The GOP Florida Debate

Got home from work and prepared myself to watch the GOP Debate (I TiVo-ed it). So there I sat with my bottle of Tums and a waste paper basket next to me just in case.

Looks like Rudy "3% in the Primaries" Giuliani is front and center as I predicted he would be. At least MSNBC and the MSM plays fair and square in deciding who is to participate in these debates according to viability. I was wrong in my prediction that Ron Paul would be on the end podium.

• Let's see... McCain wants to make the Bush tax cuts permanent because people who are trying to figure out their budgets in 2010(?!) need to know sooner than later. I wonder if he knows that many Americans out there live paycheck to paycheck. He's worried about pork barrel spending and bridges to nowhere but doesn't mention the $11 BILLION we spend in Iraq. Each. Month.
  
  
• Giuliani... there's that vomit feeling in the back of my throat - also wants major tax cuts for... wait for it... CORPORATIONS AND CAPITAL GAINS.
  
  
• Huckabee: $150 billion stimulus package will be borrowed from China to buy Chinese products. Fix the infrastructure to fix the economy. The Huckster makes sense. He must have heard John Edwards say the same thing last week.
  
  
• Mitt Romney also favors the tax cuts because according to him, that's what got our economy going the last time. According to me, that's what got us in trouble in the first place.
  
  
• McCain: GOP lost the 2006 election because of their lack of restraint in spending. Silly me, I thought it was about the war.
  
  
• Hey! Ron Paul was finally acknowledged by being asked a question 17 minutes into the debate.
  
  
• Giuliani won't take blood money from a Saudi prince, but same prince can bail out the troubled US banks. Nothing like free trade, huh, Rudy? Actual Rudy quote: "How much can we sell to the rest of the world?" Well, products? I'm all for it. But selling our debt?
  
  
• McCain claims that even though the GOP fucked up the economy over the last 7 years, America should vote for a Republican because you can't trust the Democrats when it comes to spending. Pass the Tums, please.
  
  
• Actually Romney quote: " When Republicans act like Democrats, America loses." He says this regarding our economy after the GOP and Bush has sucked the treasury dry. Russert also prefaced the question by saying when Bush took office, we had a surplus, lower unemployment, lower inflation, and lower gas prices.
  
  
• McCain dismisses a question asking how we're supposed to stay in Iraq indefinitely (as he has suggested) with a broken military and the impossibility of keeping it up financially by stating that the military isn't broken and that we are winning in Iraq. Then takes a swipe at Hillary Clinton who would "raise the white flag of surrender." Romney jumps in on the Clinton bashing.
  
  
• Q: Was the war in Iraq a good idea and worth the blood and treasure?
  McCain: Good idea at the end of the day; badly managed.
  Rudy: Hillary was in favor of it; "I'm for it"; Islamic terrorist war -Boo!
  Ron Paul: Bad idea, not worth the sacrifice and treasure; Al-Qaeda wasn't there before, but NOW they are; no WMD. (Applause during his answer.)
  Huck: We owe George W. Bush our thanks. Just because we didn't find WMD doesn't mean they weren't there.
  Mitt: The surge is working. I'm for the war and will always be for the war.

I can't take it anymore. Taking some Advil for my headache, Tums for my stomach and going to bed. I'll most likely have nightmares about one of these chumps in the Oval Office. Now that's one scary-ass nightmare.

Maybe I'll watch the rest tomorrow... but it's highly unlikely as I value my health and sanity.

The Downfall of Rudy Giuliani

Good op-ed from Timothy Egan in the New York Times.

From "Goodbye Rudy, Tuesday":

...It’s worth stepping back for a moment to recall how far and how quickly Giuliani has fallen. For most of the summer and well into the fall, he was the Republican frontrunner. His campaign consisted of a hagiography: the hero of 9/11. His fundraising was strong. Now the campaign is all but broke and he’s getting his clock cleaned in some states by Ron Paul – Ron Paul! – the 97-pound libertarian who thinks the war on terror is bogus.

...More broadly, you can summarize Giuliani’s problems in the line he no longer uses. When the World Trade Center towers came down, he turned to his loyal sidekick Bernie Kerik, and said he was glad George Bush was president.

Now, that line is a triple loser. Kerik, his police commissioner, is under federal indictment, in a sea of troubles. Bush is despised by two-thirds of Americans, and even a majority of Republicans want to go in a different direction. As for the big scare, give Senator Joe Biden credit for writing what may be Giuliani’s obit: “There are only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb and 9/11.”

Yet Giuliani still wants to frighten people into voting for him...

Giuliani's Strategery

Rudy Giuliani has been campaigning exclusively in Florida on the bet that a win there could propel him into the lead and deliver the prize of the Republican Presidential nomination. There's just one problem. He's getting shellacked in the meantime and becoming increasingly irrelevant... which is fine by me.

Rudy's been consistently getting his ass kicked by Ron Paul. Even Fred Thompson beat him on a regular basis... and he's already quit the race!

Wolfrum over at Shakesville has a great take on the whole thing:

MIAMI -- After stumbling through a 1-15 season in 2007, the Miami Dolphins have announced that they will play in, and win Super Bowl XLII on Feb. 3 in Phoenix, Ariz.

The stunning announcement came after Dolphins officials emerged from a two-hour meeting with GOP Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani. The former mayor of New York has been campaigning almost exclusively in Florida, and Miami officials credit him for creating the plan that will make them Super Bowl champions.

...Giuliani, a one-time favorite for the Republican nomination for the 2008 presidential election, has stumbled badly in the state primaries, though has insisted all along that his plan for victory is intact.

"It’s playing out the way we thought it would," Giuliani said after polls showed that his one-time 33-point lead in his home state of New York is now a 12-point deficit.

Keep it up, Rudy - it's working out perfectly... for the rest of us.

El Vampiro,Seňor Nueve Once

As an hispanic, there's something disturbing about this:

...Mr. Giuliani was asked at an Elks Lodge here about what he would do to end illegal immigration, he ended with a familiar applause line: “The final end result about becoming a citizen – you should be able to have to read English, write English, and speak English if you want to become a citizen,’’ he said.

Now watch this Giuliani ad, one of three currently running in Miami, Florida.

Way to go, Rudy. Que hombre imbécil. ¡Sinvergüenza!

Is Giuliani Done?

The 9/11 bloodsucker came in a dismal 6th place last night in the Iowa Caucuses. Let me repeat that: 6th place with a measly 4%. He's already using his fearmonger trump card with the latest ad campaign in Florida and New Hampshire.

He's not going anywhere soon enough, and I know it's still early (i.e. Howard Dean in Iowa 2004) but does he even have a shot anymore?

Steve Benen at C & L tries to cut through the candidates spin on the Iowa results and this one just cracked me up:

Rudy Giuliani — What Giuliani fans are saying: 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! What Giuliani critics are saying: “Frontrunners” don’t come in a humiliating sixth place, with one-third the support of a libertarian gadfly, in a state where he was once in the lead.
Who’s right? Take a wild guess.

I believe Benen is right. It's not like Mr. 9/11 came in 2nd place with 25% like Romney did. He didn't even make a showing. And Rudy fans will say he stopped campaigning in Iowa to concentrate on Florida and New Hampshire. That's all well and good if you look at it through Rudy-colored glasses.

Chances are that the constiuents in Iowa, when meeting Giuliani face to face, saw through his weak, one message platform and didn't like what they saw, heard or smelled. That's the one thing in these early states that doesn't happen anywhere else. It's not like you can sit in the same living room with these candidates three months before their respective conventions and try to make an informed decision by meeting them personally. Rudy is not a likable character and being in the same room with him reveals that.

Also, the fact remains that he had the lead in Iowa. The lead! Rudy was polling at 30% a few months ago. But then he actually went to Iowa. If you didn't click on the link above, take a look at this chart:


Put on your goggles and grab your skis, Rudy, because that purple line is you and it's going straight downhill! New Hampshire is in four days and there probably isn't enough bounce in the Giuliani campaign to make a decent showing even if Rudy had ten pounds of SuperBalls® surgically implanted in his ass.

I may be wrong, but it's my opinion.

Iowa Chooses Obama And Huckabee

The country, or at least Iowa, wants change. Barack Obama took the Iowa Caucuses handily with 38% of the vote.

Here's the breakdown:

Obama 38%
Edwards 30%
Clinton 29%
Richardson 2%
Biden 1%
Dodd 0%
Gravel 0%
Kucinich 0%

Soon after, Biden, Dodd and Gravel have all announced that they were dropping out of the race.

Obama: “They said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high. They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned, to come together over a common purpose. You have done what the cynics said you couldn’t do. You have done what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days. You have done what America can do in this new year, 2008. We are one nation, we are one people, and the time for change has come.”

Edwards: “The one thing that’s clear with the results in Iowa tonight is the status quo lost and change won.”

Clinton: “We are going to have change, and that change is going to be a Democratic president in the White House in 2009.”

Clinton's quote was a response to the overwhelming numbers of registered Democratic voters that came out. MSNBC was just reporting 236,000+ voters (80% Dems) and counting turned out for the Democratic Caucus; over 100,000 more than in 2004 and more than twice the amount that came out to vote for Republicans.

On the Republican side, Huckabee easily kicked Romney in the magic underpants. Here's how it breaks down on the GOP side with 86% of the precincts reporting as of this writing:

Schmuckabee 34%
HAL-9000 26%
Frederick of Hollywood 13%
Maverick McStraight Talk 13%
Ron "Read My Lips, No Taxes Period" Paul 10%
Ghouliani 4%
Duncan "Why Am I Still Running?" Hunter 0%

Huckabee: "A new day is needed in American politics, just like a new day is needed in American government... It starts here, but it doesn't end here. It goes all the way through the other states and ends at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."

I do kid, but it really is an historic moment when you stop and think that Democrats in Iowa, with a population that is 97% caucasian, voted for a man of color as their choice to lead the country. Talk about an about face for the staus quo!

Could this really be the start of something big? The turning of the page? Who knows what is going to happen in the weeks and months to come and how this will all play out?

As Arianna Huffington wrote: "...this moment may not last. But, for tonight, I am going to savor it -- and cross my fingers that it may stand as the day that fear as a winning political tactic died. Killed by an "unlikely" candidate -- as Obama called himself again and again -- who seized the moment, and reminded America of its youth and the optimism it longs to recapture. "

UPDATE: Gravel Still In The Race

Commenter Dan brought this to my attention:

MSNBC pundit Keith Olbermann has incorrectly declared that Sen. Gravel has dropped out of the race following the January third caucus in Iowa. This is not true, and Sen. Gravel is still an active member in this race. We are requesting that MSNBC and Keith Olbermann retract their statement, and issue an apology to the campaign for promoting blatantly false misinformation.

Again, Sen. Gravel has not dissolved his campaign, and has no intentions of doing so.

I would expect a retraction if this is true and according to the Gravel website, it is. But the language is a little harsh, don't you think? "Promoting blatantly false MISinformation?" I'll let that one slide. It's not like Olbermann is the tool of the Republican devil, and with all due respect to Sen. Gravel, it's been over for him for a while now.

Here Comes The Spin

NY TIMES: President Bush said today that a new intelligence finding that Iran halted its nuclear weapons work in 2003 had not altered his sense that Iran remained a danger.

...“I have said Iran is dangerous,” Bush said a day after the release of the National Intelligence Estimate, representing the consensus of all 16 American spy agencies, “and the N.I.E. doesn’t do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world — quite the contrary.”

So just disregard that 16 separate intelligence agencies report that Iran has not constituted nukes and had actually stopped its program in 2003. Asshole. Sometimes the Decider really makes me go nuke-u-lur!

Reporters pressed the president to explain why as recently as October, he was saying that a nuclear-armed Iran could pose a risk of a “World War III.” But Bush said he had learned of the new intelligence findings on Iran, which have been in the works for months, only last week. When a reporter asked whether anyone in the intelligence community had urged him to step back from his tough warnings about Iran, he said, “No.”

UPDATE: Norman Podhoretz, who is Rudy Giuliani's national security advisor by the way, thinks the latest NIE is a plot against Bush. This is the same cadaverous son of a bitch that "prayed" the US would bomb the crap out of Iran a couple of months ago. Great pick, Rudy.

UPDATE II: Bob Cesca in his new Huffington Post article:

Knowledge has been the president's enemy ever since his skull failed to completely fuse, leaving him with a spongy head and a brain that's susceptible to bruising. His other lifelong enemy, by the way, is a fork without a protective wine cork pressed onto its dangerous, eye-poking tines. I'm joking about the skull thing.

...Why else would President Bush cite knowledge as the qualifier? Knowledge is also the simplest justification to lie about due to the fact that it's so insanely difficult disprove. Oh, and it's a perfect fit for rallying the president's dingus base --they hate anything that has to do with knownin' shit.

Rudy and Bernie and Paul, Oh My!

First Rudy's BFF Bernard Kerik, the man Rudy recommended for Homeland Security Director, is indicted for fraud and now comes this tidbit of information:

Who is Paul Singer? He and Rudy Giuliani would prefer you not think too much about it.

Singer, who founded the multibillion dollar hedge fund Elliott Associates, has raised $200,000 for Giuliani. He flies Giuliani around in his jet.

And as of September, his $175,000 contribution was the sole backing for the Republican scheme to split up California's electoral votes. Instead of all the electoral votes in the country's most populous state going to the state's winner (almost surely the Democrat), the ballot initiative would throw the loser (the Republican) his percentage, potentially swinging the election.

Are Rudy and his backers behind the California electoral votes scheme?

...what has attracted notice recently is Mr. Singer’s September donation of $175,000 to a group called Take Initiative America — California, a corporation that had been set up in Missouri the day before, and which then donated the money to a group called Californians for Equal Representation.
The California group wanted to change the way the state’s 55 electoral votes are apportioned, from winner-take-all, to one apportioning the votes according to Congressional district. Such a change could give Republicans as many as 20 more electoral votes, making it much easier for the party to win the White House.

Krugman: Health Care Excuses

Paul Krugman's column is short and sweet today. Give it a once over.

Rudy Giuliani’s fake numbers on prostate cancer — which, by the way, he still refuses to admit were wrong — were the latest entry in a long, dishonorable tradition of peddling scare stories about the evils of “government run” health care.

The reality is that the best foreign health care systems, especially those of France and Germany, do as well or better than the U.S. system on every dimension, while costing far less money.

But the best way to counter scare talk about socialized medicine, aside from swatting down falsehoods — would journalists please stop saying that Rudy’s claims, which are just wrong, are “in dispute”? — may be to point out that every American 65 and older is covered by a government health insurance program called Medicare. And Americans like that program very much, thank you.

Krugman on Giuliani

When is someone going to call out Giuliani for the warmongering, lying asshole that he is?

PAUL KRUGMAN, NY Times: “My chance of surviving prostate cancer — and thank God I was cured of it — in the United States? Eighty-two percent,” says Rudy Giuliani in a new radio ad attacking Democratic plans for universal health care. “My chances of surviving prostate cancer in England? Only 44 percent, under socialized medicine.”

It would be a stunning comparison if it were true. But it isn’t. And thereby hangs a tale — one of scare tactics, of the character of a man who would be president and, I’m sorry to say, about what’s wrong with political news coverage.

Read Krugman's article here.

The Hillary Hate Factor

For quite a while now, I've been thinking about the Democrats running in the Presidential primary looking to get the votes needed to be the next nominee for President of the United States. As we all know, it's been Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama who have been leading the pack in the polls, campaign contributions and in media exposure.

Both are worthy candidates, in my opinion, but there are always a couple of questions that come across my mind as I imagine either one as the Democratic nominee. Could one of these two actually win? It would be devastating for this country to elect another Republican. I don't say this because I'm a Democrat or a liberal or progressive or whatever label you want to put on it. I seriously believe that if we, as a nation, elect another Republican to the highest office in the land, we'll continue down this horrible road we've been traveling with Bush and his band, and the rest of the world will conclude that this is where we all want to be. Not just the people that vote Republican, but all of us, and needless to say, we're not anyone's favorites right now.

There may be an exception or two. I've been listening to Mike Huckabee on different talk shows and debates and he seems to have his head on straight on certain issues. But he's not a front runner. The leaders in polls on the Republican side show Rudy Giuliani holding a double digit lead over Fred Thompson, who hasn't even announced yet! And believe me as a New Yorker, living in a Giuliani world is not all its cracked up to be. Mike Huckabee has been holding steady at 3% for the last three months.

Anyway, back to my point. The Republican Party is on the ropes. Their base has had their head smashed in with scandal after scandal, the Iraq War is a mess, resignations are crippling White House computer printers and Congressional subpoenas are flying out of the Capitol Building fast than you can say "Alberto Gonzales". At this point, the Republican base will stay at home on Election Day. But the one thing they will rally around is who their political opponent will be .

Hillary Clinton has this hate factor that has manifested itself into an 800 lb. gorilla. And hell, where did it come from? What did Hillary do to make her so vilified, not only among Republicans, but some Democrats as well?

I had a conversation with a colleague at work who said she would vote for John McCain before Hillary. JOHN McCAIN!!! Mr. Baghdad Is Doing Great, Surge Is Working While Helicopters Protect Me From Overhead McCain. When I mentioned to her that there was probably no way McCain would get the nomination and asked her who she would vote for if it were Hillary or Giuliani, she begrudgingly said Hillary. "But I don't trust her as far as I could throw her" was her caveat. Why did this African-American woman not trust Hillary?

Is the distrust a culmination of Hillary's ambition to high office, so much so that she stood by her husband after it was revealed that he had an affair? Did my friend feel betrayed as a woman, perhaps thinking that Hillary lost some dignity in staying with Bill? We all assume the Clintons moved to New York so Hillary could run for office, but everyone does it, and I have to say that she's done a pretty good job as a New York Senator (despite voting for the war), so why is this so different? What is it about Hillary Clinton that pisses people off?

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a strong Hillary supporter. I don't approve of what she says regarding her foreign policy. I do belive she's trapped herself in a corner and is now beholden to lobbyists and corporate interests. This is especially upsetting to me, because she's gone from being the most outspoken person on a national health care system as First Lady, to accepting campaign contributions from insurance and phamaceutical companies (that's for another post). But I'd still take her over ANYONE on the Republican ticket.

Barack Obama first got my attention at the 2004 Democratic National Convention with his Keynote Address. That great speech that literally took my breath away and got me excited about politics for the first time in a very long time:

"...there's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."

That galvanized me, and I hope most of the Democratic party, into thinking of what could be possible. It fell on deaf ears, however, to the other side. Before long, they were trying to make Obama the latest demon, calling him Barack Hussein Obama (his real middle name) in an attempt to associate him with Saddam, and saying he went to a madrassa when he was a boy. Now they claim his downfall is his inexperience, to which he replies, "Nobody had a longer resume than Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and that hasn't worked out so well." I sensed the attacks coming, but what are you going to do?

My one hesitation about Barack: he's black. I have absolutely no problem with Obama's African-American heritage. However, I think too many other people in this country still do, including many in the Republican party. So the question there is: Is America ready to vote for an African-American to be President?

Which comes to my final point. This week's Time Magazine has a John Edwards article worth reading. I've always liked Edwards. He comes across as genuine to me. Not looking for the patented, rehearsed answer, or not saying what any particular audience wants to hear. But I believe he deeply cares about people and trying to make it better for everyone. He's big on health care and hasn't taken any money from lobbyists, corporations or political action committees.

His wife Elizabeth is quoted in the article regarding what I call the Hillary Hate Factor:

TIME MAGAZINE, Elizabeth Edwards: "The media goes to this very engaging story about a legitimate woman candidate and a legitimate candidate with an African-American heritage, and that drives up their fund-raising numbers," says Elizabeth, the unfiltered voice of the campaign, during an interview on the bus a week before that speech. "Then the media folks say, 'See, that proves we were right to focus on these two candidates' ... It's enough to make you tear your hair out." Soon she's pressing the argument that her husband is the most electable candidate, the one who will help other Democrats win in the South and West--and she's managing to attack Clinton while defending her. "I want to be perfectly clear: I do not think the hatred against Hillary Clinton is justified. I don't know where it comes from. I don't begin to understand it. But you can't pretend it doesn't exist, and it will energize the Republican base. Their nominee won't energize them, Bush won't, but Hillary as the nominee will. It's hard for John to talk about, but it's the reality."

My only reaction? She's right. But where do we go from here? Is middle America ready to vote for a woman? Or a black man? Can people who say they support either candidate be completely honest with themselves when they are all alone in the voting booth with no one looking over their shoulder?

Do yourself a favor and read the entire Edwards article in TIME (linked above).

(In the interests of total disclosure, I have donated to the Edwards and Kucinich campaigns.)

Update: Giuliani - "I misspoke."

Sure you did, Rudy.

Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani said Friday that he misspoke when he said he spent as much time, if not more, at ground zero exposed to the same health risks as workers combing the site after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I think I could have said it better," he told nationally syndicated radio host Mike Gallagher. "You know, what I was saying was, 'I'm there with you.'"

..."He is such a liar, because the only time he was down there was for photo ops with celebrities, with politicians, with diplomats," said deputy fire chief Jimmy Riches, who spent months digging for his firefighter son. "On 9/11 all he did was run. He got that soot on him, and I don't think he's taken a shower since."

Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, a union that fiercely opposes Giuliani, said he doubted Giuliani misspoke.
"I think he was simply showing what his true character is — a self-absorbed, self-deluded promoter who got caught and is now just simply trying to backtrack," Schaitberger said.

Giuliani the Great: I worked with Ground Zero responders.

I've been meaning to catch up on the last weeks events and have been taking notes furiously, but I couldn't let this one go without commenting on it.

"America's Mayor" Rudy Giuliani had the audacity to compare himself equally with Ground Zero 9/11 responders in terms of working at the site.

"This is not a mayor or a governor or a President who's sitting in an ivory tower," Giuliani said. "I was at Ground Zero as often, if not more, than most of the workers. I was there working with them. I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to. So in that sense, I'm one of them."

What a hack! No, Rudy, you weren't exposed to the same toxins they were, because you wore a respirator. The same kind of respirator that real 9/11 responders and rescue workers didn't wear because OSHA rules weren't enforced for fear of slowing down work.

Of course, the real 9/11 heroes, you know the ones who are now disabled because of lung problems and can't get medical treatment, are outraged.

Queens paramedic Marvin Bethea, who said he suffered a stroke, post traumatic stress disorder and breathing problems after responding to the attacks, said "I personally find that very, very insulting. Standing there doing a photo-op and telling the men, 'You're doing a good job,' I don't consider that to be working," said Bethea, 47.

Ironworker Jonathan Sferazo, 52, who said he spent a month at the site and is now disabled, runs a worker advocacy group with Bethea and called Giuliani's comments "severely" out of line. "He's not one of us. He never has been and he never will be. He never served in a capacity where he was a responder," Sferazo said.

Now, no one is saying that Giulani was manning a bulldozer, or cutting steel with a welder, but his claim that "I was working there with them" gives you the impression that that's what he wants you to think. The thought that Rudy was knee deep in rubble, arm sleeves rolled up, trolling through toxic dust with a big "S" on his chest is the disingenuous picture he's trying to paint.

Some people just have absolutely no shame. But what do you expect from a man that had his first marriage to his second cousin annulled and whose children from his second marriage are supporting Obama because they don't like his third wife. Nice family values, huh?

Bush Commutes Libby's Jail Time

I knew this was going to happen, but I am stunned it happened so soon.

George W. Bush, a pathetic sociopath of a president, has commuted the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former Chief of Staff to Vice President Cheney. And why shouldn't he? This is a clown of a man who claimed after the stolen 2004 election that had political capital: "I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style."

Well, Chimpy, your wallet is empty. It's been empty for a long time. Now you are using credit from the Republican Party - credit that will have to be repaid in November of 2008. And the interest rate is a bitch.

On September 30, 2003 Bush said, "There's leaks at the executive branch; there's leaks in the legislative branch. There's just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated the law, the person will be taken care of." I suppose by "taken care of'" he meant since they do his dirty work for him, he'll take care of any trouble they get into with a flick of a bic.

In July of 2005 Bush said, "If somebody committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration." But Scooter Libby continued to work in the White House until he was indicted. Yet another lie in the long list of the Bush legacy. And now he plays judge, jury and excuser, reversing a decision handed down by the courts just hours after learning that Libby would not be freed on bail while pending an appeal.

Bush, July 2, 2007: "I respect the jury's verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison."

You respect the jury's verdict? You respect the jury's verdict?! You just spat in the face of the judicial system, commuted the sentence of a man who committed perjury at the very least, something a former president was impeached for. You commuted the sentence of a man who possibly got people killed by helping to leak the name of a CIA operative, we'll never really know because he also obstructed an FBI investigation into the matter, and you dare say you "respect the jury''s verdict"? There's a special place in hell for people like you.

And let's not forget our upcoming presidential candidates' reactions to Chimp-Man's decision:

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois
“This decision to commute the sentence of a man who compromised our national security cements the legacy of an Administration characterized by a politics of cynicism and division, one that has consistently placed itself and its ideology above the law..."

Sen. Joe Biden, D-Delaware
“...It is time for the American people to be heard — I call for all Americans to flood the White House with phone calls tomorrow expressing their outrage over this blatant disregard for the rule of law.”

Former Sen. John Edwards
“Only a president clinically incapable of understanding that mistakes have consequences could take the action he did today ... George Bush and his cronies think they are above the law and the rest of us live with the consequences. The cause of equal justice in America took a serious blow today.”

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York
“Today’s decision is yet another example that this Administration simply considers itself above the law... This commutation sends the clear signal that in this Administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice.”

But let's not stop there. What do you think the Republican candidates have to say about Bush's decision? I think you can guess where this is headed.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani
“After evaluating the facts, the President came to a reasonable decision and I believe the decision was correct.”

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney
“I believe that the circumstances of this case, where the prosecutor knew that there had not been a crime committed, created a setting where a decision of this nature was reasonable.”

What part of "obstruction of justice" and "perjury" doesn't ring in Romney's head? It drives me to the brink of insanity when these jokers claim that a crime wasn't committed because the initial investigation was about finding out who leaked a CIA operative's name to the press. Am I wrong, or didn't the investigation hit a wall with Libby's lies? Hey Mitt, lying to FBI investigators and a Grand Jury ARE CRIMES!

And what does Golden Boy Fred Thompson have to say about commuting the sentence of someone who committed perjury? The same Thompson that voted for the impeachment of Bill Clinton for... wait for it... perjury!

Former GOP Sen. Fred Thompson, likely presidential
candidate
"I am very happy for Scooter Libby. I know that this is a great relief to him, his wife and children. While for a long time I have urged a pardon for Scooter, I respect the President’s decision. This will allow a good American, who has done a lot for his country, to resume his life."

Does it surprise you that a possible Republican presidential candidate who voted to impeach a Democratic president for perjury in the case of an extramarital affair would then urge for a pardon of a Republican aide to the White House for the same offense when it comes to matters of national security?

It doesn't surprise me either.

Also read: Jeralyn Merritt: Hyposcrisy, Thy Name is Bush

Anyone seen my briefcase?

Are you kidding me? I remember seeing this written into an episode of The West Wing - Congressman Santos' aides leaves his briefcase in a meeting room and the GOP gets hold of it.

Imagine this scenario:

WHITE HOUSE STAFFER: President Giuliani, I've looked everywhere, but I can't find your Missle Codes. Don't you remember where you had them last?

PRES. GIULIANI: Hmm, let's see... I remember looking at them in admiration on Tuesday... uh, then I put them in my jacket pocket... OH MY GOD! CHECK THE DRY CLEANERS!!!

(Click on cover for the story.)