Open thread

Put the candle back. Read the rest of this post...

Miers became an ardent pro-life Republican in 1979, she then gave $1000 bucks to Al Gore and the DNC in 1988, and sucked up to gays in 1989

Uh huh. Sure she dropped her Democratic ties in 1979 when she became born again. That's why she continued to suck up to the Dems and Democratic causes for ten more years, including maxing out her donation to Al Gore's presidential campaign. I'm sure Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Gary Bauer and the men at the Concerned Women for America all have similar records of sucking up to gays and giving lots of money to Democrats. It's what really far-right conservative evangelical Christians do.

Also note how this article, like a number of articles today, make note of her possibly having, kind of sort of, maybe, you know, just maybe, actually once might have had a date with a man, like, 30 years ago.

This is the third article I've read today in which some guy gratuitously throws in how he and Harriet kind of sort of maybe had a date decades ago.

Protesth too much-ing? Read the rest of this post...

Harriet Miers gay questionnaire story now TOP story on CNN.com

Wow, it's a big mother of a story. And you heard about it here first :-) (And let's not forget that kudos go the Human Rights Campaign for actually getting the original questionnaire document, they then provided it to us.)

Here's CNN's home page, also captured below, and here's the CNN story.

Read the rest of this post...

Ronald Reagan caused September 11, says Dick Cheney

Well, that's certainly one way to change the focus of the news away from your lousy Supreme Court nominee and your corrupt party. But blaming Ronnie for 9/11? Wow.

The Bush administration will aggressively pursue terrorism in Iraq and on "every other front," Vice President Cheney said Monday, asserting that the United States is now paying the price for two decades of weak responses to terrorist attacks.

Addressing Marines who have just returned from Iraq, Cheney said the failure of both Republican and Democratic administrations to retaliate decisively after terrorism incidents during the 1980s and 1990s led directly to the atrocities of Sept. 11, 2001....

The vice president highlighted seven occasions when he said he felt the United States did not hit back strongly enough. The first -- the 1983 bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 Americans -- resulted in U.S. troops being withdrawn from the city by the Reagan administration. Many of those killed came from Camp Lejeune, members of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment.

And actually, this isn't the first time. Bush and his administration have been publicly blasting Reagan for causing 9/11 for months now. Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan finally blasted back about a month ago, supremely ticked off that Bush was blaming Ronnie for 9/11.

I suspect if you asked the average conservative today who represents REAL conservatism, George Bush or Ronald Reagan - well, let's just say I don't think it'd be much of a competition. Read the rest of this post...

Why does Bill Frist hate the war on terror?

Bill Frist is holding up the Defense Authorization bill for the first time in 40 years, and during war time, no less, simply because he wants to make sure the Pentagon can keep illegally torturing women and children. And this man wants to run for president as the Bible candidate.

Who would Jesus torture? Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Anything new? Read the rest of this post...

Ten people dead as mystery virus hits Toronto home

Hallowed are the Ori.

Ten people have died from a mystery viral outbreak at a Toronto nursing home and another 40 are in hospital, public health officials said on Tuesday as they raced to contact anyone who visited the home recently.

Read the rest of this post...

Bush proposes martial law to deal with possible flu epidemic

Great idea, Comrade. I think this commander-in-chief thing has gone to someone's head.

From AP:

President Bush, stirring debate on the worrisome possibility of a bird flu pandemic, suggested dispatching American troops to enforce quarantines in any areas with outbreaks of the killer virus....

Dr. Irwin Redlener, associate dean of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and director of its National Center for Disaster Preparedness, called the president's suggestion an "extraordinarily draconian measure" that would be unnecessary if the nation had built the capability for rapid vaccine production, ensured a large supply of anti-virals like Tamiflu, and not allowed the degradation of the public health system.

"The translation of this is martial law in the United States," Redlener said.

Read the rest of this post...

Miers was acting all liberal AFTER she was already evangelical

AP has a story on the "Harriet Miers ♥ homos" story. The newsy part of the AP story is this:

Hecht said [Miers] has attended an evangelical church in Dallas, the Valley View Christian Church, for 25 years and "their position is and I'm sure her views are compatible with theirs."

Miers bought a $150 ticket to a Texas anti-abortion group's fund-raising dinner in 1989, the year she won a term on the Dallas city council, the group's president said. Kyleen Wright of the Texans for Life Coalition, then called Texans United for Life, said the dinner drew about 30 other officeholders or candidates as "bronze patrons," the lowest level of financial support.

Ok, this is important.

1. In 1989, Miers reached out to the Dallas gay group.

2. In 1988 she gave $1000 to both the Gore for president campaign and the DNC.

3. To mollify conservative angst, the Bushies may try to claim that, sure, Miers' had a liberal orientation BEFORE she became an evangelical, but after that, she's been "cured," so to speak of her liberal leanings.

UPDATE: Well, that didn't take long. I just checked out Matt Drudge and this is his top headline:



Drudge also adds this little tidbit, supposedly from a soon-to-break NYT story:

By 1979, Harriet Miers, then in her mid-30s, had accomplished what some people take a lifetime to achieve. She was a partner at Locke Purnell Boren Laney & Neely, one of the most prestigious law firms in the South.

But she still felt something was missing in her life....

"She decided that she wanted faith to be a bigger part of her life," Hecht said. "One evening she called me to her office and said she was ready to make a commitment," to accept Jesus Christ as her savior and be born again, Hecht said. Miers became an evangelical Christian and began identifying more with the Republican Party than with the Democrats who had long held sway over Texas politics.

4. But that's just not true. We learn from the AP article that Miers attended her evangelical church for 25 years, that puts the beginning of her evangelical church-going at 1980 or so. Why does that matter, read on...

5. So Miers had been at her evangelical church for at least 9 years when she reached out to the gays in 1989, and at least 8 years when she reached out to Al Gore's presidential race and the DNC by sending each a $1000 check in 1988. Some break from the Democratic party her - 8 years after she was born again she was still writing thousand dollar checks to Democrats and sharing tea with gay rights groups. Not to mention, Miers remained a Democratic throughout the entire 1980s, long after she was already doing the Jesus thing at the evangelical church.

Therefore, it's simply not true that Miers was having these liberal leaning BEFORE she became an evangelical, and that becoming an evangelical helped her get over these leanings. In fact, her liberal and conservative sides seemed to coexist quite nicely - 1989, the same year as the gay questionnaire, was the year Miers gave $150 to an anti-abortion group.

Thus, it's perhaps not surprising that the title of this AP story is "Miers Seems Like Anti-Abortion Moderate." She may be conservative, kind of, but she appears to be a moderate conservative, or dare we use the word, a moderate Republican.

And that, my friends, is conservative America's worst nightmare. Read the rest of this post...

Harriet and the Homos, part II

Oh, things keep going from bad to worse for Harriet.

First there's today's update from the uber-conservative religious right lobbying group Family Research Council:

I have a concern that Miss Miers was helping to legitimize the drive of homosexual organizations for power and influence over our public policies.

Gee, you think?

And now Reuters has picked up our gay questionnaire story AND credited AMERICAblog with breaking the story - which was very cool of Reuters, even though they called us a conservative blog :-)

Apparently, we're the only "paper trail" so far on Miers:

The absence of a paper trail that might lift the veil on Miers' views about hot-button issues like abortion has led to concerns on both sides about the Dallas-born lawyer who was Bush's personal attorney in Texas and moved with him to the White House....

There was one revelation, however, that could fuel conservative concerns, by conservative Web site AMERICAblog.com that posted a questionnaire Miers filled out in her 1989 campaign for Dallas City Council in which she stated she endorsed the same civil rights for gays as for non-gays, but opposed revoking current statutes.

Read the rest of this post...

Support Miers or you're helping the terrorists

That's what Mehlman was telling the right wingers yesterday:

Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, yesterday held a conference call with conservative leaders to address their concerns about Miers. He stressed Bush’s close relationship with Miers and the need to confirm a justice who will not interfere with the administration’s management of the war on terrorism, according to a person who attended the teleconference.

You know it's trouble when they have to haul out the terrorism card. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Busy week already...and it's only Tuesday. Read the rest of this post...

Harriet Miers doesn't support overturning Roe, friend says

With friends like these...

Jerry Clements, a friend and colleague of Harriet Miers, was on MSNBC TV today right before my segment began. I remember laughing out loud when I heard Miers' friend, the woman defending her nomination, say the following:

"Having known her as well as I do, I've had no indication that she has ever stated she believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned."

Ouch!

I'm glad Ms. Miers' good friends have never heard her even suggest that Roe v. Wade should be overturned, but what does that say about this nominee? If you're a good Christian conservative and abortion is one of your top issues in life, AND you're a big political operative working for BIG conservatives like George Bush, you're telling me your good friends have NEVER heard you suggest that Roe v. Wade is wrong?

But hey, Bush just told us today that he has no litmus test on abortion, so I guess it's not a problem that Miers doesn't seem to have a problem with the way Roe v. Wade was decided.

Yes, this is going to be really fun. Read the rest of this post...

VIDEO: My MSNBC appearance today about Miers is now online

God bless CrooksAndLiars.com. Read the rest of this post...

It was Miers who handed Bush the famous "Bin Laden determined to strike in US" memo on Aug 6, 2001

Atrios picked up on this last night, and E&P; confirms it today.



Who's that girl? Read the rest of this post...

AMERICAblog: Where we break the news, while Drudge follows 18 hours later

Hey, what a coincidence that TIME magazine gave their copy of Miers' gay rights questionnaire the exact same name that AMERICAblog gave the file when we reported on it first last night. We named the file miersquest.pdf and - guess what?! - TIME also named the file miersquest.pdf.

Actually, I now see that TIME got the file from QuoromReport, a site that clearly gave us credit for breaking the news of the document - would have been nice for TIME to give us credit (hint, hint). Read the rest of this post...

Welcome MSNBC Viewers!

Welcome MSNBC viewers who might be joining us here for the first time! We hope you take an opportunity to review some of our recent postings and please feel free to join us in the comments.

So, for those who saw John, what did you think? Read the rest of this post...

IT'S OVER: A Failed Presidency

Continuing on John's post last night, as well as my analysis piece following it, I now believe that we are witness to the crystallizing moment when a Presidency fails. The 50% of the country that didn't vote for Bush doesn't like him any more today than when they voted against him less than a year ago. Since the election, the steady drumbeat of failure has driven an additional 10-15% away from the President.

Up until yesterday, this was not the Conservative Movement base walking away, it's been voters who were marginal Republicans in the first place. But they've been marginal Republicans for two elections. They gave Bush the benefit of the doubt in 2000 as he campaigned as a "Compassionate Conservative" and after 9/11, they trusted that he would keep them safe. He was a take-charge kind of guy who was sticking it to the terrorists.

Except he wasn't. The deteriorating situation in Iraq finally wore down an additional 5-10% of the public that voted for Bush in both 2000 and 2004. His numbers hit the low 40s. Katrina came and showed that not only was Iraq a mess, but so was our government here at home. If 9/11 happened again, we'd be no better prepared than we were in 2001, and maybe worse off. The President had appointed an incompetent crony to what to everyone else is a really important job. More marginal Republican voters walked away. His numbers hit the 30s.

Those 30s left supporting Bush, a huge chunk of them are what are called "Movement" conservatives. They watch Justice Sunday, they want prayer put into schools and evolution taken out. They despise gay marriage. They have been waiting for the life of their Movement for this moment, two Supreme Court appointments. And Bush just served them up his equivalent of Clinton's Betsy "Bimbo Eruption" Wright. Deep down they know that if Clinton had tried anything like this they would have impeached him on the spot. It disgusts them that they got duped again.

It's ironic that his downfall comes at the hands of the very thing that he hung out in front of Conservatives, like Lucy with the football. His failure on foreign policy and his war in Iraq made the U.S. weaker abroad. Conservatives hate that, because they truly believe in a strong America. A strong America can accomplish what Reagan did with Communism. But it wasn't enough. Monetary policy, massive budget deficits, that wasn't enough for them either. After Katrina Bush looked like Lyndon Johnson, talking about how big government money can help the poor. That wasn't enough. A Republican White House that sounds like Jimmy Carter talking about conservation wasn't enough.

See, they had been waiting. Waiting for The Moment. The moment when they would finally enshrine their ideology into the Supreme Court for at least two generations. The Moment came. And it passed. They didn't get what they wanted. So why should they stay. Really, why should they stay? It's not going to get any better. Republicans have it all, and Conservatives got screwed again.

So, of these 30s, let's take a conservative estimate that half are Movement Conservatives. They, clearly, have now walked from him as well. Where will that leave Bush? With something just shy of 20% of the American public actually supporting him. That means roughly 4 in 5 Americans don't support this President.

Less than one year after being reelected, this Presidency has failed. It's over. Read the rest of this post...

You get the president you vote for

You vote for an idiot, and big surprise he makes idiotic decisions. We on the left have been saying for five years that Bush wasn't qualified to be president. One might even call him the Harriet Miers of presidents. But the right wanted him as their puppet, and now their puppet suddenly wants to be a real boy. Well, you got the president you voted for.

How's that going for you?

PS I'm going to be on MNSBC's Connected show at 12:05pm Eastern time today, in under an hour. Be there or be square. Read the rest of this post...

Bush Press Conference: Harriet Won't Change

Watching Bush on C-SPAN. He just said that he picked Harriet because he knew she wouldn't change. That in 20 years she'll be the same as she is today.

Except that 20 years ago she gave money to Gore and the DNC. That's someone who won't change!

UPDATE 1: At the request of the comments, may we suggest the President reward all his "hard work" this morning with how we feel...

Bloody Demon From Hell

Scale ingredients to servings
1 oz Jameson® Irish whiskey
1 oz Captain Morgan® Silver spiced rum
1 oz Jim Beam® bourbon whiskey
1 oz Bacardi® gold rum
2 oz tomato juice
2 oz Worcestershire sauce
1 oz hot pepper sauce

Combine all ingredients in a large glass. Garnish with a radish or a celery stick, and serve.

Read the rest of this post...

Is FOX News trying to find Condi a lesbian lover?

Sure sounds that way. Read the rest of this post...

Bush is doing a press conference, or something, at 10:30am Eastern

This is the "Save Harriet" press conference. Should make for good theater - Bush explaining why someone's intellect is good enough for the Supreme Court. Read the rest of this post...

Link to my NPR blogger segment this morning on Harriet Miers

Here's the audio link. Read the rest of this post...

The WH Swagger is gone

This is rich:

The White House is still struggling to recover from its faltering response to Hurricane Katrina. The Republican Party is busily trying to wave away a scent of second-term scandal. The relentlessly bloody insurgency in Iraq continues to weigh heavily on his presidency. And no president can retain his political authority for long if he loses his claim to the center.

"The swagger is gone from this White House," said Charles E. Cook Jr., editor of The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter, citing a litany of other difficulties afflicting the administration, including high gasoline prices and the failure of Mr. Bush's push to overhaul Social Security. "They know they have horrible problems and they came up with the least risky move they could make."

Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Let's start. Read the rest of this post...

Post-Katrina funds going to big corporates outside of area

What a brilliant way to help rebuild Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. I am always mystified when I hear small business people actually believe that the GOP gives a damn about them, because it's quite clear they only care about the largest companies and their best interest. For a group of people who talk about being pro-business, they ought to change that to pro-big business and anti-small business. As always it comes back to financial support from the biggest because it's an easier target than rounding up thousands of small businesses.

So now we have a situation where workers who are trying to re-build after Katrina are going to get stiffed with crappy wages (that should make it easy for them) and now local businesses who desperately need the influx of opportunity are getting stiffed as well.

But already the trend toward out-of-state firms is clear, despite pledges by administration officials that federal funds for Katrina relief will become an engine of local economic redevelopment. Among the contracts analyzed, 3.8 percent of the money went to companies that listed an Alabama address, 2.8 percent to firms in Louisiana and just 1.8 percent went for Mississippi contractors. Taken together, that amounts to less than $200 million.

"The large federal agencies know the large, national corporations -- people who have access. The smaller, local companies do not have that access," said Rep. Charles W. "Chip" Pickering Jr. (R-Miss.). "So the large corporate players are getting the contracts. And the small, local ones that need to put people back to work are at a disadvantage."

The Department of Homeland Security estimates that as of early last week, 72 percent of the $1.6 billion that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had committed so far to contracts for Hurricane Katrina relief went to small firms nationwide in either prime or subcontracts, said department spokesman Larry Orluskie. But he said only 6 percent of the funds have gone to companies in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama -- a region where small firms make up a disproportionately large share of the economy.

"Considering the amount of devastation, having 6 percent capable of doing it is pretty good," Orluskie said. "But we want more."[Note from Chris: Wow. The bar always seems to be so low for this team.]

George Washington University contracting law professor Steven L. Schooner said lawmakers have taken actions since Katrina hit that have disadvantaged small firms.

Read the rest of this post...

War vets lining up for 2006 Congressional elections - most are Democrats

I tried to follow the campaign of Paul Hackett who ran in the heavily GOP patch of Cincinnati who battled long odds and came up a little short but now we are looking at six Democrats who are in the mix for next year. The interesting theme is that there is a lot of criticism about the bungled plan (if there really was a plan) for the war and the failure of policies by the Bush team. As long as they don't fold in a Kerry-Swiftboat way, they could be tough to beat. The GOP has had a strong following for years about how Vietnam was botched by the Democrats and we might be seeing the beginning of a Democratic movement that will hammer away at the failures of the GOP.

"Some guys don't think it's time to question our government, but the fact is I love my country," said Murphy, 31, who fought with the 82nd Airborne Division. "We need to have an exit strategy now."

There's no reason to "Monday morning quarterback the decision," said Ashe, 36, who is trying to unseat first-term Republican Rep. Thelma Drake in Virginia's 2nd District. "I would say we're in the right position to succeed. Whether or not we're going to get that success remains to be seen."

"They really want to help the Iraqi people and see the mission through, and they think we're losing because of stupid mistakes made at the senior leadership level," Sheehan-Miles said.

"The war on terror is going to be with us for a long time and Congress is going to grapple with the war on terror," Taylor said. "We need policy-makers who know what it means to make war."

"I'm not anti-war, I'm anti-failure," Lentz said. "We need to define what victory is and we need to set a plan to get there. You cannot stay the course if you do not set a course."

Read the rest of this post...

Letterman: Top 10 Reasons You Know Your Supreme Court Nominee Isn't Qualified

Letterman's Top 10 list mocked Miers as being hopelessly unqualified. (My favorite? You know your nominee is unqualified when she runs around saying, "When does mama get to hang somebody!") Is there any possibility she's a feint, some red meat for the Left to angrily reject and exhaust itself on, with the next nominee being a far right radical that they'll be accused of "obstructing?" There's no need to imagine Bush is so devious -- he's nominated unqualified hacks for major posts his entire career, so why should this be any different? The Right seems to be angry about Miers. So the question is whether the Left should reject the nomination of someone who would NEVER be seriously considered for the Supreme Court under normal circumstances or accept her and pray she's not a wacko because Bush's next nominee might be a true terror instead of a joke. What do you think? Read the rest of this post...