Commenting on the Minneapolis mayoral debate, local blog, Kennedy v. The Machine, implies that mayor R.T. Rybak said that the crime in Minneapolis is Amy’s fault. What did KvM say exactly? Well, the subject line is “Mayor Rybak: Murderapolis? is Amy’s Fault” and goes on to say, at the bottom, “Hizzoner: It’?s Amy’s Fault?”
Now, this would be explosive news, if it were the truth. When watching the video clip, however, (found here) there is a notable absence of Rybak ever mentioning Amy Klobuchar or even the County Attorney Office. He does mention the need of the City and the County working together; what a scathing indictment of Amy Klobuchar that is!
Bottom line: KvM and MDE are trying to make news out of something that simply wasn’t said.
It’s kind of weird how Kennedy could endorse Alito so quickly, without any background research, and still claim that it’s not based on partisan politics. Just another example of the makeover Mark motto “all partisan, all the time: no thinking required”:
St. Paul, Minnesota, Oct 31 - U.S Senate candidate Mark Kennedy released the following statement praising President Bush’s nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to serve on the Supreme Court:
?I commend President Bush for his timely appointment of Judge Samuel Alito to serve on the Supreme Court. I believe the upcoming hearings will show Judge Alito to be unquestionably qualified, experienced and articulate. [good thing you have research to back that up and not just off-the-cuff partisan backing... oh, wait]
?As a Senator, my job will be to make sure judges are qualified. Some may be more conservative if nominated by a Republican President while others might be more liberal if nominated by a Democrat President. [thanks Mark, that was deep]
?So long as they are qualified, ethical and faithful to the Constitution, you have my pledge that I will not block them because I don’?t agree with their philosophy or the President happens to be of a different political party. [read: I'm Republican and I do what my Republican President tells me]
?I urge the Senate to grant Judge Alito a fair, thorough and timely hearing resulting in an up-or-down vote by the end of the year. It’?s time to end this mindless partisanship and restore some common sense to the Senate and the confirmation process, especially for any Supreme Court nominee.
I especially like that last “up-or-down vote” line. We haven’t heard it a million times before, might as well throw it in once more for good measure since the public isn’t sick of it already. I’ll love to see the look on his face when the GOP gets burned for trying to use the nuclear option. The public isn’t grabbing onto the “up-or-down vote” thing but they do seem to understand that hundreds of years of congressional rules shouldn’t be abridged for one man.
The MN GOP is doing a great job with their online expose of Mike Hatch over at the unimaginatively named unhatched.com. Such a good job, in fact, that it seems they have run out of steam. After what must have been an exhausting week of sporadic posts rambling about nothing, unhatched.com seems to be taking an early vacation. Another example of the fine work they do over at the MN GOP HQ!
Toby at DFL Blog has a great post on the Sam Alito nomination…
Please join with me in praising President Bush for nominating Sam Alito to the US Supreme Court. I must say that as a white man, it is refreshing to win back the seat hogged by a woman for more than 20 years!
I’m not, however, as convinced as Toby is that Alito should not be filibustered. I think the Democrats should hold off making a decision on that, leaving open the possibility of a filibuster in order to put pressure on GOP moderates in blue states like Chaffee and Snowe. If the Alito nomination becomes contentious Chaffee in particular will be in an awkward position. I’m not advocating for a filibuster, but let’s keep our options open and see what develops.
Why isn’t there consensus on the fact that Scalia is an extremist? Why, dear god why, are we trying to put more “Scalias” on the court!? Well, welcome to hell, your rights can be checked at the door:
Samuel A. Alito Jr., 55, is a jurist in the mold of Justice Antonin Scalia. Nicknamed “Scalito,” or “little Scalia,” by some lawyers, the federal appeals court judge is a frequent dissenter with a reputation for having one of the sharpest conservative minds in the country.
In 1991, he was the lone dissenter in a 3rd Circuit decision striking down a Pennsylvania law’s requirement that women tell their husbands before having an abortion. (Source: The Washington Post)
This guy is not “mainstream” as many on the right will try to convince us. He is very much an extremist who is not in touch with the judicial sentiments of the average American. This is too serious of a post to play around with partisan politics and political give-aways. I certainly hope that the Senate will come to their senses, but I’m not holding my breath.
It seems as though Tim Pawlenty is going to apply his strategy of making empty promises to the stadium issue. Although he is running around making noise about a special session, as usual, he’s only doing it to save his political career, not because he cares:
Quietly, Gov. Tim Pawlenty counts noses to see if there’s enough pro-stadium support at the Legislature to make a special session work for the Twins, should he summon lawmakers back to the Capitol.
But is the governor truly serious about solving Minnesota’s vexing stadium problem now, or is he giving lip service to the stadium crowd until his expected re-election bid in 2006? The betting is on the latter.
“If people think Tim Pawlenty is going to go out on a limb for a stadium, they’re making a big mistake,” said University of Minnesota political science professor Larry Jacobs. “He floats ideas; he’ll mention things, but he’s not going to go to the mat for this.” (source: The Pioneer Press)
Fox News reported that Patrick Fitzgerald had prepared an indictment for Rove and that he withdrew it after a meeting with Rove’s attorney on Thursday. If true, there are many possible reasons for the withdrawel. Here’s one to chew on.
Fitzgerald indicted Scooter on perjury, obstruction of justice, and providing false statements. Fitzgerald intends to prosecute Scooter for a possible sentence of up to 30 years. By convening a new grand jury, Fitzgerald leaves open the door for a last minute cooperative witness. Let’s say Libby decides he does NOT want to spend the next thirty years in federal prison. Well Fitzgerald may be able to use the pressure of the current indictments to secure direct testimony against Rove and Cheney on the charge of espionage or whatever they call it when you commit treason against your country. Of course, the meeting with Rove’s attorney adds a compelling piece to the puzzle. Certainly Rove and his attorney know a cooperative Libby is a possibility. If Fox News is right (big IF…this is Fox News afterall) then Fitzgerald may have withdrawn the Rove indictment based on a cooperative Karl Rove. Fitzgerald would then be able to play Libby and Rove off of each other. We should remember that Rove is a Bush guy, not a Cheney guy. This past week, Bush had reportedly blew up at several underlings, once because he felt Cheney had been too involved in the pre-war intelligence. Why Cheney? It was reported widely this past week that Cheney called Tenet about Joe Wilson, and that Tenet told Cheney that Joe Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA. And so it all began.
The law is catching up to the Republicans… I just hope that the public’s faith in government can survive the traitorous scandal that the Republicans have brought down upon the White House.
About time:
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 - I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff and one of the most powerful figures in the Bush administration, was formally accused today of lying and obstruction of justice in an inquiry into the unmasking of a covert C.I.A. officer.
A federal grand jury indicted Mr. Libby on one count of obstruction, two counts of perjury and two of making false statements in the course of an investigation that raised questions about the administration’s rationale for going to war against Iraq, how it treats critics and political opponents and whether high White House officials shaded the truth. The charges are felonies. He was not charged directly with revealing the identity of a C.I.A. undercover operative.
…
Mr. Libby resigned just before the indictment was handed up. The charges lodged today could spell professional ruin for the 55-year-old lawyer, unless he is acquitted or the charges are dismissed. If the case goes to trial, it would present the unusual prospect of reporters and high officials in the administration taking the witness stand in a criminal case. (Source: The New York Times)
Continue reading ‘Rove, You’re Next’
There have been rumors making the rounds that Cheney is going to resign when the indictments start flying. Interesting enough, these rumors do not make his resignation dependent upon a personal indictment; that is, he may resign even if only Libby is indicted. Now, I don’t really buy these rumors, but let’s entertain them for a moment, if only for fun.
If Cheney resigns word has it that Rice will be promoted to Vice President. This would be extremely
interesting because she has been rumored (note that I’m now postulating on rumors with more rumors) to be entertaining the idea of a Presidential run in 2008. How better to position her than by making her Vice Prez!? All of a sudden there isn’t an open seat situation that everyone has been making so much noise about and you possibly have a Hillary v. Condoleezza 2008. Now that would be fun!
Is the White House really that politically devious that they would sacrifice the current Vice President to better position an heir to the throne? Probably not, but it’s fun to think about.
Senator Trent Lott was on CNN today and offered this wonderful advice about how the President should go about finding a nominee:
I want the President to look across the country and find the best man, woman, or minority that he can find.
Jon Stewart offered this point of reflection:
Now you know what people!? No! Give this man credit. I remember a time when a Senator from Mississippi wouldn’t even put a minority on equal footing with men and women. Kudos!
Trent Lott’s Strom Thurmond birthday party comments are starting to make a whole lot of sense. Hat-tip to The Daily Show.
Checks and Balances has the results of a poll to be published tomorrow in the St. Paul Mayoral race.
Chris Coleman - 61%
Randy Kelly - 28%
Uncommitted - 11%
Ouch! Hope you had a fun time Randy, maybe Bush will give you an Ambassadorship or something.
One Term Timmy Pawlenty was on MPR’s “Midmorning” today and he sure wasn’t having a fun time. Here are some highlights…
When asked about his comment that he would “stand with President Bush if his approval rating was 2 percent”, Pawlenty said:
“That’s not a political statement… I’ve parted with them on a number of issues. …As a matter of personal friendship or loyalty, you don’t bail out just because they’re getting beat up… It’s an interpersonal comment more than a policy comment… I just mean that personally.â€
Careful not to trip while backing away from that one Guv. Why the backtracking? Well, according to T-Paw, things aren’t so rosy for the GOP.
“[Bush is] one the ropes… things are not going well now for the President or for the Republican Party nationally.”
Gotta agree with that analysis.
Well Miers is out, displaying this White House’s incredible weakness in controlling national politics (even though their party controls all three branches!). Where do we go from here?
Below Zack suggested that Judge Michael McConnell may be the front runner for the now vacant spot, but how much truth can there be in this prediction? Now, I don’t pretend to know much about McConnell but he has, as Zack pointed out, stood on the side of Planned Parenthood, an stance that conservatives are going to attack again and again. Unfortunately, I think Bush is going to go for an extreme right wind whacko this round. The GOP is looking for a conservative’s conservative, someone who can be seen as a victory to the conservative base, someone who can energize the party after a months of savaging. Is McConnell that man? Maybe, but I am too afraid right now to be that optimistic.
From the From the National Journal’s new blog: “Hotline On Call” (my source de jour):
One name we’re hearing a lot this morning (including from a White House official) is appeals court judge Michael McConnell, who is based in Utah.
And a White House official tells the Hotline that Bush will not nominate anyone today but would not rule out tomorrow.
As I have said before, Michael McConnell is an acceptable nominee in my view. Yes, McConnell is a conservative (Indeed, my understanding of his record is that he is very conservative), but it seems clear that he has respect for the principle of stare decisis, which ought be the major criteria in judicial selection.
McConnell is a safe choice for Bush. He should be able to garner support from his conservative base, while the support of liberal stalwarts like Larry Tribe and Cass Sunstein (who supported McConnell during his appellate confirmation) should mute some critics on the left.
McConnell could get into some Miers-esque trouble, however, becuase of his support for Planned Parenthood v. Casey. More after the jump.
Continue reading ‘Hotline thinks it could be McConnell’
Just a hunch…
Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination this morning. Typically, this kind of an announcement would be made on a Friday so that the story would be muted by the weekend. Why announce bad news on a Thursday? Perhaps the White House is expecting a bigger story to dominate the day. Again, I have no facts to support my little theory, its pure conjecture.
UPDATE: Guess I was wrong. The “Hotline On Call” is reporting that Patrick Fitzgerald’s spokesman “is telling reporters that there will be no announcement today.”
People are Shouting