Entries by emptywheel

Public Intellectual

Kudos to Hugh Hewitt and Douglas Kmiec, who criticized Michael Drake’s decision to “un-hire” Erwin Chemerinsky.

“Even though I agree with him on only about one out of 100 issues, Ibelieve he is one of the top legal minds in the United States,” saidHugh Hewitt, a law professor at Chapman University and host of a dailyradio talk show.

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It’s All Zapruder’s Fault

Jay Rosen posts and comments on a letter from an anonymous member of the WH press corps. Said anonymous journalist tells you everything you need to know about the WH press corps: It’s all Zapruder’s fault. Zapruder, of course, was the guy–the only guy–who filmed all of Kennedy’s assassination. And apparently, the press corps has to subject itself to continual abuse from the Administration because once upon a time, some average

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Novak’s Counter-Proliferation Problem

Thank Jeebus for public libraries, where you can get propaganda written by conservative writers without putting any incremental money in their pocket. Yesterday I exchanged Hayes for Novak. While the Novak book has clearly been vetted more closely than Novak’s blabber-fest last year, I’m just on page 6 and already Novak has a big problem.

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More Inauspiciousness: Your Rent-a-Sheikh Gets Killed

As many of you have pointed out, the guy I called Bush’s Rent-a-Thuggish-Sheikh last week died in a bomb blast today.

The leader of local Sunni tribes in Iraqwho have joined American and Iraqi forces in fighting extremist Sunnimilitants was killed by a bomb today, Iraqi police officials said,potentially undermining what has become a new thrust of United Statespolicy in the country.

[snip]

It could be a significant setback for American efforts to work

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McConnell and Lieberman

Isikoff and Hosenball tell us what we already know–McConnell is a liar (only the crack headline artists at Newsweek call this “an error”). But here’s an odd detail in their story about McConnell’s petulant confession.

After questions about his testimony were raised, McConnell calledLieberman to clarify his statements to the Senate Committee on HomelandSecurity and Governmental Affairs, an official said.

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Oil Oops

It is probably inauspicious for Bush that on the eve of his debut in the Magical September extravaganza, the elusive Iraqi oil compromise is falling apart.

A carefully constructed compromise on a draft law governing Iraq’srich oil fields, agreed to in February after months of arduous talksamong Iraqi political groups, appears to have collapsed.

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McConnell: I’m a Liar

Oddly enough I just read this anecdote in Stephen Hayes’ hagiography of Cheney. In an interview with Hayes, Mike McConnell confesses to the childish tactics he used to force CENTCOM to commit, one way or another, whether they thought Saddam would invade Kuwait.

“I’m going to see the chairman [Powell],” [McConnell] told his colleagues.

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Aieieieie! The Dead Awake!!

I’ve been almost as skeptical of Silvestre Reyes as Chair of the House Intell Committee as I am of Jay Rockefeller as Chair of the Senate Intell Committee. Reyes approved of Ashcroft’s testimony on the FISA program–though Russ Holt thought thought the same testimony was a big long filibuster. Even after hearing from Ashcroft, Reyes bought Alberto Gonzales’ dishonest explanation for why his lies to Congress about warrantless wiretapping were not

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Jim Webb Channels emptywheel

You think the former Secretary of the Navy keeps close ties with Navy officers? Or is Jim Webb calling on Carl Levin to ask Admiral Fallon to testify to the Armed Service Committee because he, like me, thinks Fallon will have a different perspective to offer?

WEBB: [T]here’s something of a kabuki going on right now.You know, the Petraeus report was brought in.

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“The Math”

FWIW, I think this morning’s NYT article naming Olson as Bush’s nominee to be AG was just a plant floated by conservatives pushing the Administration to make this nomination into a confrontation. David Johnston is very susceptible to this kind of planted leak. And Mike Allen, who has better ties to the White House than Johnston, names Olson as just one candidate among five (though the one favored by conservatives)–and he

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