The Republican Florida State Representative says he's not a criminal, a racist, or was trolling for sex.
Embattled state Rep. Bob Allen, who has been vilified by computer bloggers and lampooned on late-night talk shows since his arrest on a charge of soliciting prostitution, is not a criminal or a racist and has no plans to resign, his attorney said Wednesday.
"Based on the police officer's own report, this case should be dismissed," said attorney Greg Eisenmenger, adding that he would file a motion for dismissal. "The officer did all the soliciting."
...Allen, R-Merritt Island, told investigators he was just playing along when the undercover Titusville officer suggested oral sex and $20 because he was intimidated by the "stocky black guy," according to the statement.
Allen, who is white, also said that there "was nothing but other black guys around in the park" and that he thought he was about to be robbed. At the time, Allen was unaware the other men also were undercover officers.
Why was Allen in the park? His lawyer says he was there planning an unspecified event.
How about a question of the day for you all, in between links and blogwhoring:
What are your top three outrages perpetrated by the Bush Administration? I know, I know, it's almost impossible to keep it to three, but take a crack at it -- Iraq, Katrina, the Plame/CIA leak, torture is A-OK, Abu Ghraib, Habeus Corpus, Libby's pardon, Supreme Court picks, warrentless wiretapping, faith-based programs, ignoring/working to deny climate change, EPA lies about toxicity at Ground Zero, conditions at Walter Reed; endless "signing statements," ludicrous claims of executive privilege, Gonzogate, lack of body armor, training and supplies for the troops; the elections and voter disenfranchisement; Dick Cheney shooting a friend in the face and the attempted coverup...good grief, where to begin?
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Why does Christopher Hitchens still have a writing career? Seriously -- why do otherwise respectable institutions pay him for his sotted thoughts? His latest offense is a meandering mess of a review of the latest Harry Potter book. As is most of his recent work, the piece is utterly self-indulgent, primarily a vehicle for Hitchens to talk about his favorite subject: Christopher Hitchens.
He carries on for 2000 words, but the first 1200 are spent addressing topics wholly unrelated to . . . the actual book. In fact, I think Hitch spends about as much time musing about his ontological hangups as he does examining the ostensible subject of the review. The prose for which he is bafflingly famous drips with condescension -- and perhaps middling Scotch -- and his pretentiousness oozes like a sweaty hangover.
Here's shorter Hitch, in case you don't want to spend your time struggling through the morass of vainglory:
It's all about Orwell -- everything is, don't you know . . . I got the book at a midnight party, goodness real people are vulgar and disgusting (also possibly fascists-in-training) . . . despite the fact that I just mentioned widely-read boarding school tales of yore, I'll now proclaim, in all seriousness, that the series' popularity is due to today's disgusting combination of omnipresent political correctness and "safety" . . . my daughter is smart because she read other books in addition to HP . . . Orwell again, quite obviously . . . thank God somebody these kids can fight evil without silly religion mucking up their minds . . . I refuse to suspend disbelief: if the bad guys are so powerful, why don't they just win? . . . I will now complain, with a straight face, that I feel this book contains too much exposition . . . thin and derivative, and subject to diminishing returns, and no I'm not being ironic . . . how dare Rowling suggest evil can be defeated -- it cannot! at least not while the disgusting, fifth-column leftists continue to oppose the glorious war in Iraq . . . maybe this will lead people to read more of other stuff, better stuff; that would be nice.
Hitch describing another writer as "thin and derivative . . . subject to diminishing returns . . . pedantic" is quite audacious, I'll grant him that, and I suppose he's been dining out for years on the bewildering appetite of Americans for supercilious British critics. (Especially narcissists, apparently -- the pronoun "I" turns up nine times, to help remind you where your attention really belongs.) Still, you mess with Harry and you get my attention.
I should note, even I found #7 a little heavy on the exposition. But the Hitchens treatment is totally undeserved; if he wants to unleash his apparently irrepressible ire upon authors more worthwhile than he, I'm sure there's a middle school English teacher position open somewhere.
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So, the first real test of the 2008 Presidential campaign came and went in Ames, Iowa. And what did we really learn?
Is Romney the new frontrunner? Not really. He allegedly spent a ton of money to outpace Huckabee and Brownback. I know he's supposed to be an excellent business man, but I'm not sure he's making good investments.
No, what we really learned this past weekend is that the GOP is depressed. The turnout in Iowa for this straw poll was pathetic, much worse than the last competitive primary in 1999. This is good news for the Democratic nominee, as long as they don't screw it up:
For starters, turnout this year declined sharply from the 1999 straw poll. That year, more than 23,000 Iowans--only Iowans are allowed to vote, though anyone is welcome to come to Ames--cast ballots. On Saturday, only 14,302 votes were cast. Why should an event that draws only 14,000 people be given the significance the straw poll receives.
[NOTE FROM JOHN: I speak Italian, and the word the Italian politician is using is not "faggot," it's "ass-f*cker." Oh, and the only reason I'm using the little star is because a few Internet filters have classified us as an adult site, read: porn - hoping to avoid that in the future.]
And we were worried about Jim Naugle's proposed $250K robojohn in Ft. Lauderdale to halt imaginary gay bathroom sex. Take a look at what right-wing pol Giancarlo Gentilini, the deputy mayor of the Italian town of Treviso proposed in a TV interview:
"I will immediately give orders to my forces so that they can carry out an ethnic cleansing of faggots," Gentilini told the station in an interview.
"The faggots must go to other [places] where they are welcome. Here in Treviso there is no chance for faggots or the like."
There were nearly 1000 people in front of city hall protesting the outrageous comments, and calling for Gentilini's resignation. There's a video (in Italian), for those willing to translate.
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NOTE FROM JOHN: Let me welcome another August guest blogger to AMERICAblog (hey, when we shake things up, we shake em up big). My friend Tom Matzzie is going to be checking in each week over the next month or so to update us on the Iraq Summer campaign - i.e., the campaign to put make congressional war supporters feel the heat. Tom is the Washington Director for MoveOn.org Political Action, and is campaign manager for Iraq Summer and Americans Against Escalation in Iraq. He'll be writing about the legislative and political fight over the war in Iraq. And with no further ado, here is Tom's first post:
Don’t you wish there was somebody out there in the face of the pro-war politicians every day? Well, now there is.
Over the last 7 weeks, over 100 organizers have been working in the hometowns of more than 41 senators and members of Congress who are standing between the American people and an end to the war in Iraq. These organizers—working with committees of local constituents—have been attending town hall meetings, organizing press conferences, stopping by office hours for members of Congress, holding vigils, going door-to-door, posting yard signs and more.
The Republicans they are targeting have been sticking with George W. Bush while Americans are dying in Iraq's religious civil war. A war Americans can't win for the Iraqis. In fact, our presence is making things worse every day.
The U.S. occupation in Iraq is a moral outrage—America is arming, training and protecting some very bad people who are conducting ethnic cleansing campaigns against Iraqi civilians. (Check out a soldier's letter-to-the-editor on this topic.)
While we have to be witnesses to these moral tragedies, we shouldn’t remain silent. The work of ending the war is not in Iraq. And it isn't even in Washington. We can responsibly end the war by creating a toxic political environment for the war's supporters in their hometowns. Working to organize millions of Americans who have had enough of Congress’ complacency creates pressure on the whole system and will lead to the political collapse of support for the Bush policy.
Here is a sample of Iraq Summer. One of the organizers caught up with Rep. Jon Porter (R-NV) and asks him the tough questions.
In the 18th district of Pennsylvania—my hometown—a group of constituents for Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) were locked out of their congressman’s office after delivering a cake that read, "Rep. Murphy. Welcome Home, bring 'em home."
And here is a press clip from Iowa where they are holding Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA) accountable.
Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to be blogging on AMERICABlog and elsewhere to tell the story of Iraq Summer. I’m not a veteran blogger like John, Joe, Pam and AJ—so bear with me. But I think it is important that everybody sees what is going on. I’ll check the comments frequently and answer questions as much as I can.
Tonight I'm off to Iowa. I'll send in a dispatch.
Tom Matzzie is Washington director for MoveOn.org Political Action and campaign manager for Iraq Summer and Americans Against Escalation in Iraq. Visit http://www.iraqcampaign.org/ for more information.
The LA Times reports this morning that "al Qaeda-allied militants" killed five U.S. soldiers on Saturday. There is, however, no evidence or reasoning behind this administration claim, and at this point it's simply impossible to give the benefit of the doubt to administration claims even about such straightforward information as the loyalty and/or identity of militants.
Even assuming the attackers are correctly identified as Sunni, there is really no reason they couldn't have been Baathists, or even just random Sunnis who have become militarized due to the U.S. presence or the continuing sectarian violence. The attack was somewhat sophisticated, but Iraqis have now had over four years to get up to speed on guerrilla tactics.
The labeling is something I've been looking at a lot recently -- I was talking with a reporter not long ago who was asking me about the process of labeling fighters, i.e., how it was done, by whom, and with what evidence. Although I have some limited firsthand experience with that process, the huge increase in labeling fighters "al Qaeda" seems almost exclusively rhetorical. Even if our operations are more focused against AQI -- something the tiny number of foreign detainees seems to belie -- there's no reason why the *attacks* of a relatively stable (and tiny) percentage of the insurgency would suddenly soar relative to the total number of hostile incidents. If anyone has seen solid reporting on precisely how militants are currently being labeled, I'd love to see it.
On a broader scale, with the government continuing to falter (the same article has Sunni leader Adnan Dulaimi, always a fiery character, warning of "Persian" dominance, an inflammatory swipe at the majority Shia), our efforts are, at best, independent of legitimate, sustainable improvements in the country. And as I've said before, people who think it can't get much, much worse are sadly -- and profoundly -- mistaken.
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In an interview published this morning in The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Rove said, “I just think it’s time,” adding, “There’s always something that can keep you here, and as much as I’d like to be here, I’ve got to do this for the sake of my family.”
Mr. Rove said he had first considered leaving a year ago but stayed after his party lost the crucial midterm elections last fall, putting Congress in Democratic hands, and Mr. Bush’s problems mounted in Iraq and in his pursuit of a new immigration policy.
"Problems mounted in Iraq" is an understatement -- A HUGE understatement. Iraq's a disaster. Don't forget that Rove was overseeing Iraq policy, because for Bush, Iraq is and has been primarily a political issue. Last month, as we reported, Rove was working on the next steps in the Iraq strategy with Bush:
Iraq has always been first and foremost a political issue for the Bush White House. Same for national security. Politics trumps policy every time. In today's NY Times [July 9, 2007], we see one more time that Karl Rove is playing a key role in setting the Bush administration's Iraq policy. Bush doesn't listen to the military. He listens to Karl Rove. So, one more time, we see that politics matters more than anything:
Last week, Mr. Bush’s national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, called in from a brief vacation to join intense discussions in sessions that included Karl Rove, Mr. Bush’s longtime strategist, and Joshua B. Bolten, the White House chief of staff.
How many times did the White House press corps fall for Rove's tactics on Iraq. How many times did the media breathlessly report that Bush was going to give a SPEECH about Iraq? Have to give Rove credit for one thing: he knew the press corps were a bunch of patsies and he played them over and over and over.
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The biggest rat of all is jumping off the sinking Bush ship. Karl Rove will leave George Bush's side at the end of August. He's quitting:
Karl Rove, President Bush's close friend and chief political strategist, plans to leave the White House at the end of August, joining a lengthening line of senior officials heading for the exits in the final 1 1/2 years of the administration.
A longtime member of Bush's inner circle, Rove was nicknamed "the architect" by the president for designing the strategy that twice won him the White House.
Yep. And, Rove has also helped make Bush one of the worst and least popular Presidents ever.
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Mitt Romney was raked over the coals for saying this in Iowa last week when he was asked why his sons did not sign up to serve their country:
"It's remarkable how we can show our support for our nation, and one of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping to get me elected, because they think I'd be a great president. My son, Josh, bought the family Winnebago and has visited 99 counties, most of them with his three kids and his wife. And I respect that and respect all of those in the way they serve this great country"
First his campaign tried to say the remarks were "taken out of context." If you watch the above video, that didn't pass the smell test. So today, he had to clarify those remarks.
"I misspoke,'' the former Massachusetts governor said today on "Fox News Sunday.'' "It's not service to the country, it's service for me, and there's just no comparison there.''
...Romney said today that he "didn't mean in any way to compare service in the country with my boys in any way. Service in this country is an extraordinary sacrifice being made by individuals and their families.''
***
Mitt's a bit on the ropes, even though he bought off walked away the most votes in the Iowa straw poll this weekend (31%). Second-place finisher, covenant marriage advocate and Baptist minister Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas took a few potshots at the former governor of Massachusetts.
"Republicans are looking for a conservative who has had consistency in his principles,'' Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, said on the CBS "Face the Nation'' program. "There are not going to be any 'YouTube' moments saying something different.''
YouTube, a Web site with videos submitted by the public, contains clips of Romney expressing support for abortion rights during his term as Massachusetts governor. Now he describes himself as "pro-life.''
Romney today defended his abortion-rights turnabout on "Fox News Sunday,'' saying he expects voters to see through political attacks about his change of position.
"People want to look beyond the attacks and understand what is it that a person stands for,'' Romney said. "I changed my position on abortion. I was effectively pro-choice, given the statements I had made, but I am pro-life. I'm proud of that."
Hmmm...wasn't the whole "flip-flop" campaign against Kerry all the right wing rage in 2004, Mitt?
A fund-raiser for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign resigned from his volunteer post last week after being indicted in Maryland for allegedly defrauding companies of $32 million.
Alan B. Fabian, 43, a Maryland businessman who cochaired the national finance committee for Romney's campaign, was indicted Wednesday by a Maryland grand jury on 23 counts of mail fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, perjury, and obstruction of justice, according to the US attorney's office in Baltimore.
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"Republicans are looking for a conservative who has had consistency in his principles,'' Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, said on the CBS "Face the Nation'' program. "There are not going to be any 'YouTube' moments saying something different.''
