Wednesday, August 31st, 2006

Scapegoat II, The Republicans Strike Back
Former Deputy Secretary of State Rich Armitage "confessed" a few days ago that he was probably the leak the Novak used in his New York Times piece ousting Valerie Plame as a CIA operative. You'll recall that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald had already indicted "Scooter" Libby for obstruction in his investigation of the leak, and that he was probably on his way to going after Cheney and Rove. But now, up steps Armitage, taking the heat. Yes, it's the stuff of conspiracy theories to suggest Armitage is Able Koontzing this one. Fine, label me that, this administration has just been the benefactor of too many coincidences, occurrences that otherwise damage then life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness for so many other people.

Incidentally, Ann Coulter still can't shut up about the New York Times reporting on the accounting spies our government uses on suspected terrorists. She thinks this is a travesty of traitorous proportions. And yet now that we now Bob Woodward, too, had gotten wind of Valerie Plame's role, he decided not to publish it. But does Ann attack Novak's publishing state secrets? Nope, because it was part of an administrative revenge scheme. And while Ann can write book after book explaining why liberals are evil, she's blind the malfeasance of Bush's cronies. We call this "willful stupidity."

Cantwell Can't Spend Her Money (yet)
Apparently there's a law on the books lifting campaign finance limits if one faces an opponent who already has a lot of his own money to spend on the election. And, since it appears the Mike McGavick donated 2 million to his own campaign, folks want Maria Cantwell to be able to dip into her large war chest. Ah, but the judges have spoken, and Mike hasn’t won the Republican Primary yet, so he's not running against her yet. Fine. This is one of those times when the letter of the law needs to be upheld, even though McGavick can use it as a shield, allowing himself to preemptively strike at Cantwell, since he is, by now, more or less a shoe-in for the primary. And I hope for Cantwell's sake they keep careful track of all the receipts, because you just know on September 19th when he wins the primary, the Cantwell campaign will have all their guns loaded, and corruption charges are inevitable from the sore losers when she wins in November.

Voice of America Horse Racing
This one strikes closer to home, but also serves as yet another reminder of the Rovian stain that's tainted American leadership. Kenneth Tomlinson, head of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, is facing an investigation into alleged abuses while on the job. He's being accused of running a horse-racing operation from his office, as well as illegally putting friends on the payroll. I have friends who used to and some still do work at Voice of America, and know this man. They assure me he is a creep, and that this investigation was a long time coming (indeed, it's been in the works for a while). Tomlinson used to be at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, from which he was booted for forcing a conservative slant on PBS programming. That Tomlinson is reported as a long time Karl Rove ally may be the most damning evidence of them all.

WTF Headlines?
A headline in today's New York Times reads: "Bush Shifting Focus To Terrorism And Iraq War." Isn’t that sort of like saying "Teenage Boys Shifting Focus to Sex"? The war on terror and homeland security are the ONLY things we've heard about from Bush et al, save for a few silly speeches to say we’ve learned the lessons of Katrina. I've said it before, and I'm not the only one, this is the message republicans will try to shove down everyone's throat this election season, while the rest of the country wants to talk about all that boring, stupid, mundane day-to-day nonsense like taxes, healthcare, education, the minimum wage, and so forth. You know, that silliness that more or less determines the happiness of all Americans. This article goes on to point out that Bush's claims his recent speeches are not political speeches, even though he's urging people to vote Republican. Can I use the word Chutzpah without having to send Israel cluster bombs as payment for services rendered?