PERRspectives: May 2007 Archives

May 2007 Archives

	Bush's AIDS PR Scam On Wednesday, President Bush once again turned to AIDS for air cover in the battle for global opinion. Facing the prospect of universal condemnation by the international community for a wildly unpopular American policy, President Bush tried to change the topic and buy some global goodwill by announcing massive new U.S. AIDS funding. This time, Bush is trying to deflect criticism of American global warming policy in advance of next week's G8 summit. In 2003, of course, his problem was... more Posted on May 31, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	Richardson, Hispanic Organizations Fail the Gonzales Test It's no surprise that the ongoing controversy over Alberto Gonzales' role in the purging of U.S. prosecutors has revealed the limitless intent of the Bush administration to convert the Department of Justice into an appendage of the Republican Party. What is more surprising - and deeply disappointing - is the unwillingness of leading Hispanic figures and organizations to take on one of their own. With his hesitation to call on Attorney General Gonzales to resign, Democratic presidential hopeful Governor Bill... more Posted on May 29, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Memorial Day: Help the Troops and Their Families One year ago today, I asked my readers to take a Memorial Day pause from the debate over the war in Iraq to reflect on the sacrifices of our servicemen and women, and to find ways to support them and their families. One year and almost 1000 U.S. dead later, I believe those Memorial Day sentiments are worth repeating: Memorial Day this year arrives at an especially painful time for Americans. Over 2,400 U.S. troops have been killed and another... more Posted on May 28, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	McCain Attacks Himself on Plan B for Iraq In the wake of the Senate vote of Iraq war funding, Arizona Senator John McCain lashed out at Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And, as it turns out, himself. On Friday, McCain raged against his Democratic colleagues Clinton and Obama for their no votes and "waving a white flag" to Al Qaeda: "What is Senator Obama and Senator Clinton's 'Plan B' if we withdraw?" Sadly for his fading presidential hopes, McCain acknowledged that he himself lacks any Plan B of... more Posted on May 25, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Fred Thompson: Watergate Hero Turned Plamegate Villain As Republicans await with baited breadth the signal that former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson is jumping into the 2008 presidential race, more ironic revelations concerning the politician-turned-actor continue to surface. As it turns out, the Watergate hero who helped reveal Richard Nixon's Watergate cover-up is now helping Scooter Libby facilitate his Plamegate smoke-screen. To follow Thompson's evolution from nonpartisan truth seeker to Republican shill, take a trip back to the Senate Watergate hearings of 1973 and 1974. As I rediscovered... more Posted on May 25, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	Politicizing Crime Among the least surprising developments arising from Monica Goodling's appearance before the House Judiciary Committee was the reflexive use of the "criminalization of politics" defense. Not by the witness, that is, but by Republican members of the committee themselves. That is to be expected. After all, whether the scandal involves Tom Delay, the outing of Valerie Plame, Jack Abramoff, or the U.S. attorneys purge, we can always count on the GOP to recast its rampant criminality as mere political disagreement.... more Posted on May 24, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Clinton, Giuliani and the Iowa Effect On Monday, I suggested that new polls coming out of Iowa could signal serious trouble for the both the Democratic and Republican front-runners in 2008. The surprising early leads for John Edwards and Mitt Romney could produce an Iowa Effect, upending the conventional wisdom regarding the dynamics of election '08. Apparently, some in the Giuliani and Clinton camps agree. On Tuesday, rumors began to swirl that Rudy Giuliani might bypass Iowa's straw poll and caucus. While Giuliani aide Mark Campbell... more Posted on May 23, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Radical Right Irony Watch: Monica, Mary, Bombers & Sharks Wednesday was a very bad day for the radical religious right. Proud products of flagship evangelical universities were revealed to be criminals and terrorists. And on the same day that vice presidential daughter and oxymoronic lesbian conservative Mary Cheney delivered her baby, a scientific study reported news of female sharks conceiving offspring without males. In Washington, former DOJ White House liaison Monica Goodling admitted violating the Hatch Act's prohibitions on using political litmus tests for career positions. The 1999 graduate... more Posted on May 23, 2007 \| Comments (6)

	Monica Goodling's Immaculate Conception In her testimony today before the House Judiciary Committee, former DOJ White House liaison Monica Goodling joined Alberto Gonzales, Kyle Sampson and Paul McNulty in disclaiming any role in the creation of the infamous list of U.S. attorneys to be fired. It should comes as no surprise that the graduate of Regent University law school would have us believe the list so central to the prosecutors purge appeared magically, untouched by the hands of man. Call it Immaculate Conception. Goodling... more Posted on May 23, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	UPDATED: U.S. Attorney Scandal Resource Center With Monica Goodling's testimony underway, the Perrspectives U.S. Attorney Scandal Resource Center has been updated. For all the latest news, document dumps, email archives, hearing transcripts and other essential materials in the political motivated firings of U.S. attorneys, see "The U.S. Attorney Resource Center."... more Posted on May 23, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Mitt Romney's Hall of Shame It's been a good week so far for Mitt Romney. On Monday, new polls showed him leading the pack in both Iowa and New Hampshire. And if his growing attacks on Romney are any indication, John McCain is clearly answering yes to the Washington Post's question today, "Is Romney Moving Up?" But despite his improving poll numbers, perfect hair and gleaming teeth, Mitt Romney can't escape himself. As Ana Marie Cox documents in Time, Romney's unparalleled opportunism, cynical calculation, red... more Posted on May 22, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	When Bush Comes to Shove: Specter's Saga On Sunday, Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter repeated his familiar pattern of feigned independence from the Bush White House. Appearing on CBS' Face the Nation, Specter announced his expectation that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would resign in the face of a looming no-confidence vote in the Senate. But as I wrote in February, whether the issue concerns the political firings of U.S. attorneys, the illegal NSA domestic surveillance program, presidential statements or the Valerie Plame leak, Arlen Specter's initial outrage... more Posted on May 21, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	The Iowa Effect New polls just released by the Des Moines Register show John Edwards and Mitt Romney leading the Democratic and Republican Iowa caucus fields respectively. While Edwards (29%) holds a six-point lead over Barack Obama (23%) and national front-runner Hillary Clinton (21%), former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney enjoys a surprising 13% over John McCain (18%) and overall GOP leader Rudy Giuliani (17%). All of which suggests that in 2008, Americans may once again witness the "Iowa Effect." In a nutshell, the... more Posted on May 21, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	GOP Quotes of the Week, Happy Endings Edition The past week was a bittersweet time of garbled goodbyes and failed farewells for President Bush and his amen corner on the right. In Washington, Paul Wolfowitz resigned in disgrace, Tony Blair bid adieu to both President and his own legacy, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced new charges of malpractice over his Ashcroft bedside manner. Meanwhile, as President Bush dug in his heels over his fiasco in Iraq, the Teletubby terrorist Jerry Falwell shuffled off this mortal coil. Together,... more Posted on May 20, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Barking Mad, Mittmo Edition The past week produced another torrent of conservative outrages. The revelations of Alberto Gonzales' hospital visit to browbeat John Ashcroft, the celebration of the late Jerry Falwell, and the implosion of Paul Wolfowitz at the World Bank were just some of the developments that made me barking mad. Alberto Gonzales continued to dissemble over the U.S. attorneys purge and President Bush's illegal NSA domestic surveillance program. On Tuesday, Gonzales blamed his outgoing deputy AG Paul McNulty for having "most of... more Posted on May 18, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Politics as Theater: Al Gore and the Assault on Reason Fresh off his Oscar-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," former Vice President Al Gore has authored a new book, The Assault on Reason. Excerpted in Time as part of a feature on Gore, the book is a jeremiad against the crippled state of American political discourse and democracy itself. But as prescient as Gore is on the decline of public debate in America, he may well understate the more fundamental transformation: politics itself as entertainment. From inaction on global warming to... more Posted on May 17, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	Armageddon as Foreign Policy: Dobson, Bush and Iran While Jerry Falwell has passed from the scene, many of his fellow End-of-Times evangelical allies still enjoy unfettered access to and dangerous influence over President Bush, especially when it comes to Iran. As Focus on the Family head James Dobson reported on his radio show on Monday, he and a group of evangelical leaders met with Bush at the White House to discuss policies towards Tehran that keep all options on the table. As I wrote last year, that includes... more Posted on May 16, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	The Bedside Manners of Alberto Gonzales and Newt Gingrich While likely GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich in April called for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign over his "mishandling" of the U.S. prosecutors purge, it turns out the two men have a lot in common. As we learned on Tuesday, when it comes to pressuring the gravely ill, Gonzales and Gingrich share the same bedside manners. During his testimony Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey detailed then White House Counsel Gonzales' visit to... more Posted on May 16, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Washington Post: It's Giuliani Time Back in February, I slammed the Washington Post for its reporting on Bill Clinton's speaking fees and the implication that his new-found wealth would unfairly fuel his wife's 2008 presidential campaign. In contrast, the Post was largely silent on the million in speaking and consulting fees reaped by former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. Until today. In a massive report in today's edition, the Washington Post takes apart the influence-peddling, behind-the-scenes money machine that is Rudy Giuliani's firm, Giuliani Partners.... more Posted on May 13, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Barking Mad, Gonzo Edition Beginning this Friday, Perrspectives is introducing a new feature, Barking Mad. While others offer Friday cat blogging (for example, here and here), Barking Mad combines a quick survey of the outrages of the week with photos of my ill-tempered Corgi, Zoe. These are just some of the people and issues that, well, pissed me off this week: Ersatz Republican Rebels. After NBC hyped the group of supposed GOP moderates who took President Bush to the woodshed on Iraq on Tuesday,... more Posted on May 11, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	GOP Quotes of the Week, Reagan's Heirs Edition Over the past week, the continuing implosion of the Republican Party produced another bumper crop of jaw-dropping conservative gaffes and goofs. GOP infighting over the dismal realities in Iraq, Alberto Gonzales' PurgeGate scandal, and a fresh batch of right-wing rage combined to deliver new innovations in conservative rhetorical psychosis. And in recent days, White House hopeful Mitt Romney rivaled the current Oval Office occupant for sheer verbal incontinence. What follows below, then, are the latest GOP Quotes of the Week:... more Posted on May 10, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Encore Performance! Gonzales as Sgt. Schultz For those who missed Alberto Gonzales' act of self-immolation before Senate Judiciary Committee on April 19, the Attorney General is set to offer an encore performance during Thursday's hearing about the purged prosecutors before the House Judiciary Committee. As MSNBC, Politico and TPM Muckraker are all reporting, Gonzales will offer the House virtually the same disastrous prepared statement he offered the Senate last month. In addition to the tomorrow's expected endless repetition of "I don't recall," the hapless Attorney General... more Posted on May 9, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	The Evil of Banality: Republicans Speak on Iraq A sure sign of the GOP desperation over Iraq is ever-increasing Republican propensity to rhetorically reduce the conflict to the realm of the normal. With casual analogies to American sports, business, shopping, and history, Republican leaders try to conflate the Iraq chaos and carnage with the commonplace and carefree. Theirs isn't the "banality of evil," but instead the evil of banality. Consider the words of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), who just this week compared the debate over war... more Posted on May 9, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	No GOP Plan B for Iraq By now, Americans should have grown accustomed to the Bush administration's opposition to Plan B. But as it turns out, the ideologues of the Republican Party not only oppose Plan B for American women. They oppose Plan B for American troops mired in the civil war in Iraq That's the message from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH). On Sunday, Boehner stood by President Bush's surge strategy, proclaiming "We don't even have all of the 30,000 additional troops in Iraq... more Posted on May 7, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Are PBS Stations Burying "A Brief History of Disbelief?" During last night's episode of Bill Moyer's Journal, host Bill Moyers interviewed Jonathan Miller, creator of a three-part series titled "A Brief History of Disbelief" to be aired on PBS stations beginning this week. Or perhaps "some PBS stations" would be a better description. As it turns out, many PBS affiliates are apparently choosing not to run Miller's predictably controversial look at the roots and philosophy of atheism. And a quick check of the calendar shows that Oregon Public Broadcasting... more Posted on May 5, 2007 \| Comments (17)

	Google Plays Politics with McCain - and Advertisers If anyone had any lingering doubts about the unique role of Google as a social, cultural and political force in the United States, a Friday appearance by John McCain at its company headquarters should put them to rest. The special forum hosted by CEO Eric Schmidt let GOP White House hopeful McCain bring his views directly to Google employees - and the world. It's just too bad Google doesn't always treat its advertisers the same way. McCain's visit to Google... more Posted on May 5, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Romney Flip-Flops on Bin Laden In last night's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library, former Massachusetts Mitt Romney added Osama Bin Laden to his rapidly growing list of flip-flops. By alternately downplaying or emphasizing the importance of capturing Bin Laden as political circumstances require, Romney finds himself in good company - with President Bush. On Thursday, Romney-turned-Rambo declared that his presidency would signal that the end is nigh for Bin Laden. "He's going to pay, and he will die," a determined Romney said. Sadly,... more Posted on May 4, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	GOP Debate Reflections on Reagan Arriving just in time for tonight's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library are the first sneak peeks of the Gipper's soon to be released diary. While Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and the rest vie to claim the mantle of "Reagan Conservative," you can contemplate Ronnie's insightful private admissions such as "getting shot hurts" and "I agreed to sell TOWs to Iran." But you don't have to wait for "The Reagan Diaries" to size up the man. Here... more Posted on May 3, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Flipping the Byrd: Bush 2000 Hate Crimes Flashback On Thursday, the White House confirmed that President Bush will veto Congressional hate crime legislation extending protected status to victims of attacks based on gender and sexual orientation. The announcement comes as no surprise. After all, it was his bizarre discussion of hate crimes that almost derailed the election of candidate George W. Bush in 2000. During his second debate against Al Gore in October 2000, Bush was asked about his position on hate crimes laws in the wake of... more Posted on May 3, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	GOP Quotes of the Week, Iraq Veto Edition Judging from the latest deluge of egregious gaffes, blunders and banality from the conservative chattering class, Stephen Colbert was certainly right that "reality has a well-known liberal bias." President Bush's wildly unpopular war funding veto, the continued entropy in Iraq, George Tenet's revisionist history and the rhetorical mishaps of 2008 GOP hopefuls combined to produce a hilarious - and disturbing - mix of Republican verbal psychosis. Here, then, are the latest GOP Quotes of the Week: Between Iraq and a... more Posted on May 2, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Bush Iraq Mad Libs Watching President Bush deliver his promised veto of the Iraq supplemental funding bill yesterday was akin to a bad game of Mad Libs. The President predictably demonstrated his resolve by filling-in the blanks in his speech by resorting to his repertoire of worn-out Iraq talking points, such as "surrender date" and "handcuffing the generals." Now you can play Bush Iraq Mad Libs at home. Laugh for hours with family and friends as you construct your own after-the-fact bogus war rationale,... more Posted on May 2, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Iraq Benchmarks and Bush's Double-Standard on Accountability For an administration that claims to place so value on "accountability," the Bush White House once again exempted itself and its allies. On Monday, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice announced that President Bush would reject any Iraq funding bill that included benchmarks for the Al Maliki in government in Baghdad. As it turns out, that free pass for Al Maliki not only flies in the face the President's own words from January, but contradicts the "accountability" talking point comically present... more Posted on May 1, 2007 \| Comments (2)