"I think they've run out of ideas, I think they've run out of gas, I think they've run out of initiatives," said Rep. Robert Menendez, of New Jersey, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. "Their way is to regurgitate that which we have already passed, but not achieve legislative success. [The strategy] is the equivalent of trying to sit on the ball at the end of the game and hope you win."

Update: Meant to link to this before, but Upper Left links to a good TAP article on Steny Hoyer as well:

The gist of what he has to say in his weekly meeting with reporters? John Kerry is going to be president, Nancy Pelosi is going to be speaker, and Tom DeLay is going to have to deal with a Majority Leader Hoyer. Those are not Hoyer’s exact words -- “My own view is that John Kerry is going to win this election” is all he’ll say -- but they are the true sentiments among Hill Democrats who are beginning to feel invincible, like they have just hopped up on the mother of all political waves and that it is going to take them all the way to victory in November.

Thanks, Digby

Digby finds us a new campaign slogan:

''It's quite clear to me that we do not have a coherent approach to this,'' Rumsfeld said at an international security conference.

Consider this added to the list.

Thanks to Wa Po as well, who seem to have fallen off the bandwagon for good:

THE ONLY WAY to staunch the continuing damage of the prisoner abuse scandal is for the Bush administration to fully document and publicly report on the dozens of cases of homicide and physical abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan, prosecute all those directly responsible, and hold accountable the senior military and civilian officers whose decisions and policies led to the lawlessness. President Bush should meanwhile rewrite prisoner interrogation policies so that they conform to U.S. and international law and should publish the revised procedures so that Americans, and the world, can be assured of their propriety.

For now, there is little reason to hope for such essential corrective actions. On the contrary: There is disturbing evidence that senior U.S. military commanders ignored or covered up serious crimes against prisoners, including homicides, until the disclosure of shocking photographs from the Abu Ghraib prison forced them to act, and that even now the Pentagon's intent is to restrict charges to a small number of mostly low-ranking soldiers and resist all scrutiny of senior commanders and policies. Mr. Bush, for his part, continues to damage his credibility and America's global prestige by insisting that the trouble concerns only a handful of soldiers at one prison in Iraq -- though more than 100 cases of misconduct in Iraq and Afghanistan have now been reported -- and to ignore the need to correct his policies.

...Since the administration is unwilling to undertake such a review, Congress must act. Under the leadership of Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), the Senate Armed Services Committee has made a start at this, and Mr. Warner has promised more public hearings. But a means is needed to draw conclusions, hold officials accountable and take corrective action -- including the rewriting and disclosure of interrogation policies. Even as the committee's probe continues, Mr. Warner and other congressional leaders should consider how those tasks can be accomplished.

DTripTV makes AP

Ta ha:

Want to vote a Republican off the island? How about all of them? If so, House Democrats are here to help with a new Web-based cartoon program, Republican Survivor.

...Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia makes a late appearance as the "immunity fairy," whose function is to designate contestants who can't be voted off the island.

The cartoon moderator, no friend of any of them, says the overall instructions are to "lie, cheat, steal, coddle, cuddle and pander. In other words, do what comes naturally to you."

Suffice it to say the cartoon images are no more flattering to the GOP survivor crew than the dialogue.

In the first Webisode, Bush and Ashcroft are captains of two teams directed to play a game of "Capture the Flag." In reality it's paintball, played with automatic weapons. Ashcroft's team loses, and either he, DeLay or Coulter must be voted off the island.

Next one out Thursday, get caught up!

Guest Post: Stephanie Herseth

In this our second installment on the Herseth rally (Part I here), allow us to introduce guest blogger and America's newest Congresswoman, Stephanie Herseth:

"I just want to say again how much I appreciate all the efforts of those of you who ventured out to SoDak, survived the weather and helped us achieve victory two nights ago! I also want to send a special word of thanks to those bloggers who helped raise awareness for my campaign and make it a success. I can't thank you all enough for being part of making history in South Dakota, and I will work hard every day to meet the high expectations I hope you have of me in representing our generation of Democrats! "
-Stephanie Herseth

In addition, we got guest contributions from about a dozen of our volunteers, all of which are in the extended entry, but here are two samples (safe to say all of them would encourage you to plug into our campaign and get alerts for volunteer opportunities down the line at www.SpeakerPelosi.com):

Charles “Chuck” Mullins, 55
I had a blast in KY in February and had even more fun in SD this weekend. I enjoyed the beauty of the SD countryside and meeting the SD Dems. But most of all I enjoyed the companionship of my group and the excitement of working with other Dems to elect a truly inspiring person. Today, we elected a Congresswoman. Tomorrow, we chop down a “shrub” and send him back to Texas. Com’on Dems, let’s get busy and get to work. We can change this government with hard work and put this country back on course.

Vivek Koppikar
26, Dept. of Commerce employee
I have never seen so much energy as I have this weekend. Over 800 Democrats of all races and ages as well as from all 50 states were their to reclaim the only House seat in this state. Although we were different we defined ourselves by our unity—our determination to take back the House for the Democrats. By winning this election we will certainly do well in November. South Dakota is one of the most conservative states but being here this weekend showed me that the Democrats enjoy widespread support and if they can do well in South Dakota I am convinced they will do well in all 50 states this November.

Rally for Herseth

We had a rabble-rousing rally here at DNHQ for Herseth and the SD volunteers last night, with Chairman Matsui and Leader Pelosi in attendance. We're splitting this up into two posts, and you can see Stephanie's guest post along with guest contributions from our volunteers here. But here are a few pictures and some inspiring words from our illustrious Leadership and Herseth's speech:

Pelosi

“Celebration time is here....Thank you for turning a red state blue.”

“There is no election in my view, that can be won without the GR. The winner is the side that owns the ground, and you owned the ground.”

“Stephanie… will bring the values of the Heartland to the Congress as a voice for her generation, for your generation.”

“You brought us one vote closer to a Dem majority, one vote closer to a woman Speaker of the House.”

“There is a psychological warfare that is going on in this arena, and this was a moralizing victory for us, a demoralizing defeat for them.”

“I want to pay tribute to the man with a plan, our distinguished Chairman, Robert Matsui.”

“Stephanie... will make her own mark on the Congress, her own mark on the country.”

Matsui

“When Nancy Pelosi took over I can’t tell you how fractured our caucus was, and the moment she took over she brought us together…as a result of that the Democrats, as you all know, are poised to take the House back this November.”

“I talked to Jim Bonham at about 3:00 in the afternoon and he said that as of noon you had knocked on 70,000 doors, and by the election you had gone to 150,000 households! You made the difference, and you broke the back of the Republican House today.”

“It gives me great pleasure to introduce the Representative for the state of SD, a member of the Agriculture Committee…someone who will make us all proud to be Americans, Stephanie Herseth.”

Herseth

“I kept my composure until now, and I just lost it, I think because of what Leader Pelosi and Bob Matsui said, that this is ‘our generation,’ and this is our generation!”

“We only won because of your efforts. The other side may be putting their spin on the out come. But we got the win...This was a state that had not elected a woman until 2 nights ago.”

“I want you to have high expectations of me, and I look forward to working hard every day to meet those expectations.”

“This one-two punch [of Ben Chandler and myself] sets the stage for November in this Campaign for a New Majority, so in November I can call my Senior Senator the Senate Leader, and this woman here the Speaker of the House.”

Ken Lay for Energy Secretary!

CBS News:

When a forest fire shut down a major transmission line into California, cutting power supplies and raising prices, Enron energy traders celebrated, CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales reports.

"Burn, baby, burn. That's a beautiful thing," a trader sang about the massive fire.

Four years after California's disastrous experiment with energy deregulation, Enron energy traders can be heard – on audiotapes obtained by CBS News – gloating and praising each other as they helped bring on, and cash-in on, the Western power crisis.

Later, same story:

Before the 2000 election, Enron employees pondered the possibilities of a Bush win.

"It'd be great. I'd love to see Ken Lay Secretary of Energy," says one Enron worker.

That didn't happen, but they were sure President Bush would fight any limits on sky-high energy prices.

"When this election comes Bush will f------g whack this s--t, man. He won't play this price-cap b------t."

Crude, but true.

"We will not take any action that makes California's problems worse and that's why I oppose price caps," said Mr. Bush on May 29, 2001.

Both the Justice Department and Enron tried to prevent the release of these tapes. Enron's lawyers argued they merely prove "that people at Enron sometimes talked like Barnacle Bill the Sailor."

Thanks, Ashcroft! One question, though: under your watch, has the Department of Justice ever actually been used for, um, Justice?

(Video at top left in the link.)

Update: Seeing the Forest has one of the Enron tapes transcribers posting, go see...

Republican Survivor

First "webisode" up, Go!

(...Ouch)

Update: Go to DtripTV.com and click on Ashcroft's profile to hear him sing a beautiful song that he wrote (really, no satire).

Source: GridlockMag.com

Burnt Orange on Herseth

Andrew D finds a good piece in the Nation and adds some insight of his own.

PAYGO Flippity Floppity

Now:

"The moderates need to read the Republican philosophy... What we believe is you don't have paygo for tax cuts."
- Majority Leader Tom DeLay, May 18, 2004

Then:

"[Former New York Congressman] Jack Kemp worships at the altar of tax cuts. Jack has always said that deficits don’t matter. We think that deficits do matter.”
- Majority Leader Tom DeLay, 1997

"I rise in support of this legislation that finally balances our Federal budget. It is about time. I have waited my entire adult life for it."
- Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Congressional Record, July 30, 1997, regarding the Balanced Budget Act which included PAYGO

Update: Priorities and "the altar of tax cuts"...

They have tried sweet-talk and dire warnings, insults and bluffing tactics. None of it has worked, which is why a growing number of Republicans are beginning to despair about agreeing on a budget plan for next year.

Embarrassing as that would be for the party that controls both houses of Congress, many Republicans are concluding they would be better off with no budget plan than with one that would require them to pay the cost of permanently extending last year's tax cuts.

Emphasis added, despicability inherent.

Boogy

Via Reuters (click for full size), via Froomkin.

..Steady "gettin down" in times of change...