Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) spoke on the House floor yesterday about the failure of the surge to achieve its objective. Seems pretty relevant since all the Republicans think things are going so well over there.
The President's surge is as successful as the President's boast to capture Osama bin Laden 'dead or alive.'
Now Congress must respond to the President's propaganda surge with a truth surge, with a memory surge that reminds America of repeated false cries of progress and phony excuses that have only brought our families more insecurity. Congress must learn from the courage of our troops. Appeasement will not stop this wrongheaded administration policy. More blank checks will only drain our national treasury while fueling more death and destruction that only endangers our families.
With the recent resignation of Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, statements and releases are circulating en masse right now. John Cornyn would have you believe that this embattled Republican operative has done nothing wrong.
His resignation marks another casualty of the hyper-partisan atmosphere in Washington that does not serve the best interests of the American People.
Despite countless hearings and subpoenaed documents, it's clear that the Attorney General did not interfere with ongoing investigations and prosecutions by U.S. Attorneys. Rather, his mistake was underestimating the ferocity of relentless partisan attacks and not preparing more to address them. Perhaps because their attention was distracted by 300 other investigations already launched by the Democratic majority, the Justice Department did a very poor job in responding to these spurious charges.
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Since taking power over 200 days ago, Democrats have opened more than 300 investigations and held more than 600 oversight hearings, while their other notable accomplishment is renaming 20 post offices.
The American people deserve and demand bipartisan action on the many important issues facing our country today. It is my hope that the poisonous and partisan atmosphere that has surrounded this Congress will be lifted and my Democratic colleagues will work with Republicans in the best interests of the American people.
Well said Junior Senator Cornyn. Now it is time to face some facts. Alberto Gonzales created a partisan Department of Justice and then lied about it. People don’t resign from a job that they are doing well.
Alberto Gonzales, along with Cornyn and Bush, created an illegal and warrantless wiretapping program that is bogging down our courts. In 2006, this issue was a big enough deal to the American people that they voted overwhelmingly Democratic and gave both chambers of Congress over to the Democratic Party. Not only were people so irate about the program, Gonzales was being investigated by both Republicans and Democrats because he likely perjured himself during the Congressional investigations mentioned above.
Lt. Col. Rick Noriega put it bluntly, “It’s about time. Our country’s interest should come first. This appears to be a political decision. Hopefully this can put an end to the politicization of the Justice Department.”
It is hard to be surprised that Cornyn would mislead the country and his constituents. He constantly refuses to answer questions on political shows like This Week or in Town Halls. Instead, the Junior Senator uses partisan, flamethrower language in order to divert our focus from a Bush crony resigning to blaming a Democratic majority for finding the problem. As a Democrat, I am proud we won the majority back and I am even prouder to say Alberto Gonzales has resigned because he lied to Congress and the American people. It is sad that you do not agree with that Mr. Cornyn.
Mikal Watts, stated, “John Cornyn’s loss is America’s gain. His strong support of the Attorney General only delayed the inevitable, but now the rest of the nation can move on to the task of restoring balance and integrity in our top judicial office.”
Now we are at a cross roads of cronyism. The rumor swirling is that Bush will replace Gonzales with failed Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. In an e-mail that just recently went out from the Edwards Campaign, Joe Trippi wrote this:
That's right—Bush may actually replace the man who brought us a political purge of U.S. Attorneys and illegal spying on Americans with the man who brought us the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
It is time to do what is right for America and not the Republican base. The two seem to be mutually exclusive, but our Republican elected officials only want to govern the radical right. That is unacceptable and it is time for Cornyn and Bush to realize that they must represent all of us, not just the percentage that voted for them.
Lamar Smith saw first hand last cycle how powerful the internet can be when John Courage made a strong run at him, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars online. If it hadn’t been for a sudden Supreme Court ruling, Smith may have been on the early side of retirement.
Seeing the power of the internet Smith made some demands. Of course, Fox's bias reigns supreme in their "reporting".
The response came after Texas Rep. Lamar Smith demanded the new page be removed from the committee Web site, and called it a partisan attempt to persecute the Bush administration and misuse taxpayer dollars for a witch-hunt.
Conyers said the attacks by House Republicans over the page are creating a "sideshow and a distraction" from the real issue — the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last December, he said.
"Some have raised allegations about a Web page that was designed to give department whistleblowers a mechanism to securely communicate with the committee. The Web page was launched prematurely, but the content of it represented a good faith interpretation of House rules," Conyers said in a statement.
Two things strike me about Smith’s defense of Bush and clearly partisan attack of the committee. First, Bush’s most recent poll numbers have him at 26%, the second lowest in American history. If it would pay off in the long run, I would understand why a Texas Republican would defend the Texas President, but Cornyn proves that defending Bush is a losing proposition. Second, Lamar Smith’s track record shows he would rather use the Judiciary committee to protect Republican’s instead of doing its job.
"This committee, I'm sure we all would agree, should not engage in the partisan persecution of the administration's public officials," Smith said.
And let’s be clear, the site is designed to allow people to contact the committee so they can further investigate Alberto Gonzales (another Texan and Bush loyalist) and his politicization of the Department of Justice.
"The committee is looking for concrete and specific actions taken or statements made by management-level officials of the department that have led career employees to be concerned that law enforcement actions will not be handled on a completely non-partisan, impartial manner but will be unduly influenced by partisan political or other inappropriate considerations," the letter reads.
It is clear that the Republican Party continues to hide behind partisan rhetoric in order to distort the truth. The people have spoken Mr. Smith they wanted new leadership. Let Chairman Conyers do his job and find out why Gonzales felt a need to fire nine qualified attorneys for no reason.
In the wake of rumors that John Cornyn will be appointed as Attorney General, Cornyn announced his finance team.
The 2008 re-election campaign will be head by ultra-conservative, anti-tax at all cost, John Nau. Nau is currently the director of the Texas Historic Commission (who has a bill on the floor this week that is holding parks hostage). Nau is also a director of the Leininger funded Texas Public Policy Foundation.
In other words, he makes Grover Norquist look rational. Ok, that's not possible, but you get the point.
Speaking of Norquist, TPJ points out that Nau and Norquist helped DeLay launch the K Street project. Good choice Cornyn. Good. Choice.
Major finance co-chairs include Bob Rowling in Dallas, Kit Moncrief in Ft. Worth, John Schweitzer in Austin, Ned Holmes in Houston, John Steen in San Antonio, Herb Wade in Central Texas, Bill Harley, Gaylord Hughey and Whit Riter in East Texas, Sam Susser on the Gulf Coast, Granger MacDonald in the Hill Country, Clyde Seibman in North Texas, Four Price in the Panhandle, Nick Serafy in South Texas, and Robert Brown in El Paso.
We will obviously look into the rest of these individuals, but the old saying is, "the character of a man can be determined by the quality of the friends he keeps."
Leininger, DeLay, Norquist, Nau, Bush, Gonzales... out of touch? Yes.
Junior Senator, John Cornyn's numbers are going up. Problem is, its his disapproval. Burka Blog points out that Cornyn's favorables are holding steady at 47%, but his disapproval has grown by +4 points to 39%.
As voters become educated about Cornyn his disapproval grows. In February 17% said they weren't sure how to feel about the Junior Senator from Texas, now that number is down to 14%.
The other interesting thing to point to is whether Cornyn and Bush are hurting Kay Bailey. Last month, KBH had a scary 67% approval, 26% disapproval, and 7% unsure. This month she is down to 59% approval, 32% disapproval, and 9% unsure.
That is well outside the margin of error and something to watch as the VP debate shapes up.
Governor Perry is about to equal the record of executions while in office that was set by former Governor Bush. 152 people were executed by Bush while he was governor. On April 11, Perry could reach number 152 if James Lee Clark is executed at 6:00 pm, as scheduled.
Clark would be the 12th inmate put to death this year in Texas, which has accounted for all but one of the nation's executions so far this year. At least nine other executions are scheduled in the state in the coming months.
Democrat turned Republican, Matthew Dowd, has lost faith in the Bush presidency.
This wouldn't be a big deal normally. Who hasn't lost faith in Bush? The amazing thing is that Dowd is given a lot of credit for Bush's victory against McCain in 2000 and defeating Kerry in 2006.
A top strategist for the Texas Democrats who was disappointed by the Bill Clinton years, Mr. Dowd was impressed by the pledge of Mr. Bush, then governor of Texas, to bring a spirit of cooperation to Washington. He switched parties, joined Mr. Bush's political brain trust and dedicated the next six years to getting him to the Oval Office and keeping him there. In 2004, he was appointed the president's chief campaign strategist.
The scary thing is why Dowd has broken his silence.
"I really like him, which is probably why I'm so disappointed in things," he said. He added, "I think he's become more, in my view, secluded and bubbled in."
In speaking out, Mr. Dowd became the first member of Mr. Bush's inner circle to break so publicly with him.
He said his decision to step forward had not come easily. But, he said, his disappointment in Mr. Bush's presidency is so great that he feels a sense of duty to go public given his role in helping Mr. Bush gain and keep power.
Junior Cornyn has always been an outspoken supporter of President Bushes failed policies. Recently he has rubber stamped Bush's policy on Iraq without ever thinking of the people the policy effects most-- soldiers and their families.
Cornyn agrees with the Vice President that people undermine the troops when they opposes the President.
"Well, the Vice President was quoted as saying this on March 12, and I couldn't agree with him more in this regard. He said, `The second myth is the most transparent and that is the notion that one can support the troops without giving them the tools and the reinforcements necessary to carry out their mission. When members of Congress pursue an anti-war strategy that's been called slow bleed, they're not supporting the troops, they're undermining them.'…I couldn't agree with the Vice President any more in those quotes remarks." (Congressional Record, 3/14/07)
In the 1800s, immigrants to the U.S. from China were often used by railroads and mining companies to ignite dynamite along cliff-sides and deep within caverns. Of course, most of these workers were exploded right along with the rock.
Hence, the origin of the offensive phrase "a Chinaman's chance in Hell." Which is exactly what the Gov. Rick Perry's so-called Medicaid reform will give those who do most of the hard work building our roads, cleaning our buildings, feeding our kids, disposing of our garbage, washing our dishes, hauling our freight, picking our fruit.
There's a spooky scene in Robert Altman's film, "McCabe and Mrs. Miller," in which the paid assassin is describing 19th Century mining practices. Just send the Chinese down with the dynamite and blow it up, he laughs. After all, there are plenty of Chinese dynamite exploders available. It's cost effective to kill them.
