House Page Board looking into "allegations" about another member

Well this sure is interesting. The news of discussion about possible page misconduct by a second member of Congress comes via Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI) who is a member of the House Page Board. Kildee was never told about the Foley problem despite his position on the Page Board. Obviously, he's been told about the second alleged offender:

A U.S. congressional board which oversees a Capitol Hill internship program rocked by a sex scandal, discussed allegations on Monday involving a second lawmaker, said Rep. Dale Kildee, a Michigan Democrat.

Kildee made the comment as he emerged from a closed-door meeting of a House ethics committee, which has been focused on the case of former Republican Rep. Mark Foley of Florida, who resigned last month following disclosure he sent inappropriate electronic messages to male teenage interns, known as pages.

"It's only been allegations made," Kildee told reporters of the House page board's discussion about a second lawmaker, who he declined to identify.

I imagine we haven't heard the last of this. The Reuters article did mention that Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) is currently under federal investigation for a camping trip he took with pages in 1996. Read More......

Curt Weldon -- unethical and delusional

Today, the FBI raided the homes and businesses of Congressman Curt Weldon's daughter and one of his close friends:

The FBI raided the homes of Rep. Curt Weldon's daughter and a close friend Monday in an investigation of whether the congressman improperly helped the pair win lobbying and consulting contracts.

Agents searched four locations in the Philadelphia area and two in Jacksonville, Fla., said Debbie Weierman, an FBI spokeswoman in Washington. The congressman's home and his offices were not among the locations searched, she said.

Hat tip to Stephen Morse from the Daily Pennsylvanian's opinion blog, The Spin, for capturing Congressman Weldon on camera in full delusional mode. See, it's everyone else's fault that he's under investigation by the FBI -- and literally, he throws almost everybody in to the plot against him:


It's always someone else's fault with these Republicans. None of them take any responsibility for their behavior. Weldon's in good company with Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney. Read More......

Is there a Rove/Mehlman power struggle for control of the GOP campaign operation?

Today's New York Times article about the GOP firewall set off a firestorm.

RNC Chair Ken Mehlman convened a "hastily arranged" conference call this morning to assert his authority over the campaign plan. And, Stuart Rothenberg reports via Political Wire that the RNC will be spending money on DeWine's race.

So, who said the GOP is pulling out of Ohio? It had to be someone very high ranking for Nagourney to write that article. This has Karl Rove's fingerprints all over it. Could there be a power struggle between Rove and his protege, Mehlman?

Here's what we heard from a very reliable source: Rove was on a plane from Cincinnati to DC last night. Interesting because we're told that Rove wasn't placed at any public events in Ohio that day. Was his purpose for being in Ohio to pull the plug on the DeWine campaign? Also, remember the Washington Post article from the weekend where top GOP operatives were saying that Bush and Rove were delusional about the elections. Is Rove trying to prove he's actually got his finger on the pulse.

If so, that puts Rove at odds with Kenny. And, it would explain why Mehlman felt the need to show his manhood today.

Let's not forget that Mehlman has his own bad press to deal with. Kenny got slammed hard yesterday in the LA Times for his very close (closer than previously admitted) relationship with Abramoff. That has got to have him distracted. He sure looked that way on CNN yesterday.

The GOP is clearly a mess. The Republican Senatorial campaign is a disaster. Bush is delusional. Now, it looks like they may be having their own civil war.

UPDATE: Political Wire reports Nagourney and VandeHei from the Washington Post were on the News Hour tonight and both stand by the story that the GOP is pulling out of Ohio. So the plot thickens. Read More......

Evangelical Christians are "disgusted" by Condi rice

Well this is getting fun. The religious right is, predictably, freaking out that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week swore in the new AIDS Czar and referred to his partner's mother as his "mother in law." Naturally, America's hate groups swung into action in order to bash Rice and gays.

First the gay-bashing from the religious right hate group the Family Research Council:

"We have to face the fact that putting a homosexual in charge of AIDS policy is a bit like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse."

Gee, that's funny. Bashing a fag and people with AIDS in the same breath - can the n-word jokes be far behind?

As for Condi Rice, the article goes on to point out that the hate groups were profoundly offended that she treated the gay man with respect, and they were offended, apparently, that gay people were permitted to touch Bibles. (Which is ironic, because I'm offended that religious right pseudo-Christians are allowed to touch Bibles.)

In any case, the religious right is finally figuring out that gay Republicans are in the highest positions of power in the GOP. Duh. Read More......

Froomkin's column today: Bush in a snit

Now, I love Froomkin, but he outdoes himself today. Actually, Bush outdoes himself, Froomkin puts it in to context. Definitely worth a read:

The notion that President Bush is not just in denial -- but is petulantly in denial -- is taking on greater credence thanks to two recent Washington Post stories.

One describes Bush's seemingly inexplicable confidence that Republicans will maintain control of both houses of Congress in the upcoming elections. He doesn't even seem to have a backup plan.

The other describes Bush's growing penchant for calling events on the world stage that he doesn't like "unacceptable" -- an awfully strong formulation in diplomatic circles -- even as his ability to affect those events continues to wither away.

Read More......

White House is clueless about Iraq. They don't know if we are winning, but "we're making progress" still

The White House spokesperson doesn't know if we are winning, but he says "we're making progress." What does that mean? No wonder 64% of Americans disapprove of the war in Iraq according to CNN's latest poll.

Think Progress has the transcript of Tony Snow's inability to answer a very simple question:

QUESTION: Just a simple question: Are we winning?

SNOW: We’re making progress. I don’t know. How do you define winning?

The fact is, in taking on the war on terror — no, let me put it this way: The president’s made it obvious we’re going to win. And that means ultimately providing an Iraq that is safe, secure and an ally in the war on terror. And at any given time, as you’ve seen in previous wars, there are going to be spikes in violence.

The voice of the White House doesn't know if we're winning and he doesn't know how to define winning. The White House issued a "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq" back in November of 2005.

At the start of the Situation Room today, Wolf Blitzer talked about "fresh carnage in Iraq part of a four-day rampage that the government seems powerless to stop." That doesn't sound like progress. Doesn't sound like we're winning either.

The White House is clueless about the Bush's war. It's a quagmire with no end in sight. No wonder Bush's approval rating continues to drop. In CNN's poll, it's at 36% -- disapproval at 61% which Schneider called his "worst rating ever." The approval rating has dropped 3 points in a week. Read More......

Bush's White House says it would never snub a congressman simply for being gay

That's because George Bush's White House loves gay Republicans in private, all the while they play anti-gay in public. Just another example of how gullible the religious right has been in thinking the Republicans were ever serious about embracing their nutty agenda. The party is filled with gays, everybody knows it, and nobody cares. Read More......

Key Iraqi commander killed

When I worked on Iraq, and especially when I was in Baghdad, the stories and reports about Iraqi army and police forces were often dispiriting. Infiltration by militias, corruption, and lack of training and ability were the hallmark of most of these forces, and it was hard to believe they'd ever be able to take responsibility for their country.

The one consistent exception to this drumbeat of bad news was Hilla SWAT, a unit of about 800 Interior Ministry forces (which technically made them police, rather than army) based in the southern city of Hilla and operating everywhere from the Sunni suburbs of Baghdad to the Shia-dominated southern areas. Hilla SWAT, also known as the Scorpion Brigade, consistently transcended sectarian lines in their pursuit of outlaws, and their young and charismatic leader, Col. Salam al-Mamuri, actually backed up his declarations of independence and fairness with his actions. Iraq needs more leaders like Col. Mamuri, and although Hilla SWAT was occasionally overzealous, few people would accuse them of sectarian bias.

Col. Mamuri was assassinated Friday, killed by a bomb in his office likely placed by a fellow Shia who felt he was being too evenhanded.

Because of its makeup and the fact that it fought al-Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni-led insurgent groups, Hilla SWAT swiftly earned a reputation as a feared anti-Sunni force. It was heavily involved in the operations around Yusufiyah in April and May that led to the capture of several top al-Qaeda lieutenants and, the military later said, the eventual killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

But the unit cracked down as fiercely on Shiite militias, which Mamuri blamed this spring for what by then amounted to at least a half-dozen attempts to assassinate him. He barred militia members from serving in his brigade, despite intense political pressure from the provincial governor, who Mamuri said repeatedly pressured him to accept more militia members into his ranks.

"The militias consider us the only thing preventing them from completely taking over the south," Mamuri said in the spring interview. "They are bad for the country." Mamuri rejected the idea of giving up in the face of the assassination attempts. "You can get killed in Iraq even if you sit all day in your house," he said. "What should I do, sit around and wait to die, or try to stop the people who are killing?"

Iraq needs more leaders like this . . . but today, it has one fewer. Read More......

Harry Reid disarms smear campaign, exceeds ethical requirements

Knowing that there is a very good chance that Harry Reid will be the Senate Majority Leader in a matter of weeks, the GOP and their friends in the media have launched a massive smear campaign against him. They're finding alleged issues that no one can understand to besmirch the Senator from Nevada.

Reid, however, is not one to sit back and let it happen. He's taking pre-emptive action to disarm his opponents by going above and beyond ethical requirements. Compare that to the current crop of truly unethical GOP leaders from Bill "my blind trust isn't blind" Frist to Mitch "thuggish fundraiser" McConnell to Denny "cover-up for predators" Hastert. And don't forget DeLay, Cunningham, Ney and Weldon. While Republicans try to hide their misdeeds by smearing their opponents, Harry Reid makes it clear he has nothing to hide.

The GOP doesn't know how to deal with Harry Reid. He knows how to outsmart them -- that's why they are panicked Reid is going to be Majority Leader. Reid's statement:

“Last month, Republicans openly boasted that they would engage in a campaign of personal attacks and smears to hold onto power in Washington. In recent days, we witnessed their latest attempt to do just that.

“Republicans may believe in cover-ups. I believe in ensuring all facts come to light.

“Last week, a highly misleading report by the Associated Press implied that I made a profit selling land I no longer owned. That article was wrong. Here are the facts: I bought the land in 1998, I sold it in 2004, and I listed my ownership of the land on official Senate disclosure forms every single year.

“Now I have taken an additional step. Today, I directed my staff to file amended financial disclosure forms noting that in 2001, I transferred title to the land to a Limited Liability Corporation. As the amended forms make clear, this routine legal move in no way altered my actual ownership of the land. On each disclosure form after 2001, I have added a note to clarify that the land already disclosed in detail on those forms was owned by me through the LLC.

“The Ethics Committee has not yet advised me whether I should file these amended forms, but even if I am not required to do so I am happy to go beyond what is needed to provide the fullest disclosure. The amended forms make clear what was true all along – I owned the land through the LLC when I sold it in 2004.

“Also, in the course of preparing the amended disclosure forms, my staff has identified some clerical errors and two minor matters that were inadvertently left off my original disclosure forms. First, in 2004 I sold about one third of an acre in my hometown of Searchlight. Second, a quarter acre of land that I received from my brother in 1985 appreciated in value above the $1,000 reporting threshold at some point in recent years. Both of these items will be listed on my amended disclosure forms.

“Finally, I have acted today to respond to another issue some plan to raise. I have sent a personal check in the amount of $3,300 to my political campaign to fully reimburse the campaign for donations it made over several years to the employee holiday fund in my apartment building. These donations were made to thank the men and women who work in the building for the extra work they do as a result of my political activities, and for helping the security officers assigned to me because of my Senate position. The donations came from my campaign – no taxpayer dollars were ever involved.

“When the campaign first donated to the holiday fund, its experienced lawyer William Oldaker advised us that such donations were permissible. The campaign's current lawyer, Marc Elias, says the same thing. Nonetheless, I am reimbursing the campaign from my own pocket to prevent this issue from being used in the current campaign season to deflect attention from Republican failures.”

Read More......

Lamont/Lieberman debate today at 1 PM EST

You can watch the debate here. It's also on C-SPAN.

Paul Krugman nailed it as he usually does:

O.K., what about the Senate race in Connecticut, where Ned Lamont is the Democratic nominee, and Mr. Lieberman, who lost the Democratic primary, is running as an independent but promising to caucus with the Democrats if he wins? Is this a case where the man, not the party, is what matters? Only if you believe that Mr. Lieberman’s promise not to switch parties is 100 percent credible.

Does anyone believe Joe?

UPDATE: After this debate, Joe better watch his Republican flank. Not sure what I expected from Alan Schlesinger, but he came across as credible (you know, as Republicans go).

Lieberman really is one of the most sanctimonious pols around.

Lamont definitely looked Senatorial. I thought he was good.

The debate repeats at 7 p.m. in Connecticut. Read More......

Romney leads the gay-bashing at Family Research Council forum

Mitt Romney is real working on burnishing his theocratic credentials. Nothing like a pre-election gay-bashing frenzy to get the right wing all worked up. Of course, the wingers are freaked out because now they all know that their party, the GOP, is crawling with homos -- from the White House to the House and Senate to the RNC. They're all filled with gays in prominent positions.

Towleroad has the details of the hate-filled event. Read More......

Momentum: The expanding field in the House

The DCCC continues to expand the list of races that are in play. Yes, expand the list. This is the time of year when the list of races in play tends to shrink. That's true for the GOP as the post below shows. But it's not true for the Democrats this year. Now is the time to give a major Hat Tip to Chris Bowers at MyDD who has been saying since November 2004 that Democrats need to run candidates in every single district. 2006 is the manifestation of why that is critical.

The DCCC has two lists going. Red to Blue are the top targets. They've added two "waves" to their original targets.

I love the Emerging races list which "is made up of candidates who have taken traditionally non-competitive districts and, through the strength of their campaigns, put themselves in a position to win in November." Take a look at these candidates, the districts and the opponents. These races have some of the nasty, seemingly safest, GOP members of Congress. It's amazing that these races are in play, but they are.

Now is the time to redouble our efforts. If you live in a target state of district, you're already volunteering, right? If not, pick the district of one of your least favorite members (Musgrave? Reynolds? Schmidt?) and do something for those campaigns.

You can always volunteer for MoveOn's Call for Change. With them, you can call from home in to target districts.

The DCCC added five more candidates to this list today. It's actually inspiring to see the whole list -- these candidates are really, truly on the front lines:

Jason Altmire (PA-04) running against Melissa Hart.

Charlie Brown (CA-04) running against John Doolittle.

Francine Busby (CA-50) running against Brian Bilbray (again).

Jack Davis (NY-26) running against NRCC Chair Tom Reynolds.

Jay Fawcett (CO-O5) running for an open seat against Doug Lamborn.

Judy Feder (VA-10) running against Frank Wolf.

Larry Grant (ID-01) running for an open seat against Bill Sali.

Peter Goldmark (WA-05) running against Cathy McMorris.

John Hall (NY-19) running against Sue Kelly.

Dr. Tom Hayhurst (IN-03) running against Mark Souder.

Larry Kissell (NC-08) running against Robin Hayes.

Scott Kleeb (NE-03) running for an open seat against Adrian Smith.

Eric Massa (NY-29) running against Randy Kuhl.

Jerry McNerney (CA-11) running against Richard Pombo.

Dave Mejias (NY-03) running against Peter King.

Maxine Moul (NE-01) running against Jeffrey Fortenberry.

Dan Seals (IL-10) running against Mark Kirk.

Bob Shamansky (OH-12) running against Pat Tiberi.

Ellen Simon (AZ-01) running against Richard Renzi.

Charlie Stuart (FL-08) running against Ric Keller.

Tim Walz (MN-01) running against Gil Gutknecht.

Victoria Wulsin (OH-02) running against Mean Jean Schmidt.

John Yarmuth (KY-03) running against Anne Northup.

Read More......

The GOP Firewall strategy is going up in flames

BUMPED: Posted this last night, want to make sure it's not missed.

Just Friday, Time Magazine reported on the Republican's firewall strategy for the Senate. The GOP was pouring money in to three states -- Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee -- to stop a Democratic takeover of the Senate:

"The Senate's a top priority, and you'll see a tremendous amount of resources garnered to protect the majority there," says one G.O.P. strategist familiar with the party's planning. Says a Democratic strategist, "More attention than ever is being directed to the Senate races."

In what it is privately calling it's "firewall" strategy, the Republican National Committee has recently spent close to $4 million in three crucial Senate races — Ohio, Missouri and Tennessee — in the hope of holding Democratic gains to a maximum of five seats. No new RNC money has gone to House races during that time.

Looks like the Democratic surge has burned through the firewall. Cross Ohio off the list. The GOP is giving up on Mike DeWine:

At the start of the fall campaign, national Republican leaders developed a strategy to pour most of the national money into three states — Ohio, Tennessee and Missouri — to create a firewall against a Democratic takeover. One Republican Party official said Mr. DeWine’s continued problems in Ohio had convinced them to in effect rebuild a firewall that has now partly collapsed, and to find a state to replace it.

The decision about Mr. DeWine’s seat came after recent internal polls showed Mr. DeWine’s Democratic challenger, Representative Brown, jumping to a large lead. Mr. Brown’s surge came despite a barrage of Republican advertisements intended to portray him as weak on national security — the very line of attack that had given party officials confidence earlier this year that Mr. DeWine would be re-elected.

Normally, a party would be averse to scaling back its help for senator in a state with as many as five competitive Congressional races also on the ballot. But in this case, Ohio Republicans said, Mr. DeWine and Republican Congressional candidates face the added problem of being dragged down this November by the party’s candidate for governor, J. Kenneth Blackwell, who polls show is facing a double-digit loss to the Democrat, Representative Ted Strickland.

Apparently, Virginia is the new Ohio for the GOP. And, as the Washington Post poll showed today, that race is dead even. Read More......

Bush White House reportedly worked in support of sexual slavery in Asia as favor to Jack Abramoff

Remember how just two years ago George Bush claimed he wanted to put a stop to human trafficking - i.e., women being forced into sexual slavery?

Then why was the Bush administration's premiere advocate for stopping such sexual slavery forced out of his job a while back?

According to the Sunday Los Angeles Times, he was fired because convicted criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff was representing one of the countries that most profits from sexual slavery and human trafficking, the Northern Mariana Islands. Abramoff wanted this Bush administration official fired because the official's anti-human-trafficking agenda - now George Bush's agenda - posed a direct threat to Abramoff's pro-sex-slave client.

But Jack Abramoff doesn't have the power to fire a Bush administration official - all he can do is ask. Someone inside the Bush administration had to do Abramoff's dirty work and fire the official on behalf of Abramoff and his client. According to the Los Angeles Times, that someone was former senior Bush White House official, and now head of the Republican party, Ken Mehlman.

One of George Bush's top aides, the man who ran Bush's re-election campaign, and the man who thanks to George Bush now runs the Republican party, is also reportedly the man who fired a top Bush official in charge of stopping the international human sex slave trade because Jack Abramoff's clients like sex slaves.

George Bush, Ken Mehlman, and the entire Republican party have made a mockery of religious conservatives, and family values. And more importantly, religious conservatives have made a mockery of themselves and their God. If this is what it means to be a conservative Christian, to elect people who constantly stab you, and your faith, in the back, then it's no wonder Karl Rove's office reportedly thinks these people are nuts.

After all, isn't that the definition of insanity: voting for the same people, who are making the same broken promises, again and again and again, while expecting a different result each time? Read More......

Monday Morning Open Thread

Ugh...it's only Monday morning and I'm already running late.

Start threading the news... Read More......

UK wants students to spy on "Asian-looking" and Muslim students

The UK tends to be one of the better countries in Europe for integration and acceptance of other cultures which probably explains why this new government program is receiving such a cool response. What were they thinking?

Lecturers and staff at British universities will be asked to spy on "Asian-looking" and Muslim students they suspect of supporting terrorist acts and involvement in Islamic extremism, The Guardian reported.

Read More......

San Francisco days, San Francisco nights

Click photos to see larger image. Read More......