With all the recent talk about a different John McCain and all the mud being hurled in the presidential campaign, someone unfamiliar with the history of the Republican Party in the post-World War Two years might think that something new is occurring.  Even a cursory look at the record reveals a familiar story.

After Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman established the New Deal and Fair Deal respectively along with confronting the Nazi and Fascist menaces in winning World War Two, a Republican Party hungry for victory as the fifties beckoned used the Cold War against the Soviet Union to advance their presidential aims.

The era of McCarthyism-Nixonism was launched.  While grand smears were launched questioning the patriotism of loyal Americans and targeting those who opposed them, a party that had been out of power for twenty years achieved the presidency under World War Two military hero General Dwight David Eisenhower.  

As perceptive journalists said at the time, the apolitical Eisenhower took the "high road" and his aggressive vice presidential running mate Richard Nixon traversed the "low road."

Recent revelations from the upcoming book by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan cite the increasing need to confront the impeachment issue immediately.

Congressman Robert Wexler of Florida has vigilantly pursued the necessity of impeachment hearings and of holding government officials, beginning with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, accountable for potential "high crimes and misdemeanors" under mandate of no less than the U.S. Constitution.

As so many continue to point out, this duty to pursue commission of high crimes and misdemeanors by those charged with upholding the U.S. Constitution violates that document and deems it necessary for them to answer such charges.  There is a duty to pursue such acts of grievous misconduct and, when the facts warrant, remove the responsible parties from their positions of power.

McClellan reveals that Karl Rove, Scooter Libby and Dick Cheney lied about their roles in revealing the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, actions constituting an obstruction of justice.  

Did The Rooster Call Up the Sun or Did Rove Get the Last Laugh?
The only certainty my grasshoppers is that the cherry blossoms of spring will become the turd blossoms of summer

Karl Rove also known as "Turd Blossom" in that colorful native patois spoken by the Texas Chicken hawks announced today that he is leaving the rapidly sinking Scow of State that is the Bush administration effective the end of August.

His reason for leaving, taken verbatim from the official Washington departing rats exit speech is of course, to spend more time with his family.

When asked by one of the fully interchangeable talking heads of the White House press horde if he was being forced out, TB replied, "that sounds like the rooster calling up the sun" which I believe is another expression in that curious Pecos dialect that these birds use among themselves. Only Molly Ivins could decipher and translate the curious Texas Pig Latin these guys speak in private. I miss Molly.

Happy Fourth of July! Enjoy a good movie today...  everything is posted here too!

Karl Rove and Robert Mueller cautioned the public against a new email scam set to emerge


Washington, DC (Rotters) - In a joint announcement this morning FBI Director Robert Mueller and special presidential assistant Karl Rove confirmed that over 140,000 of Rove's personal e-mails had been maliciously deleted from Republican National Committee servers by botnet programs apparently uploaded by spammers. Mueller stated that he had contacted Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and was working closely with the Justice Department in investigating the possibility of charging a group of arrested spammers with violations of the presidential records act, a 30-year-old law which mandates the archiving of all presidential correspondence.

There is an ad currently running on Comedy Central for David Spade's show in which the comic says that Michael Jackson is having a 50 foot robot of himself built which will roam the desert shooting laser beams from it's eyes. He then asks the viewer, "Wouldn't we be more shocked if he didn't?"

Looking around the net this morning and perusing a few of the thousands of "will Bush pardon Scooter?" stories, that ad kept popping into my mind.

I think that Bush will pardon Scooter, I will be shocked if he doesn't, the real question, for me, is when?

You can be sure the question is being discussed in hushed tones in the West Wing this morning, but the hand wringing is audible out here in the heartland.

"Obviously, there'd be a significant political price to pay," said William P. Barr, who as attorney general to President George H.W. Bush remembers the controversy raised by the post-election pardons for several Iran-contra figures in 1992. "I personally am very sympathetic to Scooter Libby. But it would be a tough call to do it at this stage."

In the West Wing, Pardon Is A Topic Too Sensitive to Mention
By Peter Baker - Washington Post

Nothing prompts Karl Rove to salivate faster than the prospect of a new protégé.  It was reported that Rove waxed enthusiasm from the first time he met George W. Bush, loving his "swagger" and recognizing what he perceived as a natural and engaging charisma that he believed he could take all the way to the presidency.

Despite Rove's enthusiasm he recognized that he could not accomplish this feat independently.  The important thing about promoting an incurious and inarticulate buffoon-like figure such as Bush to the presidency was a willingness to please the neocon power structure and that he did.

To invest Bush with the kind of manufactured machismo that typified Ronald Reagan, who had earlier been fine-tuned by the corporate establishment all the way to the presidency, some early steps were taken.  

Like Reagan, Bush developed a "man's man" image by becoming an instant cowboy as arrangements were made for him to purchase his Crawford, Texas ranch, the first step toward becoming the Lone Star State's governor, an important pivotal position en route to Washington.

Has the Republican Party's favorite smelly ogre lost his magic touch in his latest sequel?



Washington, DC (Rotters) - Critics are united over condemnation of the latest efforts from the smelly ogre that everyone loves to hate. "Karl the Turd" was released with all the fanfare that the Bush administration and its corporate sponsors could muster, but it's tried and true formulaic writing appears not to be resonating with the American public.

Compared to the body counts in Iraq and elsewhere, this may seem like nitpicking.  But unlike the USA firings or the Energy Policy meetings or the leaking of classified information, inappropriate use of computers at work is something most people understand.  It's no joke.  I have fired people for:

a) using unauthorized personal devices on secure networks
b) transmitting confidential information over unsecure channels
c) violating procedures for maintaining network integrity
d) using government networks for personal business

These policies and procedures exist for a reason.  How many people reading this have found their name on spam lists because someone put you in their address book and then got compromised?  Why anyone associated with this kind of flagrant actionable abuse of resources is still working at the White House, let alone has a security clearance, is beyond me.  Speaking of security.... What about those Blackberry's?

In these days of spin control language distortions are such a popular pastime that it is becoming increasingly impossible to separate distortion from reality, which is what the spinmeisters of propaganda and discontent are seeking to achieve.

The interesting documentary film "Bush's Brain" adapted from the book of the same name by veteran Texas political journalists James C. Moore and Wayne Slater is interestingly divided up between those who clearly see through Karl Rove, the film's subject, and those who do not wish to do so.  Many in the latter category have become Rove enablers and sycophants of the most repellent variety.

After watching this revealing film I thought it advisable to look up the word genius in the dictionary to learn its actual definition.  According to the Random House and American Heritage editions genius is defined as a gift for creative and intellectual activity.  The psychological definition is also mentioned involving individuals who score above 140 on a standard IQ test.

Among the Rove admirers who equate his political activities with "genius" an early triumph was discussed extending back to Rove's early days in the College Republicans.  

The widely respected, subscription only U.S. News Bulletin (A joint operation between U.S. News and World Report and the Bulletin News Network) is reporting that Rove might well be experiencing his final days at the White House:

The rumors that chief White House political architect Karl Rove will leave sometime next year are being bolstered with new insider reports that his partisan style is a hurdle to President Bush's new push for bipartisanship. A key Bush advisor tells the US News Political Bulletin, "Karl represents the old style and he's got to go if the Democrats are going to believe Bush's talk of getting along." The advisor said a departure might come in "weeks, not months." A Rove ally, however, noted that he has a record of out-witting his critics.

In addition, I've heard/read that, although the result of the midterms reflected VERY poorly on Bush's Brain, the White House is forced to retain Rove through the conclusion of this administration for the simple reason that Rove knows too much.

To me that means the White House believes Rove is not above a tell-all book if the situation served him.

Halloween is past, but there is still a shadowy specter haunting the American political landscape.  Look over there behind that polling station!  It's Krazy Karl Rove and his insidious Republican GOTV machine!  We're doomed!

Many recent stories in the media have inflated the Republican's turn out efforts into a Godzilla-sized monster, ready to smash through any Democratic wave and carry Republicans back to their Washington lair.  And of all the terminology tossed around, none is given more mystical, magical significance than micro-targeting.

Sounds scary.  But just what the heck is micro-targeting anyway?

George Bush, how desperate you, Karl Rove, and Dick Cheney are as this bitter and divisive 2006 campaign season draws to a close.  

When all else fails, as your mentor Rove knows, following lessons from his political patron saint Richard Nixon, when all else fails hurl all the mud possible at your opponents and hope enough sticks to achieve some slimy political victories.

Now John Kerry is the convenient target after making a comment relating to getting a good education or getting stuck in Ira    q.  Immediately you used words like "sickening" and "disgusting" pertaining to a comment you claimed denigrated the educational levels of fighting men and women in Iraq.

This is just the latest in a series of lies that you and your Republican partners in crime and destruction have unearthed.  The first thing one does in evaluating any comment is to place it in its most reasonable context.  Kerry has been supporting America's troops while lamenting the policies that put them in harm's way, attributing them to poor judgment, i.e., demonstrating a need for additional education.

The Nightmare Before the Elections
( with apologies to Clement Moore )


'Twas the week before elections, with a pall o'er the House
Not a preacher demurring o'er what Foley espoused.
The mockings were flung for Dick Cheney's repair,
In the hopes the electorate just wouldn't care.

The brainchildren all wrestled to tug in the threads
Of conservative visions all tattered in shreds.
And Dub went to worship, catapulting his pap...
I'm embattled and drained from his false terror flap.

The "marble ceiling" that has kept women and people of color out of the highest offices of leadership in the land is crumbling, at long last. Much of the 2008 speculation has centered on Sen. Hillary Clinton and wondering if America is ready for a woman to be elected President. But long before 2008, Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi will ascend to third in line of succession to the Presidency. If conservatives are going to use the potential of Speaker Pelosi as a scare tactic to rally their base, then they will have to accept her election as an undeniable statement by "The People's House," that we are ready.

Breaking the marble ceiling may be about more than just women in 2008. Since most marble (in DC at least) is white, this historic moment now has pundits offering an arcane and false choice between America being ready for Madame President or a President of Color? Why not both?

   

Illinois Senator Barack Obama is one reason Democrats will regain the majority this midterm election, his pitch perfect message and American Dream story is one of healing, intelligence, faith and grace at a time of GOP dissembling, war, and vulgarity.<!--break-->

   

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, the GOP bunker buster for marble ceilings, is caught up in some ugly policies right now, but could easily be on a short list as a running mate for a GOP Presidential candidate in 2008, given her diplomatic experience and electoral vote rich home base of California.