Agitprop: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Propaganda

A Lott of Long Knives

A Boy Named Trent Takes His Revenge

Lott's been pissed off for a while: first Bill "God's Diagnostician" Frist challenged him for his leadership position after the Strom 100th birthday kerfuffle, then the big, bad hurricane blew his house down. You know he's been in the Senate cloakroom, sharpening the dagger and waiting ... waiting ...

And yesterday he got his chance. Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert instantly pulled the trigger on a House/Senate investigation into who leaked the existence of CIA torture chambers in Eastern Europe to the WaPo. Lott told CNN later that day that the leaker was probably a Senator. Raw Story concluded that the "revelation appears to torpedo the political gambit of [Frist] and [Hastert.]"

One can only imagine what Frist is planning for Lott. Feel the love. Enjoy the carnage.

tags: trent lott bill first senate majority leader politics

Bill "God's Diagnostician" Frist Lied

And Wins Coveted Buzzflash "GOP Hypocite of the Week Award"!

Not only has Frist won the Buzzflash award, he lied about the reason he sold his stock in HCA, the family-owned company with a history of defrauding the public.

Maybe it's time to hang it up Bill.

tags: bill frist HCA senate corruption

Just When You Thought It Was Safe ...

Why Is This "Fashion God" Still Under Contract To FEMA?

[via The Smoking Gun] On August 29th, as Katrina was striking the Gulf Coast, Brown responded to a compliment on a TV appearance by stating, "I got it at Nordstroms...Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go home?" An hour later, Brown wrote about his government-issued wardrobe: "If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god."

Read the emails at The Smoking Gun.

CNN actually picked this up. Pam's House Blend has more.

tags: michael brown hurricane katrina FEMA

Just In Time For Halloween

Wingnuttia Flies Apart ... Dear Leader On Ledge!

Miers Withdraws After Vice Minister für Propaganda Krauthammer Provides Strategy - Takes Rove's Place

As if the Dear Leader doesn't have enough problems (what with Plamegate, Torturegate, Cheney's treason, DeLay's problems, et seq.), now Miers has withdrawn (letter here). Even worse, she withdrew using a strategy provided by Charles Krauthammer, who doesn't even work at the White House. All together now: Where was Karl?

The Bush Administration and its minions are flying apart. As for Plamegate, the NY Daily News has an excellent Q&A here.

THIS WAS JUST RETRACTED (4:10 p.m. EST) Possibly the best news of the day? Fitzgerald has rented more office space. Looks like there will be more than 12 days of Fitzmas!

Shakespeare's Sister bitch slaps one of the nuttier wingnuts here.

tags: harriet miers george bush far right plamegate impeach bush

The Ghost of Scandals Past

Separated at Birth?

Like every Member of the House and Senate assembled here tonight, I was elected to the office that I hold. And like every Member of the House and Senate, when I was elected to that office, I knew that I was elected for the purpose of doing a job and doing it as well as I possibly can. And I want you to know that I have no intention whatever of ever walking away from the job that the people elected me to do for the people of the United States.

Richard M. Nixon, Jan. 30, 1974

And I've got a job to do. Part of my job is to work with others to fashion a world that will be peaceful for future generations. And I've got a job to do to make sure this economy continues to grow. I've got a job to make sure that there is a plausible reconstruction plan for cities affected by Katrina. I've got a job to make sure this hurricane headed toward Florida is - the federal response is prepared for it. So to answer your question - there's some background noise here, a lot of chatter, a lot of speculation and opining. But the American people expect me to do my job, and I'm going to.

George W. Bush, Oct. 20, 2005

tags: impeach bush richard nixon george bush

God's Diagnostician Subpoenaed by SEC

Senate Majority Leader and doctor-able-to-diagnose-brain-activity-from-grainy-amateur-videotape Bill Frist will have to explain his trades of the stock of a family-owned company to the SEC. The would-be presidential candidate was subpoenaed earlier today.

Rove, Libby, DeLay, Abramoff, and now Frist. Can the Dear Leader be far behind?

UPDATE: My favorite suburban housewife gone bad discusses this in her Stupid Conservative Tricks section.

tags: bill frist impeach bush tom delay scooter libby jack abramoff

DeLay Still Alive Despite Two Stakes Through Heart

Hasty Prosecutor Forgot to Cut Off Head, Stuff Mouth With Garlic

Although we'd hoped otherwise, the Dear [Former Majority] Leader is still swinging the hammer. The NYT reports that Repubs treat him as indispensable, as if nothing has changed. Fox News, of course, continues their "Poor Tommy" reporting.

Have these people no shame? The guy gerrymandered voting districts with laundered money. A European or Japanese politician would have resigned. The prosecutor needs to follow the instructions.
tags: tom delay politics

FAUX NEWS ALERT - DELAY INDICTED ... A-GAIN

Dear [Former Majority] Leader Indicted Using Obscure Law!

In an attempt to save the Dear [Former Majority] Leader, Fox and other dark-side propaganda arms are attacking the law under which DeLay was indicted. Earlier, we reported that the seemingly right-leaning foreman of the first indicting grand jury did not take kindly to being dismissed by the right as a tool of the left.

Another Repub talking point is: "Poor Tom - the law was just too complicated for him to obey." Yet Republicans have legions of staggeringly expensive lawyers to monitor their compliance with election laws. And, at least when I went to law school, ignorantia legis non excusat. Their other excuse is that because this indictment isn't exactly like other political indictments, it's flawed. But they don't point to any statute or law that says DeLay cannot be so indicted.

tom delay

MICHELLE "MOONBAT" MALKIN MIFFED AT MIERS PICK

Yes sports fans, the blogoshpere is on fire this morning, but it's the far right that's angry with the Miers pick. Denied their ability to have Priscilla Owen or Edith Brown Clement join the other "Strict Constructionists" to shred the Bill of Rights, the far right will now have to either swallow the latest FEMA-style appointment or speak out.

Maybe her time spent on the Texas Lottery Commission and clearing brush on the Dear Leader's ranch will help her overcome her lack of experience on the bench. Expect one of the big fights to be over getting her White House memos.

tags: harriet miers michelle malkin

DeLay Indicted!

Indictment Not DemoCommie Plot to Topple Dear [Majority] Leader!

Apparently the foreman of the grand jury that indicted the Dear [Majority] Leader did not take kindly to Republican attacks on the quality of the indictment. William Gibson, who doesn't want his face shown (can you blame him ... can you imagine how fast it would be "Hammer Time"?), states that he "did his duty and that bound him to look at Tom DeLay as just another Texan accused of criminal conspiracy ..." Even worse for DeLay, it appears Gibson is no DemoCommie but actually might be a Republican:

I like his aggressiveness and everything, and I had nothing against the House majority man, but I felt that we had enough evidence, not only me, but the other grand jury members.

Could this mean DeLay is, eh, screwed? He looks a little green to me ....

tom delay