https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png00emptywheelhttps://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.pngemptywheel2007-04-25 22:03:002007-04-25 22:03:00Explosion of Movement
Anonymous says:
i suppose.
but my thought on this â€movement†is simply that it has been orchestrated to make it appear doj is working just fine.
that all this â€activity†may be co-ordinated is suggested by the fact that renzi and lewis have resigned
very quickly,
and
very quietly –
no lawyers declaring these lads are â€completely innocent†and will be found to be so.
put the bloch â€investigation†together with the renzi and lewis â€investigationsâ€
and you have a picture of?
well, in my opinion,
an effort to prove doj is working just fine.
in addition to shiny objects,
i would be wary of any assumption that gonzales is finished.
recall that bush said,
â€a.g. gonzales told the truth about what he could†–
or some such.
it was the â€could†in the president’s comments that i found revealing.
bush has a surprising tendency to tell the truth about himself, if left unattended.
Anonymous says:
On Gonzales, I think Bush & Co. no longer care in the least about appearances or approval ratings – only avoided legal jeopardy, and in that regard, keeping Gonzales in power is clearly to their advantage – both in terms of protecting themselves, and making sure HE doesn’t start singing, because the people who know where the most bodies are buried are no doubt Rove, Abu and Miers. If any of them starts singing, Dan Rather will get his job back and spare us from Katie Carsick and his nauseating Reporter’s Notebook.
On the other hand, leaving Gonzales in seems to work in the democrats’ favor, no? Gates has helped the Admistration’s image quite a bit. Can you imagine the Walter Reed scandal with Rumsfeld at the helm?
I’d like to see Gonzales impeached, but short of that, I’d rather see him hanging around Bush’s neck like a rotting albatross.
Anonymous says:
But as time goes on, whistleblowers will become, to use a favorite Bush word, emboldened. More will come out. In my youth I was a Watergate addict and I can tell you that as Nixon got weaker and less scary, pathetic almost, government people who had been intimidated leaked like sieves. This moment is coming soon for Bush, in fact, it has probably already arrived.
Anonymous says:
This moment is coming soon for Bush, in fact, it has probably already arrived.
I hope you’re right, but I remember Watergate too and that was before Reagan let the corporations completely take over the media. And I don’t see too many Howard Baker types in Congress or John Dean types in the Executive branch.
Anonymous says:
Josh Marshall has a thoughtful post exploring why a bunch of long-standing investigations appear to be breaking open.
Marcy Wheeler has a thoughtful post too – this one. I agree that it’s a partial backfire to have these second-in-command people pressing ahead with investigations, but as you say, Griffin, Paulose, and the vacuum in California remain problems.
My concern is more in the infamous voter fraud campaign. The more I read of the erosion of the voting process and the likes of the Republican Lawyers National Association [with bottom feeders like â€Thor†Hearn], the more I think their voter intimidation program is oure biggest agenda. On the Republican Lawyers National Association web site, there’s a photo gallery of their annual awards. They give out lucite blocks with things embedded in them. One coveted award was a block with â€real chads†from the 2000 election.
Election manipulation is and has been the keystone of their [Rove’s] success – the invasion of the Civil Rights Division, the initiative in the Justice Department with the U.S. Attorneys, and the efforts of the Republican Party machinery. With the mood of the country, they can’t back down on these efforts. So, I’m for trying to â€paralyze†the D.O.J. to stop their voter fraud initiative and for the Congress to carefully scutinize the Republican Party’s programs [particularly â€poll watchersâ€], even if we miss the chance for more corruption convictions. Of all their antics, the aggressive attempt to â€throw†the vote remains their most malignant…
Anonymous says:
But as time goes on, whistleblowers will become, to use a favorite Bush word, emboldened. More will come out. In my youth I was a Watergate addict and I can tell you that as Nixon got weaker and less scary, pathetic almost, government people who had been intimidated leaked like sieves. This moment is coming soon for Bush, in fact, it has probably already arrived. I hope you’re right, but I remember Watergate too and that was before Reagan let the corporations completely take over the media. And I don’t see too many Howard Baker types in Congress or John Dean types in the Executive branch.
It feels different from the Watergate days to me. Nixon’s people were Conservatives with a smattering of unprincipled confidentes. This time, it’s a whole package of people who have some kind of amalgam of Christianity, elitism, and pugilism that’s been woven into a bizarre tapestry that sounds like â€Onward Christian Soldiers,†at least to them. They’ve consolidated and demonized the enemy [us] in a much more powerful way. With the â€Commies†no longer available, they’ve had to create an alternative – godless liberals supporting sodomy, cloning, judical paganism, and infanticide. It just feels far more malignant and more ideological than the Nixon era [though I wouldn’t have thought it possible].
I doubt that we can expect the kind of Whistleblowers John Dean turned out to be. If we get any, they are much more likely to come from the lower ranks – the career government employees – like the group that wrote about the DOJ honors program. I think the Democrats are going to have to do exactly what they’re doing, one investigation after another, hacking at the edges until they find someone really small who knows something really big and is ready to retire [and is willing to open the door, preferrably to the missing emails].
Anonymous says:
When is Abramoff’s resentencing hearing? The DoJ might be making some moves public so that there isn’t an uproar if he gets a substantial reduction in jail time: cooperation has its benefits. OTOH, he probably wouldn’t have talked if the Bushies had been loyal to him. By repudiating his friendship, they hurt his feelings in a way which can’t be mended.
BTW, it is perhaps a good thing that I’m not â€a major donorâ€. If offered the fee simple deed to the Yosemite high country (or even the half north of the 120), even I might have been tempted. The ranchers and miners looking to get profitable acreage would pony up without a quibble. After centuries of grazing on other people’s territory or claim jumping, this would offer a paper veneer of legality.
The problem with corrupt enterprises such as Abramoff’s, is that you deal with jerks willing to sell favors to each other involving entire families and offices. Nobody is immune to being tainted. Someone needs to seriously examine the network of wives and other relatives. It appears more extensive week by week.
Before â€Duneâ€, Heinlein wrote a book called â€The Godmakersâ€, which had a shadowy background of extremely political interconnected women taking over government through their husbands. They were traditional wives: feminine, conservative, quiet… and focussed upon their agenda.
Kingmakers are more influential if they are not obvious.
Anonymous says:
ooops, make that Herbert. sigh
Anonymous says:
Be vigilant, yes. But hey, you knock out the gatekeeper and then you get to storm the gates right? It’s hard not to sit back and enjoy the wave.
Anonymous says:
Over on eBay I spotted a lovely enameled sign for sale which ought to be screwed onto a pillar in front of the White House:
FULL LINE OF SPECTACLES
Item number: 290108109613
walk away whistling innocently
Anonymous says:
Item number: 290108109613
Oh please, oh please!
Anonymous says:
Emptywheel, thanks for keeping an eye on Griles’ work for his old employers in Big Mining, Big Energy, and Big Timber.
i suppose.
but my thought on this â€movementâ€
is simply that it has been orchestrated to make it appear doj is working just fine.
that all this â€activity†may be co-ordinated is suggested by the fact that renzi and lewis have resigned
very quickly,
and
very quietly –
no lawyers declaring these lads are â€completely innocent†and will be found to be so.
put the bloch â€investigation†together with the renzi and lewis â€investigationsâ€
and you have a picture of?
well, in my opinion,
an effort to prove doj is working just fine.
in addition to shiny objects,
i would be wary of any assumption that gonzales is finished.
recall that bush said,
â€a.g. gonzales told the truth about what he could†–
or some such.
it was the â€could†in the president’s comments that i found revealing.
bush has a surprising tendency to tell the truth about himself, if left unattended.
On Gonzales, I think Bush & Co. no longer care in the least about appearances or approval ratings – only avoided legal jeopardy, and in that regard, keeping Gonzales in power is clearly to their advantage – both in terms of protecting themselves, and making sure HE doesn’t start singing, because the people who know where the most bodies are buried are no doubt Rove, Abu and Miers. If any of them starts singing, Dan Rather will get his job back and spare us from Katie Carsick and his nauseating Reporter’s Notebook.
On the other hand, leaving Gonzales in seems to work in the democrats’ favor, no? Gates has helped the Admistration’s image quite a bit. Can you imagine the Walter Reed scandal with Rumsfeld at the helm?
I’d like to see Gonzales impeached, but short of that, I’d rather see him hanging around Bush’s neck like a rotting albatross.
But as time goes on, whistleblowers will become, to use a favorite Bush word, emboldened. More will come out. In my youth I was a Watergate addict and I can tell you that as Nixon got weaker and less scary, pathetic almost, government people who had been intimidated leaked like sieves. This moment is coming soon for Bush, in fact, it has probably already arrived.
This moment is coming soon for Bush, in fact, it has probably already arrived.
I hope you’re right, but I remember Watergate too and that was before Reagan let the corporations completely take over the media. And I don’t see too many Howard Baker types in Congress or John Dean types in the Executive branch.
Marcy Wheeler has a thoughtful post too – this one. I agree that it’s a partial backfire to have these second-in-command people pressing ahead with investigations, but as you say, Griffin, Paulose, and the vacuum in California remain problems.
My concern is more in the infamous voter fraud campaign. The more I read of the erosion of the voting process and the likes of the Republican Lawyers National Association [with bottom feeders like â€Thor†Hearn], the more I think their voter intimidation program is oure biggest agenda. On the Republican Lawyers National Association web site, there’s a photo gallery of their annual awards. They give out lucite blocks with things embedded in them. One coveted award was a block with â€real chads†from the 2000 election.
Election manipulation is and has been the keystone of their [Rove’s] success – the invasion of the Civil Rights Division, the initiative in the Justice Department with the U.S. Attorneys, and the efforts of the Republican Party machinery. With the mood of the country, they can’t back down on these efforts. So, I’m for trying to â€paralyze†the D.O.J. to stop their voter fraud initiative and for the Congress to carefully scutinize the Republican Party’s programs [particularly â€poll watchersâ€], even if we miss the chance for more corruption convictions. Of all their antics, the aggressive attempt to â€throw†the vote remains their most malignant…
It feels different from the Watergate days to me. Nixon’s people were Conservatives with a smattering of unprincipled confidentes. This time, it’s a whole package of people who have some kind of amalgam of Christianity, elitism, and pugilism that’s been woven into a bizarre tapestry that sounds like â€Onward Christian Soldiers,†at least to them. They’ve consolidated and demonized the enemy [us] in a much more powerful way. With the â€Commies†no longer available, they’ve had to create an alternative – godless liberals supporting sodomy, cloning, judical paganism, and infanticide. It just feels far more malignant and more ideological than the Nixon era [though I wouldn’t have thought it possible].
I doubt that we can expect the kind of Whistleblowers John Dean turned out to be. If we get any, they are much more likely to come from the lower ranks – the career government employees – like the group that wrote about the DOJ honors program. I think the Democrats are going to have to do exactly what they’re doing, one investigation after another, hacking at the edges until they find someone really small who knows something really big and is ready to retire [and is willing to open the door, preferrably to the missing emails].
When is Abramoff’s resentencing hearing? The DoJ might be making some moves public so that there isn’t an uproar if he gets a substantial reduction in jail time: cooperation has its benefits. OTOH, he probably wouldn’t have talked if the Bushies had been loyal to him. By repudiating his friendship, they hurt his feelings in a way which can’t be mended.
BTW, it is perhaps a good thing that I’m not â€a major donorâ€. If offered the fee simple deed to the Yosemite high country (or even the half north of the 120), even I might have been tempted. The ranchers and miners looking to get profitable acreage would pony up without a quibble. After centuries of grazing on other people’s territory or claim jumping, this would offer a paper veneer of legality.
The problem with corrupt enterprises such as Abramoff’s, is that you deal with jerks willing to sell favors to each other involving entire families and offices. Nobody is immune to being tainted. Someone needs to seriously examine the network of wives and other relatives. It appears more extensive week by week.
Before â€Duneâ€, Heinlein wrote a book called â€The Godmakersâ€, which had a shadowy background of extremely political interconnected women taking over government through their husbands. They were traditional wives: feminine, conservative, quiet… and focussed upon their agenda.
Kingmakers are more influential if they are not obvious.
ooops, make that Herbert. sigh
Be vigilant, yes. But hey, you knock out the gatekeeper and then you get to storm the gates right? It’s hard not to sit back and enjoy the wave.
Over on eBay I spotted a lovely enameled sign for sale which ought to be screwed onto a pillar in front of the White House:
FULL LINE OF SPECTACLES
Item number: 290108109613
walk away whistling innocently
Item number: 290108109613
Oh please, oh please!
Emptywheel, thanks for keeping an eye on Griles’ work for his old employers in Big Mining, Big Energy, and Big Timber.