Choose Your Party
posted by John | 6:32 PM
Republicus
"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door." The Statue of Liberty (P.S. Please be so kind as to enter through the proper channels and in an orderly fashion)
- Congratulations
- Assume The Position, "Stampede"
- Senator Obama: Don't Be A Fool
- cf.
- Say It, Evan. Right On.
- The Secret Weapon...UNLEASHED!
- Liberal Fascism
- "Debacle"
- My Verdict On The Great Debate
- Libertarian vs. Liberal Challenge
43 Comments:
Yes, time to chose. Heah's some hep:
rear guard said...
It seems the GOP has a very difficult time keeping decent leadership in the House of Representatives as an endless line of corrupt leaders have been forced to resign...a string unprecedented in history and emblematic of the modern GOP:
Newton Leroy Gingrich:
Eighty-four ethics charges were filed against Speaker Gingrich during his term, including claiming tax-exempt status for a college course run for political purposes. Following an investigation by the House Ethics Committee, Gingrich was sanctioned for US$300,000[19] after the House Ethics Committee concluded that inaccurate information supplied to investigators represented "intentional or ... reckless" disregard of House rules.[20] Special Counsel James M. Cole concluded that Gingrich violated federal tax law and had lied to the ethics panel in an effort to force the committee to dismiss the complaint against him. However, the full panel refused to reach a conclusion about whether Gingrich had violated federal tax law and instead decided to leave that finding up to the IRS.[21] In 1999, the IRS cleared the organizations connected with the "Renewing American Civilization" courses under investigation for possible tax violations, which suggests that Gingrich did not use tax-exempt money for political purposes.[22]
By 1998, Gingrich had become a highly visible and polarizing figure in the public's eye, making him an easy target for Democratic congressional candidates across the nation. In 1997 a strong majority of Americans believed Gingrich should have been replaced as Speaker of the House, and he held an all-time low job approval rating of 28%.[24] During this period, Gingrich focused on the perjury charges against Clinton as a unifying campaign theme in national Republican advertising. While Republicans believed this theme would ensure gains in the 1998 midterm elections, they instead lost five seats in the House — the worst performance in 64 years for a party that didn't hold the presidency. Polls showed that Gingrich and the Republican Party's attempt to remove President Clinton from office was widely unpopular among the American public.[25]
Bob Livingston:
During debate over the impeachment resolution on December 19, 1998, Livingston stepped down as Speaker-elect and announced he would resign from the House in May 1999. It has often been supposed that his resignation came in connection with a sex scandal. In the months before Livingston's resignation, Larry Flynt claimed to have received evidence that Livingston had indulged in extramarital affairs. Livingston was succeeded by David Vitter, who later went on to become the first popularly elected Republican senator from Louisiana (and to have a sex scandal of his own). Vitter defeated Treen in a hard-fought special election runoff.
Dennis Hastert
In 1999, Denny Hastert took the disgraced Livingston's place, serving as a front man for the notorious Tom DeLay. After years of ineffectual, blundering leadership marked by many scandals, he was forced to resign as a result of his morally bankrupt inaction in the Tom Foley scandal.
TOM DELAY and TRMPAC
Sept. 29, 2005
Rep. Tom DeLay, House Majority Leader was indicted for campaign finance fraud, criminal
conspiracy and two counts of money laundering. He was arrested and booked at Harris County
jail October 20, 2005. Since then he’s been out on bail pending trial. Corporate contributions to
-state legislative candidates are illegal in Texas.
DeLay indicted, steps down as majority leader
House leader calls charges 'sham'; Blunt picked as replacement
Click here for see the indictment
On Sept. 9, 2005 DeLay’s PAC, Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), is indicted for
illegal donations.
Chronology of Delay - NYT
DeLay Is Indicted Again in Texas; Money Laundering Is Charge
Wikipedia: Tom Delay Corruption Investigation
John Colyandro, was Delay’s executive director of the political action committee
(TRMPAC) Texans for a Republican Majority. He was indicted as a co-conspirator, accused of
receiving illegal corporate political contributions.
3 DeLay Workers Indicted in Texas
Republican James Ellis, Director Americans for a Republican Majority was indicted with
other DeLay associates for money laundering as well as 13 counts of unlawful acceptance of a
corporate political contribution. Money laundering charges stem from $190,000 in corporate
funds that were sent to the Republican National Party
3 DeLay Workers Indicted in Texas
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Ellis_%28politics%29
Republican Warren RoBold, Lobbyist and DeLay associate was also indicted as the
fundraiser for TRMPAC. Speculation on the internet is that RoBold is cooperating with
prosecutors against DeLay and Ellis.
3 DeLay Workers Indicted in Texas
John Boehner
John Andrew Boehner was elected House Majority Leader after Tom DeLay was forced to resign from the post after a criminal indictment.
His political action committee collected nearly $300,000 from private student lending companies and for-profit academic institutions from 2003-2004. He has taken more than $157,000 in free trips, placing him in 7th place for such questionable activity. More than 20 of his staff members have taken jobs in the private sector as lobbyists or corporate public affairs specialists. He handed out checks to his colleagues from tobacco company political action committees on the floor of Congress in 1995. He will undoubtedly use this key position to undercut ethics and lobbying reforms in the House of Representatives.
In September 2006, shortly after the five-year anniversary of the World Trade Center destruction, he stated to the disbelief of everyone that Democrats "are more interested in protecting the terrorists than protecting the American people."
Just another corrupt Republican extremist who shortly will be out on the street without a job.
Oveall, an astonishing, unprecedented string of crooked leaders!!
Heah's mo hep...BIG Success in the SUrGE today...the biggest SURGE in oil prices and unemployment for ages...just ages.
Oooooooh....watch out...runferit....LAAAAAAAAAndSliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide!!!!
Heya...looks like this the party to go with...the non-corrupt party...uh, doncha think?
DNC: No More Contributions from Federal Lobbyists
Email
Share June 05, 2008 7:44 AM
It's been less than two days since he crossed the delegate threshold to become the Democratic presidential nominee and Sen. Barack Obama's mark on the party is already being felt.
On Good Morning America Thursday, ABC News' Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopoulos reported "the Democratic National Committee will no longer accept contributions from federal lobbyists, will no longer take contributions from PACs" in keeping with Obama's well-publicized policy.
LOL! Have you seen the trend charts on oil prices. Since the Democrats took control of Congress, the rate of increase has gone up ASTRONOMICALLY.
Gee, economic uncertainty over the future of the oil supplies in the Middle East... ALL caused by democratic intransigence with the Bush Administration's war policy.
Once McCain gets elected, the oil price will fall to about $50 a barrel then steadily decline.
Remember, this is a party so corrupt it even steals from itself!!
The former treasurer of a key Republican campaign committee embezzled more than $500,000 over a five-year period, using it to fund mortgage payments and a six-figure remodeling of his Bethesda home, according to court documents filed yesterday.
I understand that the GOPlan is to make gas so expensive that working class people won't be able to drive to the polls in Nov.
It won't work however...they hate this pack of thieves so much they'll hithchike if they have to.
I mean, these scumbags EVEN STEAL FROM THEMSELVES!! Imagine that!
At least the RNC members don't continue to pay blackmail/hush extortion money to fired embezzelers after the fact. Has Jackson ever been slapped around for any of this? Heck no, he's got a political dynasty in the works with his kid in Congress now...
Look at what the Conservative AEI has to say! Funny how everyone knows about this but these monkeys! Have they got their heads where the sun don't shine?
"I don't think we have had something of this scope, arrogance and sheer venality in our lifetimes," Norman J. Ornstein, of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, wrote in "Roll Call". "It is building to an explosion, one that could create immense collateral damage within Congress and in coming elections."
Talk about stealing from yourself...
But then, the job description for Democrats REQUIRES stealing other peoples money and giving it to your friends... no wonder THEY NEVER punish themselves or each other.
I guess there is some honor among thieves. Of course real honor doesn't carry with it the fear of getting busted by the honest RNC guys.
This is hilarious...they're so ashamed of Bush they're trying to say it's Obama who is most like him....hahahah too freaking funny:
McCain policy advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin now argues that it is Senator Obama – not McCain – who wants to continue Bush’s fiscal policies.
wtf, over?
what is this - a very bad rendition of "trolls gone wild"?
john - where you is?
Hey Nanc.
Ya, Nanc, a familiar face :)
btw...John, No chimaeras this time...
John I disagree with the broad conclusion on that scienceblog link.
But here's some follow up
on that Joe Wilson/Val Plame guy:
http://www.reason.com/blog/show/126883.html
Leave it to the Libs(ertarians), eh?
Rolling Stone Says of Clinton's Saturday Speech: "A Shining Exit." It was a strong healing endorsement of Obama and a powerful legacy speech. Ironically, it was one of the finest moments in the Clinton campaign.
What do you mean, Kelly?
Anon, I don't know what "science link" you're referring to.
And I'm not aware of the nexus with the "Val Plame" guy. Can you elabrate?
And what's your point?
(btw, recall how long and how loudly the Val Plame thing went on for, how Karl Rove was about to get "frogmarched" and how Bush was going to face certain impeachment over it.
It's the same WRONG but unapologetic crowd posting that garbage above about how "corrupt" Republicans are.)
wingohopes:
It would've been a lot more sincere if she released her delegates, don't you think?
The scienceblog link was on your last post comments.
It explains the whitey rumor scientifically*.
Here's an update from NRO:
http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mzc3ZWNhNThmM2JhMzliZDUxMWNmMmU5M2ZiNmM1YTY=
*Why people are susceptable
Larry Johnson is trying to live off the fumes from Plames victories.
Wilson too has tried to milk it too much.
There is still some spec that Bush will pardon Libby if Libby stays quiet.
Who cares anymore - Cheney's criminality was alluded to by Scott McClellan, but if it never goes to court it is irrelevent.
Why should she release the delegates? That's done at the convention. Recall Hart in 84?
Well, quite franjkly, I personally like Senator Obama, consider him charismatic, well-mannered, and to have other presidential qualities, as well.
I recognize the real good (if only by imagery) of having an AA president.
I am impressed--and grateful--that he had the cojones to stand up to the Clinton Machine, criticize it, and, perhaps, end Clintonism once and for all (assuming he has the good sense to keep her marginalized), no small feat.
Too bad he's managed to achieve the most liberal voting record in the senate in the short time he's been there.
...too bad people aren't questioning who the money men are behind him.
He seems to have NO problems raising huge sums of cash. And if ever there has been a DANGER SIGNAL in politics, it is THAT. Just look at who his DIRTY Chicago backers were that gave rise to his rocketing political career...
TRUTH is in birth.
Democrats get away with murder.
While Hillary was criticising and making political hay out of Bush's Dubai Ports Deal, Bill had his own deals with Dubai and was raking in lots of lucre.
For the 1996 campaign, he had his infamous "coffees" with Chinese operatives who funneled a lot of campaign cash to him.
Not long after, the country had perhaps the second or trhird greatest national security breach (after 9/11 and/or Pearl Harbor) when Chinese operatives downloaded blueprints for stuff like the neutron bomb at Los Alamos.
I don't mean to imply that there was some kind of quid pro quo, only that the Democrats are dirty money whores, the Clintons especially, all the way up to this campaign, and it seems Obama himself was/is being financed by a wrong crowd.
But where else can they get there money from?
Corporate CEO's?
Most of those folks vote Republican.
Too funny...there's literally a new one every other day:
Missouri: "The Chief of Staff to Republican Lt. Governor Peter Kinder and former staffer to Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Kenny Hulshoff has been charged with showing pornography to a minor." 6/9
This is one sick party.
(btw, recall how long and how loudly the Val Plame thing went on for, how Karl Rove was about to get "frogmarched" and how Bush was going to face certain impeachment over it.
Is this buffoon imagining that that is over? McClellan just confirmed it!! "...went on..." it never stopped, dingaling.
It's the same WRONG but unapologetic crowd posting that garbage above about how "corrupt" Republicans are.)
hahahahah...yeah, like the Conservative AEI...and everyone else with their head out of their asses.
Tiny little group of cowards and weakling hiding from reality in this little circle jerk, mutual reinforcement society. What a pack to kick around.
"I don't think we have had something of this scope, arrogance and sheer venality in our lifetimes," Norman J. Ornstein, of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, wrote in "Roll Call". "It is building to an explosion, one that could create immense collateral damage within Congress and in coming elections."
Xtian Republican Moral Leader Ralph Reed et al...
Call it Tonto's revenge: The outrageous rip-off of Native American tribes by a top Republican lobbyist is leading inexorably to a reckoning for the allegedly morally superior religious and political right.
Selling firewater to the natives -- or in this case charging them $82 million for government breaks on slot machine and other gaming licenses -- is not exactly what the high-minded prophets of the Republican revolution promised. And to see behind the scenes as Christian right superstar Ralph Reed, bought off by top Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, dupes his grassroots "pro-family" followers into unwittingly supporting casino-rich Indian tribes under the guise of anti-gambling initiatives, is to glimpse moral corruption of biblical proportion.
Reed, now a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Georgia, at first denied knowing the $4 million he acknowledges receiving from Abramoff and his closet associate, public-relations expert Michael Scanlon, to run the pseudo anti-gambling campaigns in the South came from tribes hoping to retain local monopolies for themselves. Once the investigation picked up steam this past summer, however, he changed his mind and said he was assured that the tribal money didn't come directly from casino proceeds -- a hair-splitting attempt at face-saving ethics, indeed, since the goal of the payments was so clearly to benefit the casinos.
Furthermore, the release of a treasure trove of documentation on the Abramoff investigation to the Internet by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chair of the Senate's Indian Affairs Committee, makes it clear that Abramoff and his colleagues had no interest in the finer points of morality when they were transferring huge sums of cash from the tribes to the accounts of such allegedly high-minded heavyweight pro-Republican outfits as Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform.
"This town has become very corrupt, there's no doubt about it,'' McCain said Sunday on "Meet the Press," adding that he expects "lots" of indictments and that there is "strong evidence" of "significant wrongdoing" by some legislators.
Reading the documents, in fact, is a horrifying look at democracy for sale. For example, an Abramoff e-mail to Reed about a conversation the lobbyist had with Nell Rogers, a Choctaw representative: "Spoke with Nell. They have a budget issue. They want to know if we can get through to October on $1 million. Can we? If not, let me know."
In response, Reed lays out what it costs, in very precise amounts, to kill legislation on Capitol Hill to favor of a wealthy entity:
"I believe [$1 million will be enough]. If we can kill it in the House [,] definitely. If it goes to the Senate, the worst case scenario is what the pro-family groups spent to defeat video poker and the lottery -- each about $1.3 million. . . . We will be doing all we can to raise money from national anti-gambling groups, Christian CEOs and national pro-family groups."
Overall, both Reed, once the religious right's boy savior, and Abramoff, the former head of the College Republicans, a "pioneer"-grade fundraiser for President Bush, and a stalwart friend of Texas Rep. Tom DeLay, come off as morally degenerate political savants in the Senate committee's files. Reed seems possessed by the gods of greed as he exults, "I need to start humping in corporate accounts!"
But Abramoffgate goes much higher than these two political pimps. In those e-mails between Abramoff and Scanlon, it is clear that they trafficked in their ties to DeLay and others in the Republican leadership. As the Washington Post reported, Abramoff "cultivated a reputation as the best-connected Republican lobbyist in Washington," and it was not a false claim. DeLay, who referred to Abramoff as "one of my closest and dearest friends," received no fewer than three free golf trips to Scotland from Abramoff, among other payoffs.
Both DeLay and Abramoff are under indictment for charges in other cases but not, as of yet, this one. Scanlon has already pleaded guilty to conspiring with Abramoff to defraud various Indian tribes and bribe government officials. Former White House official David Safavian has been indicted for lying about his ties to Abramoff. The bet now is that Abramoff will also cop a plea bargain instead of spending many years in jail and paying even larger fines than the $19.7 million Scanlon has accepted.
If so, more depressing tales of corruption may be detailed publicly. But what is already clear is that the Republicans' reputation for moral superiority is as dead as the Lone Ranger.
Could they please just do ONE thing right...
Another Bush, Cheney Strategic Blunder. "Militants' rise in Pakistan points to opportunity lost. The U.S. and allies Pakistan and Afghanistan wasted a chance to build ties with tribal leaders in volatile border areas that could have curbed Al Qaeda and Taliban's resurgence, officials say." 6/9
ALL these family values guys like to have several families...
The Wife McCain Callously Left Behind ...after she was disfigured in an accident!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html#
Shades of Nooot and Rush!!
Obama's early support from Rezko is cosmetically off putting. But he didn't do anything illegal as far as I have heard.
Early on there was some suspicion that he got a deal on land from Rezko, but that's been proven wrong since he made his land trust records public.
Bush used the Enron jet all thru his primary campaign. Many of Bush's early sponsors wound up indicted and/or convicted.
Liberals tried to make an issue of it, but it never stuck since Bush dumped Enron when it got too hot. Barack did the same thing - But Barack is cooler and smoother. Bush's elite backround made it tougher for him to accomodate himself to the demands of the day.
Rotten in every crooked fiber:
Indicted Saudi investor in Harken Energy gets $80 million Pentagon contract
by smintheus
Sat Jun 07, 2008 at 07:00:05 PM PDT
Gretchen Peters reports that the Pentagon has awarded an international fugitive, shadowy Saudi financier Gaith Pharaon, an $80 million contract to supply jet fuel in Afghanistan (h/t Ron Beasley). Pharaon is a fugitive from the FBI as well as the subject of investigations by France and Italy.
The contract to supply jet fuel to American bases in Afghanistan was awarded to the Attock Refinery Ltd, a Pakistani-based refinery owned by Gaith Pharaon. Pharaon is wanted in connection with his alleged role at the failed Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), and the CenTrust savings and loan scandal, which cost US tax payers $1.7 billion.
The Saudi businessman was also named in a 2002 French parliamentary report as having links to informal money transfer networks called hawala, known to be used by traders and terrorists, including Al Qaeda.
Interestingly, Pharaon was also an investor in President George W. Bush's first business venture, Arbusto Energy.
To call that information "interesting" is to put it rather mildly. Can you imagine the hoo-hah that would erupt in the American trad media if a Democrat such as Barack Obama, say, were connected by even two degrees of separation to an international crook like Pharaon?
And yet Pharaon was a Harvard classmate of Bush's and a key investor in Arbusto/Harken Energy. He has a notoriously unsavory record. During the Carter administration he was involved in the disgrace of Bert Lance, and then a dozen years later in another banking scandal, the collapse of the shady BCCI due to massive fraud that cost the bank's clients billions of dollars. In the US, he was the second largest shareholder in CenTrust when it went belly up. The Federal Reserve then barred Pharaon from doing business in the US, and the FBI indicted him. Pharaon has been a fugitive ever since.
The FBI accuses the Saudi millionaire of fraud "involving millions of dollars" in the case of the Bank of Commerce and Credit International...In 1995 a US judge ordered Pharaon to give up $102m of his assets for his role in the BCCI fraud. He is alleged to have acted as the frontman for BCCI to acquire illegal stakes in American banks.
American pilots in Afghanistan depend for their lives upon the fuel supplied by this crook. Another in a long line of scandalous war-contracts from the Bush "administration".
Update: The ABC reporter is Gretchen Peters, not Brian Ross as originally stated.
The Republican connections to Enron go much deeper as champions of the kind of degegulation that allowed Enron to steal billions from Californians.
No one has forgotten this in the least and indeed it stands as symbolic of the kind of corruption that naive -- or cynical -- deregulation brings about. Enron is an albatross, not around the neck of the GOP, but literally embedded in the psyches of Americans who fully understand this lie.
Obama = Kerry (but without the military heroism}?
http://iht.com/articles/2008/06/06/europe/obamania.php
That will be McCain's response ...
Mega-corporations like Enron and Worldcom and their mega-accountants like Arthur Anderson provided a lot of the steamed numbers for the Great and Stupendous "Clinton Economy."
Microsoft, too, until the Clinton Administration sued them.
Jonh,
No offense - but your last comment is inconsistant - You're trying to take away credit from Clinton and then assign blame.
Instead - you should argue that Clinton's policies favored Apple over Microsoft, but the law did not,
Then you should attack Clinton for being weak on Enron and letting that mafia corp breed wealth.
Also - you could argue that Clinton's tax policies for Corps were poor because they rewarded stock options instead of Corp earnings.
re "suburbs"
Yeah - she prob meant Muslims - But not all Muslims are against US.
Think about Bush's favorite European country: Albania!
Albania unites Dem and Republicna.
John,
I see that the rabid pack of Alinsky-ites have migrated here. Mind if I watch the fools at work? I love to watch as their frustration and futility turns to tears.
Andronicus. You're welcome anytime, and I appreciate the Alinsky link. That's where they're coming from, whether they realise it or not, and don't realize that the game is up and that they're being observed like mindless laboratory rats.
anonymous:
It's a good bet that you're the same "anonymous" that directed me to the "John"--linked to Republicus-- who commented here:
"http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2008/01/instead_of_glob.html"
As I corrected, that wasn't me who commented, but I strongly suspect it was you impersonating me, which is highly unethical--and offensive--and against blog policy.
I'm not going to report you, but cease and desist.
Furthermore, is that you, neologizer?
If so, you're not doing the Global Warming cause any favors with such deceptive methods of attacking the opposition.
Blogger policy:
"IMPERSONATION: We do not allow impersonation of others through our services in a manner that is intended to or does mislead or confuse others."
re: moonbattery link
I have no idea what you are talking about.
I came to your site by accident from google and placed a comment. That's all.
Okay. I beg your pardon. There's a lot of pots and pans being thrown around and you got caught in the crossfire.
I did not write that commentary, btw.
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