The Administration

Not to divulge my age unnecessarily, but I do remember Richard Nixon’s “Secret Plan to End the War.” That was 1968. Of course, we are still searching for that plan, but I do have a bit of déjà vu all over again, as Yogi Berra would say.

I sense a secret (well, maybe not-so-secret) plan being cooked up inside the Bush White House. First, Bush lets it fly in a Rose Garden press briefing that if the Iraqis want us to leave, we will. Huh? As my occasional sparring partner Tucker Carlson so aptly put it, that is a real change in strategy. The justification for this war was that we were spreading democracy, overthrowing dictators and “combating terrorists over there so we wouldn’t have to over here.” Now it seems that if we are given the pink slip, we’re gone.

Second, Bush is now willing to accept benchmarks and more conditions. If they are not met, well, we may just be ready to begin “Plan B,” whatever that may be. Read more...

In the early weeks of this new Democratic majority in Congress, the press releases coming out of the House Republican conference on most days were, to put it frankly, desperation wrapped in drama. Things started smoothly for the new kids in town and Republicans, still smarting from their loss of power, stopped just short of accusing Democrats of burning down the Capitol.

More than half a year later the Democrats are having a tough time in the majority, as any party does, and Republicans are finally feeling some relief. Their breathless press releases are beginning to sound true. From the sidelines Republicans find satisfaction watching as the majority struggles without a veto-proof vote block to change the war in Iraq, the anti-war left roughs them up, the much touted ethical clean-up crew gets hanged out to dry by their own Earmarker-in-Chief Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.), and bills the house passed stall in the Senate or at the White House driveway under veto threat. Republicans are comforted too by their new liberation as they untether themselves from years of unconditionally granting the wishes of President Bush and paying the political price. Read more...

Here’s a Holiday Weekend Pop Quiz for all you spinmeisters who delight in turning a phrase.

Presidential candidate John Edwards managed to make news this week, and will no doubt be the subject on all the Sunday morning political shows, for saying the “war on terror” is a bumper sticker, not a strategy. So that’ll be the theme of this, the first ever (I think) Holiday Weekend Pop Quiz.

Match the quote with the person who said it.

1. “… for us to be successful in this war on terrorism, we have to find these terrorist groups where they are, whether it’s within our borders or outside our borders, and stop them and stamp them out before they do us harm.”

A. Sean Hannity
B. Lt. Col. Oliver North
C. John Edwards Read more...

In December 2000, after being named president by the Supreme Court, George Bush told a group of congressional leaders: “If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier ... Just so long as I’m the dictator.”

They thought he was kidding, but apparently not.

As first reported on the conservative website WorldNetDaily, Bush signed a presidential directive on May 9, 2007, allowing him to assume near-dictatorial powers in the event of a national emergency. Only the president could declare such an emergency, and only the president could say when it was over. Meanwhile, he would take over control of all government and business activity in the country. Read more...

I’m shocked!

Yes, I’ve been around a long time, but I’m still shocked — by what we just learned about the Smithsonian.

There’s no institution more revered in Washington than the Smithsonian: its great museums, lining the Mall, all free to the public; its long reputation for scientific achievement. Unlike the Capitol or the White House, the Smithsonian is the one place in Washington where you can go to get the truth. Right?

Well, apparently not. At least, not any longer. A former Smithsonian official has revealed that last year’s exhibit on global warming was deliberately soft-pedaled, toned down, in order not to offend the Bush White House. Read more...

I support the Senate immigration deal. I think Mel Martinez and Jon Kyl did a great job. I believe this issue needs to be taken off the table this year for Republicans to be able to focus on other issues in the time for the next election.

That being said, I have to wonder if the House is even going to take it up.

I sincerely doubt that the House Republican minority is in any mood to help out the White House or the Senate and vote for this deal And I doubt that Nancy Pelosi or Rahm Emanuel will bring it to a vote without a certain number of Republicans voting for it. Read more...

I have been asked by many interested parties, congressional staff and others, to explain my reasons for resigning from the five-member President's Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB). The best and most complete explanation is contained in two letters that I wrote on the date of my resignation last week — one to my colleagues on the Board — Carol Dinkins, the chair; Alan Raul, the vice-chair; and Theodore Olson and Francis Taylor, members; and the second to President Bush.

But regardless of my resignation, the most important issue remains and must now be addressed by Congress, which is considering changes in the present structure of the Board: Is there a role for a part-time civilian oversight board on executive-branch anti-terrorist programs that potentially might infringe on basic civil liberties and privacy rights in the Constitution and under U.S. laws — or not? Read more...

I have only one question for President Bush and this absurd immigration "reform" proposal he cooked up with Uncle Teddy:

"Mr. President, why do you hate the Republican Party?"

Clearly, the president bears great animosity toward the GOP, which elected him twice. What else could possibly explain not only a lax immigration bill that legalizes nearly 12 million illegal immigrants but a bill so liberal that Senatuh Kennedy would do high kicks and cartwheels for it?

Ah, a clue (and a new conspiracy theory). We elected Dubya twice. Is this immigration bill payback for Republicans who gave the presidency to Bill Clinton by voting for Ross Perot over Papa Bush?  Read more...

Fellow blogger Brent Budowsky has decided Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should be impeached for refusing to follow the law. Mr. Budowsky noted Gonzales's "goon-like" trip to John Ashcroft's sickbed, now made famous by James Comey's congressional testimony this week. I can't say I agree this merits impeachment, but I too was struck by the notion of Andrew Card and Gonzales playing Tony Soprano and Mob deputy taking the opportunity to intimidate someone suffering in a hospital bed.

What is more important than their tacky, cruel tactic at Ashcroft's bedside was the underlying untruth that the warrantless surveillance program caused no controversy within the Bush administration. Yep, that was brought to us by AG AG himself in his 2006 testimony before Congress. "None of the reservations dealt with the program we are talking about today," he said at the time. Then, of course, he was equally reassuring about who took the lead in firing the U.S. attorneys — he wasn't involved; no, he was involved; well, he isn't so sure. It is beginning to seem like a joke we haven't been let in on.   Read more...

At last, an honest answer out of Tony Snow.

When asked why, after four years in Iraq, President Bush decided he needed a war czar, the White House press secretary responded: “I honestly don’t know.” No, Tony, and neither does anybody else.

After several generals turned down the job, because they don’t support the president’s policy in Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute accepted the assignment. But that still leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

1.    If the president is commander in chief, why do we need a war czar?

2.    If the war czar is now in charge of the war, what happened to the secretary of defense? Read more...