Category Politics

Pagegate Just Got Gayer

…thanks to Lawrence O’Donnell at HuffPo, and this tidbit in the Post:

The staff member said Hastert’s chief of staff, Scott Palmer, met with the Florida Republican at the Capitol to discuss complaints about Foley’s behavior toward pages.

Palmer, who shares a townhouse with Hastert when they are in town, is more powerful than all but a few House members.

I know that prime real estate in DC is expensive, but Hastert makes $212 grand a year. I don’t know how much Palmer makes, but I bet he’s not hurting either, so I can’t imagine them being roomies for financial reasons.

I suppose it’s possible that Hastert and Palmer feel they need 24-hour access to each other in case an important issue comes up in the middle of the night, or because they’re firmly committed to saving gas by car-pooling, but let’s face it: you’re all thinking the same thing as I am: Hastert is teh gay.

Which wouldn’t—or shouldn’t—be a big deal, except for the fact that they’re members of the party that mobilized the troops in the last election by stirring up fears that OMG the gays are going to sap our precious bodily fluids!

It’s not the gayness. It’s not even the coverup (if any). It’s the hypocrisy.

Pay No Attention to that War Behind the Curtain

This image is from a screenshot
of
this week’s Newsweek site, showing the covers of the paper editions in various areas.

Let’s play “One of these things is not like the others”. Notice anything different about the US edition? Where exactly are the signs of this “liberal media bias” thing I keep hearing about? Or did the editors think that Americans should be insulated from unpleasant facts like the fact that we might be losing in Afghanistan? Could the looming election have anything to do with it?

Grrr…

(Hat tips to
Rising Hegemon
and
Democratic Underground)

Update, Sep. 26, 2006: a friend of mine suggested another, perhaps more cynical explanation: Newsweek thinks that the American public is bored with Afghanistan, and they figured that they’d get more sales with Annie Leibowitz than with that boring and depressing stuff in Afghanistan.

Bill Clinton Bitchslaps Chris Wallace on Fox News

Crooks and Liars has the video. Go watch it. It’s beautiful.

Basically, Chris Wallace asked Clinton why he didn’t do more to kill or capture Osama bin Laden. Clinton went on a tear, explaining why the question is a load of dingo’s kidneys, how the GOoPers were whining about Clinton obsessing over bin Laden instead of concentrating on more important matters, how Fox News is the right wing’s mouthpiece, and that that they never ask these sorts of questions of the people in power today. Oh, and as an extra touch of class, he didn’t mention that the people criticizing him today were too busy organizing a witch hunt over a real estate deal and a blow job.

Mr. Clinton: could you please help the Democratic party? They need some balls.

Senate Gets an Early Start on the Weekend

In the sidebar of http://www.senate.gov/:

Friday, Sep 22, 2006

The Senate convened at 9:30 a.m. and adjourned at 9:40 a.m. No record votes were taken.

I wish I could come in for ten minutes and vote to give myself the rest of the day off.

When I rule the world, there’ll be a time clock on Capitol Hill. And if anyone takes time off like this, it’ll come out of their salary.

(HT curvemudgeon, Wonkette.)

We Know You’re Guilty 2: Ohio Edition

The Toledo Blade is reporting:

An Ohio legislative panel yesterday rubber-stamped an unprecedented process that would allow sex offenders to be publicly identified and tracked even if they’ve never been charged with a crime.

(emphasis added.)

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Faith-Based Airport Security

If airports set up special lines at security checkpoints for Muslims, as
various right-wingers have been suggesting,
may I suggest an express line for atheists, with lighter security checks?

After all, when’s the last time an atheist hijacked a plane, or drove a car bomb into a schoolyard, or blew up an abortion clinic, an
olympic stadium,
an
office building?

Airport Security

Bill in Portland Maine makes some sensible comments about airport security, but with more snark and links than I could muster:

A quick check on airport security:

Liquids and gels have been banned in carry-on baggage. This is silly and ineffective.  But aren’t ya glad they thought of it 5 years after 9/11?

X-ray machines are reliable tools to detect explosives in shoes. Except the, uh…Liquid or gel kind.

Cargo is still not inspected nearly enough. Packages under 16 ounces don’t even require paperwork. (The explosion aboard Pan Am flight 103 was caused by a device that weighed less than 16 ounces).

The Muslims-only line—underwritten by FOX News—still hasn’t been set up yet, dammit. And new TSA officer Mike Gallagher hasn’t shown up to begin the Muslims-only full-body-cavity searches. (Apparently he’s still finishing his temp job as a nursery school crossing guard.)

Meanwhile, the TSA is under strict orders not to touch any passenger’s monkey, no matter what might be ticking inside its ass.

I feel safer. How `bout you?

Yeah. Next time I fly, I’ll be thinking of my PDA, laptop, bottle of water, Swiss army knife (the Perl of Leathermen) and other implements of destruction in the unscreened luggage compartment beneath me.

Why Don’t the Republicans Want My Vote?

I like Dean’s Fifty-State Strategy. For those who haven’t been following along, the idea is that for years, the Republicans and Democrats have been concentrating their campaign money where they think it’ll do the most good. Thus, for instance, the Democrats would realize that they’re not going to win some rural seat in Georgia, and therefore there’s no point in campaigning there. Then the Republicans would see that there’s no Democratic competition for that seat, and would concentrate their resources on a more disputed election, perhaps in Ohio or Missouri.

We all saw the 2000 and 2004 elections. So Dean apparently decided that the old was weren’t working so well anymore, and that the Democrats should actually spend money on every race in 2006, even the ones they can’t reasonably win.

The effect is at least twofold. For one thing, remember that dogcatcher race in rural Georgia? If the Democrats are actually spending money on it and putting up a fight, that means the Republicans can’t just take it for granted, and are going to have to spend money there as well, which is money they can’t spend in Missouri or Ohio.

The other effect is that stories are coming out about a resurgence of the Democratic party in unlikely places, like Alabama. Places where, in past election cycles, the Democratic party presence consisted solely of a PO box now have actual paid staffers, and people are getting to meet real live Democrats for the first time. This is all well and good and in the spirit of democracy, giving people a choice of candidates.

But I guess the Republicans didn’t get the memo. This November, I’ll be voting for or against Steny Hoyer, who has said a few stupid things recently. So I thought I’d see who the competition is.

As far asI can tell, there’s no Republican in that race. Apparently Ron Miller was running, but decided to switch to the Senate race. But no Republican will take the Maryland 5th house seat, because they haven’t put up a candidate.

I sent them mail yesterday asking about that, but I’m not terribly hopeful. I sent them mail in April asking for a platform document (no snark or anything; just a straight request), and never heard back.

Which brings me to the question in the subject: apparently the Republicans don’t want my vote. Why not?

Update, Aug. 11, 2006: I actually got a response from the MD GOP. My request:

Hi! I’ve been trying to find out who will be the GOP candidate in Maryland’s 5th Congressional district this November. I’ve searched the mdgop.org web site, but haven’t been able to find this information.

If you could help, I’d appreciate it.

Thanks.

Their response:

There is no Republican candidate going against Steny Hoyer this year. We originally had one candidate, Ron Miller, running but he decided that running against Mike Miller in the state Senate presented a better opportunity for success and impacting the people of the district. There was one other candidate who thought about getting into the race, but decided at the last minute that his time and energy was better spent re-electing Governor Ehrlich, electing Michael Steele to the U.S. Senate and bringing more Republicans into the General Assembly.

Thank you for your email. I hope this information helps.

Sincerely,

Audra Miller
Communications Director
Maryland Republican Party

We Know You’re Guilty. We Don’t Need to Prove it.

The Washington Post has
another scary dictatorship article.

A draft Bush administration plan for special military courts seeks to expand the reach and authority of such “commissions” to include trials, for the first time, of people who are not members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban and are not directly involved in acts of international terrorism, according to officials familiar with the proposal.

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Civil Rights Progress

In Alabama,
Ralph Reed lost the Republican primary
for lieutenant governor, mainly because of his association with Jack Abramoff. Meanwhile, Karla Drenner, who is openly gay, won the Democratic nomination.

Suggested headline: “Alabama: Gays less despised than Jack Abramoff.”